'The Red Sleeve' Episodes 16 & 17 Discussion Post

[skidadler.livejournal.com]

Director: Jung Ji-In
Writer: Kang Mi-Kang (novel), Jung Hae-Ri
Network: MBC
Episodes: 17
Release Date: November 12 - January 1

Plot: Set in the 18th century, "Red Sleeve" depicts a love story between King Jeongjo and royal concubine Uibin Sung.

Sung Deok-Im (Lee Seyoung) is a court lady. She gets involved with Crown Prince Yi San (Lee Junho) and he falls in love with her. The crown prince eventually becomes King Jeongjo. He now desires Sung Deok-Im to become his concubine, but she refuses. Sung Deok-Im wants to live her life freely, something that will not be possible as a concubine. She also knows that life of a royal concubine does not generally bring about happiness. Yet, Sung Deok-Im becomes the concubine of King Jeongjo.

You can watch on Viki.

The last two episodes achieved ratings of 17% and 17.4%, respectively. Making it the first MBC drama to exceed 15% since 2015. If you watched it, what were your overall thoughts, Omona?

Source: AsianWiki (Drama info & poster)

Comments

[unnursvana.livejournal.com]

While the romance did loose me a bit toward the end because the king kept insiting that he owned her or whatever (I know he is the king of Joseon and it was with the time, but still). It really did feel like she had no choice to be his woman in the end, which did feel a bit frustrating. I kinda didn't like the king towards the end, but I also could see where he was coming from. Frustrating as these characters may be, I feel like the writing was very strong and really managed to flesh them out and make it so we understood where they were all coming from.

But at the same time I do think the whole show did a fantastic job depicting the palace as this dazzling, haunted but prestigious prison for the ladies of the court and how Deok Im never wanted that life for herself so she always tried to be loyal but closed off to the Prince/king in order to protect herself from that fate. Because once you become a concubine there is a whole world that closes to you and she just wanted to be free. Until she couldn't fight it anymore. And I do think that was the point of the story. It really did feel like a show about Deok Im.

Loved all the ladies in this show. Deok Im and her court lady friends have my whole heart. Deok im has spent the ENTIRERTY OF THE SHOW talking about her not wanting to become a concubine. It seems to be a theme that runs through the entire show. And she only becomes one because she is backed into a corner. It's sad and haunting but that's the point. The king has taken a fancy to her and that's her fate. Every single women on this show is trapped in this palace on this show it feels like.

[unnursvana.livejournal.com]

Oh, apparently I have more to add... maybe I should write a review of it.

This really was a drama about the women (and yet I see Junho get more credit than Lee Se Young… how surprising).

this is not a rom-com sageuk or fluffy youth drama… it is all about depicting the harsh reality of the palace and damn I apricate that about it. It didn’t really shy away from it’s themes and the place the female characters had in this reality (without trying to be all grim and gory about it for the sake of realism aka Game of Thrones) and it truly managed that. And that’s the point. And the show does that very well. The writing is top notch in it’s execution of characters and themes

(it did drag a bit and some of the episodes were needlessly long… but that is maybe due to the extension it got). A bittersweet ending works great for the story this drama was trying to tell.

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

everything you write is exactly the way i feel about the drama! the only thing i wanted from the drama was even more focus on the four friends and their perspectives. i feel like san's character and internal and external struggles sometimes led the drama too much (ok this also makes sense since he was the king) but deokim's internal life was kept sort of ambiguous (which was also kind of interesting at the same time) so that certain viewers could empathize with san's possessiveness and be frustrated with him because of deokim which i feel deokim did not deserve

(and yet I see Junho get more credit than Lee Se Young… how surprising)
right?? i have only found interviews with him about this drama but i want to hear from lee se young and the director!

[fadeintoyou.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this drama. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a drama as much as this one in recent memory. Everything was spot on. The writer did a great job developing the characters, the actors did a great job bringing them to life, the directing, some of the scenes shot were beautiful and haunting. I shed a few tears at the end there which I haven’t done so for a drama in a long time.

[http://users.livejournal.com/___varying/]

Just wanted to say that I FINALLY finished TRS and it was everything I could have wanted and more. Sobbed my way through ep17 but it hurt so good, the tragedy/bittersweet ending really fit with the themes that the drama has been pushing consistently throughout. Not flawless, but hats off to the team for delivering such a clear, thought-provoking message ON TOP OF phenomenal acting and cinematography.