let's go where this dawn ends

The Red Sleeve

-3 words: bittersweet, deeply sobering

-I have so. Many. Feels. So. Many. Thoughts. (Which is why this post is practically an essay lol.) The pile of used tissues beside me by the end of ep 17 said it all - it felt like I'd been put through the wringer. This drama will linger with me for a long time.

-Not flawless, but the core of it - the characters and their relationships - was very consistent and well-written, and their motivations and development believable throughout (e.g. Deok Im becoming more and more restrained and oblique as time went on). Loved how they humanised every major character (though some only in their deaths hahaha). I was nervous that the plot would cease to make sense partway through, but even the fairy palace stuff didn't detract too much from my love for this?

-Acting was wonderful wonderful wonderful. Those micro expressions… an eye subtly brimming with tears here! A sardonic tilt of the mouth there!

-Beautiful lighting/cinematography

-Did the court lady love the king? ---- Yes? I think she definitely cared deeply for him, mixed with loyalty to him as his servant, and admiration of him as his subject (e.g. the moments in the library when she first heard his exposition on texts and said he would make a good king). In the few moments when the choice was handed to her to cut him off or try to maintain some form of relationship with him, she reached out (e.g. in ep 15 on the bridge post-Hwabin ‘is it too late?’, then again in the bedroom before she and San slept together). And what she said to San just before her death confirmed it IMO (‘if I hadn’t liked you, I would have done anything to run away… it was my choice’).

The problem lay with the fact that their choices were almost always narrowed to an either-or, rock or hard place-type situation thanks to societal restrictions and roles. Take Deok Im - she's forced to choose between a simple life without San and a caged life with him, between being honest with her feelings or clinging to the tiny dregs of choice/control available to her. There was no situation in which she wouldn't have to sacrifice something that was dear to her. And she is right - why should she be fully devoted to someone who could/would not be fully devoted to her in return? I absolutely loved when she said ‘When I’m alone, I calculate. What have I earned? What have I lost?’. And when she told San that she sometimes imagined what things would have been like if they had been commoners... ;; I asked myself throughout the drama what I would have chosen in her place, and I had no easy answers.

Similarly, San - with all his threats and constant pushing of Deok Im for an answer - was a product of his time and status and the power imbalance. He was probably told consistently that all women in the palace were his by birthright. And as a king, his threats actually did have a basis, and the behaviours he threatened her with probably wouldn’t have been unprecedented. I can imagine how strange he would find a situation where a woman did not cave to his power/favour. Also, as far as I recall, he stopped short of ever carrying his threats out and even actively protected her from some of the things he threatened her with (e.g. asking her to choose whether she wanted to continue just before he bedded her, rather than afterwards when her choices would be further narrowed).

San loved her but there was a clear struggle between being a good husband to Deok Im and his moral responsibility as a king (again, I can’t say this enough - San’s character was consistent from the very start, it was obvious from his discussions with his tutors that he would place his country’s interests above his personal feelings), and it was believable that he made the decisions he did (e.g. leaving Deok Im’s side to carry out his kingly duties, going to the queen when Deok Im’s pregnancy was confirmed). I respected his strict principles and sympathised with him in this struggle - as Deok Im said, ‘I don’t blame you’, ‘I always knew it would be this way from the start’ - but this didn’t (and of course it wouldn’t!) take away any of the hurt and disappointment she felt. If he had chosen Deok Im, would he have compromised his status as a good/wise king? Again, rock - hard place.

-I adore that the show didn't neglect to mention/show that there were small happinesses along the way and attempts to accept the realities and move forward. It didn't go full-on tragedy but managed to retain the realism and complexity of human experience.

-Favourite moment! When San unfolds Deok Im’s court maid uniform near the end of ep17 and says ‘It is too small… I did not know you were this small. And I loved you who were this small’. BAWLED at the sheer grief. And so true - by the end of her life, she couldn’t bear the weight of his love and all the consequences that came with it, though she at times seemed larger-than-life.

-Loved that the thread of choice was woven even through that (gorgeous) ending - and that in his death San finally chose Deok Im over his kingdom. Just wish - as impossible as it was - that the choice hadn't had to be made, and they could have fully had each other in life.

Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAMA/comments/rti2uq/the_red_sleeve_episodes_16_17/ is so good ugh /brb, drowning in feels

+ https://thetalkingcupboard.com/tag/the-red-sleeve/
+ https://www.dramabeans.com/2022/01/drama-chat-what-made-the-red-sleeve-cuff-such-a-hit/

It wouldn't be an exaggeration at all to say:
best k-drama I've ever watched, and best drama I've watched in a long, long while.
Just masterfully-executed all around?
A clear - but never preachy - message,
beautiful scripting and camerawork (I still recall the scene where Shi-mok gets up from the hospital bed),
lots of complexity and room for thought
(but never neglects our need for main characters we can wholeheartedly root for),
superb acting. And precise - even down to the number of flashbacks needed to establish an emotion.
Not a shred of fat anywhere.