There is so much to write for these last two episodes of The Red Sleeve because every time you re-watched a clip or you read a twit from a fan, a new realisation dawns on you what the scene might be actually about or that a certain detail happened because of following the history or novel. These realisations, along with the emotions and sorrow, are layered onto one another due to the hard work put in by the marvellous cast, their acting, the writer, her script, and for sure, the director PD Jung and her directing. When it all comes together so amazingly well, it hits you hard.
It is so hard to get out of it, its lingering effect. Thus I thought of writing about EP 16 being the happiest episode and posting a few scenes that touched me, or made me tear up, and I must say, I am not one who easily teared with dramas.
EP 16
We start with their hugging scene from the end of EP 15 where Deok-Im tugged at Jeongjo’s sleeves unknowingly. Deok-Im still refuses to be the King’s woman but you can see her will wavering slightly. Her reply, “Perhaps, I want to do so. However, …”
A jealous Hwabin starts to plot against Deok-Im with the Queen Dowager but her plan backfired! Instead, King Jeongjo found out that the man whom Deok-Im has been meeting all this while is actually her blood brother. When Hwabin realised that her accusations turned out wrong, she tried another turn of using Deok-Im’s family history that they had served the passed away criminal Crown Prince Sado which further infuriates King Jeongjo.
“I am the son of Crown Prince Sado.” he said, before he stormed out furiously, and yelling his command at Court Lady Seo that Deok-Im will cease serving Hwabin immediately AND to bring her to his bed chambers tonight.
Deok-Im was sent to prepare herself for the King, a rose bath, new clothes, make-up and all.
And then we finally have the hapbang! (Twice!)
The next morning, Deok-Im’s friends (G3) were looking for her as she was nowhere to be seen. And that’s when they found out that Deok-Im has received grace from the king last night.
Deok-Im is now officially a concubine, meeting her friends shyly at her new residence and declaring that if she loves King Jeongjo, she won’t ever let him find out because this is the only thing she can have a choice with. (This is definitely Deok-Im protecting her last pride because she already gave in last night by agreeing to be the king’s woman.)
Concubine Deok-Im was with her G3 friends and we found out that the King hasn’t visited Deok-Im for 10 days thus the court ladies were gossiping that Deok-Im was just an one night fling and this made Kyung-hee angry and she fought them.
Little does everyone know, that night, when Deok-Im returned to her residence, King Jeongjo was already there waiting an hour for her. He explained that he wanted to give Deok-Im time to think about it thus he stayed away. He missed her, and Deok-Im actually admitted that she missed him too. They shared a few kisses tenderly. (A twit says that in the novel, King Jeongjo had stayed away because he took advice from the royal physician that it takes a few days for the woman to recover from the first time. Not sure how true this twit is.)
Jeongjo had a tough day at court and decided to spend a day with uri Deok-Im. He fell asleep in her lap and woke up looking like he had a very bad dream. Deok-Im consoled him and then told him that he needs to get back to work and sends him off at the door.
Soon, Deok-Im found out that she might be pregnant and with this, it means she can’t serve the king thus she sent word to the king that she is not feeling well. That night, King Jeongjo rushed over, thinking that Deok-Im is sick but when he saw her, she looked fine. King Jeongjo realised that Deok-Im is faking her symptoms, Lol! We also discovered that he has been visiting her almost everyday so Deok-Im teased uri Jeonha if he can’t stay away for one night. He pretended to leave but turned back and promised not to do anything except to hold her hands to sleep that night.
The royal physician confirmed that Deok-Im is indeed pregnant.
Here is the sad part, Deok-Im waited for King Jeongjo the whole day but he never came. Court Lady Seo came and consoled Deok-Im that uri King had to spend the night with his Queen because the Queen had been wanting to get pregnant but Deok-Im managed to do it just after 3 months. Deok-Im looking so disappointed, said that she understood that uri King is not her husband, he is the Queen’s husband. (I believe this made it even clearer to Deok-Im that she should never let Jeongjo know that she loves him, as earlier in the day, she was staring at the little pouch she made and probably thinking whether to give him.)
Before dawn breaks, Jeongjo actually came, just to see her sleep. (This is his way of compensating his absence yesterday but the damage has been done!) Deok-Im asked if Jeongjo ever thought of them being an ordinary couple but Jeongjo never. He thinks Deok-Im suits being a court lady thus Deok-Im says Jeongjo suits being a King. (Double damage, well done, Jeonha)
The next scene is heartbreaking – Deok-Im sees her friends going out of the palace for their day off, and our PD-nim added a scene of Deok-Im imagining herself joining them, she waved bye at the four of them, and the “imaginery her” turned back to smile at the “real her”. She knew what she was giving up when she agreed to be the King’s woman, and that is freedom and herself.
Back in her own residence, Deok-Im is feeling restless as she has nothing to do nowadays except to wait for King Jeongjo to visit. She calculated her gains and losses and fell asleep. When she woke up, King Jeongjo was sitting there, writing a few characters. He is thinking of Deok-Im’s royal concubine name, and he thought Ui suits Deok-Im. Ui means family, and Deok-Im teased that it could also mean ‘to love’ and uri Jeonha is actually shy and telling Deok-Im not to ask the obvious. And then we end EP 16 with King Jeongjo back-hugging Deok-Im and feeling the baby in her tummy. Such bliss.
EP 17 (update: 21 Jan ’22)
This episode is so sad that I ain’t trying to rewatch. So I am just going to write about three scenes that strike me dearly and just blogging from memory.
Deok-Im was dying and asking to see her G3 friends but Seo Court Lady got Jeongjo instead. When he arrived, Deok-Im was at her last breath, and Jeongjo still did not give up, asking if Deok-Im loved him one bit. Of course, Deok-Im does, even though she doesn’t say it. She just said to Jeongjo that if she hadn’t want to be with him, no one can force her. And then she passed away before she could touch his face. *cries*
After Deok-Im has passed, Jeongjo is left without an heir and so the search is on for the next royal concubine. He got so mad at the resemblance to Deok-Im of the girls that were presented to him, he just stormed out. And then later Seo Court Lady said that Jeongjo chose a girl that is everything opposite of Deok-Im and for some reason, Seo Court Lady is glad. *cries*
Jeongjo had been suppressing his urge to think of Deok-Im even though he visits her tomb regularly. (not quite making sense here but nevermind). So this particular year, Jeongjo thought about summoning one of the G3 trio, only one is still alive (I think Kyunghee), and Jeongjo asked to see Deok-Im’s belongings. This scene, when Jeongjo opened up the box, he cried, and of course I cried together with him as we go through each piece of memory; her handmade yellow pouch, the apologies letters, and her court lady uniform. *According to PD Jung in one interview, Lee Junho was not aware of the contents that would be in the box, they had prepared the box privately, thus when he sees the yellow pouch, his reaction was organic, he doesn’t know what that pouch means (!!), and then when he saw the court lady uniform, he cried so hard.* *same here, cries*
And there are just so many parallels and inferences to past episodes in these two final episodes, so you really gotta hand it to PD Jung. Some twitter accounts are so good at picking these up so I shan’t try something that was already done. But the best parallel would have to be the final scene of EP 17 that was tied to the scene in EP 16 when Jeongjo visited Deok-Im after he had a bad day and fell asleep on Deok-Im’s lap – so was it a dream or afterlife?
Also, here’s some feats that I would like to mention:
- The Red Sleeve started with a humble 5.7% ratings in its EP 1 and climbed to 17.4% for EP 17.
- Based on the Good Data Corporation weekly buzz list thingy that Soompi published, The Red Sleeves reigned #1 for eight consecutive weeks for dramas, throughout its run.
- Lee Seyoung debut at #4 and rose to #1 from week 3 onwards and stayed #1 for the rest of the entire run.
- Lee Junho debut at #7 and rose to #2 from week 3 onwards and stayed #2 for the rest of the entire run.
- Lee-Lee both won the Top Excellence Acting Awards for Male and Female, and also the Best Couple Award at the MBC Drama Awards 2021.
- TRS swept a total of 8 awards at the MBC Drama Awards 2021 on 30th Dec. But I wonder how it would fare at the Baeksang Arts Awards 2022.
DramaKaffe 