The Red Sleeve

“Based on the true love story of a Korean royal prince and a court maid, The Red Sleeve is such a beautiful drama about love, sisterhood, empowerment, choice, and the complicated power dynamics between the leads. What I loved most is that it never falls into the typical tropes you’d expect from a historical romance—the female lead has her own ambitions, choices, and agency, even when the circumstances around her make those choices incredibly difficult. It’s worth watching just for the love story, but the drama also does a great job weaving in history and giving so many of the supporting characters their own stories and significance. And the romance hits even harder knowing that it’s based on real people. One warning: stop at the penultimate episode if you want to preserve the happiest possible ending. Watch the final episode if you want to know how the real story actually ends. 😭”