Some soundtracks were brilliant and went hard while other ones were pure rehashed garbage picked up from your local free-licensed store. However, the drama itself suffered from being painfully long-winded, with excessive and unnecessary long shots that reflected negatively on the cinematography. Especially when the chemistry was average at best. Plot-wise, it fell into the trap of being extremely formulaic, treading familiar ground seen in many dramas with the girl/prince trope. It didn't dare to try anything new or to spin its own twist. The male lead made the whole experience significantly uncomfortable and challenging, his personality didn't exude any attractive qualities in the slightest; in fact, I found his behavior to be quite repulsive, appalling and off-putting, catered exclusively to the fan-fic obsessed mindset, which may explains its ratings.

> Do you wish to be a Caged Bird or a Slave with Freedom

It might be an easy choice but it might not be. What Doek-Im cherished was freedom over everything else the love for a man , starting a family with him . [spoiler] In the end she was forced in to Cage even if it was her choice [/spoiler]

PLOT
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As depiction of true history the show was truthful despite adding fictitious elements like [spoiler] Fairy League , sympathetic to Prince Sado et.al [/spoiler].

The first part of the drama is the struggle of Prince to become King and the torture he suffers from his [spoiler] dementia-crazy [/spoiler] Grandfather and the enemies trying to kill and dethrone the Crown Prince. Like many Seaguks it is focused on both the interactions of main characters and the numerous death hurdles the CP and his lady face

The second part is a little boring as its more focused on cleaning up the factions , weeding out greedy traitors Ahem [spoiler] Hong Deok-ro[/spoiler]..Ahem and also [spoiler] the countless rejections the King get from Deok-Im [/spoiler]. I am all up for consent but the show gets dragged for 2-3 episodes with nothing happening but laying ground-work for a great finish

Ep 16 & 17 . Here is where you have a choice to make ; If you have heart and want to feel the actual history keep watching the extra-episode 17 and if not stop at the end of Episode 16.

CAST
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Junho is the best idol-tuned-actor out there and he has proven by almost carrying the show single handledly with various characters supporting him in their story-arcs. He was CP and King foremost and then her [spoiler] husband [/spoiler] ; all the choices he made need without love or sympathy . Junho expressed all the emotions of sadness , lonliness, furstration , anger and majesty very well and even bought a lot of chemistry with Seyoung.

Lee Se-young ; might have delivered her best performance (in last 2 episodes) but her Zombie acting is still a problem. As for the character - she was a feminist and humanist and ahead of her times - she would have chosen to be a single in current world but in those times the choice was less even more so for a Court Lady - either be caged bird as a concubine or leave the man you love to be free.

Deok-hwa as King Youngjo was another brilliant performance ; you hate the man but you pity him at the same time.

There are characters like Captain Kang Tae-ho , her Court Lady friends and there are snakes like Hong Deok-ro , Queen Jeon and Head Court Lady Jo who i will hate as long as I remember.



Overall
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To sum it up, "The Red Sleeve Cuff" is a compact 17 episode historical that still managed to portray the greatest sense of yearning of a real life love story between two individuals who were just trying to seek happiness within the social constructs of their time and against the limits of the cards that fate had dealt them. But more than that, it was a story about people making choices, and having to live with the consequences, and even more importantly, it was an absolutely nuanced exploration of a woman's worth, and of a woman as a person first and foremost.

[spoiler] Unlike Scarlet Ryeo / Uncontrollably Fond .. I never felt sad which proves that some sad ending doesn't need to be sad and they can be good. Also the fact that we have the true history spoiling the outcome might have prepared us [/spoiler]

**In the End .. She is his but He is not all Hers ....**
[spoiler] She said she is waiting for her friends but not him .. and to ignore her ! but I believe the last 5 mins was their After-Life meetup [/spoiler]