The face of MBC drama has been saved. MBC’s Friday-Saturday drama “The Red Sleeve” is moving smoothly, catching both the talk of the town and ratings.
According to the results compiled by Good Data Corporation, a TV topic analysis agency, “The Red Sleeve“ has been ranked No. 1 in the drama category for three consecutive weeks, No. 1 in drama + non-drama integrated topics, No. 1 in drama cast for the female lead Lee Se-young, and No. 2 for the male lead Lee Joon-ho.
MBC, whose drama has been quite disappointing this year, previously ambitiously organized its 15 billion worth masterpiece “The Veil” as its first Friday-Saturday drama. “The Veil” started at 7.2% with high expectations and later rose to 9.8% in three episodes. Since then, it was regrettable that it has not achieved the 10% range due to the somewhat weak development and the strong performance of its rival SBS “One The Woman,” but it was clear that it signaled the revival of MBC dramas.
The baton was then taken over by “The Red Sleeve”. It is a historical drama presented by MBC two years after “Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryeong.” The drama is about a sad court romance of King Lee San, the king who chose his country over his virtue and love for a court lady. The original novel of the same name by Kang Mi-gang was re-written into a drama script by Jeong Hae-ri, who has written many hit dramas including MBC’s “Drama Festival-Rebellion” and “The Emperor-Owner of The Mask”.
Until it aired, the drama did not receive much attention comparing to its rivals which are Song Hye-kyo‘s SBS “Now, We Are Breaking Up,” Lee Young-ae‘s JTBC “Inspector Koo,” Jeon Ji-hyun‘s tvN “Jiri Mountain” and Han Hyo-joo tvN “Happiness”. It may have been burdensome to be compared to the MBC drama “Lee San, Wind of the Palace” which was a historical drama masterpiece that aired 77 episodes from 2007 to 2008 and exceeded 30% of viewer rating.
It’s not common to unveil the cover. Lee Se-young and Lee Jun-ho’s funny romance chemistry also added to the solid story. Moreover, the amazing scenes, such as when Lee San was caught and dropped the fan, the delicate directing of showing San’s blurred face reflected in the water, are receiving positive responses.
PD Jung Ji-in said, “Unlike other historical dramas about ‘Lee San’, this drama focuses more on melodrama details and emotions.” According to what he said, he wanted to show a romantic historical drama that moderately combines the youthful and modern atmosphere together but does not consider the details too lightly.
Starting with a rating of 5.7% for the first episode, “The Red Sleeve” has witnessed a steady rise in its viewership of every episode and emerged as a tough opponent to other dramas of the same broadcasting time on weekends. Reaching 9.4% after the airing of the 6th episode, the rating of this drama is expected to continue increasing even more.
With the support of several veteran middle-aged actors, such as Lee Deok-hwa and Kim Ji-young, Lee Se-young and Lee Jun-ho are leading the drama well as the main characters.
Lee Se-young portrays her main character’s image in a smart and confident way but also shows her lovely side in acting. Meanwhile, 2PM member Lee Jun-ho, who has much experience in dramas and movies, also immerses himself in this historical drama with his stable acting and voice tone. The chemistry of the two is also shining.
It is expected that “The Red Sleeve” will continue to record the highest viewership and remain to be a well-made drama with high ratings, popular topic mentions, and high qualities.
