I felt like the classic K-drama sagueks were long drawn out Shakespearean dynasty founding, era changing court battles There was some fighting but it was mostly talking and plotting. Then youth sageuks made it all seem like high school but in Joseon garb, with little of the gritty can die at any moment tension. But in the last decade the two have merged so there can be sweetness of young love but also the reality that shit in the olden days was dangerous, dirty, and even the rich and powerful can’t fight against disease and sickness. Upcoming KBS sageuk Red Single Heart just dropped the first poster and teaser and it really does remind in all the good ways of recently successful sageuk The Red Sleeve Cuff. The leads have chemistry and gravitas but it’s subsumed by the miasma of how treacherous their world is.

Teaser for Red Single Heart: