I love happy ending dramas with a romance line, but sometimes a drama comes along that doesn't put a ring on it and walk it down the aisle, and leaves the relationship open-ended, and if that's done well, I love that, too! Here are some examples of what I'm talking about and what I'm not talking about, spoiler tagged to avoid major spoilers. I'm looking for endings like Big, The Untamed, The Devil Judge, A Korean Odyssey, Crash Landing On You and Guardian:
Most of these ambiguous endings are because there's something forbidden about the relationship, but that element isn't a requirement for me. I love action romance in particular.
This is what I'm looking for:
Big: Romance between a male lead who is too young (in my opinion) and a teacher. Then there's body switching, so the male lead ends up in an adult man's body. All the romance building happens between the body switched male lead and the teacher. Then at the end (body switch having been revealed and resolved), the female lead looks up into the ML's face with an expression on her face that is... new? wondering? attracted?
The Untamed: That last shot of Wei Wuxian's face, full of delight, can be interpreted as meaning that the two leads have met again and will accompany each other for the rest of their adventurous lives. But the previous scene has them parting ways, and while Wei Wuxian is happy, you don't see the person he is smiling at. I'm not too worried, though, because I know they're only making it ambiguous because of censorship.
The Devil Judge: The drama depicts a gay relationship using a dual role performance, a megaton of innuendo, and by depicting the second male lead's heterosexual relationship as passionless and vulnerable in the context of the dangerous world of the "Devil Judge." The last shot is a direct visual quote of The Untamed, with Kim Ga On's face full of delight as he presumably looks at Kang Yo Han.
A Korean Odyssey: The FL has been sent to the underworld. But this ending is upbeat, because the ML is Sun Wu Kong aka the Monkey King aka the baddest supernatural baddass in the history of supernatural badassery. It is not head canon to believe that the underworld will soon undergo an unscheduled demolition.
Guardian: This is either a tragic or a bittersweet or an ambiguous ending, depending on your point of view. The couple-coded MLs are dead, and they have a pact to meet again. But there is more than a glimmer of hope. Given the supernatural elements, it's reasonable to believe that they will reunite. After all, Shen Wei has previously waited 10,000 years to get back together with Zhao Yunlan. And readers of the novel know that it has a happy ending. And virtually everyone knows that the only reason the drama ends with the MLs deceased is to get around the censors.
Crash Landing On You: They're together, they're happy, they're in Switzerland! No idea if it's a stolen weekend once a year or a permanent residence! And that's cool, because the drama's going all North-South symbolism here. It works for me, anyway.
This is NOT what I'm looking for:
Search: WWW: Happy for now. The leads have a huge unresolved issue, which is that he yearns to start a family, and she is absolutely determined to focus 100% on her career and on living fiercely. They're back together because of passion, but the clock is ticking.
Secret Love Affair: Tragic. The female lead has bargained away her chance to avoid a long prison sentence in order to save the male lead from a scandal that would end his budding career as a concert pianist. I could make up head canon about her getting a reduced sentence, as the ML is still very much in love with her. And she has reclaimed her soul from the chaebols, which is a big plus for their relationship. But that would be head canon, and doesn't sync with the drama's message.
The Double: Tragic, despite some ambiguity from it being poetically filmed. The bonus episode showing the couple happily married is unconvincing and was only added because of audience pressure.
Vagabond: Cliffhanger that teases a second season - which never materialized. I haven't seen Vagabond, but I'm aware of viewer complaints about the ending, and an internet search reveals that the main leads are not together at the end, and some plot threads are left dangling.
Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol: Unconvincing happy ending. I dropped this drama because the beginning seemed too melodramatic for me, and the Fl too pathetic. It's one thing if the FL is initially beleaguered by bad people, but the fact that she and her father seemed too innocent for this world made too many alarms go off. I stayed away because I saw a lot of unhappy audience reactions to the ending.