Sounds like it will really be my cup of tea, so rather than add it to my PTWL I added it to my currently watching. As soon as i am done with Bloody Romance, I will watch it!
Wow, thank you so much for taking your time in writing such a detailed article. This was such an insightful article…
Thank you for reading and leaving a comment! I am glad you enjoyed it and thatmy explanations were easy to follow :).
I 100% agree that this drama was beautifully crafted and that everyone did an excellent job! Of course, Joon Hue Yae was portrayed amazingly and really implanted tension and anxiousness into every scene!
I really wanted to like this season, but I felt it was the weakest out of the three. Unfortunate, given I had high expectations. So it's a 7.5 for me, with low re-watch value.
Although I would probably watch a season 4, I will not be holding my breath.
YASSSS thankyou for this comment! I am going to screenshot and save so I can come back to it when I am looking…
I'm still invested (in The Nokdu Flower). If you're looking for the romance aspect, maybe you'll feel it drags? But otherwise, I actually feel like a lot of things are happening with each, which makes me feel like the story is always moving along at a nice pace. I will say that it starts kind of slow and builds the story from there.
As to Doctor Prisoner, that one had a strange pace. I liked it, don't get me wrong. But I found I couldn't watch more than 1 or maybe two episodes a day because I kept falling asleep! So it's certainly a series I wouldn't recommend to watch if you're tired.
YASSSS thankyou for this comment! I am going to screenshot and save so I can come back to it when I am looking…
You're welcome!
The only one I'd say isn't as clear cut is The Nokdu Flower is an interesting case. Two brothers, both in opposite sides of the moral spectrum. Yet slowly, they evolve and move within that spectrum (I'm purposely being vague to avoid spoilers). So there's a lot of grey areas to them. Add to that a fantastic Female Lead who stands in I'd say a moral grey ground, and you have a good recipe for getting invested! In a way, I'd say the FL is also somewhat of an anti-hero, which is hardly the case when it comes to K-dramas.
And certainly! Doctor Prisoner was a drama that really stood out! I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it!
Awesome article, Jeana! And I agree with those of the list I know about (you showcased three characters from dramas I have yet to watch)! Other dramas with ML that may fit the bill of a "bad boy" that come to mind are:
>>"Doctor Prisoner" | On par with Doctor's Son, I'd say! And you get the same "Cruel City" vibes with this show. It was amazing! >> "Kill It" >>"Cheese in the Trap" >> "The Nokdu Flower" >>"The Ghost Detective" >>"The Last Empress" | Though they did him bad towards the end :(. >>"Voice" >>"Voice 2 & 3" (different ML from Voice) >>"A Beautiful Mind" >>"A Korean Odyssey" | the story is all over the place, but this guy and the 2ML (demon king) just kept me coming back for more while it was airing. >>"Bad Papa" | sad that the second half was weak and the ending was quite uninspiring, though.
Haha this article actually got me to go tag a few dramas. I noticed that the tagging systems seems to be updated…
Thank you for reading! I'm glad it prompted you to tag shows! Hopefully we will see a rise in tags to make it easier to find dramas through the filters :).
Strong FL that I love: The Last Empress, Mr. Sunshine (both FL and support FL are strong!), Grand Prince, General…
I've still have yet to watch Mr. Sunshine, but I have heard great things! Are the other 4 dramas you mentioned Chinese? I think someone else also recommended General & I.
I looked through my drama list to check in how many shows the female lead is actually male lead's boss or generally…
Thank you very much for reading!
>Boss FL Save for "Signal" I haven't seen any of those dramas yet. Recent dramas such as "Big Issue" & "Angel's Last Mission" however also positions the FL as the ML's boss. So here's to hoping that we'll get to see more Female Leads in a position of power!
>Imbalance of Power Indeed. I've always felt like women in most dramas were given much less power than the ML. Or rather, that the ML was given power over the FL. However, it dawned on me how many times I've seen this imbalance once I started writing this article. One thing is to have a feeling, the other is to be slapped in the face with data confirming that feeling.
>Childhood Connection Oh, you're not the only one surprised by the data regarding this plot device. As I mentioned further down, I suspect many dramas may not have been tagged. Either that or the scenario has become a recent trend.
A quick search regarding 2019 Romance Dramas shows: 13/55 (1 more drama has been tagged since I checked last week) have been tagged with "Childhood Friends", which is a whopping 23%. Only 4 have been tagged with "Childhood Acquaintance" and still none with "Childhood Love".
So, in all, 16/55 Dramas (because one drama had both tags) have a childhood connection related tag. That's 29% percent of the Romance Dramas added to MDL in 2019! Which means that from every 10 dramas, 3 will use this scenario.
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I 100% agree that this drama was beautifully crafted and that everyone did an excellent job! Of course, Joon Hue Yae was portrayed amazingly and really implanted tension and anxiousness into every scene!
Although I would probably watch a season 4, I will not be holding my breath.
As to Doctor Prisoner, that one had a strange pace. I liked it, don't get me wrong. But I found I couldn't watch more than 1 or maybe two episodes a day because I kept falling asleep! So it's certainly a series I wouldn't recommend to watch if you're tired.
The only one I'd say isn't as clear cut is The Nokdu Flower is an interesting case. Two brothers, both in opposite sides of the moral spectrum. Yet slowly, they evolve and move within that spectrum (I'm purposely being vague to avoid spoilers). So there's a lot of grey areas to them. Add to that a fantastic Female Lead who stands in I'd say a moral grey ground, and you have a good recipe for getting invested! In a way, I'd say the FL is also somewhat of an anti-hero, which is hardly the case when it comes to K-dramas.
And certainly! Doctor Prisoner was a drama that really stood out! I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it!
>>"Doctor Prisoner" | On par with Doctor's Son, I'd say! And you get the same "Cruel City" vibes with this show. It was amazing!
>> "Kill It"
>>"Cheese in the Trap"
>> "The Nokdu Flower"
>>"The Ghost Detective"
>>"The Last Empress" | Though they did him bad towards the end :(.
>>"Voice"
>>"Voice 2 & 3" (different ML from Voice)
>>"A Beautiful Mind"
>>"A Korean Odyssey" | the story is all over the place, but this guy and the 2ML (demon king) just kept me coming back for more while it was airing.
>>"Bad Papa" | sad that the second half was weak and the ending was quite uninspiring, though.
>Boss FL
Save for "Signal" I haven't seen any of those dramas yet. Recent dramas such as "Big Issue" & "Angel's Last Mission" however also positions the FL as the ML's boss. So here's to hoping that we'll get to see more Female Leads in a position of power!
>Imbalance of Power
Indeed. I've always felt like women in most dramas were given much less power than the ML. Or rather, that the ML was given power over the FL. However, it dawned on me how many times I've seen this imbalance once I started writing this article. One thing is to have a feeling, the other is to be slapped in the face with data confirming that feeling.
>Childhood Connection
Oh, you're not the only one surprised by the data regarding this plot device. As I mentioned further down, I suspect many dramas may not have been tagged. Either that or the scenario has become a recent trend.
A quick search regarding 2019 Romance Dramas shows: 13/55 (1 more drama has been tagged since I checked last week) have been tagged with "Childhood Friends", which is a whopping 23%. Only 4 have been tagged with "Childhood Acquaintance" and still none with "Childhood Love".
So, in all, 16/55 Dramas (because one drama had both tags) have a childhood connection related tag. That's 29% percent of the Romance Dramas added to MDL in 2019! Which means that from every 10 dramas, 3 will use this scenario.