But the female lead has emotional connections with everyone around her, hetfellow business partners who she calls…
I know these dramas tend to have some shallow plot to make these tropes justified but there is a reason why most cdramas tend to start good then become uninteresting and dumb as the show goes on. These tropes are often the main reason for that as they show up after initial epsiodes and can potentially spoil the entire show for some viewers.
This is another drama where scriptwriters can only show fl as ambitious and strong by making her only care about her life/carrer/independent and be indifferent towards the ml, then have fl share screen time with 2ml/3rd to make ml jealous. Ironically the ml in this type of dramas always start with strong and powerful person with ambition, then the moment he falls in love, the scriptwriters take away all his ambition and turn him into a pathetic simp who cannot live without the fl.
I would be fine with this type of trope if fl ends up alone as or even with 2ml/3ml but it's obvious this won't ever happen at all which make me wonder why this trope exists in most of the dramas recently? I asked chat gpt and it gave a very descriptive answer, posted the response below.
Gender Stereotypes: Historically, female characters were either portrayed as weak or dependent, so emphasizing the female lead’s career or ambition became a way to make her "strong" or independent. However, this often leads to an extreme where her ambition is her only defining trait, and emotional connections, especially with the male lead, are sidelined.
Conflict-Driven Drama: Love triangles or jealousy plots are a go-to for creating tension. Having the female lead focused on her career while another male enters the picture creates easy conflict, which can be appealing for a broad audience. It also adds emotional complexity for the male lead, who feels the pressure of competition.
Simplified Character Arcs: Rather than allowing both leads to develop holistically, scriptwriters sometimes fall into the trap of reducing characters for plot purposes. The male lead, originally introduced as ambitious and strong, is often reduced to being "obsessed" with the female lead to amplify the drama. Meanwhile, the female lead’s emotional distance is often used to highlight her independence, without giving her more depth.
Romantic Obsession: The "pathetic simp" portrayal of the male lead feeds into a narrative where a man’s ambition is sidelined for love. This overemphasizes romance as the pinnacle of his character's arc, weakening his original traits, which were often shown as powerful or successful.
That is the way it will be for most female centric dramas I have watched Like wise for male centric dramas that…
What you have mentioned is probably the biggest reason why I was not able to finish even a single drama this year. The last two dramas which I finished and enjoyed was Hidden love and When I Fly Towards You, both these dramas don't have the issues you mentioned.
I'm on episode 19, thinking of dropping this show. The first 10 episodes were entertaining then it becomes repetitive and boring. The romance is very disappointing as I felt the fml had no chemistry with the ml and her acting also was weak as she had like two expressions throughout the drama. skipped most of the romance scenes in the second part of the show.
Other than the excellent first episode, the rest of the show is underwhelming and kinda boring. All characters felt one dimensional and romance was worse. The male lead character was totally unnecessary to the overall plot. He served no purpose other than being a love interest for the fl which also sucked as they didn't have any chemistry. High ratings in this website really tricked me into watching this drama
What's so bad about being independent? Also not all girls like cooking or good at cooking. If a guy is offer to…
I agree with what you said. If a drama had that scenario you mentioned, most people here would have called the ml toxic/red flag, fml a doormat and a negative rating will be given. Most of these drams tend to have a simp ml who just exists for the sole reason to be the love interest for the fml.
Will this be another xu kai drama where his role will have less screen time than secondary leads and having no character development throughout the show other than being just a love interest to the fl.
Dropped, I typically enjoy shows which invoke a sense of nostalgia but this one turned out to be disappointing as I am not convinced of 30 year old actress playing a 17 years old character and the 22 years old male actor playing as a 30 years old character in the present timeline. So, the romance development between them in both the past and present timeline is awkward, it feels like an older sister caring for her young brother. Also, the storytelling is in parallel format where it switches between the present and past timeline for every few minutes which I find Immersion breaking and a bad way to tell a story of this type.
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I would be fine with this type of trope if fl ends up alone as or even with 2ml/3ml but it's obvious this won't ever happen at all which make me wonder why this trope exists in most of the dramas recently? I asked chat gpt and it gave a very descriptive answer, posted the response below.
Gender Stereotypes: Historically, female characters were either portrayed as weak or dependent, so emphasizing the female lead’s career or ambition became a way to make her "strong" or independent. However, this often leads to an extreme where her ambition is her only defining trait, and emotional connections, especially with the male lead, are sidelined.
Conflict-Driven Drama: Love triangles or jealousy plots are a go-to for creating tension. Having the female lead focused on her career while another male enters the picture creates easy conflict, which can be appealing for a broad audience. It also adds emotional complexity for the male lead, who feels the pressure of competition.
Simplified Character Arcs: Rather than allowing both leads to develop holistically, scriptwriters sometimes fall into the trap of reducing characters for plot purposes. The male lead, originally introduced as ambitious and strong, is often reduced to being "obsessed" with the female lead to amplify the drama. Meanwhile, the female lead’s emotional distance is often used to highlight her independence, without giving her more depth.
Romantic Obsession: The "pathetic simp" portrayal of the male lead feeds into a narrative where a man’s ambition is sidelined for love. This overemphasizes romance as the pinnacle of his character's arc, weakening his original traits, which were often shown as powerful or successful.