Eleison

Oh, my post was about the male leads. :) But yeah, that's why I wasn't a huge fan of Suspicious Partner. The FL (love the actress) was not my favorite the way she was written.

I usually do, too. :)

First rule of a Kdrama ML is they are pure and inexperienced in love OR they have become reformed at some point for some reason. They vary in personality: clumsy, kindhearted doormat to cold, stand offish, misunderstood jerk, etc., but this purity is standard. That's why I said these men don't exist in real life in my last post to you. :) If you keep watching Kdramas, you'll see. This is just the stereotype, and you will probably continue to get frustrated if you will expect the men to be different. Also, there are love triangles in 90% of romantic Kdramas. If you stick to non-romance genres of Kdramas, you will probably enjoy the way men are written a bit more (just a hunch, I could be wrong!). More of those non-romance dramas are also written by men. :)

I gave this analogy to another user who was frustrated with their experience of 'the formula' in Kdrama: if you eat the same candy that's wrapped differently each time, expecting the candy to taste different, sadly, it will still taste the same.

I think healing dramas can have generally two different moods: 1) life is hard and there's no fixing that but maybe it will get a tad brighter with you and these other people who love me (but yeah, there's no getting around the fact that life is rough (i.e. My Mister, When The Weather Is Fine, Missing: The Other Side, the Good Bad Mother, etc.)) and 2) life was really hard and awful but it can get so much better and end up being sweet because of these people's love for me (i.e. True Beauty, HCCC, Castaway Diva, My Lovely Liar, Oh My Venus, Go Back Couple, etc.)

Appreciate you taking the time, that was thoughtful of you!

😂😂😂 Hasn't there been sufficient time for the fans to grow up (I mean literally, not figuratively) and come to terms with the quality of those movies? 😉 Hopefully you're safe.

Same! I think for a lot of people, this was our "Gateway Drama." 😂

The first 8 episodes are definitely the best. :)

👍 Thanks. :)

Yes, maybe that will still happen! 😏

Ooh, when push comes to shove that's kind of hard. I'm going to cheat and break them up between modern and sageuk (sageuks are historical dramas and fusion sageuks are historical-ish dramas with anachronistic or fantasy elements (like #1 or #5 below under Sageuk)):

Modern:
1. While You Were Sleeping (an almost perfect Kdrama in every way; never get tired of revisiting it)
2. Dr. Romantic 2 (1st season is good, too, but I liked this season better and rewatch it more)
3. Crash Landing On You (my first Kdrama, with a special place in my heart, and I can keep watching it a million times)
4. I Can Hear Your Voice (beautiful themes and Episode 17 has one of my favorite scenes in any Kdrama)
5. Stranger or I'm Not A Robot (very different dramas, haha; INAR is fluffy and cute and Stranger is poignant, twisty and powerful as well as heartbreaking and lovely)

Honorable mentions cause I can't help it:
-School 2013
-Strong Woman Do Bong Soon
-Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
-The King2Hearts (I skip all the ridiculous villain scenes until near the end when he becomes important to the plot, cause his earlier scenes are too cringey)
-Reply 1988 (after the first 5 episodes, it's long)
-My Father Is Strange (more of a soapy makjang, called a family drama cause it follows a whole family, so lots of characters and storylines, and VERY long, but the last 1/3 is deeply satisfying)
-Racket Boys (slice of life and pure coziness)

Sageuk:
1. Alchemy of Souls (both parts) (just so colorful and unique with super fun world-building)
2. Under The Queen's Umbrella (The queen in this is an amazing character and the brothers are precious)
3. Rebel: Thief Who Stole The People (super fun to watch them build a character arc over many episodes with lots of adorable bromance, but it's long)
4. Warrior Baek Dong Soo (Ji Chang Wook when he's young and very lovable alongside his character's frenemy, played by Yoo Seung Ho)
5. Splash Splash Love (only 3 episodes) (cute and short but their chemistry is very good)

More than you asked for...

But someone in a rough place might just want to avoid a drama called "Death's Game," anyway, no? Even the title and synopsis should be a trigger warning. And saying a drama can't wrestle with various views of suicide because it might trigger someone is like saying a drama shouldn't have domestic abuse or sexual assault as part of the plot because it might trigger someone. It's a messy issue, and entertainment has never pretended to offer therapy sessions, nor should it. That's why viewers should choose their entertainment with discretion. :)

I think @Coolforsummer coined the phrase "Boys Over Samdal" to describe their friendship, and I'm totally using that moving forward to describe them. 😂 And it's apt because there was a love triangle in the foursome in BOFs, too! (AND in Reply 1988, which is another drama this friendship makes me think of!). 😅

@Jason88 Oh, so many good ones yet to be discovered. 😏 I would recommend Kdramas by the screenwriter who wrote Castaway Diva. Her other dramas are similar but have more romance and are not as controversial or painful in theme as Start-Up (two of hers are in my top five out of the 100+ Kdramas I've seen). Their production quality is a bit lower (except While You Were Sleeping) because they came out before Kdramas got sleek. 😏 Also, the "Popular Dramas" list here on MDL is another good place to start as they're usually popular for a reason. Some are overrated but they have become classics because so many people love them despite their flaws (like Boys Over Flowers (the Thai version is my favorite, but the Korean one is a drama Rite Of Passage, you've got to experience the toxic lovely mess that it is), Goblin (be warned, it's sad) or Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, etc.). Enjoy the journey, but make sure to get sleep! 😋

@Maesmustang I find emotions run higher when a drama is airing or has just finished airing. It's hard to land justified and objective critiques of a drama until someone has seen the whole thing, cause at this point we're all still stabbing in the dark about what this will ultimately be and where it will end up (apart from the ML ending up with the FL; that's, of course, a given 😁). Some have already decided they don't like it (which happens to everyone; you get partway through and then lose interest), and they just really want us all to know why. 😂 My guess is they're fishing for people who agree with them (I want people to agree with me, too, it feels nice) and instead people are getting personally attacked for their gripes and it understandably ruffles feathers.

Here's a thought: we should see if MDL can create three comment threads for every drama. One, for those who want to gush about it, a second, for people who thought it was meh, and a third, for people who deeply disliked it. Then only those who agree with each other would have to interact. 🤣 Ah, isn't the internet lovely?

Also, I've enjoyed the humor in your comments. The most recent one made me really laugh (the one about how you don't trust a Kdrama to be a Kdrama without the SML watching the ML and FL kiss or hug). 🤣🤣🤣 So true!

Yes, I'll continue to wait it out to see. :)

Definitely difficult. *sigh* I lurked on this site for years before I joined as a member as I would use it to pick dramas, and one of the things that grieved me the most were all the personal attacks. My rule for myself when joining was that I would try to do something very un-internet-like and just be nice to people no matter how mean they were back. I joined the site because I wanted to enter into the enjoyment of connecting with people about something we have a shared love for, not personally attack people who disagreed with me. Needless to say, it has been interesting to watch what's happened, because people don't expect kindness and usually soften up a lot and sometimes even get a little sheepish. I had a user send me a friend request after a little back-and-forth session because they were surprised at how nice I was after they went all gangbusters on me. 😅 They even went back and deleted their own comments. Someone gave me good advice once and I try to remember it whenever I can: "People are not their ideas." And I also try to remember that if they sound negative and toxic in their comments, they're probably miserable people already and I'd just be adding coals to their sad little fire if I aggravated them.

Sometimes people also mistake bluntness for rudeness or fail to catch on to the humor in a comment. And I wonder sometimes if subtlety or tone is lost in translation at times on this site, too, since not everyone here is from English-speaking countries. 🤷‍♀️

I suppose these are the risks we face venturing on to a public forum! The internet is toxic everywhere else, too, as anonymity tends to breed monsters. 😈 It's the air we're breathing!

I agree with these reasons. Well-put!

@CatoCat Yep, true, and I can guess most Kdrama rom-com endings without even watching the trailer! 😏 And that's what I mean by 'copy and paste' and 'a formula.' Copy and paste as in the basic plot or premise, where they then change up details, characters, scenarios, mix and match different tropes, etc. for a different flavor, theme or emphasis each time.

I will say, I admire your perseverance in trying to find a Kdrama that does not copy and paste, but my hunch is your efforts will be largely frustrated. That said, Netflix seems to be experimenting with the 'Kdrama formula' more lately so maybe your search will land you some original gems. :) I've also heard Korean movies are much more experimental. Anyway, all the best! 😊