InspectorMegre

No, not all kdramas have negative messages like this one... ... I am not sure if you are referring to just rom coms or any kdramas? There are higher quality rom coms...
But I am not sure what YOU like.
I like dramas with redemption arc, with character growth, which means - clear communication, being honest, resolving problems, being equal partners, working as a good team, warmth, lightness, humor, empathy, etc etc etc... I love dramas that make me think and learn something, and even have fun. I like kdramas that address true and higher orms of love and have deep and constructive messages in an interesting story. I dislike TMI skinship bc it is essentially voyerism and I have full trust that our drama characters definitely know what to do, and i rather use drama time for some interesting fun plot....
I love great love stories, family stories, creative stories.. . AND THERE ARE PLENTY KDRAMAS THAT IMPRESSED ME! I watched mostly kdramas for warmth, lightnss, sophistication, creativity and humor... imo cdramas are too crude, mostly survival oriented and lack humor and lightness... but when Chinese make something great, nobody else has anything that deep... like movie Xuan Zhang.... Hong Kong is awesome too, movie maker Stephen Chow has all amazing movies.... and jdramas tend to be either too simple or too ... perv. Sorry. The art of Yudo, Only for Married and Romantics Anonymous are rare jdrama rom coms I liked. Thai dramas can be fun but also can be quite lewd. Sorry. One of my fav movies is Thai movie youth rom com That Little Thing Called Love, absolutely lovely.

So I am gonna write from the top of my head the Kdramas that have extremely memorable plot and scenes that are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond grabbing someone's hand and pinning them to the wall or TMI skinship...... with a rich guy

So... this is kdramas I liked ... .. from the top of my head...
Let's start with rom coms.... Right now I am thinking classic oldies like What's Wrong with Secretary Kim and Fight My Way - they are legendary classic rom coms that are pretty high quality ... .... WWWSK is the cold CEO and his employee but ... the script is *smart* and positive.... I totally loved drama Love so Divine LOL I love teenage rom coms and family dramas... One of my favorites of all times is Twinkling Watermellon... I am a musician and dancer and one of the best performances I have ever seen in my life is the scene when Young Dad sings Man In Yellow Shirt for his love intrest - who hates him LOL That was his first time ever on stage and the deal is, if he performs well, she will be his girlfriend.... If you want to see a guy in super hot pursuit, there he is!!!! He is sooo alive and vibrant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z9avVTnZ8M Another memorable unique rom com is My Sweet Mobster... and young ppl rom com/melo Growing Season... and small town rom com Small Town Cha Cha Cha....
I love fantasies. My Roommate is a Gumiho is a very very deep rom com, one of my favorites ever... talks about overcoming an addiction to attention via s.x.... Goblin is a great rom com too... talks about a very caring and moral man who waits for his love to grow up...For older people, "rom com" Heavenly Ever After... I love c-k-rom com Making Family... korean boy with Chinese dad... Oh.. also... My Wife is a Gangster... korean small male gangster and chinese female gangster boss... LOL has hillarious translation scenes... that is like slapstick comedy LOL
Familiar Wife is a reaaaly fun "tim travel rom com" for people in long term relationships... Legend of The Blue Sea rom com with a mermaid... and My Love From ANother Star rom com with the alien Min Do LOL that rom com sometimes gets too stupid since FL is not quite smart, but it has fun with the alien so it is worth it...

I dislike rom coms Mr Queen and Coffee Prince bc they are based on lying and I did not find the lying funny at all. Big is another rom com that is ok but not great. There is Kill Me Heal Me totally crazy - literally! - romcom. I was not thrilled but you might like it. There are tons and tons of older rom coms like that....

There are so many other comical kdramas that are not rom coms, like... High School Return of a Gangster... the very deep Familyhood movie....
and the comments of the MDL audience after the last episode of Twelve LMAO It was wickedly shredding the drama that 100% flopped, I dont remember anyone who liked that drama - but how they expressed it was ... omg humorous - so polite and so ... on the point ...

Recently on the lighter rom commy side, I liked Haunted Palace (minus the horror - I fast forwarded through that) bc Imugi and Shaman both transformed and worked as a great team.... and Imugi in human body was sooooooo!!!! fun LOL Bon Apettit ML copied him... .... yeah Bon Apettit is ok, it is worth watching just to see the ML bc he is sooooo fun, so vibrant and having fun acting makjang..

I loved gay and straight romances and friends in Hesu from Class 2... it was so tasteful and so modern and deep, and FL is so wise
I even though First Night with Duke wasnt toooo bad.... the cartoon ML turned out to be human... and FL was competent... My Dearest Nemesis started very immature but the drama discussed some bad stereotyping and that couple ended up very equal and communicating extremely clearly, such a great team... that FL was so competent... My Troubled Star was somewhat cringey but not too bad either, it had some amazingly deep scenes .... Undercover Hgh School was quite cute.... Moon River right now is all right for most part and has excellent acting so it can count as "fun"...

I love little heavier but totally comedic kdramas... like Dream Life of Mr. Kim, a perfect masterpiece, and Don't Call me Ma'am ... They are comical about very heavy subjects, and DCMM has the classic hormonal story inside too... .... Both should be made into more episodes..
Right now, I am floored by Love Me kdrama- the plot the acting the music .. they set up the story in just 2 episodes and if they can show how the ppl grew from it, it will become a classic masterpiece drama.. ., It is somewhat related to american movie Ordinary People...
I adore creative stories and excellent acting in kdrama Love Track...
I love even the "creative experiments" kdramas that try to bring some important messages, like S-lines although it is not the best filmed drama... Walking on Thin Ice was amazing too... Second Shot at Love was not fantastic but it tried to cover recovery from alcoholism with humor...
I also like the "quiet" rom coms without drama..... Love Scout was impressive relationship of two functional adults...

I love psychological thrillers with love stories or family stories...
There are TONS of other older kdramas that are super deep and amazing and go into true love concepts, like ... My Mister, My Wfe is Having an Affair This Week, Discovery of Love, King and the Clown, thrillers Again my Life, Flower of Evil, Mother, etc etc etc .... Because This is My First Life is a modern one and quite all right UNTIL THE VERY END when it turns into some very evil selfish cultural destruction messages... ditching family ties, etc.
I love family kdramas... good ones are hard to come by but are worth it. A Family drama has 50 episodes and can cover multigenerational and many-people plots in detail... Once Again, My Father is Strange, all but the end of Iron Family, Five Enough, are all comical and tragical and everything LOL I even found some great dailies... Queen's House after ep 30 is quite decent. Ep1-30 can be squished into like ... 5 episodes of FL being super dumb naive blind...

but see these are MY tastes so you need to find your own...

and the only way really is to do some research... If you like to watch kdramas, you gonna be busy for a long time. I havent watched even 20% of the old masterpieces I wish to watch...

Watching a current drama is fun bc of comments from the audience, imo that really helps to see other points of view, however, there are so many masterpiece oldies worth watching on your own. A good place to start is MDL list of top 100, then dramabeans has their list of what audience picked and what moderators picked, then there are blogs with top 10 .... rom coms, melos, etc etc etc. Viki reviews are usually pretty accurate... MDL reviews are usually accurate from a teenager's point of view ...

So ... good luck hunting, I am sure you will find what YOU like!!!! the sea is big, cast your net wide!

Yeah both mother and daughter did wrong for 7 years... Did I write a review or only a post... ?

I suggest watching american movie Ordinary People from 1980, that is where you will find the answers to your questions

This drama shows what NOT to do :) Hopefully they will transform

This is 1950s drama... an overbearing CEO and a powerless meek KIND sexy dumb poor woman under his control.... His sexual harassment at work, and her constant lying .... and TMI frequent skinship .... good only for 18-24yr old state of mind in the "blind hormonal phase"

This drama is a double whammy brainwashing bc it teaches women that being powerless, clumzy, dumb, lying, etc etc but KIND and SEXY will somehow bring them Mr. Sugar Daddy who will always take care of them like a ... father figure who also has great s.x with them. But being like that is exactly what keeps these same women powerless LOL This drama is the fantasy that will keep women down, and fired, and marrying anyone persistent, and geting dumped and divorced fast. This drama is a total delulu

Oh this is sooo cute!!! the acting is great and the stories are so creative.
But too short :) I want to see what happened AFTER

this has potential as there are many single moms with sons

is this a drama or some kind of reality show... ?

yeah tons of cheesiness, fluff and silliness from 1950s - I am using 50s as a metaphor, this is actually 1850s drama...

So many are upset that CEO slapped a (female) employee - a scene from 1950s...
but not upset that team leader / director / whatever his big shot job is called ML threw an important work report into a swimming pool, pinned FL to the wall, yelled at her to quit, keeps grabbing her wrist, trying to kiss her, touches her all the time, etc etc etc? also all scenes from 1950s...

HOW ARE THESE TWO MEN BEHAVING DIFFERENTLY? it is all under harassment at work, including sexual harassment

"yes but ML loves her" - ooooh doesnt that sound ... biased? and .... too.... naive?

bc of tons of cheesiness, fluff and silliness from 1950s and it is year 2025 right now

There were some... Off the bat examples... Dream Life of Mr Kim... Walking on Thin Ice.... I would even say Haunted House....

yeah tons of cheesiness, fluff and silliness from 1950s

yeah tons of cheesiness, fluff and silliness from 1950s

It is kids voting it up. This is 18-24yr old women drama, and youngsters are more likely to rate

bc in first few episodes, FL was free and active and contributing
Later, she became a pale wall flower, lying all the time, and he became her knight in the shining armor.
A climzy dumb loser girl and a sugar daddy saving her all the time is just NOT sexy by definition. ML ACTED AS THE FATHER OF FL

The Cinderella story here of overbearing CEO falling for a kind but LOSER trepid girl is the classic trope in most c-dramas and k-dramas

It is the most sexist delulu dream that kills two birds with one stone... It is catch 22...

it is a dream of a powerless person (the woman) somehow winning in the old boys game by being in the brainwashing she was trained in, the brainwashing intended to keep her a powerless pion in that game.

So that trope brainwashes women to stay obedient, kind, dumb, losers, poor, and gives them a bait delulu dream that it is possible to "win" like that.

This is totally deviously evil.

DK promotes dangerous ideas... So many naive women who think DK is hot are going to get fired by the same boss who initially hit on them (either bc they refused him, did not accept him fast enough, stepped on his toes as his lover, he woke up on the wrong side of bed, he got tired of them, the other women competing with him will frame her or gain his favor, and/or he found a new girl toy). And, so many passive women are gonna marry a guy in hot pursuit only to see him quit putting so much effort and get a divorce 1-3 yrs later

That is why this is called drama for 18-24yr old women. A typical one has no or very little life experience and will fall for the hormones without thinking, it is all new and too enticing, so women of this age group and/or mentality are the primary target of predators.

i learned some korean today thanks to you... LOL This is useful. thank you

I have a better summary of this drama: young adult FL and her mother together cause an accident with devastating consequences, and then hate and blame each other for it; daughter actively and openly, and mother indirectly and passively. This issue is the PINK ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM that the whole family tiptoes around. The dad and son never challenge the two women and try to keep the pretense of a nice family. Out of "consideration", the dad essentially chains himself to his bitter abusive wife's side for 7 years, while daughter abandons the family and the son lives his own life as a parasite in the parents' house.

We see two parents who tried hard to keep up an image of exemplary parents who do everything for their kids. The accident exposed the parents as robots on automatic pilot, not thinking what they were doing and not ready to be responsible for the consequences. The accident exposed that the kids turned out entitled and disfuctional, the daughter ended up as essentially a chronic mental case, and the son is essentially a drifter. The accident exposed that the parents and the marriage were so weak. And all out of refusing self reflection. self accountability and communication.

Then... there is a crack in this game, and a new game starts, but are the players changed enough to behave differently and create a diferent, better results.... ?

yes it is weird how he courts her... Remember, he already saw her many times...

and what is most weird, FL never asks any questions about him. She states she "knows" some info about him and never asks him for any info.

Notice that it is her usual pattern of being a very weak person, a coward, of someone who tries to get without giving, someone who NEVER self reflects nor communicates. The first meager attempt at that was phoning her dead mother to say she didnt tell her to come, but it is faaaar from where an adult needs to be

FL by definition, bc how she *is* now, cannot attract any decent man

see the post in Discussions

usually what annoys us is either what we are but dont admit it, or what we wish to be and think we cannot have it; or some issues we feel deeply about
in any case you better find out what it is

bc it makes you pay attention to their acting. The costume is the same, but the acting is super different.
It is actually quite delightful to find out they swapped, it is like a surprise twist. It makes the drama more fun.
Also, there are usually warnings and by now you know that every time they get cut and use water....

So this drama is not for audience that turned their brain off.