Alma

I loved most of the shows you've mentioned, ( I haven't watched two of them) I also liked these shows if you haven't already watched them: Awaken( the 2020 Korean drama), Extracurricular, 365: Repeat the Year. I can't say I really love these two but they kept me entertained: Mouse, Flower of evil.

Happy endings for assaulters? they shouldn't have romanticized this matter in the first place. I hope they finally get done with the unpleasant idea that falling for the one who assaults you ( in any way possible ) is fine because most certainly it won't be a healthy relationship. Thank god there are fewer dramas like this these days.

True. Once is enjoyable, the second time you can tolerate it but after that when something so annoying becomes a trend you beg the question, isn't that too much??

Female or male, I hate the way they are portrayed so unrealistically, and a lot of times I feel more for them than the main characters, not because they are on the better side because I can see the struggle, the pain, and the agony that they hold inside and that makes them more like us, real people, rather than those always wronged, always justified, always kind, never did wrong and beautiful mannequins behind the windowpane presented to us, aka main characters, untrue.
I consider myself a person who tries really hard not to follow the crowd. So, actually, I always try to take my gender's side and don't look at the female villain characters that way.
I just can't stand how villains and main characters are shown in Asain dramas in general.
I believe they make them that way to get on your nerves, and I always ask the question who on earth really like a villain like that, do Koreans - or people from those other countries for that matter - really like them? If not, do they enjoy frustration and keep making them that way? It's very strange to me.
Oh, perhaps we all enjoy a little bit of misery, but this level, no, no, not my cup of tea. :)

Such a good show that I put on my waitlist to watch for a long time. Regrets!
Poor Young Eun Soo. :(
The Hwang Shi Mok Character. <3 Oh he is totally my type, I think I'm in love. :)))

Some fun facts about most Korean dramas:
When the police are the main story of the show, there is usually just ONE female police officer, but when police are not the main story there is usually none.
There is usually one person that has a place with a rooftop view.

I get SLS a lot, but girl he is so annoying I hate him.

I'm not sure which episode it was, but it was when they met each other again in Shanghai and were together in the car.

Ok, I have to say this. Who else did notice that backward background driving scene? That was hilarious! :)))

For people who didn't have money, they all did have really nice furniture :D.

Something is really awkward about this show and it's not the age gap because I have watched a lot of age gap shows. I don't know if it is the actors, the conversations, or the story I haven't fully grasped it yet, but whenever I'm watching this It just feels awkward.

Is there a sub for this anywhere?

Well, it was too childish and immature for my taste. I liked the start a lot and before Jiu Chen came to find Ling Xi as a mortal, I really liked the story between her and the second male lead when he was in the mortal world. But then it became so childish.
So, if the sister wants to kill someone for revenge it's understandable, but if somebody else wants to do it (the second male lead or even the person she wanted to kill), it's not? If the sister wants to kill someone for revenge, she won't have an evil element inside her, nobody thinks about it, but if the maid just steals something, not for them they check her for that evil element? Oh god by no logic this makes sense this is too biased and predefined. Like everything everyone does to help the leads is justified and everything against them is not. So stupid!

Is there a modern version of xianxia?

I really loved your article and the many points that you made are exactly my opinion about especially Korean dramas. Whenever I comment on characters who have very problematic and questionable characteristics, "if you see that male lead or female lead in real life I'm pretty sure you won't like them" and they will attack me like they are the defenders, an army paid to defend producers and writers and characters of that drama. well, I believe most people just don't want to see negative sides in a drama that they like and just accept everything. It's like some people just hate or love. They just miss what's in between. Important things that affect everyone's lives.

I really like this show so far (episode 07), but no matter how much I like a show or how much it is famous when I see a form of misogyny no matter how small I will not ignore it as they want to show that women are bad at learning how to drive and they want to make it funny.

It started really well but ended up very draggy at the end.

Thanks for the suggestions, I haven't watched these. I'll most definitely try them. I'm just a newbie when it comes to Chinese dramas.
I know this may sound strange to you but I did not like "Descendants of the sun" because of personal reasons and I have dropped it after one episode but if you say it does not have a love triangle which I believe it doesn't I'll put it on my list.

No, there are about two episodes that the male lead thinks that way but it is not the case in the end.

It is because they wanted to stay close to the original story and yet they have changed it. In the original story they are actually siblings and when they get to know that they no longer want to live knowing they can't be together.

I tried to watch it, but I did not like the boy actor and his friend actor. Sometimes it was too obvious that they were trying so hard to play. I actually have watched a lot of shows about autistics and it's not like I can not understand them but this was far boring for me and the acting put me off. I liked the different portrayal of some things and the cinematography and the fact that it was short but it couldn't really hook me in.