John Smith

Yes, but I did not think was a classic love triangle.

I think one of the pros of watching a currently airing drama is you are forced to let the drama breathe. Binging a drama is enjoyable, but can be overwhelming too. Sometimes details are missed, or just forgotten with the constant stimulation of watching episodes back to back. Of course I can do the same with episodes of streaming dramas, but do I? I do not. You probably do not either. Another pro is that it also makes dropping a show easier in my opinion. If you do not feel it is a show for you, your queue is not taunting you to continue watching and you usually get a week to forget about it. Getting emotionally invested in a drama only to be emotionally disappointed is not cool.

I did exaggerate it but not by much. I have seen it a lot in dramas. By unicorn lead, I mean the main lead who would never exist in real life. Perfect 10s in looks, brains, talent, and business acumen, usually under the age of 30 running a conglomerate. Only to be shown to be a petty child when it comes to love and romance. And if they are shown to have a flaw, it is usually something ridiculous that helps explain the presence of the other main lead. I think this type of character is more common in Chinese dramas.

I looked up I Need Romance 3 here on MDL since it has been awhile, and see there is going to be a Thai remake. I hope the chemistry can be as good as the original. I watched My Dear Boy as well and thought it started well but got draggy and confusing on the back end. If dramas have a set number of episodes, I do not understand why the pacing of the stories cannot be better.

Thanks for taking the time to write an article about lakorns. I read the word spoilers so please forgive me for not reading it word for word. I am not a big fan of spoilers, but I do appreciate the warnings. Time is precious, and if a viewer is going to commit to watching 20+ hours of a drama, it is nice to know if there is something that might make them reconsider without going as far to reveal the plot. I am have seen quite a few Thai short dramas and some Thai movies as well, but lakorns are relatively new. The only one I have seen that I can clearly recall is The Crown Princess, which is included in your list. I really enjoyed that one, but you did not really go into depth on that one. I see that you have differentiated between arranged marriage, forced marriage, and marriage of convenience. I feel The Crown Princess is more in line with marriage of convenience. since they were married for reasons other than love and without the expectation of love. Of course, it was arranged in some form, so your definition of arranged marriage might fall in line with the drama. I would view an arranged marriage as one arranged by themselves, family, friends, and/or professionals where consent and expectation of love is present. I see you plan to write more articles about specific tags that revolve around marriage. Perhaps in articles about tags, you can define the tag itself.

If by TSITR you meant Something in the Rain, I think the drama being melodramatic made the relationship really messy.

My personal opinion is that if the age gap or noona romance is the main driving force of a drama, it cannot help but to be aggravating with the push/pull, rinse/repeat, roller coaster ride. On the other hand , if there enough plot to give the main characters room to do other things besides focus on the relationship, then it does not seem that bad. I say that but feel my favorite one is I Need Romance 3 which was all about the romance.

I have not seen Reply 1988 but it might be in my Netflix queue.

I think in noona romances, the fact the male pursues first or at least pursues more vigorously is because of the nature of a noona romance. You are older, more successful, and think you have less time for complicated love or simply move in circles that do not allow you to come across younger men. I am sure there is an exception though. There have been way too many dramas made for someone to not have made a noona chasing romance.

As far as the rant about tropes, there are also plenty of articles on MDL where you can rant to your heart's content. One I do not like is what I call unicorn leads. The 20-something Ivy League educated, master craftsman, Olympic fencing alternate, impossibly handsome CEO of a multi-million dollar empire who apparently cannot tell his childhood friend loves him, his uncle is scheming against him, and breaks up with his girlfriend because of something his assistant's cousin overhead on a telephone conversation. That is my rant.

Him knowing definitely makes it easier to tolerate because he can secretly help her plus they live together and if he did not know that would be utterly ridiculous.
When she is dressed as a woman, she looks like a woman. When she tries to dress like one of the guys, she looks like a woman doing a bad job of looking like a guy.
Actually the previous stuff was OT, the noona comment is actually on topic with the age gap discussion. I agree with you about the indecisiveness of some characters. I think you were talking about Tammy with Park Morgan from Search: WWW? It has been awhile since I have seen it. I think I had a problem with her indecisiveness being out of character. I seem to remember they both had issues they were dealing with too. Still thought it was a really good drama.

I was going to mention My Unicorn Girl since I just got through watching the first 12 episodes earlier today. It was the first one that came to my mind. It is new so I was not sure if too many people had watched it. I agree that she should never pass as a guy. I mean that as a compliment to her, not knocking her acting ability. The irony is that everyone else can see and not know, but the one who cannot see faces knows. And then on a hockey team? Double never. I am going to finish it because it is light and fluffy. Plus I want to see her reaction when she finds out he knows.

It is okay. I have also been told I talk too much as well. I was trying to say a woman pretending to be a man who is obviously a woman distracts from a gender disguise related drama in the same way a couple who looks 4 years apart pretending to be14 years apart takes away from an age gap related drama.

You made some confusing statements, but I think I got the point of what you were trying to get across. I think you may have not understood my viewpoint. I specified age gap related dramas because in the real world or other types of drama, it does not really matter. I tried to think of an analogy to try to drive home my point. It is not perfect, and requires some imagination, but here it goes. Another popular drama theme is when a male tries to disguise himself as a female or vice versa. Imagine the most ruggedly handsome guy you can think of just putting on a wig and dress or the most beautiful woman you can think of just wearing short hair, no makeup, and men's clothing trying to pass themselves off as the opposite genders. In my opinion, no matter how well the script is, if you cannot see past the actor or constantly wonder how no one knows that they are obviously a male or female, then some level of enjoyment or focus on the drama itself gets taken away. The same goes for age gap related dramas in my opinion. If I do not see the age difference between characters or am constantly wondering why they chose someone so old to play someone so young or vice versa, it takes away from the drama itself. It does not necessarily ruin the drama, but it could for some.

I think living with her younger sister who was obsessed with the male lead only added to that perception as well. Only a five year gap between real ages for the main leads. I do not remember what it was in the drama.

It's okay to disagree, especially when it is done in a thoughtful and polite way. I also tend to agree with your thoughts. Maturity is the ultimate gap closer. I would like to clarify what I meant by saying actors need to look their character's age in age gap related dramas. I do not like to see an actor who is 28 and looks 26 playing a role of a 21 year old. Or an actor who is 50 and looks 47 playing a role of a 40 year old. HD and 4K TV only tend to make such casting issues more apparent. Age is just a number, and of course you should not judge a book by its cover. In my opinion, just talking about age gap related dramas, I like to see and feel it, not just have characters say one exists to exist. I would like to think the best age gap related dramas start off with "AGE GAP!" and end with "so what" or simply not being able to imagine the main couple with anyone else.

I have been wanting to see Oh My Lady. I seem to forget about it when I have Viki Pass active. Thanks for reminding me.

Thank you for taking the time to write about a very polarizing subject. Opinions seem to vary as wide some of the age gaps you mentioned. I think that all the ones you have listed here, and almost all from your previous list are from South Korea. My personal opinion is dramas with a focus on age gaps need so many things to come together for the drama to work.
First, potential viewers have to be willing to accept an age gap before watching. Some viewers see or hear about an age gap and never give it a go. Second, the actors need to look and act their characters' age. What is the point of having an age gap if you do not believe in the gap? Third, the characters must have chemistry from the start even if the drama develops the romantic chemistry later. Finally, I am willing to accept an age gap related romance but not an age gap drama. I would personally like a good story woven in there. Not "you're too old" and "you're too young" with #TeamOld and #TeamYoung battling it out for 16+ episodes.
I would like to say that I never get a character or actor's age right from a first glance. I can see why South Korea has a beauty market in the billions of dollars because I tend to be shocked by the age of some actresses. Maybe I am more apt to enjoy age gap dramas because of that.
I have seen most of the dramas in this article. Two more age gap related Korean dramas that come to mind that I did not see in this article or your list are High School King of Savvy and Soul Mechanic.

I just finished this drama today and I am conflicted. How can a drama that seems too long at 45 episodes also feel like it needed another 45 because it seemed incomplete? Characters showed up, had main parts, then disappeared. Same thing with plots. Introduced, focused on, then forgotten. One noticeable issue to me is that about a year had passed in the drama and we are to believe that Zhou Feng went from someone who seemed helpless and out of her depth to an international award winning designer in that time. The drama did not do a very good episode of showing her growth. We were just told about it. Also, why did Su Yu Shan get a happy ending? I am firmly in the 24 episode breezy drama camp and feel the script and cast could have been cut down to make it a much richer 24 episode drama. While the main couple had chemistry, it was Christine Zheng (who played Song Luo) who stole the show in my opinion. I hope that she gets leading roles because she was really good.

It should have been one of those breezy 24 episode dramas. Or perhaps I am used to the 24 episode dramas that I worry about it becoming draggy and flip-floppy for an additional 50% of the time.

If you meant me, I am more of a commenter than an article writer. I do not know what to call it exactly, but I do not have the literary willpower to undertake a serious endeavor. At least not right now. All the brainstorming, research, reviewing, formatting, editing, and opening yourself up for praise and criticism is a lot easier said than done. To every article writer out there, thank you for being willing to put your thoughts and feelings out there blindly without knowing what the response will be. I have learned something in every article I have read, and some have allowed me to participate in some really interesting discussions. This article included.

Fourteen episodes in and I think this is a really good drama. I hear a faint sound in the distance though. The sound of the troublesome trope train carrying a load of episode fillers. I hope it is just a quick stop...

It does happen in Count Your Lucky Stars and I am watching it, so perhaps it is fresh in my mind. Just You is another one where the boss moves in, but even then he became the owner of the house the female lead was renting. I hope I am not spoiling these shows. But I still think there are other ones out there I just cannot recall.

Oh no! I don't want to be that person. You know the person that says there are hundreds of examples and when asked to name one, the mind goes blank. I am that guy right now. I did exaggerate the situations that occur, but still no excuse not to be able to name one. I wanted to emphasize that usually in the cohabitation arrangements, the one with the power usually overrules the actual owner of the house. In the case of accidental kisses, one party always seems to assume the other did it on purpose. When I think of one, or happen to see it in a drama I am watching I will try to remember to post it here.

Thanks for your comment I appreciate it. I really liked how you mentioned that food plays an important role in a lot of dramas. Learning to shop for food and cook for yourself is a great habit to have. Being able to share a meal with someone is what I would call food for the soul..