Why most K-drama endings disappoint us

[@maragathm]

Interesting overview on the workings of the kdrama industry. Endings are hard because it is emotional not logical, everyone has an idea on how this journey has to end so you can never satisfy everyone.

[@TheDramaNotes]

Very true. And eastern storytelling often leans towards sacrifice and separation in its endings. There's a lot of history that explains why, but the HEA ending format has not been our norm until recent decades. So even though everyone in the audience has their preferences, eastern screenwriters have been exposed to a very specific style of ending through literature their entire lives.

[@ritadapkey5807]

I watched this in it entirety and I appreciated the deep dive into the industry. I loved the "all of a sudden they get thrown into a war" WTPR WTF comment and I laughed out loud. 😆I subscribed as I am curious to see what other drama conversations you have to share. This video was enlightening.

[@TheDramaNotes]

Thank you! I was cracking up making the reference too. 🤣

[@j3ffc-h3u]

This was a really interesting commentary; thanks for the deep dive. If I can offer an opinion, it would be that there is really not much of an excuse for a writer to start a drama and have no idea as to where it is going. I've written some things for fun, and once I figure out the big picture idea, the literal next thing is "where do I want this to end up"? It's the middle stuff that gets filled in as I go along. Of course, not being a professional, I'm sympathetic because of two things: (1) writing an entertaining story/show, in general, is really flipping hard, and (2) the things that pros have to go through, often out of their control, in the name of business. So hats off.

[@TheDramaNotes]

They usually have an outline of the whole story. The writing of scenes, which makes the actual screenplay only starts in earnest once the project is greenlit. Since it takes a long time and pro writers don't want to write unsold scripts. They will usually have the first few episodes fleshed out already. But once producers get involved the rest of the script will be heavily influenced by what the budget will allow, how many major characters they want to hire actors for, can you shift this important scene to a restaurant because we need to promote them?, or this topic is no longer trending so can you change that conflict in the subplot and add this different one even though your story isn't set up for it because it will get us trending on search? It's a bunch of stuff like that. Which is why writers don't bother with a screenplay until they start getting paid. Everything will get changed anyway.

[@meeeoow19]

Thank you for the insights i have never factored in before about k drama production! Makes my hamster wheel of a brain rolling

[@TheDramaNotes]

Thank you for listening with interest! Makes the video feel worth making. 🙂

[@Mcsqw]

Thanks for your takes! My girlfriend is not a K-drama fan so I often have to sit and mull over things like ropey endings and dodgy second halves by myself :-) Every drama I've given up on has had this exact problem, just losing its way for some reason. Ones I've really enjoyed have managed to tie things up nicely, and made everyone important somehow - I recently watched From Now On, Showtime! and really liked how, just at the point where it looked like it might run out of steam, they pivoted to another story arc that fleshed out a character or answered questions from earlier episodes, so what starts as a pretty light and silly show about ghosts became a much deeper and more emotive experience for me. Brewing Love however suffered for only having a 12 episode run, so the ending didn't have the impact it should have had for me as I feel like we didn't get enough of why the final outcomes for some of them really mattered to those characters, much as all the performances were great and there were absolutely some great moments in it.

[@TheDramaNotes]

I agree about Showtime completely. I'd gone in with low expectations but was really surprised by the strong second half. The writer Ha Yoon-ah had also written Mystic Pop-Up Bar which again had a very satosfying finish. Since these are the only two projects she's been the lead writer on, my guess is that she's a strong writer who's very careful to pair with directors who'll respect her writing and won't try to change things to be more formulaic. 🤞 Her stories are also a bit different. Not really the type to become massively popular but definitely a steady ratings earner. Which probably also helps. I'm gonna keep an eye on her work. 🙂

[@sgwordy2122]

Wow, so many interesting comments!! You must have really struck a chord!! :) Even though I'm still mad at Pretty Noona I think it was so lucky that it was my first drama (I think I started when it was in week 2?) as it was an absolute crash course in second half/ending stupidity. I mean, also luckily for me, by the time it ended I was subbed to DramaFever (RIP) and Viki both so I had started churning through other options but to have been so freakin' invested in that one and to be so let down... it was educational. It's also why I value a drama like, say, Sell Your Haunted House so very much. Absolute bang-up job of writing. Excellent world-building and characterization, tight story-telling and an ending you know was planned from the beginning. I really hope we get more from that writer. (And I defy anyone to tell me capitalism/PPL is not a gift from the gods because otherwise how would we have been able to see those BIZARRE underwear-in-pringles-cans placements!! :)

[@TheDramaNotes]

Sell Your Haunted House is exactly the kind of drama they heavily pre-produce. Because they are made for a niche audience with predictable tastes, which means steady advertising. The entire production doesn't ride the highs and lows of public emotions as they do in melos and romances. 😄 So then you get a solid script that's brought to life pretty faithfully. And yes, the comments are so cool on this one! They've made me think of more theories already. 🤣

[@appleish5043]

Before watching this, let me just say 20+ yrs ago, disappointing kdrama ending was already existed 🤣 from sad ending, to wtf ending, and we got no where to vent our frustrations! Because i didn’t sit through first love (1996) 66eps just for it to end how it ended!

[@TheDramaNotes]

Ugh 66 eps is too many for a dagger in the heart. 😅😅

[@appleish5043]

@ haha yup! As you can see, I’m still scarred 🤣🤣🤣 n probably that’s why winter love song created the wave that it did. All the audiences’s bottled up rage from first love’s ending got returned with winter love song’s kinda happy ending lol 🤣

[@TheDramaNotes]

And it was just 20 eps too! 🤣 I remember watching it without the context of what First Love had done to audiences and really liking it but not getting why it was such a craze. Got it later. 🙈 It was such a crazy time. And waiting for another show years later to give people closure was more common than it should have been. 😅

[@appleish5043]

@ 🥰🥰🥰 glad you have seen winter love song! Many are too young for that time 😅

[@TheDramaNotes]

You know how a lot of 2010s drama would have drama references from the decades before? I got very curious about some of them and ended up watching a lot of early 2000s drama. Haven't finished quite a lot of them but really liked Winter Sonata.

[@paillette2010]

I didn't mind the ending of When the Phone Rings, although, it was pushing it. I have yet to see Lovely Runner, but most of them don't seem too bad at the end. I can't really think of any bad ones, Maybe if you made a list? I think the funny part is how the music is so copied. Like the Studio Ghibli music in Hotel de la Luna (like damn, how can you swipe Spirited Away so hard?). Another had a tune that sounded like Creep, so that's a thing too. I like knowing how the sponsorship works (like many shows look like car adverts - Especially My Sweet Mobster [which did have a weird ending, now that I think about it...but the middle was weird too]) Also if you could explain your abbreviations, I don't know what they mean. Also in the US it's cable versus airwave broadcast, not public, but we also have publicly funded television which is educational in nature (CSPAN, PBS) and appear on either cable (CSPAN) or both airwaves and cable (PBS) Some are stronger than others (Vincenzo), but for the most part all of them drag a bit in the middle, like come on, in Destined With You (a favorite of mine) how obtuse is this woman? He's hot, he's crazy about her, he's loaded, and, although condescending, seems pretty dedicated. I loved Business Proposal and Secretary Kim and Hometown Cha Cha Cha, but all still had dragging episodes. although in BP the second leads stole the show. Sorry this is long, love your video.

[@j3ffc-h3u]

Oh, btw, cheers for pointing out the genius of "Be Melodramatic." The meta! The meta!

[@TheDramaNotes]

It had such an out-of-the-left-field magnificence, I don't think people were ready for it at the time. But I love watching people discover it and be stunned it exists now. 😄 It also had an absurdly accurate portrayal of the writers' room/apartment in kdramas.

[@j3ffc-h3u]

@@TheDramaNotes I watched it sort of early in my drama experienced and loved it (one of my favorites), but I suspect that watching it with a lot more dramas under my belt that I would appreciate the in-humor a lot more.

[@solaris6788]

This is a great video. Healer is a good example. it is a great drama but the ending was so rushed. There was introduction of a Korean- Russian scientist with a great impact in the story just in the last few episodes.

[@TheDramaNotes]

A friend of mine pointed out that sometimes they just run out of budget by the end and rush things. This was probably true about Healer, which was a sleeper hit and didn't get as much sponsor support as other bigger hits would have.

[@kingofguam]

Compliments on your thoroughness! The ending of, "The Interest of Love" is almost criminal!!! LOL I am still angered to this day of watching all 16 episodes. 3:) Speaking of episodes, "Vincenzo" would have been superb if it ended on Episode 16! But, I gue$$ they needed those four pointless episodes to generate more ad revenue. And, I have to also mention the recent, "When The Phone Rings", jumped the shark after their kiss on Episode 7. I have been a kdrama fan, and I've learned to be cautious about getting too excited for the ending can, and mostly ruins many kdramas which have great potential from their very first episode.

[@TheDramaNotes]

Vincenzo is such a great example to bring up here. This was a drama with a huge budget of 20 billion won, co-commissioned by Netflix, and almost entire live shot. The filming started just a month and a half before the drama started airing. So it was heavily advertisement driven despite its budget and felt a lot of audience pressure, which reflected in the final episodes somewhat. However, on the other hand, they resisted changing the ending they had decided on despite the wide viewership and shipping of the main couple. Over all very interesting case study! Oh and agree about WTPR's ending 🤣, althoughhhh I would ALSO somewhat agree with its defenders that nobody should have been surprised by the noble sacrifice turn of events - it was in the plot archetype the show was using.

[@Karen-b1z7l]

I know its bad but I always look up to see if it a good ending, as I have been caught out before sitting through lots of eps to be disappointed life’s too short

[@TheDramaNotes]

Not bad at all. If I'm unsure about a drama I'll usually stall until it's over or near the end, and if I hear no complaints I'll resume watching. 😄 There are some actors I'll force myself to watch weekly episodes for even when the story isn't solid, but not many.

[@Karen-b1z7l]

Tell the truth I hardly watch series with top actors, never seem to finish them, most of my favourite dramas are underrated ones

[@kabejjaganya4126]

1. Yeah, this is the issue of kdrama endings can be broadened to the issue of kdrama second halves I feel. I have changed my viewing habits out of fear 🫣😅 because of it (after wedding impossible/CCIR etc.). I am more likely to wait until a final episode currently. 2. Wasn’t there drama between the webtoon writer and the script writer for CITT because the webtoon writer did not want them to use her planned ending for the webtoon? That drama does feel like a special case but does show the various clashing “stakeholders” at the core of drama production. 3. So many hit kdramas (Misty comes to mind) feel as if there are built around an engaging hook but also that all of the effort was put into the first half/first few episodes and for the rest of the episodes, the writer is just winging it. My theory is that the writer has to have at least 4 episodes of a show written before production then has to write the rest during production so there is more time pressure, maybe some more production/network pressure and more chance of falling back on cliches. But also really I think writers/production know that most of an audience will stick with a drama to the end after an engaging first half so there is more pressure to get that part right.

[@TheDramaNotes]

You're absolutely right. Aside from a script outline writers usually spend the most amount of time on the "scenario" writing of the first few episodes. Everything after that is rushed because they're on the clock with a short deadline of a few months to get everything written, revised, and sent to various departments to start production. It's a race and if all parts aren't coordinated, the athlete will end up limping to the finishing line even after a great start. Yes, the CITT webtoon writer had been promised the drama's ending would be different but it wasn't. I don't think that production was particularly messier than other shows. It was more than their mess was publicised and got a lot of attention because the drama was doing well. Smaller productions have worse issues that go unreported. Sigh.

[@kabejjaganya4126]

Ah you made me think one other factor: the breakdown of the relationship between the PD and the script writer. Some of the other messy stories recently about drama production have been about the breakdown of those relationships (thinking of Black/The Uncanny Counter S1/Taxi Driver S1). All of these were about disagreements with the endings and of course the PD always wins. I would love to have a video this year about your favourite dramas of the decade so far (+trends)

[@kflowers8276]

Please do one of these for cdramas. And you could focus on any genre of your choice or do one for each genre. Though honestly I think some of them would be like 5 minutes long. 😂 Thanks Porma, I really enjoyed this.

[@TheDramaNotes]

One of my goals for this year is to do more videos on cdramas and talk about their production. It's very interesting there. But till then, may I recommend the magnificent AvenueX's channel for some great videos on how and why cdramas are made the way they are. 😄

[@kflowers8276]

​@@TheDramaNotes I can't wait to see your cdrama production videos. And thanks for the rec, I'm already subscribed to Avenue X's channel. But a good rec for others who aren't in the know. 😊

[@janeenharrison1953]

I love K- dramas but too many episodes! Your analyzation helps explains the issue. They really have to be exceptional to keep me tuned in after 10, I usually tap out or pause and try to go back later. For example, Crash Landing On You - love it! I thought when he kissed her goodbye at the border was the last episode, I cried like a baby but it made sense to end it there. Nope, he crawls his way across the border through a secret tunnel and now the male character seems SOOOO out of place in South Korea. The leading female character even quipped in one scene," why are you here?" I'd like to know too. I am still trying to finish the remaining episodes, but losing interest.

[@TheDramaNotes]

Oh CLOY was the perfect example! I did enjoy their South Korea shenanigans but in many ways it was like they just HAD to add that portion to shove in all of the product placement they couldn't do in North Korea. So that whole segment was a shopping spree. When they parted originally that was definitely the perfect ending for the story I thought they were telling. Money. What can you do? 😅

[@stepmaster9988]

This has been a trend all over Asia since Netflix dumped billions into the Korean industry which has had a distorting effect domestically and to some extent regionally since market leaders shape markets ideologically. The one consistent feature is how this trend has reduced the more political parts of the narrative to be less critical of capitalism and of the puppet Korean government which was the superpower of KDrama and the reason behind Netflix’s intervention to get involved in t market because of KDrama’s global influence on media consumption, especially the ideological impacts. I’m in the Asian BL fandom and this is also happening in Thailand’s corporate production sector, but not the socialist country drama industries - China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos. The openings are strong bc they rely on familiar aesthetics (esp the imposition of the American obsession with Season 2 eg Squid Game 2?) as well as fandom love for the original source material. I think what we’re all emotionally rejecting is the way the narrative is warped to reflect neoliberal values - individualism, erasure of structural factors, zero criticism of the American occupation of Korea, demonisation of public action and collective action over privatisation and anti-solidarity, etc - ie Americanisation of KDrama. So they will promote something that sounds progressive such as plots centred around disability or a trans-person‘s health care or poverty but what it ends up doing is to reify the symbolic (freedom of expression eg) without any material change in social relations of power, because life changing changes are produced by mass, political movements not individual actions, so in this way neither social hierarchies nor the power of the capital class are challenged and are even romanticised. In the BL case the oppressive status quo is even eroticised! Hence instead of reversals in neoliberal austerity, as the public wants, you get a series on euthanasia which attaches your emotions to the BL couple starring in it who present the compelling reasons for widespread euthanasia with no attention paid to the way mass poverty, a debt crisis and the privatisation of public health forces people to make a “choice” structural conditions force them into. A structural issue is individualised and validates oppressive, anti-humane, capitalistic values at a time populations are starting to question capitalism as natural, inevitable and most of all as a good. Writing this while listening but these are some thoughts I’ve been having about the whole regional industry dynamics post 2020

[@TheDramaNotes]

You know, you're making me rethink a long held assumption of mine. I've been watching kdramas years before netflix or any western streaming site looked their way and have always noted a capitalist bend in the storytelling. So I haven't been blaming western investment for that side of things. But it's a good point that American colonialism is why South Korea adopted their chaebol capitalist model and the ongoing political relationships between the two have had a huge impact on how Korean media talks about society. So maybe I SHOULD be blaming netflix more.

[@stepmaster9988]

@ I think it’s the general westernisation but yes South Korea definitely had capitalism foisted on them after the US intervened and divided that socialist country into two. But just like Japanese artists used various codes to criticise the cultural impositions (Japan was already capitalist and fascist) and the still ongoing American military occupation, by using tentacles and other creative devices, South Korean artists also developed their own resistance codes. Even if they couldn’t articulate why, people were drawn to these narratives but it was during Covid that people who had never heard of a KDrama became immersed in it and most importantly, loved the subversions and that is why Netflix had to quickly do, not a military but, a cultural intervention. The imported, intensified Hollywood streaming model is a huge part of the problem. You’ll remember that in the middle of Covid Hollywood actors and crew went on a long strike to get extremely basic concessions out of industry investors. Whenever capitalism is into a crisis the employees are usually the 1st to feel the pain and eventually the consumer will start to notice something about the declines in quality too. KDrama is definitely at this stage. I think it may have been in 2023 South Korean’s version of the screen actors Guild and crew unions appealed to their government to protect them from Netflix’s hyper exploitative business model so was only a matter of time before we started seeing the ramifications of what’s been happening behind-the-scenes manifest itself in a lower quality product and therefore growing dissatisfaction on the part of the consumer. This is usually the chronology - workers first then consumers. No expert, but those have been my observances. The story journey and the ending don’t match I think, because of the inorganic pressure to insert old ideological and increasingly rejected ideas into new cinematically and technologically sophisticated skins. Breakthrough News channel has a good discussion with an expert on Netflix’s ideological mission about 39 minutes in - video “75 Years of NATO: From the Cold War to the Ukraine War - is WW3 next?” Sam Yang has some great politics KDrama commentaries in written and podcast form referencing for eg Squid Game on @The East is a Podcast and Sky Castle on @KPopCast). And off the top of my head, a good Hollywood industry analysis is on Patrick H Willems channel called Who’s Killing Cinema. Sorry I’m so long winded 🙊

[@TheDramaNotes]

Appreciate the recommendations! Of these I've already watched Patrick's excellent explainer on Hollywood's current state and it helped me understand a lot. I will definitely watch and listen to the others. I do want to pull your attention to something interesting I've noticed about some kdramas lately and it's that in shows like Brewing Love and Doctor Slump and even the currently airing Love Scout, characters openly talk about the failings of corporations and make choices that go against the teachings of capitalism and are more in line with socialist ideologies. Having small businesses and not hankering after scale, or choosing to work in corporations but openly supporting labour rights, criticising the philosophy that a company's needs must be put before the workers'. I've only noticed them in the last year which makes me think that this may be an indication of the waning influence of Netflix which no longer funds as much of the kdrama industry as it was doing a couple of years ago. Instead other, local streaming sites are rising up to compete with them head on.

[@stepmaster9988]

@TheDramaNotes Okay thanks for this. I hadn't noticed the changes in the Korean industry post the big Netflix invasion. Perhaps some of the pressure from the local (non elites?) leaders in the industry worked but I also suspect what you're seeing is similar to how Hollywood approaches criticisms of the power structure. Just like they do approaches to crime or violence - with a rich super hero problem solver. Not with Labour Union strikes or mass collective action which will actually change relations of power. They will usually put a queer person or a black person or a woman as a protagonist in the story as well as some issue important to marginalised people but they're still sending these people off to War for imperialism and capitalist expansion, there's still individualizing the ideal response to a systemic, structural issue that cannot be changed materially by individual action. So they can say we are doing something progressive with our narrative, we are doing something progressive with the representation (symbolism and optics - which Hollywood is great at and that's probably the biggest difference that people are noticing) but that's why I say the ending often doesn't feel right because the values that drive the process is messed up. I think the whole TikTok ban issue is showing Americans how much liberal film criticisms of capitalism or imperialism are just another means of tying them emotionally and ideologically to maintain their allegiance to a system that is still harming them. So that you have the freedom of expression which means you can criticise society but within certain boundaries that do not actually affect the existing power structure. I think that's actually the biggest take away from what just happening now with tiktok and red note. There has been an ideological Monopoly which is promoted in every US Media from movies to news channels and none of this has been in the interests of ordinary people Voice dictated this so apologies for typos

[@arvisjaggamar]

It's funny you mention W Two Worlds and its writer, as I just finished watching (for the first time) Nine: Nine Times Time Travel, and it's the same writer but also literally starts the beginning of episode 1 with the end of the drama. So.... odd that a couple years later she's writing W and doesn't care about the ending, lol.

[@TheDramaNotes]

She talks about Nine and Queen In-hyun's man, both dramas where she plays with time travel in the same interview that I quoted. Her stance seems to be that back when she wrote those she thought she needed to explain everything to the audience but by the time she was doing W and Alhambra, the audience didn't need hand holding so she didn't need to be that clear or tight in her prose. My own interpretation of all that is that she wanted to be experimental and by the time she did W, she was big enough that nobody was going to point out how crappy her writing in the concluding half was. Writers of a certain status may want to write outside the genre that made them popular and find it too intimidating to risk it, so they get resentful towards tropes and conventions of that genre and want to break out of them. But that's just my theory.

[@newjeansfan238]

i don't agree it depends, for W two worlds yes it sucks and feel empty because they wanted to make 16 ep when it need less specially for this kdrama because there are too much repetitions with empty plot and loosing memory that doesn't add something. In other kdrama with memory loss, i like it because it add something, here nope. And the virtual bad guy created was interesting but then wasn't anymore with lost of plot then because the 1rst bad guy died they add another bad guy to fill the emptyness of the last ep because without the 2nd last bad guy there is nothing interesting and 2nd bad guy was less interesting than 1rst bad guy. So i really think they create the 2nd bad guy to fill the blank of last ep and happy ending because it has to have happy ending. I hate that when they forced happy ending! I love sad ending too and a happy ending in romance because it has to be an happy ending is so forced unnecessary i hate that! In 2000s it were melodrama with sad ending that dominate in kdrama and they forced happy ending even in historical kdrama and fantastic historical kdrama with romance i hate that. But i don't agree at all that all kdrama endings sucks No!!

[@mffmoniz2948]

49 days.

[@TheDramaNotes]

😅

[@mffmoniz2948]

​​@@TheDramaNotes Yeahhh, I was pissed off. All those episodes for that ending. 🤬 I think they tricked me with Jung Il Woo.

[@TheDramaNotes]

The ending felt like it betrayed the premise of the entire show. Which is why for dramas like this I think it's that compulsion to end on a shocking note that makes them do stuff like this. Sigh.

[@mffmoniz2948]

​​@@TheDramaNotes Yes, I felt lied to. They kept telling the FL and us that she had to do this to get this. She does. We all cheer. And then they run everyone over... Keep your shock value and give me what I was promised and worked hard to get.

[@newjeansfan238]

And i don't agree for When the phone rings it is good ending i love the last ep! I really doesn't understand people for the end of when the phone rings that is good!

[@maragathm]

We cannot deny they could have done the Argan plot better that was just ridiculous, remove that everything else was perfect.

[@newjeansfan238]

@maragathm Nope i think the argan plot makes so much sense! love that! Remove that then ep 16 is empty and useless. Argan plot and he left and why makes so much sense so i don't agree with you and with you all who think last ep of when the phone rings isn't good, last ep is so good! Perfect with last ep with argan plot! Remove that and it doesn't make sense

[@TheDramaNotes]

The ending provoked the question from a lot of people, but that's a matter of opinion. I do think that the ending of WTPR fits the plot archetype. Noble sacrifices are a part of any romance with an agonized hero. Which is why I didn't use it as an example in the video.

[@nunyanunya4964]

She was running around the jungle in a bright white shirt which would make her stick out to the people she was trying to run away from, then they were shouting at each other. He ran away because of an issue that he did not cause and his wife had already known about. He had a resort bed in a shack. I’m old and grew up watching the OG Dallas in the 80’s, but that was a bit much.

[@newjeansfan238]

@nunyanunya4964 It was necessary it's because of the culpability even if he did nothing wrong that's human and that's normal!!!

[@mffmoniz2948]

Sometimes what annoys us is a little detail. Two Weeks is a great drama. Just one little thing in the last episode. Hopefully it's a translation issue...but after Lee Jun Ki's character fought so hard to save the daughter he didn't know he had... he tells the mother that he doesn't deserve them and will go and... better himself??? I didn't get it. Dude, if the love relationship can't be saved, you're still a father. Go be a father. City Hunter also awesone. Lee Min Ho uses a spoon in a fight. Come on! 😂 Great build up to the last episode with the big bad. But maybe because of the original manga, he tells the FL bye, I got to fight bad guys, can't be with you. WTH? Boys Over Flowers. Train wreck that you can't look away. Episode one he's a neon red flag and remains rather redish. Last episode this uber rich kid supposedly didn't contact Jan Di for 4 years for reasons. Excuse me? He hoped on a plane for Bora Bora or wherever for a weekend. But no contact for 4 years? No plane trip, no phone call, no e-mail, no letter, no message through friends.... Full House. Rain kicks the FL out of the car on the middle of nowhere. And you want me to believe he's the one? What if the kids do some shit? Is he gonna kick them out of the house? What if she spends too much money on the supermarket? There are lines that should not be crossed. Oh, and yes, Gun Jun Pyo crossed too many of those. Yeaahhh, it's in the manga, I know. Often it's like they don't know how to end the story or just resort to a coup out that's become a cliché. Like returning to your own timeline to meet someone with the same face of who you left behind. Blahhh, lame.

[@TheDramaNotes]

Yeah the last minute tragic separation was an inheritance from older Korean plays and literature that were either comic or tragic and adventures or epic sagas always had to have a few sad love stories baked in. Even if there was a happy love story, they'd add an epilogue where everyone dies or something sad happens but new hope is hinted at. I... can't explain it. 😅 I haven't studied Korean literature enough to understand why. A friend whose masters thesis was in East Asian studies proposed that it was a result of a few centuries of constant war or oppression. But anywho. I'm glad that these days we get more happy endings than sad ones. 🤞🤞

[@mffmoniz2948]

​@@TheDramaNotes Food. Obsessed with food. Yes, if you have a long history of frequent famine, food is valued. The tragic separation was mandatory in older k-dramas. It still pops up sometimes, but much less thankfully. And it's better written into the story.