Spoiler Alert! Don’t read, if you’re afraid of spoilers!
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Before anyone complains, this is just a simple google doc 
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I thought about taking a break, but started with Doctors …
I don’t think I will be that quick with this one.
@angelight313_168
YOU HAVE TO respect the way others feel about things bc that’s when you cross the line with MY freedom of expressing the way I feel about something.
Then why are we even having this discussion? Shouldn’t you HAVE to respect my opinions and feelings as well? Your logic is flawed. No one is obligated to express themselves in a way that caters to your feelings - If you truly believe that I “HAVE” to do so, aren’t you trying to oppress my freedom of expression? You can call me a jerk for being rude, fine, but you can’t demand everyone to respect your opinions - Nobody is obligated to do so.
THE END. Peace be with you.
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The problem I have with some Chinese dramas is not that the main character dies, it is that the main character dies an unnecessary death. As a writer myself, I lean towards “unhappy” endings or characters because that is how my writer mind works–I find more emotion and power in an ending that doesn’t always go as planned. However, as a watcher of dramas, I like to see the characters that have gone through so much struggle receive some sort of recompense. I will tolerate a death of a favorite character if the writing and plot line absolutely require it. Sometimes, Chinese dramas go on a ‘character killing spree,’ where all of the main characters die for no acceptable reason (at least, not acceptable in my mind–their deaths were not ‘believeable.’).
EX:
Granting You a Dream-like Life (the shootout in the end felt like all of the characters died unnecessarily)
I Will Never Let You Go (okay, the death scene was totally unbelievable–the hero was able to defeat all of the hardships, and suddenly he just decided to die? Not cutting it for me 
)
Possible Spoilers:
Two Cdramas where I actually expected the hero to die are Novoland: Eagle Flag and Ashes of Love. I really thought Asule was going to die–the way the plot is written seems that way, and honestly, I was okay with that as long as he died for something he believed in. In Ashes of Love, I felt that the only way the characters could get even with each other is if both died.
Most of the time, as viewers, we watch dramas for fun. Some people watch to escape boredom, their hard life, stress, etc. I can understand why they would rather see a happy ending where all of the characters have achieved their goal and have discovered their own happiness. Actually, watching all of the depressing cruelty in a drama can seriously be unhealthy. There is a dark Kdrama that Lee Dong Wook recently acted in where the creepiness was too much that people stopped watching because it was too dark (I’ll try to find the article, but I read it a couple of weeks ago, so I have to dig for it).To be honest, sometimes I want to watch a happy ending.
Really, a taste in endings is somewhat subjective.
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The ending was unexpected so it was a nice surprise (I also thought both would die).
@ angelight
The only one who lost her lover in Ashes of Love was the side character (demon princess), he died in a mix of sacrifice and torturing because he didn’t want to become the tool of the evil characters. In the end there was some kind of justice and the evil characters got punished, some in a very subtle but cruel way (like punishment in fairy tales).
It’s a genre matter as well plus story direction. Seeing all the happy and successful characters can be depressing too, especially if one doesn’t live a happy life.
As I mentioned earlier I’m watching El dragon atm. It’s more a drama than a syndicate crime show and includes unexpected heavy topics, some are shown in a very realistic way. On the other hand it has that typical facile main character: losing his beloved fiance by commiting suicide because of uncurable disease and then short after that he’s sleeping around while saying “she” was the only one he loved…his life…
Or another character in another show sleeping with a colleague and next day telling his girlfriend she’s that one woman of his life and how much he loves her…
???
In none of the Chinese films/shows I’ve watched a character behaved like that - but that is probably a question of moral and ethics - and sadly enough these Western stories just show the non existing ethics and moral too many people have these days while many Chinese stories try to keep some kind of ideal alive.
The dying aspect also occurs in Western films/shows (several of my favourite characters, sometimes even main characters) died.
So for me the question usually is if a story and its characters are logical within its nutshell no matter if I want a character to live or to die.
PS:
Those who know tales of H.C. Anderson or other European tales will know lots of sorrow, tragedy, loss and cruelty and these stories are often told to young kids.
Few examples:
Story about cannibalism of own brother/son (Machandelboom)
Poor kid dies during Christmas while trying to sell matches (Den lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne)
etc.
The Disney versions are always happy like Arielle with prince in the end instead of mermaid without prince and lost voice, own death instead of killing the prince but some mercy in the end by goddess of air (origin version).
Many Chinese stories include spiritual and philosophical aspects that are rarely found these days. That’s what makes them special; they force people to face certain aspects and think about certain deeper topics while the visuals may look amazing like a wonderland (e.g. the setting and costumes in Eternal Love (Peach Blossoms) or Ashes of Love (Ashes of Love even has a river like ancient Greek tales (Lethe).
So if our tales are mostly forgotten in these days of modern societies seeking for entertainment at least some Chinese writers and producers keep a glimpse of it alive.
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In quite a few dramas I have seen, the characters have concubines or mistresses–I’m not talking about the historical dramas. In My Mowgli Boy, one of the side characters is a one-night-stand kind of girl, jumping from boyfriend to boyfriend. Eventually she meets a great guy, but she has to let go of her habit of dropping men like hot potatoes. Keeping a mistress or having several guys has been around since forever and this practice is not limited to Asian cultures, but it is a worldwide issue.
Many current Western shows do have characters sleeping around, but to what extent the movies influence the culture or represent it, I don’t know. I just think that not everything the drama shows us is the truth in terms of culture and its ideals. To me, this especially applies with Chinese dramas because of the censorship by the government. They show what they want to be shown; maybe that is not how the people are…
A well-written story/ movie will always do that. I think of the Cdrama Goodbye My Princess and its theme of betrayal, lying, love, and punishment. I spent days thinking about whether the princess should love the crown prince after all he did to her, and whether he was even deserving of her love. Anyways, a side note: a main character dies in this one too, but it was kind of inevitable.
Surprisingly, many Western movies reference Greek mythology and other literature and cultural things. I haven’t watched a modern Western movie in a while, but there are plenty of Western movies that uphold ideals as well as the Asian ones. Maybe the focus is different; there is also the issue of cultural difference and differences in ideals.
However, yes, mindless entertainment doesn’t help educate or build up a society. I believe that a great story told in a great way will last a long time, regardless of difference in era and culture and time.
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I’m finally getting around to watching What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim? I love super simple romcom premises. I actually watched Touch Your Heart before this one and they feel like the exact same drama. Which is fine! Both are hitting the spot!
I recently tried While You Were Sleeping and Oh My Ghostess, but dropped them both. I tried watching them for a while, but I just got annoyed by everything the characters did!
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of course NF, been wanting to watch when the camelia blooms. Been wanting to watch designated survivor, started watching Vagabond, I read somewhere theres a sequel to bad guys, the original,wish I could watch Missing Noir again, but blocked here
angelight313, well said!
Chinese dramas are ok, some bad some good, the ones that transported back in time again some bad some good. but for heavens sake , why 50-60 episodes? where 30-40 could be enough.
Why I do love the Chinese dramas are the costumes and how they “fly” course I know with ropes & pullies.
I do like happy endings like some of you mentioned. one thing I don’t like, are endings that leave threads, not completed for me, not just Chinese but the others too, _ guess in a way I am saying better endings to some of them. and some of the endings had to end like it did, yeah upset me (kill it, Lock out,chief Kim, ashes of love,) and the Chinese love story )
so many to mention, one of my favorites was healer, loose ends again. oh one more thing, person you knocked 12 year old mentallity? have you been around those 12 year olds?? hehehe, with me being as “young” as I am, I cannot believe how smart those kids are today!_our mentallity is just fine
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master sun (again) oh my ghostness,protect the boss, want to watch the queens man, but its not here. watching Vagabond on NF,ashes of love. may find a time travl eone to watch, doctor, Jin,or something else. while you were sleeping, something is missing there, as for oh my ghostness didn’t really care for the ending, another person gone for a year then gets back into relationship> don’t think so same for I remember you.
I think there is always a difference between real people and fictional characters.
Chinese e.g still value family bounds more, it’s more traditional than for Germans, both ways have advantages and disadvantages in real life.
The Chinese government uses TV shows as a tool to teach their people (that’s why now they want more scientific and modern stories so less fantasy is allowed).
I know some Chinese who are living in China, they say the control over TV productions by gov’nt is higher than the control over novels, so they either only read novels by recent Chinese authors or watch US mainstream shows. They dislike Chinese productions because of the government aspect (and e.g. changes compared to the origin novels).
For the USA violence is okay but nudity not. For Europe nudity is okay but violence only within certain limits.
French TV productions are able to criticise chemical companies and the consequences for the population because of certain chemical products while German pharma lobby tries to block even 50, 60 year old incidents… (European productions of other countries than Germany include often deeper criticism than German productions. Some German journalists only publish anonymous about daily topics like ‘Why not everyone wants to put the own child into kindergarden with few months for working again’. Some German journalists call it German self censorship.)
I’ve been watching international productions my whole life and I agree that we had great Western films/shows in the past that contain spiritual and philosophical aspects but today it’s mostly just a scratch on the surface.
If you want to find a visualized story with spiritual and philosopical aspects on a similar deep level like e.g in Eternal Love/Peach Blossoms you have to look at games instead of films/shows.
World of Warcraft (online game) includes a wide range of myths and legends world wide and also spiritual and philosophical aspects. One of its addons was mainly focused on spirituality (Mists of Pandaria). Some players quit because they said they wanna have fun and not want to think while gaming and some stayed and said they learnt a lot through this addon.
(The game needs much more time than watching a drama so sometimes it’s more relaxing to watch a show than playing a game)
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OMG I’m watching NOW AND FOREVER a Korean movie about love at first sight and they both have a incurable disease and both are dying now. Unreal.
I’m finishing up Cheese in the Trap…I really like how imperfect everyone is in that drama. The college stress is so relatable!
I finally got caught up with When the Camellia Blooms and I am totally enjoying Kang Ha Neul’s performance! I forget he is Kang Ha Neul and not Young Sik 
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I like KHN role in this drama bc it’s so nerdy and funny at the same time. I just finished watching THE GREAT SHOW here at viki. I hope you check it out too. Is different and you can skip the (boring) parts you don’t want to see
I’m watching right now C.H.O:S:E.N it’s a taiwanese modern drama with the guy from Easy fortune Happy Life. Action Packed with a decent ending.
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I’m currently watching Confession ( 2019) and I think it is one of the best K-Dramas I have ever watched. Great story plot with unexpected twists, character development and excellent performances.
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You’re not suppose to mention other websites, especially the illegal ones. Better delete the post before Viki staff sees it.
At any rate, a google search is enough to bring up the links to all the places where you can watch the drama of your choice.
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Sadly it is even though the guidelines just talk about online ‘content you don’t own’ (that is their definition of do not talk about other pages no matter if it is official producer page or other legal streaming page).
It’s quite silly though since they do not ban trailer links (or mentioning of trailers on other pages).
(I asked at help center about that since this page has most unclear wording in their guidelines I’ve ever seen)
PS:
irmar is right if they see it or if others report you your post gets banned.
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I’m pretty sure the site you mentioned is an illegal streaming site.
Surely the content (the videos) is pirated. They don’t pay licenses and they steal the subtitles either from NTF, from KCW or from Viki - whoever has them first (I have checked this multiple times - sometimes they even have our mistakes, which afterwards get edited on Viki but not there). This is surely big time illegal.
We already had Asian productions (anime, certain Chinese and Korean shows/movies) in our TV and cinema long time before the internet even existed so if you think without internet ‘no one’ in Europe would know Asian culture you are wrong. (We always had other international productions as well).
You can get anything for free today not just Asian shows. The main difference is that at least Chinese producers provide a huge amount of shows to international viewers officially while countries like Japan Korea, USA, EU countries etc. are geoblock lovers who don’t even allow people to watch most of their content on their official page (that includes pay2watch streaming pages as well, even when you are within EU you don’t get access to the same content so, e.g one EU member has different shows than another/more seasons of the same show than another).
One can travel without borders but can not watch everything online even though the internet doesn’t need these virtual geoblock borders.
(That includes VIKI that blocks 99% of the Kdramas I find interesting, the page even suggests new Kdramas to me that are geoblocked for my location 
)