And if for some reason you stupidly only have ONE copy, do NOT bring it with you and flash it in your enemyās face to gloat about it.
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Or give it to the person that obviously shouldnāt be trusted with that important information 
. Usually these people make it super obvious to the character that they should not be trusted with anything, let alone the most important information you have at the moment.
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NO WRITERS. Simple as that. The K-drama industry is too successful for anything to evolve in the right direction (creativity).
They have a very limited bank of themes they draw from, with minimalistic storylines and screenplays relying on the same bag of tricks and templates. These are usually centered around exaggerated abuseāwhether at school, home, or the workplace. To achieve this, series are often plotted unrealistically.
They depend on misunderstandings, things left unsaid, and unfinished sentences to keep the story moving somehow. Actors are pushed into awkward and embarrassing comic gags to fill gaps, often accompanied by a lot of ridiculous shouting you just want to skip. Someone mentioned templates earlier, and they were absolutely right.
Personally, I donāt think Korean writers have completed any formal training. In France, for instance, there are schools for that! You couldnāt possibly submit a screenplay without proper education.
I love Korean culture and would love to see more elaborate work. But is there even a market for it? Urban C-dramas are doing a better job, in my opinion. They donāt fall into ridicule so easily.
Your answer is too wide sweeping, may I suggest. Yes, I recognise the culture of cliches and overstretched coincidences you characterise but there are many dramas way above that tide mark and what makes the best stand out is the excellent quality of the writing.
Iāve just recently revisited Hospital Playlist 2 which is a wonderfully sustained drama.
Others in my top list include Signal, D.P., Stranger, The Queenās Umbrella, Missing: the Other Side, Live Up To Your Name, Move to Heaven, Extracurricular, My Mister.
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In Korea Iām sure thereās an equivalent to Uber where you can log onto an app and access the hundreds of heavily laden lorries that lurk in every side street, poised to eliminate the whistleblower, the journalist, or anyone with the crucial USB stick at just the right moment ā¦ āyour killer HGV ride is just three minutes away. Donāt forget to rate this service!!ā
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Hereās a comment I made about eighteen months ago on all thoise cliches ā¦
"I have been dating a Korean guy lately which has been nice, but some things about him are not as I expected.
His father isnāt president of a major corporation facing a corruption enquiry while fighting off a hostile takeover bid.
He didnāt grow up surrounded by bodyguards in dark suits talking into their cuffs. On the other hand, neither did he grow up in an orphanage, his parents having died in a mysterious car crash which his secret brother (that he never knew he had) had survived, and who had ended up being fostered by the president of a major corp ā¦ (er, see above).
Nor does he have any special powers and seems to be completely incapable of time travelling back to the Joseon era and he struggles even to open a tin can in the kitchen, never mind any portal to a parallel universe.
Whatās more, he doesnāt have an overbearing mother that hijacks him with Kimchi every 48 hours!!!
Iām beginning to wonder if this guyās Korean at all ā¦ or, have I maybe watching too much K-Drama?!!"
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ātoo wide sweepingā, really? Doesnāt this cover at least 80% of all K-dramas by any standard?
90% of all important questions in Kdramas have this themplate:
question -āimportant question (or statement)ā,
answer - (deh?) āwhatā
response - āanyeoā¦ā(oh nothing)
Isnāt there almost always a misunderstanding or things left unsaid at the heart of every plot for some obscure reason?
Isnāt the contrast between submissive (unexplicably obedient victims) and evil always cartoonish and exaggerated?
I could go on and on about their bag of tricks. Iām not saying there havenāt been nice productions Iāve enjoyed in the past. But Iām looking elsewhere nowadaysāitās just almost always a waste of time.
The last one I watched: Something in the Rain (2018). They had everything to make an amazing series, and the theme was great. I loved how it started, almost like an urban Chinese drama. Nothing felt forced or overly exaggerated, no unjustified violence or instances of unbearable abuse. The plot made sense, and the writing was subtle. But after episode 10, they just couldnāt help themselves. Nothing made sense after thatā¦
Yes, in some cases they are exaggerated / sensationalized, but donāt you think that it being this prevalent reflects something about their society? If you look further into it, youāll find numerous cases of abuse in all layers of their society, from underaged minors who know they wonāt be held accountable for their crimes because of laws, to chaebols who just donāt care because of the power and money they have.
Again, making the same point for this one. Based on the culture, itās not always easy for people to say whatās on their mind.
Do writers abuse this and make certain characters make really dumb decisions? Absolutely. Have I met people in real life, not only Koreans, who donāt finish what they say or let misunderstandings brew that couldāve easily be avoided? Definitely.
Again, Iām not excusing lazy writing. Lazy writing is frustrating.
Why compare the two? Different cultures, different lenses. C-dramas are also heavily censored, so there are certain subjects that you just wonāt see in a Cdrama unless the censors mess up (abuse, to a certain extent does show up in Cdramas).
Itās good that you have found a genre you like now. I have no problem that you dislike Kdrama tropes and your second statement seemed reasonable, but the first statement you made seemed too generalizing.
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yes, the kdrama could be great, but when it ends, i am disappointed by how they do it.
i just found this on Korean Drama Memes and Quotes 
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I feel bad whenever I post in this thread, not helped by the fact that I started it! I honestly do love my Kdramas and watch them every single day. Iāve lost count of how many I have watched now.
But I have just finished back-to-back āThe Secret Houseā and āBattle of Witches,ā and my goodness, they are absolute carbon copies of each other. I know there are only so many stories you can tell, but the similarities between these two series were insane!
If the brand is shown it is definetly paid. Otherwise, why would the wealthy heir of the big group would have a HUGE plain white sticker at the back of his ultra expensive black coat??? I canāt remember the series where I saw it last time, but it is just silly.
Or when the cover just one or two letters from the sweater brand
Just use clothes without visible branding!
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So true! And stepmothers archetype is so disturbingā¦ actually almost every archetype they use: poor vs rich, good vs badā¦ the ultra nasty villain that becomes almost the savior angel, what is that? Most people have nuances, none is pure evil nor pure saint.
So true! Iāve just watched āwhen the phone ringsā it kept the arc (as you called it) until the 11th episode, then the last episode the lead couple splits, there is an actual war zone?!?! persecutions, thus instead of the closure of the story, it felt like a whole new thingā¦ Also happened with āwelcome to Samdalriā after so many years the lead couple is finally together but they split at the very last episode for another āfew years laterā happy ending??? why, WHY???
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You mention the endings for two dramas that people might not have watched yet.
Please use Spoiler markers by going into the menu and selecting āblur spoilerā. Or use:
[spoiler] Text [/spoiler*]
(remove the final asterisk (*) after spoiler)
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One thing I have seen lately in a couple of shows (not on VIKI) is translators switching out Won for Dollars but not changing the amount. Then things get said like āI need 4 million dollars for this monthās rentā
Done
Thank you, I didnāt think about it. Iām really sorry 
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I realized I donĀ“t like, or understand, where they donĀ“t use their names. Like in WhatĀ“s Wrong With Secretary Kim. She hasnĀ“t called him by his name entire time, always using his title. He even complained about it. 
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In some cultures itās disrespectful to use someoneās name immediately, especially when they are in a higher position or (social) class than you. You stick to someoneās title as a show of respect + so that other people donāt misunderstand you as disrespecting that person.
Some characters get too used to the title and find it hard switching to the actual name and even then itās the name + respectful adjective vs. the name + intimate adjective that the character wants to be called.
We call those discount PPL .
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Or when women dress and act like men, and it is supposed to fool people.
Or the screaming actors.
Iām so hooked it never gets old for me. I do wish some dramas didnāt have so many episodes. Sixteen eps is the ideal to me.
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