Why do fans root for TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS? Main Lead/ Second Lead Debate

So Meteor Garden is worse than Boys over Flowers?

2001 or 2018?

Because in MG 2018 I liked the role of F4 best. They weren’t mean per se, they just wanted to set themselves apart (and of course they were snobby anyway).
But I skipped a lot of episodes towards the end. There were too many and dispensable.

el masculino siempre le esta haciendo chistes malos a la prota y hay una escena donde ella lo espera fuera de la casa que me pareció horrenda. Y ni te cuento la japonesa jaja, en esa hay sangre y todo

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Meteor Garden (2018) had it’s moments like a lot of those types do - where the ML treats the FL badly and teases her about her looks, etc. Some moments are especially bad, but he also has his moments where he is incredibly sweet, so… It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but it’s not the best. I haven’t seen Boys Over Flowers, so I can’t compare.

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bueno, yo creo que solo porque tenga momentos dulces no debería aguantar los momentos malos, pero cada uno con lo suyo jaja
en Boys over flowers también es menos marcado el bulling si mal no recuerdo, los vi hace un tiempo ya. si vamos en la escala de bulling comienza en la coreana con algo menor, la china medio, y la japonesa que se fue… Recomiendo que vean las tres y sacan sus propias conclusiones, no se queden con mi visión, por supuesto. Me está gustando lo de ver las distintas versiones, lo mismo con la versión coreana y la ¿tailandesa? de Oh my ghost. aunque la de bring it on ghost no pude ver la otra versión, la abandoné, solo vi la coreana completa.
Alguien que la haya visto me recomienda retomarla?

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I watched the Thai version after watching the Korean version. I guess I would say it isn’t as memorable but was okay. I wonder sometimes if I would have remembered it better and enjoyed it more if I had watched it first. And that is true any time I watch another version of the same show, because the first version I watch usually ends up making more of an impression on me.

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Yo vi meteor garden primero, luego la Japonesa y por último la coreana, y me gustó mas la coreana.
Claro, eso es lo bello de la diversidad de opiniones.

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Cheese in the trap tenía algo de que lo malinterpretaron también al prota un poco, me recordó un poco a La flor del mal, donde todos pensaban que él era psicópata pero en realidad era introvertido o algo autista. bueno, en cheese in the trap el hombre creció con gente interesada a su alrededor, por eso se alejó de los otros, no vi la película.
Y Dije psicópata y me acordé de El diario del psicópata jajjaa, me reí mucho
Herederos vi solo una, no se cual es la otra.

siii que ridículo, lleva a las mujeres a pensar que deben quedarse con el primero que besen aunque sea un desastre o las trate mal.

También yo. Hay uno que no recuerdo bien el nombre, creo que Good morning call o algo similar. Yo quería que se quede con el otro, con el mujeriego jaja. No recuerdo otros ahora, pero en varias series quise que se quede con otro. Si no viste The flower boy next door, te lo recomiendo, el “vecino” de el edificio de enfrente es un amor (en realidad está de visita)
Otra cosa, ví también un par de personajes secundarias femeninas que cambian mucho de pareja, me pareció mas realista, aunque lo pusieron en la mejor amiga y no en la principal.

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I think I watched half of Meteor Garden. They dragged it out so much, how much filler and added drama did it need?

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jaja, aunque sea tenía muy buena calidad de imagen y efectos especiales

Sí, ya ví todos los que mencionaste. Quizás quieras ver [She was Pretty] Ella es muy buena actriz aunque no todos le gustan, pero en mi opinión personal. ES tremenda actriz. La admiro mucho en sus dramas como: SECRET LOVE y KILL ME HEAL ME. Es cómica y sabe hacer escenas de besos no deja los ojos --’‘abiertotes’’ o con las manos paralizada (solo cuando la escena lo requiere) como en SECRET LOVE.

Si te gustan dramas más juveniles con ídolos entonce te sugiero: [TRUE BEAUTY]

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There has been a lot of mention about this drama in a couple different places lately, mostly of people liking it, but I have to admit that I found this relationship to be one of the absolute most toxic out of all I have seen.

I have said several times in several places that I will almost always root for the ‘bad boy’ and love watching love ‘fix’ the guy in these fictional worlds, so I kept watching this one through both of its seasons hoping and hoping that he would show some character growth at some point, but he basically continued to treat her like crap the entire 2 seasons and basically never apologizing, with only a handful or two of sweet moments. I felt like he knew he could act like every kind of jerk and get away with it because of her utter obsession with him. I know I am in the minority. The drama does have a very high rating, after all.

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I always root for the broken boy (bad “non toxic” boy) I like those bad boys - but not if they treat the girl like she’s less than!

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I will even forgive the toxic ones to a certain point, as long as they show character growth. My fiction-watching self is WAAAAYYYYYY more tolerant than my real-life self. In real life, I’d make sure the door DID hit him on the butt on his way out, so to speak.

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The love triangle is a feature of many Asian dramas, at least the ones I’ve seen on Viki.

I think that the frustration I feel in watching the triangle sort itself out depends on the type of drama it occurs in.

There are dramas on Viki designed just to get eyeballs on the screen, so to speak. They are not that deep. They take the most obvious, sometimes the most stereotypical, route from start to finish when it comes to love relationships.

High school dramas tend to be the most awful when it comes to blossoming romances because real high school romances are, let’s face it, pretty awful most of the time.

Human beings are born pretty self-focused. You know, a baby is totally dependent on others for care and support, and life is literally all about getting fed, getting parental and sibling “skinship,” feeling warm and dry and safe. Getting from that amount of “me, me, me” to a reasonable amount of unselfish social and emotional interaction by age 16, 17, 18 is challenging.

Then throw in cultural expectations on top of that. Wow. And they do differ from Asian culture to Asian culture, don’t they?

There are several dramas I have watched over the past ten years or so that I have enjoyed because of a romance between second leads that somehow mirrors the relationship of the main leads, or it points out the way the main leads should work on their relationship. I have often wished that some of those characters and relationships could get showcased in a series of their own.

My favorite dramas are those in which a drama starts out in the middle of major love relationship toxicity and explores how it came to be . . . and then the drama shows characters becoming self-aware and struggling toward a sense of healing and wholeness.

That can be an emotional roller coaster ride!

For me, a recent K-drama that got such a struggle right is Awaken with Namgoong Min. Obviously it is not a romance per se, but human connectedness–its importance, how it goes wrong, how it goes right–is a big concept that runs through the whole show. And for my money, the ending is one I find quite oddly satisfying and hopeful.

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This is a really good point, and I feel you on wishing some of the secondary couples could get their own full-drama story. One of the last dramas I watched had two such couples.

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I’m starting to hear music in the background when I go in heart jail for the 4th time today!

Park Hyung Sik - High Society my 2nd main lead syndrome couple!!! And DOOM - Team TEAM Leader Cha and his love

Spin off please

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this is my pet peeve, I cannot stand it and don’t find it funny. Even if the ML changes later, the sting still stays and I can’t enjoy it at all.

wow. I am definitely not watching any of these :flushed::sweat_smile:

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Then I guess I would suggest you stay away.

I admit I have no idea why this type of thing is still included in dramas. Can writers not think of other ways to portray a difference of character in the beginning? It’s not cute or funny, and it makes no sense logically when the guy who calls the girl names turns around and literally risks his life for her, which he does multiple times in Meteor Garden.

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