K-Drama Tropes

As the mother of a teenager, it is perhaps inevitable that Korean pop culture would become a critical component of my media consumption. The year 2019 began with my introduction to Webtoon and my headfirst dive into manwha. The year ended with a nearly OCD buy-in of K-Drama.

K-Drama Intro

It started with a posts BookRiot recommending bookish K-dramas. I was drama-curious, so I added them to my watch list. A few days later, another website I regularly read had an article about how the K-drama Her Private Life was the Mary Poppins of television – practically perfect in every way. Frustratingly, I can no longer find that article.

But it inspired me to look for the show, which back then was not available on Netflix. I signed up for Viki just to be able to watch that show. The whole family watched it together and agreed that it was truly good television, with charming yet 3-dimensional characters, quick pacing, tight writing, and best of all, external sources of drama routinely and repeatedly solved by people acting like adults and communicating.

While we were still in our free trial period, the kids spotted Cinderella and Four Knights and I watched it with them. It was proof that Her Private Life is a level above standard. But it was still lots of fun and very different from what we were used to.

We signed up for a year of Viki, and watched one of the dramas from that original article together as a family. Romance is a Bonus Book had the same delightful characteristics as Her Private Life. By now, it was obvious that K-drama was going to be integrated into our media diet.

The Worm Turned

Then my husband and I watched Crash Landing On You on Netflix, and interest turned to obsession. I added every Hyun Bin title on every platform we have to my watch list. I rewatched the show with my kids and started following K-drama stars on Instagram. Thanks to CLOY, I became a hardcore K-drama fan.

K-Drama Tropes

Part of what I love about K-drama is how refreshing it is to watch a story that doesn’t follow the formulas I’m used to. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own formulas. And as I watch more of them, I’m starting to recognize some of K-drama’s own tropes. Crash Landing gets a little meta sometimes with characters predicting what will happen in a situation, or even choosing what to do based on what they’ve seen in K-dramas.

I’ve always enjoyed the TV Tropes wiki, and learned a lot about storytelling cliches from it. Amnesia seems to be as important in K-drama as quicksand was to American TV in the 70s. And Korean audiences seem to like their denoument. American stories end with a big Hollywood kiss when the hero gets the girl. K-dramas usually give you 2-3 episodes to see how that new couple interacts with the world and solves problems together, and to let you know what happens with all the secondary characters’ subplots.

So, I’m going to start tracking the tropes that seem more common in K-drama than in American television here on the blog. Just for my own entertainment. But you’re welcome to follow along.

What I’m Watching

I can’t promise I’ll keep this list up to date, but so far here are the K-dramas I’ve watched.

• Her Private Life
• Cinderella and Four Knights
• Romance is a Bonus Book
• Crash Landing on You
• My Name Is Sam Soon (aka My Lovely Sam Soon)
• Memories of the Alhambra
• Touch
• Moon River
• Riders: Catch Tomorrow

And if you don’t want to watch what I watch, here is a more official set of recommendations for K-drama newbies.