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iris-sistibly · 1 year

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Jang Bong-hwan found himself standing in front of Daejojeon Hall. The sky was a hue of orange, yellow and blue. There were people around him, the peculiar thing was they were dressed differently, like how people in his country dressed up during the Joseon dynasty.

His eyes scanned the entire place, deep inside he felt a sense of familiarity, he knew he'd been here before but his mind wanted to make sure that he wasn't imagining things...again. “Royal physician please hurry!” he heard a woman whose voice could probably be heard within the entire area. “Court Lady Choi?” Bong-hwan instantly recognized the voice, and he was right. He knew those people well enough to identify them by just hearing their voices. The middle-aged woman was running towards the hall, behind her was the royal physician who was struggling to keep up with her speed.

Bong-hwan’s brows furrowed, "I'm for real not in modern-day Korea am I?," he thought, then gasped when it finally sank in his mind, “Oh shit!” he immediately checked on himself. His voice hasn’t changed, hair was still short, his physique which he spent so much time at the gym to perfect was still the same, and most importantly, his thing was still hanging down there...safe and sound. Bong-hwan felt relieved, it was good to know that he was still himself, but how did he end up here once more? Did he die? or did he fall into a coma again and his soul traveled back in time?

“You there!” the lady-in-waiting pointed at him which stunned Bong-hwan.

“Me…y-you can see me?”

Lady-in-waiting Choi scoffed, “What are you talking about?! Of course I can see you!”

So he wasn’t just a mere soul or a ghost [thankfully], but why was she acting like she knew him? Come to think of it, not even the guards tried to interrogate him–a man in a strange (modern) clothing who clearly doesn’t live or work in the palace. The only person who was able to confirm his identity was the late Kim Byeong-in and no one else. The queen wouldn't be so reckless to spill the tea to everyone right?

"Don’t just stand there!" Court Lady Choi snapped him out of his thoughts, "The queen is about to give birth!"

Before Bong-hwan could even ask questions or process what the lady had said, the latter suddenly dragged him along with the royal physician. Inside, the agonizing screams of Kim So-yong can be heard in every corridor, perhaps it was an exaggeration but it was loud enough to make everyone fluster.

Bong-hwan recalled the time he found out that the queen was pregnant while he was still inside her body, thankfully he didn’t stay long enough to experience the labor pains and actual childbirth. But nevertheless he felt bad, all throughout his stay the queen shared everything to him, her memories, struggles, pain, happiness…and even love for the people around her, including the king.

Speaking of which, where is Cheoljong?

He knew he survived and successfully ousted the corrupt and greedy officials of his court. But if he traveled back to the time of their child’s birth, then that means it has only been months since he left, probably the same time it has been since fully recovering from coma.

“His majesty has arrived!” someone announced in the midst of the commotion. Everyone made way for the king, with him were Prince Yeongpyeong and Special Director Hong. Poor dude came rushing to Daejojeon Hall still wearing his pj’s…uh…sleeping garments. “My queen! I am here!” His mind was too focused on his wife to notice everyone else. Cheoljong stepped inside as soon as the doors to the queen’s room opened. The royal physician, and some of the queen’s maids followed. Worried about So-yong, Bong-hwan went in to check on her, the queen was drenched in her own sweat, and writhing in pain. Hong-yeon was wiping away her sweat while trying to comfort her, "Please try to take deep breaths, it might help you calm down your majesty," she said while in-tears. She has always had a soft spot for her.

"My queen!" Cheoljong sat beside his wife and held her hand while controlling his emotions.

“My king! It hurts so much!” the queen cried.

“It hurts me to see you in pain my queen, I may never know how hard and excruciating it is to bring another life into the world, but I assure you that I will remain by your side as I have promised.”

The queen smiled in gratitude, who would have thought that they would truly fall deeply in-love with each other, considering that their marriage at first wasn’t exactly a blissful one?

“I am sorry your majesty but you have to step outside while I help the queen deliver the child,” the physician said. Upon hearing that, the queen frantically shook her head, “No! He’s staying here! He’s staying with me!”

“B-But your majesty…”

So-yong glared at him, “Listen royal physician, the king and I made this baby together, and did everything together to prepare for this moment, so we’ll be pushing this child into this world together, do you understand?! Now if you insist on NOT letting him stay, I will skewer you and fry you to a crisp!”

Bong-hwan couldn’t help but smile. Admittedly, So-yong taught him to forgive, to help whenever he can, to have faith, and most of all, he learned to care for the people around him. Meanwhile, he taught her to stand up for herself, to never let anyone dictate or control her, to be confident about herself, and just be the badass/savage queen she was born to be. They have grown so much, and he was proud of them...of her mainly.

The royal physician sighed and gave in, “Very well, Court Lady Choi and Hong-yeon will assist me, the rest of you please wait outside. They did as they were told, but before Bong-hwan stepped out of the room he glanced at the queen, the latter saw him too. Upon realizing who he was, she pointed at him, “You…I’ll deal with you later,” she said as the doors shut.

Bong-hwan kept pacing back and forth, he winced at each time he heard So-yong push as if he was also feeling her pain, and in between she would blurt out random cuss words which she probably picked up from him. “M-My queen you’re gripping my hand too tight, y-you might break my bones!” he heard Cheoljong say.

“Hey! I spent nine whole months carrying your child, and now my womanhood feels like it’s being ripped apart and you dare complain?! I might as well break your fucking bones right now!”

“Your majesty, push!” said the royal physician, So-yong pushed as hard as she could. At the same time, Cheoljong's cries can also be heard.

“Goodness your majesty, I can see the head already!” Court Lady Choi sounded delightful and excited.

“Only the head?!” the king and queen uttered in unison.

“Push!”

“I'm gonna kill you Cheoljong!”

"My baby please make haste!"

Meanwhile, the maids, Prince Yeongpyeong and Special Director Hong also waited outside the room. The prince chuckled while he listened to his little brother suffer the wrath of his wife in the birthing bed, “That’s the queen alright.”

“Good grief, if I’m going to end up like his majesty, I might as well not marry at all,” the king’s bestfriend answered.

“Has a message been sent to the queen’s father already?”

Hong Du-il nodded, “I asked Kim Hwan to personally deliver the message to Kim Mun-geun, the old man would probably bring more gifts for the royal baby.”

“He’s going to be one spoiled child.”

“I don’t think so,” Bong-hwan chimed in. Both men looked at him, “He will be very much loved by the people around him, and he will grow into a fine, intelligent, brave and kind man who will continue his father’s legacy. His parents are good people, they will raise him well.”

Du-il nodded, "Of course they will."

In history, the son of Cheoljong and Cheorin died six months after his birth. But like his father, this child is a fighter, Bong-hwan knew this because he experienced it first hand. While still in the womb, he was faced with life-threatening situations, yet despite all that, he ended up thriving. Bong-hwan had put his faith in Cheoljong once, and he has placed his bet on the right person. The king succeeded in creating his own path, and the odds turned to his favor. If Bong-hwan is to gamble once more, he would go all-in for this child.

He didn’t know how much time had already passed, but all of their anxieties turned into elation when they finally heard the loud wailing of an infant. The maids rejoiced, Bong-hwan and the two other men were relieved. Moments later, the royal physician stepped out of the queen’s room wearing a huge smile on his face, “The queen has safely delivered a healthy little prince!” he announced.

The sun rose to its full glory. On that day, a new life took its first breath into the world, and upon his arrival came a new found hope for a brighter future. And thus, the kingdom rejoiced.

***

Jang Bong-hwan walked into the queen’s room, full of happiness and excitement. Inside were the young couple with their newborn son, the little boy was sleeping peacefully in his father’s arms, while So-yong leaned against her husband’s shoulder, holding their baby’s tiny hand. It was a beautiful moment, both parents were enamored by the boy’s charm, “He’s a handsome little prince,” Cheoljong said proudly, he then faced his wife, “Thank you my queen.”

“I should be the one thanking you, my king, for always being there for me.”

“In this lifetime and in the afterlife, I will always be with you my love.”

“As am I, now and hereafter...I will never stop loving you.”

The couple moved closer to each other, their lips barely an inch apart, their hearts beating as one. But their intimate moment was interrupted when they finally noticed Bong-hwan's presence. “Hey, how long have you been standing there?” asked So-yong.

“Long enough to witness a cheesy k-drama moment,” Bong-hwan answered, "Congratulations by the way." The queen smiled in response.

“Would you like to hold him?” Cheoljong asked, just like everyone else, he didn’t seem freaked out at all. Bong-hwan looked at Queen Cheorin (Kim So-yong). As if trying to communicate through the mind, he wanted to know what the heck was going on, why do others seem so chill with him being there? He didn’t get any answer, she just let her husband place their child gently in his arms. Bong-hwan took a moment to have a good look at his face, indeed he inherited all of his parents’ best features. "I can already imagine the number of women who would swoon over him," he jested, “Hey kiddo, let me tell you something…the first lesson you need to learn about life is–” he paused, memories of him as the queen suddenly flooded his mind, from the moment he woke up in Cheorin’s body, to meeting the people whom he had grown to love as family, and most importantly, the long and crazy journey that led them to this moment. They've surely come a long way, and it was such an incredible yet humbling experience.

And it made Bong-hwan feel more...alive.

His expression softened, he has always had a fiery personality, but now he seemed to be calmer, “...Is that it's never short of battles, at times you’ll feel afraid, sad or frustrated, there will even come a point when everything seems hopeless. But believe me when I say that no matter how crappy life can be, one way or another, you will always find something or someone worth living and fighting for, so don’t ever give up okay? I’m rooting for you little prince! Fighting!”

The boy’s parents expressed their gratitude as Bong-hwan handed the baby back to his mother.

“I’m really happy to see you, both of you once more,” he said afterwards.

“I never got to say this, but I’m glad you came Jang Bong-hwan, thank you so much…for everything.”

Bong-hwan shrugged, trying to act cool, "Oh no need to thank me, although I...never got the chance to say goodbye to you the last time, sorry about that," he said, “Come to think of it, I wonder if we’ll ever meet again?”

“You will always be a part of me, just as I will always be a part of you, well…all of us actually. Whichever timeline, lifetime, or part of the world we end up in, one way or another, we are bound to meet once more, I sincerely believe in that.”

The queen gestured Hong-yeon to come forward, the maid handed a box to Bong-hwan, “What is this? A parting gift?”

So-yong chuckled, “You can say that.”

Bong-hwan opened the box and inside was a pin, he remembered it very well, it was the same pin he used to carve out that message in the stone by the lake.

“Keep it,” Cheoljong said, “And when we cross paths again, let’s have a drinking game.”

Bong-hwan smiled and nodded, “I’m looking forward to beating you Cheoljong.”

“So am I Bong-hwan, so am I.”

***

Jang Bong-hwan found himself back in his own room in modern-day Korea the moment he opened his eyes, “What a dream,” he thought. But then, he felt something in his hand, and to his surprise it was the pin the queen gave him. A smile formed on his lips, then he started giggling, and soon enough his laughter filled the entire room, “I am so gonna beat your ass your majesty,” he said. He got out of his bed and got ready for the day, after breakfast he immediately left and drove to the place where it all began. Thankfully, there weren’t many people that day. Bong-hwan knelt in front of the stone by the lake, it had been more than a century since the reign of King Cheoljong and Queen Cheorin, yet it felt good to know that this place still exists until now. He traced his fingers along the writings on the stone, and when no one was looking, Bong-hwan took out the pin, and wrote something:

I came was here for nothing and it was epic

-Jang Bong-hwan

Epilogue (by: Iris)

A/N: This fanfiction is solely based on the show Mr. Queen, and has nothing to do with Korea's history.

I regret not watching the show sooner, it wasn't a light rom-com like I was expecting. Bitch every episode was intense and I enjoyed the roller coaster of emotions this show gave me. This fanfic is one of those that I spent more than a day writing bc I tbh it's just that I'm in that moment when I badly want to write something but I don't fucking know what to write.

I thought about giving Bong-hwan and Cheoljong some moments together, but I wanted Bong-hwan and So-yong to have their moment too. So being the lazy bitch that I am, I just decided to put all three of them together just to make it easier for my brain cells 😜.

#korean drama #mr queen #shin hye sun #kim jung hyun #seol in ah #na in woo #choi jin hyuk #queen cheorin #kim so-yong #king cheoljong #jo hwa jin #lady uibin #kim byeong in #jang bong hwan #go princess go #fanfiction

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ramennoodler · 9 months

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Dramas 2023

Just some of my thoughts for some of the dramas of 2023...

-KING THE LAND !!!!! The natural chemistry between the main leads is just so so soooo real that it makes it hard to believe that they're "just friends" in reality; However, at the same time it makes sense, as both Junho and Yoona have been in the entertainment industry and have known each other for a long time (2pm and SNSD go wayyyy back, IYKYK). I'm kind of surprised it took them this long to meet for a drama project, but as a fan of both 2pm and SNSD, I'm so glad to see them both working together again. There are so many funny moments in this drama and the added sound effects and acting make some of the scenes so funny. I also like the easter eggs added in the drama haha. Definitely a feel-good drama. I ship the main leads..!! They already know each other so well and they're also starting to look the same haha. -See You in My 19th Life This series is based on the webtoon, and the drama was surprisingly not bad. Ahn Bo Hyun and Shin Hye Sun both are great together, and I feel like recently Shin Hye Sun has been typecasted into these somewhat typical bold, fearless characters that are also seemingly reflective of her own personality but in this drama I was able to kind of see somewhat of a different side to her (hard to explain hahah). And Ahn Bo Hyun...he's very versatile as an actor. And finding out that he's now dating Jisoo of BP...super unexpected haha !! The drama itself is somehow comforting with all the characters meshing well together. Pleasant~~

-Celebrity Hmmmmm this one was great but something about the female lead I can't put my finger on.. While I do feel like her acting has improved over the years and I see that in some scenes of this drama as well, there were parts where it just seemed flat but I'm not sure if it's just how her character was written. The storyline itself was definitely interesting nonetheless, and I didn't have much expectations going into it, but it does touch upon the effects of social media in modern times and I liked the mystery/thriller type of vibe.

-D.P. Star-studded cast; haven't watched this yet but excited to pick up where they left off for season 1.

-The Real Has Come The cast is talented and there are strong characters in this drama and lots of twists and funny moments. It's light and funny, but there's 50 episodes so there are definitely times where it's a bit draggy but also that's typical of any family dramas. -Oasis Jang Dong Yoon!!! Hahaha I think the cast did a great job with their portrayals though I feel like Jang Dong Yoon just has such a baby-face and looks like he wouldn't hurt a fly but he looked so cool playing this role as Lee Doo Hak. I liked the old-fashioned style of this drama as it took place in the 80s-90s Korea, so it was really refreshing to see the type of fashion, dialects and overall atmosphere during that time through this drama, and think about how much has changed. There were parts of the drama that felt a little repetitive, but I think overall the cast made up for it. -Apple of My Eye (금이야, 옥이야) Typical family drama, a little predictable but expected haha.

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stuff-diary · 2 months

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Branding in Seongsu

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2024

Branding in Seongsu (2024, South Korea)

Director: Jung Hun Soo

Writers: Choi Sun Mi & Jeon Seon Young

Mini-review:

Look, I'm not gonna say this was good, but it kept me engaged throughout. And it's all thanks to the two leads. They basically save the whole thing with their chemistry and their comedic chops. I was particularly impressed by Lomon, who went out of his comfort zone for this role and delivered in every single scene. The show worked better as comedy than anything else, since it was pretty funny at times. But yeah, whenever it tried to highlight serious issues, it ended up falling into the same old stereotypes. And some of the final twists made little to no sense. I don't regret watching Branding in Seongsu, though, cause the episodes were short and it never had time to get boring. But I do wish the writing and directing were as good as the acting, or less messy at the very least.

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thedramanotes · 1 year

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The Great Misunderstanding Trope From Ye Olde K-dramas

Hello. So, I wanted to chat some more about this well known trope in Korean dramas from the 2000s and early 2010s.

Or if you ever picked up a romance novel from the eighties or nineties, this was one of the major tropes used there too.

I'm talking about the Great Misunderstanding trope.

Not that it ever went out of fashion exactly, but in the late 2000s, early 2010s, this had quite a resurgence and was used in pretty much every dramatic romance drama.

A drama that really exemplifies how dramatic this trope could get was secret from 2013, which had Ji Sung and Hwang Jung-eum.

There was a LOT of misunderstandings in that drama.

youtube

Now, typical of this trope is that the hero would be drawn towards the heroine despite believing the absolute worst of her. And the heroine would be in a situation where she can't clear up his misunderstanding for one reason or the other. Maybe she doesn't know that he believes the worst of her, or she's trying to protect somebody.

Maybe she's even trying to protect him.

And the hero's behavior gets really egregious, because on the one hand, he is terribly drawn to her almost helplessly. But on the other hand, he believes she is a really horrible human being. He's constantly experiencing inner turmoil because of her, and this crisis of feelings and beliefs makes him lash out at the heroine.

Since he believes the worst of her, his behavior towards her is the worst, and this is a key point of this trope.

The hero is constantly horrible to the heroine at this juncture of their relationship. While the heroine is either helpless to resist or hit back, or unwilling to hurt the hero in return.

Maybe because she's just a genuinely good person and she just has a high tolerance for pain, like Hwang Jung-eum in Secret or she is protecting him, like Han Ga-in in Moon Embracing the Sun, when she comes back into the life of the king and the king believes that she is an imposter sent to like mess with his head because she looks so much like his first love and throws her in the prison for three days where she doesn't even get like a drop of water.

And while she is barely alive, he's just going about his life feeling disturbed that the situation happened, but not really thinking about her condition. And of course then her character goes through several other trials, which he could have put a stop to and would have put a stop to if he knew that she was indeed his first love and not an imposter.

But, of course that would completely skip over this period where the heroine suffers at the hands of his enemies and he just lets it happen. But because of this period of suffering, the hero later on feels abject remorse towards the heroine. He is utterly guilt ridden because she had to suffer so much because of him.

And added to that aspect is the fact that she never hit back at him. She was never horrible to him in return. This heroine is usually extremely Gandhian in her approach to the hero, turning the other cheek and all that. She is virtue herself.

And once the hero realizes that about the heroine and he grovels at her feet and the she gets a moment to be like, "I don't hold anything against you, but I may need two years abroad to rethink life and to come back more deserving of you."

That's a whole other trope, but the point is that she gets a moment to sort of get the upper hand in the relationship. Now, this is an interesting aspect of this trope, this upper hand. The relationship dynamic between the hero and the heroine is such that the hero usually occupies a higher position in society.

He is richer, more powerful, maybe he's a celebrity. Either ways. He's in a different, entirely different strata than the heroine. And the heroine is really weak. Maybe she has been emotionally devastated by something that has happened in her life. She's definitely financially in a weaker position and probably also socially from a different class.

This huge class gap is one of the major reasons that this trope exists, and we'll come back to that in a second. The heroine starts the journey in this really weak position, but at the end of the story, the heroine is barely the hero's equal, and the way she becomes his "equal" is by getting the moral upper hand.

And the upper hand doesn't really put her in a higher position than him. It's not like for the rest of their life, they're going to have arguments and she'll bring up what he had done before and he'll be like, yes, you win every argument ever. No, that's not what the story is going for.

The story is making very sure we understand that the gap between them at the start of the story is so huge that the hero finally understanding the heroine's true virtues and how good she is, and that she had never done those awful things he believed of her and that she had suffered in silence while he tortured her - all of those things and the hero's guilt barely brings the hero up to be kind of his equal, at least equal enough that now they can have a relationship.

The heroine comes up in the world, hero doesn't go down at all. He loses only one thing, and that is the right to look down on the heroine, and that is an important aspect of the Great misunderstanding because as you might have noticed till now, I have been specifically telling you about how the hero is the one doing the misunderstanding, the heroine is the one being misunderstood. This particular trope usually flows in this fixed direction. The genders are pretty much fixed.

Occasionally they try to flip it, but the dynamic immediately becomes weaker and the story isn't as interesting.

I'm sure the dramas of decades before this period also had the great misunderstanding used liberally, but it was used to an excessive amount during that period, the late 2000s, early 2010s.

And the reason for that was that the class difference was still quite huge. And women still had fewer opportunities. They were coming up, but they were not quite there yet. And you have to understand, Korean dramas were primarily written for middle aged women who were housewives and/or working. And for most of them, their economic strata was kind of fixed.

There wasn't really a lot of opportunity to come up in the world in the decade after that. Even though the real world wealth gap hasn't exactly decreased, but you must have noticed that dramas no longer tell the stories of really poor women and really rich men. They tell the stories of really rich men and women who are middle to upper class, but don't feel inferior to these rich men.

Their upbringings, even though there is definitely a difference in wealth, no longer makes the two feel like they are from different worlds in terms of the education they got, the exposure they have in the world.

So, from the heroine's perspective, the gap between the two of them doesn't seem so impossible to bridge anymore these days, but back then it was HUGE. The heroine wouldn't look at the hero and think, hey, that's a guy I want to date. The hero would look at the hero and be like, I am drawn to her, but I cannot date her.

We saw examples of this in, let's say in Secret Garden where Hyun Bin was drawn to Ha Ji-won's character. He pursued her, but not for a relationship. He just pursued her heedlessly, but then anytime she reciprocated, he would be the one to point out how much of a gap there is between the two of them and how they could never be a permanent thing.

He was willing to offer her the position of his mistress, but not his girlfriend.

Another Hyun Bin drama is, my name is Kim Sam-soon, where you also had elements of the great misunderstanding, but it was essentially that class divide that made Hyun Bin's character again look down on Kim Sun-ah. Who was poor, clumsy, supposedly overweight and definitely from a different world class-wise than Hyun Bin's character.

So the class divide really is ultimately the reason why the great misunderstanding trope existed.

But you didn't always need the great misunderstanding trope to exist in a story to talk about class. Like I just said my name is Kim Sam-soon and Secret Garden both did that really well.They actually faced the question of class divide and how two people from two different strata would overcome that.

Those stories were directly challenging the idea of the class divide.

The stories that employed the great misunderstanding didn't really want to directly talk about the class divide. They wanted to solve that problem, the problem of the woman being from a weaker section of society, and also just having like a weaker position within the relationship with the hero without really underlining what the problem was.

So why was the trope so popular at the time? Because the class divide existed in reality and the drama watching audiences wanted more stories about it. And this was a morality play where the virtuous heroine has to go through this traumatic trial by fire to prove herself.

But once she has proven herself, the hero can never doubt her again.

The hero would now forever be so grateful that she has forgiven him for his big mistake in not knowing how wonderful she is, that he will never abuse her, he will never mistrust her, he will never doubt her.

Once their love is affirmed in this way, she emerges, virtuous, victorious, and having secured the love of this man.

And if you haven't figured it out yet, the great misunderstanding trope ultimately is not about the hero being a jerk to the heroine. It's about the heroine going through a hero's journey. To finally land up in a place where she is powerful enough to be the hero's equal morally. This is a female empowerment fantasy.

This was all we wanted. We wanted the hero to acknowledge the heroine's goodness and never doubt her. And of course, we as the audience absolutely love this. We loved that the heroine was sort of the personification of goodness. She may be clumsy, she may be silly at times. She may make poor decisions. She may make us extremely frustrated because she refuses to tell the hero the truth, whatever the truth may be.

But ultimately, we absolutely love the fact that the hero, once he figured out how wrong he was, how terribly he had treated her, and how much he owes her, once that moment struck, that's when the real payoff would happen. And of course then we had dramas like Secret where they would use the great misunderstanding to create some of the steamiest moments between the hero and the heroine.

Seriously, Ji Sung and Hwang Jung-eum had the most messed up dynamic in that story, and yet it's like seared in my brain. That was crack.

Now, something else to keep in mind is that the great misunderstanding has been used in modern day romances quite liberally as well. But this - what is used these days - is the great misunderstanding lite.

Like, you have Our Beloved Summer where the hero doesn't actually know why the heroine had broken up with him and sort of misunderstands her intentions, and then years later finally figures out why she was forced to break up with him at that point.

Or you have Love Is For suckers, where the heroine realizes that the hero has feelings for her, but she's still feeling conflicted. And she also knows that another woman deeply loves the hero and she doesn't want to come between them. So, she lets the hero misunderstand her, which creates a chasm between the two of them.

So you do have these instances of misunderstanding. It's not that dramatic because there really is no great payoff. There is no groveling hero. There is no guilt. There is no internal misery. There is no irresistible attraction that is constantly pulling the hero and hero in together. And they are just dying inside because they can't be together.

It's not that dramatic anymore. It's simpler.

Which on the one hand is a good thing. It's a good thing, but it also makes for less memorable stories.

I was trying really hard to think of more instances where the misunderstanding lite trope has been used in dramas recently, and I know there have been tons.

I just don't remember because, it was not that interesting. I just think, if you have to use that trope, it's maybe worth it to go full fledged, like modernize it, make the woman less of a dish rag or flip genders, but really commit to the trope. Don't just use it as this one throwaway thing that happens for two episodes.

That is a waste of a trope that could genuinely create a lot of heat and trauma, but also, I'm sure in the hands of good writers create moments where the hero and heroine could really talk about their differences - whether it's moral, ethical, political, religious, economic, or a clash of egos - actually get into the depths of why the two of them felt so torn asunder despite being attracted to each other.

I am sure we can modernize it and still keep the drama aspect of it.

It doesn't have to be this morality tale that requires the woman to be a saint. So that she could just barely be equal to the spoiled rich hero.

------

This essay was originally published as a video on The Drama Note YouTube Channel.

#misunderstanding trope #old kdramas #kdrama scenes #kdrama tropes #secret garden #ji sung #secret 2013 #hwang jung-eum #hyun bin #kim sun ah #my lovely sam soon #the moon embracing the sun #kim soo hyun #han ga in #kdrama nostalgia #our beloved summer #hero misunderstands the heroine

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