Second Lead Syndrome

This is a term I hadn't heard of before I began watching kdramas, but it happens quite often: the second lead is more appealing than the lead actor. This usually means that you ship the female lead and the second male lead. (Shipping means you root for a relationship.) For example, in Boys over Flowers why didn't the girl like Blondie, who was much nicer to her than Curly Hair? He was more her friend, and you'd think she wouldn't have hung out with him so much if she didn't like him. Although he couldn't act. But Curly Hair Guy had intensity going for him.

In Sungkyunkwan Scandal (a story about a girl dressing up as a boy to get into a boys' school) although the two main characters did get along together well, I still liked Robin Hood better than Rooftop. He was mysterious, a tough fighter, and above all, possessor of The Mane of Glory, which is supposed to be a sign of the hero. He was smart; he had read all the books in the library. Besides that, he was often to be found hiding up on top of a roof or posing tastefully in a tree.

A gumiho is a nine-tailed fox from Korean mythology that can turn into a person. The one in My Girlfriend is a Gumiho falls in love with a human and wants to become human and stay with him. A  half-goblin man (who is much more beautiful than anyone else) is sent to catch her and decides to help instead. You wonder if she will  stay with him or the human.

Greatest Love is another one. An arrogant, very famous actor thinks he loves a has-been singer because when he hears her sing his heart beats faster. The real reason is that he heard her songs while having heart surgery (however logical that is). The singer meets a cute acupuncture doctor and has to choose between them. The doctor is nicer than the actor and moreover doesn't have an evil weird cackle.

Prosecutor Princess is about a fashion-crazy prosecutor gradually getting to be effective at her job, being coached along by a (seemingly) friendly lawyer.  Nampyeon and I liked a male prosecutor (the Reaper from Arang and the Magistrate) as much as the lawyer, and the Princess has competition from another female prosecutor who also likes him.

In Secret Garden the male lead was pretty mean for much of the show, although he became nice later on. It was our first kdrama and we didn't know that this is a common plot ploy, so we resented it more than we would now. When the director of the stunt school seemed better than Rich Boy, Second Lead Syndrome hit. He was reticent but kindhearted. Then Rich Boy's cousin began to grow on you and SLS hit again. Oof. Twice in one show.

In general I like lots of good secondary characters, and I like more good guys than bad guys. But do they all have to like the same girl? Sometimes everyone pairs up and they are all happy, but a lot of times they don't. There's just a little tendency towards melancholy in Korean dramas. But who knows what will happen? The second lead in You're Beautiful didn't get the girl, but they paired up later in Heartstrings and got a second chance. Although it turned out a little dull.  Now I need another show with Cousin Oska from Secret Garden in it.

Korean TV

Nampyeon (husband) and I don't watch regular television much anymore. It is too full of violence, crude language, and immorality. I don't like that sort of thing going on in real life, and I don't want to watch it on my television. We got tired of turning shows off halfway through. I had high hopes a few years ago for a spin-off show of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We loved the movie, but someone got a hold of it between the movie theater and the tv station, and the tv show was crude. Bleh.

We have been watching carefully selected movies, and reruns of Star Trek; but now we have something new to watch. Korean drama.

My daughter-in-law watches them and has favorites. The selling points were that they were interesting and clean. The drawback is that you have to read subtitles, but you get used to that.

We started with her favorite: Secret Garden. It is a fantasy about a rich man falling in love with a poor woman who does stunts for movies. He tries to get her to go out with him, she tells him to get lost, magic happens, and their spirits switch bodies. It has really funny parts, sad parts, and interesting secondary characters (an important feature in a show). We enjoyed it a lot and I recommend it to anyone who can read fast.

When we finished Secret Garden we looked at some other Korean shows that are on Netflix. They are not all created the same. One was about some very vicious rich high school students who are extremely rude and bully anyone they don't like. There didn't seem to be any teachers or adults around to make them behave. Double Bleh.

Now we have started watching Heartstrings, also suggested by the daughter-in-law. It is about two college students, one studying traditional Korean music, the other studying western music (specializing in rock). This one also looks fun. I will let you know.