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>꺼져 count: 25.75 I could have missed some

Around this time I felt really glad you were the one doing this and making all the rules for what counted and what didn’t.

>Devil Woman

Oh, what a great MV. All three of your song choices were fun, thanks for bringing the tunes.

>Great, amnesia plot incoming.This show is so tropey, I love and hate that about it.

This made me think about how I wanted While you were Sleeping to be made into a K-drama, and how disappointed I was that WYWS was not in fact a remake of the movie in drama form, but I loved it nonetheless. I kind of like how they are throwing the tropes at us by the bucketfull.

>Peter Jason, was the fake Hollywood director in The Greatest Love

Oh, I laughed at this but couldn’t remember where we had met Peter before, I should have realised it was another Hong sisters’ drama.

>How much coffee does one ghost need?

He needs to cut back.

>I really want that necklace, too, but I never wear jewelry. j.estina, it's a good thing you don't seem to sell this anymore.

Good news. Finding a fake is super easy and relevant to the show. This set comes with a bonus one for your love. (I’m sure your husband would 사랑 that). And it’s so cheap that you don’t need to feel bad about never wearing it 😂 While you’re at it why not pick up a knock off version of the Boys Over Flower’s necklace (No, it doesn’t matter that you never made it to the necklace part or that it was an ugly af necklace). I actually like the Master’s Sun one too.

>What I love about this set of episodes is that Sunny has spent a lot of time working on herself, and proving to herself that he was absolutely wrong when he said she had no pride or self esteem, and proving to herself that she can live without him.

Good point.

>What a nice flesh boyfriend

Bwahaha! You crack me up.

>siani cliffhangerTM

🙌

Welcome to the addictive world of Dramaland! Whoa, so many questions! I'll try to add my few cents:

(1) - As someone else pointed out, chaebols are basically a way to have someone be rich and powerful, usually in a Cinderella-esque story (the "Candy" character falling in love with chaebol or vice versa is standard rom-com fare). Chaebols are handy to have a rich character without going through the rigamarole of how they became rich.

(2) - There are a lot of respectful traditions when it comes to drinking. You'll see a lot of characters pouring a drink using two hands -- a sign of respect to a parent or someone who is older, or if in a work environment, a boss or sunbae. Turning to the side away when drinking is a sign of respect, as is using the right hand to hold the cup while the left hand is on the wrist of the right hand (and to accept a drink with two hands like that shows respect to the elder/sunbae giving the drink).

(3) - North Korea isn't really something that comes up. There's not an obvious threat all the time, but the reason there's mandatory enlistment is because technically the two countries are at war, so while there's lowkey awareness, it's not such a major thing that it permeates the culture, especially escapist entertainment. It doesn't come up very often in dramas (unless it's a focal point, like King 2 Hearts). Not taboo, just not mentioned in general.

(4a) - Arranged marriages, not so much, but definitely "good matches" that are approved by good families. Matchmaking companies are still a thing, although maybe not as popular as they used to be. Many Koreans are getting married later and later, but there's still an old-fashioned familial expectation of marriage and kids.

(4b) - Drinking as a work event is a huge thing. They're called hweshik and it's generally mandatory and very hard to avoid drinking at them. Taxis will take drunk people home (I don't think they'll carry people to their bed, that seems extreme, but I didn't use taxis when I was in Korea), but it's also popular to call a designated driver who will drive your car home (with you in it, of course). Seoul is a pretty accessible city in terms of public transportation and walking. I'm pretty sure no one is piggy-backed as often as you see in dramas, though.

(5) - Family registry is a pretty big thing. Originally, when a woman married, she would be taken off her family's registry (under her father's name) and be added to her husband's registry. That's changed in the past decade to be egalitarian and respectful of individual choice. The family registry is historically patriarchal, which is why the change so that women can remain on their own registry and their children don't necessarily have to take the father's family name in lieu of the mother's. Adding someone to the registry means making them a part of the family, with all the legal privileges that come with it.

(6) - This has been pretty much answered, but technically what we think of dramas are classified as "miniseries." (You'll see that classification if you watch award shows, making them different from the daily dramas or the long-running weekend family dramas.)

(7/8) - I don't know the answer beyond "tradition" -- that's the convenient length to tell a story, and those are the lengths broadcasters are used to, so they can plan how many shows to air. The lengths are due to a different style of ads than are in the West. Unlike commercial breaks, there's usually only one at the beginning and then one at the end. Most ad revenue comes from companies paying for their brand to be shown during the drama ("paid product placement" or PPL as it's known). This has been changing just recently, which is why you'll see some dramas have an episode count of 32. It's still technically 16 episodes, but they've split each episode into two in order to create a convenient spot for an ad break.

Ad breaks are more common on cable TV -- this is mostly about the shows on the main broadcast stations (MBC, KBS, SBS). The length of the shows is an hour mostly because of tradition (I assume) but sometimes they run a little longer in a sneaky attempt to raise their ratings, because if their show is a little bit longer than a show on another station, they'll get the numbers of people tuning in to see the ending of that drama after they've watched their show on another network. I think the main 3 broadcasting stations got slapped down recently to make sure their episodes only run for an hour (again, cable -- tvN, OCN, JTBC -- has its own rules and can pretty much do whatever it wants).

As for a show getting boring, that comes down to the vagaries of the live-shoot. Most dramas will have the first few episodes all ready to go by the air date, but will still be shooting up until the final end. This can sometimes be a good thing because a writer can tweak a script if the reaction isn't going well, but it can also mean the cast and crew get exhausted near the end. I believe there is an attempt to address the difficulties of the live-shoot, and there are more pre-produced dramas these days, but it's still a work in progress. (Plus, "boring" is relative!)

(9) - I kind of addressed this in the previous answer, but yeah, a gradually growing episode length just depends on the show and how much the broadcaster thinks they'll make in ad revenue. You will sometimes see shows get longer during their run, which is often a sign it's growing in popularity and companies want to put their PPL in the show. The irregular start and end times are mostly a way to get more viewers, since so many dramas air the same time on the same nights. Ratings are a big deal.

(10) - It's a legal thing, and it's censored by the broadcasting company. Here's the official rules in terms of violence (such as using a knife in a threatening manner):

>The following items, which may convey excessive shock, anxiety or disgust to viewers, may not be broadcast. There may be limited exceptions if such depiction is unavoidable in discussing the content; even in such cases, expression of these items must be approached cautiously.

> 1. Graphic depiction of beheading, strangulation or dismemberment.
> 2. Direct depiction of the moment of suicide, or depiction that implies the method of suicide
> 3. Graphic depiction of killing or maiming with firearms, knives or other tools
> 4. Depiction of mangled corpse or body parts
> 5. Graphic depiction of killing of an animal
> 6. Other depictions that are similar to the above

So a knife won't be censored until it's being used in a threatening way. You'll also often see tattoos censored out because it's not considered "family friendly." The same with smoking -- no drama can show someone smoking. Broadcasters get around this by showing someone pulling out a cigarette, but you'll never actually see them light it or put it to their lips.

Brands are censored out simply because they didn't pay to have their name shown. It depends on the show how far they go with this -- I believe MBC/SBS/KBS are probably more strict on what they'll censor than the cable stations.

I'll also suggest Dramabean's e-book, Why Do Dramas Do That -- it doesn't address all your questions, but it could be helpful for anything else you're wondering about, especially if you're not familiar with the culture.

Okay, on a quick search, here's the cheapest options for each:

Special Edition OST: This has two versions: Ae-shin (white) and Eugene (blue, which is the one I have)

Mr. Sunshine Coloring Book: If you get ONE piece of memorabilia, I can't even begin to explain how gorgeous this book is. It's absolutely stunning.

Photo Essay Book: This has 400(!) beautiful, glossy pages of photos from the series and a decent section of behind-the-scenes filming photos, along with little snippets/essays about the series. This is another contender for my favorite piece of memorabilia.

Nesting Dolls: I wish I had bought these in Nonsan Sunshine Land. They are twice as expensive online.

Music Box: Unfortunately, I can't speak to the quality of the ones available online, as I purchased mine as Sunshine Land. The one I bought is good quality, and plays beautifully.

Piano Sheet Music Book: This book has a lot of the singing OST numbers, but I wish it had a couple of the piano ones like "Waiting: Hina's Theme," "Sad Ending," and "Sad Waltz: Dong-mae's theme."

...Aaannnd that's it for the licensed merchandise. You can find the envelopes and coin satchels online, but I bought them in Insadong in Seoul when I was there a few months ago. Unfortunately, I've never seen the room keys posted anywhere except for sale at Sunshine Land. The tarot cards are Tarot de Marseille (but came with my OST).

Thank you for your kind words. We do get this question every so often and its fun to read the different answers each time. Your take on "surface culture" I thought was very perceptive insight in how I personally watch these dramas.

Kdramas are a total mystery to me how the writers and PD put together a successful series. I don't think I will ever have it figured out and I hope I never do. After my first few dramas I felt like a kid let loose in a candy store with a stomach that could never become full - and I still do.

Not knowing how long you've been watching dramas and just in case your new - here is a kindle book that helped me get a jump-start to understanding a little bit more about what kdrama's are all about. I downloaded it to my phone and I use quite a bit. I hope its useful for you ...

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Do-Dramas-That-Part-ebook/dp/B00FJXQ476/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527219946&sr=8-1&keywords=why+do+dramas+do+that

I haven't seen the movie and I don't know what the featured song for the movie is even though I love the composer, but I gave it a shot on google. Here's what I could find

• here's a song from the movie I could find on youtube, dunno if it's the title song.
  
  
• If you are truly desperate for that song and still have a CD player around, I also found it for sale on amazon
  
  
• While digging a little deeper, I also found this chinese website that seems to have the entire CD online. It seems to be available for download as well and seems to have all the 32 songs, you can either on the little square with the headphones to listen to a song one by one, or you can scroll to the bottom of the songlist, click on the slight orange button to automatically queue all songs into one playlist to listen to
  
  
• I also found that they have it on mnet if you're more comfortable using a korean website. I find it a lot more difficult to navigate but your korean might be better than mine or you might be using IE, with chrome it's asking for too many add-on. anyway's here's the link
  
  Hope this was helpful!

If you're going to get into kdramas, I seriously recommend Why do dramas do that? Part 1 (there is sadly no part 2) and the Dramabeans glossary it will answer so many of your questions. The winter coats and no shoes is not one of them, I remember asking that when I was new and someone just told me I was culturally insensitive, because I don't know, heating is a sensitive issue? \^^ Yes, people take their shoes off indoors (this is a thing in most non-Anglo countries). Traditional Korean houses had under-floor wood heating, I don't know if that is true of new apartments, but it is a reasonable assumption. But why do they keep their coats on? I've read it suggested that this is for product placement (PPL), the same reason everyone sleeps fully clothed in street clothes. Sets might also be freezing, in older dramas you can often see people's breath.

You might enjoy the noona romance I Hear Your Voice, there is angst but also happy ending.

wait... i thought that DF always had a partnership with amazon prime? it was always an option to watch their dramas, but you had to start a trial of DF through amazon. I distinctly remember seeing this concept a few months ago when I was looking for places to stream.. and i'm guessing now they're not available because the partnership is over, and that they'll be removing the titles.

edit: for example, if you want to watch the "Poirot" series on amazon prime, you have to get a free trial from BritBox. It was always the same for DF.

I tend to revisit ones I loved or go back to one of the classics like boys over flowers. But always keep watching - just got this awesome kdrama fan shirt: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074Z6Q1VN

That finger heart shirt is really cool. Whilst not exactly "low key" I picked this one up the other day.

Amazon has it as well. I just ordered one, I think it's coming from Korea because it will take about a month to get here but at least it has free shipping. Here is a Link

This is like an ultra-sexy kdrama in novel form...and they're in San Francisco...and they're not korean -_-. Same feel, though, and very similar humor. For those who don't want to click URL it's called Wallbanger by Alice Clayton.

I was told that Milo from Australia has the best taste. So, I bought one to try it out. It is expensive for less than 500g per tin.

https://www.amazon.com/Nestle-Milo-Choc-Malt-Drink/dp/B002XGPZMW

You can usually buy the trinkets from dramas. I remember seeing the following things for sale online: the necklace from Boys Over Flowers, the "pig rabbit" from You're Beautiful, the ring and stuffy from Heirs.

Or how about these Lee Min Ho socks.

A hermetic jar with a rubber seal like this works wonders. I never smell the kimchi using it, but I couldn't make the kimchi in big cabbage leaves this way, I had to chop them up.

this is a preorder from my country, but i’ve also seen this on amazon

Episode 10 - This seems like confirmation that >!Hyangmi is the one whose dead body was found in episode 1. She told the cat feeder/Joker that she hoped she would live a life worthy of her beautiful name and considering her swindler nature, she is the one most likely to have used a fake name.!<

I want to make a list of all the male characters we know on the show, apart from the usual suspects - Chief Byun (maybe), No Gyu Tae (unlikely IMO) and Heung Sik (too obvious?). Someone noted the use of banmal by Hyang Mi while talking to the Joker and maybe there's a clue. I searched for the red and white gloves worn by the Joker and found this - https://www.amazon.com/Pairs-String-Dipped-Gloves-WRGKR300W/dp/B00RH4MFZA. These latex dipped gloves are used in construction and automotive industries, among others. Are we back to Heung Sik or is this another red herring?