There's something about this trope that would make you die of curiosity
about their past and how much each has changed to make it work the second time around. It also somehow gives us hope that second chances are possible only if you realize your mistakes in the first one.

You know what other show reminded me of most of the descriptions in your list? 49 Days!

They're not exactly lovers, but they were *getting* there. And then things happened and they both had to leave. Then Kang-ah came back to SK, but he finds out his new bestfriend was gonna marry his first love... who's trying so hard to be friends with him again. So he has to pretend to be grumpy when we all know he's just staying away because his bf and crush look happy. (Also because he's a grouchy marshmallow.)

And then things happen (again!) and he falls for this "new" girl who can't tell him who she really is. Until he figures it out, because he's smart like that, and they find a way around the I-know-you-know-that-I-know-who-you-are part. So there are lots of scenes where they say one thing but we know they mean something else and they both know it means something else and everyone is just happy at least until the second to last episode.

And there's the other Yi-soo/Scheduler almost-reunited story too where we were just screaming at the screen for them to remember or see each other. Which also reminds me of the Reaper loveline in Goblin which was also one of the highlights for me.

Hahaha... I didn't know how much I liked the reunited lovers storyline until I read this post.

Can't wait to see which beanies get featured next in this section and what they're going to talk about. :D

OOOH.

I thought I didn't have a catnip (I like sleep to much to give it up for anything. ANYTHING! (Except food)), but I realised that there IS a subset of the reunion catnip that I fall for - when the male counterpart has a son he doesn't know about (or whom he thinks its a son) and I'll just watch until I see the paternal shenanigan cuteness.

Then if the story's really bad, I go off to sleep.

I would like to add Shark to this troupe, although its more of a revenge drama rather than romance but it's one of my favorite drama which their younger days is more delightful to watch than when they got reunited as adult.
I can also add more dramas to this type of genre like Shark, where the lead characters meet when they were young and their love blooms faster than most people and it keep blooming even when they're separated and meet again as adult.

Ps, its a little oot but my heart hurt when I see Uncontrollably Fond's picture because I keep remembering Kim Woobin's condition right now. I really wish he got well. Please got well :'(

For me it's totally friends united as lovers..! I just cant resist that....well as for lovers getting reunited..well that takes a lot of patience. A lot

My Secret Hotel is my go-to drama for reunited lovers. Who cares for the serial murderer faced with those two (supposingly) functionnal adults who have never gotten over their short love story ? The snippets from the past were so beautiful and heart-tugging; their relationship in the present was downright immature and hilarious! :) Not really a good drama, but I can't help to go back to it.

I like that trope so much and i love first love trope so much too. But i only like Delightful girl Chun Hyang here. Other havent watched or didnt like much. My favs are like Stairway to heaven, Tree of heaven, The moon that embraces the sun etc...i am sure there are more. i dont remember at this moment.

Sooo good! I do have a bunch of tropes that I love! And surely rediscovering your love is one. Except for delightful girl and she was pretty, I haven't watched any other dramas in the list above( though I have watched more than 150 kdramas).

But I love this trope so much. My love for "All about my wife" ( especially I'm Soo jung's character) bears witness to it. They were such much in love and got married. But she started "suffocating" him so much that he hired someone to make her want to divorce him. And finally when he realise what kind gem her heart is and how much she loved him! Despite me preferring the slow character developments as in dramas than movies, the premise itself is dear to my heart and so the movie too. If I am right, the movie "Dancing queen" also had a sub plot along those lines. In short, I love couples,lovers rediscovering their love for each other but I don't know if it's a catnip for me. Because I couldn't go on with sly and single again because I found it hard to proceed with LMJ's and the hero's acting in it despite that I loved her in movies.

It takes me Herculean efforts to overlook actor/actress who can't act. Many a times I have got sucked in to a drama just because of actors.. so at times I can say my catnip is more inclined to good actors than the trope itself ? Jo Jung Suk, Seon Hyun Jin, Gong hyo jin, Park bo Yong, Seo in guk, Yoon Do joon in let's eat series, Park Hyun shik in SWDBS, YAI in SS and now Chicago typewriter, Jun ji Hyun in MLFAS,Park eun bin in AoY.. well! I should stop my rambling! ?

Lee Jun Ki wears turmoil almost as well as he wears period clothing.

First, can i just say that you write so beautifully Javabeans! No matter how many times I read your commentary I can't help but be amazed at how well you articulate your feelings and opinions! Always makes for a very interesting read. ?

I think my favorite drama which used this trope is Sly and Single Again. The back story was so good and when the big secret was revealed at the end it was absolutely heartbreaking which made the reunion all the more meaningful and bittersweet. ❤️

Also, I like it when the dynamics of the two characters​ change by the time the reunion happens. Like in Sly in Single Again, in the past Ae-Ra is the dominant one in the relationship with her outgoing personality and beauty. But when they meet again Jung Woo has the upper hand with his successful career etc. It makes everything all the more exciting!

D'aaaww, I just loved Mong-ryong in courtship phase. He was the best thing ever.

Princess's Man is probably my favorite angsty 'reunited lovers' story.

Yay, nice nod to Sly And Single Again as the post's icon! ?? I loved that drama for precisely the reason that it did the reunion between the exes so deliciously well.

Would like to add the reunion of reincarnated lovers in too! I just love the idea of fate resetting time and giving lovers a second chance after having kept them apart, in a happier setting. This is done to great effect in Chicago Typewriter, where in their past life, the lovers had to choose the country over their own happiness, which they did. Arang and the Magistrate also does this a bit at the end I think. Anyway, thank you for the great article, as always, Javabeans! ?

OTT, seeing pic above remind me Joo Sang Wook oppa is already taken and currently is in his honeymoon.. ?
This couple probably the next one to get honeymoon baby after Rain-Kim Tae Hee. ?

I always cave before a drama woth bickering couples. I just roped in no matter how much i try to resist. I also enjoy stories where protagonist comes back for revenge or has been plotting revenge for a long time. Stories with opposites attract theme are my weakness as well. It kinda belongs to bickering couple territory but i thought it was worth mentioning it.

Can anyone recommend a good "Reunited" drama? I have a a sad list of half finished dramas where I gave up.. Though I suppose LOVE IN TROUBLE is a bit of a Reunited story and I am loving it. I also enjoyed FATED TO LOVE YOU. Tried to watch UNCONTROLLABLY FOND and found it too painful.

Yassss! Secret identities, contract relationships and reunited couples are my favourite things in dramaland evaaar! I still can't believe I watched all of Goodbye Mr Black, even after I heard how terrible it was, but the secret identity + couple reunited trope that sucked me in (and the lead actors). What an awful drama that was! I still cringe when I think about it.

I love the reunited lover trope especially when the lovers reunite but hide it from everyone else that they know each other. Like Sly and Single Again (which is one of my top 10 dramas).

I also love when it's characters who knew each other but weren't necessarily lovers reuniting again or were even aware they were reuniting. Like I Can Hear Your Voice (My 4th favorite drama) or Gaksital and Healer (My 1st and 2nd favorites).

Or you have the tragic reunited lovers like in the Princess' Man (My 3rd favorite). Betrayal, hurt and revenge fueled that break-up and reunion and created so much delicious angst.

I just realized all my top dramas seem to have this trope and I didn't even realize it until now!

Why has Jae Hee mostly disappeared from dramaland :(

Reunited lovers.... Stairway to Heaven and Save the last Dance for me.

Hope does spring eternal and Lee Jun-ki really does wear turmoil so very well. One of my favorite troupes!

Love this trope. Have to add Delightful girl Chun Hyang to my list. kill me, heal me has a bit of it as well but just partially.

Oh man I remember watching Boys Before Flowers, my first Kdrama, and when I got to that time skip when Jun Pyo had been away from Jan Di for a while and the last thing he told her was that he loves her, Jan Di finds him in Macau or wherever, and he totally brushes her off!!! If my innocent fangirl heart had a brain, that was the moment it first got mind-blown. I can completely sympathize with this trope being total catnip. All that aaaangst, and you have a lot of questions, and you're shouting at the screen. Drives you nuts in the best possible way.

In last week's OT, someone asked about why we keep getting excited about dramas, even after years of watching dramas full of predictable plots and worn-out tropes. I didn't have time to answer, but I wanted to say that one of the main reasons for me is that k-dramas have basically turned me into Pavlov's dog. I used to get annoyed at the predictability (and still do if the writing feels too stale), but now I often enjoy the familiarity of many tropes, and anxiously await the emotional payoff.

For example, there was a time when I would avoid storylines involving amnesia like the plague. But as I got more hooked on the reunited-lovers trope, I found that even amnesia could be quite delicious as a trope. I enjoyed watching I Have a Lover, which uses both real amnesia and pretend amnesia, and I salivated like crazy waiting for the lovers to reunite.

And even though it's already super predictable how things will eventually turn out on Father is Strange, I don't need any surprises to keep me happy-- like a dog wagging it's tail, knowing that it's time for a walk, I eagerly anticipate watching everything I already know is going to happen because it's emotionally satisfying. (Not to mention that researchers have found that anticipating something good brings us even more pleasure than attaining it does.)

Another aspect of the Pavlovian response I have to dramas is the residual fondness that I have for actors and actresses-- I end up loving so many of them in at least one of their roles, and it takes a lot for me to stop being fond of them after that. So when I watch them in a new role, my heart is already primed to find something lovable about them again. This explains why we often hear Beanies say that although a certain drama is pretty bad, they're watching it for {insert name of beloved actor or actress}.

I could go on and on with further examples of how I'm like Pavlov's dog in relation to dramas-- but anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to see this dramaland-catnip post that's echoing what I've been thinking about this week.

Have a soft spot for this trope too. Sadly, it's most recent iteration - My Secret Romance - was so very disappointing :/ I am yet to watch the last two episodes...one day...

My limited english prevents me from participating in the submissions and the comments party, so I guess I'll just abusing the thumbs up button at beanies' comments..

Friends... ~ arghhh, Won Bin... ❤v❤
Thorn Bird.
Will It Snow for Christmas.
Love Letter.

Those come to mind when I read the title. The story is heart twistingly memorable. It's angsty but can't stop watching and weeping too... ^^

im a sucker of romantic reconciliation kdramas & i wanted to submit an entry on this too but since it's done, i shall not repeat! ?

Discovery of Love is one of my favourite, along with Emergency Couple, I Need Romance 2012, Paradise Ranch & more!

im aware that Paradise Ranch was rather unknown but im curious who else watched it besides me LOL

What was that drama with the divorced doctors with Song Ji Hyo in it?

If we are talking about 'reunited lovers', then, oh man, I have so many lol My first ever would have to be the age-old "Winter Sonata" (Oh gosh, that was 15 years ago???), but that was before I knew any better and just sunk my teeth into any K-drama that I could get my hands on (amnesia and faux-cest and everything else included) ?
But for something more recent, yes, my 'reunited lovers' catnip would have to be "My Secret Romance" ? I loved everything about it, even though it was as predictable as night and day XD It also helped that I couldn't help but to root and cheer for the Yoo Mi that Song Ji Jun interpreted and brought to life (who knew THAT was the reason for her having such a sweet [*RE: insecure*] and mousy personality?) and the Cha Jin Wook that Sung Soon (??????) interpreted and brought to life just proves that chivalry isn't dead, and also that the guy also needs to work for his love (the girl doesn't always need to be the one doing the pining); Another thing I appreciated about Sung Hoon's interpretation of the pining male lead finally reunited with The One That Got Away But Came Back is that he never pushed or forced her into anythings, in terms of her emotions. Sure, he forced her to cook for him and tried to win her over with proximity (lol "breakfast") but he never tried to influence how he thought she should be feeling towards him, but at the same time, he was always very open and vocal about how he felt about her <3

My catnip is a drama basically hung on the bones of the Pride and Prejudice story. Two strong personalities meet, clash when the man acts like a butt, the girl thinks wow what a JERK and then we're off to the races. They each learn a lot about themselves and the other in the process and he bears the brunt of the self-correction (of course! I'm a girl, duh!). My favorites here are Kim Sam Soon and Secret Garden. Hyun Bin also qualifies as major catnip for me ?

From this list, Single and Sly Again is definitely my favourite. It was such an enjoyable drama and I crack up every time I remember Joo Sang-wook telling Lee Min-jung he was diagnosed with Plastic Flower.

I forgot about Joseon Gunman... This post is a great reminder of all the dramas I don't recall much. Now I want to go back and watch them.

I have been so missing javabeans and girlfriday's recaps!

But if we are gonna get such brilliant write ups on varied topics, I am gonna count myself lucky for now!! I am really looking forward to this series!

I really hope a show captures both their attention soon!

Seriously though, what was the last drama they recapped?!

Also for consideration is Orange Marmalade with the vampires and stuff...

Where's the "thumbs-up/like" button for Dramabeans posts???

I love both this newest monthly theme AND this latest JB post...so well-written, and a great example to emulate come time I try to write my own!

This is my kind of post. I love this type of story. My favorites are Sly & Single, The moon embraces the sun and Love of the Game.
Sly & Single is the one that I related to the most. I loved how they had a “normal” dating life and then married. They were married a few years before divorcing due to circumstance and misconnection. I always felt they loved each other still. Their issues were issues that many young married couples face. Even when he was CEO after meeting again, as immature and a jerk he was, it was clear he was very hurt and still loved her so. LOL – both times in marriage & dating, she was still the dominant one. LOL He totally lets her too.
TMETS was great cause I really can’t pass up undying first love and of course with KSH and a royal background – it doesn’t hurt to have that kind of setting. Love of the Game is absolutely one of my favorites. It has a few tropes in there. Revenge, amnesia, kid and “love despite all…” mentality and of course JJM and LBY. I’ve had to have seen it sooo many times over the last decade or so.
I thought Only You was ok but as JB said, it’s terrible. My favorite part of UF was when he confessed to her on stage. I could replay that scene forever… it’s so moving for dramaland.

haha, I'm a sucker for that kind of one-sided pursuit too, because the moment when they manage to break resistance and the other cracks is all the more SATISFYING.

If you watch Chinese Dramas - My Sunshine is for me the best reunited lovers story, especially since it's first love.. Also - Wallace Chung <3 <3 ^^

I love reunited lovers! My favorite, hands down, are "Discovery of Romance" and "Princess's Man". I absolutely loved the familiar bickering in Discovery which showed how much history they shared and how well they knew each other and how much they were both hurting without even realizing it! So.much.angst! It was perfect!

Same with Princess's Man where the reunion is tinged with misunderstandings and shared pain, that it adds a depth to their relationship which was otherwise missing when they were young and in love. It makes the reveals so much more dramatic and laced with meaning (and totally worth the wait) once we get past all the betrayal induced angst! Love it!!

Paradise Ranch has such a soft spot in my heart for this trope!

Also, even though he said otherwise, I felt like in My Secret Romance, he was changed after the one night stand because she humiliated him and hurt his pride, which was something completely new to Jin Wook. This made him infatuated with Yoo Mi, who he was always interested in romantically, which then led him to fall in love. As far as her being "The One that got away," I didn't feel like it was love at first night. See what I did there? Sorry guys.

I did not know a catnip until you told this one. It can be such a sucker as it was in Only You. Did not feel it was so bad; just kept going back at it. it must be the earnestness of the pursuit and the JHJ . Now i wish they can remake this one like 1% of Anything and have you DB as consultant on how it could be better. I can imagine Park Hyun Sik on it.

I didn't even recognize the reunited lovers trope in Ruler: Master of the Mask until I read this right after watching episode 16 and the (SPOILER) semi-reveal which anticipates the BIG reveal to come. Oh the angst!

My dramaland catnip?

Do I have one? I may. But one particular trait in a character which always manages to hook me from the start and almost guarantees I'll finish the drama -- and idk if it qualifies as genuine 100% catnip -- is when a character (man/woman) falls in love at first sight and doesn't deny it, at least with themselves. Love at first sight is the most absurd irrational feeling/(occurrence?) so when a character realizes and embraces it, its the most empowering thing to watch ever. That one main character who is honest and sincere from the beginning wins my heart and I can root for them till the end. Bonus points if its a girl. Examples of this include the current Suspicious Partner, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, Boys Over Flowers, Master's Sun, Greatest Love, W-Worlds, High End Crush, One Sunny Day (latter two are webseries). Yupp. I think some of these may not qualify as love at first sight dramas but whatever; I said it wasnt 100% catnip.