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[Drama chat] The drama moment that made you ugly-cry


I’m funny about crying over dramas. Categorically sad and heavy dramas make me too sad to actually cry — instead, it’s the overwrought (I hate to say “cheesy”) drama moments that will make me cry hands-down, every time.

For instance, the main thing I remember about the 2013 melo Secret was bawling my eyes out when Hwang Jung-eum’s character was grieving over her father and all the hardships he had been through. She said she wanted to be reincarnated as his mother to pay back all the love he had given her (or something close to that), and yeah, I was an ugly mess.

Similarly, the DMZ goodbye scene in Crash Landing on You definitely made me ugly-cry, too. Heck, I couldn’t even select a screencap of the scene without feeling a gigantic lump in my throat. Now, I’m not saying that scene was cheesy. Different than the usual melo moments or deceased parent plot lines that make me into a blubbering mess, the Crash Landing on You scene was so beautiful, heartfelt, and exploding with raw emotion, that it became the best moment of the drama for me.
 

What drama moment (or, drama moments) made you ugly-cry?

 
Let the chatting begin!
 
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  • Drama Chat

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    Many old-time Beanies already know this about me, but near the series end of "Empress Ki" where Ta Hwan (Ji Chang Wook) dies after finally hearing that Ki Nyang (Ha Ji Won) tell him she loves him broke me down so badly that I had to call in sick to work that day because I COULD. NOT. STOP. SOBBING. to the point where I couldn't even stand up without getting dizzy. Thinking about that scene *still* makes me tear up, even 8 years later after the finale aired.... 😭

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    I'm one of those people who almost never cry at romantic-melo scenes. My too-mired-in-real-life-situation brain would be too busy noticing the impracticality (and frankly, the impossibility) of sch situation to let me engaged emotionally with what the characters experienced at that moment.

    Instead of melo moment, what never failed to make me ugly-sobbing throughout the eps is touching and heart-wrenching family moment. Especially anything that involved parental love. (Go Back Spouses and the Reply series are the top example for this)

    Though currently, My Liberation Notes managed just fine to make me cry week after week with its understated, introspective storytelling.

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    I'm exactly the same with only crying at heart-wrenching family moments. Koreans do such scenes exceptionally well. They deliver them like punches straight to the gut.

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    Go back couple- when mom tells her ‘go back to your baby’ 😭

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    My Liberation Notes is still on my watchlist - I will peg it as a cathartic drama now thanks to your post. Thanks!

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    -When Jang Geu Rae cried after Manager Oh resigned in Misaeng, I literally broke down with him because it happened to me in real life
    - When Bora's mom protected her at demonstration scene in Reply 88 (everything about her scene with her parents made me cry actually)
    - When Ung and Yeon Seo broke up, the last scene in Our Beloved Summer ep 6.
    - every scene with Kong and his owner in Tomorrow ep 6. I cried so much until my head felt so dizzy from the moment Junwoong play flashback video about Kong until the moment the grim reaper pick him up.

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    I also cried during the sad dog scenes in Tomorrow, which is bizarre because I’m not much of a crier, didn’t cry during any other episode, and don’t even like dogs. 😂

    The CLOY scene where imprisoned Captain Ri is trying to be indifferent to Se-ri also made me bawl.

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    That episode was brilliant because we never expect the case about animal and I love how the scenes were taken from Kong POV like, I never watch from other drama

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    Misaeng is such a good drama, it definitely got me to tear up.

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    Update: I've also seen Tomorrow now, and it ALSO made me cry. Great shows.

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    - The whole entire Navillera series. My saddest Kdrama ever... but every episodes, I was too much ugly-crying all over because a grandpa who was a retired postman was struggled by turning to ballerino/ballet dancer. Even all of the scenes I can't stop crying (i.e. in the final episode, there was a beautiful Nutcracker-like ballet choreography scenes). I felt that this Kdrama was now one of the Kdramas that focused on senior age who deals with emotional sadness.

    - The whole sixth episode/episode 6 of Tomorrow about a Korean war veteran who was on the verge of dying. This saddest episode was focused on a lot of sad traumas of the Korean war vet and this episode was my ugliest sobs ever. As well as the death/funeral scenes of Korean war vet. This was this saddest episode ever I always remembered. :(

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    Navillera was a beautiful drama. I loved getting to watch our postman aspire for his dreams and growth for his young friend, too. I think Song Kang does better in slightly weightier, more thoughtful shows (Sweet Home, Navillera, even Nevertheless) than his most recent one My Demon

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    The entire final episode of "The Smile has left your eyes" (2018)

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    That drama. It killed me.

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    The scene in Just between Lovers when Lee Gang Doo hugs a reluctant Ha Moon Soo (was it ep 6? Or 7?). It's not a particularly sad scene, just the opposite - it showed kindness between two lonely grieving souls who finally are making baby steps toward another human being. A few months before I watched this I had to go through grief and loss myself and it was so hard to get in contact again with the world around me so I just broke down crying when I saw this. Friendlyness can do that to you when you're sad. ;o)

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    hm.. was it the scene on stairs when he just hugs her??? I was teary eyed too there!
    I had posted it too I guess, here it is https://www.dramabeans.com/members/unniunni/activity/1285003/ but not sure if it's the same!

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    No it happens a bit later, in ep 8. They're on the swings in the playground and talk about childhood and round and flat heads...it's a very quiet scene and the first hug that doesn't happen out of desperation or something like it, but because they begin to like each other. After this he walks her to the bus stop and they just sit there, holding hands, and let the buses pass...such a sweet scene. Which is why I just had to cry. But this one on the stairs is a tearjerker, too! I just love this drama. It has helped me through my very rough patch a lot, and still does, from tome to time.

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    Oh my gosh I loved that show. I cried so much the first time I watched it. I think. I've watched it at least 3 times since then and didn't cry as much, so I don't remember the original watch-through as much now.

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    From the tunnel break-up scene in 25-21 until the end credits... Literally tears / snot everywhere. WAAAAAAAAAA!!!

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    In 25 21, when I found out that Baek Yi jin was not the father Na Hee do's daughter. That was when I knew you that they won't end up together. (It was obvious).
    Another one is when Baek Yi jin said to Na Hee do in the year 2009 "...Congratulations on your marriage". I cried

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    Yeah, literally so many tears in 25-21. T_T

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    If it makes you feel any better, irl Nam Joo-hyuk choked up when he had to say that line. I cried too.

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    The 'modern classic' for ugly crying, specially among K-drama newbies, must be Squid Game episode 6. Coming in second, again for K-drama newbies, may be 'All Of Us Are Dead' episode 3. Coincidentally, both involving the same actress!

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    Wait now I'm super curious about which actress.. I may never know haha

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    Isn't Lee Yoo-Mi? I think she played in both dramas. I don't remember her role in All of Us Are Dead, but in Squid Game she helped the FL.

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    I think I cry pretty easily now (it makes difficult to watch Kdramas in the train).

    So :

    Tomorrow, episode 6 : I think I cried during the half of the episode.

    The King's Affection : When Hwi read her father letter and when Ji-Woon's father died in his arms.

    Extraordinary You : When Haru disapeared and Danoh was alone on the stairs.

    My Country : The final battle with Seo Hwi and Nam Seon-Ho

    Prison Playbook : The scene with Captain Yoo and his big brother at the end.

    Pinocchio : The scene between Dal-Po and his brothers at the end.

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    When Hwi read her father’s letter. Yes!

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    Agh. Prison Playbook. I don't recall crying during that drama, but if I did it would be in all the scenes after the drug addict got released from prison. TT TT.

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    Reply 1988. The scene at the end of ep 1 when Duk-son's grandma died and her uncle came back from the States to attend the funeral. When her dad cried on his brother's shoulder, I cried too.

    Another scene in the last ep when Duk-son visited their old neighbourhood. So nostalgic. So emotional. I cried and recalled the neighbourhood of my own childhood.

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    The Perry Park goodbye from episode 19 of Kill Me, Heal Me, and how it used metaphor and a substitute father to acknowledge a child's love for an abusive parent without ever glossing over the horror of the abuse. The final scene of The Devil/Lucifer. The arrest scene with Dong Shik and Joo Won at the end of Beyond Evil.

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    Yessss, Perry Park was my favorite personality.

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    Ahhh yes!! I loved KMHM - all the goodbyes, but especially Perry Park's.

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    The first will be Marriage Contract.
    2. Go Back Couple make me cry real ugly.

    But if I'm to name the main cry, it'll be the season finale episodes of the American version of The Good Doctor season 3.

    And of recent, My Liberation Notes and Our Blues pulled tears out.

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    Oh my gosh I ugly cried so hard the last 30 minutes of Marriage Contract. Such a good drama.

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    I actually cry a lot for movies and dramas in general. So much that I am notorious in my house for it so of course there are many dramas that made me ugly cry. Written In descending order of ugly tears' level:
    1) The last 20 minutes of Uncontrollably Fond.
    2) Tomorrow in like 10 different episodes especially the first one when Rowoon hugged the victim. I have needed a hug from Rowoon since like 2017.
    3)My Mister, in like 5 different episodes
    4) It's Okay to not be Okay anytime Kang tae was sad or depressed
    5) Mr. Sunshine, the final episode
    6) Goblin when Eun tak dies
    7) Be melodramatic when Jeon Yeo been's character finally told her friends that she was struggling.
    8) 25 21 end of episode 15 and break up scene in episode 16

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    Uncontrollably fond 😭 I just need to hear Golden love and that on the brink of tears feeling washes over me.
    The theme song for Reply 1988 always takes me back to the scene where the street is empty when they had all moved out. I think this is because of one old drama I am searching for but don’t know it’s name that did the same thing. The parentless adult kids left the family home for the last time and all went off to their new lives in separate homes and the camera sweeps the empty house and there are pictures of the family members and some discarded items left on the floor in different rooms. It just upset me that they left those pictures behind as a part of their memories living in that home.
    Some of the death/funeral scenes for beloved characters have hit hard too.
    I tend to do silent tears rather than full on ugly crying. But that heart sink moment is awful. I watched Love with flaws and found out that my favourite brother had died in real life soon after its release and I felt the same way and I didn’t even know him outside of that role. It was worsened by the fact he had played a character who had attempted suicide and had had a happy ending in the drama.

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    I cried over Be Melodramatic when Jeon Yeo-been made conversations with her deceased BF like he is still alive. 😭

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    When she watched herself and realized...

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    Omg I was a mess over tomorrow and that was NOT what I was expecting going into that drama 😂

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    one of the very first kdramas i watched was my love from another star and i remember that i cried a comical amount of tears... there was literally a mountain of tissues surrounding me lol. in later years i remember that the finale of hotel del luna destroyed me, and also those scenes in start up with grandma and han jipyung had me Sobbing 🤧🤧

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    Heeeeeyy that was my first drama! Well, the very first one I finished. I cried. That was when I knew kdramas would be a goooood pasttime for me (I read a lot of books, and don't often cry for things. The fact that a kdrama, a medium I hadn't encountered before, could make me cry so quickly was a really good sign)

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    My Ahjussi— when IU signed while talking to the dead grandmother in the morgue. That broke me—-like broken into a million pieces. I’ve never cried that hard in a show. I already was bawling and I just wailed after that. It was the fact that she signed to her, like she could still see her.

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    Me too! Totally. I cried so, so, so much!

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    I totally agree! I was so emotionally involved in this drama anyway, and it made me feel all the things, but that was the scene where I had to pause and try to get a hold of my sobs.

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    Lol I love that your bean in this comment is still so huge 😂

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    Oh dang. Confession time: although MDL says I completed My Mister, I think I must have been in a moood when I watched the show because I think it was probably too sad for me at the time and I ended up skipping through it and wanting to believe that counted as watching. It doesn't. I've put it back on my "plan to watch" list and will definitely have a box of tissues handy haha

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    Every drama with Alzheimer theme or one of the character has one (The light in your eyes/Valid Love) always makes me cry. Because memory is my most precious thing.

    Winter sonata, Ilmare (K movie), Signal (the last ep), Alice (ep 14) all drama where the otp fight against the ultimate baddies named Time and Fate.

    Or dramas with coming of age theme in featured teenages going through bullying/abuse, yet still thinking they are who at fault, or trying so damn hardest to go to school but they cannot because the grown up failed them (Extracurricular/Juvenile Justice) always makes me cry every time.

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    Oh I forget the scene in It's okay it's love where Jo Insung's character meets DO's character in one of his psychotic attacks, he runs after him like he run after his sanity or run from his insanity. Blerg. So damn sad.

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    Extracurricular wrecked me, but I didn't cry haha. There's a a few dramas (very few) that have induced an intense visceral reaction to them, but never manifests itself for me in tears~

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    Crying while saying here take my money 😭 sorry for failing as an adult.
    Melo is my nature, ha ha ha sometimes I just cry because I don't have any reason to cry. Dramas give legit reason to cry, pretending I have a reason.

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    Oh no, don't feel bad for crying- I'm the weird one for never crying in anything hardly haha.
    I just wanted to relate to the Extracurricular mention~

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    For me it's the movie theater scene in Signal

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    Most recently? Our Blues. I cried like every 5 minutes during the most recent arch about Han Ji-mine’s character, her sister, and how her boyfriend (Kim woo-bin) reacted to everything. And how the towns people reacted. When the grandma diver sat her down and explained why she understood Ji-mind’s situation and then firmly laid out how things would go in the future, I bawled. But all the entire thing is ultimately just SO uplifting. Cannot recommend enough

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    Lots of Kim Sun-ah's scenes in Scent of a Woman.

    All of Jin-joo and mom scenes in Go Back Couple.

    When Chief Kim started crying to his friend after nearly being killed.

    Lookout, when Soo-ji talks to Do-han about her daughter in the confession room.

    Pinocchio, when the brothers recognize each other mid-fight.

    This one is old, I don't know if anyone remembers it. What Star Did You Come From, when Bok-shil cries outside of Seung-hee's house.

    Many of Jung Ryu Won's scenes in Bubblegum. She has always had a knack for breaking my heart.

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    *me reding this while currently halfway through Chief Kim* 👀👀🙈🙈🙈🙈

    Definitely not a spoiler free post, this one!! XD

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    Oh dear 😁 Sorry!

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    The first drama that really got to me with an emotional punch that I still recall was PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (2014/2015). I came Into the world of kdramas in 2016 and P&P was my twelfth kdrama.

    It hasn’t been a rewatch so I am going from memory and a reference to AsianWiki. There is a gut wrenching scene late in the drama between Lee Tae-hwan (19 when he appeared in P&P) whose character is experiencing terrible survivor’s guilt over a childhood trauma that kdramas do so well.
    The scene is between Lee Tae-Hwan and actress Kim Na-woon whose little boy was part of that childhood trauma and died and she has been grieving (and a mess) ever since. She tells LTH’s character that the burden of grieving the death of her son is hers to carry not his. He has to let it go. He was a victim like her son of the crime that took her son’s life.
    Well I lost it there.

    O/T. That is when I became a fan of Lee Tae-hwan and it is one of those mysteries of show business to me that he (like some others) has not really reached ML status in his career.

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    Age of youth s1: when Yoon Jin-Myung finally snapped at her boss for al the abuse, was so proud of her but my heart ached 😭. Also when Jin-Myung cried when her fingernail broke but actually was crying about so much more

    Goblin: when Eun-Tak lost het memories and all that was left was an empty feeling and depression

    Not a drama but the movie Maundy Thursday

    And recently The sound of magic: when Yoon A-Yi's sister told her she didn't want to go on a school trip but Yoon A-Yi knew she was lying cus she knew they didn't have enough money

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    Mr Sunshine - In the final episode when Yoo-jin separated the train with his final bullet and Ae-shin screamed his name as his body was being pelleted with bullets.

    It's Okay to not be Okay - The confrontation scene between Gang-tae and Sang-tae at the hospital. Kim Soo-hyun is really the master of the waterworks.

    Kings 2 Hearts - When Eun Shi-kyung died. I knew it was coming, but that didn't stop me from weeping like a baby.

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    How come I forget to mention IONTBO. That scene between Kang Tae and Sang Tae in hospital, when Kang Tae said 'aniya' uncountable times while crying in the last scene ep 9. Kim Soo Hyun deserves standing ovation for that

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    IOTNBO for the win!
    1. When Kwak Dong-yeon gets on the mike at his father's rally and asks why he wasn't loved for being less clever; then again when his mother hits him for being an embarrassment and he sees it as a sign of love. That nearly killed me.
    2. When Moon Gang-tae reads Zombie Kid in his house and breaks down at the line, "Mother, you're warm!" I howled with him.
    3. Yes, Gang-tae's collapse at the end of ep9 - stunned shock before I bawled. Not just stunning acting, but the cinematography and the soundtrack all built the emotional wave that broke.
    4. Right at the end, when Gang-tae and Sang-tae parted ways in ep16 - the sheer beauty of it had me sobbing. Masterpiece.

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    I was wrecked after/during this scene in Mr. Sunshine! I wasn't expecting to be because there were lots of other things about that drama that I was more invested in than the love story. So maybe it was just the acting? After the episode ended, I still couldn't stop crying for kind of a while.

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    I was a mess for the rest of the day after watching that final episode of Mr. Sunshine. Especially knowing it was based on real life.
    The whole rest of the day.

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    The IOTNBO scene: Absolutely. Kudos to all the actors in this scene, that was so painfully intense (in a good way, if that makes any sense...). Kim Soo-Hyun looked to me as if he really couldn't stop the tears from coming. Sometimes I ask myself what the actors carry with them when such a scene is filmed. How do they get out of it? Here it must have been excruciating, I hope they didn't have to do it several times to get their take.

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    I'm not that easily touched and rarely cry in dramas (as apart from children's movies who wreak havoc to your heartstrings and then puts them through a grinder) but never have I ugly cried in a drama as much as in Hikaru no Go. There were like two episodes around where Sai disappears when I just couldn't stop bawling. Knowing the anime so well, I was too wrecked emotionally even before it happened.

    The first time a Kdrama made me cry was in Secret Garden when Joo-won wrote that letter to the comatose Ra-im and Hyun-bin ugly cried.
    Secret Love is another good example, there was no limits to the suffering Yoo-jung was put through, but when they stole her child, that was it.
    I Am Not a Robot gets me every time, when Min-kyu finds out the truth about Ji-ah and in turn shows his hurt by being needlessly cruel.

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    That Hikaru no Go episode made me cry so much I gave myself a headache. I had already been spoiled about it but I still bawled 😭.

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    That episode of Hikari No Go was a real tear-jerker. I knew it was coming but still it made me cry.

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    In Secret Love when she shows him the child and says that's what you could have had.

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    That entire show was an entire pain-fest! ;_;

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    Sorry for the spoiler, but... when Lee Bo young's mother died in the drama "Mother"... it was so beautiful, but so sad, I cried buckets.

    No wonder Mother is in my top 5 best kdramas ever. My Ajusshi keeps on being number 1. Many scenes from My Ajusshi made me cry too.

    But they deserve a separate comment 😅😇😅

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    Mother is truly a masterpiece. I just love the direction of the drama, and I love that it's so female-centric without actually being in one's face feminist.

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