Great read: It takes a village to tell meaningful, coherent, memorable and profound stories. All of the moving parts from the crews to the actor; how much PPL is reduced or placed unobtrusively and most importantly, what social footprint is left behind. Art, even commercially driven one, can be transformational and at its best, emancipatory.

Nice article. This year's story telling was all over the map. My thoughts:

1. Have a clear premise and use those elements to tell the main story. WE ARE NOW BREAKING UP had a setting (fashion industry) which could have been fully explored, a glass ceiling office worker issue, and a career over relationships plot, but it failed miserably on all accounts.

2. Have a clear path for all the main ensemble cast to have character development. THIRTY NINE had all the elements to be a great show: 3 career women reaching 40 with personal, relationship and health issues. It was supposed to be a slice-of-life healing drama amongst friends but it turned out to be the overwrought, overbearing SYJ show to the detriment of the other leads. BECOMING WITCH had the exact same premise but gave the three female leads fully developed personalities and stories while maintaining a level of dark humor.

3. If you are going to do a comedy, exaggerate the humor and run it to the end. BECOMING WITCH and GAUS ELECTRONICS are good examples. But many writer/directors think after showing quirky and funny characters, there is a sudden shift to serious story line that seems completely out place and balance like TODAY’S WEBTOON.

4. A simple story can be more compelling than a trope filled standard formatted script. FANLETTER, PLEASE is a good example of a simple story told well through the actors and their actions resulting in appropriate character growth and a good ending. A show like SHOW WINDOW took the standard story of cheating/revenge premise and melded it into non-trope character study which was well done. Even ALL OF US ARE DEAD had the classic Korean zombie premise, but told it in a fresh way.

5. If you are going to show a complicated story, take time to explain it well. Though not a great drama, STOCK STRUCK did something usual: it actually took time to explain in detail real stock market principles and wove them into the stories.

6. Do not end a show begging the audience for a second season. GOOD JOB kinda missed the landing with this approach. I blame this trend on the Netflix effect.

Thanks for writing this, @missvictrix, I loved reading it.

I feel like I've learned a lot about storytelling from watching dramas and reading thoughtful Beanie comments about them, and one of my biggest takeaways this year is to listen to what the story already is, and what it could be. I loved the meta-storytelling moments in Our Beloved Summer, as Ji-ung was trying to put the documentary together and someone (I think it's the writer, which is perfect) tells him not to force the story to be something it isn't, but instead to let go of his preconceived ideas and let it be what it already is. For him, this means following the gazes of the two leads even though it's a painful editing process for him, but he stays true to the real story of what is happening in these people's lives, and the documentary is a success. It seems like good advice for anyone crafting a story. It’s often the main complaint I hear about a drama - that no one can figure out why a character changed so drastically or acted out of character at a critical moment. It’s beautiful when a writer respects the thing they’ve already created and is ready to be guided by it as much as they guide it.

Your case studies and take home lessons from them are definitely on point, things writing should try to take note of as they craft a story. So many things have to be done so we do not just plod through a drama and while it seems much, one or two can be incorporated in.

Tender moments can move a story through 16 episodes, and AoS definitely had many characters that I love so when the teasing got too much, I had other reasons to wholeheartedly remain as a viewer.

I never saw Welcome to Wedding Hell. Should I say I am thankful I didn't. And week in week out reading the recaps, it seems like I would be watching a crime procedural where after all the crime conflicts for that episode, the culprit is caught and we move on to the next crime case - in a wedding planning themed drama.

I actually didn't watch Yumi's Cells because I knew about the comic's relationships and had decided to wait until the third guy showed up, because I knew she would end up with him (I don't like romances where the characters don't end up together). Then I found out... he never showed up! I think they showed like an outline of him at the end, but that's it? I would have been very mad if I'd watched it.

These are all great metaphors. My favorite medium of storytelling is books and oral(not done as much anymore). There is magic in them that doesn't exist in any other medium. That being said I love storytelling in all of its myriad of mediums. Kdramas are unique in their storytelling. Sometimes they are great and sometimes not. Here is hoping next year has more better stories. Thanks for your great recaps and weecaps because they too help, seeing your insights always makes the story more vibrant.

You see, I like to squee and squeal — yes, like a farm animal — when I watch my dramas

Further proof that we were sisters in our past lives, @missvictrix! hahaha

Thank you @missvictrix !

I'm like you! I love swooning in front of my screen with a good romance drama! This year was disapointing. None of them could really keep their promise.

I read a second time your weecap of She Would Never Know and it was really nice to see your affection for this show through your words. I'm waiting for a new drama that will be able to bring that!

Oh, squeeeee! on that last picture of LJW 😝 way to stick the landing, @missvictrix!
Thanks for this brilliant essay which helped me understand what I watched even more. I don’t remember much about a lot of these dramas but I do believe I will remember what you said about them ❤️

@missvictrix thank you for this. I was considering watching 25/21 but the impending sadness dissuades me. A drawn out ending to business proposal also dissuades me. I am so picky with my media content these days (mostly influenced by what I am in the mood for). It seems only content which are fast-paced and either horror, fantasy, and/or humour derived appeal to me anymore. Alchemy ticked several of those boxes for me. But most importantly, I appreciate that although storytelling details are not perfect in this rich story, the creators of and actors within the show maintain character arcs with consistency. They also do not take themselves too seriously, which is a hard balance to maintain. So far, they clearly respect the audience enough to deliver enough satisfying elements while also enjoying the ride themselves. I think our attachment to the vibrant characters is why a lot of us who stuck with this show can overlook some potential plot holes. Btw i appreciate how you added a second picture of alchemy just for the sake of it 🤣

This year's drama have had good storylines and some beautiful tender moments to be remembered along the way! Most drama's this year kept us so engaged with the story telling from the beginning, making us fall in love with the characters, but at the final 2-3 episodes too many things happen at once and ruins the pace and does the
complete opposite of what had initially drawn us towards this drama, leaving with a very dissatisfied ending and question marks.

MissVictrix does it again. What a great essay. Every point is spot on.

We really loved BUSINESS PROPOSAL but it did indeed go flat in the final four episodes. I actually read the Webtoon itself and know what the writers got wrong with two characters: Grandpa and, a lesser character, the 2 FL's father Chairman Jin:

It really would not have spoiled the story to reveal that, long ago Grandpa had an affair- and a "secret child" was the result, and he 2 ML is in fact the offspring of that "secret child". When Grandpa describes the 2 ML as his other grandson it is in fact the literal truth. Somehow the writers were not able to really deal with this.

The figure of Chairman Jin is cast as a cold, heartless and calculating Chaebol. If that was so, then why is crying at his daughter's wedding in the webtoon? The decision to remold him into a monster is simply inexplicable.

Had the writers not made these mistakes the last 4 episodes would actually have included two of the best moments from the webtoon: The moment when Grandpa rides to the rescue of our second couple- and informs Chairman Jin that if fact his daughter is actually getting him the family connection that he had wanted and the moment when the 2 FL strikes a deal with her Daddy to rescue GO Foods from the machinations of her scheming cousin (who appears in the drama but whose significance is never really explained).

The final four episodes of BUSINESS PROPOSAL could have been every good as the rest of the show if these mistakes had not been made.

I've got one too.
Gaus Electronics
Storytelling lesson: Its not about the jokes, its about the other characters' reaction to the jokes.

When you watch Gaus one notable thing is every time there was a joke the camera would immediately cut to a character's reaction, whether horror, frustration, delight, boredom, or fear. It was joke-reaction, joke-reaction. Not just joke-joke-joke. The inclusion of character reactions grounded the humor in the ensemble dynamic.

(Just kidding but)
I have informed the director, writer, cast and crew of SUMMER STRIKE to stop right where they are in production and send everything they have to @missvictrix so she can straighten things out and find out exactly what story those folks are trying to tell. @missvictrix you have four episodes to fix SUMMER STRIKE. Thank you!

Great essay @missvictrix. Especially agree with your point on taking a metaphor too far. I remember complaining about this very thing when Doom At Your Service and Now, We Are Breaking Up were on air. One could not stop connecting everything with fate/destiny and the other could not stop talking about breaking up in every single episode. Wish writers would stick to the less-is-more principle with their metaphors too 😅.

@missvictrix Thanks for sharing these on point ideas, I didn’t watch all of the dramas written about but I can definitely think of plenty of other examples that meet the criteria for each of the points raised.