Have a rom-com drama turn unexpectedly into a melodrama or
Have a new favorite drama end on a cliffhanger with no sequel?

A rom-com that turns into a melo is very hard to stick the landing.

But a favorite drama that ends with a cliffhanger and NO resolution seems like a cop-out, punch in the gut, waste of time ("cough cough" Sopranos.) I don't mind an ambiguous ending but a cliffhanger suggests a twist, major action or resolution of a serious plot line is forthcoming.

While both options are admittedly unpleasant, let's be real here - which kdrama romcom DOESN'T turn into melo in the latter half at least a bit? So yes, it is an evil thing for sure, but an expected one.

While cliffhanger ending with no planned sequel is simply a pointless, brazen scam that no show or its makers should be ever left off the hook for. First rule of storytelling - start with an ending point in mind. Viewers are here for a properly shaped and structured finished product, not a chaotic "creativity" vomit.

I chose the cliffhanger ending. If will just ignore an ending and make up my own when I dislike the ending anyways.

There are also some kdrama where I didn't mind the cliffhanger or open ending at all . For example Signal (It actually has a sequel in the works after 8 years, hopefully it will have a non-cliffhanger ending this time haha) and another on that is a really well done cliffhanger ending is the strangers from hell ending, even if might not be a cliffhanger depending on how you view the story.

I am used to the romcom turning into a melodrama and even a police thriller. That is nothing new.
I would hate to like a drama then end up in a limbo and no resolution. That would be frustrating.

I was frustrated by too many US shows that didn't get renew and didn't have a proper end to choose the second one.

I don't care about a rom-com turning a little bit melo.

the latter sso I can make up a hundred sequels in my head

I tend to drop rom-coms heading in the melo direction. So as the kids used to say: same-dif

If and when a rom-com turns (unexpectedly...or is it as always??) turns distastefully melo, I just start skimming like it's a weekender. A little melo is even juuust fine.

But when there's a cliffhanger that will not ever be resolved, I turn into The Hulk.

They're both vile, but I choose cliffhanger, partly because I don't like melo, but also because I know the bastards are planning a sequel even if they haven't announced it yet.

My normal dislike of sequels comes from the many, many lame shows that get one they didn't deserve, but "new favorite drama" kills that possibility and leaves me hoping for the big announcement. The only risk is that I was the only one who liked it and the low ratings killed the rest of the project.

Having a new favorite drama is something that doesn't happens often, so for me this option isn't bad. Yes, ending in a cliffhanger is painful, but I can always rewatch the first season without any issues and create a sequel in my head.
I'm kinda used to this tbh since Netflix always cancels their few decent shows after one or two seasons.

But a romcom turning into a melodrama out of nowhere is too aggressive for me. For LND I actually didn't care much because I had already zero positive feelings about it, but I remember really enjoying Rooftop Prince for its comedy and then it became a sad party and I had no idea what to do with that, so I had to dropped it.

This section of Dramabeans has become a weekly torture chamber of bad options. But, I refuse to stay negative. Instead, I will praise one of my favorite dramas that clearly had a sequel in mind, but never got the chance... Move to Heaven. So, you are telling me that you introduce a love interest for our autistic male lead in the last episode and possible changes in housing and employment, but you are not going to show his new life with his uncle/new father figure? Give me a sequel! Nevertheless, it didn't take away from it being one of the most compelling and uniquely Korean stories that I have watched.

So, writers can we finally have an update on Extraordinary Attorney Woo? Hmm.

See if a drama is not what it promised to be a few episodes l in, I can drop it any time. But if I have invested 16 or more hours in a show and then they cop out leaving us hanging, that's insulting. That's equal to not giving enough respect to your audience to give them a full story. Especially when open endings these days are used as a tool for increasing anticipation of a season 2 that was never planned and may never happen.

I feel like it can still end well if it's a rom-com ending up as a melo - as long as it's not a rom-com ending with one of the leads dead. Sometimes a rom-com can get back to rom-coming by the final episode. Isn't that pretty much like every 40+episode weekend kdrama? At least, there is a resolution.

The cliffhanger thing always really annoying. It's even more annoying when it's a kdrama, since they work mostly on single-season shows, so why write a cliffhanger as if they're definitely getting a second season and then not have a second season.

If the example is Love Next Door, then it's really not that big of a deal to me. There were already stuff about the "romcom" aspect that already turned me off and killed my investment in the drama.

I would need another show as an example. Regardless, I can't think of it being a big deal because alot of shows nowadays have some aspect of darkness and/or melodrama (I think). I can't think of many romcoms cause I'm not into them like that but No Gain No Love has a parent with dementia and a second lead who was a victim of child abuse. Knight Flower had family members murdered. Behind your touch had a serial killer. Summer Strike had some traumatic issues that I don't remember.

It really doesn't matter to me unless it's just another bad element to a bad story. Like with Love Next Door, I don't understand why it was treated like it was; it didn't endear me to ANYONE except maybe the ex. I don't understand why it was treated like gossip fodder as well as with mockery, shame, or condescension. I guess maybe it was a way to break up Seok Ryu & her ex because "otherwise why would she leave a good guy and get with her childhood friend?"

I consign dramas ending on a cliffhanger with no sequel to the same level of hell as noble idiocy! 🔥👿🔥

I will go with my rom-com turning into a melodrama since I can either hate watch it or drop it. But ending on a cliffhanger with no sequel is so annoying especially to people who can't handle their curiosity like me.

I'm an older person, so I know that life, no matter how rom-com-like it begins, always always swerves into melo territory at some point- If it gets back on an even keel, fabulous, you're lucky!! So yes, a kdrama throwing curveballs is something I'm totally on board with, even if I might hate it while it happens. Looking at you, LND.
A cliffhanger? F* no! Full disclosure, I'm also a person who sort of skims lightly the end of a book to see how things turn out, good or bad doesn't matter, but I just need to know LOL. So, an open ending is literally hell on Earth for me :P

Well, this is easy *insert evil laugh here* I'll have a favourite drama end on a cliffhanger with no signs of a sequel, please. Any day. In fact I have experienced this before and lived to tell the tale ( Vagabond, I'm looking at you). Rom coms unexpectedly turning into melodramas happens all the time too, but the level of disorientation this gives is unprecedented in my opinion. It's like signing up to a yoga class only for it to turn into body pump halfway through. No, thank you.

I don't want to choose either but if I really have to choose, I'll pick the latter. I base my selection on Vagabond and LND, since both drama pics were used above.

I rather a drama be as what it was advertised to be. Vagabond is not my favourite drama but I enjoyed it and storywise Vagabond was consistent: an action spy drama. I'm fine with the cliffhanger ending, I wanted a sequel because I want more Ki Tae Woong on screen and I kinda want to see more of Go Haeri, not so much Cha Dalgun though 🤣.

Meanwhile LND was advertised as romcom but it lacks both and recent eps went full melo. If I want to watch a melo drama I would pick a melo drama from the start 🥲.

I do not intentionnaly watch melodrama, so having an annonced romcom changing genre does not sit well with me. And the wound is still fresh and has not yet healed. So I'll go with the seemingly unpopular choice of the chiffhanger ending.
Also, if the drama is a new favorite it means that its story is good. I'll take a good story, even unfinished, over a bad gestion of the rollercoater of emotions that characterize kdramas.

I learned what a comedy was from Shakespeare - funny opening, lots of angst, multiple marriages. Obviously this isn’t always how it works, nor is it really fair, but I’ve realized while watching kdramas that this is my baseline. So when I hear “romcom” I’m not expecting to be laughing out loud like a lot of people are. I’m expecting a happy ending (*throws a look of disgust over to Heartbeat*), but I’m fine if we’re treading a thorny path to get there. If it’s labeled “romcom” there will always be little interludes of lightness from side characters and weird situations, and that plus the promise of a happy ending are what distinguish that kind of drama from an actual melo for me. So… I guess my romcoms don’t turn into melos very often? Obviously it’s fine if other people find this pattern super annoying or have different definitions of these genres, but they’ve served me pretty well in my drama watching so far.

On the other hand, I don’t want a true cliffhanger at the end of my drama under any circumstances - second season or not. An ending that happens as something epic is ramping up can work, but an actual cliffhanger where you can’t really guess or anticipate what will happen to the characters is an absolute dealbreaker for me.

I chose the cliffhanger with no sequel, because the current (?) trend of turning a rom-com into a melodrama makes me so mad.
I came for the rom-com, the fluffyness, the fun, the love, the hopefully witty dialogue (I can't understand), the wild shenaningans and twists.
I most certainly do not want to bawl my eyes out because of childhood abuse, suicide, cancer, murder, depression and so on. So some dramas (like Love Next Door) are a bit too much for me and I basically create my own unresolved cliffhanger when I'm giving those up.

Then again: I'm still a bit WTF when it comes to the ending of Hwayugi/ Korean Oddyssey, but would still rather watch that than the next Queen of Tears bawlfest.

If I still wrote fanfic, I might be OK with a cliffhanger. But I don't do that anymore, so cliffies kinda irritate me. (Oh, I get so mad when a novel does that, eek.) Anyway, a little spicy makjang action can be tasty. I would rather have a melo.

Melo is my life. 😉

in 90% of shows I don't mind the melo at all. I'm okay with serial killers messing up my romance as long as the kisses happen at some point.

From a pure narrative perspective, as much as I hate melos, a rom-com turned melo would still have a (hopefully coherent) conclusion. It is specifically written with an ending and all paths explored will inevitably converge toward said ending in the last episode (or if poorly written long before the last episode, forcing the writer to add unnecessary amounts of flashbacks, noble idiocy, travels to Europe, amnesia, forced separation, and so on before actually looping back onto the initial conclusion)

A cliffhanger with no renewal is not just frustrating. It's like being promised a meal and coming to the table to find only an empty plate with a little handwritten note saying "maybe next time". No thanks, I'll get my K-drama meal from elsewhere.

It feels poorly written, offering no conclusion and leaving the viewers feeling dissatisfied. Was the writer hoping to invent the perfect ending they couldn't think of in the sequel? Was it always designed to be a longer plot or did the writer decide half-way through the story to throw a bucket-load of inconsistencies in the hope of attracting the favours of the sequel god?

I want understand something before I choose:

When we speak about melo, are we speaking about a turn in a story that makes one cry, or get so emotional that it's hard to watch, or is it something that does not generate emotions and simply feels like it's stretching the plot?

I ask because anything that makes me genuinely laugh or makes my heart ache is my jam.

I'm guessing Queen Woo is a major contribution to this Would You Rather?