I really love Nonstop 5 and was really excited that you mentioned it. It's the only drama where I love every single character. Nonstop 4's cast annoyed me [especially Han Ye Seul, I found her character more annoying than funny] and Nonstop 6's cast had a few good and too many bad as well. I remember watching the episode you mentioned, it was heart wrenching and a tear jerker for me. I cried the entire 20 minutes and had to pause a lot to clear my vision. I've yet to see Bad Family and Flowers for My Life but I surely will.. when i get time. Dal Ja's Spring is also a good drama for portraying family. I really love the daughter-mother relationship the drama portrays and how Dal Ja gets a lot of her strength from her mother.

I think career women have been making more of a mark on society as a whole, so it makes sense that we're seeing that represented more in a lot of dramas in recent years.

I don't know about kneeling as penance, but in this particular instance, Dal Ja's gesture is more of a humbling gesture -- she's supplicating to her superiors, showing them that she cares so much she's willing to lay down her pride. Because Koreans are also huge on pride, it's a grand gesture. If she were kneeling in penance, i.e. a form of punishment, that wouldn't be cool.

I'm an malaysia who has been living in europe for 5 years. I can see the difference between how asians n europeans express their family love. They're many but one thing that differs most is how asian sons/daughters being filial to their parents. We can see very well in those korean dramas, how family always number one.

So would you say the portrayals of "family duty" in these dramas is accurate?

I'm Chinese and we have our filial piety stuff as well, but watching k-dramas I see a vast difference in how much it's respected.

For example, we also give money to our parents (once we get of job :) ) but that whole daughter/son-in-law-duties and the total-respect-for-your-elders thing isn't really followed anymore.

Also, when the time comes for the child to take care of the parents, the parents start to listen to what the child says (rather than having some old person be the head-of-the-household).

I haven't seen many jdramas (and I don't know many Japanese people) so I wonder what their families are like.

Neat post :)

I love the song by Byul!! I fell i love with her music since Full House, does anyone know where I can get the lyrics to this song?

seyonida, I've been meaning to watch Thank You, and I'm not putting it off because I don't think I'd like it -- it seems like it would be in the same vein as Flowers, being both heartfelt and touching, with sad moments that don't overpower with tragedy. Sad that Thank You got the praise it deserved but Flowers is being overlooked.

wow, I haven't seen Kang Hye Jung before but you're right, she looks completely different.

melissa, i look forward to seeing your MV...

And I'm not sure of the specific flower meanings, but i'll definitely look at that lists and see if they fit.

melissa, will be looking forward for the MV!!!...

i finished watching qss yesterday and all i could say is just... great. everything is great. the casts, costumes and storyline! it has those modern life-style that you could see nowadays, great characteristics which are so real, great chemistry, aa~ actually this drama is the first drama i've seen that the main actress tells that she loves him and didnt even lie when taejoo asks her the next day whether she really meant it or not. well..a typical drama i notice is, if the girl does that, she would bashfully said that she maybe was drunken and couldnt recall what she said the day before. thats what i think, though. ^^ anywayy......qss is on my toplist drama so far!!

yah, which man out there will actually admit to such a 'weakness' and promise to work at improving it? none other than our sweet Gi Chan (oops! almost typed Gong Chan hehe!)

i wondered how they filmed her dream scene with that reptile. guess she's not squeamish about snakes at all if she could close her eyes and remain still while it slid all over the blanket yikes!

thanks sarah! i make it a point to read after watching with chi subs cuz it's a wonderful way to recap the fun!