Any drama where FL handles everything?

 mahiba:

Possible spoilers for Flower of Evil

Please can you share the post? I don't remind the ML (successfully) blindsiding the FL and I almost fell off my chair reading you haha. 

Really, you think it was "token scenes"? I personally thought the times she saved him are pretty relevant to the plot. I'm asking because I wonder what criteria you use to judge the "girl saving the boy" as advancing the plot. 

So, I went and searched through 4 months of comments to find my original post...beware, it is a little long b/c I copied it verbatim. 

"Hyun-Soo keeping secrets (again) from Ji Won in ep 11 and instead confiding in her male senior in a display chauvinism and utter lack of trust is strike one. I felt Ji Won's pain quite strongly, especially because just spent 11 episodes showing how much she trusts Hyun-Soo. The couple jumping the gun and going to the Baek's house before waiting until YGS is arrested was dumb on everyone's part but it was more-or-less Hyun-Soo's idea so that's like another half strike.

But Hyun-Soo running off in the middle of the night after getting a threatening phone call without telling anyone and then hiding it from Ji won (again again) is so incredibly stupid it's another 1.5 strikes which makes it 3 strikes. Like WHY would you do that?

It really REALLY bothers be how Hyun-Soo is continuing to hide things from Ji Won. First of all, she is his wife. She has shown him time and again that she loves, trusts and believes in him, even when he does not believe in himself. And second of all, she is a police officer - it is literally her job to deal with these things (as she stated to him herself). Does he think he is better than licensed professionals or something?

Honestly though, the way the writing has been for the past 1-2 episodes, I cannot tell if this some character flaw they are going to use to create development or if this is standard kdrama/asian drama 'trying to make the male lead cool and savior-like and the female lead passive and needing to be protected' tropes at play"

There were some responses to be above comment essentially saying how it was all intentional due to the male lead's character which my response was agreeing to that but...

"I think the reason I was so triggered is that I see this exact same set up so often, male lead hides things/keeps FL in the dark in order to protect her. In this case, as you and @Suki so eloquently pointed it out, the drama writer chose a very thoughtful, character-driven way to incorporate it. In the majority of other dramas, it's just portrayed as this ultra-romantic gesture that turns the FL into this passive, damsel-in-distress character when she is actually not. " 

Of note, while I was scrolling through all the comments, I found one post by someone else that essentially says the same thing:

"I mean it was a really good series but the unnecessary memory loss in the last episode and how the ML kept making dangerous decisions even though his wife trusted him and would've helped him if he didn't hide everything from her in the last couple of episodes was really annoying. " 

My $0.02, I personally categorized FOE primarily as a melodrama with mystery, thriller and romance elements. It was a little too inconsistent to be a straight crime drama.  That being said, I loved it and it was a great drama. And yes, it was really was more of the male lead's story. 

I completely resonate with what you said above about not looking for token "girl saves guy" scenes but where the FL is a/the main decision making body! This is something I strive to look for in dramas as well!  

 Hanah:

I personally believe two of the dramas recommended above actually fall into this trap

I haven't watched FOE so I can't speak to that one, but I agree with the note about the ML keeping the FL in the dark in TSML.

 AH :

I haven't watched FOE so I can't speak to that one, but I agree with the note about the ML keeping the FL in the dark in TSML.

Right? I mean, it is one of my favorite and most-highly rated dramas but that part killed me. Not to mention it makes no sense (to me). 

 AH :

I would also note that the key plot twist in this drama is that the ML was lying to / manipulating the FL and everyone else in a very big way for almost the entire drama. Worse than just not including her in his decision making. He let her be framed for a murder he committed and then intentionally reaped the benefits as he manipulated her into relying on him and trusting him emotionally during the investigation. Not to say that the FL lacks agency or isn't the central character. She is definitely the main character, has loads of agency and generally takes a very active role in her own narrative. Just a warning that the ML is awful and he does successfully manipulate the FL / keep her in the dark about a very major plot point for a long time. 

That is very true! It can be said the male lead is secretly driving the plot in the end so in reality, Misty is not a true female-led drama. However, as you mentioned, this is the plot twist that we find out at the very end. As we are watching, episode-by-episode however, female lead makes a decision > consequence happens > plot moves forward, which is why I included it. Actually,  I would state this applies to all the characters, aka almost every single character in this drama has agency and no useless characters, something that is pretty rare in dramaland for me. It is female lead's decisions, however, that seem to have to biggest impact on other character's decisions (as we are watching without knowing the twist at the end).