Why Kdramas Are So Irresistible with Amy Boyles

S1E2 / Amy Boyles joins me to chat about our love for Kdramas and how they influence our writing and storytelling, discussing everything from tropes to cliffhangers to side characters and we try to answer the question of why Kdramas are so addictive.

Amy writes paranormal cozy mysteries and magical romcoms. She discovered Kdramas with Squid Game and then branched out to a variety of other shows, including Crash Landing on You and Extraordinary Attorney Woo. 

🚫Spoiler warning! Our wide-ranging conversation touches on the following shows: 

Squid Game 
King the Land
Crash Landing on You
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Gyeongseong Creature
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim
Business Proposal
Love to Hate You 
My Demon
Destined with You
No Good Deed 
Ginny and Georgia
My Love From The Star

Current Watching: (Squid Game 2, The Trunk, When the Phone Rings, and Face Me)

Amy Boyles: https://amyboylesauthor.com

Transcript

Sara Rosett 0:18

This is the How I Met My K-Drama podcast, and it's about K-drama origin stories and recommendations. I'm Sarah Rosette, and today with me is Amy Bowles, and she is here for the very first interview for the podcast. Hi, Amy. How are you? Hi, good. How are you, Sarah? I'm so excited. Talk to you, talk about K-dramas. So I know it is. It is. So tell us a little bit about yourself because it's a quick summary.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

If someone's not familiar with like what you do and what you write about, I write paranormal cozy mysteries and magical rom-coms that take place in the south. I live in the south, pretty much born and bred here. And I have a husband and two girls and a pug named Leo.

Sara Rosett 1:07

Okay. And you're very fond of K-dramas, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:10

I'm very fond of K-dramas. I didn't think I had to say that part. That's what I'll add to the case.

Sara Rosett 1:14

It's pretty obvious. It's pretty obvious. And the funny thing is that you and I are friends in real life, and neither one of us realized we were watching K-dramas until we were talking about writing stuff. And it was you and me and Christy Rose, and one of us mentioned it. And then we all were like, oh, we're all watching K-dramas. So that was the start of our K-drama support group.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

The love affair with K-dramas.

Sara Rosett 1:36

Yeah. It is. Yeah. Well, tell us how you got into K-dramas. And do you remember what your first one was?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yes. The first one I ever watched was Squid Game. It must have been 2021. Everyone was watching it. I think my kids were bothering me. Can we watch it? There were way too little to watch it. But everyone was watching it. So I went ahead and watched it. And that was it. And I took a really long break and then I found out about some others. And then I came back on, and then I just I haven't stopped since I don't know. When was the last time we saw each other? Over a year and a half ago, I think. Yeah.

No Title

Sara Rosett 2:11

So that was like one of the I think the Squid Games was one that pulled in a lot of people and made them aware of K-dramas, but I don't think it would be considered like a typical K drama. Do you? Or I haven't watched it because I've heard it's super violent. But I've heard other people say that's not a real K-drama. So what do you think of that?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

I've never heard anyone say that. I mean, I guess if you're saying, well, what is a real K-drama? Something that's heavy on romance? Okay, no, not a real K drama in that case. But there are different genres. I mean, that's not the only sort of horror K-drama genre out there. There's also and there's mystery K-drama genre. And then most K dramas, if you're like a K-drama, K-drama, yes, they're gonna be pretty heavy on romance. So no Squid Game would be an outlier.

Sara Rosett 3:00

Yeah. But it hit a chord. It did so well. It's super popular. So something, something there to attract a lot of people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Well, it's very addictive. Like most of them. Yes, keep watching, keep watching, keep watching.

Sara Rosett 3:14

Yeah. So we'll talk about that in a little bit. I think there's a an intentional way that they're structured that you just want to know what happens next. It's it's interesting. So give us one of your uh top five lists, five favorites of all time, or five fantasy, something like that, or three or four. Doesn't have to be five.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Well, I think my top K dramas would probably be King of the Land. I've watched that one twice. And when I've watched rewatch, it's got to be one of the favorites. So that Crash Landing on You, Older is one of my favorites. That one's so good. Extraordinary Attorney Woo is also really good. That one's really good. But you know, I like Squid Game, and I also liked Jungsong Creature once that was another addictive one, but it was really short. It wasn't a big long, yeah 16-episode K-drama. Yeah, 16 episodes, 12 episodes, which is it?

Sara Rosett 4:11

But they've got that stream. About 16. So, but you so you like rom-coms, but then you also like some of the darker stuff too. Well, is there a K-drama trope that you just can't resist? Like if you see it, you're like, I'm watching this. You don't really need to know anything else.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

No, I don't think there's anything that is very specific. They're all the little tropes inside of the K drama that you know, I'll look for or go, oh, did it have that? Did I have this? Like, did it have the she gets dressed up scene? Like he dresses her up, like he like gets to the makeover, beautiful. Yes, like was that scene in there? Typically, yes, if it's a romance. But is there anything? No, I think that most K dramas are just very high concept to begin with. It's whatever the concept that grabs me. And I think King the Land, out of all of them, I don't know that that even has, if you read the description of it, if it has like the highest concept description, but somehow I don't think it does. It's not, it's not like she moves somewhere, he moves somewhere, but you know, that does kind of happen. Or like in Crash Landing on You, where it's North Korea versus South Korea, she's from South Korea, ends up in North Korea, and he's got to get her back.

Sara Rosett 5:25

Yes, and that was very unique, yeah. And a lot of them do have a very interesting principle that you're like, or concept that you're like, oh, that sounds cool. Tell me more. But King the Land was very much basically a rom com, right? I mean, it was a rom-com and it did not have murder in it, it didn't have that much of a mystery. It had a little couple mystery elements, but it was mostly just humor and romance, which I'm here for that.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Yeah, there was a little bit of mystery. There's always gonna be that element in a K drama. I think there's always that somewhere. There's some little mystery somewhere, but you're right, that one was just very much him against her and these two characters constantly being put together while they're each trying to find their ways in the world. He's trying to prove himself to his father and beat out his sister for the company, and she's trying to like rise in the ranks of the company of the host and become her own person.

Sara Rosett 6:34

Yes, yes. And I liked it. There's there's lots of other rom-coms. A lot of times people say, you know, oh, you've got to watch What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. I don't know if you've seen that one. It's like a it's like a classic, and it has kind of the same structure. It's got a high-powered executive and his secretary, and she's trying to kind of come into her own to live her own life, and she decides she'll quit and go do her own thing. She doesn't know yet what she wants to do. So, spoiler warning for what's wrong with Secretary Kim, she doesn't really do that. She doesn't really find a new thing to do. Whereas in King the Land, I feel like she had a complete journey. Sorong. She had the complete, she wanted to do something different. She she wanted to rise in the ranks, and then she decided, wait, that's not really what I want, and did something different. So I feel like she got the complete journey, whereas other times that doesn't happen in K-drama. So I like that.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

But she had no choice. At the same time, she had no choice. Spoiler, remember what the father does? His father banishes her. I mean, but that is the trope of the king trying to get rid of the love interest to his son who he doesn't want. Well, I'm just going to send them away.

Sara Rosett 7:54

Or buy them off. That's another element of that, too, sometimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah. The same concept, right? Get rid of that stuff.

Sara Rosett 8:01

Yeah. Okay. Well, let's see. We're going to talk more about King the Land.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

We'll do we'll get there. We'll go into that later. Let's unpack with that one.

Sara Rosett 8:08

Yes. Yes. And it's very interesting. It gets a lot of a lot of people look down on it, I think. So we'll do an equal time for King the Land.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

I'm with those people.

Sara Rosett 8:19

So we talked a little bit about tropes. Is there any trope that, like you talked about the makeover trope? What other tropes do you like that you see a lot in K drama?

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Well, we talked a little bit about the mystery. Generally, you know, you're always gonna have what they do really, really well is putting the love interests against each other, pitting them against each other in something like business proposal. Have you seen business proposal?

Sara Rosett 8:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

You know, you have this woman who is pretending to be someone else to get rid of this guy who might end up being in an arranged marriage, and she does everything that you're not supposed to do. Like flirts heavily, shows a lot of skin, and and then he's like, Okay, yeah, let's get married. You know, you're not supposed to defend me. I'm pretending to be someone else. I think I I think part of it is just whatever situation that is that is just so different. And I, you know, it's such a good question. Is there a trope that I go for? No, but there are tropes that they always have that I always adore. There's always, and that's part of the culture, it's just that so much respect for the family, so much respect for so you know you always get that respect, at least within within the rom-coms. You know, you're gonna see heavily, it's gonna be a lot heavy on that. You're gonna see family members, uh, the elders clearly put up and respected. You'll see big power dynamics too. You're always gonna see that in a K drama when it comes to a ROM, a romance. It's like he's usually super rich. And the ones where I've watched where he's not where I've well, I've tried to watch where he's not been super rich. I can't get into them. Like, no, he's not super rich. I'm not interested. And she was, if not super poor, like there's just a big power difference between them. There's always that. And then often there's some kind of, you know, even in the best ones, there's there's always a secret within even the relationship or between like somebody we've got to hide this person that we're dating. We can't no one can know that we're dating, or no one can know this about you, or no one can know that. That's a big element that I love. And I love great side characters, mass big side characters. When you know, there have been ones when the side character romances that's always great. I love it when that happens, and I can't think of the one right off the bat, but it's one where he's the actor and she's the stunt person, and that one has a really, really characters end up getting together.

Sara Rosett 10:52

The secondary yeah, isn't that one love to hate you?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yes, it is love to hate you.

Sara Rosett 10:57

Yes, yes, and that's very it's short, but it's got all the elements that like we were just talking about, like you just mentioned.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah, big power, big power differences, a big mis miscommunicate, misunderstanding. Often, yes, there's a big also a big misunderstanding too between the two characters that sets them off to not like each other as well, or just opposites, but secondary characters, big secondary characters that have big roles. You have the very important big secondary character roles that help mentor the makes through the long. You know, you get those mentor roles throughout, whether it's a grandmother or a father, or just even a best friend who's you know mentoring the characters. There's all the little elements that I think make up a big make the whole thing up. K-dramas generally tend to start very high concept anyway, especially the mysteries. They always start very, very high concept, the best ones. And so you just want to watch well, what how does this concept of what happens next? What happens next?

Sara Rosett 12:04

Right, yeah. And I think for me, the mentioning the side characters, one of the things I enjoy is that you have this whole cast of characters, and I remember the first couple ones I watched, I was like, oh, we are going to get the story for the best friend, for the uncle, for the grandmother. We're gonna find out all this stuff, which in a normal movie, TV show, you know, like like in Western shows, you don't get all that, or you may get a smidge of it, but you really get to explore all of their in all their backstories. There's always some interesting backstory going on, especially with a main couple. So yeah, love all that.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah, I mean, you got 16 episodes too. So we're not dragging it out over the course of 10 years, 30 episodes in a season. Like I can't do that. I just can't I can't do it anymore.

Sara Rosett 12:51

I used to, but I can't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

There's too much filler, I feel like there's just too much filler. If I'm watching a 16-episode show, I know I'm gonna get everything I need, everything's gonna be better by the end, it's gonna be over.

Sara Rosett 13:02

Yeah, and I feel like in Western television, where it's episodic, they want the characters can grow to a point, but they can't really change because then you're losing the concept you had for the show, like about like house. Remember house? He could never really not be grumpy and irritated. You know, like he couldn't, you can't complete the arc because you want people to come back for the next season. So you're always resetting. And I I get tired of that after a couple of seasons, I'm like, I'm done.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah, you want your characters to have a complete arc and deal with all their crap that's got that put them where they were on episode one, so that by the time they're done, they're happy and they're married and they're moving on.

Sara Rosett 13:45

Yeah, and as a viewer, that's satisfying. Whereas if they continue to repeat the same patterns, it feels like nothing's happening and it's not satisfying to me, it's a viewer.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Yeah, yeah, and then it becomes more about these secondary characters who I never cared about in the beginning. That's not why I watch this show. I don't care about the secondary characters, I care about main character. There's a very popular TV show on Netflix right now that I watched the first few seasons of that I just after a while stopped watching. I'm like, I really enjoy these main characters, and now I'm getting all these secondary characters. I don't care about them anymore. I don't care about them.

Sara Rosett 14:18

Yeah, get back to the point. Yeah. Well, so since we're talking about this a little bit, how has K-drama watching impacted your writing?

SPEAKER_00 14:28

For one, there are tropes that I don't know that I loved until I watched K-dramas, like the dressing up trope. I didn't know that I loved that until I kept seeing it. I was like, I really love that. And I love it when he gets to sit on a big couch and she comes out in five different outfits and he just gets to spend his money on her.

Sara Rosett 14:46

Wish fulfillment, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:47

It is, it's totally wish it's Cinderella. It's a Cinderella. And I didn't know that I loved that until I saw that. And so, of course, I'm like, I'm gonna throw that into a book. But you know, it's not just that, it is, it is, I think what a K-drum will teach you about writing is taking whatever small idea it is or small moment, and how big can you make it? You know, in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, it's about an autistic lawyer who shows up. She can't get a job anywhere, and her dad manages to get her a job. Once again, there's a secret that goes throughout the show, but gets her a job at this law firm, and she shows up for her first day. And it's like she is standing on one side of the desk, and there's like four lawyers on the other side, and they're like, You're here to work. She's like, Yeah, I'm here. And they are very clearly like, What? You know, it's just how can you take one moment and make it as big as possible? I think K-dramas are really great at that. They don't they're their casting is also fantastic, they don't shy away at all from if you're gonna humiliate a character, really humiliate them. If people are really gonna make fun of them, they're really gonna be mean and nasty and make fun of them. It is nothing watered down about these moments. They're big, big moments. And you know, if you start watching, if you watched Hallmark Christmas movies, the really good ones, the ones that everybody's watching, that everybody loves, it's the same thing. It is, it might be what could be a small moment, but you're gonna make it as big as you can, get the most drama or comedy or whatever out, make it big, don't shy away from it.

Sara Rosett 16:27

Yeah, and I feel like because K-dramas have the 12 or 16 episodes, they really take their time with maybe the meat cute or whatever it is. If it's leading up to a fight, they you or if it's someone's fall from grace, you really see it. It's not just like, oh, they met cute and it's over and it's done. It's like they take the time and show you all the different aspects. Because sometimes in some K-dramas, the main couple doesn't meet until the end of episode one or the end of episode two, and that's like the length of a movie that we're spending just watching them go through their day and all the interesting things they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

They're never they're not in a rush. And you know, because in a rom-com, a K-drama rom com, there's generally no intimate relations. I've seen in Love to Hate You, they had intimate relations. And I was like, What? They did they even discuss it, you know?

Sara Rosett 17:30

It's groundbreaking, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Right. You know, because they're not jumping into bed with each other, they you get to, as a viewer, if you love romance and you love watching two people really fall for each other, and how is it gonna go right? When are they gonna get together? You know, by episode eight, they're gonna start being together and then it's gonna kind of go apart, you know. You get to really watch that and you get to experience it with the couple.

Sara Rosett 17:54

Yeah, yeah. And really each little detail, each little hand hold or whatever the first time they hold hands is a big deal because it's so restrained in many ways.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Right. Um, because it really means something. It's not like I'm just gonna hold anybody's hand. It is we're really gonna do this. Yes, this means something.

Sara Rosett 18:13

Yeah, and I think there's more formality in their culture compared to our culture. And so there's some restraints there that we wouldn't normally see or feel sometimes. So yeah, I think that's interesting. Well, what makes a top K drama for you? What makes you just what do you love about them that you're like, oh, that one I'll go back to and watch again, maybe?

SPEAKER_00 18:33

That's a tough one. That really is. Well, why did I go back and watch King of the Land? And why haven't I gone back and watched something else that I liked maybe almost just as much? I think because there were all these great moments. There, I look for just all the great moments. If I I'm sitting around thinking, oh, that was a great moment, oh, that was a great moment, oh, that was a great moment. And I think you just a lot of it is being able to take a character and put them in whatever ridiculous situations. So if you have someone who is super rich and you're not, you know, maybe he's not really supposed to be dating this girl who's super poor and he ends up running into her grandmother, and her grandmother thinks that they're dating, and she's like, Well, do you have a house? He's super rich and his father owns a hotel. He doesn't need to have a house. No, I don't have a house. Well, you don't. And and then she goes out and opens up a bank account for him. Here, I've opened a bank account for you so that you can save up for a house. It's like little moments like that that are just so ridiculously funny because you know, in like the case for that one, you know, he can't say, I don't need your money.

Sara Rosett 19:41

Because I already have access to many houses.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

I don't need your money. You know, you just have to like create just all that. Like, you know, even in something like Crash Landing on You, which has as fantastic secondary characters, all looking, they were just so great, and they have this whole community. And you know, she is very rich in it. She's very rich, and suddenly she has such a huge reversal of fortune because she's in a country that she's not supposed to be in. She could be thrown into prison at any moment. And they they're trying, they know they they know some things, there's some crazy, they're no, they know there's someone here who's not supposed to be, and they are looking for her, and then he just jumps in to rescue her at every turn, but then suddenly you find out that he's got this engagement, you know, that he shouldn't have. And there's other stuff that happened with his brother, and it's just it's the revelations in that one just keep on coming and crash landing on you. There's this revelation after revelation after revelation after revelation. Just it's just like reading a book. Like, why do I want to read that book? I want to experience those feelings again, or I just want to like revelation after, you know, and I think that is part of what makes a great K drama. It's revelation after revelation after revelation, you know, just because they are they definitely are gonna be hitting you hard on the revelations.

Sara Rosett 21:04

Yeah, yeah. I love it when there's a twist that I didn't see coming because you know, if you deal with story a lot like you and I do, you a lot of times you're watching something, you think, oh, I know exactly what's gonna happen next. And yep, there it is, check mark. But if something new new or different happens, but it makes sense with the plot, it's like, oh, now I'm intrigued. Where are we going with this?

SPEAKER_00 21:26

You know, because it is hard when you've read a lot to be surprised in a book. So it is or in a story, so it is fun. Like, oh, I didn't see that one, yeah, I had no idea that was coming, kind of thing.

Sara Rosett 21:36

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Another thing that I thought is very interesting about K dramas is the I learned a lot about cliffhangers. The end of episode cliffhanger, they do it so well. There's so many times that I think, okay, I'm done, I'm going to bed, I'm stopping here at episode seven or whatever, and then I'm like, oh no, I have to find out what. Happens. And I just think that's another thing that they do so well. And I'm trying to apply that to my writing in ends of scenes, ends of chapters, just have that little like you're saying, like the little mystery, the little bit of will they, won't they? You know, you know the character's going to survive if there's a horrible car wreck. You know the main character is probably going to survive. But even then, I'll probably be like, oh, I want to see what happens, how they interact. Do you find that as well? Do you have our you're better at turning off and like watching us uh a bit of each one, I think, than I am.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

I I am like, I'll just go, okay, well, but yes, there's always a great writer once said, at the end of every chapter, you should always have a revelation or a reversal. So, and I think that's something they do very, very well. Like they always have a revelation at the end of every single chapter. I was thinking about the show My Demon, and I think it was in My Demon. And there's literally a moment when he walks through fire to save her. He enters a burning building to save her. And that's, I think, what I mean, you know, that's why you watch a K drama because it's it's any little thing, like he could have just saved her, however, but no, he literally walked into a burning building to save her. So that's what that's that's what is so you know intriguing or whatever. It's just those small moments, they're they're just big. The small moments are big, or they are they are milked for what for the most that you can get out of them.

Sara Rosett 23:34

Yeah. And you're and the breaking point is not after he saves her, but before he saves her. So like you you're going, oh my goodness, he walked in that burning building. I have to tune in to the next one to find out what happened to see how it happened. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Right.

Sara Rosett 23:50

Well, do you have any K-drama disappointments? Any things that you watched that you were like, eh, that's not my style, not my thing.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

I tried watching uh Welcome to Sam Del Rey, I think. I just couldn't.

Sara Rosett 24:04

Sam Delray, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Yes, and I couldn't get into that one. There have been others, I feel like the first episode of a K-drama, it's very hard. Any it's like it's like it's like reading the starting a book. I have a very hard time starting books because I'm always like, Oh, what if it's not good? What if I get bored? You know, I just have a hard time. So it's kind of like that and the same thing with K-dramas. Like the first the first episode is very hard. And I'll usually give something one to two episodes, even if I remember the first episode of Squid Game, even I wasn't hooked until the very end. Like the first episode, I'm like, really? Okay, I'm not sure. I don't really like him. Okay, he's got some stuff, but then by the end of the first episode, it's like, well, I gotta keep watching now.

Sara Rosett 24:46

Yeah, yeah, that twist at the end. I'm watching when the phone rings, and the end of episode one, I was interested because I like the main character. She was also in I'm not a robot, and so I liked her, and I was like, Oh, I'll watch anything. She's now give it a try. And I was into it, I was interested. But then the twist at the end of episode one, I was like, Oh, okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

I saw that. I watched that, I saw that twist. That was very good. I was like, oh wow, now it's getting interesting. Now let's see where.

Sara Rosett 25:18

So do you keep track of your K dramas? Some people have lists and spreadsheets, you just watch them, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:25

You don't, yeah, no, I just watch. And but it is hard sometimes to find new ones that I want to watch that wanna, well, what's as good as this one? What's as good as that one? And my love from another star was really good. Um, it has a lot of like you just like very classic kind of K drama romantic elements. He doesn't like her, they're very different. You have a big you also get a fall often in a K drama. Well, you'll have a social status here, and then one of them is fall um social status. So that happens too. It's almost like a reversal, so they gotta climb their way back out. So you see that in a K drama too. And I think that always makes for good, yeah, yeah, good story because well, what happens? That character, how are they gonna, you know, get themselves back up?

Sara Rosett 26:14

It's like they've suddenly become the underdog and can they can they come back?

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Yeah, yeah. And so that that that I feel like that is often, that's pretty often. I think I've I've seen that a lot in K dramas, but it works really well, and that's what happens in I know it's horror, whatever. That Jong Song creature, this guy who's very much on top, is suddenly told the very beginning if you don't do this thing for me, I'm gonna destroy your your whole livelihood. So he's like, he has no choice but to take on this project. Yeah.

Sara Rosett 26:48

Yeah. There I've watched a couple that have had that where it the character gets uh falls and they get maneuvered into a position where they really don't have any choice except to do certain things, or that's how they're gonna survive. And I kind of like those too. I like that necessity of them doing of having to pull themselves back out of the pit that they're in.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

It's never very small. It's never a small, it's never anything small. Other otherwise, we wouldn't be watching it. It's kind of like the the the American shows that I could like say would be my closest thing to the addictive version of a K drama, just I can think of off the top of my head would be Netflix's Ginny and Georgia television, very, very addictive television. And even that recent no good deeds, once again, very yes, very addictive television, very addictive in the same way. You've got revelations that are kind of coming out slowly, you've got big moments, a lot of drama.

Sara Rosett 27:38

Yeah, nothing is seen. I I watch more mystery, so that's more episodic. So it doesn't have the same feel. Even a K-drama mystery has that same addictive quality where you're like, oh my goodness, I need to know what's gonna happen next. Whereas I think Western television mystery is more here's your case and it's done. Here's your case and it's done with each episode.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Now, both of those are mysteries too. Ginny and Georgia has a mystery in it, and no good no good deeds is also very mystery-based.

Sara Rosett 28:08

Yeah, those are both on my list. I haven't watched them.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

And what they do, which is very similar to K-dramas, is they we have big characters, we have caricatures of characters, even like we've got a southerner who's really southern, and k-dramas do the same thing. Like, you know, if you have a rich princess, she is like a petulant, pouty princess. If you have the drunk on the street, he is the big loud drunk. They really lean into stereotypes.

Sara Rosett 28:40

They do, but I wouldn't say that all the characters are stereotypes. Do you know what I mean? They'll have the the stereotype surface, but then you'll always find out their backstory or something else about them that gives them depth.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Yes, unless they're just that stereo, unless they're unless they're small, small role. But they but they do like like they do ham it up and they do go go big for that. It's like even the acting, they go big for it. Like the script writing involves about going big.

Sara Rosett 29:09

Yeah, very true, very true. Well, if you had a friend who had never watched K-drama, what is there a K-drama you would recommend? A good place to start?

SPEAKER_00 29:19

I think Crash Landing on You is a great, is a great place to start. It's a long one. There's a really good mystery, there's a lot of drama in it. There, but there are also those big scenes where you're just like, yeah, do it. He's gonna save her, whatever, you know. There's also a lot of there are a lot of great reveals or great like the end episode twists that have to happen. You're like, well, what happens next? What happens next? Yeah, I think that's a good one to start.

Sara Rosett 29:47

And you know, it's a little bit older, so it's all out, so you can binge it all if you want.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Yeah, yeah. And the side characters in that one are also great. You always get the side characters who are almost like the family, like they they almost always seem to create another family.

Sara Rosett 30:03

Yeah, a found family trope is huge in K drama.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

It really is and I love it. What are you currently?

Sara Rosett 30:09

Are you currently watching anything right now?

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Squid Game 2 just came out. I stopped watching the trunk just so I could watch Squid Game 2. I've been putting laundry away and do and watching it. Yes, what about you? Are you still are you watching When the Phone Rings?

Sara Rosett 30:24

Yeah, I'm doing When the Phone Rings, loving that. And let's see. I'm also watching one. It's called Face Me. It's got a mystery element to it. It's on Vicky, it's it's a plastic surgeon. You know how it's like the the police detective combo where you've got the detective and then the consultant, and it's you know, it could be anything. So the police officer is a woman, and the person that's playing the consultant is a doctor of plastic surgery. And of course, all the crimes have something to do with plastic surgery, and it's interesting. It's it's I don't think it's gonna be like my top, top mystery crime show ever of K drama, but it is interesting.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

I'll probably go back to the trunk because that was getting very interesting. That's more like twisted mental games, yeah.

Sara Rosett 31:10

Psychological suspense a little bit, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Sort of a little bit of that, yeah. A little bit a mystery, a murder. There's a murderer mystery that pushes that's the thread, the through for thread on it.

Sara Rosett 31:21

Yeah, I started that when I paused it, I think two or three episodes in because I was like, I think this is a little dark for me during the holidays. I was like, I think I'll I'll come back to this later.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Yeah, I can I can see that one maybe not being your thing too much.

Sara Rosett 31:36

Yeah, that's okay. That's good because there's all kinds of different varieties of K-drama.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

According to some people, there aren't though. There's only the one. What would you recommend people start with?

Sara Rosett 31:51

I think well, I started with Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and I think you can't go wrong with that because it's got it's got a little of everything. It's got the romance, it's got a little mystery. You can root for almost all the characters in it. I don't like the ones where the everyone's unlikable. I want somebody I can root for.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Yeah, they like I think we had talked once before that K-dramas are really great about you can see redemption arcs. Yes, like in Destined With You, there is a great secondary character redemption arc for one of them. That's just really neat and unexpected. But yeah, no, I think Attorney Woo is to run true because you're just immediately rooting for this character, like you want her to succeed, and then the secondary characters as you get to know them, and there's mysteries. Every episode is a mystery.

Sara Rosett 32:42

But I mean, Crash Landing on You, that so many people found K-dramas through that during COVID. Can't go wrong with that one either.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Really can't. It's good.

Sara Rosett 32:50

Well, this has been fun for having me on.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

I hope I didn't get me started. I just there's all these scenes I just love.

Sara Rosett 32:56

I know, I love it. I love talking about k-dramas. So you can't go on too long for me. Well, to everybody where they can find your books too, if they're interested in your books.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

You can find me um on my website at www.amibowlesam y. B-O-Y-L-E-S dot com.

Sara Rosett 33:15

We'll have that link in the show note. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a few minutes to write or review it wherever you listen to podcasts. That will help other K Drama fans find the podcast. And we'll see you next time. Bye.