On consistency

Here is the deal, I’m sorry if I may hurt some people around me but NO, I don’t like Korean dramas, they are frigid to orginality and they lack REAL drama. Now, that said, every once in a while, there is one drama that comes out and is actually very good and quite addictive. Do you know which ones I’m talking about? The ones with an actual story.

Now here’s what I mean, first exemple for 2010: A Man Called God.

Story: A man comes back years later to destroy the heads of the mafia who killed his father when he was a boy. The plan: destroy them financially and moraly so they can find a way to kill themselves as to keep him out of suspicion and out of prison. The extra characterial touch: through a woman reporter he meets, he discovers what a real family life, that he never had, feels like.

Now, there you have a story, a definite start, a definite end and a true character conflict.

Second exemple  (sorry I couldn’t find any good teaser): The Kingdom of The Winds.

Story: The king’s son, born in the wrong circomstances must be sacrificed to please the gods. However, the king will make sure he survives and will hide him. He will come back, years later, unbeknownst of his past, and will access the throne through courage, honnesty and a will to bring the kingdom towards peace.

Here again: beginning, ending and character conflict (who is my family? Who am I? Why didn’t you keep me with you?).

Yes, I here you say that the main actor for those 2 dramas is the same. He’s good, what can I say.

Now, let’s talk about something that doesn’t work for me. Quite often, I watch the first few episodes of drama with a good concept OR at least an original one. The first Korean drama I ever watched had a singularity: it looked like a real life drama but the character could jump incredibly high (for some reason) which is how they actually meet: the girl jumps over a very high wall and fall on the guy who was on the phone behind that wall. Not realistic but still original. After the 1st episode, that jumping thingy never came back ever again in the whole drama! Why? Yes, it looks a bit strange but aye, you are taking me into your world so please don’t change the rules half way through your story.

Next, the most recent exemple is the most popular drama at the moment: Secret Garden. (no interesting teaser here either)

First, 2 people who have nothing in common  find their spirit exchange bodies. He is the big boss of a big company, she is a stunt actress. Now, here is a great concept for me, it’s been done before and not always so successfully. First they hate each other but of course they HAVE TO learn how to work together is they don’t want to ruin each other’s life. Now why, did they have to let go of the concept after a few episodes? I lost all interest as I saw this show becoming another push-and-pull love story UNTIL they changed body again after a few episodes and now, people around them start discovering that they don’t behave as usual and something looks quite wrong.

Here is the deal, they developed some sort of love story between those 2 characters when they got their own body back but why all the bullshit? I’m sorry but the wayKorean dramas depict the discovery of love is just beyond me. Now the change back to normal was indeed essential but it shouldn’t have been so long before changing back because THAT IS the true appeal of this show.

I think that consistency is essential to a good show. If you have to bring your characters through 20 to 30 Hrs of screen time, you’ve got to give your world some rules and then follow them through to the end. Also, please give your characters a purpose and a definit ending because watching them argue around chicken wings is just painful for the audience (not the Korean audience however) and painful for the characters themselves. Would you want to spend 20 hrs of screening time arguing around chicken wings? I wouldn’t.