Top 10 most virulent cases of Second Lead Syndrome

489 January 31, 2017October 4, 2017

by DB Staff

javabeans: Second leaaaaaaads! Where would we be without them?

girlfriday: Happier, probably.

javabeans: But also maybe more bored? Because c’mon, a well-placed second lead (and his unrequited love for the heroine) can provide a certain crackle to a juicy romance, even if sometimes that crackle often comes with big booming pain.

girlfriday: I just mean I’d probably be happier, because I often ship the wrong guy and then end up in a puddle of my own misguided tears. But dramas would be nowhere without second leads. Not all dramas need to have love triangles, but so many dramas do, and when they’re great, they can really drive a romance and make us feel for all the parties involved. It just makes sense that in order to have an effective love triangle, you need a really compelling second lead who has a shot at winning.

javabeans: Of course, this whole concept of “winning” is its own can of worms, since many of these effective second lead stories often present him as the perfect man, the one the heroine really deserves, instead of that mean ol’ hero who always makes her cry. It drives home the idea that nobody “deserves” a person’s love over anybody else, not when love isn’t a quid-pro-quo transaction, but damn if the shows don’t know how to dig that knife of injustice into our hearts with that extra twist.

girlfriday: That twist is mean, but clearly it works, because I’m such a sucker for the pining unrequited love.

javabeans: What’s funny about this phenomenon (which we’ve long been calling Second Lead Syndrome, because it is practically diagnosable at this point) is that half the time I’m convinced that I’m immune to its effects, remembering all the fantastic OTP’s I’ve never once betrayed. Then I remember all the doomed supporting lead romances that broke my heart and there I go, cursing the dramaland fates that make second leads so goddamned appealing.

girlfriday: It really only takes one to make you think that there’s suddenly something wrong with the universe, for not letting the second lead get the girl this time. Even if you’ve watched hundreds of dramas and never cared about a second lead once, there will suddenly be one who steals your heart and leads you to cry foul over the main loveline.

javabeans: Second Lead Syndrome is such a fixture in love stories these days that our Top Ten list had to narrow down the criteria, otherwise our shortlist would have been a hundred names long. In keeping with the theme, our choices were limited to the second leads whose love stories brought us the most pain or gave us the most grief.

girlfriday: Yes, the ones where we were cursing writers. And then of course second lead syndrome leads to shipping wars, which is a whole other dimension of pain.

javabeans: Oh my god, shipping wars. What a way to take your private agony, pour a ton of salt into the gaping wounds, and magnify them for the world to pick at. Why, whyyyyyy? Why do we do this to ourselves, and why do we never learn?

girlfriday: I DON’T KNOW. But I think it’s true that we never learn, because every other year when another Answer Me series comes out, I want to hide in a hole until the war is over and call my mommy to come pick me up.

javabeans: I like my second lead romances a little toothless, myself, because I want to feel pity and sympathy for the poor guy but not actually feel torn up inside about shipping the wrong person with the heroine. Because even when you like Mr. Second Lead better, 99.99% of the time, we all know she’ll end up with the hero instead. (And 0.01% of the time, we cry for days and write angsty lists about it.)

girlfriday: Cue list!

1. Answer Me 1994 (2013)

javabeans: Answer Me 1994 inflicted some serious raw wounds in my heart over its second lead arc, pains I’ve been keeping deep in repression ever since the drama ended, and I have this post to thank for dredging up all those terrible, agonizing, glorious feelings for Chilbongie and the love he was never destined to have. Of course, it wasn’t purely my fault for picking the wrong guy—not when the show did everything in its power to lead us astray, giving us actual hope that he wasn’t, in fact, the doomed second fiddle. That fakeout was part of the reason I felt so viscerally hurt when my ship crashed and burned: Answer Me’s writer understood dramaland’s cliches and rhythms so well that she was able to masterfully circumvent expectations (in a way I don’t think any other writer has been able to do regarding romance). Usually we know who’s getting the girl and who’s getting left in the dust, but 1994 faked us out brilliantly by giving the second lead the hero treatment, keeping the OTP in the shadows while building up the sweet, devoted, puppy-doggish Chilbongie as our heroine’s potential future husband. By the time the realization of the OTP’s direction hit, those of us on Team Chilbongie were already in too deep to get out without suffering damage. I could accept and appreciate Oppa ultimately being the husband, but it was the path to that end that did me in. And as an extra-salty kicker, the fanwars that sprung up over the two ships felt particularly vicious and mean-spirited, so invested did everyone feel in their particular team. This is the drama that made me swear off all future Answer Me seasons for good… and based on good ol’ Number 2 below, it’s a decision I’ve never regretted. Never say I don’t learn anything!

2. Answer Me 1988 (2015-16)

girlfriday: Apparently some of us don’t learn, because even after suffering through the agony of rooting for Chilbongie, I found myself back here, thinking that this time I’d play it safe and be on the right team. The obvious team. The one that wouldn’t make me cry. I had a plan and everything! Of all the installments of the Answer Me franchise, this one really set us up for the ultimate fakeout. Honestly, I never thought in a million years that Ryu Joon-yeol wouldn’t get the girl. He was the classic drama hero through and through, as the prickly boy next door who kept his feelings close to the vest while our heroine flailed over her adorable crush on him. I didn’t even spend the drama feeling bad for him like a regular second lead, because it seemed like such a foregone conclusion that he’d be the heroine’s husband in the future that viewers invented a term for it, which translates to “Obviously Future Husband Ryu Joon-yeol.” Instead, I spent the drama having (totally unnecessary) second lead sympathy pangs for quiet Park Bo-gum, because he was just like Chilbongie, and surely doomed to break my heart. Surely! This was a case where I loved both boys, but just fell for the trap of expecting characters to follow the archetypes we’d seen in drama after drama, which of course the writer played up for maximum twistiness. I might even consider it clever, if not for the fact that Ryu Joon-yeol cut my heart out and left it on a restaurant table sometime in the early ‘90s, next to the confession he gave and then took back. On the upside, I no longer feel feelings.

3. Boys Before Flowers (2009)

javabeans: This drama was practically designed around Second Lead Syndrome, and judging from the sea of tears shed by the sinking ship (the better to float it with?), it utilized it mighty effectively. This drama offered a textbook case of how being a “better” man doesn’t entitle anybody to anybody else’s heart, and second lead Ji-hoo was established as pretty much all of the good things that leading man Jun-pyo wasn’t: thoughtful, kind, gentle, calm, mature. The drama went so far as to declare Ji-hoo the heroine’s soulmate—platonically, of course—and she forged a friendship with him immediately; her relationship with him was as easy as her relationship with the hero was perpetually turbulent, as though two kindred souls need no time deciding that they’re simpatico. Even when the main romance was in full swing, it was often Ji-hoo who understood her thoughts and concerns better than the guy she’d chosen, and to underscore his general decency, he often helped smooth the bumps in their relationship even as he was pining for her heart himself. It was enough to make you figure, Well, if she has this perfect sunbae dying to be with her and still picks the volatile, immature, jealous other dude, then I guess it really is love! Sadly for second leads of dramaland, being Mr. Perfect is no longer enough for true love. Tough crowd!

4. Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010)

HeadsNo2: There’s something tragic and swoony about the second lead who is the heroine’s constant but silent protector, operating behind the scenes while being hopelessly in love with her. Maybe the appeal of the second lead is the doomed nature of it, the fact that they Can Never Be, even though in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, I really, really wanted them to be. I wanted them to be so badly that my bones will be found on their sunken ship years from now.

In many ways, Moon Jae-shin was the typical hero character—dark, handsome, deep, and a bit of a bad boy. He was the rebel who discovered our heroine’s crossdressing secret and went to any lengths to protect her, all without her knowing. Who wouldn’t want a guardian with that soul-stealing gaze? The way he looked at her with all that hopeless devotion broke my heart, especially since she remained mostly unaware of everything he did for her. It wasn’t easy to protect her secret in an academy full of men, but watching him try, whether by stopping others from discovering her bathing or by wriggling his way in between her and the lead while sleeping was half the fun of the show. Okay, that and the fact that he got a mad case of the hiccups whenever he became romantically aware of her. That was always adorable. *hic*

5. Heirs (2013)

girlfriday: Trying to argue Lee Min-ho vs. Kim Woo-bin in Heirs is a little bit like judging the heights of acorns, as they were both punks in a school full of rich entitled punks. I couldn’t tell you that Kim Woo-bin’s brash high school tyrant was a good person, but I can tell you that I found him more compelling than our hero, whose wardrobe often had more personality than he did.

I guess I have a big soft spot for the thorny teenage rebel who lashes out because he’s harboring so much inner pain. This guy totally deserved to go to jail for half the things he did in the drama, but I was surprised that I often cared more about his character development than anyone else. I couldn’t believe that he thought tormenting a girl and bullying her publicly was the best way to get her attention—like pulling a girl’s pigtails, but in a violent, criminal fashion. But then when he started following her around and trying to do nice things for her (and failing miserably, as being nice is a behavior he actually had to learn for the first time), I found myself moved by his tiny steps toward humanity. He seemed so starved for friendship and love, and even though he always went about asking for it in the wrongest way possible, I really wanted him to get his happy ending.

6. You’re Beautiful (2009)

HeadsNo2: The force was so strong with this second lead ship that it almost felt like fanservice when another drama (You’ve Fallen For Me) later cast the two actors as romantic leads, which at least soothed those fans who’d been heartbroken by the lack of a happy ending for Shin-woo and Mi-nyeo. In You’re Beautiful, which also featured a second lead intent on protecting the heroine’s crossdressing secret in silence, Shin-woo stole hearts by just being there for our heroine as she tried to navigate the world of boy bands—a far cry from her previous calling as a nun. His approach toward looking after the naive and adorably childlike heroine was the completely opposite of the hero, who fit the cold-on-the-outside-squishy-on-the-inside mold to a tee. Perhaps this personality divide is a large reason for the fandom divide between the two love interests, since both extremes were available to root for, even if we all know one of those sides was futile. Despite knowing the secret of her true identity, Shin-woo formed a friendship with the heroine and treated her as one of the boys, and always made sure to be available to step in to help her, whether she knew it or not—whether it was providing a shoulder to sleep on, carrying heavy equipment for her, or bearing the fact that she liked his bandmate more than him. Such is the fate of doomed second leads, sigh.

7. Who Are You—School 2015 (2015)

girlfriday: This one still makes me so mad! I’m not often confused about why a heroine chooses the leading man, since there’s usually enough in the drama to back the OTP when all is said and done, but in Who Are You—School 2015, I actually had a hard time understanding her choice. It was a case where I had to chalk it up to something she had seen in Nam Joo-hyuk’s character offscreen, because it wasn’t a thing I felt and could relate to. It didn’t help that second lead Yook Sung-jae had a very natural rapport with her, making all their scenes sparkle with warmth, or that he was so adorable about his puppy crush on her. He was the first person to recognize the heroine for herself and not her twin sister, the one who protected her from being found out as an imposter, and the first person to call her by her real name—something that genuinely moved me, and made me think that he was the only person who saw the real her. In a story all about finding the courage to live as herself, that mattered to me a great deal. When unni came back, it provided us with the perfect solution—two happy endings!—but they sank two ships instead. Why? Why would they do that? Why would anyone do that on purpose? Clearly I’m still not over it. I will never be over it!

8. Chuno (2010)

HeadsNo2: You know that love triangle that still gives you goosebumps, where just thinking of it makes you want to rewatch an entire show all over again? Chuno was that show for me, with its epic scope and equally epic love story at its center: a slave hunter, destined to hunt down the love of his life, who had once been a slave in his household. And while you desperately wanted him to find the love of his life, said love was completely oblivious to his undying devotion. An interesting thing happened as the show went on, when we began to realize that the hero wouldn’t reach her in time—she had, at that point, fallen for another man, a fellow slave on the run who had once been a deeply principled general. It was impossible not to fall for this classically heroic character, the direct antithesis to what antihero Dae-gil had become, even though the conflict of loving both characters at once (and wanting them both to get what they wanted, which was unfortunately mutually exclusive) was torture of the best kind. Her love story with the former general had a depth of feeling in a stoic and understated sort of way, until the pairing felt natural, even under their unnatural circumstances. And when the heroine eventually reunited with her first love, we saw a rare case of the second lead’s virtues winning out, which was a rewarding and bittersweet experience all at once. I’m still so torn!

9. Autumn Fairy Tale (2000)

HeadsNo2: I watched Autumn Fairy Tale retroactively after embarking on a Won Bin marathon, which is relatively easy since we’re going on seven years since he’s been in anything (Just be in a movie, Oppa! Any movie. Please?), so admittedly I saw the show through a slightly different lens than viewers who caught the original run. But both then and now, Won Bin’s character fits the bill of the the quintessential aggressive second lead, playing second fiddle to the perfect and amazing hero and definitely not taking it well.

So maybe he could sometimes veer toward the dangerous, with loads of wrist-grabbing and trapping the heroine against walls, but the shows of aggression and tears were just his way of saying that he loved the heroine, even when he was sometimes kind of maybe demanding that she love him back. I’m realizing now that he doesn’t sound quite so good on paper, but he was oddly captivating in the show, and you wanted him to get the girl because he wanted it so very badly. All my memories of him in Autumn Fairy Tale involve angry tears, low growling, and him trying to buy her love with all his money, but he was such a driving force for the show that I couldn’t help but continue to watch for him. He never stood a chance, and that was part of the angst of it—but like all melodramas of that period, we got to enjoy his paaaaain, which there was never any shortage of. Were we all masochists back then? Are we still, and is that why we fall in love with second leads?

10. My Girl (2005-6)

javabeans: Ah, what a throwback to the early days of Hallyu. My Girl certainly wasn’t the first trendy rom-com to invoke Second Lead Syndrome, but its fanbase’s reaction to its passionate second lead (thanks, Lee Jun-ki!) felt unusually strong for the time, and crested just as the first wave of Hallyu was really taking off and popularizing Second Lead Syndrome as a phenomenon. I confess to never succumbing to the second lead’s pull in this drama (I was loyal to our OTP, through and through), but I couldn’t leave My Girl off this list—not when Team Lee Jun-ki’s vehement and impassioned embrace of his character and doomed ship were so strong that I was amazed and a little bewildered by it. Granted, a large part of that appeal came from the actor more than the character, who was, on paper, familiar stuff: the nice, friendly guy who befriends the heroine when the hero doesn’t appreciate her. Even though I didn’t feel its thrall, I had to acknowledge that it was a powerful force, driven by the fire-versus-ice contrast between him and his hero best friend. Moreover, his pushiness was balanced by his basic good nature, offering us a welcome new development in the trajectory of the aggressive second lead—he felt emotions strongly, but took them out mostly on himself, rather than imposing them on a heroine who didn’t want them. It was a refreshing display of an ever-slightly-more-evolved Second Lead, and I’ll always remember him (and his mad elfin-fairy hair!) fondly.

489

Required fields are marked *

151 Loolu

February 1, 2017 at 12:41 AM

Yep! I'm still mad about Who are you's real OTP never happening ending.

Required fields are marked *

152 DINS

February 1, 2017 at 12:54 AM

oh never forget the pain...
ahhhh school 2015:"
reply 94 and 88:""

Required fields are marked *

153 couchpotato_md

February 1, 2017 at 1:53 AM

My second lead syndrome list (probably in order from I most hold dearest to the least)
1. Won Bin- autumn in my heart. My first ever, so totally memorable.
2. Jihoo-Boys over Flowers
3. Moon Jae shin- sungkyunkwan scandal
4.Chilbongie- answer me 1994
5. Jun Se- Brilliant legacy/ Shining Legacy . He is probably to me the epitome of the perfect second male lead!
6. Shinhyuk- She was pretty
7. Soo- Hyuk ( Lee Dong Gun )- Lovers in Paris. Him pretending not to remember and the goodbye scene was heartbreaking.
8. Oh Jin Rak ( Kim Ji-Hoon)- Flower Boy Next door
9. Jung Hwan- Answer me 1988
9. Jon-Soo ( On Joo-wan) –Beautiful Gong shim
10. Pil Joo – Greatest Love

Never felt SLS for “My Girl” because the chemistry of Lee Da Hae and Lee Dong Wook was just daebak for me… that I watched Hotel King just for this two.
Hwang Tae-kyung was awesome that I felt Shinwoo was bland and just can’t measure up… so no SLS for me.

Bong Ma-roo in “ Can You Hear My Heart?” was something unique for me that I didn’t want exactly for the second lead to get the girl but I felt my heart breaking for this second lead and wanted to make everything in his life be better and for his pain to get better. It was weird for me that a second lead who was an antagonist as well and not the “cookie cutter kind of good guy” second lead was stealing the thunder in this drama.

Required fields are marked *

154 shimshimme

February 1, 2017 at 4:19 AM

Chilbongie is definitely the reason I did not watch Answer Me 1988. Team Chilbongie through and through. TT

Required fields are marked *

155 annflln

February 1, 2017 at 4:22 AM

So TRUE!! Agreed on your list.

My ultimate second lead syndrome was Chilbong-ie. My heart breaks for him. I live-watched the episodes, and the moment when Na-jung visit Oppa in hospital and mentioned his name....that was the biggest letdown for me. I didn't finished that final episodes until weeks later.

And.... after swearing not to take any side in AM88, I ended up falling to (unexpectedly) another second lead T-T. After that, I followed all of RJY's projects like devoted person. I endured Bo-nui just RJY's sake LoL

Required fields are marked *

156 abhie

February 1, 2017 at 5:42 AM

I've never experienced SLS, until Answer 1988. I always think that the Ryu Jun Yeol is the main actor until it was revealed that he is actually the second lead..hahaha i was so dumbfounded!

The most memorable second lead for me is Dr. Yoon Pil Joo from the greatest love.. he was so sweet and kind.

Required fields are marked *

157 Stego

February 1, 2017 at 7:53 AM

Now i really must watch reply 1994 and 1988 all these feelings.kekeke

Required fields are marked *

158 Shwe Wen Lim

February 1, 2017 at 11:04 AM

Try watching Jealousy Incarnate...the second lead syndrome in THAT drama is just off the charts. Like HOW CAN YOU PICK BETWEEN GO KYUNG PYO AND JO JUNG SEOK???? Go Kyung Pyo played the gentle CEO who gives the main lead support, supplies her with bombass clothes etc while Jung Seok-sshi is just.. a manchild. And the most heartwrenching part is both of them are the best of best of friends since young..ugh..

Required fields are marked *

159 HANI

February 1, 2017 at 11:32 AM

I rarely get SLS cause most of the times, they just too nice, too perfect I find it annoying. LOL
However when I get SLS, it last for a long time tbh. And I ended up become the 2nd lead fan. I remembered being super upset with Autumn in my heart ensing because Han Tae Seok didnt get the girl. He is Won Bin! It takes me forever...I mean forever until I watch Autumn again and a good few more years until I finally watch it from start to end. And yes, Oppa, can you like... pops a few minutes as cameo or something? I wont even ask for a movie or drama. I just miss seeing you on screen longer than 15secs T_T
And My Girl turned me into LJK fan. That cool hair and cool moves~
Youngdo made me watched a few more ep but even he cant make me finish that mess.

Required fields are marked *

160 Anna

February 2, 2017 at 12:27 AM

I'm having extra hard time watching Hwarang mostly because I'm rooting for Hyungsik and want him to get the girl so so bad :(

Required fields are marked *

161 Bushra87

February 2, 2017 at 5:36 AM

I don't think we will ever get over School 2015! Not until YSJ and KSH do a promising drama together and get the happy ending they deserve!

Required fields are marked *

162 Elysiajung

February 2, 2017 at 6:05 AM

So ji sub in memories of bali and jung il woo in the moon embrace the sun

Required fields are marked *

163 Jadielaw

February 2, 2017 at 7:29 AM

Dramas where I liked both leads (for the girl)
Dream High
What happened in Bali
Summer Scent
Princess Man
Best love
Chuno
Baby Faced Beauty
Meteor Garden
Emperor of the Sea
Hotelier
My country calls
Queen of Housewives
Shut up flower boy band
Why why love
Let’s eat

Required fields are marked *

164 trebuchette

February 2, 2017 at 10:54 AM

What, no Brilliant Legacy/Shining Inheritance??? This is sacrilegious! #BoycottDB

Kidding. But seriously, I expected BSB on this list. He was the perfect guy, tbh. And it just hurt to see him not end up with HHJ's character. ?

BOF's Ji Hoo & You're Beautiful's Shin Woo...???

Required fields are marked *

165 Z

February 2, 2017 at 4:08 PM

I learned the patterns early and rarely succumb to SLC but there have been a few doozies for me. My first one was You're Beautiful, but I honestly couldn't be too mad about that because old dude never spoke up anyway. How's she gonna know you love her if your only "date" consisted of you stalking her?

But then came the trend of pitting sweet manly men against mean flower boys and I just couldn't deal with it it. I got mad and stopped watching Flower Boy Ramyun Shop because in what universe would a grown up woman choose to date a whiny high schooler when there is a giant handsome Panda-man who can cook and wants to marry you? Credibility gone. Same went for several other shows. The latest was She Was Pretty. I was like "just shut up and listen to Siwon for one second so he can tell you he loves you!" I made it through but I was POed for like the whole second half.

Required fields are marked *

166 gogummaa

February 3, 2017 at 2:48 AM

aww, no Princess Hours here? that drama also gave me a major second lead syndrome! i was so invested in Kim Jung Hoon's character and cute rapport with Yoon Eun Hye. Sad though that he has to go be the bad guy in the latter part.

Still, great list. The first two really summarized my feels from Team Chilbong to Team Junghwan. Yep, I never learned!! hahaha

Required fields are marked *

167 Dina

February 3, 2017 at 4:04 AM

Now that I'm reminded of School 2015, I'm angered all over again. I mean WTF was the writer thinking with that ending?? the only explanation is that they weren't -_-

They literally had it all laid out in front of them once the other twin came back, but they just had to ruin it for both ships...... unforgivable.

Required fields are marked *

168 Mia

February 3, 2017 at 6:59 AM

The Duk Sun, Taek, Jung Hwan triangle in Reply 1988 was something else. I adored both guys so much, she could have been with either one of them. I eventually gave up on Jung Hwan and choose Team Taek. Based on his actions, Jung Hwan just didn't want Duk Sun as much as Taek did.

Required fields are marked *

169 divyrus

February 3, 2017 at 8:57 AM

Your top 10 posts though not perfect and being subjective - they are such great write ups!

Am enjoying them so much! And will be referenced so many times over so many years!

I cant believe we are already on number 8, is there only 2 more?!! :(

Required fields are marked *

170 salt n' pepper

February 4, 2017 at 2:01 AM

I usually don't get second-lead-syndrome but, man, I was so heartbroken for Chilbong and Jung Hwan. That writer's on a different level when it comes to dividing viewers into ships/teams. LOL. And like girlfriday (and nearly everyone else), I was so determined not to root for the second lead after the Chilbong tragedy that I was happy to be on Team Junghwan (who was supposed to be first lead), but lo and behold, my ship sank again. It even hit a bigger iceberg this time.

Required fields are marked *

171 Lin_K

February 4, 2017 at 6:39 AM

I would like to add Shin Hyuk from She Was Pretty. He was a second lead who made me cry and a good character too.

Required fields are marked *

172 mariazzang

February 6, 2017 at 12:33 AM

I'll share my own Top 10, which in various levels of intensity have made me sad, cry, angry, depressed, lonely and shed more tears.

1. Lee Dong Dun's Soo Hyuk - Lovers in Paris
2. Ryu Jun Yeol's Jung Hwan - Answer Me 1988
3. Yoo Ah In's Moon Jae Shin - Sungkyunkwan Scandal
4. Yoo Yeon Seok's Chilbongie - Answer Me 1994
5. Kim Woo Bin's Choi Young Do - Heirs
6. Bae Soo Bin's Park Joon Se - Brilliant Legacy
7. Yoon Kye Sang's Yoon Pil Joo - Best Love
8. Lee Pil Mo's Chief Gook - Emergency Couple
9. Kim Jung Hoon's Yul - Princess Hours
10. Jang Geun Seok's Lee Chang Hwi - Hong Gil Dong

Required fields are marked *

173 bd5

February 6, 2017 at 12:56 AM

Just wanted to throw a wrench into the discussion and bring in the 2nd lead (or more correctly, the 2nd love interest) for one of the duo that ended up comprising the secondary couple (so, I guess that makes it the "3rd lead").

Really liked the guy who worked for Eric's interior design company in "Discovery of Love" who had an interest in Kim Seul-gie's character, but sadly, was doomed to fail.

Required fields are marked *

174 Seoulcialite

February 8, 2017 at 7:19 AM

11. Jinyoung in Love in the moonlight

Required fields are marked *

175 Lin

February 8, 2017 at 5:21 PM

#2 Still hurts I couldn't even read it ??? I was not the iceberg, I was the unknowing ship (the irony of that ship name) , he should have been the husband ???

All the others I was pretty meh about (team oppa-ya forever) and could the love but also understood why the girl chose as she did.

Required fields are marked *

176 Malu

February 8, 2017 at 7:40 PM

Lee Jun Ki in My Girl! OMG I feel identified, I loved the main couple but how to leave Jun Ki aside, he was adorable, my first serious case of SLS. The same with Autumn Tale, Won Bin was not the most tender man, but he had 100 times more chemistry with Hye Kyo than the male protagonist, pity that until now he has rejected all offers where he could be reunited with her.

Required fields are marked *

177 harmonyfb

February 18, 2017 at 4:19 PM

I suffer quite often from Second Lead Syndrome.

The worst one was Flower Boy Next Door - I actually finished that drama angry about it, because Oh Jin-rak was so considerate and respectful, and yet she wound up w/the obnoxious jerkface who blew past all her boundaries. Feh!

Marriage, Not Dating gave me big feels because I felt like Han Yeo Reum was much better suited to her than the lead.

Required fields are marked *

178 kitmiho

April 4, 2017 at 8:00 AM

Although I'm as susceptible to SLS as anyone, I can usually manage to rationalize why the girl didn't choose him in the end.

But the first time I found this to be completely impossible was Flower Boy Ramen Shop, where not only was the first lead an arrogant, selfish, clueless, immature jerk, but he had absolutely NO character growth that would make me believe the heroine might soften towards him. All he had was one single act of selflessness the entire series, and that was near the very end. Plus with him being so much younger than her and the immaturity that went with that, there was literally no rational explanation for her to choose him beyond being driven crazy by sexual attraction. And all the while, she had the exact opposite in her beautiful second lead! It must've been masochism that make me stick the series out, because I was ready to throw things.

Required fields are marked *

179 Teleri

April 6, 2018 at 9:44 PM

I have said this a lot - but here goes again - with Answer Me 1994, those rooting for Chilbongie actually were following REAL CLUES left by the writers - because that was the guy they planned to be the husband from the beginning. The PRODUCERS screwed that up by having a contest after the 12th episode, and because there was such a wave of support for TRASH, the writers had to scramble to make the whole thing seem reasonable. They failed. The problem for me and many others has nothing to do with which guy was the best or which one we liked the most (I sure thought it would be Trash until those CLUES started appearing!!!!!!). What this actually did was made the drama not work for me since a lot of the fun went out of the whole process because all that carefully laid groundwork got ignored. There is NOTHING I hate worse in a work of fiction than illogical or ignored plotpoints. It's sloppy writing at best. In this case it is not the writers' fault but their bosses. And this is not an opinion - the writers actually confirmed this.
So hoorah, those w/second lead syndrome - you actually got a KDrama producer to CHANGE the STORY :(
The others - well. BOF has always annoyed me (the Japanese manga, anime, live action) and in this one, while Lee Min Ho made the lead more palatable than in any of the others, every time Kim Hyun Joong made an appearance I just died. She will ALWAYS be stupid girl to me.
Your Beautiful, on the other hand, made perfect sense. I love Yong Hwa totally, but his character in this was always one step behind because he was too cautious, to careful, thinking too much of himself & making everything perfect rather than just going with his emotions and letting her see him as he was. Jang Geun Suk just does not look beautiful to me - appealing yes, especially when he smiles, and I love his voice - but next to Yong Hwa, nope. Nor Hongki (LOVED Jeremy LOL) But he's a wonderful actor and the writers did an excellent job of showing exactly why he won the girl over the others.
My Girl - lord. Lee Jun Ki, well DUH!
SungKwanKyung Scandal - Moon Jae Shin belonged to Song Jun Ki so that didn't bother me LOL
Reply 1988 - the writers DID get to finish this one as planned. The clues are there. The 3rd from the end episode (the one where Jung Hwan wimps out and doesn't admit his feelings) was the dead giveaway. My only complaint is that there was no closure about what happened to him - I do believe it's because the writers planned him to have died in a plane crash as a military pilot but that was nixed as too depressing. There were certainly clues about THAT thruout the drama.

Required fields are marked *

180 Jewel

June 6, 2018 at 8:56 AM

Can I just say I will never be over ot either.. With School or the other worst ending ever Moon Lovers don't they understand the viewer emotions... We want happy conclusively endings like 2 twins each getting a cute boy. Or a mall scene when 2 live modern lovers unite!!

Required fields are marked *