KDrama Score Card Introduction

Bee Gees Song of the Day: This is Where I Came In: from the album of the same name.

“Hope rides on. But I’ll go anywhere. Yes, I’ll go anywhere with you.”

A few days ago, I announced that I would be combining my affection for spreadsheets with my obsession for kdrama. Here are the categories for my scoring:

Ponder Angst – this is when our main protagonist(s) are caught in their most private of moments. They ponder the weight and gravity of their situation, sometimes reviewing with rewind-like accuracy a moment of great import in their lives. This angst can occur whilst enjoying the majesty of a mountain scene, or the power of the surf. Sometimes it happens while they sit still at their table. Doing nothing. Staring into space. Eating up valuable time in the series where we could be actually DOING SOMETHING. Hell, I ponder while I’m doing dishes, or walking my dog, or even while I’m driving behind two crude little college students on my commute. You can tell this is not going to be a positive metric, can’t you? (20 possible points)

Love “ – “ Angles – Sometimes we have love “tri” angles, and love “quad”rangles. We rarely have love parallel lines – what would be the fun of that? Its what puts the drama in kdrama my friends and we are never without it. Sometimes its good and sometimes its bad. It’s usually bad. (4 points an angle)

Sizzle – I don’t need to explain sizzle; the chemistry between our leads or when our main protagonist is on the screen. It’s not always about hot hot caged monkey love a la Sawyer and Kate either. Sometimes its burning looks or just electricity on the screen. It’s a good metric and I LOVE it when I see it. (20 possible points)

Physical Intimacy – Generally, in most historical dramas, hugging = full sex. Hand touching = heavy petting. In modern dramas, it’s mostly stiff close-mouthed kissing that represents any level of intimacy. Rarely does it inspire any sizzle or true payoff at your emotional bank. But they try. I attribute it to a difference in modesty in kdrama vs. adrama (American Drama) and in decency laws. I actually think the kdramas are sweeter, adramas are hotter. (20 points)

Tragic Heartwrenching Disease and/or Character Death from Same – This is the constipation quotient. You can replace constipation with cancer, anorexia, blindness, amnesia, loss of limb, psychotic break or arrow/sword/dagger to the heart or eye ball. I have yet to watch a kdrama w/out the constipation quotient. (20 points)

Going to the Beach – A euphemism for suicide. This is the bonus points round – 5 points PER suicide and an additional 10 points if the suicide actually happens in or around the ocean.