This week KBS 1980’s period romance Youth of May wrapped up and perhaps the cheerful posters and seemingly innocent romance setting mislead viewers or the production chose to downplay all the Gwangju Uprising backdrop, the ending was of course T-raumatic with a capital T. That happens, it’s happened to me a lot watching twenty years worth of K-dramas. The early Hallyu ones were notorious for jerking the rug out from under people with mostly the terminal illness plot device but since then it’s evolved and death/separation comes for our OTP and beloved drama characters in newer ways. But even then some K-drama BE (bad ending or the opposite of HE or happy ending) are more traumatic and tear-inducing than others, it’s not all created equal. Some memorable ones for me are of course the OG What Happened in Bali (don’t play mind games with a totally mind-fucked already male lead), Shark (or shall I say Kim Nam Gil in Shark, and earlier in Queen Seondeok and Bad Guy), Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart: Ryeo (though that helped I was already once traumatized over by Bu Bu Jing Xin so knew what to expect), Mr. Sunshine (not just a rock but meteor fall down), Seven Days Queen (39 years, really?), Hundred Million Stars Falling From the Sky (also tempered by knowing what to expect), and Uncontrollably Fond (cried so much I got dehydrated). What are yours?
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Lookout aka The Guardians
God's gift: 14 days
49 days
OMG 49 Days wrecked me - I am still devastated and bitter over the ending! Though if I remember right Koala did some great coverage of that drama.
I was actually at peace with 49 days since the characters got closure. Just sad the 2 sisters never got to meet as reunited sisters, but I was happy that fate somehow brought them together to change each other's lives.
Lookout - to suffer your entire life just to die
God's Gift - traumatic and did you really have to do this, male lead?!
49 Days traumatized me to the point I never watched it again. But I have since built up a very hard skin since then.
Isn’t the title of Suzy and KWB’s drama Uncontrollably Fond? Warm & Cozy was YYS and Kang Sora’s show.
My vote for the fucked ending is lovers in paris
You invested in the drama and in the end its just all imagination of the female lead lmao
Chicago Typewriter. I’m pretty sure I called in sick and cried in bed. Both leads are powerful actors- even though they didn’t have the most crackling chemistry in the modern timeline.
Stairway to heaven, it as my first kdrama and one of the firsts dramas broadcast in South America.
Iris 1.
After those dramas I was a little afraid of watching anything else because it was too much suffering and we weren't used to such a tragic endings in Latin America; on the other hand, the stories were addicting so I kept suffering.
I am sorry I love you"
"Reply 88"
I’m Sorry I Love you still makes me weep - so tragic it broke my heart.
Reply 1988 also really hit me in the feels!
same here @KatieKat.Forgot to mention "Snow Queen "but I see some commenters wrote about it.First time I saw Hyun Bin there and was crying for days with the ending.
I watched What Happened in Bali with my mom, and we were stunned by the ending. I was like oh shit, oh shit, how can they leave me like that, since then my mom and I always wait till the final episode is air to see if we will watch or be left flabbergasted once again.
@Ms.Koala
I think you are actually referring to Uncontrollably Fond, not Warm and Cozy. I have never watched Warm and Cozy but that kind of sad/tear inducing ending not likely penned by Hong Sisters.
The Hong Sisters did write a sad ending for Hong Gil-dong (pardon the reminder of that lead actor).
The ending of Big was also sad in a sense that that was when the Hong Sisters betrayed their fans, lol.
I cried OUT LOUD for two days after Hong Gil-dong.
I had to convince myself that if those characters were real, they would have lived to be 100 in order to get my life back. LOL
Reply 1988 - that drama broke me and I am still not over it.
and also:
-Cruel City - I am pretty sure he is supposed to be dead, but the ending was such mind-f***-is-he-dead-or-not?
-What happened in Bali - but it was such a good satisfying epic ending
- High Kick Through the Roof - this was a freakin sitcom
- Bridal Mask - I was sad for Kangto losing the love of his life, but as a watcher kinda glad it happened.
-Sandglass - this one is THE CLASSIC. and man how it ended still haunts me
I feel the same about bridal mask ? 1st ever dont mind at all the female lead died
I second Cruel city, I cried buckets and I felt my heart ripped apart. But I never regreted watching it, it was that good. To this day, hearing joeng kyong ho's voice makes my heart flutter. Also, hyon soo ya..?
Agree for Cruel city.
YES! to both Cruel City and Sandglass.
(Sandglass had two endings: the one for the drama itself and the one for Baek Jae-hee. Cried at least a week.)
Yes to Cruel City. It was cruel to my heart.
He lived in Cruel City (at least according to the writers). The last scene of the drama shows a guy wearing a trenchcoat with his back turned in some other city, so it was left to the audience to decide if that was him or not. But right after the show finished airing the writers said that the original ending showed him getting a new ID card or the 2nd male lead getting him fake ID for another undercover job or something (it's been a long time since I read the article). But I guess they decided to leave it more open to decide since it was too much like Time Between Dog and Wolf. But basically he lived.
WTF Ending: Fashion King...I didn't cry, I just wanted to throw my TV out the window and scream: give me back my time!!!
ME TOO!!!!!!
YES!! I couldn't believe what I watched with Fashion King.
Fashion King definitely then 49 days