This is where the heroine saves herself

Hello, welcome to my drama nook of the internet! By Episode 10 is where I write about my drama adventures as a fan of Asian tv entertainment and film. Whether it's binge session or a bit of a slog, I'll be sharing my thoughts on the drama tropes, character chemistry and plot twists.

I grew up watching a lot of contemporary and historical C-dramas with my family, it was apart of our evening routines just like eating our meals together; every night after dinner, we would have a plate of fruit ready to snack on before we pressed the play button to watch a long 80 episode saga. I started watching Asian dramas around 2018, with more and more new Asian dramas appearing on my Netflix feed.

One of my favourite dramas to date is the 2018 K-drama 'Pretty Noona buys me food/Something in the Rain' written by Kim Eun, and directed by An Pan Seok. Beautifully shot in the urban setting of Seoul, this melodrama follows the struggles of a 30-something woman, and her friends to lovers romance with a younger man. This felt distinctly different from other dramas I had seen, exploring more realistic and mature topics of social expectations in an Asian family dynamic, dealing with sexism and harassment in a male hierarchic workplace and amidst the struggles of the FL, a slow developing romance with a younger man that was told in a natural way.

There's also a few more biases I have when it comes to drama watching:

• As you can tell from the title, I love strong women-centric storylines. I appreciate authentic empowering characters that have agency in their driving their own paths without the typical "damsel in distress" tropes.
• I'm a big fan of the slower paced slice-of-life stories, especially when they're enriched by a wider endearing supporting cast.
• I love characters with flaws/struggles, even unlikable from the start and enjoy the journey of warming up to them as more of their personality and story is revealed.
• Isekai or reincarnation tropes are always fun to watch.
• Foodie dramas where stories are built around the joy of cooking and eating together.

Although I definitely enjoy the common drama tropes that come along with K-dramas and C-dramas, it's always refreshing to see a different approach, unexpected twists, or themes that aren't typically explored in the standard drama formula. At the end of the day, I want to be taken on a journey in a well-crafted fictitious world and enjoy my time watching well-written characters with good chemistry and meaningful stories. I hope you'll enjoy my takes on the latest in drama-land entertainment!