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Any drama where FL handles everything?

ree

I am sick and tired of dramas where the ML and other main characters decide and do seriously imp stuff without informing the FL because " of her own good, to protect her" yada yada. ppl who have been acquainted with FL for years trust the ml more than fl and tells him everything without mentioning anything to the fl.

i just wanna watch a drama where ml is the one whos kept aloof, and even if he isnt kept aloof, majority of the work is done by fl.

i hate it when the drama starts with portraying a efficient hardworking smartass sassy fl who can do anything, even strong physically and suddenly when situation arrives its the ml doing every thing and she's either crying or emotional or " omgg are they okay" bs.

is there any drama like that? japanese , korean, thai, hk, chinese , taiwanese, indonesian, anyyyy country will do. any language will do, any number of episodes will do, movie will also do.  just a drama where fl handles the majority. female based plot.  

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BL Addict

There is a drama named XX. There are some powerful female in that drama and it is available on Youtube. WWW is also a good recommendation for strong female leads. 

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kura2ninja

I swear that kind of drama is not that rare, but at this moment, the only thing that came to mind is Magerarenai Onna. It's not a romcom, though.

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AH

Female-centric dramas where the FL makes her own decisions, keeps secrets from the ML for a long time, and the FL's people don't start reporting to the ML and keeping the FL in the dark for her own good:

  • My Mister
  • Story of Yanxi Palace
  • Lost Love in Times - The FL has to keep secrets from the ML and bear extreme pain. Some of the FL's allies do help the ML in secret to regain his memories and take some of the FL's pain away, but for most of the drama it's the FL keeping secrets from the ML for his own good rather than the other way around.
  • The King's Affection - On the one occasion where the SML and ML try to take clandestine action without informing the FL, she finds out right away and joins them.
  • Search: WWW - Rather than keeping secrets from the ML, the ML just isn't directly involved in the FL's main conflict / plot line at all. 
  • The Secret Life of My Secretary
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Saygo
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mahiba

Summer's Desire she does it at least once and it creates a major problem

I Have a Lover She does it multiple times overtly or subtly

Flower of Evil She does it in a very excellent and BOSS way

The Master's Sun This might be one of the closer examples to when ML does it

All Out of Love She does it in a major and almost comical way. 

This trope is more often associated with the 2d FL who is then shown to be controlling and manipulative, which is the reason why the ML will never be with her in the first place. When FLs do i, it usually takes the form of self sacrifice. I tried to find examples where the FL doesn't sacrifice herself for the ML. 

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Hanah

Omg, what you mentioned is a huge PET PEEVE of mine. It has dampened my viewing experience of what were or could have been many a great (or greater) drama. It is so paternalistic and turns females into these very passive characters. I'm so sensitive to it that I personally believe two of the dramas recommended above actually fall into this trap: Flower of Evil (love the female lead and I think it's overall a good drama but I made a post complaining about this specifically) and Legend of Ming Lan (one of my faves but it does it in a completely unnecessary way toward the end). But that's just my opinion. Now for my recs:

  • Empress Ki: nobody hides or can hide anything from her, has some secrets she hides from others 
  • Angry Mom: pretty good role reversal, the teacher guy in the gentle one 
  • Mask: not really female lead but she keeps secrets from the ML 
  • The King's Daughter, Soo Baek Hyang: not female lead but she consistently holds up her own and is keeping a big secret from him 
  • Because of Meeting You: seems like an odd rec given the female lead is the very cliché always kind, too forgiving and lets herself by bullied by others type but she is her own person and she actually solves all of her own problems without the male lead. What he does is provide emotional support. It was so refreshing to see and much better than so many dramas with supposedly "strong" female leads. 
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ree
 Hanah:
Flower of Evil

this drama falls into the pet peeve again doesn't.  it does give us token scenes where the fl literally protects and saves the ml, multiple times. but then again it goes back to ml thinking and doing everything. but since i always view FOE as not a romance drama but a mystery crime thriller, and the protagonist being the ML and him solving his own problems , like the entire plot is about him, so i dont have a problem with this one. but otherwise, an entire plot starting for a girl, because of a girl, surrounding the girl, abou the girl and boom then the girls is the dumb passive fellow makes the entire show a downhill

otherwise youre right . also thank u for the reccs

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mahiba

Possible spoilers for Flower of Evil

 Hanah:
Flower of Evil (love the female lead and I think it's overall a good drama but I made a post complaining about this specifically)

Please can you share the post? I don't remind the ML (successfully) blindsiding the FL and I almost fell off my chair reading you haha. 


 Ichika Kaneki:
it does give us token scenes where the fl literally protects and saves the ml, multiple times

Really, you think it was "token scenes"? I personally thought the times she saved him are pretty relevant to the plot. I'm asking because I wonder what criteria you use to judge the "girl saving the boy" as advancing the plot.

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ree
 mahiba:
token scenes

i called token scenes because i did definitely not feel FOE to be a female based show. because it isn't. plus im not looking for a plot where there just needs to be a "girl saves guy" scene. i was asking about a plot where the FL is the main decision making body. FOE isn't what i was exactly  looking for until the mid last eps, where the ML was gonna "protect the fl" and planning with her colleague without telling her etc etc. but again i realized that the story is about him not her. either way i love FOE. Foe isn't a story about a police wife saving her husband from dying and jailtime . but about  an Alexithymic man who was never properly diagnosed,  who gave up his life for his sister, finally getting peace and justice. and also a story of a father who loves his kid. so yeah its okay if foe isnt a completely female dominated series, because its not about a woman its about a man. but your other reccs are great. also if i hadnt seen foe before i would have loved foe just as much

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mahiba
 Ichika Kaneki:
i called token scenes because i did definitely not feel FOE to be a female based show.


Oh ok, I see now what you mean... And I agree with everything you wrote. To me the show is about the misdiagnosed guy and how he found redemption through love, it's about nature vs nurture, and child abuse survivors (the ML, his sister and somewhat the journalist). 

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ree
 mahiba:


Oh ok, I see now what you mean... And I agree with everything you wrote. To me the show is about the misdiagnosed guy and how he found redemption through love, it's about nature vs nurture, and child abuse survivors (the ML, his sister and somewhat the journalist).  

yesss absolutely 

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honey_boo
  • Our Beloved Summer
  • True Beauty (not the main couple tho)
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Marpleme

Marvelous Women (c-drama historical) - it's all about various women menaging fine ( even better) without men, making their own standing and carving their own position  in a very patriarchal world. FL  is solely the economical  head of a family and makes her own, sometimes bold decisions. There is literally a scene when she forbids her husband from interfering with things "for her own good and protection" and she handles  pretty much all things by herself and well.

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Lily_B

Nothing But Thirty (c-drama), very good modern drama about three women and their partners - especially one of them is a true queen, so amazing.

Rattan (c-drama), modern drama with some fantasy about a woman with supernatural (alien) power and a mission, the ML just sort of tags along.

(And I agree about Story of Yanxi Palace!)

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