Divorced protagonist and her mother; two survivors of war-based kidnapping; two conductors of grey-business threatening each other; three young women figuring out how to survive in the big city... there's numerous examples of women-only conversations not talking about men.

Delightfully, there's also the male protagonist totally respecting his objet d'amour's mindset about (re)marriage and career.

It prompts the question of: If Korean culture is one of the worst patriarchal messes to the point of the women collectively pulling a Lysistrata, is the creative community pushing back in their own way?

Or are letting female characters be fully independent and successful only in entertainments supposed to be some kind of sop from the men in general charge? Something to keep them "satisfied"?

I confess my sampling is horribly biased. For one, it's just stuff Netflix (a/k/a major Korean producer/distributor) and Amazon Prime (does a lot of producing also) carry. Also, the summaries and thumbnails have to catch my attention. It'd be interesting to see some more educated commentary or analysis.

I heard an article about K-Dramas on BBC World Service this morning -BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, K-drama craze