How To Make a Good Weepy Korean Drama Serial (The Basic Ingredients)

1. Memory Loss (due to car accident) and/or Being Separated for Several Years

Either the male Lead or the female Lead must lose his/her memory. And usually, this memory loss is brought on by the impact of running into the pathway of a speeding car. After which, this person will seem to vanish from the face of the earth and be presumed to be either missing or dead... only to appear again several years later with a different identity. This is usually part of the conniving scheme of the evil stepmother/revenge-seeking mother/evil somebody.

2. Terminal Disease

No decent, self-respecting weepy Korean drama serial can do without either the male or female lead contracting a terminal disease. This is usually brain cancer or eye cancer or some kind of malignant tumour in the body (usually head area). The idea of love triumphing even death is very touching.