A Perfect Couple of Episodes, Until it Suddenly Undergoes a Genre Change

So we start watching a Romantic Comedy Korean Drama, and we all know now that after episode 12ish that all the sudden the crap will hit the fan and no matter how funny the drama started out, it will suddenly be a melodrama (just think how Emergency Couple was supposed to be a RomCom, but the whole second half was complete melodrama... which was actually so much better than the comedy was).  I don't know if this is a case of the dramas being "Anthony'd" (King of Dramas reference) or if the basic plot has to do that to complete itself, but seriously.  When I start a RomCom, I'm looking for comedy and romance, not melodrama.  Not sad stuff.  Funny.  With kissing and couple cuteness.  Fluffiness.

I don't know what it is about Chinese/Taiwanese Dramas, but they seem to take the genre changing even more extreme than is typical for Korean Dramas. It's not even funny how all romantic comedies start out cute and funny and by the second half of the show they are suddenly melodramatic.  I've come to just accept that fact, but recently, there has been too many over the top genre changes for my taste.
Fall in Love With Me is one of the worst cases.  I mean, what the heck!

That one was so bad that I almost stopped watching Love Myself or You when there was an almost to the point of break up fight because I couldn't handle that crap, but luckily it didn't last long and the show is still progressing smoothly.  Whew.

Stealing a kiss... yep it went right back to cute by the end of the next episode.  Whew.

Knock on wood that this show is almost over and that nothing ridiculous will happen after this (fingers crossed and holding my thumb).

Perfect Couple was supposed to be my cleanse the palette from dramatic crap as the beginning was so over the top, doesn't take itself serious at all, funny.

The main couple was hilarious and had great chemistry (way more than could be said for the FILWM couple).

From frenemies:

To best friends/real newly weds.

But then, on cue, just when they should be getting together for realsies, the melodramatic crap comes in.

Right as he was getting cute with his typical rich boy confession- you know, a little bit of consideration with a whole lot of money.

Then she pulls out the noble idiocy/hide the feelings because of fear and lack of trust.

No!

Looking the drama to see how many episodes it really was (it's 45 not 38) lead me to discover that it gets even worse until the point that the bad guys become completely over the top cray cray.  (Thanks to The Hungry Egghead for recaps and reviews)  Uh. Now I don't even know if I can finish it!  I've got like 25ish episodes of drama?  No!!!!!!!

I guess it's back to me finishing Love Family (until that one gets dramatic instead of just cheesy and slow moving) where at least I can watch Jack Li pulling all the faces he didn't make in Fall in Love With Me.

 
Seriously, what direction did he get that made Leo such a stone face?

I've seen Jack Li act awesome before (I heart him in Love Around), why did they have to make his character so passively lame in FILWM?


But with all these dramas pulling out the crazy genre changes, the show that has surprised me the most, in the fact that it never even had the genre change typical of a Kdrama RomCom, is Marriage, Not Dating.

I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that I didn't start this one until it was almost over.  I'm sad that I didn't get to enjoy this awesomeness earlier, but also happy that I didn't have to wait every week... I guess that all depends on if you like or hate marathoning a show, basically finishing it in one weekend.

This one was refreshingly different.  It stayed a RomCom the entire time.

What's better than contract marriage/dating?  Contract dating for the purpose of getting your mother to reject your girlfriend and let you never get married.  Seriously funny times.  A battle of wills between the mom and main couple.

 
Even when things got a little more serious, it managed to stay light and fun.  That's awesome.

It's got a lot of character development, without characters completely changing.  Yes, the peeps grow up, but they are still true to themselves.

Also the main couple has to be one of the cutest I have seen in a long while, since most of them never get time just to act like a normal cute couple since the crap hits the fan right at the same time that they get together.

So it is possible!  You don't have to change genres to get the story told.  I mean a little melo is ok, but still let us feel the happy vibes.  Can't the main couple be happy for more than one episode?  We just want them to be together!  That's all we want!  Does it have to be so painful in the process?