Sharbani writes:

Hi KFangurl

My observations have been (and this may be a generalisation based on the 80 or so K-dramas I have watched) that most male second leads are presented in a way that engenders sympathy. So, by the time the series have ended we are actually rooting for them to find love!! I know that there are exceptions but they are a rare breed in drama land.

In contrast, most female second leads are presented in a more negative light – possibly a throwover to the ‘vamps’ of earlier times!

I know going into the reasons for such portrayals needs a lot of study of human society and the status of women and have probably been the subject of a lot of research! But my question is simple – Are there any dramas that present the second female leads in a positive light?

Hope you are well and staying safe! Your blogs continue to be my first port of call before I pick a new drama to watch so thank you!

A sympathetic second female lead? Why hello, this is she. 🤩

Dear Sharbani,

Thanks for the interesting question!

You are right; second female leads are often portrayed as quite unappealing, with scheming, manipulation and clinginess being their traditional traits of choice.

I believe that this has a lot to do with the classic love square premise of many a classic kdrama, which then evolved into a bona fide trope / tradition in Dramaland.

Cases in point: 2002’s Winter Sonata, 2004’s Save Your Last Dance For Me, and even modern classics like 2007’s Goong.

My theory for why the chips fell this way in classic kdramas, is that because drama audiences were traditionally predominantly female, the male leads were likely designed to appeal to female viewers.

A cold jerk male lead + a sweet second lead = a little something for everyone? And because every story needs a villain for dramatic tension, I guess by process of elimination, that fell on the second female lead?

If you guys have a different theory, please share in the comments!

THE EMERGENCE OF THE NICER SECOND FEMALE LEAD

Yes, we exist!

These days, the clingy second female lead is still A Thing, but with Dramaland exploring more story types aside from the traditional love square, you’re much more likely to encounter a sympathetic second female lead these days.

Typically, we find the sympathetic second female lead in ensemble stories, or in stories where, instead of a love triangle or love square where the second female lead pines after the male lead, the second female lead has her own loveline with someone else, &/or has her own journey to walk.

Are there cases where it’s still a love triangle / love square sort of situation, and yet the second female lead is sympathetic? Yes. It’s not a common occurrence in Dramaland (yet?), but they’re out there, which is a positive sign, I think!

Below, I share a sampling of dramas with sympathetic second female leads. Of course, this list isn’t comprehensive, since there are soo~ many dramas out there.

If you guys have more titles to share, feel free to let us know in the comments, so that we can give these sympathetic second female leads more love! ❤️

A SAMPLING OF DRAMAS WITH SYMPATHETIC / LIKABLE SECOND FEMALE LEADS

18 Again

There’s a tiny hint of love triangle about this, but it’s mostly played for laughs. Lee Mi Do works out to be a likable second female lead who’s a supportive bestie to our female lead, AND has her own path to walk.

Review is here.

20th Century Boy And Girl

This is a bit of an ensemble, and our second female leads are besties to our female lead. Both second female leads have their own narrative arcs and lovelines, and there’s no fighting over the male lead in this one, whatsoever.

Flash Review is here.

A Love So Beautiful [China]

Our second female lead is besties with our female lead, and is quite lovely indeed. I loved their friendship, and really enjoyed seeing how these girls supported each other.

Flash Review is here.

A Piece Of Your Mind

I personally wouldn’t count Lee Ha Na a favorite character of mine, but it’s true that she’s a reasonably sympathetic second female lead with her own narrative arc, and that there’s no love triangle here that has her fighting over the male lead.

Review is here.

Age Of Youth

This is an ensemble sort of deal, so we have a whole bunch of second female leads, actually, heh. They’ve all got their own narrative arcs, and these girls support one another through them all. Very nice.

Flash Review is here.

Angry Mom

Because of the story’s premise, our second female lead is our female lead’s daughter, so there’s absolutely no fighting between the two female leads over a male lead. Instead, there are meaningful mother-daughter relationship moments, amid the admittedly wild hijinks.

Review is here.

Beauty Inside

Lee Da Hee starts out a bit prickly as our second female lead, but I do think that Show presents her in a more sympathetic light, as we get deeper into our story. Importantly, she’s our male lead’s sister, and therefore, there is zero chance of our female leads fighting for the attentions of our male lead.

Review is here.

Be Melodramatic

This is an ensemble sort of deal, so we have two second female leads, if we count Chun Woo Hee as our female lead. Both Jeon Yeo Bin and Han Ji Eun are likable and sympathetic, and I loved the friendship among our female leads very much.

Review is here.

Because This Is My First Life

Our second female leads are besties to our female lead, and each of them has her own narrative arc and relationship foibles, which means they don’t fight over our male lead, at all.

Review is here.

Bossam

Shin Dong Mi is a Court Lady who serves our female lead, the Princess, so she’s firmly on our female lead’s side, and very protective of her.

Update: Review is here!

Chuno [Slave Hunter]

Chuno is not a romance, but our characters do pine for the ones whom they love. Second female lead Seolhwa (Kim Ha Eun) pines for our male lead Jang Hyuk, but is so warm, spirited, and endearing, that she outshines our female lead, to my eyes. I love her.

Review is here, Open Threads are listed here.

Crash Landing On You

Our second female lead does start out having an interest in our male lead, but she is played sympathetically, and importantly, she develops her own loveline along the way, with our second male lead.

Review is here.

Descendants Of The Sun

I love Kim Ji Won in this. Her second female lead is feisty and sympathetic, and has her own loveline with our second male lead. I actually found the second leads’ loveline more interesting and compelling than the main loveline.

Review is here.

Father Is Strange

This is an ensemble sort of deal, so if Lee Yoo Ri is our (utterly fabulous) female lead, that would make Jung So Min our second female lead. Jung So Min’s character’s little loveline with Lee Joon’s character, was very cute, and definitely a personal highlight of my watch.

Flash Review is here.

Find Me In Your Memory

Kim Seul Gi’s character is our female lead’s sister, and has her own little loveline with Lee Jin Hyuk’s supporting character. They are very dorky and cute together, and brought extra sparks, laughs and feels to my watch that were very welcome indeed.

Review is here.

Find Yourself [China]

There is a love triangle sort of situation where our second female lead has feelings for our male lead, but Show treats her sympathetically, and her arc resolves with her not only achieving personal growth, but also, finding a loveline of her own.

Review is here.

Go Back Couple

Our second female lead is our female lead’s bestie, and has her own loveline with our second male lead.

I found their loveline a little too cheesy for my taste, but it’s true that this second female lead is sympathetic, and it’s also true that Go Back Couple is a great little show that you should watch, if you haven’t yet.

Flash Review is here.

Goblin

Admittedly, I never finished Goblin, but I do know enough to vouch for the fact that our second female lead is sympathetically portrayed, and that there’s no love triangle situation where she’s involved in fighting for the male lead’s affections.

Healer

Ahjumma is absolutely not your typical second female lead, and it’s part of the reason I love her so much. Yes, she has a deep, personal connection with our male lead, but it’s not a romantic connection, and it does not interfere with the main loveline in the least.

Review is here.

Hello, Me!

There’s absolutely no love square or love triangle in this story, and even more interestingly, our second female lead is the younger self, of our female lead. I’m still watching this one as I type this, but I’m really enjoying it.

It’s warm and fun, and deserves more love than it gets.

Update: Review is here.

Her Private Life

Our second female lead is the bestie of our female lead, and fun and feisty enough on her own, that Show doesn’t need to make her vie for our male lead’s attentions, in order to make her more interesting.

Also, I just love Park Jin Joo. 😍

Review is here.

Hi Bye, Mama!

This is a very special set-up, where our female lead is a ghost, and our second female lead is the wife of our ghost’s husband.

Both women are portrayed very sympathetically, and I love how, even though there’s sort of a love triangle situation where they both love the same man, they ultimately work together towards the same goals, for love. ❤️

Review is here.

Hospital Playlist

This is an ensemble sort of deal, so there’s no love triangle sort of thing going on in our drama world. Aside from our female lead Jeon Mi Do, Shin Hyun Bin and Ahn Eun Jin fulfill second female lead type roles, and I find both very sympathetically portrayed. It’s all very heartwarming and cozy.

Review is here.

I’m Not A Robot

It can be argued that Chae Soo Bin is her own second female lead in this, since she plays both human and robot, but I thought I’d shine the spotlight on Park Se Wan, who plays Pi, a scientist on the team, who’s got her own crush on our second male lead.

She’s sympathetically portrayed, and not interested in our male lead whatsoever, which I thought was perfect for this list.

Flash Review is here.

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay

This is an interesting situation, where we do have a love triangle situation, and yet our second female lead is portrayed sympathetically. Instead, it’s our female lead who’s given the prickly, more manipulative personality.

Review is here.

Love is Sweet [China]

This isn’t a love triangle situation, and our second female lead has no interest in our male lead. Instead, she’s besties with our female lead, and has her own loveline.

Flash Review is here.

Modern Girl [Drama Special]

Our second female lead is the maid of our female lead, and while there is a bit of a love triangle going on, our second female lead is portrayed sympathetically.

Flash Review is here.

Moonlight Drawn By Clouds [Love in the Moonlight]

Our second female lead does have an obligatory interest in our Crown Prince, but she is portrayed sympathetically. I also thought it’s important to mention that our second female lead doesn’t feature that much in the overall scheme of things.

Review is here.

My Roommate is a Gumiho

Our second female lead is not only NOT romantically interested in our male lead, she even ends up supporting our OTP, by nudging their romance along. Kang Han Na is awesome in this.

Review is here.

My Unfamiliar Family

This is an ensemble sort of deal, so if Choo Ja Hyun is our female lead, that would make Han Ye Ri our second female lead (or vice versa; it’s hard to say, really). Both characters have their own narrative arcs, and there is absolutely no love triangle business between our female leads.

Review is here.

Navillera

There’s no typical romance-centric set-up in this drama world, so it’s hard to say who’s our female lead. I feel like both Na Moon Hee’s and Hong Seung Hee’s roles qualify as second female leads, but that would mean there is no female lead.

Ha. That sounds confusing. But that’s only because our main relationship is between our two male leads, and both female characters are important supporting characters.

I’ll just say that both women are ultimately portrayed sympathetically, even though Na Moon Hee’s character gets a bit of a rough start.

Review is here.

Oh Hae Young Again [Another Oh Hae Young]

Jun Hye Bin plays the Other Hae Young to Seo Hyun Jin’s Hae Young, and both women are flawed characters who chart important growth journeys.

The Other Hae Young has a bit of a rocky start, but ultimately lands as a likable character too. I love that both Hae Youngs become friends.

Review is here.

One More Happy Ending

Our second female leads are good friends of our female lead, and have their own narrative arcs, so there’s no need for a clingy, scheming second female lead here.

Flash Review is here.

One Spring Night

All our supporting female characters kinda-sorta feel like second female leads in this story world. Most notably, our female lead has two sisters, and they each have their own stories and growth trajectories.

Review is here.

One Warm Word

Our story world is full of difficult emotions because we’re dealing with the topic of adultery and betrayal, but there’s also a lot of warmth and comfort to be had, on the journey. I’d say that our second female lead is treated with a sympathetic lens, as are our other key characters.

A really solid show, that’s worth a look.

Review is here.

Racket Boys

Another ensemble sort of deal, there’s no true second female lead in our story world, though I’d say the closest would be Lee Ji Won as Han Sol. Han Sol’s likable and endearing, and definitely qualifies as a sympathetic second female lead.

Update: Review is here!

Reply 1988

I’d say that the closest to a second female lead in this ensemble drama world, would be Ryoo Hye Young as Bo Ra. Bo Ra starts out rather prickly, but she is absolutely portrayed sympathetically, and we grow to understand and empathize with her, as we get deeper into our story.

Review is here.

Reply 1994

Min Do Hee’s character, Yoon Jin, is the closest to a second female lead in this ensemble world. As with all the Reply dramas, she’s warm, human and relatable too.

Review is here.

Reply 1997

Shin So Yul’s character Yoo Jung is our female lead’s best friend, and I loved how strong their friendship turned out to be. Unquestionably a sympathetic second female lead.

Review is here.

Romance Is A Bonus Book

This is a pretty special case of our second female lead absolutely having a crush on our male lead, and trying to gain his affections, and yet, being treated with such a sympathetic touch, by writer-nim.

Review is here.

Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung

I’ve got this show on the list, because even though Park Ji Hyun’s character is portrayed as rather distant and aloof, she is ultimately treated with a sympathetic lens. Also, she has her own narrative arc, and isn’t at all interested in our male lead.

Flash Review is here.

Sassy Go Go [Cheer Up]

I’ve got Sassy Go Go on this list, because Chae Soo Bin manages to make her character land as interesting and sympathetic, even though her character’s not very nice, on paper. Quite a remarkable feat by Chae Soo Bin, I think!

Review is here.

Scripting Your Destiny

The closest we have to a second female lead in this little drama, is Kal So Won as Samshin. I thought her little crush (which is not much related to our main story at all) was very cute.

Review is here.

Search: WWW

If Im Soo Jung is our female lead, then both Lee Da Hee and Jeon Hye Jin are our second female leads. Both of their characters start out rather prickly, but by the end of the show, I loved all three of our female leads, which is why this show is on the list.

Review is here.

She Would Never Know

This is a pretty interesting case, in that Lee Joo Bin’s second female lead definitely has an interest in our second male lead, and acts in manipulative ways because of it.

However, Show manages to make her sympathetic in a way that feels believable and organic in the end, and I actually grew a little fond of her, even.

A lovely show that I wish more people would try.

Review is here.

Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms [China]

It’s not a love triangle situation in Peaches, and Dilraba Dilmurat’s second female lead Feng Jiu has her own love interest, which is why Show is on this list.

Flash Review is here.

Terius Behind Me

Im Se Mi’s second female lead definitely has some feelings for our male lead So Ji Sub (who can blame her, though?). Importantly, her character is written as decent and not the shady manipulative sort, which is why this show is on the list.

Flash Review is here.

The Devil Judge

I’m still watching this one, so jury’s still out on how it all comes together, but I’ve seen enough to feel confident saying that Park Gyu Young’s second female lead is something of a moral compass in this dark and oily drama world. You could definitely say that she’s portrayed sympathetically.

Review is here.

The First Half Of My Life [China]

I luff-luff-LUFF Yuan Quan’s second female lead character. She’s loyal, caring, and thoughtful; everything you’d want in a best friend. ❤️

Flash Review is here.

The Secret Life Of My Secretary

Ahhh. Veronica Park is such an iconic second female lead that she deserves her own show. She’s confident, bold and feisty, and completely entertaining, at the same time. One of my favorite second female leads, that I’ve come across.

Review is here.

Two Weeks

This is an action-thriller sort of set-up, and our second female lead is the mother of our male lead’s daughter. This is not a romance story, and the love that’s featured, is mostly familial love.

I thought our second female lead was very sympathetically portrayed, which is why this show is on the list.

Review is here.

We Married as a Job [Japan]

This story is not a love triangle or love square, and our second female lead is a very pleasant lady who’s got her own maybe-loveline, completely separate from the OTP loveline.

Flash Review is here.

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

Even though our second female lead did have some romantic involvement with our male lead, Show gives her a meaningful personal arc, where her growth journey is around bettering her physical and mental health, rather than rekindling a romantic relationship with the male lead.

I found her very sympathetic, which is why this show is on the list.

Review is here.

IN CLOSING

I hope this gives you more dramas to add to your list, for when you’re looking to avoid the trope of the unpleasant second female lead!

Like I said earlier, if you guys have other titles to add, please share in the comments!

Thanks, you guys.

Smooches. ❤️

~kfangurl

..And now let’s all live happily ever after~ ❤️

POST-SCRIPT:

1. If you feel that I missed anything, or if you have your own insights that you’d like to share with the rest of us, do tell us about it in the comments!

2. Do you have a question of your own? Drop me a comment here or on the Dear kfangurl page, or send me an email!