In honor of Trope Tuesday, let's talk about The Prosecutor's Proposal. I was late to the game on this one, having only binged it a few days ago. But I'm now impatiently waiting for the finale (words I do not say lightly).
A special thanks to all of the amazing gif makers who have been working on this show.
I'm greatly enjoying this search for truth, and I'm enamored with Taeseon's tsundere bite...
And the guileless nature of Lee Chaeha.
But beyond the endearing characters, this show has hit a lot of nostalgic buttons for me. Because while it thankfully has all of the trappings and tropes of a modern BL...
This show is using a ton of long-standing kdrama tropes. Scenes like this one....
Are immediately causing all kinds of older scenes, like this one from Coffee Prince, to flood in to my brain.
It feels like seeing old friends. (Note: Gifs from older shows I made myself.)
Even the setup of the relationship is nostalgic: Your parent (might have) killed my parent!
Like other fated childhood connections, it's a classic kdrama setup. When I realized that's where this story was going, I named three older shows with that setup before I blinked. And that list only got longer the more I thought about it...especially if you expand it to family members instead of just parents.
It's a delicious setup, because the fact that the leads share this tragic historical connection always causes angst. Tragedies involving family, particularly parents, carry heavy cultural weight.
The angst monster in me howled with delight when this popped up.
If their relationship wasn't always known to one (or both) of the leads, "the reveal" is a big deal, and typically a stumbling block for the relationship. Example - this scene from He Is Psychometric.
They've been investigating the truth about the fire that killed his parents, and he just found out her dad was the one arrested for it. He's incredibly upset and leaves her behind. Note - she insists he was framed, and...she became a cop. Sound somewhat familiar?
So while I saw some posts surprised that Lee Chaeha had such a strong reaction to the reveal, I was gleefully anticipating it.
And it hit me just right...like taking a sip from a perfectly brewed cup of tea. (Ehh...ok, I wouldn't have minded if we had a few more episodes with these characters to build even more depth, but the flavor was good.)
Even the hand gesture Taeseon used in this moment...
Is a hallmark of protecting your partner from things that will hurt them.
That gif is from the het show Come and Hug Me where his father DID brutally murder her parents and tried to kill her too. And maybe you guessed it...but he became a cop.
Long story short - we may often make fun of tropes and cliches, but they exist for a reason. When they are used well? We get to sit down and enjoy a really good show.
Keeping my fingers crossed for a strong finale week.
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