Five Things That Always Happen In K-dramas—Except When They Don't

K-dramas seems to have their own set of rules. You can expect plots to feature love triangles and revenge, an intense build-up to the first kiss, wrists grabs and comas. But rules are made to be broken and occasionally k-dramas can surprise you.

Here are five k-drama rules that never get broken-except when they do.

Plenty of spoilers ahead, so consider yourself warned.

1.     The hero or main character never dies. This is usually true, unless the drama starts with the premise that the character only has a short time to live. No matter how many times Joo Jin Mo was run through with a sword in "Empress Ki," he bounced back to life. Bullet wounds are nothing and characters wake up from decades-long comas with their make-up intact. Except that there are a few exceptions. At the end of "Padam, Padam," Jung Woo Sung does not make it. At the end of "Shark," Kim Nam Gil pays for his stubborn desire for revenge. And what about that vague ending for "City Hunter?"

2.     The second lead never gets the girl. Mostly that's true but sometimes it's hard to tell just who the second lead is. For example, in "Discovery of Love," was Sung Joon the current boyfriend the second lead or was it Eric Moon, the former boyfriend. And the obvious second lead gets the girl in "Dream High," "Prosecutor Princess" and "Baker King Kim Tak Goo."

3.     The people in love suspect they might be brother and sister but turn out not to be related. This is a common way to make two people worry about their relationship. But in a few cases, they do turn out to be related. Jang Geun Suk and Yoona want to date but find out their parents want to marry. That would make them stepsiblings, still a taboo. And in "Kill Me, Heal Me," it seems like Ji Sung and Hwang Jung Eum might have the same mom for a while. But when it turns out that her mom and his dad had kids with other people, the relationship gets murky. Her mom was technically married to his dad when she was born. So, that does kind of make them stepsiblings.

4.     The poor girl is suspected of being after a man for his money but it turns out money doesn't matter to her. That's usually the case. For example, in 'Heard It Through The Grapevine," Lee Joon's parents think Go Ah Seung was having his child because she wanted to marry up, but they realize she is not like that. However, in "Cheomdamdong Alice," Moon Geun Young does decide to marry for money. It's just lucky that the man she wants to marry for money is also the man she liked when she thought he was poor. Still.

5.      If a man feels something for a girl he will give her a piggyback ride if she's drunk, sick or has lost the heel on her shoe. While this still happens in dramas, it seems to be happening less. But the piggyback ride is not always reserved for macho men hoisting up slender girls. In "Coffee Prince" Yoon Eun Hye disguised as a boy gives Gong Yoo a piggyback ride. But to be fair, once he discovers she is a girl, he gives her one.