K-dramas In The Crosswalk

In a recent and a current k-drama, characters meet in the crosswalk and make a decision. It's a k-drama tradition. Crosswalks are a place where you have to make a decision quickly and making the wrong decision can be dangerous.

As the narrator said in “Fool’s Love,” when you stand at the crosswalk, you have to decide whether you will stay or go and get involved. Choi Woo Sik passed Uee on a crosswalk once but did not dare to say anything. The second time they are at a crosswalk, he decides to make a move and that’s eventually how their friendship becomes something more. He chases after her, trying to catch her before the light changes. It’s the first time he’s ever been so bold.

In “Falling for Innocence,” also known as “Falling for Soon Jung,” Jung Kyung Ho realizes that he loves Kim So Yeon in a crosswalk. Or at least his transplanted heart does. He saves her from oncoming traffic and has to kiss her amid the rush of cars.

It’s not the first time that k-dramas have used the crosswalk to symbolize the need to make a decision.

There was the double wrist grab scene in “The Heirs” where Lee Min Ho and Kim Woo Bin both lay claim to Park Shin Hye. She can't stop. She can't go. They want her to decide.

And “Pasta,” which stars Gong Hyo Jin and Lee Sun Kyun, starts and ends with a crosswalk scene. Aspiring chef Gong Hyo Jin is crossing the street when she bumps into someone, tearing the plastic bag that holds her new goldfish. The poor fish flounders on the sidewalk in danger of being crushed by traffic. Lee Sun Kyun stops to help her. He tells her to cup her hands and pours some of his bottled water into them so her fish have a safe method of transport. It’s one of the sweeter meet-cutes in k-drama. She does not know that Lee Sun Kyun will be the head chef at her restaurant. His dictatorial style will make her job unbearable.

A crosswalk is also the place where Lee Min Ho first feels stirrings of sympathy for Son Ye Jin in “Personal Taste.” She just found out her best friend was marrying her very recently ex-boyfriend and no one bothered to tell her until she walked into the wedding. She is dazed and devastated, dangerously absent-mindedly wandering through the crosswalk. Lee Min Ho, sitting in his car at the intersection, notices her and feels a pang of remorse.

Here’s the opening clip from “Pasta.”

Don’t try this at home. And certainly not in an intersection.