The Bingo Spaces, Explained

The spirit possession in The Uncanny Counters, O My Ghost!, or the gender- and body- (and time-!) swapping of Mr. Queen.

This is, surprisingly, one of the slowest tropes to play out, often going unexplained until a dozen episodes into the series. A shining example is the joint childhood abduction in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?, but often the relationship is incidental, like one character being the young child of the funeral director when another young character's parent died decades ago.

An unusually common plot point. Sometimes it's the start of the show, Ghost Doctor, and sometimes it's a past tragedy that still weighs on the present.

In Crazy Love,  Noh Go-Jin is bullied as a child because he ate onions all the time. All of Us Are Dead includes scenes of sexually predatory bullying.

A cat meow to match a glaring scowl, a wimpering dog to accentuate with a cowering submissive, or the thunder of a storm of increasing disapproval. The most extreme version of this occurs in Yumi's Cells (유미의 세포들), when Woong literally turns into a bear.

It's a Korean thing.

Son Na-Eun in Cinderella and the Four Knights sleeps out on the balcony.

School 2020 featured a character whose grandfather was losing his home. Let Me Be Your Knight depicts a woman who finds herself suddenly homeless after being scammed out of tens of thousands to buy her childhood home.

Too many to count. This is an easy point, but also should be a staple of any good K-drama.

Characters must remain rigidly vertical during the entire conversation, and points are only granted for emotionally charged conversations (resignations, break-ups,declarations of love). This is usually an easy point.

Often a significant plot point, from the early tragic childhood memory of losing a parent, or a character who can no longer afford to pay for her mother's ashes to remain on display.

Must be spoken out loud. Also works on dirt roads and village paths in Joseun period dramas!

Virtually always the result of over-drinking (and, I suppose, the hills of Seoul). I cannot even tell you the last time I saw a piggyback ride given on American television; this is classic Korean.

What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? has a scene with the two cutest kids on the planet, doing a great pinky swear silhouetted by the sun.

Too many to count. The noisy gurgle of a stomach virtually always means that the character is hungry, but it almost always happens just after the character lies about not being hungry.

Used in period pieces, fantasies, as well as modern-day rom-com K-dramas. Jirisan used them to ward off evil mountain spirits. Other shows have them tucked away in purses for protection, or sometimes they are simply the money-making con of a fake shaman selling solutions. Superstitious use of names written in red ink may also apply here by extension.

School 2020 had a character obsessed with Son Hyeung Min. Because of the time difference, EPL matches often feature in late-night or "cannot sleep" scenes.

Perhaps it has to do with the design of neighborhoods in Seoul, but every good K-drama ends up with one or more scenes on a playground, usually a swingset or see-saw. At night, when there are no children around.

Another easy point, except for period pieces. Happens occasionally in American sitcoms, but another staple of K-drama culture. Good luck!

Another staple of the romantic drama. The halting acts of retention ("Don't go!") combines with the lascivious physical contact. The music swells, and your heart stops. Or your eyes roll.

Accidental Wife, My Roommate is a Gumiho, Bite Sisters, Bloody Heart

When asking for advice, a character invents an obviously fictional tale of a "friend" with a problem, ideally involving "a friend of a friend's friend" to amusingly verbose effect.

Mr. Queen had some great puns and word play, and countless K-dramas play on the confusion of characters with very similar sounding names.