There’s a stereotype that says in Asian TV, the characters always like to cry and argue and whatnot. It’s totally true. I’ve seen many TVB dramas over the years and I’ve come up with a list of things that almost every single TVB drama must have.

Eavesdropping

Conversations between characters are seen by other characters and are taken completely out of context. When the conversation is taken out of context, people get angry and then arguments happen.

Arguments

After a misunderstanding, usually the angry character begins raging at somebody, not realizing that there was a misunderstanding in the first place. What’s worse, they don’t believe what other people tell them and thus, the argument continues.

Crying

Because the arguments got so intense, people start crying. Usually the characters who have felt wrongfully accused by the one is angry.

Love Triangles

This is yet another cause of crying in these dramas. In every show, there are always at least 2 girls who like the same guy. The most random one was when a guy dated his cousin (who has later revealed to have no blood relation), but his adopted sister secretly liked him too.

Although, in a way, I’m kind of saying, “Every action movie has explosions”, and yes it’s true that every story has a conflict involved, but the plot devices TVB uses are the same over and over. I’d like to see a show where eavesdropping or love triangles don’t happen or something. Despite this however, there are some shows that are still very amazing to watch. The amazingness comes from the dialogue people have during the arguments. For example, in Heart of Greed and Moonlight Resonance, the arguments people made were logical and well thought out. It didn’t feel like they were arguing for the sake of arguing.