Summary
- K-dramas have gone global thanks to streaming services, offering a range of genres beyond just dramas.
- Unique storylines like workplace rom-coms and fantasy elements are what set K-dramas apart.
- Popular shows like Squid Game and unique entries like Itaewon Class have captured international audiences.
25 years ago, K-dramas wouldn’t be seen by many international audiences, but South Korean television has gone international in a big way thanks to streaming services, and some of the best K-dramas of all time can be viewed all over the world. Just because a series is a K-drama doesn’t mean the show features solely dramatic storylines. The classification is given to series produced in South Korea, but they can run the gamut of genres from romantic comedy to thriller to fantasy, making for some drastically different content.
K-dramas are a huge trend that isn’t stopping anytime soon and for good reason. K-dramas have taken over streaming platforms like Netflix thanks to the popularity of shows like Squid Game, and fans are hooked, binging series after series. Some shows take romance and comedy to a new level that isn’t seen on American television, combining soapier aspects with slice-of-life story ideas. On the flip side, there are unique thrillers that have viewers’ hearts racing with each passing episode. The best K-dramas include a huge variety of television.
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Forecasting Love And Weather (2022)
Human Relationships Are Compared To The Weather
Rom-coms are one of the most prevalent genres among K-dramas. This newer entry into the genre takes a unique approach to telling its story. It’s a workplace drama to an extent as it surrounds those who work for the National Weather Service of South Korea. It uses the weather conditions they experience and forecast as a metaphor for changing relationships though, which makes for a great way for the audience to connect the workplace themes in the episodes to the relationship drama playing out as well.
The series stars K-drama veterans Song Kang and Park Min-young as colleagues who fall for one another right after one of them gets promoted to be the boss in their division. Their characters also share a unique history in that their exes cheated on them and married one another – and both work in the same building. The drama and the weather themes make for a unique entry into the genre.
One Spring Night (2019)
A Single Dad Finds Love
Plenty of K-Dramas feature storylines involving single moms, or more specifically, widowed moms. There is a stigma attached to being a single mom in South Korea that the country has been struggling to get past. One Spring Night, instead, focuses on a single dad and works to destigmatize some of the assumptions about single parents.
Ji-ho (Jung Hae-in) isn’t just a single dad. He’s also a pharmacist with supportive parents and often catches the attention of women until they realize he already has a child. When he and Jung-in (Han Ji-min) cross paths, there’s chemistry between them that only grows. Jung-in has struggled with her independence and the way others see her. Her father has often viewed her as someone he needs to marry off, and Ji-ho treats her like her own person, which she finds refreshing.
The show does a great job of deconstructing aspects of Korean culture that might feel outdated to a modern audience while giving a compelling love story.
It’s Okay, That’s Love (2014)
A Love Story Brings Mental Health Awareness
It’s Okay, That’s Love is the rare K-Drama that manages to combine a love story with mental health awareness. The show is known for its steamy romance between its main characters, but it also provides a window into the life of someone who has obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Jae-Yol is a famous writer who is still trying to cope with traumas from his childhood. With OCD and secrets that he’s been keeping, many of the decisions he makes as an adult are informed by things that happened to him as a child. Psychiatrist Hae-soo falls for him, but the two find that their troubles might be more serious than they initially believed. Their romance also connects to the past of other characters, creating for tightly woven narrative that provides fresh takes on old K-drama tropes.
Happiness (2021)
A Fake Relationship Becomes Real As Zombies Emerge
In Happiness, Sae-bom (Han Hyo-joo) is a police officer who can’t afford her own home, despite working of an elite law enforcement unit. She and her childhood friend Yi-hyun (Park Hyung-sik) decide to pool their resources and engage in a contract marriage. They can marry, without anyone knowing there isn’t any romance between them (so they say) and share the cost of a new apartment. Their new arrangement becomes dangerous, however, when an infection causes residents of their new building to drink the blood of other humans.
Sae-bom and Yi-hyun are determined to protect one another, but the residents in their building prove to be formidable threats to their safety. The more they have to work for survival, the more their feelings grow for one another. A zombie outbreak combined with a marriage of convenience might not sound like a fusion that would work, but Happiness is great at balancing the two ideas to create a unique K-Drama.
Go Back Couple (2017)
A Married Couple Goes Back In Time
So many K-Dramas that feature romance focus on two people first meeting and falling in love. They don’t typically take a couple having problems in their relationship and work backward. That is exactly what Go Back Couple does though, making for an unusual way to showcase relationship conflict and growth.
Jin-joo (Jang Na-ra) and Ban-do (Son Ho-joon) are married, exhausted, and struggling under their financial burdens. When Jin-joo decides she wants a divorce, her husband doesn’t disagree with her. Neither of them really want to divorce one another, but they’re so frustrated by their circumstances, that they leap to that idea, and then, their egos prevent them from telling one another it’s not what they want.
The day after they decide to divorce, they wake up 20 years earlier in their respective bedrooms as college students, allowing them to see just how their lives have changed, but also, whether their memories have been accurate. The show doesn’t just follow a love story backward but also examines the idea that when someone looks back fondly on their past, maybe they’re looking through rose-colored glasses.
The Uncanny Counter (2020)
Noodle Shop Employees Investigate The Supernatural
K-dramas might be known by modern audiences for their rom-coms, but there’s a wealth of different genres that should be explored. One of those is science fiction. The Uncanny Counter is like if Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Warehouse 13 were combined. There’s the hunting of supernatural entities like Buffy, but the containing of entities that could harm people, like Warehouse 13.
The main characters of the series are “counters” who all have special abilities and use them to hunt demons. Specifically, they hunt evil spirits who have escaped the afterlife. By day, however, they keep normal lives and work at a noodle shop for cover. The series centers on their newest recruit, a high school student, though it’s very much an ensemble show. Actress Yeom Hye-ran won a Best Supporting Actress award from the Baeksang Arts Awards for her work in the show.
Reply 1988 (2015)
A Group Of Friends Evolves
There are actually multiple Reply shows in South Korea, each centered on different characters in a different year, playing into the nostalgia TV audiences have for the past, no matter which country the series is rooted in. Reply 1988, however, has proven the most popular of the bunch with one-fifth of the South Korean population tuning in to watch the season finale live.
It follows a group of five friends and their families in 1988 in a slice-of-life style drama. Those who appreciate series like The Wonder Years, which fuse family dynamics with a coming-of-age story will enjoy it. The five friends, one of whom is female, are the true focal point of the series, but their relationships with their family play a role. One of the mysteries teased throughout the show is just which of her four friends the one teenage girl in the group grows up to marry, giving the show a slightly soapy mystery as well.
An Attorney Proves Herself To Her Colleagues
Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a K-drama in the vein of The Good Doctor. While the series is a legal procedural, it’s also about the titular character facing challenges from other characters and the circumstances of their work because they are on the Autism spectrum. It’s become the eighth-highest-rated drama in Korean television history as live audiences tuned in during its run, prompting it to appear on streaming all over the world.
While the titular character has trouble in social situations, she has a photographic memory and a genuine interest in the law, making her a great addition to any law firm. When employers learn about her autism, however, they hesitate to give her a chance. The series has been nominated for a slew of television awards in South Korea and across Asia as a whole. it also earned a 2023 nomination for Best Foreign Language Series at the US Critics Choice Awards.
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo (2016)
A Coming-Of-Age Rom-Com
This drama is not only a coming-of-age story, but also blends rom-com elements with its sports story, and is inspired by the real life of Olympic gold medalist Jang Mi-ran. The series follows the titular character as she follows her dreams of becoming a collegiate athlete, specifically in the realm of weightlifting. As she does, she falls for her best friend’s older brother, but her best friend, who is helping her achieve her dreams, falls for her.
Unlike many of the best K-dramas, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo didn’t see a huge live viewership number. Instead, interest spread, especially among younger audiences, by word of mouth, and it earned the status of a cult hit. That cult status is what has helped it land with international audiences, as did its handful of MBC Drama Awards.
Actress Lee Sung-Kyung won the Excellence Award at the 35th MBC Drama Awards.
Itaewon Class (2020)
A Realistic Take On Revenge
Itaewon Class gained mass success when it became available on Netflix in 2020. The show had a well-known cast with the lead played by famous actor, Park Seo-joon.
The struggles of his past are still prevalent as he tries to reach success in an industry run by food conglomerates.
The show follows Park’s character, Park Sae-ro-yi as he tries to create a new life after imprisonment. Park follows in his father’s footsteps and opens up a bar-restaurant in Itaewon. The struggles of his past are still prevalent as he tries to achieve success in an industry run by food conglomerates, but doesn’t quite have a head for business. The show has plenty of drama, emotion, and even some love.
Where the show has earned the most praise, however, is in being realistic in its portrayals of some of the darker sides of humanity. That includes prejudices against convicted criminals, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those from outside nations.
Nobody Knows (2020)
A Teacher And Detective Investigate A Cold Case
For any crime drama fans, Nobody Knows is the perfect drama to binge-watch. Cha Young-Jin (Kim Seo-Hyung) is a detective who is haunted by the murder of her friend when they were just teenagers. Still guilt-ridden, she vows to find the serial killer who took her friend’s life. Years later, she hasn’t given up on her investigation. A new murder comes to light and this time Cha Young-Jin won’t let the killer get away and will avenge her friend.
It also takes an interesting route in having the detective team up with a local teacher in order to protect vulnerable students. The show goes on an intense ride with a tormented detective looking to end an unsolvable case. While there have been many K-dramas inspired by webtoons over the years, Nobody Knows is actually one of the few to have a prequel webtoon instead depicting why the main character became a detective in the first place.
My Country: The New Age (2019)
Korea’s Transitional Period Is Depicted
This 2019 historical drama features an intense and emotional storyline set at the end of the Goryeo period. The show was a limited series that only ran for one season and later became available on Netflix. The show follows two best friends who grow apart as they have different opinions on the direction the country should go in. Intermixed are tales of battle, romance, and trying to find a way to protect the people they care about. Change is imminent as the country starts the transition into a new dynasty.
What’s interesting is that for K-dramas with a historical bent, the focus is more often on the Joseon dynasty, so taking a look into the end of the period that preceded it allows for a unique peek into Korean history. The costumes and sets are truly immersive, bringing the audience right in.
Descendants of the Sun (2016)
A Love Story Plays Out In The Middle Of War
War dramas can be hit or miss when they’re crafted as a television series. Audiences don’t always have the stamina to watch multiple episodes the way they could watch a single movie. Audiences didn’t run out of steam when Descendants of the Sun aired in 2016 in Korea though with nearly half of the country tuning into the show’s most-watched episodes.
A doctor and a special forces soldier meet and fall in love before going their separate ways, and then finding themselves reunited again in the field. They gain an appreciation for one another’s work and the difficulties they face in their very different lives. Descendants of the Sun is such a popular Korean series that it now has Philippine and Vietnamese adaptations, and it’s won more than three dozen awards from various Asian TV and Media groups.
Coffee Prince (2007)
A Love Story Explores Gender Stereotypes
Fans of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night or Amanda Bynes’ She’s The Man will enjoy this iconic Korean series. Coffee Prince sees a young woman dress as a man in order to get work, only to fall for the head of a food empire who doesn’t initially realize she’s a woman. Her boss has led a privileged life and has had his role in the company handed to him and must learn the value of hard work. He also hires the new employee to pretend to be his boyfriend to escape his grandmother’s blind date set-ups.
The drama comes from, of course, the two developing feelings for one another, but the truth not coming out right away. After all, part of the premise for the employees at the coffee shop is that they’re attractive young men to attract women to spend more money on coffee. During its run, the show’s average ratings saw a quarter of the Korean population tuning in to watch live. It won several Korea Drama Awards and received a remake in the Philippines.
Vagabond (2019)
A Plane Crash Is Investigated
Vagabond is for fans who love a thriller of a storyline that leaves the audience gasping with every episode. The 2019 K-drama has danger, crime, and a bit of a love story to make things more interesting. A plane crash kills over 2112 civilians, including the nephew of the main character. Determined to uncover the truth, Cha Dal-gun (Lee Seung-gi) embarks on a dangerous investigation, one that will lead him down a dark road of corruption. A covert agent, Go Hae-ri (Bae Suzy) soon becomes part of his investigation.
The series was nominated for a whopping 19 SBS Drama Awards in 2019. It won four of them, including Top Excellence in a Miniseries for both lead actors, Lee Seung-go and Bae Suzy. They also jointly won the award for Best Couple thanks to their work in the series.
The Legend Of The Blue Sea (2016)
A Mermaid Story With A Twist
Just as Disney’s The Little Mermaid is inspired by a classic fairy tale, The Legend Of The Blue Sea is inspired by a similar Korean story. The original story is of a fisherman who catches a mermaid and then releases her back into the sea. The series, however, sees a mermaid searching for a con artist across the ocean. It is a love story, but the fantasy element gives it a unique twist.
In a great twist on the tale, the story actually addresses themes of reincarnation by telling the modern story alongside their previous incarnations in an earlier era. The popularity of the series only increased when a director’s cut of the first two episodes was released with additional scenes. Nominated for several SBS Drama Awards, it won a handful, including Special Award – Actor In A Fantasy Drama for Sung Dong-il.
Arthdal Chronicles (2019)
A Fantasy Takes Inspiration From The First Korean Kingdom
For those K-drama fans who like a bit of fantasy in an imaginary world, then Arthdal Chronicles is a great choice. Many K-dramas that draw on fantasy root their stories in real history, but this series doesn’t, though it does take inspiration from the Korean story of Dangun, the founder of the first Korean Kingdom. Some critics compared the power struggles and fantasy elements in the series to Game of Thrones.
Taking place in a mythical land called Arth, a power struggle ensues in the magical city of Arthdal. The main characters each have their fates soon intertwined as the surrounding regions look to obtain power. The show holds fans’ intrigue as each character has their own hardships to overcome as the bigger picture comes to light. It initially received mixed reviews in the first season, but the story was so engaging that the second season helped to turn opinions around.
Boys Over Flowers (2009)
Romance Over A Class Divide
Boys Over Flowers might only be 25 episodes long, but it’s one of a wave of shows that helped to make K-dramas popular on an international scale. The series ushered in a crop of high school shows set in South Korea and began the streaming interest around the world as viewers sought ways to watch it.
The series follows a working-class teenage girl who finds her life intertwined with a group of wealthy boys at an elite school after she stops them from bullying someone and the local media dubs her a hero. When she’s awarded a scholarship to the same school, she finds herself targeted by bullies as well. As she stands up to them though, she finds herself, and one of the wealthiest and most popular of the boys starts to fall for her.
What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (2018)
Secretary Kim Tries To Quit Her Job
Park Min-young is something of a K-drama darling. She’s appeared in many of the best K-dramas of all time, including this one about falling in love with the boss. It’s in the vein of the rom-com Two Weeks Notice, but even better than the Sandra Bullock movie.
In the show, Secretary Kim becomes tired of the arrogant ways of her boss after dealing with him for years and decides to quit her job. Just as she decides to leave, however, her boss begins to see her in a new light and change his ways. Both characters also begin to open up to one another about past traumas and heal from them. It’s inspired by the novel and webtoon of the same name. A Philippine adaptation of the series is also planned.
Hotel Del Luna (2019)
Purgatory Is A Hotel
Hotel Del Luna mixes drama, love and the other side in a well-received show. The Guest House of the Moon isn’t a run-of-the-mill hotel. Instead, it’s a hotel for ghosts. The hotel caters to the dead who have unfinished business in the mortal world. The hotel’s owner, Jang Man-wol (Lee Ji-eun) committed a sin and was forced to run the hotel. Jang makes a deal with a father for his son’s life in return for a fortune. The young man will come to run the hotel.
The storyline of the show captured the imaginations of the audience and prompted attempts to get a US remake of the series into development. While that didn’t happen, a Korean stage show adaptation did. The original series also received a slew of nominations and wins at television awards shows across Korea.
