A Beginner's Guide to K-dramas

What are my credentials to make such a guide? As if I need them for this blog I run for my friends to read (against their will). Before my first post on K-Dramas in October 2024, I had seen five K-Dramas and now I have seen 33. I literally paid for a separate K- Drama streaming platform cries. Safe to say, I have put in the work and now, like all good prophets, I want to preach the good word. 

Let’s dive in! 

Rules of the K-Drama 

Firstly, and most importantly, leave your cynicism and logic out the door. You can learn so much about a culture by the art they create: their history, their rituals and customs, class systems, the issues that plague their society. The rules below are about TV shows because I can’t claim to know another culture in detail purely from consuming hours and hours and hours (no exaggeration) of its media but I feel as though I’ve been given a brief, delightful glimpse. I say all of the below with love and admiration. 

1. There will be a love triangle, perhaps multiple and results may vary on whether you’re actually torn

2. The love interests WILL have known each other in a past life: sometimes a literal past life (reincarnation features often), they were childhood friends/lovers. My favourite guessing game to play is figuring out how the two leads are connected in the past and I’ve not been able to predict it once! God bless the writers of these shows for always coming up with new and exciting ways to link our protagonists. Recent incredible examples include: 

   1. They were both kidnapped by the same lady and held for exactly one night together when they were children but no one realised the female protagonist was missing over that one night so they didn’t believe her when she brought it up !! 

   2. The female protagonist’s father died in a fire, saving the male protagonist’s life…when they were children

   3. The male protagonist is raised by a group of three women after his mother died, and it turns out one of the three women who raised him is the biological mother of his love interest who abandoned her as a newborn on Christmas Eve! 

3. Physical contact is a BIG DEAL - Like Darcy grabbing Lizzie’s hand to help her into the carriage in “Pride & Prejudice” 2005 type of big deal. A hug is basically a french kiss and a kiss? Lord, when I saw my first sex scene in a K Drama I almost had to turn away, I was so shocked. I am a huge supporter of exploring different forms of intimacy and romance. These shows are for those whose love language is acts of service because it’s all about holding up an umbrella for our girls when they forget to bring one, covering their eyes if they fall asleep in the sun, cooking them meals, and washing their hair when they’re in hospital after being attacked by their stalker. You know, the basics! 

4. There will be some of the most obvious product placement you’ve ever seen but what fun to be introduced to local brands and customs ! I am particularly worried about the caffeine intake of the South Korean population if these shows are to be taken as fact (which obviously I have?)

5. An insane amount of soju or beer will be consumed (often and by multiple different groups). Someone will get extremely drunk to the point where they either make a confession or have to be carried home or sleep somewhere they’re not supposed to. Sometimes all three. It’s a very reliable plot device. 

6. Parents will make side-dishes and hand them out to literally anyone - their kids, their kids’ love interests, friends, colleagues, people they met once. Everyone loves to cook for each other and that’s so beautiful

7. There is a heavy reliance on people finding out information because they overhear other people. I stan a society built on a foundation of gossip but many shows also do deal with the devastating fault out that the rumour mill can have on one’s life (both IRL and online)

8. Single parenthood (whether by death, divorce or worse, being unmarried !!!) is enough of a cultural stigma that it’s a legitimate point of conflict in multiple shows

You must come to a K-Drama with an open heart and allow yourself to be swept up in all of it. If you do, you’ll be handsomely rewarded by pure escapism. Now, here are some recommendations to get you started. I’ve tried to include some 45-60 minute shows for those who are scared of the ones that are over an hour but hopefully it’s a stepping stone to something greater. 

I’ve also avoided shows that I’ve raved about before but my favourite continues to be “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” although a recent release, “When Life Gives You Tangerines”, has the power to overtake, more on this later.  

All shows can be found on Netflix, of course. 

Short and sweet

If 16 episodes, an hour and a half long each, feels like too much then these are some shorter ones that still capture that unique K-drama spark. Wonderful to dip your toe into. These are also some of the steamier shows, if that interests you at all. 

• Doona - a K-POP idol faces a snag in her career and ends up living with a group of students. Our idol is a fantastic protagonist who doesn’t always make the healthiest choices but is deeply compelling. 

• Love to Hate You - a fake-romance, enemies-to-lovers show about a famous actor who needs to pretend to date his lawyer/stunt coach. A little bit on the zany side but incredible chemistry and another amazing female lead who is a cool girl written for the girlies

• Mr. Plankton - two exes are forced together when one of them “kidnaps” the other on their wedding day. The premise is wild but again we accept and allow ourselves to be transported

Silly but with heart

Whether it’s silly in premise and/or includes some of the more classic K-Drama sound effects and tropes, a few convoluted plot-lines and somewhat expositional dialogue. The three described here, however, elevate the form, are not reliant on these fixtures and have a good balance of ridiculous fun with believable conflicts and stakes

• King the Land - Heir to a hotel conglomerate clashes with his hotel’s star employee who is easy breezy while he’s all dark and moody. Romance ensues! These protagonists have an incredibly mature relationship

• Crash Course in Romance - Single mother clashes with her daugther’s celebrity math tutor because she’s all light and breezy and he’s all dark and moody. Romance ensues, again!

• Crash Landing on You - Firstly, the actors are married IRL! They play a South Korean heiress and a North Korean military officer whose paths cross when she crash lands in North Korea as a result of a paragliding mishap. She's light and breezy, he's all dark and moody. Romance simply had to ensue.

Compelling thrillers

With most K-dramas there will be a thriller aspect. There’ll be a stalker, a serial killer, a government/corporate conspiracy. I love that in any given K-Drama the possibility of the main character being kidnapped can never truly be ruled out. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE !!These are shows that lead with thrills, and the romance is a little limited (but still incredibly sizzling because yearning can be more fun, in my humble opinion). 

• The Glory - a woman is seeking revenge against the friendship group who bullied her in high school. Her revenge plot is meticulous and quite extreme however, the extent of their bullying is expertly illustrated in the first episode and includes her being burnt with a curling iron !! I was rooting for her to ruin their lives from the jump. 

• Vincenzo - one to watch if you’re looking for a thriller with lighter moments as the other two on this list are heavy. The show follows Vincenzo, a lawyer for the Italian mafia who is forced to flee to Seoul and finds himself in the middle of a (you guessed it) corporate conspiracy! 

• The Trunk - now this plot has to be seen to be believed. A wealthy film composer is forced into an arranged marriage by his ex-wife and may or may not end up falling in love with his new faux-wife. Had me hooked purely because of how insane it was and the chemistry between the two leads was expert-level. 

Heartbreaking dramas

There are some deeply emotional moments in the shows above but these ones will tear you apart. Approach with caution but prepare yourself for some life-affirming and beautiful stuff. I can reassure you that things do turn out okay in the end but the journey is one of devastation. 

• One Spring Night - two young adults meet one spring night and immediately hit it off but both are bringing baggage that might hinder their relationship

• When Life Gives You Tangerines - depicts the romance between a shy, literary girl and the devoted jock who follows her around in 1960s Jeju Island. It’s currently ongoing but the first four episodes have sufficiently destroyed me so I'm steeling myself for each weekly drop. It’s a moving tale about love, family, community and parenthood. My favourite new show of the year so far!

• My Dearest - historical saga that depicts the love story between a noble woman and a mysterious man who visits her village, set in Joseon during the Qing Invasion (look it up). Our heroine goes through a remarkable transformation over the course of this show.