Top Ten K-Dramas
They come with powerful emotional punches, critical social insights and soju-drinking belly laughs
While the idea that anything so subjective and cultural could possibly be definitively ranked is absurd, I have often benefitted from such lists when trying to find what next to watch. This has been particularly helpful for finding quality K-Dramas. I find that the best approaches to these lists is to find ones that already have two or more dramas that you really loved — it offers a good indication of matching tastes and the quality of the rest.
Surprisingly, having expected the equivalent mush found in Western TV soaps, I have found in K-Dramas some decent social commentary particularly on inequality and class prejudice, powerful acting, and intriguing cultural differences to do with ancestry, seniority, and status. Possibly, what I have loved the most is the refreshing, free-flowing and naturalistic chemistry between characters, the beautiful weaving together of relationships, that many western dramas just don’t seem to match. My favourite parts in these relationship building sequences are the food and drink scenes — major fan of Korean food here.
Of course it is not all good as K-dramas come with some seriously irksome and cumbersome interruptions hammered into the narrative flow. Inane scores being one in particular, often on repeat throughout the entirety of the show. There’s also the unfortunate misguided belief that the stories need some thrilling subplot to keep audiences entertained but which often ends up as some third-rate tiresome action storyline that is awkwardly tacked on. And, perhaps worst of all, are the product-placement scenes which have all the subtlety of a shotgun. So far, Vincenzo (2021) for me is the worst offender. John Oliver and his team do an excellent parodic skit of this K-Drama phenomenon.
Of course another problem with lists is that you just cannot see everything. For example, from the country where I obtain access to streaming services I just have not been able to find one that will let us watch the critically acclaimed The World of the Married (2020). We also are currently in the middle of Our Beloved Summer (2021), which while off to a very good start has just gotten a little mopey, and Little Women (2022), which has shown some potent acting already but so far for me might be diverging too much into an unnecessarily overly elaborate thriller. The 2020 Navillera is still brilliant after just two episodes but there’s a long way to go for us (article update — Navillera is mostly excellent offering challenging insights into masculinity and ageism — well worth watching). So who knows how the list might change.
Just to clarify — this is a list of South Korean TV dramas. Obviously, other high quality Korean TV series are out there — Kingdom, Squid Game, Hellbound to name a few — but they I would consider way too removed from this genre.
10. Because this is my First Life (2017)
This drama scrapes in as my number 10 due to it having some of the highest quality scripting all the way up to the penultimate episode. However, it was there that the utter pretentiousness of the main character runs amok almost ruining the entire drama. If you are happy to stick it out for what are mostly very entertaining and well written episodes and put up with (or risk as you may not find it as disappointing as I did) a disappointing finish then this one is all yours.
9. It’s Okay to not be Okay (2020)
This series central story revolves around an empathic caregiver on a psych ward, his brother who has autism, and an eccentric and antisocial children’s book writer. The story tackles stigmas concerning mental health and autism and has great performances all round. The extreme and obsessive Ko Moon-young and her ambiguously dark romantic overtones towards the caregiver keeps the audience on their toes.
It suffers from the over-the-top thriller storyline absurdities that are an unfortunate tendency for many of these dramas. However, it is a very enjoyable romance saga and is peppered with some excellent gothic cartoon visuals that are brilliantly employed throughout.
8. The King’s Affection (2021)
Another one of the top performances in this list comes from child actress Choi Myung-bin who plays dual roles of the boy and girl twins at the start of this Joseon drama. Park Eun-bin (also in Extraordinary Attorney Woo) is excellent, playing a sort of constant Jodie Foster as Clarence Starling here trying to conceal her terror while face-to-face with a psychopath. While it comes with its daft over-the-top action scenes — not least of which is the use of thrown chopsticks to perform some zany Heimlich manoeuvre — there is plenty of tense and menacing life-or-death drama.
7. Crash Landing on You (2019)
Despite the obvious oppression and corruption running through the power structures of North Korean society the beauty of community amongst the villagers is finely woven into this story that plays out on both sides of the 38th Parallel.
The absurdity of the overall storyline is immediately lampooned by the content of the storm that transforms the life of businesswoman and chaebol heiress played by the amazing Son Ye-jin. She stars opposite Hyun Bin, who is now her real life husband. It is one of the most humorous K-Dramas out there finding much of its comedy from the very natural chemistry between characters and the clash of cultures between North and South.
Unfortunately, I feel the over-the-top action thriller subplot takes from much of this warmth and really ends up becoming far too ridiculous, and a bit tedious, when the action part is carried over to the South — even for a drama which is aware of its own absurdities.
6. Sky Castle (2018)
This satirical drama targets the snobbery that comes with inequality and the unhealthy obsessiveness with elite university entrance. When I was in Korea a trend that us foreign teachers had been informed of was ‘five hours in six hours out’ — the meaning of which being 5 hours of sleep at night helps get you into university while six hours was one hour less a day spent studying that would cost you your university place. In the massive corruption of President Park Geun-hye’s reign much of the backlash against her was driven by the unfair university access she granted her overly influential friend. The outrage was hardly surprising in a country where huge amounts of stress and effort towards getting into university was being heaped on top of much of the youth.
With that as its background Sky Castle provides a disturbing tale of the extreme lengths that an extremely privileged select group of elite residents go to get their children into top universities. Yum Jung-ah is particularly good as the ‘eomeoni’ — or Korean Mother — struggling with finding the limits at which enough is enough in terms of pushing her daughter’s future. The excellent Kim Byung-chul (who also appears in Mr Sunshine) is both upsetting and hilarious as the perfectionist Professor father whose tutoring skills, when aimed towards his sons, are tantamount to that of a dungeon torturer.
Like Crash Landing on You — and far too many other K-Drama’s — I fear it is let down by the thriller dimensions to it which when tacked on are never really believable. There was really no need to go to such lengths for greater entertainment nor for satire as what it already had packed a mighty punch.
5. Reply 1988 (2015)
I must confess that it took me a few goes to allow myself get beyond the first two episodes of this. While it appears on most people’s recommendations, and looked well put together, I thought it would lack what I was looking for the first few times I tuned into it. I felt a nostalgic drama, built on nationally shared memories of 80s Korea, would just be too unrelatable for a westerner like me.
I was so very wrong. From 80s fashion and Rubik’s cubes to Stevie Wonder as well as an economic malaise that my own country would have some familiarity with close to that time. This was drama that was very easy to connect with, from coming of age passions, awkwardness, and wit, to the comical sibling spats, parental angst, hardships and community spiritedness. The Korean cultural angle was also there with excellent ‘ajummas’ with classic ajumma hair and a vast amount of fascinating parallel Korean popular cultural references. However, avoid if possible Netflix’s version of this as the streamer has been too stingy to cover any additional royalty payments and therefore blurs out huge amounts of these references.
While it takes a while for any kind of concrete future-oriented plot to take hold a wonderful romance drama eventually emerges. The hilarious scenarios and down-to-earth dialogue is flawless and even the recurring goat-bleat punctuation of punchlines, which is annoying at first, becomes something you just have to laugh at when you hear it.
Again, as with all these K-Dramas the acting is excellent but Lee Hye-ri as the coming of age middle-child is clearly one of the stand-out performances on this list. She is a pleasure to watch and her kind-hearted yet innocent character is brilliantly drawn.
4. My Mister (2018)
Of all the dramas listed here (save perhaps with the exception of Reply 1988) My Mister is the most consistent. It remains high quality for every episode and its message of class prejudice and oppression is stark. While superb acting, powerful characters, an amazing scene of world class defiance involving a small hammer and a lesson on building regulations, being a bleak commentary on inequality it does not have the humour of other K-dramas. In truth it is probably the best constructed of the K-Dramas here but at times it leaves you gasping for some break in the misery.
3. Mr Sunshine (2018)
Set in the Joseon dynasty under Japanese occupation, it begins with a brutal takedown of the inequality of pre-colonial Korea where existed a slave class known as Nobi. It then goes on to also provocatively portray the cruelty of Japanese imperialism. It stars Kim Tae-ri — from Park Chan-wook’s masterful film The Handmaiden — who plays an aristocrat’s granddaughter and Lee Byung-hun — a returning Korean US marine corps officer.
Initially, when the two main protagonists get to know each other there is a strangely jarring and irritating set of weird staring contests between them. But once we get past that, a few episodes into the material, the story hooks you and turns into one of the most heart-wrenching of all the K-dramas — at times even traumatically so.
While it turns into an action thriller often, the action story-line is closely enough connected with the emotional heart of the drama so as not to be an add-on nuisance. There is also some great humour amongst the supporting characters and, although the role of the character itself has received criticism along with the heroic portrayal of US officers, Choi Min-young’s Yakuza boss has an impressive screen presence.
2. Something in the Rain (2018)
An excellent tale of love with perfect chemistry between the two lovers and very realistic heartache made all the more intense through the acting of Son Ye-jin. She plays Yoon Jin-ah, and gives the best performance I have yet witnessed in any K-Drama (and possibly ever). One particular crying scene before her father is unforgettable.
The overbearing ‘eomeoni’ in this, superbly played by Gil Hae-yeon, is disturbing in her obsessive interference into her daughter Jin-ah’s love life. She is at the heart of the drama’s challenge to many Korean societal expectations and relationship taboos such as an older female dating a younger male or dating a person who grew up without parental figures. Sexual harassment in male-dominated workplaces also gets powerfully tackled.
Unfortunately, it drags a lot towards the end. There’s almost the impression of trying to fill up space. In addition, it has painfully repetitive use of a ‘Stand by Your Man’ cover, which often appears to be lyrically inappropriate to the scenes in which it appears. But still the drama remains very sweet, and tortuously bitter and definitely worth watching even for the performances alone.
- Itaewon Class (2020)
Social class inequality runs through all the best K-dramas. It is particularly present here in Itaewon Class in which such prejudice spills over into a backbreaking revenge drama and a long road up from hell, triumph-over-adversity saga. It also takes on other equality issues to do with transgender, race, and ex-prisoners — often unspoken about in Korean society.
Park Seo-joon is excellent as the protagonist Park Sae-ro-yi, particularly in his moments of agony, which cannot but help stir up powerful emotions in the audience. The ultimate villain of the piece — the CEO of food company Jangga Group — is played by Jae-myung (who also appears in Reply 1988) who masterfully presents a dark and foreboding on-screen presence.
Despite the brilliance of the plot there is a key flaw that tends to stick out when all is said and done. Due to how certain characters are drawn, chemistry is ultimately prevented from emerging between two key characters. Also, while inequality and class prejudice are subjected to brilliant criticism, excessive accumulation of wealth itself is unproblematized. Still the blemishes are not sufficient to prevent this drama from making it to the top of this list.
Some Worthy Mentions:
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022) is too episodic for my liking, with some of the cases being far too dubious and acting like poor subplot fillers. Otherwise, it is an intelligent drama where Park Eun-bin puts in some brilliant acting with some deep insights into the world of autism. 100 Days My Prince (2018) provides a fun performance from Doh Kyung-soo, especially when his amnesiac character stumbles into the role of a low-status peasant yet continually expresses the elevated airs and disgust of a noble man. Finally, When the Camellia Blooms (2019) is for the most part excellent but the main female romantic figure is too underplayed to make this list.
