It’s a fact that no matter what part of the world you belong to, Korean entertainment has staunchly integrated into our lifestyle. When we switch on the radio in the morning, Korean songs are the most common kind of music that every station prefers to play, regardless of language barriers. Even international fashion brands like Dior and Chanel, who used to work only with Hollywood, have now picked brand ambassadors from among Korean entertainers like Lee Min-Ho for Fendi or Lisa from the Korean band Black Pink for Chanel. Korean entertainment is here to stay.
I was not familiar with this genre because I didn’t consider watching foreign movies a suitable way to pass the time. It was in 2021 when while reading a piece about the growing fanbase called BTS army, who were fans of the Korean band of the same name, when I found out how popular Korean entertainment had become. My colleague had already been a K-drama watcher and so I casually asked her about why she was so obsessed with an actor named Gong Yoo. She simply texted me the name of the drama “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God”, and said this would answer my curiosity.
It didn’t only answer my curiosity but a few days later after I had finished the drama, it felt like I had undergone a metamorphosis. The old Mahnoor preferred to spend her quiet time with a good book or watching reruns of Hollywood shows like Friends or New Girl. But the new Mahnoor would watch hours after hours of new Korean series and cry over the tragedy of Hong Joo-Jae in “The Legend Of The Blue Sea” or laugh as Yoo Hye-Yin learns how to sell fish in “Hometown Cha Cha”. In a short span of time, K-dramas completely took over my personality and I loved every second of it.
As the years progressed and I began forming close knit friendships with other people while bonding over a show together, it was clear that the endearing appeal of Kdramas isn’t just a phase, but it had a lasting impact on us because they reached out to us in the time we needed them the most. Korean storytelling is rich in detail while also light hearted to enjoy after a day of work, and often celebrates the vivid Korean culture like their food, the coziness of small seaside towns or also how every character, even the side-ones, were well developed and had their own interesting storylines.
So if you’re someone new who is looking for a fresh place to start watching, this list is the perfect place to start.
- Guardian: The Lonely And Great God
Starting this piece without paying homage to the show that started it all would simply be unfathomable so here we go. I began this show at the time when the pandemic was at its peak and it was something that healed the trauma and anxiety I had undergone. I landed right in a fantasy world where Kim Shin (played by Gong Yoo) is a powerful Goblin who was punished by God to live a life of immortality until he meets his bride, who will break the curse by pulling the sword out of his chest.
- Reply 1989
Set in the year 1988 in the neighborhood of Ssangmundong in Seoul, it follows five families and their children who are close friends. It follows the families and the teenagers as they navigate through competition, heartbreak, illness and loss.
- The Legend Of The Blue Sea
This has remained a consistent comfort show for me because of how Korean fantasy dramas are wonderfully crafted and also provide really good escapism. And also because Lee Min Ho, duh. Heo Joon Jae is a con artist who comes across a woman named Sim Cheong, who reveals that she is actually a mermaid, and knew him in her past life. As the two start living together, Joon Jae tries to uncover the past to prevent the looming danger that will separate them again.
- Her Private Life
Sung Deok Mi is a hard working art gallery curator who has a huge secret: she’s an avid Kpop fan. When she isn’t working at the gallery, she is attending concerts and purchasing posters of her favorite band, White Ocean. But after the arrival of a new boss Ryan Gold, Deok Mi realizes how quickly she is falling for him and could in doing so, also expose her dark secret.
- Our Beloved Summer
Choi Ung and Yeon Soo were enemies in high school who are picked as the subject for a documentary which will require the two to work together. When ten years later, they are called again for another documentary shoot, both realize that they still have feelings for each other.
- What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?
I will never stop recommending Park Min-Young to the world because if Gong Yoo’s the King, she remains the unchallenged Queen of Korean dramas. In this drama, Kim Mi Soo is the hard working secretary of Lee Young Joo, the Vice Chairman of a major corporation. However, Young Joo’s world is rocked when Mi Soo tells him that she wants to resign, leaving him determined to do anything to prevent this from ever happening.
- Hometown Cha Cha Cha
Hard working and powerful dentist Yoon Hye-Jin is dismayed with her life when her boss refuses to stop exploiting her. So she quits her job, and moves to the seaside village Gongjin to restart her life, becoming familiar with the place she visited with her parents when she was young. She meets Chief Hong, who is a jack of all trades and extroverted, the complete opposite of Hye-Jin. However, as they both keep running into each other, Ye Jin begins falling in love with the town and their bond begins to grow.
- Coffee Prince
Go Eun Chan is a girl, but her short hair, as well as boyish demeanor has helped her in becoming the breadwinner of her family when her father passes away. When she loses a job, she comes across the playboy son of a millionaire Choi Han Gyul, who is given an ultimatum by his parents to either start working for the company or be cut off. With Eun Chan’s help, the coffee shop Han Gyul set’s up does attract many customers, but it also leads to the moment he realizes he is falling in love with a boy.
- Business Proposal
Hard working Shin Ha Ri has worked her way up from odd jobs as a kid to working as a food researcher for a famous multinational company. When her best friend urges her to go on a blind date disguised as her, Ha Ri walks in to realize that her date is her boss, Kang Tae Moo. What begins as an attempt to ward off a potential marriage proposal for her best friend is now a fake relationship, as Ha Ri and Tae Moo decide to pretend to be in a relationship so that the CEO’s grandfather to stop badgering him.
- Strong Girl Bong Soon
Bong Soon comes from a family where all the women are granted the super power of extreme strength, but which can be taken away if they use it in a wrong way. She meets Min Hyuk, the CEO of a gaming company who is receiving death threats from someone and feels he will be attacked at any time. Min Hyuk hires Bong Soon to become his bodyguard, in exchange for letting her work in his company as an artist who creates her own video game.
