Which korean dramas should i watch

Can the two find true love despite the societal risks? You'll have to watch to find out. Korean media has dubbed the star actress in this series, Gong Hyo Jin, the queen of romantic comedies, so you know it's going to be good. When the Camellia Blooms is ultimately an incredible story of love, told through the dizzying plot line involving a serial killer, a single mom, social stigma, and small town drama.

Us too. Chief of Staff will the hit the spot. Featuring an ambitious political staffer who pulls the strings behind the scenes while trying to climb his way to the top, the series will have you trying to figure out who is going to outwit the other. The K-drama was the first Netflix original Korean series to stream on the platform, and it has garnered positive reviews.

Kingdom doesn't fit neatly into one genre, fusing political royals as well as supernatural themes into a thrilling TV series. Featuring an A-list cast and incredible visual effects, follow the journey of Crown Prince Chang as he embarks on a mission to discover and put an end to a rapidly spreading influx of zombies. Based on the hit U. TV series Younger , this Korean drama follows a young and gifted top editor at a publishing company who finds his life entangled with a former copywriter who desperately wants a job.

What happens when they begin to realize their true feelings for each other? A great rom-com, that's what. History buffs will enjoy delving into this suspenseful, grim but also quietly romantic tale of activists fighting for Korea's independence. In addition, The Korea Times praised the series for its strong female characters.

Fans of sci-fi, this is for you! Telling the story of an augmented reality video game developer Jung Se-Joo, who creates an addictive alternate reality where gamers can put on a special high-tech lens to find weapons and battle in the real world—drama ensues when Jung discovers a deadly bug in the game and tries to fix it.

And, yes. There is romance involved. Starring one of Korea's leading actresses Bae Doona as a passionate and fearless detective, Stranger found critical acclaim with the New York Times , which listed the drama series as one of the best TV shows of Bittersweet might be the best way to describe this romantic, funny but also somber series that follows two roommates in their thirties who become housemates for financial reasons and eventually enter into a marriage out of convenience to appease their families.

You'll find yourself falling in love with these two before you even realize it. Signal is meant for you. Based in part on a real-life serial killer in Korea, the series revolves around a mysterious walkie talkie that allows a detective from to communicate with a modern day criminal profiler to solve cold cases.

As you would expect, things go south, and the detectives fight to solve these cases while playing a dangerous game with fate and time. Depending on how you look at it, Cheese In The Trap is either a psychological drama, or a romance—perhaps both. Either way, it stars a hardworking but poor college junior, Hong Seol, who meets a wealthy and seemingly nice senior Yoo Jung, who has a dark and manipulative side.

Naturally, they fall in love, complicating everything. Get ready for some serious action in K2. A fugitive gets hired as a bodyguard for the wife of a presidential candidate in this head spinning political thriller that will take you far down a road of revenge, loose morals, and betrayal. Bonus points: Korean media has reported that lead actor Ji Chang-wook didn't need a stuntman or body double to film his fighting scenes.

Where to start with this one? This series tells the story of Park Sae-roy, who opens a restaurant in Itaewon after having spent a few years in prison for beating up Jang Geun-won, the son and heir to Jangga Group.

The two have a rough history and now, with a fresh start, Park Sae-roy wants to not only franchise his restaurant DanBam, but have it overtake Jangga Group as a household name. His ultimate goal is to get revenge for his father's death, which was caused by the Jangga family.

The two engage in a power struggle throughout the entire series that's filled with juicy plot twists and turns. This drama tells the story of a group of rich, privileged high school students who will one day take over their families businesses.

The coming-of-age themes explored in the drama include identity, wealth, and relationships. One of the main characters is Kim Tan, a chaebol heir to Jeguk Group, who hasn't had the easiest relationship with his older half-brother Kim Won because he thinks Tan is trying to steal their father's company from him.

To make Tan's life even more difficult, he ends up falling in love with his housekeeper's daughter, Cha Eun-sang, much to his father's disapproval and he has to compete with classmate Choi Young Do's sudden interest in Eun-sang too when she transfers into their elite school. Tan seeks to overcome all the obstacles to be with Eun-sang no matter what his family or friends at school say.

This fantasy romance show explores the relationship between a con artist and a mermaid who meet and fall in love. The mermaid, Shim Cheong, played by the talented and beautiful Jun Ji-hyun follows her lover Heo Joon-jae Lee Min-ho to land unbeknownst to him that she is a mer person.

Juxtaposed against present day, the storyline also focuses on the two's Joseon-era incarnations, town head Kim Dam-ryeong and the mermaid Se-hwa.

That pair met a tragic fate, so what does this mean for their current counterparts? Will Shim Cheong and Joon-jae meet the same bad fate? This South Korean drama's legacy and popularity is the equivalent to that of Titanic. The show is considered a pioneer in Korean melodramatic series and helped launch the " Korean Wave.

Eun-suh has a happy life with her loving parents and brother, Jun-suh, while Shin-ae is raised by a single parent in poverty. One day Eun-suh gets into a car accident and a blood test reveals Eun-suh and Shin-ae were swapped at birth. The girls go back to their original parents. Years later, Eun-suh and her "brother" Jun-suh meet again, the start of a love story. Make sure to have some tissues on hand because this show is a major tearjerker. I'm somewhat biased because I am an unabashed Lee Dong-wook stan, but Touch Your Heart is really, really fun to watch.

Things take place in a high-powered law firm, where a washed-up actress works as a secretary for a cranky attorney. The two leads have great chemistry—they've played star-crossed lovers in another drama, Goblin —and they're both extremely good-looking. Plus, it's another workplace love story!

Is the universe trying to send me a sign? In this KBS drama, a tough as nails former ballerina tries to regain her prima donna status with the help of her mischievous guardian angel. Blinded in a tragic accident, Lee Yeon-seo is desperate to get back to the stage, but the scheming and conniving of the people around her prevents her from making her return.

Dan, a guardian angel just one mission away from completing his duties on earth, gets suckered into yet another assignment and falls in love on the job. True k-pop stans will immediately recognize the lead character in Angel's Last Mission: Love —it's L from the iconic group Infinite! Sadly, I don't think we'll be getting much singing in this drama The actor finally snagged a leading role in the KBS romantic comedy Perfume as Seo Yi-do, an eccentric fashion designer plagued with endless phobias.

He's known for often playing the villain he's really good at being bad , but in this drama, you can actually root for him to get the girl! The premise is simple, at least for a Korean drama: A depressed housewife on the brink of a breakdown receives a magic perfume that makes her into an entirely new person.

With her new face and identity, she decides to pursue a modeling career, and ultimately clashes with the prickly self-proclaimed god of fashion. Remember House of Cards? The Netflix original series followed the complex and super sheisty lives of politicians and journalists in Washington, D. The show was nothing short of a hit, but it came to an unfortunate end once its star became embroiled in a very serious, very disturbing controversy.

Chief of Staff is a lot like House of Cards , but rest assured, the drama is maintained within the show. There's scheming, manipulation, illicit affairs, serious criminal activity, and a whole lot of lying to the general public by the voters by the very people they put in office—sounds appropriate for the day and age we're living in, no?

Although we love outrageously plotted k-dramas, Something in the Rain is a more straightforward and realistic look into an ill-fated romance and workplace discrimination.

Jin-ah also faces a sexist workplace, where she and her female co-workers are demeaned by their male colleagues. The characters in Because This Is My First Life are just like us—following their dreams, working in high-powered industries, all the while just barely reaping the benefits. Nam Sae-hee Lee Min-ki is a software developer working for a start-up who suffers from a mortgage that eats up all his disposable income.

When they realize that a fake-marriage would be mutually advantageous for both their precarious financial situations and societal expectations, they decide to tie the knot. My Mister tells the story of two people struggling with financial troubles, family drama, and loneliness. Park Dong-hun Lee Sun-kyun is a middle-aged engineer working under a boss who is younger than him, all the while providing for his two unemployed brothers and their mom.

Meanwhile something Lee Ji-an K-pop star IU is in a mountain of debt and will do just about anything to get the loan sharks off her back. After she catches Dong-hun accepting a bribe, she decides to steal gift certificates he received in an attempt to pay off her loans. Heart-wrenching and hopeful, the show tells the story of two people developing a sweet kinship while trying to dig themselves out of trouble.

Featuring a star-studded cast of industry veterans—most notably Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung! The series is a love story about friendship and lifelong connections that looks through time at old memories and the ways those moments thread into our twilight years. United States.

Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. The New Power Dressing. Hollywood Loves Books. This fantasy romance is often described as one of the best K-dramas of all time — perhaps because of the memes it has birthed, or maybe because of its pin-up leads Gong Yoo who plays Kim Shin and Kim Go-eun who plays Ji Eun-tak.

In it, we meet the lonely and great god, Kim Shin — also known as Goblin — who has been alive for years, and needs to find a human bride to set his soul free. While it can be a little cheesy, where else on TV will you find immortal love, a likable grim reaper and a squad of ghosts all in one place? From the director of Reply , Shin Won-ho, Hospital Playlist follows five doctors in their 40s, who have been best friends since they entered medicine, as they deal with the personal struggles that come with their profession.

However, this slice-of-life series is more heartwarming than heartbreaking. The group are also in a band created to unwind after the pressures of hospital life, and the songs they performat the end of each episode are irresistibly fun.

Available to stream on Netflix. What happens when three friends — an aspiring film director, an aspiring actor with all the right connections yet determined not to use them and an uninspired freelance writer — open a guesthouse, and a single mother and her baby come to stay?

If you want some light relief from heavy K-dramas or a break from binge-worthy romances, this is for you.

Despite the lighthearted feel of the show, it also covers heavier topics as the group figure out how to achieve their dreams and find love. Released in , Sky Castle is a story of power, prestige and privilege, which sparked widespread debate on the academic pressure faced by students in South Korea. The second most-watched drama in Korean cable television history, this controversial series is a must-watch.