Korean Drama Recomendation Thread - Not as spergy as K-pop stans

[SojuDrnkr]

A thread dedicated to recommending and sperging about Korean dramas, which in all honesty, is threatening Mexican melodramas seat of what stay-at-home wine moms watch.

• When the Camellia Blooms (a romance/mystery/crime-thriller/comedy. Basically touches on all the bases of what you'd like in a show)
• Mr. Sunshine ( a historical drama about the American expedition of Korea starring Kim-Kang Hoon, who also starred in the horror-thriller I Saw The Devil)
• Kingdom ( basically The Walking Dead but in 16th century Joseon)
• Vagabond (a spy show that is about a plane crash)

 

[Medical Hawaii]

kdramas are cheesier than old Mexican novelas

plotlines of a lot of the "classic" ones (the average Kdrama) are so farfetched that I can't even finish them lmao

"Heirs" seemed promising at first but I couldn't get past the whole live-in maid coincidence thing lol

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

I can throw a second recommendation in for Kingdom. That show is pretty wild.

• Save Me is interesting and has its moments. I won't say it's the best thing ever, but it was a neat watch. Especially when the obvious villain starts hamming it up. You basically have a cult that has indoctrinated a whole town and has larger ambitions.
• And then there's this fucking retarded show called Queen And I, which I loved even though it was fucking retarded. A time traveling Korean from the past ends up in the present and meets a daytime television star. Through the power of love and time travel they have to save the past. Or something.

 

[albert chan]

https://kissasian.sh/

(You’re welcome, by the way)

Also, K-Dramas have been boosting in popularity lately. I’m not sure it’s because of K-pop infiltrating America or Parasite winning all the awards, but I remember looking at Korean movies as this one niche that would never be appreciated by Americans. Now, it looks like things are really starting to change. How long that change will be, I’m not sure.

 

[SojuDrnkr]

kdramas are cheesier than old Mexican novelas

plotlines of a lot of the "classic" ones (the average Kdrama) are so farfetched that I can't even finish them lmao

"Heirs" seemed promising at first but I couldn't get past the whole live-in maid coincidence thing lol

I saw some what one would consider "weird" Korean shows while staying there. I was at my wife's parents house, and her dad was watching the show where there's just two old Korean dudes eating food and talking the whole time, and every once and a beautiful woman would bring them more food. It was like My Dinner With Andre but it took place in 16th or 17th century Joseon.

https://kissasian.sh/

(You’re welcome, by the way)

Also, K-Dramas have been boosting in popularity lately. I’m not sure it’s because of K-pop infiltrating America or Parasite winning all the awards, but I remember looking at Korean movies as this one niche that would never be appreciated by Americans. Now, it looks like things are really starting to change. How long that change will be, I’m not sure.

Parasite has definitely got casual movie-goers into exploring Korean cinema (which really only took off in the 90s) but Bong-Joon Hoo has already been somewhat known in the US because of Snowpiercer and Okja.

 

[Jimmy Durante's Ballsack]

Well... whatever I'll just throw this unrelated movie here too: Attack the Gas Station.

It's pretty popular anymore. It's also pretty good.

 

[heathercho]

Hotel Del Luna Because it's beautiful
Hwayugi Or A Korean Odyssey, whatever its English title is
Live it's excellently acted
Strong Woman Do Bong Soon it's cute
쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 – 도깨비 is good too, I don't know if it's English title was just Goblin or not.

 

[P. Barnes' THOT]

Save Me is great. I actually just finished Tunnel which was pretty dope too

 

[SojuDrnkr]

It's weird how much South Korea romanticizes North Korea, like with their show Crash Land On Me.

 

[bot_for_hire]

None. There was this one show I liked, but the ending was a clusterfuck and literal forced drama and made me loathe the whole thing altogether. Sad.

 

[Гиджет]

A thread dedicated to recommending and sperging about Korean dramas, which in all honesty, is threatening Mexican melodramas seat of what stay-at-home wine moms watch.

• When the Camellia Blooms (a romance/mystery/crime-thriller/comedy. Basically touches on all the bases of what you'd like in a show)
• Mr. Sunshine ( a historical drama about the American expedition of Korea starring Kim-Kang Hoon, who also starred in the horror-thriller I Saw The Devil)
• Kingdom ( basically The Walking Dead but in 16th century Joseon)
• Vagabond (a spy show that is about a plane crash)

Any chance of this thread being moved to off topic in beauty parlor? OP and posters here have good opinions on kdramas but are lost in the multimedia abyss.

 

[Dang Woodchucks!]

Stranger (It's original title Forest of Secrets) is an amazing K-drama and I can't recommend it enough. The second season is also out, but it's somewhat weaker than the first.

 

[Гиджет]

Stranger (It's original title Forest of Secrets) is an amazing K-drama and I can't recommend it enough. The second season is also out, but it's somewhat weaker than the first.

Totally agree, S1 of Stranger was amazing, and S2 was a good enough watch but nothing like S1. Defendant (aka Innocent Defendant) is a great watch after Stranger. Definitely check out Vagabond if you haven’t already, I thought the ending was appropriate despite the reviews.

 

[XYZpdq]

I've heard good things about the K-Drama version of Hana Yori Dango but I've never investigated myself
Probably not what you're looking for but I've enjoyed Train To Busan, Space Gundam V, Diatron Five, most Tae Kwon Vs, and basically all of ROK Live Action Street Fighter II, especially in series 4 (q) when Master Roshi shows up

 

[Гиджет]

I've heard good things about the K-Drama version of Hana Yori Dango but I've never investigated myself
Probably not what you're looking for but I've enjoyed Train To Busan, Space Gundam V, Diatron Five, most Tae Kwon Vs, and basically all of ROK Live Action Street Fighter II, especially in series 4 (q) when Master Roshi shows up

I have only seen Train to Busan but will definitely check these out. I think you may enjoy Space Sweepers if you liked Train to Busan.

ETA I tapped out of the Korean version of Boys Over Flowers after 4 episodes, maybe the jdrama version is better. Why those guys were so hot and heavy on the female lead I could not understand. I realize in kdramas females are portrayed as barely average but that chick was worse than those in the Reply series.

 

[XYZpdq]

I have only seen Train to Busan but will definitely check these out. I think you may enjoy Space Sweepers if you liked Train to Busan.

HanaDon was sincere from the rumblings I've heard, the rest are "lol ROK thinks it's people" level shit

 

[Гиджет]

I’m currently watching episode 10 of Mouse and probably should have given up around episode 8 but waiting out the brain transplanting. I seriously want whatever drugs the writers and editors are on.

 

[Mealy Mouth Spittle]

I have only seen Train to Busan but will definitely check these out. I think you may enjoy Space Sweepers if you liked Train to Busan.

ETA I tapped out of the Korean version of Boys Over Flowers after 4 episodes, maybe the jdrama version is better. Why those guys were so hot and heavy on the female lead I could not understand. I realize in kdramas females are portrayed as barely average but that chick was worse than those in the Reply series.

The Chinese version, Meteor Garden, was better than Boys Over Flowers. Still not great, but a lot better than the Korean version.

I've watched entirely too much Netflix during quarantine. I watch mainly k-dramas because there's no political/race/troon BS. It is just mindless escapism.

Here's some I really liked:

• Dear My Friends -- Revolves around a group of seniors (plus the love story of one of their kids) but probably appeals more to older viewers.
• Memories of the Alhambra -- about an augmented reality game + love story
• Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) -- relationships of 3 married couples and the mistresses their husbands are seeing
• One Spring Night -- deals with the taboo of dating a single parent
• Something in the Rain -- taboo of dating a younger man
• Rookie Historian -- female historian falls in love with a prince
• Navillera -- about an old man who wants to learn ballet (because his dad forbade him to do it when he was younger)

Enjoyed, but more fluff and less developed stories

• Hello, Me! -- younger self gets transported to the present and meets her older self
• Hi Bye, Mama! -- woman gets chance to return to life for 100 days and if she can reclaim her place, she gets to stay
• 100 Days My Prince -- prince develops amnesia and falls for peasant girl
• My Holo Love -- girl with face blindness finds a pair of glasses (think google glasses but with a male version of siri included) and falls in love with the male AI
• My First First Love -- friend falls for best friend

Not Korean -- it's Taiwanese -- but I really enjoyed "A Thousand Good Nights". Girl decides to finish trip across the country that her father had planned after he dies suddenly and in the process learns a lot about him and his life.

 

[Гиджет]

The Chinese version, Meteor Garden, was better than Boys Over Flowers. Still not great, but a lot better than the Korean version.

I've watched entirely too much Netflix during quarantine. I watch mainly k-dramas because there's no political/race/troon BS. It is just mindless escapism.

Here's some I really liked:

• Dear My Friends -- Revolves around a group of seniors (plus the love story of one of their kids) but probably appeals more to older viewers.
• Memories of the Alhambra -- about an augmented reality game + love story
• Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) -- relationships of 3 married couples and the mistresses their husbands are seeing
• One Spring Night -- deals with the taboo of dating a single parent
• Something in the Rain -- taboo of dating a younger man
• Rookie Historian -- female historian falls in love with a prince
• Navillera -- about an old man who wants to learn ballet (because his dad forbade him to do it when he was younger)

Enjoyed, but more fluff and less developed stories

• Hello, Me! -- younger self gets transported to the present and meets her older self
• Hi Bye, Mama! -- woman gets chance to return to life for 100 days and if she can reclaim her place, she gets to stay
• 100 Days My Prince -- prince develops amnesia and falls for peasant girl
• My Holo Love -- girl with face blindness finds a pair of glasses (think google glasses but with a male version of siri included) and falls in love with the male AI
• My First First Love -- friend falls for best friend

Not Korean -- it's Taiwanese -- but I really enjoyed "A Thousand Good Nights". Girl decides to finish trip across the country that her father had planned after he dies suddenly and in the process learns a lot about him and his life.

I have also watched way too many Netflix kdramas to escape the state of the world during quarantine. After One Spring Night (totally enjoyed, that kid was so adorable) I headed to viki for Descendants of The Sun (awesome until the last episode), Goblin (Gong Yoo, sigh), and Penthouse S1 & S2 (will subway sandwiches appear in season 3?)

 

[Гиджет]

@Mealy Mouth Spittle Getting ready to watch Something in the Rain as you suggested.

I just finished Move to Heaven for the second time (10 episodes). IMO best K Drama I’ve watched. Based on true stories so have tissues ready. ETA main character is autistic.