I stumbled onto K-Dramas one dull summer evening a few years ago on Hulu. I’ve always enjoyed subtitles and there was show called Kiss Sixth Sense that caught my eye. I can vaguely recall the premise, a woman got premonitions when she kissed a certain man, but what I most remember is how it made me feel. I love a good comfort show. A show that I know, despite conflict or crisis, is going to work out in the end. If it has romance, a little comedy, and a little of the supernatural, it ticks all the boxes for me. K-Dramas also often have an earnestness, deep family relationships, and developed side characters that are hard to find these days. After watching that show, I felt satisfied in a way that I hadn’t since the early days of Hallmark movies, when they weren’t a formula I could predict with acting that made me cringe (yes – those days existed).
I didn’t know that I had initiated an addiction that would supplant all other tv viewing (except Peacock’s Traitors) for me for the foreseeable future. I moved onto a drama streaming on Netflix called Chocolate. This was about a doctor who went to work in a hospice and a woman who ended up a chef at that same hospital. It introduced to me to the elements of K-dramas that I now look forward to…a childhood connection very slowly revealed, a cast of side characters that feel like family and have real personalities instead of being filler, a second male lead that you know it won’t work with, but is still enticing in their own way (the seconds in Hallmark are sooo unworthy), a very long awaited first kiss, and loads of tears that I shed in empathy, sympathy, and relief.
From there, I found the four series that stoked my addiction so hard that I subscribed to Viki, an Asian platform with almost every Drama I could want. These four are still my all time favorites: King the Land (Netflix), What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?, Hometown Cha Cha Cha, and Suspicious Partner. These are solid romances with zingy dialogue, great chemistry, a little comedy, solid characters, and lots of episodes. Traditional K-dramas are basically 16 episode contained stories – no season twos. Recently Netflix has been making 10 – 12 episode series, a move that I think is taking them scarily close to the formulaic, glossy and forgettable Hallmark movies of today, but I digress.
One of the things that happened to me, and to most of my friends who had never watched Korean dramas before, was that we suddenly became obsessed with fabulously swoon-worthy Korean actors that we would never have known existed until we watched them in these rom-coms. Ji Chang-wook was my first real K-drama crush and I devoured Healer and Suspicious Partner. Park Bo Gum became a favorite of not only mine, but my 76 year-old mother who has also become an addict. We both loved Encounter and Love in the Moonlight (a historical Drama romance – a whole other category of romance I never would have imagined loving). There are too many others to mention, but Lee Jun-ho (King the Land), Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha Cha Cha), and Kim Jae-wook (Her Private Life) took me down rabbit holes of their work.
I have yet to introduce someone to the rom-com K-drama genre that hasn’t watched more than one. I highly recommend giving them a try. My mom is still mad at me because once you start one, it’s hard to do anything else. Still, the joy they’ve brought me is absolutely real and I am so glad I took a chance that one boring night.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Ji Chang-wook or his management team. All referenced social media content belongs to Ji Chang-wook and is shared here for informational and fan appreciation purposes only. Please visit his official Instagram account for original content.
***To get started you can search Korean Rom Coms on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.
I subscribe to the Viki App through my Roku account, but if you’re on Amazon Prime the CJ ENM Selects subscription could work for you. I’m an Amazon affiliate and would get a commission if you want to use my link.
Kimmy L. Davis Writes 