Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Park Ji-hoon is almost unrecognizable from his Wanna One days. Leading this cast, which also includes Choi Hyun-wook (Twenty Five Twenty One) and Hong Kyung (D.P.), Park is so intensely good as a bullied boy who uses classical conditioning (Pavlov’s Dog) and Newton’s Laws of Motions to fight back against his tormentors.
Based on the French series “Call My Agent,” this K-drama actually reminds me more of the U.S. show “Entourage,” but from the viewpoint of combative entertainment agents. “Behind Every Star” focuses on a team of elite agents whose clients include top stars who need to have their egos stroked on a regular basis
“Under the Queen’s Umbrella” is my top pick of 2022. If you’re looking for a fantastic series to watch, this sageuk/사극 (or historical drama) is difficult to beat. Kim Hye-soo is magnificent as a queen whose sons’ lives (and her own) are in danger if the Crown Prince dies. She is whip smart and almost always one step ahead of her enemies, who want to destroy her family to elevate their own.
The best K-dramas of 2022 were bookended by a pair of brutal teen-centric dramas that premiered at the beginning of the year (“All of Us Are Dead”) and the end (“Weak Hero Class One”). They frame a year of superb Korean dramas, so many that it was difficult to narrow it down to just 11 top picks.
Television reviews, K-Dramas and more! Click on the photo or the title to read my reviews. Enjoy!
If you could change places with a wealthy acquaintance, with the condition that you have to give your family to do so, would you? That’s the moral question behind “The Golden Spoon,” which stars BtoB’s Yook Sung-jae (“Goblin,” “Mystic Pop-up Bar”).
Sang-eun (Park Min-young) is a stunning young woman who has carved out a niche for herself marrying men. Nope, she’s not a gold digger. Her relationships with her clients are platonic and are based on a meticulously-worded love contract. Well educated and discreet, she is the perfect girlfriend/bride for men who need a well-heeled partner to show off.
“The Law Cafe” is a cute K-drama centering on a couple that has always been in love with each other, but doesn’t realize it. Or, rather, is unwilling to acknowledge it. Jeong-ho is a former prosecutor who quit his job after a scandal was covered up. Yu-ri is his fearless childhood friend — also an attorney — whose passion lies in helping powerless people get justice.
“When My Love Blooms” started off so strong and promising that I had high hopes for this years. You usually can’t go wrong with Yoo Ji-tae and Lee Bo-young in the lead roles. But while the actors did a great job of embodying their complicated roles, I ended up not appreciating either character very much.
“Little Women” is a female-led K-drama that’s a loose adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel of the same name. And I mean really loose. The central characters share some of the personality traits as the book’s sisters. And a primary theme in both revolves around the class distinctions between the wealthy and the poor. But this Korean version has its own tale to tell. The show doesn’t vilify the rich so much as it presents scenarios where good people are tempted to commit a crime, because they have nothing left to lose.
The “Big Mouth” cast is perfect, especially the lead actors Lee Jong-suk (as a lawyer on a losing streak) and Girls’ Generation’s Im Yoon-ah as his pragmatic wife (who’s a skilled nurse). There was not a moment where I didn’t believe that this couple was besotted with each other. Even when they argued, it was obvious that they cared so very much about each other.
As Hyun-soo, Kim Soo-hyun is superb in a difficult role where he has to be sympathetic, but also could be a cold-blooded and manipulative killer. His role requires him to cry in a manner that allows viewers to feel his panic and fears. And Kim comes through again superbly, proving he is one of the best actors of his generation.
Two Korean men move to Suriname in the hopes of making some fast money. Their goal is to buy skate, which Surinamese don’t want, for pennies and resell them in South Korea at an inflated price. But when cocaine is found in one of their shipments, both men are arrested and jailed.
This second season of “Hello, My Twenties!” is entertaining, but suffers a bit from too-much-going-on syndrome, as well as the recasting of a central character.
I loved “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” The storylines were compelling and the actors did a fine job in bringing their characters to life. Park Eun-bin has been singled out for her extraordinary portrayal of a highly-functioning autistic attorney. But that’s where my conflict lies. As many autistic people have already pointed out, as good as Park was in her role, it is unsettling to watch a non-disabled actor portray a character who is on the spectrum. Most of my friends and acquaintances who have autistic children said they couldn’t force themselves to watch beyond the first episode, because her portrayal felt like a mockery of what they live through.
“Hello, My Twenties!” follows the lives of five college roommates ranging in age from 18 to 28. Eun-jae is a meek freshman who’s too shy to ask an upperclassman to return her pen and much too afraid to tell her roommates not to eat all of the homemade preserves her mother sent her off with. Ye-eun is a culinary arts student who’s more interested in her inattentive boyfriend than anything else. Ji-won is an eccentric journalism major (haha!) who says she can see a ghost in their apartment. Yi-na has a series of older, rich boyfriends and doesn’t seem to be studying much of anything other than her shoe collection. And at 28, Jin-myung’s live revolves around working three part-time jobs to pay for her tuition and pay off her family’s bills.
The second season of “Yumi’s Cells” picks up where season one left off. After Yumi and Woong’s breakup, she ventures into a new relationship with an exceedingly attractive colleague named Ba-bi. They go on sweet dates and slowly fall in love. But when things seem too good to be true, Yumi almost anticipates their breakup. That’s what she has come to expect from men.
“Tomorrow” tells the stories of people who are on the verge of ending their lives. This is where Ryeon and Joong-il come in. These angels of death work for Jumadeung, an elite company that employs those who’ve already died, but are revived to deal with matters of the afterlife. Some employees are given the option to reincarnate and live a normal life — after fulfilling their contracts, that is.
Yumi is a woman in her early thirties, who had spent most of her twenties with a man who used her financially, cheated on her and then left her after seven years together. She viewed those as wasted years and, in some ways, is correct. Doting on a partner who doesn’t value you is nothing to be proud of. But there’s also something to be said for learning from negative experiences.
Ayesha Rascoe speaks with journalist Jae-Ha Kim about the popularity of Korean television dramas on streaming services and her top recommendations.