Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Each of us has our own favorite K-dramas that are informed by our own personal experiences (and access). For instance, I was never able to get my hands on South Korea’s early dramas like “Death Row Prisoner,” which premiered in 1956. Therefore, my picks are influenced by what I’ve seen, which are primarily shows from 2000 onward.
If you could go back in time and make your parents’ lives better, would you? Eun-gyeol (Ryeoun) doesn’t exactly make this choice. Rather, he’s mysteriously thrust into a bygone era where he meets his high school-age parents.
Based on the webtoon of the same name, the premise revolves around a masked man who uses the pseudonym Gaetal/게탈 — which translates into dog mask — to mete out justice for those who they feel deserved stronger punishment for their crimes.
Playing undercover police officer Jun-mo — who hopes that his gig will lead to a promotion — Ji Chang-wook is in his element as an eager cop who infiltrates a drug cartel with ties to China and Japan.
There is a recurring dream sequence in “Doona!” A young woman is submerged in water. From below, she can see the glitz and glamour of her life as a top star. But when our protagonist startles herself awake, we see her living a mundane life, waking up sweaty in a small apartment and taking long drags of cigarettes in the courtyard. This is how we meet Lee Doo-na, a famous K-pop idol who is hiding away in a shared house for college students.
Set in a hospice, the point of “If You Wish Upon Me” isn’t that the dying can only leave this world if they have a wish fulfilled. Rather, sometimes they need peace of mind before they’ll allow themselves to go.
A remake of the Taiwanese series “Someday or One Day,” the Korean version of this time-travel drama isn’t always easy to follow. But if you suspend your belief in reality and just go with the flow, you will find yourself immersed in a compelling plot that centers on love, while it also navigates story arcs about guilt, gaslighting and a, erm, serial killer.
On the surface, it appears that “Mask Girl” is about beauty standards and how our looks are a catalyst for who we will become. But by the end of the series, viewers will have been taken on a wild ride where subterfuge and revenge are the norm, rather than the exception, and everyone’s moral compass has been broken.
You’ve seen the cold male chaebol/warm, hardworking female combo before in many popular K-dramas (including “Business Proposal” and “Oh My Venus”). But Im Yoon-ah and Lee Jun-ho are so charismatic and easy to watch in “King the Land” that they add a fresh touch to an old concept.
“Rebound” is based on the true story of Busan’s Jungang High School basketball team. Long past its glory years, the team isn’t a priority for the school’s administration. They hire a young and inexperienced basketball coach, Yang-hyun (Ahn Jae-hong), who during his own Jungang school days was a champion athlete.