Super’s guide to the 100 must –watch K-Dramas | Lifestyle.INQ

OCTOBER 27, 2022

South Korea has taken over the world—or at least, the world of TV dramas. K-dramas are now the most addictive, infectious phenomenon on the small screen. Even as Korea continues its relentless production of series around the clock, the global audience waits for every episode, be they 30-minute or 1-hour; be the series 16 episodes or over 50. The appeal of these shows goes beyond the search for the latest oppa—these are extremely effective, high-concept programs that succeed even if every episode needs subtitles. Mistaken identities, secrets untold, unrevealed affection and time travel are only some of the common elements. Add to that really good-looking first and second leads as well as killer soundtracks, and you have the perfect TV show. Now more mainstream than ever, K-dramas are now a requisite part of the pop-culture scene and we can’t be happier to share them with new viewers. Here then is Super’s guide to the 100 K-dramas you must watch:

 

“A Beautiful Mind” (2016)

Veteran actor Jang Hyuk plays a brilliant, seemingly heartless brain surgeon who must confront the series of odd deaths at his hospital. This show was also called “Dr. Frankenstein,” and is indeed inspired by Mary Shelley’s horror sci-fi classic novel.

 

“A Gentleman’s Dignity” (2012)

Four friends on their 40s act like a bunch of 18 year olds when they are together.  The characters of Jang Dong-gun, Kim Su-ro,  Kim Min-jong and Lee Jong-hyuk show that friendship only gets better with age.

 

“A Girl Who Sees Smells” (2015)

Eun-seol (Shin Se-kyung) wakes up from coma and can see scents in forms of colors and shapes.  Detective Moo-gak (Yoo-chun) uses her ability to solve a crime.

 

“Autumn in My Heart” (2000)

The premise is like a Filipino teleserye with getting two babies getting switched at birth. But unlike Filipino teleserye, they discover about the mistake before the two girls enter adulthood.   This is one of the dramas that made people cry buckets of tears when it came out it in the Philippines.

 

“Bad Guy” 2010

Man takes revenge on a family that casts him off. It stars Kim Nam-gil and Han Ga-in.

 

“Black” (2017)

Kang Ha-ram (Go Ara) can see disastrous events in the future.  A grim reaper uses her skill by possessing the body of Detective Han Moo-gang (Song Seung-heon).

 

“Beautiful Gong Shim” (2016)

Gong Shim (Bang Minah) rents out her rooftop apartment to lawyer Dan-tae (Namkoong Min).  He is looking for the long-lost heir of the Star Distribution company.

 

“Birth of a Beauty” (2014)

A wronged woman gets plastic surgery to take revenge on her cheating husband, then falls for her life coach.

 

“Boys Over Flowers”

Four arrogant boys bully the entire school to do their bidding.   Jan-di (Ku Hye-sun) stands up to them.  This series stars Lee Min-ho, and Kim Hyun-joong.

 

“Bread, Love and Dreams” (2010)

Better known in the Philippines as the Filipino-dubbed “Baker King,” this show revolves around aspiring baker Kim Tak-goo (Yoon Shi-yoon) as he attempts to become the country’s best baker amid truly crazy surroundings.

 

“Bubble Gum” (2015)

This drama is best known as the big break for two current Korean TV stars: Lee Dong-wook and Jung Ryeo-won.

 

“City Hunter” (2011)

Based on the Japanese manga by Tsukasa Hojo, “City Hunter” is the best example of the action-oriented K-drama. This show is built on espionage intrigue and action set pieces around assassination and revenge. It catapulted both of its stars to prominence—Lee Min-ho and Park Min-young—and is the definitive K-drama for its genre. The sequel series, “City Hunter 2,” is rumored to be on its way.

 

“Cheese in the Trap” (2016)

This is the drama where Nam Joo-hyuk and Lee Sung-kyung worked together.  It’s about the lives of college students.

 

“Chicago Typewriter” (2017)

This solid K-drama takes a convoluted premise—writers from the Japanese occupation of Korea reincarnated as different kinds of writers in the present—and just goes for it with panache. It stars Yoo Ah-in, Om Soo-jung and Go Kyung-po.

 

“Cunning Single Lady” (2014)

Ae-ra (Lee Min-jung) and Sang-wook (Joo Sang-wook) divorce after a series of hardship. They meet again after three years.

 

“Dal-ja’s Spring” (2007)

Home TV shopping host Dal-ja  (Chae-rim) seeks revenge on her ex by making a younger man  (Min-ki) pretend to be her boyfriend for three months.

 

“Descendants of the Sun” (2016)

One of the most ambitious K-dramas ever made, this show (known better by its initials “DOTS”) was sprawling in scale and dealt with many issues relevant to the Korean psyche, particularly the lives of soldiers. Ostensibly a drama that works with the uncertainty of living with a permanent demilitarized zone, “DOTS” starred—in a bit of un-ironic coincidence, a lead actor (Song Joong-ki) who actually had just returned from mandatory military service.

 

“Drinking Solo” (2016)

Sometimes, a K-drama can be charming out of sheer simplicity, and “Drinking Solo” is a fine exemplar of this. The series title truly does indicate what it’s about, as it features employees and students at a Seoul school drinking by themselves at the end of the day. Starring Ha Seok-jin and Park Ha-sun, it’s a drama set in the academic workplace.

 

“Dr. Romantic” (2016)

A favorite setting for K-dramas, hospitals allow characters with dramatic back stories to hide in plain sight. This series features a mysterious genius working in a provincial hospital. But Kim Sa-bu (Han Suk-kyu) isn’t who he says he is, being a top Seoul surgeon who vanished after a very unfortunate workplace incident.

 

“I’m Not a Robot” (2018)

A wacky premise (girl has to pretend to be a robot in service to a secretive chaebol) is propped up by pleasing performances by Yoo Seung-ho (just returned from military service) and Chae Soo-bin (now a sweetheart after smaller turns in shows such as “Love in the Moonlight”).

 

“Innocent Defendant” (2017)

An 18-episode series, “Innocent Defendant” is a super serious legal drama that highlights the differences between lawyers’ experiences and approaches. If you like the law, this show, starring Ji Sung and Um Ki-joon, is for you.

 

“It’s Okay, That’s Love” (2014)

You know a K-drama is well-written when it manages to discuss both romance and mental health. That is the attraction of  “It’s Okay, That’s Love,” which features a male lead character (played by Jo In-sung) with obsessive-compulsive disorder and a female lead character (played by Gong Hyo-jin) who is a psychiatrist with mental problems of her own. The mental health issues are as important as the romantic ones in this thoughtful series.

 

“Fated to Love You” (2014)

Two strangers accidentally have sex while on vacation. It makes the woman pregnant.  This Korean remake of the Taiwanese drama stars Jang Nara and Jang Hyuk.

 

“Fight For My Way” (2017)

 

“Forest of Secrets” (2017)

One of the first big K-drama purchased by streaming giant Netflix, “Forest of Secrets (also known as “Stranger”) is a taut, moody and stylish crime drama that centers of on a serial killer and the two people trying to get the truth: a driven prosecutor with an uncanny sense of hearing (Cho Seung-woo) and a smart female police investigator (Bae Doon-na). Its atmosphere and twists will keep you coming back to finish all of its 16 episodes.

“Full House” (2004)

 

“Jealousy Incarnate” (2016)

As far as workplaces go, you can’t do much better than the TV studio where weathergirl (Gong Hyo-jin) and new anchorman (Jo Jung-suk) are employed. Also titled “Dare to Dream,” the show features a love triangle between the two leads and a cute chaebol interloper (Go Kyung-po). It has a cool soundtrack, too.

 

“Jewel in The Palace” (2003)

Jang-geum (Lee Young-ae) becomes the first female physician to the king and causes an uproar in Joseon royal court.

 

“Go Back Couple” (2017)

An unhappy married couple is transported back to their college days, right before they fall in love.  Will  Choi Ban-do (Son Ho-jun) and Ma Jin-joo (Jang Nara) choose each other again?

 

“Goblin” (2016)

The single greatest K-drama represented the perfect coming together of various parts: a cast at the peak of their powers, an irresistibly twisty plot right up to the last episode, a premise that called back to traditional Korean mythology and a haunting soundtrack. Witness Gong Yoo as he ascends to the top of the Korean showbusiness landscape as the titular Goblin, Kim Shin. See Lee Dong-wook in his best part yet as the amnesiac Grim Reaper. Two quirky female leads (Kim Go-eun and Yoo In-na) take on memorable parts as Ji Eun-tak and Sunny. A medieval general wronged by his king, Kim Shin is now immortal and seeks to end his life—hopefully by finding his bride, who may or may not be the teenaged Eun-Tak. It’s complicated. “Goblin” switches seamlessly from light romance to meaningful suspense, as the centuries reveal the true nature of this star-crossed group.

 

“Grand Prince” (2018)

Two princes fight for one woman.

 

“Healer” (2014)

If you like action to go with your drama, “Healer” would be a good choice. Why does someone want reporter Chae Young-shin (Park Min-young) dead? Established TV reporter Kim Moon-ho (Yoo Ji-tae) wants to protect her, and recruits the man code-named Healer (Ji Chang-wook) to do it. By the time the truth comes out, there have been elaborate fights, intense chase scenes and a lot of surveillance (both high-tech and low-brow), and viewers will find themselves engaged.

 

“Hwayugi” (2017)

The monkey god Son Oh-gong (Lee Seung-gi) tricks a human girl into releasing him from prison.  They meet again years later and it’s her turn to trick him into protecting her.  This is Seung-gi’s first drama after serving the military.

 

“Hwarang” (2016)

All the  flower boys from noble family of Silla Kingdom were gathered and trained in the arts, music, arts of war and the ways of Confucius.  The new elite class were created to become the king’s men.  Park Seo-joon, Park Hyung-sik, SHINee’s Choi Min-ho and BTS’ Kim Tae-hyung are just some of the eye candies  in the series.

 

“Jumong” (2007)

This is the tale of Prince Jumong who founded the Goguryeo kingdom.

 

“Let’s Eat” Season 1 (2013)

No other K-drama so deftly mixes the Korean appetite and romance as “Let’s Eat,” a surprise hit which is now running on its third season. The common element? Highlight’s Yoon Doo-joon who plays a charming but eccentric foodie who secretly writes a popular food blog. The first season shows how he met similarly kooky paralegal Lee Soo–kyung (believe it or not, the actress plays a character with the exact same name) and the now-poor girl Yoon Jin-yi (Yoon So-hee). Savor the lingering shots of amazing food; delight in the eating by the actors and stick around to find out how it all comes together.

 

“Legend of the Blue Sea” (2016)

Mermaid finds her way to land to find the man she fell in love with. Watch this for Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Min-ho.

 

“Listen to Love” (2016)

Can the internet give a sound advice? Do Hyun-woo (Lee Sun-kyun) thinks that his wife (Song Ji-hyo) is cheating on him. He asks strangers online for advice.

 

“Love in the Moonlight” (2016)

So lovely it’s been shown more than once on Philippine TV, “Love in the Moonlight” uses the classic trope of secret identities in a Joseon-period royal court as the girl Hong Ra-on (Kim Yoo-jung) pretends to be a eunuch to the Crown Prince Lee Yeong (Park Bo-gum). The series, which utilizes both court intrigue and gender humor, marked the figurative coronation of Bo-gum as a global icon, and remains a newly-minted K-drama classic.

 

“Love Rain” (2012)

Their parents are dating and, secretly, so are they.  Ha-na (Im Yoon-ah) and Seo Joon (Jang Keun-suk) should now decide whether if they should sacrifice their happiness for their parents.

 

“Lovers in Paris” (2004)

Perhaps the first truly big K-drama romance, “Lovers in Paris” was written by Kim Eun-sook (she would later write “Goblin”) and starred Kim Jung-eun and Park Shin-yang. Literally set in Paris (its sequel was “Lovers in Prague”), the series was about a film student who worked part-time as a housekeeper to make ends meet. To keep her job, she agrees to pretend to be the girlfriend of her boss—and of course, things gets blurred between reality and wishful thinking.  The title may be familiar as ABS-CBN adapted it with KC Concepcion and Piolo Pascual in 2009.

 

“Marriage, Not Dating” (2014)

An attractive, modern take on Korean dating life, “Marriage, Not Dating” recalls the clash between different perspectives on affection. Hopeless romantic Joo Jang-mi (Han Groo) thinks of nothing else except getting married while gruff plastic surgeon Gong Gi-tae (Yeon Woo-jin) values his me time above all else. They meet—and high jinks ensue.

 

“Marry Me, Mary” (2010)

Mae-ri (Moon Geun-young) asks Mu-gyul (Jang Keun-suk) to pretend as her spouse to escape her father’s marriage plans for her.

 

“Miss Ripley” (2011)

Mi-ri (Lee Da-hae) manipulates people to get what she wants, including those who love her.

 

“Master’s Sun” (2013)

Another K-drama that combined seemingly diverse ideas, “Master’s Sun” is about a woman (Gong Hyo-jin) who can see ghosts and a wealthy man (So Ji-sub) who can banish the ghosts when he touches her. The horror elements are balanced out by a power struggle, and this show is as surprising as it sounds.

 

“Mr. Sunshine” (2018)

Slave boy escapes cruel masters and returns to Joseon (Korea) as an American officer.  This is a story of revenge, redemption, patriotism and love.

 

“My Girl” (2005)

Rich Boy (Lee Dong-wook) asks poor girl (Lee Dae-hae) to pretend as his cousin to help his ailing grandfather get better.

 

“My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox” (2010)

Dae-woong (Lee Seung-gi) releases a gumiho, a mythical fox, from a painting.  The fox (Shin Min-ah) wants to become  human, but will it cost his liver?

 

“My Golden Life” (2018)

It’s a story of a woman’s pursuit of happiness.

 

“My Name is Kim Sam-Soon”  (2005)

Pastry chef Kim Sam-soon (Kim Sun-a) agrees to pretend to be Jin heon’s (Na Moon-hee) lover in exchange for a loan. Sam-soon is older, overweight and a bit plain.  These do not stop her from loving herself. Most Filipinos will remember Regine Velasquez in the lead role of the Filipino adaptaion of this original K-drama.

 

“My Sassy Girl” (2017)

Gyeon-woo (Joo Won) becomes a teacher to a troublesome Joseon princess (Oh Yeon-seo). This is based on the popular film of the same title.

 

“My Mister” (2018)

It’s about finding love, happiness and contentment through the lives of the three brothers.  Lee Sun-kyun and IU star in the drama.

 

“My Secret Romance” (2017)

This rom-com sets the ball rolling with Jin-wook (Sung Hoon) and Yoo-mi (Song Ji-Eun) with a one-night stand.  Serendipity make them meet again three years later as they work for the same company.

 

“My Love From The Star” (2017)

So popular it has been adapted into a GMA-7 show and soon by American and Thai studios, this series shows what happens when a long-lived alien (Kim Soo-hyun) who is getting ready to finally return to his home planet meets a vapid and has-been Korean actress (Jun Ji-hyun, the original Sassy Girl). This show was so popular that anything appearing in the show became an instant bestseller, from beauty products to books.

 

“Nine” (2017)

Also known as “Missing 9,” this show carries one of the most elaborate premises ever. An airliner goes down, and nine of the passengers, powerful entertainment industry people, are not found. Months later, stylist Ra Bong-hee (Baek Jin-hee) is found and returned to Seoul, where an investigation tries to figure out what happened. There is a conflict regarding testimonies of survival even as other survivors emerge. It is as gripping as it sounds.

 

“Oh My Ghost” (2015)

Bong-sun (Park Bo-young) becomes a seductress after being possessed by a virgin ghost. She has set her eyes on her boss Sun-woo (Jo Jung-suk).

 

“Oh My Venus” (2015)

This is about a girl who wants to transform her looks after getting dumped.  She moves in with her trainer to achieve her goal and earn her love.

 

“Only You”

Aspiring chef Eun Jae (Han Chae-young) gets pregnant after she made love with Yi-joon (Jo Hyun-jae) in Italy.  He left her thinking she was playing him. Six years later, she meets and starts working for him.

 

“Pasta” (2010)

Things get heated up in the kitchen as Yoo-kyung (Gong Hyo-jin) works to become a top chef.

 

“Pinocchio” (2014)

It’s hard to explain in simple terms what this show is about, but here goes: “Pinocchio” is ultimately about the wages of traumatic childhood events, among them a firefighting father who goes missing and is assumed dead. It also deals with coming to terms with those events as adults. It’s about other things as well—you have to watch to find out. This show is headlined by actors Lee Jong-suk and Park Shin-hye.

 

“Playful Kiss”

This remake of the popular Japanese manga follows the story of a girl who confesses to her ultimate crush only to be brutally rejected.  A series of unfortunate events later, she moves in with his family.

 

“Princess Hours” (2006)

A commoner (Yoon Eun-hye) finds out one day that she is betrothed to the Crown Prince (Ju Ji-hoon).  She undergoes princess training to help her win the hearts of the people and the prince.

 

“Rooftop Prince” (2012)

A Joseon era prince (Park Yoo-chun) and his posse mysteriously appears on the rooftop of Park-ha (Han Ji-min).  Prepare to fall in love with omurice after watching this.

 

“Secret Garden” (2010)

At its heart, “Secret Garden” is a prince-and-the-pauper love story between a retail CEO (Hyun Bin) and a stuntwoman (Ha Ji-won). For some reason, the show later on features the two of them somehow switching bodies. It’s as goofy as you think but really works as a worlds-collide (literally) romance, with remakes in China and Thailand.

 

“Reply 1988” (2015)

Unlike the earlier “Reply” series, this drama revolves more around the lives of five friends and their families. Park Bo-gum is the little puppy that you want to adopt in this series.

 

“Reply 1997” (2012)

This is the drama that started the ultimate throwback.  It offers a mystery of who will announce their marriage in the 2012 reunion.

 

“School 2013” (2012)

Teachers (Jang Nara and Choi Daniel) handle Victory High’s toughest class.

 

“Save The Last Dance” (2004)

Eun-soo (Ji Eun-soo) discovers Hyun-woo (Ji sung) after an attempt on his life.  He wakes up with no memory of his past.

 

“She Was Pretty” (2015)

You will never forget the name “Jackson” after you watch this show. That’s the nickname of the female editor, the editor Kim Hye-jin (a winning Hwang Jung-eum) who asks her best friend Min Ha-ri (Go Joon-hee) to pretend to be her while dating the attractive Ji Sung-joon (Yang Han-yeol). This leads to some funny scenes, of course, and the unrevealed secret that drives the show is the fact that Hye-jin and Sung-joon were childhood friends—but he doesn’t remember.

 

“Signal” (2016)

Crime dramas are a powerful segment in K-dramas, and the dark, haunting “Signal” stands among the best in that area. The top police procedural, “Signal” will remind viewers of the American movie “Frequency,” with a police detective in the year 2000 somehow able to communicate with a profiler in 2015 through a walkie-talkie. Moody and grim, this is the finest of the Korean crime shows with Lee Je-hoon and Kim Hye-soo in the lead.

 

“Shopping King Louie” (2016)

Seo In-guk is the wealthy man who spends most of his time shopping  for the finest things the world has to offer.  He loses his memory and is forced to live a life of poverty.

 

“Something in The Rain” (2018)

One of the most recent hit K-dramas, “Something in the Rain” is probably easier to understand by its Korean title, which translates into “Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food.” This May-December romance wins with its authenticity and earnestness as the younger man (Jung Hae-in) takes a second look at an older woman (Son Ye-jin) and the two fall into a situation they both never thought possible.  This utterly romantic show broke Korean TV records, cementing its place as a K-drama among K-dramas.

 

“Strong Girl Bong-soon” (2017)

Bong-soon (Park Bo-young) inherited extraordinary strength from her mom and grandma.  Min-hyuk (Park Hyung-sik) helps her control it.  Ji Soo is the second lead in the series.

 

“Suits” (2018)

Kang-seok (Jang Dong-gun) hires Yeon-woo (Park Hyung-sik) as his intern after realizing that he is a law genius.

 

“Sungkyunkwan Scandal” (2010)

Based on a popular Korean novel, this period drama shows how Kim Yoon-hee (Park Min-young) pretends to be her scholar brother in order to have work. The title refers to the prestigious Joseon school Sungkyunkwan, where Yoon-hee takes entrance examinations for others for a price. Still pretending to be her brother, she enrolls in the school after getting caught, and the show takes viewers through the rest of her school years.

 

“Suspicious Partner” (2017)

Though it didn’t rate as well as intended, this legal drama alternated pretty serious plot points (the female lead played by Nam Ji-hyun is accused of murdering her cheating boyfriend) and absurdly funny developments (she mistakenly thinks the prosecutor played by Ji Chang-wook groped her on the subway; he didn’t) and thus proved to be diverting because of the mix.

 

“The Bride of Habaek” (2017)

The water god Habaek (Nam Joo-hyuk) comes down to Earth to learn a few lessons before he is crowned as ruler of heaven.  A human girl’s (Shin Se-kyung) fate is to serve him while he is on Earth.

 

“The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop” (2016)

Spanning a whopping 54 episodes, this show tackled the challenges of running a traditional tailoring shop in modern Korea, social climbing, corporate ambition and marital differences. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the size of this show’s ambition is matched only by the size of its cast. Amazingly, the show’s tailoring sequences are its best part. It also became popular when its leads, Lee Dong-gun and Jo Yoon-hee, got married in real life.

 

“The Queen of Office” (2013)

She (Kim Hye-soo) is a top temp worker.  She is efficient and hard-working, but disappears after the contract is up.

 

“That Winter, The Wind Blows” (2013)

A blind heiress (Song Hye-kyo) meets con artist (Jo In-sung).  He pretends to be his long-lost brother.

 

“The Heirs”  (2013)

All you need to know about this show is that it’s literally about inheritance and that it stars three neon-bright K-drama stars: Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye and Kim Woo-bin. It’s all about how the scions of Korean business get on each other nerves (among other emotions) because they’re all in the same high school.

 

“The Miracle We Met” (2018)

A man dies and wakes up in a different body.  Can he lead two lives?

 

“Tunnel” (2017)

Inspired by a sensational series of serial crimes in Korea, “Tunnel” is another dark but well-crafted police procedural that involves time travel—yes, you read that right. Choi Jin-hyuk plays a devoted investigator who vanishes in 1986 and reappears, unchanged, in 2016. He joins forces with Yoon Hyun-min’s 2016 detective to solve a longstanding murder case.

 

“The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince” (2007)

Among the first truly successful K-dramas, this show—better known by its shorter name, “Coffee Prince,” is the first time viewers met the man known as Gong Yoo, the biggest Korean star right now, who has appeared in, well, everything (but you’d remember him in “Goblin” and “Train to Busan.” Before she went on to star in “Princess Hours,” Yoon Eun-hye appeared on this show as a tomboy who is mistaken for a guy. Romance, coffee, business and sexual identity are all brewed together in one of the first must-watch K-dramas.

 

“To The Beautiful You”  (2012)

Girl fakes her paper to enter an all-boys school so she could get close to her idol, a high jumper.  This drama features SHINee’s Choi Min-ho’s jumping skills.

 

It’s a Korean remake of

Japanese drama “Hana Kimi.”

 

“Two Wives” (2009)

It is a cautionary tale for cheating spouses.  Karma will get to you.

 

“What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim” (2018)

The life of self-absorbed, company vice president Young-joon (Park Seo-joon) is turned upside down after his secretary Kim Mi-so (Park Min-young) tells him that she’s resigning.

 

“Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo” (2016)

Utterly charming, “Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo” is the most successful romantic comedy K-drama ever. Set in a sports school, it revolves around the kooky life of an aspiring weightlifter Bok-joo (the uber-talented Lee Sung-kyung, in a star-making performance that also involved gaining 11 pounds for the part) and the people around her. It also boasted a whimsical and popular soundtrack. The cast is perfect, and Sung-kyung had obvious (and apparently real-life) chemistry with on-screen (and eventually, if temporarily off-screen) partner, that long drink of soju named Nam Joo-hyuk). Poignant and funny, “Weightlifting Fairy” is the best gateway K-drama.

 

“Winter Sonata” (2002)

The drama credited for launching the “Hallyu” wave.  Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo made a lot of people cry.  Their characters are immortalized into statues in Nami Island.

 

“W: Two Worlds” (2016)

One of the most high-concept K-dramas ever, “W” is about the secret world within a fictional webtoon and how it crashes into the world we know. Its central love story is wrapped in a package of action and metafiction, with Lee Jong-suk and Han Hyo-joo in the leads.

 

“While You Were Sleeping” (2017)

Being able to predict the future mixed with court cases and life-threatening events result in a most unpredictable drama, with the adorable Suzy Bae and handsome Lee Jong-suk as headliners. Well-written, well-shot and suspenseful, “While You Were Sleeping” is proof that K-dramas continue to get even better.

 

“Wok of Love” (2018)

Just having finished, “Wok of Love” is about what happens with a temperamental and recently-fired chef (Lee Jun-ho), a gangster attempting to reform (Jang Hyuk) and a former heiress who was jilted at the altar (Jung Ryeo-won) all meet at a struggling Chinese restaurant. Aside from an obvious love triangle, you can almost smell the delicious dishes whipped up in the kitchen as the protagonists battle a big hotel’s own Chinese restaurant and the crooked owner—who happens to have stolen the chef’s unhappy wife. Come for the food porn, stay for the romantic highs.

 

“You’re All Surrounded” (2014)

A group of young detectives work together to fight crimes and keep the streets of Seoul safe.  It stars Lee Seung-gi, Go Ara and Cha Seung-won.

 

“You’re Beautiful” (2009)

A nun pretends to be a boy so she could take her twin brother’s place as the lead singer of the band A.N. Jell. This Japanese remake features Park Shin-hye, Jang Keun-suk, CNBlue’s Jung Yong-hwa and Lee Hong-gi.

 

“49 days” (2011)

To recover from her coma, Ji-hyun must collect genuine tears shed for her.  It is not as easy as she initially thought it would be.

 

“1% of Anything” (2003)

She was named heir by a wealthy old man because of her kindness.  His grandsons woo her because of it. This drama has been remade in 2016.

 

How many of these shows have you seen?  What titles will you add to the list?  Tag us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @inquirersuper.

 

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