KDramas in review - 18 Top /Under rated KDramas and 7 Overrated KDramas

Reviews of KDramas released before 2021

I saw an interesting post on Reddit that called for your top Kdrama recommendations

I was compiling my list, when I realized it provided a lot of insight into the kind of dramas I liked.

Also, I wanted to record not just the ones that captured my interest but also the ones that didn’t live up to their promise and why.

Add your comments on your dramas to either list and why…

Some things to note:

a. I don’t favor one genre over the other (though I will completely stay away from dramas with zombies and vampires and such).

b. I also go through phases — historical (Seguks), second chance, thrillers, etc. but eventually do like to mix them up

c. Through the list, I will link the drama names with the reviews I mostly agree with so I don’t rewrite reviews already available. None match my thoughts 100% but they generally have the same vibes and thoughts I did on the drama. Hope that helps.

Here then is my list (Updates Feb 03, 2021)

In no particular order — The ones I liked, ok loved :)

One spring night— Fave romance. Very realistic. The chemistry was great. I don’t agree with the rating in the link I have shared but her review of the characters and reason for liking the show closely matched mine. Here is another review I liked too.

Reply 1988 — Fave slice of life. A multi-generational, multi-family story. Kept me going without piling on angst and trauma.

Sky castle / Argon — Fave ‘Let’s deal with some society issues head-on’ . I liked Argon just a tad bit more — I am a sucker for news reporting. But I like that Sky Castle did not step away from its path even for a microsecond. They had a message and they took it to the deep end to ensure it sank into our brains. SC is also the only drama in which I hated the supposedly positive character. Her holier-than-thou attitude just made me want to smack her.

Haechi — Fave historical. Most true to the real story. I read the story of the real king while watching the series. That made me enjoy the show so much more. He was a great King with a fascinating rise to power and ideologies. I loved that the series stayed true to the real story and even when it deviated, it did so only to enhance the real story.

Dream High / Sunghyunkwan scandal — Fave high school /college drama. The first was angst-filled with star-studded Idols, all in their debut drama. SS is a Joseon-time college drama. Unique, fun, and true to their ages.

Shut Up Flower Boy Band — Fave music / band-based. (I love hospital playlist too but I felt that season 2 diluted the magic of season 1). Don’t get fooled by the name. This one is a must see. Flower boys, music, romance, the band that saw early success, gritty story.

www search — Fave corporate drama — 3 women who go after their career goals. The drama is around 2 search engine companies. Lots of familiar stories, fantastic acting and screenplay

Healer / City Hunter — Fave Revenge-based dramas. Well one has JCW and the other has LMH. I could just stop there….but their acting, very strong story line, fantastic screenplay…. really really good. CH could have used a better explained ending but both are super strong.

Kairos — Fave time travel, mystery drama. An underrated drama — how did we miss this one in the 2020 list? A wonderful story, the best screenplay I have seen in a time travel drama, fantastic acting.

Dear My friends — Fave girl friends/seniors based story — a heart warming story, all the feels with wonderful friends, a slice of life stories, and a bonus of a young adult story. Our favorite ajummas surpassed themselves in this made-for-them drama

49 days — Fave ‘learn about life’ story. This one should have made me sad, made the world grey and unlivable. But instead, some fantastic acting and a heartfelt story left me savoring it. It is not an enjoyable watch but an absolute must watch. Just make sure to stock up on Kleenex

Secret Love affair — Fave ‘noona’ romance. To classify it as a noona romance is doing it an injustice. PD Ahn is at his best. Such a well-crafted, well-scripted, and superbly restrained yet exuberant acting by the leads. Be aware though this is a story of an extra marital affair, unacceptable on many many counts. I loved it despite everything taboo but its not a drama for everyone.

Faith: the good doctor — Most complete drama. Very well told story. Its a time travel drama, scripted to perfection. The main leads and support cast were fantastic. Very well paced. With romance, royalty, court politics, and a liberal dose of history, this was a very well crafted drama. All the pieces fell into place, just right. Everything about it was great and was put together very well

Gaskital — Fave under rated historical drama. I cant believe how little has been written about this historical drama. One of those 28 episodes of drama that didn’t drag. Great story, with a fantastic screenplay. Its a must watch for history buffs

VIP — Fave under rated non historical drama. I hesitate to call this a revenge drama because it is not so much revenge as a scorned woman drama. And Jung Nara as the scorned wife nailed it. Another well-written story + screenplay, with great editing and blow-your-mind acting. How did this one ever go under the watchful eyes of the bloggers and reviewers? I also have to mention that reviewers are pretty split on the ending. I am firmly in ‘I liked the ending’ camp :)

Here are the ones that I had high hopes on and failed to meet my expectations

TKEM — I am a huge LMH fan. I waited for this drama and woke up earlier than usual to watch every episode seconds after it dropped. The first time I watched it as it dropped and the second time I binge-watched. The drama had everything good and yet it failed — I blamed that on the 2k’s — KES and KGE. This was KES’s weakest screenplay. With so many elements of time travel, and intrigue and romance and a star cast of actors, she simply couldn’t juggle them well enough. And whoever did the casting — what were they thinking? KGE was underwhelming from the get go and yet given a fork of where to take the drama after ep9 they took the romance. The romance was nonexistent. To put this in ‘below my expectations’ kills me but this one fell way below. In my second watch I completely ignored the scenes with KGE and that certainly made the drama better.

Startup — Fantastic story, start cast of actors — this should have been a super hit. Instead it landed flat. Both main leads were terrible. The screen play was inconsistent. Side stories uninteresting. The only redeeming factor — the gorgeous SL who didn’t get the girl. sigh!

Encounters — A drama in which everything should have been spectacular delivered a series in which everything went spectacularly wrong. Starting with the leads — such high expectations on Bo Gummy and SHK and they delivered a romance completely devoid of chemistry or even interaction. The latter can be blamed on the story, screenplay. A romance in which the leads kept more secrets than they ever revealed. They started off right in gorgeous Cuba. Their characters were built well. Bo Gummy playing his role of open hearted, happy as a clam, positive energy ML. SHK was well…..somewhat sulky, tired, battle weary, shell of a woman who was a great CEO. After their initial connection, the story didn’t really build on it and show their growth as a couple. I struggled through this one. The only halfway decent thing about the drama is the SL

Boys Over Flowers — This Soompi article summed it up. So I will just use what they said — “Perhaps the most over-the-top series in all K-drama land, “Boys Over Flowers” uses almost every plot on this list and more! With 25 episodes, the program truly had it all: the evil mom, the poor girl, the rich guy, the second lead, the mean girls, the hate turned to love, and the list goes on. After overcoming numerous hardships such as kidnappings, near-death experiences, extreme bullying, and broken hearts, this drama pulled out a last minute plot device that we would see repeated in many K-dramas to come. What extreme (and extremely over-dramatic) story did the writers use as a final twist to the series? Say it with me. Amnesia.” As bad as the drama was, this drama delivered some awesome OST’s. Beautiful songs in terrific voices. Speaking of voices, it also gave us the SL to beat all other SL’s

Rooftop Prince / Fated to love you — More over hyped dramas. The first I watched in full hoping it would improve. Smartly, I dropped FTLY in ep4. Over acting, terrible story, tropes, weak FL….. How are these rated so high?

Full House — Yep yep the darling of the Kdrama Pre Hallyu era world. I don’t know where to even begin with how terrible this one was. Poor acting, unhinged screenplay, unbelievable story…..

I read and reply to all my comments. If you wish to discuss, have suggestions, or just POV, please comment on the blog