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As my maiden voyage post, I want to start with my all-time favorite (to-date) picks for Korean Dramas. Before I share the winners for Modern, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, and Historical dramas, let me share some of my biases and personal ranking system.
Biases:
- I love a good love triangle
- I prefer romance, historical, and costume based dramas
- Strong preference for competent, smart female leads
- I gravitate towards happy endings, but there better be some struggle on the journey.
Second, my ranking system. With 1 being the lowest, and five being the highest, I rank the following for a combined score:
1. Character Development: I look for characters that drive emotion. Whether it is empathy, love, or disgust, I'm going to watch dramas that evoke a reaction. The more I believe you as a character, the higher the rating (and how well the series does that with its leads and sub-characters).
2. Costume & Set Design: High budget doesn't always mean success in this category, but it undoubtedly helps. I want to believe this drama is real, and the right attention to detail, too much or too little green screen (looking at you C-Dramas), or purple feathers coming out a Josean period hanbok, for example, can shatter the magic.
3. Time Investment: For me, I don't mind spending 20+ hours on a good drama, but with sub-plots, multiple character story lines, and intrigue, there has to be a good equation of keeping you interested and wanting to invest. Ultimately, I'm going to be looking for how willing I was to continue watching, or how much wear n' tear my skip button got while I watched.
4. Storyline: Dramas are stories. I look for compelling stories and how much they transported me to its world. Too unbelievable (in the context, I give fantasy a wide berth) or too many subversive, backstabbing moments by the jealous girlfriend are likely to result in lower Dramafox score.
Now for the winners!
Set in Modern Times: The Last Empress (DramaFox Score: 19.5/20)
Finished: February, 2019
Where I watched: www.viki.com
Run Time: 52 Episodes, ~30 Minutes each
Spoiler-Free Synopsis:
At the center of this drama, as the name suggests, is our heroine, Oh Sunny. She is a young actress who through unforeseen circumstances becomes engaged and married to her idol: Lee Hyuk, the emperor of an alternate modern day South Korea. The "grass is greener on the other side" is a fitting saying for this marriage, as the rose-colored-glasses are painfully removed from Sunny's view. We see her rise and fall to the challenges of becoming empress, but also her path as she navigates the relationships around her including her husband's mistress, her mother-in-law, and her bodyguard, Chun Woo-bin.
What makes this show awesome is the characters and continual surprises as the story progresses. I wasn't hooked on this until about the third episode, as I wasn't drawn to any of the central characters at the onset. Oh Sunny seems like a pushover at first glance, but that is part of the draw to the story: just how much her character grows. Not only is it believable, but the sets, costume design, passionate moments between the characters (the villains and antagonists are especially brilliant, and unabashedly self-serving for their own interests). I was on the edge my seat the whole time, and despite it only finishing up two months ago, I'm already tempted to start watching it again.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Strong Woman Do-Bong Soon (DramaFox Score: 18/20)
Finished: April, 2017
Where I watched: Netflix
Run Time: 16 Episodes, ~1 Hour Each
Spoiler-Free Synopsis:
I'll preface that when people ask me for recommendations, this is usually my first choice. I loved almost every single detail about this series. It's not everyday you come across a show that perfectly balances and blends three different genres. Enter Strong-Woman Do Bong Soon. This weaves a comedic story of romance, fantasy/sci-fi, and crime as we follow our protagonist, Bong-Soon. Born with super-human strength, a trait that is passed from mother to daughter, Bong-Soon is almost like an other mid-twenties modern girl, y'know except for the fact that she can toss a car as easily as other people would toss away a used kleenex. While she doesn't broadcast her skills, in some cases she hides them, they are accidentally witnessed by Ahn Min-hyuk, a young Game Developer and CEO who ends up hiring Bong-soon to be his bodyguard. Against the background of this budding romance (and eventual love triangle) is a serial kidnapping and murder case.
Sounds a bit far stretched? I don't disagree, but that is part of the charm of this series. To this day, I cannot think of a drama that made me literally cry from laughter or squeek from delight. Bonus is a cute soundtrack, nearly perfect special effects you don't even notice, and some really great side characters. I was hooked on episode one, and the adorable romance between Park Bo-young and Park Hyung-sik has made me come back to this series multiple times. I hope you love it just as much as I do!
Historical: Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (DramaFox Score: 16/20)
Finished: August, 2016
Where I watched: DramaFever (R.I.P)
Run Time: 20 Episodes, ~1 hour each
Spoiler-Free Synopsis:
After a freak solar eclipse, modern day Go Ha-jin awakens as Hae Soo, a younger cousin to the royal family, specifically to the 8th prince (by marriage), in Korea's Goreyo period. She retains all of her present day experience, memories, and tendencies--which make her stand out among the royal family. This reverse harem style series mainly centers around Hae Soo and the black sheep prince Wang So, the trials of the royal family (and all that comes with it when you have over ten children), and all of the political intrigue from the recently unified Goryeo. Hae Soo finds herself trying to maintain a distance and not have any impact on the pending future, but as rivalries develop and political intrigue rises as the emperor comes closer to the end of his reign, Hae Soo finds herself having to make difficult choices. Often, these choices isolate her from Wang So or are at the price of her own happinesss.
What makes me keep coming back to this drama, it's one of the few that I actually own since Drama Fever closed down, is the heart-wrenching romance, and because of my personal fandom of the main characters. It wasn't well received in eastern audiences despite the huge budget (costume and set design are also detailed), and I can see their point of view. Despite a few lackluster performances, and some lulls in the middle of the series, it has still kept in my favorites list and has a special place for being one of the first K-drama I ever watched.
Also, part of the obsession could be the great OST, and stunning vocals of Im Sunhae for "Will Be Back": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y95NLphMgxc
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