Korean dramas, or K-dramas for short, have been increasing in popularity worldwide, and Netflix has been picking up a lot of them. Korean drama, or Kdrama, refers to practically any fictitious television series produced in South Korea, regardless of subject or genre.
This encompasses humor, romance, science fiction, and horror, to mention a few. The majority of these television programs are based on webcomics, an alternative storytelling style to comics that emerged in South Korea.
They are known for their high ratings and award wins- they frequently sweep up awards at ceremonies and festivals. Korean dramas can be classified into a wide variety of genres, including crime shows, zombie thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy epics and romantic comedies.
They are often based on true stories, making them more exciting and engaging to watch. Additionally, Korean dramas often feature complex plots and multiple storylines, which can keep viewers hooked for hours or even days at a time.
Korean dramas are filmed in high-definition (HD) format, giving the viewer a more vivid and realistic experience. Additionally, the music accompanying many Korean dramas has also become popular, with a genre known as K-pop becoming especially widespread.
There are now dozens of different types of K-pop, each with its own unique style and sound that appeals to different people.
Here’s our list of top Kdramas to watch in 2022:
Squid Game
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Ho-yeon
“Squid Game” is a Netflix original series that became a social media sensation and water cooler talking point when it aired in 2021. The nine-part show follows 456 debt-ridden contestants as they compete in a series of dangerous children’s games for the chance to win a life-changing jackpot. Squid Game might be a bit of a downer, action-packed, horror-tinged, and interwoven with deep human drama, but that’s really of the goal in a series addressing the downsides of capitalist excess and the people it leaves behind.
Hellbound
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Cast: Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hyun-joo, Park Jeong-min, Won Jin-ah, Yang Ik-june
How would people respond if enormous demons began openly pounding people to death and publicly “condemning them to hell”? Badly! Extremely horribly! Have you seen the history of the human race? That is the central idea of Hellbound, a grim, extremely violent examination of faith and infectious societal frenzy that would match beautifully with Netflix’s other ponderous and utterly terrifying 2021 tale of religion gone awry, Midnight Mass.
Hellbound, directed by Yeon Sang-ho of Train to Busan, is a slower, more serious affair than his smash Korean zombie film. Still, it shares his unflinching ability to use genre narrative to ask unanswerable (and unfathomable) philosophical questions about humanity.
The Silent Sea
Director: Choi Hang-yong
Cast: Bae Doona, Gong Yoo, Lee Joon, Kim Sun-young, Kim Si-a, Lee Moo-Saeng
In addition to the excellent cast, The Silent Sea is a sci-fi horror series that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. It follows a crew as they journey to an abandoned research facility in space to investigate a tragedy that took place there. The team enters Balhae station on a mission to acquire precious samples that may lead to the production of additional water, a crucially necessary and expensive resource in the future.
With Bae Doona and Gong Yoo headlining this series, you can already tell it’s going to be good.
All of Us Are Dead
Directors: Lee JQ and Kim Nam-su
Cast: Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun
All of Us Are Dead is a horror series set in a world where a virus has turned most of the population into zombies. With the government shut down and student debt being major social issues, the show addresses these topics in a thought-provoking way.
All of Us Are Dead is a Korean drama that has quickly become one of Netflix’s most popular shows. It is gory, intense, and well-crafted, and it was released in January 2022.
Heirs
Directors: Kang Shin-hyo, Boo Sung-chul
Cast: Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye, Kim Woo-bin
While it is hardly the most innovative take on K-Drama, this star-studded ensemble created one of the world’s most viewed Korean dramas. Essentially a Cinderella narrative (or possibly a Gossip Girl tale), Park Shin-hye stars as Cha Eun-sang, an ordinary girl who becomes embroiled in the business of a group of wealthy heirs. The main among them are the Kims.
She stays at their home and attends their high school as the daughter of the live-in housekeeper. There, she meets Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho), the family’s scion, and the two find love despite their differences.
Crash Landing on You
Director: Lee Jung-hyo
Cast: Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin, Seo Ji-hye
Currently, the most beloved Korean drama on Netflix to date is Crash Landing on You, a romantic drama between a North Korean military and a South Korean heiress. Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) is a youthful, stunning, and wealthy woman who decides to fly paragliding one weekend. She is swept away by a cyclone and arrives in North Korea. Se-ri is shielded and concealed by Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok as she attempts to evade capture by North Korea (Hyun Bin).
While Jeong-hyeok tries to assist Se-ri by smuggling her back to South Korea, the two cannot resist their growing affections for one another.
Law School
Director: Kim Suk-yoon
Cast: Kim Myung-min, Kim Beom, Ryu Hye-young
Law School, a more recent Netflix series, follows a story of a class of students and teachers at Hankuk University’s Law School. When a law professor is discovered dead, and a retired prosecutor and professor Yang Jong-Hoon (Kim Myung-min) is imprisoned for the crime, the remaining characters band together to unearth the truth about what occurred and to defend Professor Yang’s innocence.
Record of Youth
Director: Ahn Gil-ho
Cast: Park So-dam, Park Bo-gum, Byeon Woo-seok
Record of Youth follows three young individuals, two models, and a make-up artist, all active in Korea’s modern fashion business. The series follows a typical romantic Korean drama plot, but the cast elevates the series and creates characters that you want to hang around with.
Record of Youth is an excellent introduction to K-Dramas for newcomers, all the more so because it stars none other than Park So-dam, whom many will remember from her part as Kim Ki-jung in Parasite, the child of the scammer family who poses as an art instructor.
Vincenzo
Director: Kim Hee-won
Cast: Song Joong-ki, Jeon Yeo-bin, TaecYeon
Song Joong-ki portrays Vincenzo, a Korean man who was adopted as a youngster by an Italian family and brought up in Italy as a member of a mafia family. Following the death of his adoptive father, Vincenzo’s biological son attempts to assassinate him, prompting him to flee to Seoul, South Korea, where he hides a cache of gold beneath an abandoned apartment building. Sadly, Vincenzo has no simple access to wealth until he demolishes the structure inhabited by a community.
Simultaneously, a crooked business called Babel Group unlawfully takes over the building, forcing Vincenzo to partner up with the skilled, strong-willed lawyer Hong Cha-young, played by Jeon Yeo-bin, who is motivated by personal motives to bring the organization down.
Itaewon Class
Director: Kim Sung-yoon
Cast: Park Seo-joon, Kim Da-mi, Yoo Jae-myung
Itaewon Class is set in the hipster, super-popular neighborhood of Itaewon in Seoul (like Soho or the East Village in Manhattan). Park Seo-joon portrays Park Sae-Ro-Yi, the proprietor of the DanBam restaurant in Itaewon. Sae-Ro-Yi was dismissed from high school for assaulting a wealthy kid named Jang Geun-won (Ahn Bo-hyun), whose dad built a prominent corporation called Jangga Group. This initiates a chain of events that culminate in the death of Sae-Ro-father, Yi’s marked by a seven-year plot of vengeance.
Itaewon Class is a hugely popular drama in South Korea and across the world, correctly portraying the different realities of young adults today.
