10 K-Dramas Better Than Crash Landing On You

Crash Landing on You is wildly popular, but it isn’t the only K-drama worthy of international acclaim. Since its 2019 premiere, Crash Landing on You has been lauded as one of the most romantic K-dramas ever. Unsurprisingly, the drama focuses on a South Korean chaebol heiress crashing into North Korea’s demilitarized zone (DMZ) and falling for an army captain.

Yet, Crash Landing on You isn’t necessarily the best K-drama for beginners. There are plenty of familiar tropes for well-versed fans of Korean dramas, but its convoluted storytelling makes it inaccessible for prospective viewers who want an easy introduction to the genre. Crash Landing on You’s impact is undeniable, but many underrated K-dramas may resonate even better with widespread audiences.

Move To Heaven

A Poignant Exploration Of Complex Familial Grief

Move to Heaven centers on a young man named Han Geu-ru (Tang Jun-sang) who, following his father’s death, is relinquished into the care of his uncle, Cho Sang-gu (Lee Je-hoon). The pair work together to run the family business — trauma cleaning, which deals with the disposal of human remains, bodily fluids like blood, and any other biohazardous material.

Throughout the thought-provoking K-drama, Geu-ru and Sang-gu’s work uncovers revelations for the loved ones of the deceased they clean up after. Simultaneously, the uncle-nephew duo must grapple with their own complicated grief and learn to trust each other. Move to Heaven is incredibly powerful, and its poignant themes of love, loss, and family are both universal and timeless.

Lovely Runner

A Romantic Foray Into Time Travel

Lovely Runner has one of the most iconic K-drama couples of all time: Im Sol (Kim Hye-yoon) and Ryu Sun-jae (Byeon Woo-seok). In the beginning, Im Sol is an ardent fan of Eclipse, Ryu Sun-jae’s band, and uses their music to cope with her lost dreams and the paraplegia she incurred after a tragic accident.

After Sun-jae suddenly dies, however, Im Sol travels back in time to their adolescence and uses her new lease on life to save her favorite artist. Along the way, they both reevaluate their dreams and forge their own destiny. She may have meant to rescue Sun-jae, but for all intents and purposes, Im Sol also saved herself.

Hospital Playlist

Five Doctor Friends Work At The Same Medical Center

There are myriad medical K-dramas that take place in hospitals, but Hospital Playlist is one of the best. Similar to famous medical procedurals like Grey’s Anatomy, Hospital Playlist follows a group of five doctors who become friends during med school. In their adulthood, the entire friend group ends up working together at Yulje Medical Center, each with their own specialty.

While there are serious medical cases and emotional subplots,Hospital Playlist is comfort food incarnate as a K-drama. There’s something cozy about watching the hospital function thanks to five unique characters, all of whom have compelling relationship dynamics with one another. Despite airing two full seasons, there will always be more stories that Hospital Playlist could tell.

Flower of Evil

A Detective Has To Question Her Entire Marriage During A Murder Investigation

In this gripping thriller K-drama, detective Cha Ji-won (Moon Chae-won) has to reevaluate everything after her husband, Baek Hee-sung (Lee Joon-gi), becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation. What at first seems like an inconceivable nightmare quickly turns into an unnerving inevitability. As her husband’s true identity comes to light, Ji-won finds herself in grave danger.

Prior to Flower of Evil, Moon Chae-won and Lee Joon-gi co-starred in the Korean adaptation of Criminal Minds.

The twists and turns throughout Flower of Evil make it a K-drama you just can’t stop watching until it’s finished. The added stakes of Ji-won and Hee-sung having a young daughter makes everything more stressful, and the climactic ending is unforgettable. As such, Flower of Evil is the perfect crime thriller to get you into K-dramas.

Twenty-Five Twenty-One

A Daughter Learns About Her Mother’s Life Via Her Diary

The Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri) we see for most of Twenty-Five Twenty-One is, in many ways, a past life. Hee-do’s daughter discovers the diary she kept in her teen years and, as the child reads the deeply personal entries, Hee-do’s formative years play out in flashbacks — including her fencing career and romance with Baek Yi-jin (Nam Joo-hyuk).

Some K-dramas have no happily ever after for the main couple, but that doesn’t take away from the love they shared or the memories they made. Hee-do reflects on her time with Yi-jin after decades apart and, even if they don’t miraculously end up together, Twenty-Five Twenty-One is still a touching testament to how people permanently affect each other’s lives.

Our Blues

The Lives Of Diverse Characters Set Against Sunny Jeju Island

Our Blues is an amazing slice-of-life K-drama that explores the interwoven lives of people living on South Korea’s famous Jeju Island. From an endearing fishmonger to a defensive haenyeo to two naive high-schoolers, Our Blues platforms an incredibly diverse cast of characters. The unique omnibus format only makes Our Blues an even more interesting watch.

Unlike many dramas that cast a wide net over multiple main characters, Our Blues stays grounded and gives each storyline the time and space it needs to shine. Plus, the cinematography of Jeju Island is a constant source of awe that perfectly captures the drama’s central juxtaposition: by nature, there’s always trouble in paradise.

Reply 1988

The Third Installment Of A Beloved Franchise

K-dramas have had a meteoric rise to popularity in recent years, but 2015 saw the end of an iconic era: the Reply series. Spanning three dramas (Reply 1997, Reply 1994, and Reply 1988), the franchise focused on a core friend group in each installment, making every Reply series an unforgettable K-drama about friendship.

Out of the three, however, Reply 1988 is arguably the best — and certainly the most popular. The five characters that compose the central friend group are all immensely entertaining, and the typical teen woes of romance, heartbreak, and finding your way in the world are translated beautifully in this well-crafted period piece.

Korea’s First Major Attorney With Autism Solves Episodic Cases

From its very first episode, it was obvious Extraordinary Attorney Woo would be a masterpiece of a K-drama. Starring Park Eun-bin as the eponymous Woo Young-woo, the captivating K-drama focused on the harsh reality of life for the titular lawyer — who, despite her genius and legal prowess, was discriminated against her entire life due to her autism.

Park Eun-bin’s acting is stellar and full of much-needed depth, and the drama does a phenomenal job of displaying how autism is a spectrum. Viewers will likely forever mourn the loss of Extraordinary Attorney Woo season 2, but its 16 episodes are still a must-watch for any fan of K-dramas or legal procedurals in general.

Vincenzo

A Lawyer With Mob Ties Is Running From An Assassination Plot

The labyrinthine plot of Vincenzo is deceptively simple on the surface: Vincenzo Cassano (Song Joong-ki), after being raised by the Italian mafia, returns to Korea to escape a hit put on him by his adoptive brother. Yet, upon his arrival, Vincenzo begins unraveling an international conspiracy involving a drug cartel, a corrupt pharmaceutical corporation, and morally questionable lawyers.

Vincenzo is undoubtedly one of the best male leads in K-drama history, and the drama’s perfect blend of style and substance made it a global favorite. Vincenzo is likely one of the most recognizable K-dramas thanks to its streaming success on Netflix, and the acclaim is well-deserved.

Queen of Tears

A Heartbreaking And Unique Second-Chance Romance

Queen of Tears opens on what seems like a failing marriage between CEO Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) and Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun). Initially, their relationship seems destined for divorce, but everything changes when Hong Hae-in is diagnosed with brain cancer. Consequently, the powerful and independent executive has to rely on her distant husband as her health begins to decline.

Queen of Tears is a heart-wrenching K-drama, but there are also wholesome aspects, like Hae-in and Hyun-woo falling in love all over again. Regardless, Queen of Tears is a once-in-a-lifetime premise that will break your heart and stitch it back up. Crash Landing on You is still phenomenal, but its reputation occasionally overshadows K-dramas that deserve much more attention.