Are all the dramas worth watching? Do all dramas fulfill your expectations? Let me give you my own honest reviews of Korean dramas. In one word Kdramas are the best pastime for sure. But sometimes it’s more than just a pastime. So many people spend their free time watching dramas. But what if we watch a drama fixing our valuable time but it does not give us satisfaction? In my case so many times I was disappointed and so many times I was so happy that I watched it again and again.
Not only film and entertainment nothing can provide you with the best thing always and never always gives you something bad. So for the sake of our busy schedule and valuable time we must know all about the drama that we want to watch. I hope my honest review of some of the dramas helps you.
What Makes a K-Drama Stand Out?
With what quality can we call a drama good or worth watching? Various things can help us to enjoy a drama, so let’s make a shortlist of the quality.
The Shortlist:
Let’s check out the necessary qualities of a good drama or safe to say qualities of worth watching drama:
- Compelling storyline
- Unique plots
- Strong sub-plots
- Memorable characters
- On-screen chemistry (family, love, friendship)
- Good OST
- Costume
- Emotional connectivity
- A blend of culture and modern life
- Witty and thought-provoking dialog
- Unpredictable twists and turns
The Best Korean Dramas: Why They Deserve the Spotlight:
There are countless dramas that are known as the best, even the best of the best. Let’s talk about some of these dramas about their strengths and weaknesses.
Guardian: The Lonely and Great God(Goblin)(2016):
Goblin is known as one of the most successful k-dramas of all time. Everything in this drama was superfine. I will give my honest review on it.
Strength:
- Emotional Depth: You are compelled to feel the emotions of the characters of the drama from the start to the end. The pain, the love, the guilt of the various characters will affect you with every bit of it. You will laugh with them, cry with them and love with them as well. For sure it’s going to be with you for the longest time of your K-drama journey.
- Cinematography and Visuals: The visuals of the drama are noteworthy, not only the main and second lead but also the side characters’ visuals were eye-catching. The setting of the drama is both Korea and Canada. Skillful cinematography essentially took part in making the drama a total success.
Weakness:
Complex Storyline: To be honest so many get confused about the storyline even about the Goblin’s bride. We can see two lives of each character, even more than two. But if we attentively try to understand the story then this one is not a big deal.
Crash Landing on You (2019-20):
For the unique plot and the actors’ role play this drama listed itself as one of Korea’s most celebrated dramas ever.
Strength:
- Unique Plot: Love between a South Korean heiress and a North Korean soldier is a very unusual and surprising theme. The theme and plot created so much curiosity among the audience, and for sure was positively responded to by the audience.
- Chemistry Between Leads: The chemistry of the main leads was highly praised by the audience. As well as the second lead character’s love and ending is also engraved in the heart of the viewers.
Weakness:
Cultural Stereotypes: Some of the netizens did not like the stereotypes about South Korea and North Korea. Socio-politics were shown in the drama which the critics didn’t praise.
Hotel Del Luna(2019):
The story between ghosts and humans sounds exciting, right? Honestly, the visuals also did their job perfectly. So, let’s talk about the mysterious hotel.
Strength:
- Unique Concept: The story goes forward about telling a hotel that is just for ghosts. The idea is so fresh and new, that it makes the fans hooked on every episode.
- Strong Character Development: The characters were well chosen but it was stronger when the lead characters’ backstory was shown throughout the drama and the fans saw a promising ending of the drama.
Weakness:
Lack of the storyline balance was a barrier to the reader to understand the story smoothly, surely this issue confused the viewers a bit.
The Worst K-Dramas: Why They Missed the Mark:
As I said earlier nothing can give you the best always, the same goes for K-dramas. According to the fans, there are some dramas which are rated as the worst dramas ever. Let’s check some of these out, with an honest reviews of Korean dramas.
Love Alarm(2019,21):
High school love dramas are so much hyped by all the fans. Because this generation can highly relate to it. But this one was surely hated worldwide.
Strength:
The first season was loved by many fabs for its unique design of plot, as the thought of a love alarm app was no doubt unique. The love between the leads in the first season was too liked and admired by the fans.
Weakness:
- Shallow Character Development: As I said the starting season was quite good but it lacked its essence in the sequel. The dialogs were worse, and the chemistry between the leads was even worse. The emotional pain the main lead expressed was too unnecessary.
- Unfocused Storyline in Season 2: The whole season was so unnecessary. The female leads decision-making, and the characters’ presence and emotions are unclear, which brought so much criticism.
Nevertheless(2021):
Personally, I didn’t like this drama at all, among fans there are surely some mixed reactions about it.
Strength:
Chemistry Between the Leads: the chemistry is undeniably good. The main leads plus the other side characters have good on-screen chemistry. The intimate love senses of the leads are enjoyed by so many viewers.
Weakness:
- Problematic Relationship: the main male lead is no doubt toxic and manipulative. The female lead has an indecisive personality for which she can not make the right choice about relationships.
- Slow Pacing: The story was so slow that so many audiences dropped the drama and could not watch it. In so many episodes the plot had zero progress.
Underrated Gems: K-Dramas You Shouldn’t Miss
Every year more than 100 dramas get released,but not all the dramas get the actual hype that they deserve. Dramas like Prisons Play Book, Age of Youth, Chicago Typewriter, Misaeng, Life on Mars and Healer are unbelievably underrated.
My Mister (2018):
Strength:
The emotional depth is so strong in this drama, that anyone can understand or try to understand the feeling that’s going on with the lead characters. The human life struggle, family burden, emotional ups and downs everything was so realistic in this drama.
Reason for being underrated:
My My honest review on Korean dramas like My Mister is that the theme is kind of mature, which somehow could not draw the attention of the young generation. The middle-aged struggles are often avoided by the young people which was a kind of barrier for the drama to go worldwide.
Chicago Typewriter (2017):
Strength:
Creative plot and Stunning visuals are the biggest strengths of the drama. A typewriter, a writer, ghosts in a dark whimsical atmosphere, exciting right? You can guess the reason why this drama is worth watching. With a unique storyline, the characters’ visuals blended perfectly which is the plus point of the drama.
Why It’s Underrated:
The drama is full of a mixture of historical fiction, supernatural elements, romance, and past and present timelines which is a challenge for new viewers to understand the main storyline.
Record of Youth (2020):
Strength:
This one is my personal favorite. The young adults who are trying their best to prove themselves and their potential to make their dream come true, which is easily related by everyone’s real life story. Every generation can see the realistic message of the drama. The performance of each actor was commendable. You can also experience a slight of both the actors’ real-life career struggles.
Why It’s Underrated:
The audience’s expectations were so high of a more dramatic storyline, romance and action. The slow pacing is also a problem, but if anyone likes the slow-burning genre then it’s so worthy to spend some time on it.
Common Issues in Popular Korean Dramas
There are some facts sarcastically without which a kdrama can not be a typical one. For some fans, it’s a boundary of dramas because it’s not necessary all the time, rather it’s so predictable. Let’s note some of them:
-
Draggy plots:
Some writers unnecessarily drag the story which makes the drama lose its standard. Dramas like Boys Over Flowers, Moon Lovers, Melting Me Softly, Unconditionally Fond, the Heirs, Doctor Stranger are affected by this problem. No doubt these dramas are the best of all time, but the slow and draggy storyline made them lose their value. The unnecessary breakups in most dramas in the 13th or 14th episode are so irritating as they will make up in the next episode.
-
Overused Tropes:
Do you know the Cinderella type of story? I mean the rich guy and a poor girl love story, or the rich girl and poor boy stories. How can they not live in the same class status? Body swaps, arrogant lead characters, fake marriages and contract romance are other common tropes of popular K-dramas. Which makes them so predictable. You are a kdrama fan and you haven’t watched supernatural characters and human love stories. This can not happen. You can find it in almost all the dramas.
-
Unsatisfying endings:
You know, everything is avoidable but how can they give us a not so satisfying ending? I mean we love to see them happy. so many dramas irrationally or forcefully give sad endings like the drama twenty-five twenty-one.
How to Choose the Right K-Drama for You
Now a newcomer will surely have a thought like;” Oh! What should I do now?” “ What should I choose now to watch?” “ It’s a complete mess!” Am I right? Don’t worry I have some tips for you, follow me;
Tip no. 1:
Just choose a suitable genre for you, like what you want to watch. Is it romantic or comedy, fantasy or thriller? Go for one and search for the best in that genre.
Tip no. 2:
Prioritize your mood. You are in a good and bubbly mood and as your favorite genre is thriller so you start watching suspense thriller drama, will it make your day? Or it will ruin your good mood. So choosing according to your mood is so important.
Tip no. 3:
Search for honest reviews of Korean dramas, whether from your friend or the internet, it will surely help you in your Kdrama journey.
Tip no. 4:
Before starting a drama make sure to read the synopsis first. If you want, you can watch the cast list too.
In our busy life, we choose our pastimes just to get a release from our working stress, it doesn’t matter what we choose as our favorite pastime. Now if we already made up our minds to watch dramas we need to make sure if it’s worth spending some of our valuable time. At this point an honest review on Korean dramas from someone or somewhere can be really helpful.
In my opinion, a balanced explanation of the drama’s strength or weakness can give a viewer a better experience of refreshment and establish a positive point of view of watching K-dramas.
So now, go for it. Just don’t follow the trend or the current hype, go for something you will like. And in this whole article, I really tried to give my honest reviews on such dramas. Hope it will help you.