If you're a television fan who hasn't yet dived into the world of Korean dramas, you’re missing out on some of the best shows ever made. Long gone are the days when hallyu fans had to trade DVDs or LiveJournal links with (potentially inaccurate) English subtitles. Now streamers like Netflix, Viki, Hulu, and Prime Video have put the breadth of Korean shows and movies at our fingertips, and franchises like Squid Game and Kpop Demon Hunters have become truly inescapable.
Even if you’ve spent the past few months singing “Golden” in the shower, you’ve only scratched the surface of the maximalist, genre-bending, character-driven, highly addictive phenomenon that is the K-drama. These shows—which, fair warning, are a serious time commitment at 12-16 episodes typically over 50 minutes each—range from quirky rom-coms and emotional tearjerkers to terrifying horror and psychological thrillers.
