K Drama 101
Korean drama refers to South Korean televised miniseries that last between 12 to 24 episode. They generally fall into two main categories: contemporary and saeguk (historical dramas). Contemporary dramas center on romance, family ties, and relationships. Historical dramas are set accross a historical backdrop or incorporates historical figures and events. Saeguks are known for including plotlines with famous battles, royalty, famous military leaders and political intrigues. However, K-dramas encompass a wide variety of genres including action, melodrama/makjang, fantasy, romantic comedy, medical, and historical. Below is a beginners guide to Korean dramas (descriptions from DramaFever)
Action:
City Hunter
This intense, beautifully shot romantic thriller loosely based on a manga of the same name by Tsukasa Hojo, is a revenge drama done right. In 1983, 21 South Korean military operatives are sent into North Korea on a secret mission. After completing their mission, they are executed by their own side in a government cover-up. The sole survivor, Lee Jin Pyo, watches as his closest friend dies beside him. Taking his friend's son under his wing, Jin Pyo raises him as his own and trains him with one goal: to take revenge on the men responsible for this massacre. Some twenty years later, a brilliant young man joins the international communications team of the Blue House (Korea's White House). Lee Yoon Sung has but one mission in mind: to find and bring down the five men responsible for the murder of his father. To do so, he must hide his identity and fighting skills to infiltrate the government. During his quest for revenge, however, he also enacts justice, and is given the nickname City Hunterby the populace, who knows only of a shadowy figure exposing corruption in their city. Torn between his surrogate father's drive for vengeance and the innocent girl he loves, Yoon Sung must fight to survive, and choose the path he will take.
IRIS
Kim Hyun Joon and Jin Sa Woo are college roommates and best friends when they are recruited into a top-secret organization known as the NSS. Hand-picked by Seung Hee, the agency's top profiler, the two quickly prove themselves and rise through the ranks. Along the way both men fall for Seung Hee, who only has eyes for one of them. When Hyun Joon is sent on his most dangerous and high profile mission yet in Hungary, he finds that he has been set up. Believing that everyone he cares about is either dead or a traitor, Hyun Joon goes on a quest for vengeance and discovers the inner-workings of the mysterious IRIS agency. Megastar and Hallyu icon Lee Byung Hun gives the performance of a lifetime as a daredevil secret agent who transforms into a driven, tormented spy on the run from powers he doesn't understand. This star-studded, powerhouse series is packed with all the romance, action and drama you can handle.
Melodrama/Makjang (outrageous plotlines):
Tempatation of a Wife/Wife's Temptation
One night Goo Eun Jae got drunk and Jung Gyo Bin took this opportunity to take advantage of her. Eun Jae and Gyo Bin got married but their marriage is not a very blissful marriage. Eun Jae's best friend, Shin Ae Ri, openly flirts with Gyo Bin in front of Eun Jae. Gyo Bin decided that he did not want to remain married to Eun Jae and tried to kill her. Eun Jae was presumed to have drown and died. Gyo Bin thought he was successful in killing Eun Jae and moved on with Ae Ri. Months later, Eun Jae is back for revenge but she presumes the identity of another woman, Min So Hee, who had killed herself. How will Gyo Bin react to a girl who looks exactly like his presumed dead wife, Eun Jae? Will he be tempted by So Hee?
Nice Guy
Kang Ma Roo is an ambitious young medical student who pulled himself up by the bootstraps to pursue his ambitions of becoming a doctor. Han Jae Hee is a wily young woman with dreams of becoming an anchorwoman and getting herself out of poverty. Ma Roo and Jae Hee have always depended on each other through times of despair and desperation. Just when things seem to be taking a turn for the better, a tragic accident forces one to sacrifice their future for the other. When Ma Roo and Jae Hee are reunited years later, they stand on opposites sides of the social world. Will their past destroy their possibility of a better future?
Fantasy:
Secret Garden
This quirky, high concept drama follows a neurotic businessman and a passionate stunt woman who come to possess each other's hearts and bodies...literally! Kim Joo Won is the arrogant, eccentric heir to a large company. Poised to inherit a large department store, he constantly rejects the girls his matchmaking mother sends his way. When he meets Gil Ra Im, a beautiful, driven stunt-woman, she changes his life, as he becomes fascinated by her strength and vulnerability. Ra Im wants nothing to do with this oddball, drawn more to his pop-star cousin Oscar, whose music she admires. Ra Im and Joo Won are thrown together when, due to a magical accident, they end up switching bodies. Now, they'll have to live each other's lives, coming to know each other (and themselves) in the process better than they would have thought possible...
My Girlfriend is a Nine Tailed Fox
Cha Dae Woong is a spoiled brat with plans to become a successful action star. One day, on the run from his rich grandfather's latest fit of rage towards him, he accidentally frees a nine-tailed fox, Gu Mi Ho, who has been imprisoned in a painting for 500 years. Frightened at first, he runs away to the woods and ends up getting seriously injured. Feeling indebted to him, Gu Mi Ho gives him her " fox orb " a powerful part of her life force, to heal him. When he wakes up, the two form an awkward partnership, as Dae Woong begins to rely on the power of the orb to shoot his action sequences, while also giving in to Mi Ho's request to teach her how to act human. Though Dae Woong is initially acting out of fear, things start to change as he gradually begins to fall for her. However, Mi Ho will be faced with a terrible choice as her time in human form runs out in this heart-wrenching comedy
Romantic Comedy:
Coffee Prince
One of our most popular dramas, this romantic comedy tells the story of Han Kyul, the handsome son of a wealthy hotelier family who is set in his bachelor ways and constantly deflects his family's attempts to make him commit. The constant pressure to get married drives him to hire a goofy young delivery boy Eun Chan to pretend to be his gay lover to scare away his family's set-ups. Trouble starts when Han Kyul begins to get to know the hardworking and lovable Eun Chan, and begins to develop real feelings for him—only to discover that "he" is actually a girl disguised as a boy.
Boys Over Flowers
At the prestigious Shin Hwa High School in Seoul, four boys comprise the group known as the Flower Four. The crème de la crème of the most powerful families from Korea, these spoiled, rebellious, flirtatious and cruel boys rule the school. Enter Jan Di, a girl of humble upbringing who is accepted into Shin Hwa on a swimming scholarship after accidentally saving the life of a Shin Hwa student. Not one for following the rules blindly, Jan Di faces immediate scrutiny from the entire school and in particular the boys of the Flower Four and their leader, Goo Jun Pyo, who dislikes her instantly. Through her charm and undying optimism, she slowly begins to capture the hearts of those around her, even the icy boys of the F4.
Medical:
Doctors
Park Shin Hye (Heirs) and Kim Rae Won (A Thousand Days’ Promise) star in a sizzling romance in what is one of the most hotly anticipated dramas of the year. Forced to fight her entire life, Hye Jung (Park Shin Hye) has shut her heart off from the world and grown into the most battle-hardened doctor you will ever meet. She wants to help people, but she also makes sure to never let anyone get too close. What she doesn’t expect is the return of her mentor, high school teacher, and neurologist Hong Ji Hong (Kim Rae Won), the man responsible for taking a street hoodlum and turning her into a caring student. Years ago, he made her a doctor; now, he is back to make her human. Adding to the drama is Jung Yoon Doo (Pinocchio star Yoon Kyoon Sang), a talented doctor who rejected his father’s sizable corporate inheritance to go into medicine, and Jin Seo Woo (Cheese in the Trap alum Lee Sung Kyung), an old high school rival of Hye Jung’s who is now completing her fellowship at the same hospital and is keen to resume the battle.
Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim
Han Suk Kyu (The Berlin File) , Seo Hyun Jin (Another Oh Hae Young) and Yoo Yun Suk (Jeju Island Gatsby, Answer Me 1994) star in a medical drama that proves no matter how intelligent you are, there is always a teacher who can make you someone better. Boo Yong Joo (Han Suk Kyu) is a genius surgeon. Years ago, he was the resident miracle worker at Seoul’s top hospital, and known to those in the field as the "Hand of God." One day, without any notice, he disappeared. Fast forward a few years later, and Boo Yong Joo is now at a small provincial clinic, donning the name Teacher Kim, and is known as the self-proclaimed "Romantic Doctor." Having been scarred by those he allowed to get close, Boo Yong Joo now enjoys a life of seclusion. However, because of his good nature and immense knowledge, the genius surgeon cannot help but mentor other struggling doctors. These include Kang Dong Joo (Yoo Yun Suk), an easily-irritable but brilliant man who only became a doctor to win someone over and seeks only the most important of VIP patients to achieve success and overcome and his poor past, and Yoon Seo Jung (Seo Hyun Jin), a passionate and diligent young woman who is haunted by a mistake from her past and only became a doctor to win someone’s recognition. The romantic doctor, however, has a different plan for each of them and, through his scarred but optimistic view of life, wants to teach them the true value of saving lives. But when the pupils are decidedly pragmatic and the master a hopeless romantic, can the teacher take his disciples away from biology and put a little Humanity 101 on the syllabus?
Historical:
The Moon Embraces the Sun
Set in the Joseon dynasty, two brothers find themselves falling in love with a female shaman, who does not remember her noble past. Lee Hwon is the Crown Prince, but he finds the role a burden to bear. He would rather have his older, more talented brother Yang Myung play the role, but because Yang Myung is an illegitimate child he has no right to the crown. When Lee Hwon tries to escape the palace walls for a little adventure, he encounters Heo Yeon Woo, the intelligent daughter of a nobleman. It's love at first sight for him, but Lee Hwon is also set to marry another nobleman's daughter, Bo Kyung. Little does Hwon realize, but Yang Myung is also falling for Yeon Woo.
Moonlight Drawn by Clouds
Park Bo Gum (Tomorrow’s Cantabile, Answer Me 1988) and Kim Yoo Jung (Golden Rainbow, Secret Door) star in a gender bender historical drama about mistaken identity bringing about unmistakable love. Hong Ra On (Kim Yoo Jung) has one of the most unique jobs in the Joseon Dynasty: she disguises herself as a man named Sam Nom and gives great dating advice to lovelorn souls seeking to woo that special someone. Because of one of the letters she writes to help win someone over, she ends up meeting Lee Young (Park Bo Gum). But little does she know that Lee Young is actually the future Crown Prince Hyomyung. Lee Young, for his part, also doesn’t know that Hong Ra On is a woman. With both their interests in each other intensifying, things start to get more than a little weird. And those weird things get even weirder when Ra On is sold into the Royal Palace as a eunuch and becomes involved in a political power struggle. Is this a dilemma a dating guru and handsome royalty can solve, or will the darkness of the clouds of greed and deception enshroud the love in the moonlight? Adding to the drama are Kim Yoon Sung (B1A4 member and Jeju Island Gatsby alum Jin Young), a young scholar who is being groomed for leadership by his power-hungry father and who is therefore in direct competition with his childhood friend for the throne, and Kim Byung Yeon (Master: God of Noodles actor Kwak Dong Yeon), the future crown prince’s fiercely loyal and most trusted guard.
