2025 Drama Watch List

Look, if you want serious period drama with good acting- this is not for you. Want a popcorn and cheese drama that is deeply committed to being pretty ? This is for you. I happened to be in the frame of mind that allowed me to switch off my brain for the duration of 34 episodes and had a blast. 

Literally two of THEE hottest actors in chungmuro and a script I wouldn't feed to a lizard. I can't man, I just can't. Dropped at 2/12 episodes.

I was very hopeful when I started this- old school sageuk with Han Suk kyu??? Seemed perfect, but aigoooo, it was like wading through a swamp. I don't mind slow dramas, but this didn't seem to have any ideas to justify it's 20 odd episodes, and around the halfway mark I had to admit I didn't have the strength to go on. It's a pity- absolutely stacked cast of all my faves- maybe another time!

Thoroughly enjoyed this rather modern tale set in the Tang Dynasty- the leads are incredibly charming and have an enviable chemistry, the production is top notch, and the drama clops along at an unflagging pace. It may seem like Feminism 101 on many levels- unsubtle in many respects- but I'm far more interested in seeing how far they can and will take the theme of individual-and collective-freedom and the right to dissent. Will definitely be tuning in for season 2!

This is not a season that needs to exist, and everyone involved knows it and yet. It says something about the hold Lee Jung jae has over me that I ended up watching this season after all. Pretty much as bad as I expected, notwithstanding Gong Yoo fellating a gun and then shooting himself in the head in episode 1. Don't bother.

I can see this is considered a queer classic for good reasons- sageuks regularly have cross dressing characters, especially women, but they rarely, if ever, commit to a queer love story, especially between women, the way this did. The drama had a really strong base- incredible premise, a chance for really intense and dramatic queer Romance- but almost from the start I felt let down by the actors. I'm aware that Moon Geun young is everyone's fave, but she just didn't do it for me as Yun Bok; though she was heaps better than Park Shin yang, whose stockbroker soul energy lowered every scene he was in, or Moon Chae won, whose monotonous line delivery was some kind of lullaby. It didn't help that the mandatory political plot featuring many old men talking and talking and talking dragged down the drama in the second half- I freely admit fast forwarding through most of episodes 14-20, stopping by only for the scenes between Yun bok and Jeong-hyang, because I really was watching only for that.  Utilitarian dialogue- as though the writers were afraid to let poetry and real drama into a story that is a melodrama- and truly uninspired direction do the rest of the damage. I can't help but wonder how this book/ story would have fared in better hands- writers Kim/Park, where are you!- if anything, the show makes me want to get my hands on the novel, which I suspect, had things to say about art and identity and love that were way more interesting than the show manages. Having said that, I do believe the rather open ending was interesting- and a bit of a relief- even though I didn't feel that the show earned it, not really. Anyway, I would rec it for those with interest in queer classics- and possessed of enough patience to sit through the 20+ hours.

A slick, formulaic, adrenaline ride that stays afloat only because of Ju Ji-hoon's good looks and almost other worldly charisma. Made like an action-comedy movie, the kind of thing that its lead star is very comfortable with- his charm makes you overlook almost every other flaw, like its superficial politics,  the persistent military propaganda and typical kdrama/movie racism. (GOD, I need Chungmuro  to STOP talking about Afghanistan or any country in Africa like it's their goddamn backyard.) I had the same approach to this as I did with Blossom- decided to just switch off my brain for a bit and enjoy people being cool and pretty. It did definitely help that while Dr.Baek is written as a macho, cool, cocky, hypercompetent, thrill seeking rockstar, he's also written as someone who's a good boss and isn't an asshole without reason. I'm told there's a second and maybe third season in the works following the massive success of this one; it'll be interesting to see if they can give the good doctor some character development (though I think it's very likely that they'll choose instead to go back to his past as a private military company medic, UNFORTUNATELY). Anyway- an easily binged 8 episodes for a lazy weekend at home. 

What could have been an interesting perspective on Yi Bang Won and Wonyeong never quite lives up to the promises of its premise; the writing seemed stuck on a single (indecisive) note, and so were the actors. Weird choice to have the "Before Sunrise" (2 episodes that were a "prequel" to the show) stuck at the end- can't quite figure the math or logic of that. The drama improves a little toward the end, but early to mid episodes were a bit of a slog. Cha Joo young wasn't too impressive to me- sorry, but her lip fillers were just so damn distracting-Lee Hyun wook was slightly better. You won't lose anything by skipping this one. 

If they had started the series with this, I think it would have fared better- at least this gives you some reason to care about the relationship between Yi Bang Won and Wonyeong.

Cottagecore, Chinese civic admin and tourism ppl, and two of the most attractive people on the planet? 10/10 no notes, actually. 

Very watchable, fast paced, hits all the right emotional notes especially toward the end, anchored by a strong performance by Lim Ji yeon as Goo Deok/ Lady Ok. Choo Young woo- exists, I GUESS. The initial euphoria of having a  queer character as one of the mains  was fast dulled by what happens with said character- almost all of it off screen- and eventually more about pain than survival or joy; the show, rather predictably, wanted to have its progressive cake and eat it too, and lands in a rather familiar no-man's land. Anyway- its pretensions felt less hollow than The Queen Who Crowns; though one wishes that it had taken some risks which could have catapulted this into something more than a show which will be forgotten by this time next year.

Lasted an ENTIRE episode, congratulations to ME.

ps. Heo Joon ho call me babe

Couldn't even last an episode, sorry Korean Draco Malfoy.

Charming, sentimental, if extremely predictable.  Would recommend this if you feel like a good cry about your parents.

Great story, characters, thoughtful writing, but also very much a product of its era- which is every era, of course- I mean the insistence on women Suffering (TM) to prove their right and worth as entire persons with their own mind and will. I admit that if I was watching this one episode a week for 6 months (the OG airing format), I might not have got so annoyed by this aspect, but then again, there's only so much I can take of a woman who spends 90% of her time on screen with lowered eyes, brimming with unshed tears, trembling lower lip and hesitant voice. Loved the myriad women who turn up in the story, though; and I also enjoyed the thoughtful depiction of systems of power and the difficulty of change. But my favourite thing by far was "Onara, Onara" which is SUCH a banger, and deserves to be in top ten tv soundtracks of all time.

After a great start, this flagged in the middle and toward the end. Still, they gave you enough to care about each of the rather large cast. I thought the leads made their characters, and their relationship feel quite lived in and real, which is quite rare.  I especially loved Zhou Yiwei's character, and he probably needs his own series, which would be super fun, I think. Still, this could have been better with a little trimming, though I wouldn't mind tuning into a future season 2. 

Got through this purely on the power of Wang Xing Yue's cute half smiles and tres dramatique entrances/ exits. Wu Jin yan's continued employment and stardom remains a mystery- girl, you give NOTHING. The chatGPT plot structure is what it is- tolerable, if you're in the mood for something that will not make you actually feel anything, whatsoever. 

I stuck it out for 6 episodes, but even Uhm Ji won in M.A.C. Ruby Woo being a deranged evil bitch can't save this for me.

Didn't live up to its early promise and meandered its way into ultra conservative nonsense. 

Boo hisssssss.

I stuck it out 3/4ths of the way, but man, why are shows these days so-flat? Life is too short to devote 40+ hours to this mediocrity.

I literally dropped this because 3/4ths of the dialogue in this is delivered at a decibel level that my poor ears can't stand. Seriously- the level of screechiness somehow far exceeded the average cdrama/kdrama.....which is a pity because I do love both Kang Ha-neul and Go Min-si individually as actors- but this is just another dead in the water script..I'm so TIRED, y'all.

A rather unusual for the genre story, but patchy writing, uninspired direction and very mid to bad acting, make this a bit of a slog even though it's only 10 episodes.  The show shines most when it's about the women and their friendships/relationships with each other;  it's almost Austenesque in that sense. However, unlike The Matchmakers which had  incredibly deft direction and a stronger script that allowed it to make everything seem effortless, it doesn't quite match its ambitions. The main romance would have been irresistible in the hands of better actors- Kang Ha neul and Go min-si- why weren't *you * in this!!! Still, a cut above the rest of the tripe being served, and the MDL episode rating graph (a sharp slide downward after 2 episodes) proves it-the series choices were a little too bold both in theme and execution for its audience, I guess!!!

A few affecting moments in a burrito of violent misery porn. What's the word you use when something becomes the very thing it sought to critique?  Anyway, glad the Korean season is over, and I'll never have to watch whatever American/ Western spin off they go for.

There's a point in this drama when Zoey Meng's wide brown eyes begin to look unnerving, like a cartoon cat's being held open with matchsticks. I soldiered on, but boy, by the time they hit tthe (probably fake) amnesia bit, I couldn't take it anymore. Just a yawn fest. 

I really enjoyed around the first 13 ish episodes of this season but then they took this hard left into absolutely dumb subplots, kept stretching the miscommunication/ romantic conflict to a point when it stopped being both believable or enjoyable, and then I basically stopped taking this show seriously. The nationalist-security plot just became straight up boring propaganda- not to kink shame but if your pillow talk is HOW DO WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE NATION (TM)- the romance is dead to me, personally. Li Xian in particular felt like he'd checked out for the second half of this, but maybe it was just a character arc that didn't sit well on him, like the goddawful armour he had to wear for about three episodes. He's a lover, not a fighter, people! Let him be a feminist male-wife and stop trying to make him wield a sword!!! Anyway- still, I do have a lot of fondness for this show- but I think watching the first season might actually be enough.

I should have enjoyed this more than I did- but male-gazey feminism , tonal inconsistency and a sort of cowardliness about queerness made this a meh watch for me. Stuck it out for the girls, but tbh I wouldn't really rec this.