Five Quirky, Insightful Kdrama Romances

Four male friends are forced into adulting in their forties. Four couples face a variety of age differences and challenges. Arresting moment: the flashback where they're huddled around the TV screen (like the rest of the nation) as kdrama Sandglass (1995) airs footage of the Gwangju Uprising.

On the surface, this is a funny, silly contract dating romp. However, the young lovers have had messy prior relationships. Plus there are two sets of quarrelling parents. So much relationship honesty threatens to rain doubt on the possibility of happy ever after. But the young couples, despite being a little bruised, still get to find themselves and fall in love.

This drama is mostly known as a gender bender romcom. But it shows how the leads' lives and values inform their creative work. He's an architect, she's a designer, and their chemistry is not just romantic, but also artistic.

Not just a wacky noona romance, this drama celebrates oddballs and their unique choices. It has a preposterous plot - a high school kid successfully impersonating a businessman. And it has an eyebrow-raising age difference - yup, male lead Lee Min Seok is actually in high school when female lead Jung Soo Young falls for him. But both leads share an idealistic innocence, and they find a way forward that's unusual, yet has integrity.

House cleaning specialist Kim Ji Woon initially appears as a sort of angel. He comes into peoples' homes and straightens up not only the clutter and dust, but also makes their lives better. The drama gradually goes deeper into female friendship and #metoo traumas. But the viewing experience I remember feels like a sunny, freshly cleaned home.