unusual dramas

(TW: suicide and suicidal ideation) first off, it's necessary to praise the production team for this one. it was a brave choice to run with given the underlying subject matter, and the politics and social considerations around the topics of certain episodes. as you start watching, this may seem like a drama that does not take itself seriously and is at risk of devolving into a tropefest featuring white trucks of doom and grim reapers. it is actually a sensitively directed series exposing some of the types of personal interactions and societal issues that drive people towards suicidal behaviours. it would have been so, so easy to see it devolve into the type of preachy PSA trap that dramas such as Death's Game fell into, but it managed to resist the easy path and feels all the more meaningful for it.

overall thoughts: manages to be light and funny but handles deep topics with the necessary gravitas and sensitivity.

(TW: domestic violence, bullying, sexual assault, misogyny and more) there is so much awful behaviour in this, it's not an easy watch. it's also shot in an overly arty, almost try-hard way that adds to the vertiginous sensation as you claw your way through this drama. yet these are not negatives. they are the reason this is a compelling watch. although the series occasionally loses a little of its early impetus, it has enough to carry it through its fairly short, but very much not neat, run.

overall thoughts: this is like looking at art photos of an accident scene, it will probably leave you feeling dirty but there's an acid gloss to it that is perversely attractive.

at first glance this is a very usual costume drama, somewhat indeterminate point in time, attractive actors, light and bright colours. it starts with comedic scenes, not entirely unusual. what is unusual is that it retains this tone overall even though it gets quite deep into what is a set of very dark topics, many juxtaposing ancient practices and modern feminism - domestic violence, women's economic rights, arranged marriages. a particularly positive aspect is the way that most of the women in this drama support each other, a far cry from the usual divide-and-rule harem politics.

overall thoughts: occasionally silly but a delight.

while we can probably all admit that the peerless Lee Youngae appears not to age, this underrated series nevertheless boasts an unashamedly un-put-together middle-aged woman as the lead? sign me up for this. add a female villain and sidekick? definitely in. this series is a pretty wild ride and diverges just enough from the usual Kdrama for its woman-centered plot to be more than window-dressing. it may not stick with you forever but it's a tantalising rollercoaster while it lasts.

overall thoughts: tropey enough to be comfortable, odd enough to be enjoyable.

if, like me, you'd never really watched minidramas before, this is probably a gateway drug. while it has its flaws, the list of positive factors is far longer than it should be, and the storyline felt more coherent than many full-length dramas. kudos to the writer for this tiny jewel because keeping a decent narrative running while introducing the number of characters required for a historical drama with any amount of court politics feels like it requires the highest levels of literary Jenga skill.

overall thoughts: good costumes, superior eyebrow game, surprisingly engaging and coherent story, quite possibly the only minidrama I will ever recommend.

for fans of western procedural dramas, this may not feel like anything new outside of the unique cultural aspects of the Korean workplace or general society. but it is somewhat of a rarity in this context. male lead is a grumpy, asocial middle-aged man, the young prosecutor has a reasonable backstory, and the rest of the crew feel solid enough. while the medical and legal aspects might induce the occasional sideeye in anyone with knowledge of either field, it doesn't feel like too much of an ask to sit back and just enjoy the ride rather than insisting the bus be driven perfectly.

overall thoughts: a pleasant, if occasionally stressful, watch for fans of this genre.

this is one of those dramas that works even though it shouldn't. it's shot in an overly bright, simplistic way reminiscent of 1990s soap operas. but once you adjust to that, it actually feels like a positive, as if you're more intimately part of the scenes playing out. main lead is a charismatic young actor whose skills at first almost feel wasted. but at some point, he drags you along and you forget those thoughts. this drama reminds me in some ways of the Kdrama Tomorrow, and is equally a meaningful exposition of what it means to be alive, masquerading as comedy.

overall thoughts: an ostensibly light drama that will stab you right through whenever you think you can relax into it.

(disclaimer: at the time of writing, I had not finished this series.) one, it is very much not an idol drama. two, it's apparently based on a true story but how loosely is the question, because it is a wild ride reminiscent of the flurry of gritty but surreal Hollywood movies that I remember coming out in the early 2000s. there are a lot of ugly things in this drama, from the initial building site through to the criminal activity, the weather, and some of the characters. you might actually start to feel sweaty and itchy on occasion as you get immersed in some scenes. and there is plenty of unmitigated violence. but it's also an interesting view of the challenges of expatriate workers in more remote and unpoliced parts of the world, and those of local residents who are mostly just trying to carry on and live as well as they can.

overall thoughts: this is a curiosity perhaps but a well-regarded one which may well be worth your time if you need something a little different from the standard Cdrama that international streamers show.

murders in a small town: check. childhood connections: check. comedy sidekick: check. revenge orphan: check. you will also suffer enough secondhand embarrassment from this male lead that sometimes you'll need to pause and reassess your life. in return, this drama deftly delivers a solid treatise on gossip and holding onto personal morality in the face of majority opinion. both leads delivered solid performances and went above and beyond. in what may be a surprise to many, this isn't a sports drama at heart, but if you can get to the end without searching for all the information you can find on Korean wrestling, you are a better person than I.

overall thoughts: a criminally underrated cross-genre gem that delivers far more than any synopsis describes. also, ssireum!

this is a big-budget drama which finds a comparison in shows like Game of Thrones in tone and content. the first installment sets up the rest of the drama, and turns noticeably darker as our main characters travel from their home to a more urban, politically charged landscape where we meet an entire cast of antagonists who feel very much like the stars of the show. the final instalment includes some slightly baffling cast changes that I ended up not being upset about since Lee Joongi felt like the upgrade he was portraying as he reprised Song Joongki's double role.

overall thoughts: a rarely-talked-about but entertaining epic which really stands alone in a similar way to series like Alchemy of Souls or Kingdom.

if you think about crime dramas, we've seen it all, from specialist fraud units, SVUs, forensics and pathology, major divisions investigating serial murderers, lone-wolf detectives pursuing crime syndicates. in this series, we are introduced to the thoroughly unsexy railway police, whose job it is to deal with pickpockets at the station and thefts on trains. this is not a procedural but a pursuit story starring an ill-favoured demoted detective. it's dark and dirty and features an overlapping network of career crime and petty misdemeanour. is generally well-directed and features some tidy editing towards the end when a lot of karmic vengeance is delivered all over the map.

overall thoughts: a slow train ride with veteran actors leading you through a gritty urban landscape.