Eleison

It was fun, and I enjoyed it. I kind of miss watching all the good classics, and am sad they're already experienced, since now few can top them and it's hard to find Dramas I enjoy as much as those. And you'll chip away at them and the list will decrease in no time :) I liked using MDL because it helped me know which dramas to avoid so I didn't waste my time on meh Dramas. All the best!

What streaming site(s) do you have access to/use? That also determines what you can see unless you use pirated sites. I use Rakuten Viki and Netflix. Here are some genres/types and super famous ones that you can try and look into to help you decide what you like:

The Replys (these have a family drama feel, with a main focus on romance and friendship):
-Reply 1988 (the best of the three)
-Reply 1994
-Reply 1997

The Schools (set in high school and themed around attending school):
-School 2013 (the best of the schools, in my opinion--quite good!)
-Who Are You: School 2015
-School 2017
-School 2021 (not great, in my opinion; very weak compared to the rest)

Ghost/Afterlife/Reincarnation Dramas (I will exclude the slough of many recent dramas with the reincarnation trope since I'm not familiar with them yet (some of these below have some romance but are not always "happy" endings)):
-Hotel De Luna (very famous)
-Mystic Pop-Up Bar
-Missing: The Other Side (2 seasons)
-Tomorrow
-Bring It On, Ghost
-Ghost Doctor (also a Medical Drama, enjoyable)
-The Master's Sun (a classic)
-Uncanny Counter (has a lot of action (with evil spirits and is also dark despite also being quite comedic)

Modern Gumiho/Goblin Fantasy Dramas:
-Goblin: The Lonely And Great God (a classic; super famous, with a beautiful but kind of sad ending; be warned!)
-Tales of the Nine-Tailed (2 seasons)
-My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho
-My Roommate Is A Gumiho
-Kiss Goblin

Office Dramas:
-Hot Stove League (also a teeny bit of sports)
-The Good Manager
-Suits
-My Mister
-Search: WWW
-Unlock My Boss (sort of)
-Shooting Stars (sort of)
-Misaeng: The Complete Life
-Start-Up (but also a Healing drama)

Slice-Of-Life/Romance/Healing Dramas:
-Oh My Venus (a classic)
-True Beauty
-My ID Is Gangnam Beauty
-Castaway Diva (also a found family drama with a light suspenseful component) (a favorite)
-Live On
-Another Miss Oh
-Our Beloved Summer
-At A Distance, Spring Is Green
-Hometown Cha Cha Cha
-Move To Heaven (no romance)
-It's Okay To Not Be Okay (very... unique (?) female lead)
-Beauty Inside
-Hogu's Love
-Angel's Last Mission
-When The Camellia Blooms
-Fight For My Way
-Once Upon A Small Town
-Romance Is A Bonus Book
-Itaewon Class (could also solidly go in the Revenge Drama category)
-Go Back Couple
-Thirty But Seventeen (or Still 17)
-What Happened to Secretary Kim? (a classic)
-Do You Like Brahms?

Sports/Slice-of-Life (some have romance below) Dramas:
-Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (a favorite)
-Run-On
-Racket Boys (very light romance)
-My Lovely Boxer

Melancholy Slice-Of-Life/Healing (some with romance) Dramas:
-The Good Bad Mother (has some suspense also)
-My Mister
-Just Between Lovers
-Moment At Eighteen
-Prison Playbook (has a teeny bit of sports, too)

Romance/Action, and a Thriller element (but light compared to the Crime dramas farther down) (love all of these, and all classics):
-The K2
-Crash Landing On You
-Vagabond
-Descendents Of The Sun
-Strong Woman Do Bong Soon
-Healer
-W: Two Worlds
-The King2Hearts (is alternative reality that pretends Korea still has a monarchy, but is also quite dated; I skipped all the ridiculous villain scenes until the end when he became important; something cozy about the classic old dramas despite all their flaws)

Historical (called "sageuk," and can be quite long) Dramas:
-Mr. Sunshine (be warned; sad ending)
-Six Flying Dragons (a classic)
-Moon Embracing The Sun (a classic)
-Tree With Deep Roots
-Under The Queen's Umbrella (a favorite, cool female lead)
-Rebel: Thief Who Stole The People (another favorite)
-Warrior Baek Dong Soo
-Sungkyunkwan Scandal (cross-dressing) (cool female lead)
-Tale of Nokdu (cross-dressing)
-100 Days My Prince
-The Crowned Clown
-The Bridal Mask (also quite dated; prepare yourself for over acting and bad sets 😅, and torture; but there's something special about it still)
-The King's Affection (cross-dressing)

Fusion Sageuk (have anachronistic and/or fantasy elements) Dramas:
-Alchemy Of Souls (2 Parts) (a favorite)
-Gu Family Book
-Hwarang
-Forbidden Marriage
-Queen In Hyun's Man
-Live Up To Your Name (also a Medical Drama)
-Splash, Splash Love (only 3 episodes)
-Arthdal Chronicles
-The Secret Romantic Guest House
-Love In The Moonlight (cross-dressing; could be in the sageuk section, but it shamelessly rewrote history so I put it here, a classic)
-Mr. Queen (comedy, body-switching)

Medical Dramas:
-Dr. Romantic (3 seasons) (2nd season is a favorite; haven't seen Season 3, but Season 1 is also good)
-The Good Doctor (American show of the same name based on this)
-Hospital Playlist (2 seasons) (quite famous)
-Doctor Stranger (end is kind of a train wreck, but Lee Jong Suk is great. :))
-Beautiful Mind

Modern Fairytale/Fantasy Dramas:
-I Can Hear Your Voice (also a Law Drama) (one of my all-time favorites)
-Pinocchio
-While You Were Sleeping (also a Law Drama) (one of my all-time favorites, a classic))
-I'm Not A Robot (a favorite)
-Legend Of The Blue Sea (a classic)
-My Love From The Star (a classic)
-My Lovely Liar
-Are You Human Too?

Law Dramas:
-Law School
-Miss Hammurabi
-Extraordinary Attorney Woo (a new classic)
-The Devil Judge (also Revenge and Action/Thriller)
-The Lawless Lawyer (also Action/Thriller)
-Suspicious Partner (but also heavy on romance; famous but not my favorite)

Action/Thriller/Detective/Crime (serial killer plot) Dramas:
-Beyond Evil
-Flower Of Evil (a classic)
-Stranger (2 seasons, also Law Drama) (a favorite, a classic)
-The Good Detective (2 seasons)
-Signal (a favorite, a classic)
-My Perfect Stranger
-Tunnel (a favorite, a classic)
-Bad and Crazy
-He Is Psychometric
-The Memorist
-Hello, Monster/I Remember You
-Mouse (famous for a major plot twist)

Monsters/Zombies/Paranormal:
-Sweet Home (famous, the 1st Season in particular; the monsters have kind of a stop motion kind of movement to them; unique! Very gory)
-Zombie Detective
-All Of Us Are Dead
-Happiness
-Search
-Duty After School

Revenge Dramas:
-Vincenzo
-The Glory

Older Classics:
-The Heirs (has a makjang feel, like My Perfect Marriage Revenge)
-Dream High
-Boys Over Flowers (I like the new Thai version the best, but there's a Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese and Thai version; probably THE biggest drama of all time across all the Asian countries, and a must watch, just to say you have; has the famous hard-working poor girl meets chaebol heir that is the most famous romance trope in Kdramas, so, definitely a Kdrama Rite Of Passage)
-Coffee Prince
-Secret Garden (body-switching; the ML is a jerk for a VERY long time)

There's a bunch of famous makjang ones, like Penthouse, and there are a bunch like it (you can tell just from the posters, haha) that you might like, too. My Father Is Strange was all I could do.

And by the way, these are all Korean dramas. JDramas are not my thing, and I've only watched a few Chinese Dramas that were super highly rated (Hidden Love (modern romance drama), When I Fly Towards You, (modern romance drama with high schoolers growing up together) and Love Like The Galaxy (historical drama)), and they were very good. Chinese Dramas just have a different feel than Kdramas and I'm not sure I'm into it, and I kind of started with the best so I'm scared to venture into lower rating territory as I tried one and quickly dropped it. Cdramas are even more unrealistic and fluffy than Kdramas, which is saying something. 😏

This is probably WAY more than you wanted, haha, but I had fun compiling this and trying to decide what categories to use to group them. I'd also recommend you track the screenwriters you like as you watch, because they tend to write similar types of things and have consistent quality; tracking them can help you know what you'll like and what to look for (for instance, Castaway Diva, I Can Hear Your Voice and While You Were Sleeping are dramas I dearly love, and all have the same screenwriter; I know now she's always going to be one of my favorites). :) Enjoy!!

Ah, I've heard people mention VPNs, but I'm such technological dinosaur that I have no idea how to do one, haha. Is it difficult to set up?

I also just like to do things the legal way, if possible. I have no scruples about watching a drama on an illegal site if the show can't be accessed legally on any platform in my country (I tried it once, but it just wasn't a relaxing experience). I admit it is getting annoying how many platforms there are now that things are released on, and I get there's lots of bureaucracy and red tape. It is what it is. So, I just plan things out strategically (like watch something with a free trial 😅) or wait it out (several dramas I couldn't watch for a long while finally came to Viki or Netflix), so I'm usually rewarded for my pains. Still waiting on City Hunter, Six Flying Dragons, and 18 Again since nowhere in the U.S. can I access these legally yet (as far as I know). I know, I'm an anomaly, and admittedly kind of a square peg by having this mindset. 🙃

Oh yes, I pay for it, like Netflix. :)

I liked that Se Hyeok was left to take care of Yoo Ra when she walked in saying she was pregnant with his baby; but of course, by then he was over her. 🤣 Sweet justice. Whelp, he wanted her, now he can have her. She came to him when she hit rock bottom (and he was who she went to when she hit rock bottom...ouch).

Final verdict (didn't realize until Episode 11 that Episode 12 was the final episode 🤣): this was fun! I thought the ending was sweet and satisfying and...

Between Rakuten Viki and Netflix I can watch almost every drama I look for, though there are a few exceptions. I don't like the sketchier streaming sites like kissasian and dramacool because the ads drive me nuts.

😂😂😂

Hmmm... do you like the over-the-top dramas that are fun and particularly unrealistic? My Father Is Strange was quite good (it's about 50 episodes and many characters are not likeable at first but they really improve and the end is just great), but I haven't seen a lot of makjangs because they're not usually my thing. What type of dramas do you like? It might give me a better idea of what to recommend. :)

I also thought it got WAY better in Episode 2. Episode 1 was such a random episode, haha. And some stuff just made no sense. 😄

I think people enjoyed this because they could watch a throwback makjang without having to sit through 50+ hrs? This is unusually short for a makjang/family drama, from what I understand? And it doesn't take 3/4s of the drama for you to like characters (that's how long it took me for many of the characters to grow on me in My Father Is Strange 😂). This one is watchable by those of us who can't usually stomach makjangs. 😏

I think that's typical of makjangs, though? 😉

Have you seen The K2? Another Kdrama that's pretty over-the-top but also just fun and entertaining to watch. It's not a story that could happen in any world we live in (like this drama), but it's an enjoyable ride. Has more action than this one but a similar feel. Like junk food that you know is not the best quality, but you just love it because it's comfort food. 😏

Sung Hoon really has the smolder expression down pat, and so many of the over-the-top parts made me giggle. So entertaining! It has been very aptly described as a drama that knows it's dramatic and unrealistic and is just fully embracing its ridiculous plot. 1st Episode was wobbly for me but things got much better in Episode 2.

I'm in Episode 11 and wondering who the villain will be now that the evil step mother has been done away with... ? 🤔 Obviously need to finish, but my impressions so far.

Keep watching. :) It ends well!

Those are some good ones to start with! :) And yes, it's interesting to see how those in Korea respond versus Koreans not in Korea, then Asians in general, and then just people completely unrelated to Korea who get into the content. Definitely seems like some dramas explode with foreign audiences but don't always do well domestically (even though the webtoons many dramas are based off of are usually for domestic audiences, I think? Which is interesting). Though Kdramas seem to do better with western audiences than Jdramas (which I, for one, have not been able to get into, haha; also, the relationship values and morality of Japan is hard for me to relate to). Netflix is doing different stuff with Kdramas and experimenting to cater to western audiences and I'm not a huge fan. I watch Kdramas cause I like that they're NOT like the stuff western media is churning out, haha. I watch almost nothing else on Netflix because I think most of it is... how do I say this nicely?... very mediocre, lewd or just plain bad. Haha, anyway, enjoy!

Yeah, figuring out who the ML was definitely a bit of a task! I was trying to think of a drama I'd seen that teased who the ML was in this way and I couldn't really think of one; it's kind of different, and I realized that some viewers (like you) might find that frustrating. And I get it, haha. Definitely tried to increase everyone's suspense! I also went off of the placing of CJH and CHY in the cast list and that helped steady my suspicions. Also, this comment section was doing all it could to answer the "Who is Ki Ho?" question from the get-up so for those of us reading this while it was airing, it was impossible to miss the hints. 😂 But they were very subtle; they tried to make it difficult to tell!

I would check out this screenwriter's other dramas and see if any look familiar; if you liked them, then you will like this one, as the feel is very similar, and the writer is consistent. I didn't want the FL with the SML, but again, everyone has their preference. You could start it and see what you think, but romance doesn't really pick up until Episode 7.

There is romance, but it's not heavy. I'd say the friendship of the ML and FL is half the emphasis of the plot, but romance is about 1/3 of the emphasis. So it shows them being close friends more than it shows them being overtly romantic. There is a good kiss in Episode 11. :) Some people don't think they had romantic chemistry, but I disagree. 🤷‍♀️ My two cents. :)