Which means after those six, everyone is on set trying to pump out at least two episodes a week. Why does this happen, you ask? Well, the problem is when a show goes live in Korea, it’s actually only been pre-filmed for the first six or so episodes. After two back-to-back betrayals, I actually stopped watching them for a year and a half! If you’ve ever experienced this, I’m sorry. Without fail, the second half of most dramas do two things: 1) dragggggg and 2) begin to make no sense and go off the walls. There’s this curse most dramas face because of how they produce them.
Every other time I’ve wanted to throw my laptop at a wall. Of all the times I’ve watched a drama lives, I’ve been satisfied once. It’s also probably why kiss scenes back in the day were so, so, SO bad. This means the restrictions for dramas are crazy high, and why if you get a love scene, it’s like the most PG love scene known to man. The fact that “Itaewon Class” had a trans character is like the most risk-taking I’ve ever seen. Trust me, it’s progressed a lot in the last decade, but it’s still got a ways to go. Socially, Korea is like… the US in the 1950s and 1960s. Korea is much more conservative than you might be used to. It’s easy TV, why the heck do I need tips for watching? Trust me, friend, as any K-drama watcher knows, there’s a certain art to enjoying them, especially if you don’t speak Korean. I probably average a few a year and walk away loving even less.īefore I tell you my favorites, here are some quick tips for viewing! recognize this place from “Hotel del Luna”? My Best Korean Drama Tips Now, ten years later and I feel like a seasoned pro! Keep in mind, I’ve watched significantly less dramas than a hardcore fan. Considering “Boys over Flowers” helped launched the second Hallyu, you can see how quickly I was sucked in! I went from “Playful Kiss” to “Boys Over Flowers” since it was based off my favorite manga. What it really introduced me to was how much better quality K-dramas were. Instead, my introduction came because one of my favorite Taiwanese dramas, “It Started with a Kiss,” was turned into a Korean one called “Playful Kiss” in 2010. You guys don’t know how good you have it these days!Īnyway, I completely missed the first Hallyu (Korean Wave), so I never got sucked into “Winter’s Sonata” and its contemporaries. For years I suffered through bad kiss scenes, questionable fashion choices, and frustratingly conservative romances complete with aggressive wrist grabs. I have been a watcher of Korean dramas for a decade and an Asian drama watcher for even longer. Here’s a post I probably first drafted at the beginning of this blog (aka five years ago) and then let sit in the blackhole of my drafts folder: the best Korean dramas I recommend to anyone who will listen!