Whether you’re new to the world ofKorean dramasor an experienced viewer, shifting your way through decades oftelevisioncan be intimidating. How do you know whichseriesare the best? After all, we all have busy schedules and little time to spare — we shouldn’t hesitate to try new things, but before we commit to a series, it’s helpful to know which ones are considered classics.
Never fear, because each of the following K-Dramas are well worth the investment. In fact, your experience with the Korean entertainment industry isn’t quite complete without these tales in your life. Engrossing to behold and rather unforgettable, here are the 10 most essential K-Dramas everyone should see at least once, ranked.
10’Love in the Moonlight'
Starring: Park Bo-gum, Kim Yoo-jung, Jung Jin-young
Hong Ra-on (Kim Yoo-jung) has a secret. The daughter of an infamous revolutionary, Ra-on grew up disguised as a boy for her protection. Going by the alias Sam-nom, the chipper young woman offers relationship advice to her eager customers, none of whom are the wiser about her disguise. An accidental encounter spins Ra-on into the orbit of Crown Prince Lee Yeong (Park Bo-gum), the sly and witty heir to Joseon’s throne. Also, unaware of her secret identity, Yeong selects Ra-on as one of his eunuchs, which makestheir growing romantic entanglementeven more dangerous.
Love in the Moonlightwas a cultural phenomenon in 2016, and for good reason. Korea has no shortage of historical K-Dramas, the vast majority being glamorous and heartfelt — butLove in the Moonlightmight just be the definingsageuk. Lead directorKim Seong-yoonsurrounds Ra-on and Yeong with an impeccably romantic atmosphere, squeezing every ounce of sincere intent and shy, star-struck glances out of their coming-of-age love story. Park and Kim’s performances, equally charming and pure-hearted, never break the immersion. The result is an alchemy that audiences must see to believe.
Love in the Moonlight
Starring: Ji Chang-wook, Park Min-young, Yoo Ji-tae
Very few people know Seo Jung-hoo’s (Ji Chang-wook) true name. The man known as “Healer” turns a pretty profit by running illegal jobs, and his team are the best in the business. He draws the line at assassination, but otherwise, nothing is off the table if it means Jung-hoo eventually raises enough money to move to an uninhabited island. When the world’s best courier is tasked with protectingChae Young-shin (Park Min-young), an up-and-coming journalist determined to root out high-level corruption and locate her biological parents, Jung-hoo’s fondness for his charge — and Young-shin’s admiration for the anonymous guardian she only knows as Healer — evolves into love.
Most K-Dramas fuse different genres together.Healeris no different in this regard, but the series shifts its tone between melodrama and comedy with a finesse only available to the best dramas.Healeris confident in its identity and its aims, which ensures that its tropes service the story rather than dictate the narrative’s path. Truthfully, there’s no series quite likeHealer— an action-adventure that almost doubles as a superhero origin story filled with mystery, suspense, a Superman and Lois Lane-esque romance, and adorably memorable characters.
8’My Name'
Starring: Han So-hee, Park Hee-soon, Ahn Bo-hyun
On her seventeenth birthday, Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee) helplessly witnesses her beloved father’s murder by an unknown assailant. Orphaned and brokenhearted, Ji-woo swears to find the man responsible and claim her revenge. Her options are limited, leaving Ji-woo to join Dongcheon, a crime syndicate led by Korea’s most powerful drug lord and her father’s old friend, Choi Mu-jin (Park Hee-soon). After years of rigorous training, Ji-woo infiltrates the police under a fake name. However, her search for answers might bring her closer to home than she wants.
My Nameis oneofNetflix’s early Korean originalsand a phenomenal example of the creative freedom a streaming platform can allow productions. No thematic or stylistic detail is taken for granted or rushed, and the result is a ruthlessly blood-soaked, action-packed fable grounded by Han’s mesmerizingly vulnerable performance. Ji-woo is a remarkable lead, andMy Nameis a hyper-intense ride that will haunt your dreams.
7’Hospital Playlist'
Starring: Jo Jung-suk, Yoo Yeon-seok, Jung Kyung-ho
Five doctors — Lee Ik-jun (Jo Jung-suk),Ahn Jeong-won (Yoo Yeon-seok), Kim Jun-wan (Jung Kyung-ho), Yang Seok-hyeong (Kim Dae-myung), and Chae Song-hwa (Jeon Mi-do) — firmly believe in the old adage that “laughter is the best medicine.” Never doubting the close friendship they’ve maintained since their days in medical school, the group practices what they preach, comforting their patients and combating their profession’s high-intensity stress with optimism, focus, and music.
Hospital Playlist’s Yulje Medical Centre is the opposite of the intensely dramatic environment we’ve come to expect fromother medical dramas likeGrey’s AnatomyandER, and that’s a positive thing. The series never trivializes illness or the medical system’s inherent flaws, but the core five’s unshakable unity carries them through every obstacle, of which there are many — professional, personal, or otherwise. Start watching for the familiar hospital atmosphere, stay for the refreshingly kind and charismatic characters whose unfettered joy provides a balm for our collective souls.
Hospital Playlist
Starring: Lee Je-hoon, Kim Hye-soo, Cho Jin-woong
When Park Hae-young (Lee Je-hoon), a rising star in the modern criminal profiling world, finds an abandoned walkie-talkie, the last thing he expects is a portal to the past. Hae-young lives in a thoroughly non-supernatural world, but the only person who ever answers the walkie-talkie is Lee Jae-han (Cho Jin-woong), a detective from 1989. Separated by time yet united in purpose, the unlikely duo uses Hae-young’s psychological profiling expertise and his knowledge of the present to solve cold cases from the past. However, despite their positive intentions, meddling with time always has consequences.
A supernatural crime thriller inspired byreal-life cold cases,Signalis just about the closest a story can come to perfection. Suspensefully directed byKim Won-seokand expertly written by the award-winningKim Eun-hee,Signal’s taut, slow-burning build sustains itself up until the very end, combining the case-of-the-week format with several overarching mysteries. Park, Lee, andKim Hye-sooas Detective Cha Soo-hyun miraculously share a sprightly, sparkling chemistry without meeting face-to-face, whileKim’s performance — a steel surfacehiding her broken heart and her search for her vanished mentor — wrings this series inside and out for all its worth.
5’Mr. Sunshine'
Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Kim Tae-ri, Yoo Yeon-seok
Officer Eugene Choi(Lee Byung-hun) reluctantly returnsto Korea after decades of serving in the United States Marine Corps. His memories of Korea are anything but kind; he was born an enslaved child and watched his parents’ brutal murder at the hands of the wealthy family they served. But his loyalty to the US is challenged when he catches a mysterious woman in his rifle’s crosshairs: Go Ae-shin (Kim Tae-ri), the daughter of a noble family and a secret sniper for Korea’s Righteous Army, a resistance group fighting forKorea’s independence from the occupying Japanese.
Written byKim Eun-sook, the industry heavyweight behindDescendants of the SunandThe Glory,Mr. Sunshinedoesn’t obey the lawsof a happy ending. Thehonest pain is worth the beautiful journey, an experience marked byKang Yun-sun’s breathtaking cinematography and co-directors’Lee Eung-bokandJang Young-woo’s lushly romantic sequences. Lee Byung-hun, the manbehind the Frontman’s maskinSquid Game, embodies the image of the stalwart and conflicted hero,and Kim Tae-ri ofThe Handmaidenis an electrifying and driven heroine willing to sacrifice everything for Korea’s liberation. Together, their sweepingly intimate love story changes their country’s destiny.
4’Stranger'
Starring: Cho Seung-woo, Bae Doona, Lee Joon-hyuk
Hwang Si-mok (Cho Seung-woo) doesn’t feel emotions. Or so the doctors claim, after a childhood accident leaves Si-mok with brain damage preventing him from feeling empathy. The condition doesn’t impact his successful career as a prosecuting attorney; if anything, it prevents unreliable emotions from clouding his judgment. Si-mok’s investigation into what seems like an “average” murder leads him and his partner, the intuitive detective Han Yeo-jin (Bae Doona), down a winding path toward a massive conspiracy and unfettered government corruption.
No matter when you watch it,Strangerwill likely bethe best mystery thrilleryou’ll see on your small screen for years to come. A crystal-clear and razor-sharp commentary on political and corporate crime, every moment carries a significance we don’t recognize until the final moments unravel our expectations, suspicions, and everything that came before. You will quite literally be guessing up until the credits roll, and love this drama even more fervently for its elusiveness. Si-mok and Yeo-jin’s shared ethics and increasingly compatible partnership grounds the complex proceedings with dignity and humanity — Cho’s performance, in particular, gathers nuance over time into a riveting finish.
3’Crash Landing On You'
Starring: Hyun Bin, Son Ye-jin, Seo Ji-hye
Chaebolheiress Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) seemingly has it all: wealth, an expensive house, a profitable business, and more aspiring suitors than she can count on one hand. Truthfully, however, Se-ri is miserable. Her siblings detest her status as the inheritor of their father’s empire and conspire behind her back to remove her, one way or another. When Se-ri goes paragliding, a sudden tornado whips her over the DMZ into North Korean territory. Stranded and alone, Se-ri’s only protection lies with the stoic, tender mercies of North Korean army captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin).
You don’tneed to enjoy romanceto root forCrash Landing on You’s kind, tender couple and their individual happiness. This star-crossed love story is about devastating loneliness, trauma, empathy, selflessness, and finding the strength to heal as much as discovering the strength to protect our loved ones. The result is a deeply moving and poignant tale with an irrepressibly giant heart, and enough twists and turns to spiral viewers along like a narrative tornado.
Crash Landing On You
2’Guardian: The Lonely and Great God'
Starring: Gong Yoo, Kim Go-eun, Lee Dong-wook
In the Goryeo era, Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) was his country’s greatest warrior, bloodying his sword with countless lives in faithful service of his king. That same king betrayed him, slaughtering his family and stabbing Shin with his own sword. In an act of both mercy and punishment, God revived Shin and made him immortal. For the next 900 years, Shin positively influenced the lives of various humans and grieved their eventual deaths, knowing he could never join them. But somewhere among all those humans is the prophesied “Goblin’s Bride,” the only person who can withdraw the sword from Shin’s chest and guarantee his death. When Shin finds his soulmate and executioner, the precocious and tragicJi Eun-tak (Kim Go-eun), he discovers a reason to cherish life once more.
Gong Yoo rarely chooses a bad project. After nine years, it seems increasingly likely that nothing will surpass 2016’sGuardian: The Lonely and Great Godas his best work. An award-winning sensation in Korea and currently the seventh highest-rated K-Drama in cable history, Yoo and his co-stars pour their all into one of writer Kim Eun-sook’s magnum opuses. She weaves history, drama, intrigue, romance, and character-based melodrama into a captivating whole; lead director Lee Eun-bok (Mr. Sunshine) and cinematographersPark Sung-yongandKang Yoon-sooncreate an impeccably moody, immersive atmosphere full of shot compositions that belong in the Louvre.Guardianwas many fans' gateway into K-Dramas, and it remains the standard.
Guardian: The Lonely And Great God
1’Itaewon Class'
Starring: Park Seo-joon, Kim Da-mi, Yoo Jae-myung
Park Sung-yeol (Son Hyun-joo) dies in a hit-and-run collision. His beloved son, high school student Park Sae-ro-yi (Park Seo-joon),seeks revenge against his father’s killer, Jang Geun-won (Ahn Bo-hyun), the arrogant and privileged child of an immensely powerful corporate CEO, Jang Dae-hee (Yoo Jae-myung). Geun-won never faced a manslaughter charge, but Sae-ro-yi serves a three-year prison sentence for attacking Geun-won. When the kind-hearted young boy emerges,the adult man is colder, more calculated, and laser-focused — three years gave him plenty of time to contemplate the most effective way to ruin the untouchable Geun-won and Dae-hee. The answer? DanBam, Sae-ro-yi’s restaurant.
Itaewon Classwill take you by surprise. The idea of yetanother revenge-based plotmight sound stale on the surface, but this series' exquisite suspense, detailed character work, and inclusive cast immediately drag you into its orbit. Even thoughItaewon Class’s core theme pursues revenge up until the end, Sae-ro-yi eventually learns that sacrificing everything to destroy an enemy isn’t worth losing sight of the lessons his father taught him: namely, the importance of friendship and resilience.Park’s multifaceted performance is nothing short of stunning, and his supporting cast are a groundbreaking ensemble. Jo Yi-seo (Kim Da-mi) is a brilliant businesswoman and a self-professed sociopath,Lee Joo-youngplays Ma Hyun-yi, DanBam’s head cook and a trans woman raising money for her gender-affirming care, andChris Lyonis Kim To-ni, a Guinean-Korean man hoping to connect with his grandmother. Altogether,Itaewon Classis a transformative and unmissable experience.
Itaewon Class
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