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Korean drama reviewsi

In-depth reviews of the latest and hottest South Korean television series, also known as K-dramas, on cable and streaming services.

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  • Queen of Tears, which may be the most romantic K-drama to air in quite some time, delivers the purest expression of a happily-ever-after in its finale
  • While there were exciting plot twists and moments with others, ultimately the show was all about Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won’s characters
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Lee Je-hoon, Lee Dong-hwi, Choi Woo-sung, Yoon Hyun-soo and Seo Eun-soo lead Korean drama Chief Detective 1958 on Disney+, which sees one of South Korea’s most beloved TV characters return to screens.

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Starring Suyo of K-pop group Exo, Hong Ye-ji and Kim Min-kyu, Missing Crown Prince on Viu mashes palace intrigue and romantic comedy together in a royal period drama full of attractive young leads.

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New Korean drama Under the Gun, starring SF9’s Zuho and Jo Soo-min, makes heavy use of poker symbolism, but is so far proving to be little more than a generic high-school romance.

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Starring Kim Nam-joo, Cha Eun-woo, Kim Kang-woo and Im Se-mi, Wonderful World on Disney+ had its issues – including a meandering midsection and silly twists – but showed the power of a strong ending.

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Ju Ji-hoon and Han Hyo-joo star in Blood Free on Disney+, a sci-fi series by writer Lee Soo-yeon that looks set to drop its interesting premise involving lab-cultured meat and global food production.

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Kim Hye-yoon and Byeon Woo-seok star as a woman confined to a wheelchair, and a K-pop idol who inspires her. Years later, they meet again and, after he commits suicide, she travels back in time.

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Hugely popular Netflix K-drama stars Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won as country boy Baek Hyun-woo and his wife Hong Hae-in, an heiress who is diagnosed with a brain tumour.

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This clunky Disney+ K-drama dud follows two friends (played by Lee Jae-wook and Lee Jun-young) who plot to take over a Korean corporation, and the woman (Hong Su-zu) who comes between them.

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Netflix K-drama Parasyte: The Grey – directed by Train to Busan’s Yeon Sang-ho – stars Jeon So-nee as Jung Soo-in, who is infected by one of the ‘parasytes’ invading the Earth.

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Jeon Jong-seo and Moon Sang-min star in Amazon Prime’s Wedding Impossible, a K-drama that begins with a focus on LGBTQ themes, only to abandon them and meander towards a hollow ending.

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The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection, created by the writer and director behind Korean drama series The Penthouse and featuring many of the same stars, is highly watchable despite its absurdity.

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Beauty and Mr. Romantic stars Im Soo-hyang and Ji Hyun-woo – but begins during the childhoods of the characters they portray and reveals some big family secrets early on.

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The pieces are falling into place for Kim Nam-woo and Cha Eun-woo by midseason in the Disney+ K-drama Wonderful World, which deals with how people approach grief and how it can affect them.

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This Disney+ series follows two police officers, Jin I-soo (played by Ahn Bo-hyun) and Lee Gang-hyun (Park Ji-hyun), who infiltrate a cult, and investigate a death at Jin’s corporate family compound.

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The Train to Busan director’s Korean drama series for Netflix Parasyte: The Grey offers a sober, yet at times wickedly funny, take on Hitoshi Iwaaki’s classic Japanese manga about an alien invasion.

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Kim Jae-wook, Lee Jun-young and Hong Su-zu struggle through Disney+ K-drama The Impossible Heir, a weakly scripted series that, two-thirds of the way through the show, is still a confusing mess.

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Nothing Uncovered, a K-drama based on the web novel Grabbed by the Collar, stars Kim Ha-neul and Yeon Woo-jin. It’s a classic thriller featuring corruption, illicit romance and murder.

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So far Amazon Prime K-drama Wedding Impossible has handled the struggles of A-jeong (Jeon Jong-seo) and Ji-han (Moon Sang-min) deftly – but everything else feels less than satisfying.

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Save for a few scenes, Doctor Slump failed to discuss mental health and stigmas surrounding it in Korean society as it was supposed to – but the series was never less than a breezy watch.

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Ryu Seung-ryong and Ahn Jae-hong star in surreal comedy K-drama Chicken Nugget as a duo who must set out to change Kim Yoo-jung back into a human from a chicken nugget. Yes, really.

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Joo Won stars as a cursed photographer alongside Kwon Nara’s lawyer in this supernatural K-drama that is far from original, but its better episodes nevertheless provide diverting entertainment.

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One Ordinary Day’s Kim Soo-hyun returns to screens alongside Kim Ji-won in Netflix’s romantic K-drama about a dysfunctional wealthy couple, which started well but has begun to lose momentum.

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Kim Nam-joo and K-pop band Astroboy’s Cha Eun-woo star in Disney+ K-drama Wonderful World, in which Kim plays a grieving woman who seeks the truth about a traumatic incident that landed her in jail.

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Disney+ K-drama follows Ahn Bo-hyun’s corporate heir turned superhero-style detective, who solves violent crimes with his knowledge of social elites, and his by-the-book colleague, played by Park Ji-hyun.

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Lee Jae-wook and Lee Jun-young, the stars of Disney+ K-drama The Impossible Heir, are ill served by their badly drawn characters, a plot blighted by poor pacing, and visuals that look cheap.

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Wedding Impossible, Amazon Prime’s promising new K-drama, stars Jeon Jong-seo as a struggling actress set to end up in a fake marriage with her love interest’s secretly gay older brother.

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Netflix series Doctor Slump, starring Park Shin-hye and Park Hyung-sik, is a better take on mental health than most K-dramas – but the show is failing to feature a compelling storyline to go with this.

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The time-travelling fantasy Korean drama Marry My Husband, starring Park Min-young and Na In-woo, comes to a satisfactory end – minus a few loose ends that remain by the time the show finishes.

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A Shop for Killers on Disney+, starring Lee Dong-wook, has great action scenes, with punchy choreography and clever flourishes – but the finale leaves viewers with more questions than answers.

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