Summary
South Korean media has finally broken through into mainstream media on a global level, starting with popular movies likeParasite, andcontinuing with Manwhaand a variety of popular TV series. Several streaming services have also caught on and offer several of the best and most recent productions from Korea, which include live-action along with animated shows, games, and webtoons.
There are so many different Korean television shows to watch now, it’s hard to decide which are the best, especially considering there were plenty of series that fans had to look for before the genre became more popular. Luckily, streaming services often include older shows in their librariesalong with new offerings.
The bizarre, shocking, and mysterious occult themes that form the plot ofHellboundare connected to broader questions about daily life, not always about the horror of sudden, violent, and fiery death. In a plot that’s both horror and dystopian, society starts to crumble when confronted by mysterious entities called “angels” that appear to predict a person’s death, and then appear again as demons to carry out the execution at the time cited.
Certain powers in society compete between understanding these mysterious events, and using terror to control people. Religious influencers rise to push out law enforcement and forensic scientists, and things turn violent even without the presence of the mysterious death demons.
This series begins with an apocalypse on a personal level when the main character Cha Hyun-su loses his whole family and ends up alone in an apartment complex called Green Home. When monsters appear, he and his neighbors hunker down in their apartment complex and fight them off, assuming this is some kind of alien threat.
However, the twist is that these “monsters” are actually people, as Hyun-su finds out when his neighbors start to become strange creatures depending on their own hidden desires. He has a similar experience when he discovers that he can turn into a winged monster, but unlike many of his peers, he can change back and forth at will.
Korea’s Joseon Dynasty was a time of prosperity and wealth for some, but women and the poor had few opportunities in Korean society during this time period. The story ofRookie Historian Goo Hae-ryungis split into two different timelines. One took place 20 years ago and revleals some mysteries about the present day, and the other features the titular character.
Recording history is important, but what’s more important is thatthis history is accurate, and not solely the narrative of the rich and the powerful. This show is about individuals following their own destinies instead of simply filling in the roles society made for them.
For those who love crime drama and mystery, and both are popular genres these days,Signalis a combination of both and was one of the highest-rated shows in Korea when it was released. It’s the story of a 20-year-old cold case that is opened again when Park Hae-young, a professional criminal profiler, picks up a walkie-talkie and hears a voice from the past.
Detective Jae-han, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances 15 years before the show begins, helps Hae-young solve a cold case involving a childhood friend. This prompts the formation of a team of cold-case investigators which includes another detective, Cha Soo-hyun, Jae-hun’s lost love, and she’s been looking for him for almost 20 years.
At a time whenzombies were almost everywherein popular media, it wasKingdomthat put the undead in a historical drama. Taking place in the 17th century, the final decades of the Joseon Period, this visceral story is one of dark fantasy, occult, and political drama.
When the politicians of the time refused to acknowledge a mysterious sickness taking hold in the north, Prince Chang sets out to begin his own investigation. His path eventually leads them to a small village with a lone survivor, herbalist Seo-bi, who thinks she might know the source of the sickness and how to cure it. There’s also a prequel movie calledAshin of the Northfor those who are interested inKingdom’s backstory.
Squid Gamewas the series that brought Korean dramas into the mainstream, combininga chilling dystopian visionof current society. There isn’t a country in the world where the rents aren’t high and groceries aren’t expensive, never mind all the other bills everyone pays, so winning a lot of money is something everyone understands.
When Seong Gi-hun is offered a chance to play the gameand win a big prize, he decides to participate, but he doesn’t know that losing a game means death, with the prize money increasing every time someone dies. It turns out this is sordid entertainment for those donating the prize money. When Gi-hun returns three years later to try and put a stop to the game, nobody believes him when he talks about how dangerous it is.
