Korean Shows Are Ruling TV Right Now, and Here’s What to Watch

Watch it: Kingdom on Netflix

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)

The premise: In this fairy tale–like romantic comedy, Moon Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun) is a selfless caregiver who works at a psychiatric hospital and looks after his older brother Moon Sang-tae (Oh Jung-se), who has autism. Ko Moon-young (Seo Ye-ji), meanwhile, is a popular children’s book author with antisocial personality disorder who begins to fall for Gang-tae after she finds out that their paths crossed in the past. Each of the trio comes with his or her own unique set of traumas, but can they help each other on the road to emotional healing? Adding to the whimsical tone are stop-motion animated segments that’ll remind you of Tim Burton.

Check it out if you like quirky romantic comedies that deal with darker subject matter, like Silver Linings Playbook and Benny & Joon.

Watch it: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay on Netflix

Sky Castle (2018–19)

The premise: If you couldn’t take your eyes off the college admissions scandal that swept through the Hollywood elite a few years back, you’ll love this satirical dark comedy set in the materialistic world of upper-crust suburban Seoul. In the titular exclusive residential community, the ruthless wives of doctors and lawyers will do anything to get their children into South Korea’s top universities, employing blackmail and manipulation, among other underhanded strategies. At the time of its release, Sky Castle was the highest-rated series in Korean cable television history. 

Check it out if you like Desperate Housewives, Melrose Place and Amy Chua’s 2011 book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. 

Watch it: Sky Castle on Netflix

Vincenzo (2021–)

The premise: You might not expect an actor named Song Joong-ki to play a feared member of the Italian Mafia, but alas, that’s the magic of this extremely popular crime drama. At the age of 8, Park Joo-hyung (Song) was adopted by an Italian family. He later changed his name to Vincenzo Cassano and became a lawyer and consigliere for the mob boss Don Fabio. When his life is threatened upon Fabio’s death, Vincenzo flees to Seoul to recover a massive stash of gold hidden in the basement of an apartment building, soon finding himself at odds with the real estate conglomerate that owns the complex. 

Check it out if you like The Sopranos and dark legal dramas like Better Call Saul and Damages. 

Watch it: Vincenzo on Netflix

Hospital Playlist (2020–21)

The premise: It’s very easy to fall for this heartfelt and nostalgic medical drama, which follows a group of five doctors who have been friends since entering medical school in 1999. In order to blow off steam from their high-stress hospital work, the quintet plays together in a garage band (most of the actors learned their instruments from scratch for the part). The series is beloved for its fantastic soundtrack of covers of Korean music from the 1990s and 2000s, plus some unexpected outliers, like a rock version of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major.” 

Check it out if you like Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs and putting-the-band-together films like That Thing You Do!

Watch it: Hospital Playlist on Netflix

Pachinko (2022–)

The premise: Minari Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung, 75, stars in this sprawling family epic based on Min Jin Lee’s 2017 novel of the same name. The trilingual — Korean, Japanese, English — saga follows four generations across nearly a century, first in Japanese-occupied Korea, then in the Korean immigrant ghettos of Japan and finally in 1980s New York City. Kristen Baldwin wrote in Entertainment Weekly, “Apologies in advance if the review veers rhapsodical, but Pachinko ... is truly ‘it’s time to start tossing around words like “masterpiece” ’ TV.”

Check it out if you like shows that span different time frames, such as This Is Us, and immigrant stories like Minari and Brooklyn.

Watch it: Pachinko on Apple TV+

The Legend of the Blue Sea (2016–17)

The premise: Based on a Joseon-era legend, this fantasy romance follows two parallel love stories separated by centuries. In 1598, a prefect, Kim Dam-ryeong (Lee Min-ho), falls in love with a mermaid he names Se-hwa (Jun Ji-hyun), who saves him from drowning as a child, but tragic circumstances keep them apart. In the 21st century, will their modern-day incarnations, the con artist Heo Joon-jae and the mermaid Shim Cheong, experience the same fates, or can they break the cycle?

Check it out if you like The Little Mermaid, Splash and non-mermaid-related romances about lovers trying to overcome major obstacles between them.

Watch it: The Legend of the Blue Sea on Hulu

Reply 1988 (2015–16)

The premise: Take a walk down memory lane with this warm comedy that follows five friends and their families in the Seoul neighborhood of Ssangmun-dong in 1988. It’s the third installment in tvN’s Reply series, which also included Reply 1997, about a high school student obsessed with the boy band H.O.T., and Reply 1994, about six university students who live together at a boarding house. Much like Hospital Playlist, Reply 1988 has a soundtrack featuring remakes of classic Korean songs from the era. 

Check it out if you like nostalgia-tinged shows like The Wonder Years, The Goldbergs and Everybody Hates Chris.

Watch it: Reply 1988 on Netflix