South Korean dramasare often an interesting blend of genres and ideas, but it’s rare that any are recognized for a great script. Though lots ofK-dramas fit the same moldand include similar tropes and characters,some take those typical ideas and flip them on their head, creating something more than just a soap opera-style TV show. It’s hard to create a compelling script for a long-running drama, but some writers out there do that successfully, and those writers can often be K-drama creators.
A good K-drama tends to have a well-written overarching plot that intertwines with smaller, equally compelling ones; it often hasa brilliant ensemble cast with two or three standouts who portray lovable charactersthat fans can cheer for or relate to - or both. The recipe is simple, but it’s interesting how few shows manage to find that golden middle where every aspect of the story is great. The best-written K-dramas have just that.
Written by Ah Kyung
Mad for Each Otheris quite an underrated K-drama, and it’s an unconventional rom-com. It’sone of the few K-shows with episodes of around 30 minutes, so it’s ideal for people who don’t like to spend their whole day watching one show. This is aperfect K-show to binge in a day- it’s funny and clever, with relatable characters that aren’t always the embodiment of everything that’s positive.Mad for Each Otherhas fairly realistic characters and a premise, and the writing is great.
The story follows detective with anger issues, Hwi-oh (Jung Woo), who begins visiting a psychiatrist after a traumatic event at work. He also meets a woman in his neighborhood, Min-kyung (Oh Yeon-seo), who he disagrees with immediately; the two begin holding a grudge against each other, until they realizethey’re seeing the same psychiatrist and start bonding over their trauma. It’s aclassic enemies-to-loversstorywrapped in a wholesome comedy; the two leads have brilliant comedic delivery, and shift very easily to more serious parts of the story.Mad for Each Otheris one of the best-written K-shows that not many people watched, which will hopefully change now.
Mad For Each Other
9’Welcome to Waikiki' (2018–2019)
Written by Kim Ki-ho
For anyone looking fora laugh-out-loud funny K-drama,Welcome to Waikikiis truly one of the funniest and most heartfelt shows. The ensemble cast is reminiscent ofFriends, but this friend group runs a guesthouse called Waikiki. Their dynamics are often between love and friendship, andeach episode shows them getting into different adventures, individually or together. The running jokes are cohesive and the actors' delivery is brilliant, especiallyLee Yi-kyeong, who plays the aspiring actor Joon-ki.
Welcome to Waikiki shows three best friends: Dong-goo (Kim Jung-hyun), Joon-ki (Lee), and Doo-sik (Son Seung-won), who live in their guesthouse with Dong-goo’s younger sister, Seo-jin (Go Won-hee). Their guesthouse is unsuccessful, and their lives change when one day Yoon-ah (Jung In-sun) arrives with her newborn girl, Sol. As they become a part of the friend group,its dynamic slowly shift with new loves appearing and old flames returning.Welcome to Waikikiis awell-written comedythat has the power to make viewers feel like they’ve just hung out with some friends after each episode.
Welcome To Waikiki
8’Extraordinary Attorney Woo' (2022)
Written by Moon Ji-won
Extraordinary Attorney Woois unique because it’s one of the first K-dramas to tackle a diverse protagonist;Woo Young-woo has autism, and is an aspiring lawyer. When she gets a job at a legal practice, her colleagues have a hard time accepting her, and she often struggles with adapting. However, the more people get to know her and vice versa, they become used to Young-woo and all the things that make her great.
While there were debates about whether neurodivergent individuals were well represented,people with similar diagnoses and experiencesfoundExtraordinary Attorney Wooto be a well-written, heartfelt show - not ideal, but certainly a great step forward in representing neurodivergent people. The show itself is funny and endearing, andevery episode has a new criminal case that attorney Woo tackles with her team. The story also follows them and their character development, both in relation to Young-woo and individually.Extraordinary Attorney Woowas a monumental K-drama in 2022 for various reasons, but the most important one involves it being part of a wave of more female protagonists and screenwriters.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
7’Crash Landing on You' (2019–2020)
Written by Park Ji-eun
Another female writer in the mix,Park Ji-eun, wrote one ofthe most romantic and beloved K-dramasever. It’s no exaggeration when we sayCrash Landing On Youcrashed into people’s television sets,leaving them breathless throughout19 one-hour-long episodes; internationally, the show was very successful, while locally, it drew as much controversy as it did adoration. Sincethe show depicts life on the border between North and South Korea, South Korean authorities felt it glamorized life in the North and criticized the authorities in the South. To audiences worldwide, the chemistry betweenSon Ye-jinandHyun Binwas really all that mattered.
Crash Landing on Youis about a rich South Korean heiress, Se-ri (Son); when she goes paragliding one day, a strong wind blows her glider off-course, and she ends up near the DMZ. A North Korean captain, Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin) finds Se-ri and hides her in his home near the border for a while.The showrunners consulted with North Korean defectors to depict the lifestylethere more accurately, makingCrash Landing on Youmore than just a delightful romance, but a sort of small window into the North Korean world.
Crash Landing On You
6’D.P.' (2021–)
Written by Kim Bo-tong and Han Jun-hee
Kim Bo-tongcreated the webtoonD.P. Dog’s Day, based on his experiences during his mandatory service in the South Korean military; screenwriterHan Jun-heeand Kim then adapted the story for a TV series. Many of the events depicted in the series arebased on true stories or were inspired by various experiences of soldiersother than just Kim and Han. A lot of it is also an analysis and criticism of South Korea’s treatment of marginalized people, focusing on a queer character in one heartbreaking episode in season two.
D.P.is short for Deserter Pursuit, and follows Private Han Jun-ho (Jung Hae-in) enlisting to do his mandatory two-year service in the military. Jun-ho displays great observational skills, which Sergeant Park (Kim Sung-kyun) notices and assigns him to chase deserters with the experienced Corporal Han (Koo Kyo-hwan). With so much blurring the lines between reality and fiction inD.P.,men who served in the South Korean military started opening up about their experiences. Though it seems a lot of the practices depicted in the series are banned and reprimanded today, Kim and Han served during the 2000s and 2010s, which was, admittedly, a different time.D.P.will move and enrage you with its excellent writing, likable protagonists, and terrifying experiences.
5’Kingdom' (2019–2020)
Written by Kim Eun-hee
Kingdomis one of thebest additions to the K-zombie genre.Kim Eun-hee, writer for the highly successful dramaSignal, delivered an action-packed, emotional, andintense script that carries tensionthroughout all ofKingdom’s episodes. With two seasons of six episodes,Kingdomwas alsoone of the first K-shows to follow a more reduced format. Most K-dramas until then had around 20 episodes lasting between 60 and 80 minutes -Kingdom’s first season consisted of only six one-hour episodes, meaning that the story had to be packed into a shorter version. This was, undoubtedly, part of its great success, too.
Kingdomfollows a fictionalized version of the medieval Joseon empire. The emperor is ill, and his son,Prince Lee Chang(Ju Ji-hoon), wishes to investigate his father’s illness before he dies. However, after the King’s death, the entire kingdombecomes strangely affected by a virus that turns people into zombiesafter they pass. With the help of a local healer, Seo-bi (Bae Doona), Prince Lee Chang tries to find ways to reduce the kingdom’s mortality rates and virus spread. The acting ensemble in the show is great, the stunts are brilliant, and the amount of money invested in the show’s audiovisual quality is obvious.
4’Misaeng: Incomplete Life' (2014)
Written by Jung Yoon-jung
Misaeng: Incomplete Life(also just known asMisaeng) proved itself a heavyweight when it first came out. It was based on the manhwa series of the same name, and it follows corporate employees navigating their work and personal lives. WithMisaengbeing kind of the firstK-drama to tackle office workers' livesrealistically, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon in South Korea. Office workers and salarymenfound themselves in the charactersthey were watching. Many praised the dynamic, atmosphere, and communication between characters to be very realistic and well-written, often feeling understood.
Misaengfollows brand-new employees of an international trading company, One International. Geu-rae (Im Si-wan) is the meek protagonist who gradually finds his voice; Young-yi (Kang So-ra) is the underestimated female team member; Baek-gi (Kang Ha-neul) is the nerdy team member; and Seok-yool (Byun Yo-han) is the misunderstood initial antagonist of the show who slowly shows his warm true colors. The dynamics between thecharacters are realistic, and the entire show is very down-to-earth; so much that it often feels like we’re actually watching office work happening. However, Geu-rae, whose name also means “OK”, is a protagonist worth cheering for even when he files papers.
3’My Mister' (2018)
Written by Park Hae-young
My Misterstars the lateLee Sun-kyunand one of South Korea’s most popular young actresses of the 2010s,Lee Ji-eun, aka IU. The show was a hit when it was first released, but it’s also still considered one of the best-written K-dramas in which characters - especially the female protagonist - don’t just take things on the chin, but process events and take matters into their own hands. While there was some controversy at the beginning,the show’s heavier moments are meant to impact the psychological changesin its characters, leading the world of K-drama to be more open towards showing darker stories.
My Misteris about coworkers Dong-hoon (Lee), a man in his 40s, in the middle of processing life-changing events, and Ji-an (IU), a new intern in her 20s, trying to find her way out of student debt and navigating work with taking care of her grandmother.While the two are an unlikely pair, their story isn’t all about romance. The show does a great job of depicting the solace and comfort we tend to seek in another, understanding human; it also dissects family and work dynamics, and shows characters who are ready to take on life. Relatable characters are often a sign of great writing, andPark Hae-young,My Mister’sauthor and writer, found the right recipe.
2’Moving' (2023–)
Written by Kang Full
Kang Fullmight be one of the best and most underrated South Korean writers out there. He’s a webtoon creator first and screenwriter later, andMovingis based on one of his webtoons.Movingis available onDisney+and it’sa marvelous rollercoaster of emotion and genres- it’sessentially sci-fi/fantasy, because it has people with superpowers; in other ways, it’s a coming-of-age drama because it shows high school kids realizing their true potential; finally, it’s a rom-com, because it shows protagonists falling in love in some of the most unconventional and beautiful stories on TV screens.
Movingfollows an ensemble cast and is non-linear in its storytelling.There are 20 episodes, and they’re thematically divided into three parts- the first part shows high school students Bong-seok (Lee Jun-ha), Hui-soo (Go Youn-jung), and Gang-hoon (Kim Do-hoon); the second part shows their parents, and the third part depicts present events as the parents' past is unraveled. The show will soon get season two, so it’s worth investing time in season one.Movingis a beautiful, endearing, and captivating show, written for various audiences.
1’Mr. Sunshine' (2018)
Written by Kim Eun-sook
Led by the fact that most of the best-written K-dramas were penned by women, we land on the best one in that category -Mr. Sunshine. Many fans found itrefreshing and captivating, both in how it was written, and its visual style. It’s another historical drama aboutlife under the Japanese occupation, but its protagonist is Yu-jin, who grew up in the US under the name Eugene.Mr. Sunshineis a love story, but it prominently features Korean Freedom Fighters and some real-life events that shaped the country’s history, from the assassination of Empress Myeongseong, to the Russo-Japanese War (to name a few).
Lee Byung-hunstars inMr. Sunshineas Eugene, a returnee who spent most of his life in America after escaping slavery. When he returns to Joseon, he meets a nobleman’s daughter, Go Ae-shin (Kim Tae-ri), who is secretly a freedom fighter for Korean independence. With Eugene and Ae-shin’s lives becoming more and more intertwined, the story follows themfalling in love in the background of some important historical events.Mr. Sunshineis a beautiful and important piece of work, and forfans of historical K-dramas, the best written one - though it may not be all that sappy andoverly romantic as some tend to be.
