With back-to-back binge-worthy shows, 2024 has been remarkable for the K-drama genre so far, and here’s why!
The year so far has been great for K-drama fans because the memo for 2024 was releasing bangers after bangers to keep us hooked throughout the first 6 months. There were plot twists at every step of the way, a lot of intense drama that had us waiting with bated breaths for the next episode to come and, of course, an outpour of feel-good over-the-top romance. We got the best of all the genres and that’s what really makes a K-drama come together. All of us decoded fan theories, had our predictions and were left shaken when the makers managed to do something completely unexpected, even after all the brainstorming.
The year started with Park Min-Young’s Marry My Husband. We saw her on-screen after quite a long time, and a Park Min-Young drama is anything but boring. After Marry My Husband’s success, TvN had a fabulous streak of high ratings with Queen of Tears and Lovely Runner, which went on to become the most-viewed K-dramas ever. Out of these two dramas, we got never seen before on-screen pairings and characters that’ll be etched in our hearts forever. Baek Hyun-Woo and Ryu Sun-Jae were the greenest flags that we all still cannot stop simping over. Then came Atypical Family, which was a unique love story that was mixed with suspense and sci-fi. We also got a Korean version of Student of the Year with Hierarchy this year and it was rather intense. Park Shin-Hye and Park Hyung-Sik made their eagerly awaited comeback with Doctor Slump and we finally got to see Wi Haa-Jun in a rom-com for once instead of his usual action thrillers!
This drama was the epitome of plot twists. Not a single episode was dull or felt like it was there just as a filler. It revolves around Kang Ji-Won who gets a second chance at life right after she is killed by her husband and best friend. Knowing how the future unfolds for her, she tries to change it by switching her fate with the same best friend and, along the way, also finds true love for herself. From the pace of the show to the screenplay itself, it worked all together in sync for us to be instantly hooked on it and start the year on a high.
The last time we saw Kim Soo-Hyun on-screen was in Its Okay To Not Be Okay, and Queen of Tears was a pretty good reminder of how good looking he truly is. It's not just that, his chemistry with Kim Ji-Won is one for the books. It is one of the best enemies-to-lovers K-drama tropes that we have seen in a long time. The K-drama OST, the plot, the antagonists and the supporting cast all just worked in unison to give this drama the success that it gained.
A star was born with the release of this drama. Byeon Woo-Seok who plays Ryu Sun-Jae in the show became the new crush of the K-drama world. The story follows Im-Sol who travels back in time to save her favorite K-Pop Idol, Sun-Jae from succumbing to a gruesome fate but as the plot unfolds further, we realize it is much more than just an idol-fan relationship, the two go way back. The show was peak romance that K-dramas are known for and actually made the entire fandom look forward to Mondays and Tuesdays as that’s when the new episodes aired. It is still pretty talked about 2 months after its finale.
Atypical Family- Netflix
What started as an off beat and unconventional story that we couldn’t quite get a grip on, turned out to be a rather intriguing way of falling in love with someone. Gwi-Ju and his family have superpowers but none of them can use it as they fall prey to modern day problems. This changes when Do Da-Hae, a con-woman enters their life but actually happens to fall in love with Gwi-Ju. The story was so ‘atypical’ that we as viewers just went with the flow and watched the ‘Bok’ family get their powers back one by one.
Hierarchy- Netflix
Everyone loves a good high school drama and Hierarchy literally felt like the Korean version of Student of The Year. There’s the rich kids who run the school and the ones who come from middle class backgrounds that are made fun of or bullied. The only difference being here is that Hierarchy is also a murder mystery with a revenge arc which adds to the intensity of the drama.
Doctor Slump- Netflix
Park Shin-Hye and Park Hyung-Sik gave us nostalgic feels as we last saw them together in Inheritors which was released a good ten years back. While Park Hyung-Sik made a comeback after his military service, Park Shin-Hye came back after becoming a new mom. The fans were eagerly awaiting to see them on-screen and surprisingly their chemistry was the highlight of the show.
Midnight Romance in Hagwon- Rakuten Viki
If you’re well-versed with the K-drama world, you’d know that Wi Haa-Jun is the face of action dramas. But there had been talk ever since Little Women that his fans want to see him in a rom-com and in 2024 we got exactly that! It was refreshing to see him as a romantic hero for once and while the drama is slow paced, it brought a certain kind of heartwarming feeling that we missed since Something in the Rain. The drama is about Lee Joon-Ho who needs a major career shift so he decides to become a teacher at a coaching class. It is the same classes where he studied when he was in school and also meets one of his teachers there. Unexpectedly the two fall in love and fight against the prejudice of society due to their age gap and also tackle the competition between coaching classes.
Which of these dramas did you enjoy watching the most in the first half of the year? Let us know in the comments below!
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