My Fave K Dramas

Back in the day, I was introduced to Korean Dramas. Back then, K-Dramas were called Koreanovelas and were Korean series dubbed to Tagalog for local viewers.  It was around this time that I also discovered that you could watch subtitled, original language versions of these shows online (if you knew where to look). Listening to the actors speak in their own language and hearing the inflections, the pitch for me gave the scenes more depth and emotion than the dubbed version. While Filipino dubbers are good at what they do, nothing beats hearing the actors themselves speak to get the full impact of a scene.

It has been almost two decades since I have been introduced to K-Dramas and I do not see myself stopping from watching anytime soon. There were a lot of posts on social media recently of people sharing the dramas that they loved the most and the ones that made the most impact on them. I have seen a lot of posts from my friends, so I decided to share my own list of favorite Korean dramas. Read about them here and let me know if we have anything in common:

Full House 

This is probably one of the first ones that I watched. It was so popular in the country that a local TV network made its own version of this. A romantic comedy about a celebrity who bought a house without the knowledge of the homeowner where they end up sharing the property, there were a lot of cute and funny moments in this series that just made me fall in love with the story and the lead couple. 

The show was so popular that the house became a tourist attraction until it had to be torn down after being damaged by a typhoon in 2013. 

Who can forget this scene from the series? This one stuck with me after all these years!

Princess Hours

Yoon Eun Hye is one of my favorite Korean actresses and this was the series that introduced me to her. She was so endearing as the young girl who was suddenly married to the Crown Prince of Korea. It is one of those from friends to lovers stories that I enjoyed watching, although now that I am older I find that some of the ways that the Crown Prince treated his wife to be a little problematic and slightly abusive. Still, this was a cute show to watch and it was an interesting take on a “what if” situation since technically South Korea does not have a monarchy anymore.

I couldn't find the Korean version of the trailer, but here's the locally dubbed one:

My Lovely Sam Soon

The series that introduced me to the man that inspired the name of my blog, My Lovely Sam Soon, otherwise known as My Name is Kim Sam Soon, is about a pastry chef who has to pretend to be the girlfriend of her much younger, very grumpy boss. Of course, even if they promise not to fall for each other they eventually do.

This is another series that has a Filipino adaptation, although I was not too keen on the fact that they overplayed the whole overweight plot of the story: in the South Korean version Sam Soon was overweight, but in the local version she was hugely obese, which was also made into a comedic plot for the show. As much as I wanted to like the local version, the Korean series will always be the better one.

Korean American actor Daniel Henney is in this series in a supporting role and I have followed his career since this show. For that, My Lovely Sam Soon will always be a personal favorite! 

Coffee Prince

As I mentioned earlier, Yoon Eun Hye is one of my favorite Korean actresses, and in this show, she did one of her best work. As a young woman pretending to be a man to be able to find a job to pay the bills, her character Eun Chan finds herself falling in love with her boss and complicating things in the process.

The chemistry between Eun Hye and Gong Yoo was so good that I thought these two would end up together in real life. It is that spark that helps make this show interesting to watch! It’s also one of the shows with a really good ensemble cast that makes the supporting roles as interesting as the leads.

A local version was also produced for this one, but I did not even bother to watch it after I was disappointed with the local version of My Lovely Sam Soon.

Too bad I can't find an official trailer online, here's a blooper reel from the show instead:

Missing You

This is probably one of the shows that had the biggest impact on me out of all my favorites. There was so much drama, so much emotion, so many complicated feelings, and a storyline that makes your heart feel for each character in the story.

Most of my favorites are romantic comedies and this is the only drama on the list, but I cannot help but add this because it is one of those shows that even though it really tugs at my heart in the worst way, I feel like I could watch it all over again. 

Here's a locally dubbed trailer of the show (sorry, can't find the official Korean version):

Crash Landing on You

I think it goes without saying why I loved this show. It is one of the shows that for the first time in a long time made me laugh, cry, and fall in love all at the same time. It is a mix of romance, comedy, and drama that I could not help but love and enjoy watching. It is no wonder that this became a highly rated show in South Korea and became popular internationally. 

Well, that is about it! I know that there are many more good Korean shows out there but if a popular one or a personal favorite of yours is not on the list, it is more likely that I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. Believe it or not, I have not seen many of the popular shows that people have talked about so much. Hopefully, I’ll get around to seeing them soon.

Anyone else out there with similar favorites? Leave me a comment and share them with me!