Image source: Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/couple-love-sitting-evening-4009409/
There was a time when I would go to English-speaking dramas when I wanted to binge watch something. Whether it was “Fleabag” (with Season 2 being an absolutely perfect season of TV), “Russian Doll,” “Succession,” or the “Haunting of Hill House,” I felt like I was in the golden age of well-written bingeable TV shows.
All of these are English-speaking shows. I had long-ago given up my penchant for foreign films that I had devoured when I was an English major in college. When I lived in Berkeley, California, I used to browse at Amoeba Music and Rasputin’s, roaming up and down their VHS section (yes, I’m that old) buying up all of their used-foreign film movies: Raise The Red Lantern, Babette’s Feast, Cinema Paradiso, Eat Drink Man Woman.
I gave that up for a while. But with international viewing fare being so easy to watch on Netflix, I decided to give some a try. My younger nieces and nephews couldn’t seem to get enough of Korean dramas, and I decided, what the heck.
I started off with “Crash Landing on You.” The premise of the show is absurd. A filthy rich South Korean scion runs her own lifestyle business. She is testing out high-flying performance gear and while hang-gliding, she gets blown off course by a tornado into … North Korea. She runs into a North Korean soldier and his squad, and, well, sparks fly.
Yes, it’s ridiculous, but it’s also sincere and lovely and full of heart and laughter and tears. It’s only one season, but it has a full story arc that does not leave you wanting after the last episode. The storylines were unexpected and compelling. And they gave me some insight (somewhat accurately, according to North Korean defectors interviewed in this Washington Post story) into life in a North Korean village.
I was hopelessly lost after that. “Squid Game,” “Hometown Cha Cha Cha,” “Business Proposal,” and now the “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” (about an autistic lawyer). And I’m not the only one watching these shows.
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” was the number 6 top watched TV show of 2022 for Netflix, according to Forbes. “All of Us Are Dead,” another Korean show was number 5 in that list (they were behind “Bridgerton Season 2,” “Dahmer,” “Wednesday Season 1,” and “Stranger Things Season 2”).
And, of course, the talk of 2021 was Squid Game, which rocketed up the chart to number 1 for Netflix, beating out the super buzzy Bridgerton Season 1.
At the end of 2022, Netflix has said that “60% of our members” watch Korean dramas. You might think that foreign TV shows aren’t for you, but I highly recommend giving them a try. Whether you’re in the mood for romance, comedy, scathing social commentary, drama, or thrills, there’s something for everyone.
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