Practical guide to Korean series to watch on Netflix after 'The Squid Game'

The Korean entertainment industry is booming. They began by conquering Asia and are now in a phase of expansion in the rest of the world, be it with music (and, for example, the incombustible BTS), cinema (and those Parasites by Bong Joon-ho taking the Oscar for the best film) and television fiction. There were those who saw K-dramas as a rarity in the Netflix catalog and, after the collective obsession with The Squid Game, this perception may change.

Watching Korean fiction means entering a realm where performances can go from utterly deadpan (because they can be very restrained people) to indulge in eccentric comedy. It involves watching slow romantic plots. Getting into romances where the patriarchy does nothing but put up obstacles. And it also implies seeing a hybridization of genres and some stimulating themes. Here are nine current recommendations to get started on the subject:

'D.P: Deserter Hunters'

If we have to talk about the latest jewels that South Korea has to offer, this is one of them. It premiered shortly before The Squid Game with a first season of six episodes that focuses on military service, compulsory in the country and lasts two years. D.P: Deserter Hunter centers on Ahn Joon-ho (Jung Hae-in), a reserved young man who is tasked with chasing down young deserters who leave the army during training.

It is a surprising series due to its hybrid condition. It has moments of comedy, especially when the protagonist shares scenes with Han Ho-yeol (Koo Kyo-hwan), an eccentric corporal. But it is also clearly dramatic when the series delves into Joon-ho's traumatic past (he is not reserved for no reason) or in the themes that the work wants to touch on, such as toxic masculinity, physical aggression and humiliation in a military service that Korean youth can not give up, or suicide.

'Romance is a bonus book'

This series is a scandal: the jackets, the kitsch, the chemistry between the actors, the book editions. Kang Dan-hi (Lee Na-young) discovers that returning to the job market after a failed marriage is a nightmare. She must fight to get an internship job (when she is much better qualified) at the publishing house where her best friend works, Cha-Eun-ho, a writer younger than her and who doesn't know how much Dan-hi can't even afford to pay. a rental.

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It can be said that Romance is a bonus book tells us about the patriarchal system that leads women to abandon their careers and then leaves them in the lurch when things don't work out. But, in reality, it is a love letter to love, friendship and literature: a romantic comedy in a state of grace, aesthetically sweet and with a gallery of secondaries that work like a shot (among them is Wi Ha-joon , now in vogue for squid).

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The pilot episode of It's okay not to be okay exudes originality with a few minutes of animation. It is the story of Moon Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun), a nurse who loses one job after another because he has to take care of Sang-tae (Oh Jung-se), his older brother who has autism. When he meets Ko Moon-young (Seo Yea-hi), an author of twisted and popular children's stories, and she becomes obsessed with him, his life will change.

The mix of romantic comedy with a mental health theme isn't necessarily new. We have had recent examples such as You're the worst or Anne Hathaway's chapter in Modern Love. But it is refreshing to have a lead girl with antisocial personality disorder. It is interesting to see his approximation to reality and how he has had to build the parameters of what is correct in a different way from other people.

'Chief of Staff'

Chief of Staff may be one of the easiest Korean series to place right now. For what reason? Well, because it features Lee Jung-jae, the indebted protagonist of The Squid Game, who had spent a decade dedicating himself to cinema until he decided to return to television in 2019 with a leading role.

He plays Jang Tae Joon, the chief of staff to an ambitious deputy who aspires to be Minister of Justice. And Jang does not hesitate to do everything possible to bring his boss to the government, aware that he has promised him his position as deputy if he gets the position. It is a political thriller about competitiveness and betrayals in the political system where representatives are capable of anything to advance their agenda.

'Something in the rain'

It's a shame this series is titled Something in the rain when the original Bap Jal Sajuneun Yeppeun Nuna means Pretty Sister Who Buys Me Food. It is a romantic drama about an impossible relationship. Because? Jin-ah (Son Ye-jin), already in her thirties for a while, falls in love with Joon-hee (Jung Hae-in), her younger brother's friend. Since Joon-hee is a minor and comes from a broken family, Jin-ah is aware that her family would never accept the union.

Sometimes it's slower than watching paint dry on the wall but there's also a hypnotic element to it: the way he revels in romantic drama without having to come up with soap opera plots, always focusing on the love between the two of them, the relationship simmering and clear roadblocks from the start. And above all, it is interesting because of what it exposes about South Korea: the way in which classism and family pressure interfere when it comes to finding a partner. It is not a fictitious problem.

In this sense, One Spring Night is also recommended, where the conflict lies in the fact that the guy in question (again Jung Hae-in) is a single father and, therefore, is not suitable for a woman and a professional good family success.

'Mr Sunshine'

Watching Mr Sunshine is realizing to what extent we don't know the history of the planet, unless it is linked to Europe or the United States. It is not taught in school. The period series centers on Eugene Choi (Lee Byung-hun), who was born a slave and, after fleeing to the United States, returns to Korea. He falls in love with a young woman from an aristocratic family and becomes involved in a Japanese conspiracy to occupy the territory.

The production values ​​of the pilot episode (of XXL duration, like almost all Korean series) are impeccable. It is a good method to get interested in Korean history, especially since it is difficult to understand the historical context from our Europeanist and Western-centric mind.

'Kingdom'

the Imjin War, when the Japanese tried to invade a Korea that was then a vassal of the Ming dynasty. The striking thing? There are both political conspiracies against the Joseon dynasty (which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1897) and a zombie epidemic.

This is arguably the Korean Netflix series that first garnered international media attention for its impeccable art direction and combining a historical moment unknown in the West with the undead. At the moment it has two seasons and a spin-off in the form of a movie, Kingdom: The Ashin Story.

'Crash landing on you'

This is one of the latest romantic phenomena and takes advantage of the constant tension between North and South Korea to create an impossible relationship. Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) is a billionaire heiress who, when she skydives and disappears, is presumed dead by her family. But she is more than alive, crash-landing on North Korean soil and at the mercy of Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), a handsome and responsible military man who puts her up at his home, risking his own life.

There are 16 episodes that go from less to more and that, as happens in good romantic comedies, wins integers for the infallible gallery of secondaries. The North Korean town in which the heiress ends up is not wasted and received good reviews precisely for trying to reflect the reality of a country as hermetic as that of Kim Jong-un. And, if we talk about series that know how to squeeze and fall in love with their love story (and finish off the job with a maximum romantic climax), Crash landing on you is the perfect series.

'Stranger'

Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok (Cho Seung-woo) loses empathy and other social skills while undergoing surgery. When he teams up with the police Han Yeo-jin (Bae Doona) to investigate a murder case, they stumble upon a plot of judicial and political corruption. An ideal series for lovers of tense thrillers, with a serialized plot and a peculiar leading duo but with the right chemistry. It features Bae Doona, who many will know from their work on Sense8. So far there have been two seasons of 16 episodes each.