2021 Don K-xote K-drama Awards

Once again, the arrival of the Baeksang Awards has reminded me that the time has come to finally put together the list of my favorite K-dramas, performances, etc. from last year.  I truly JUST finished the last show that I had intended to watch from 2021 (Lost, which I had to buy on DVD to watch!) so I’m finally ready to lavish my praise on the shows & performances that I hope you might give a chance if you’ve not seen them.  

I thought I might begin by sharing a bit of what guides my sense of why I LOVE one show and DETEST or DROP another.  The first & most important quality of a show is that it usually (as in, almost ALWAYS) has to have a compelling romance in it (some exceptions include 2017’s Stranger or Prison Playbook or 2019’s Children of Nobody, all of which had a fascinating cast & script–I even stopped watching 2014’s Misaeng: Incomplete Life, which many see as one of the best workplace dramas ever, because of the lack of a romance).  

The romance can be grueling (2015’s This is My Love or 2018’s Come and Hug Me or Tempted), immoral (2014’s Secret Love Affair), or even semi-platonic (2018’s My Mister), but it is hard for me to truly love a drama that has a tragic end to the romance (exceptions being 2016’s Uncontrollably Fond or 2019’s Mr. Sunshine).  I will seriously NOT finish watching a drama if it’s obviously heading towards tragedy (as the list below will prove).  Something in me needs a happy or at least ambiguous ending (like 2020’s Record of Youth) as I’ve found myself a bit traumatized by spectacularly sad romantic endings like 2018’s The Smile Had Left Your Eyes or 2005’s A Love to Kill.  

So, the perfect formula for my taste in K-dramas = compelling romance + fairly happy ending + great acting, script, and a kind of freshness in some aspect of the storyline (I’m not a huge fan of being able to guess ALL of the twists & turns that are coming, though I do love the usual K-drama tropes popping up in the show, such as a piggy-back ride, shared umbrella, childhood connection, etc.).

This all will, of course, become painfully obvious to you, dear reader, as you review the list of my favorite K-dramas of 2021 below…

NOTE:  I consider a show to be “from” a particular year if at least 50% of the episodes aired in that year, so for example, the Netflix drama Run On aired from Dec. 16, 2020, but finished Feb. 4, 2021, so I consider it a 2021 drama)

1.  True Beauty:  I’ll be honest, I didn’t TOTALLY love the last couple of episodes of this hugely popular high school romance…but the rest of the show was SO instantly iconic and the chemistry between the 3 leads (actually 4 with Park Yoo-na, who I thought was amazing, despite how evil she turned at one point) brought it immediately into my top 20 K-dramas of all time.  Moon Ga-young was hilarious and touching and feisty in all the best ways, Cha Eun-woo was perfectly brooding and clueless and incredibly handsome, but the surprise ingredient was, of course, the star-making performance from Hwang In-youp: that guy (in his 30’s, I believe) has a brilliant future with his sly comedic expressions, ability to pull off a bad boy with a heart of gold intensity, and his capacity to hit all of the notes of a one-sided love without becoming pathetic.  I watched this show 3 times already and won’t be surprised if I come back for more viewings before too long!

2.  Our Beloved Summer:  This show ALMOST bumped True Beauty off of the top spot, with its enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers plot.  There wasn’t really a wrong note in this whole show for me (though I am not a HUGE fan of Roh Jeong-eui’s work as a blonde-haired idol here–I could imagine so many other actresses nailing this part, but she never sold it for me, thought it wasn’t unbearably bad)   

3.  Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha:  It was tragic how the last episodes of this show were tarnished by the tasteless exposure of Kim Seon-ho’s personal relational drama, but it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of this heartwarming “healing” drama set in a seaside village filled with quirky locals and their sad backstories.  A few episodes felt a bit like padding, but I totally bought the leads’ chemistry and enemies-to-lovers development.  Shin Min-a has truly been one of the most spellbinding actresses for such a long period of time (if you’ve never watched the 2005 melodrama-romance A Love to Kill with her and a darkly charismatic performance from Rain, you should check it out…just be prepared for devastating heartbreak).

4.  Lovestruck in the City:  I think this show may not be for everyone, but I watched it three times and aside from the scenes featuring the fake band “Rolling Stars,” it was such an incredible feat of heart-wrenching, but subtly comedic storytelling from beginning to end.  The cast was phenomenal, but Kim Ji-won truly blew me away with her nuanced and touching depiction of a woman in the midst of an identity crisis.  Ji Chang-wook has never been more charming in his longing and hilarious in his exasperation & I loved the weird world of the four long-time friends at the center of the story.  It may not be for you, but it certainly did it for me.

5.  She Would Never Know:  Although Won Jin-ah was amazing in Rain or Shine back in 2017, I found her follow-up Melting Me Softly so terrible that I had a hard time finding the motivation to watch this show starring her alongside the outrageously handsome and charming Rowoon.  But man, this show blew my low expectations out of the water.  I had no idea where the show was going (which is unusual for Kdramas, given the typical beats, tropes, and plotlines) and I even found myself fascinated by  the inner workings of the cosmetic industry.  Top to bottom, the cast nailed it and the writing and direction were flawless.  I’ve learned my lesson not to judge a show based on a past bad experience!  (I ended up having to buy this on DVD, in case any of my local Kdrama chingus ever want to borrow it!)

6.  School 2021:  It amazes me how KBS2’s School franchise seems to immaculately cast young performers who will inevitably become the NEXT BIG THING (and not only in the lead roles–Mr. Queen star Shin Hye-sun was an EXTRA in School 2013, which also launched Lee Jong-suk and Kim Woo-bin into drama stardom).  This iteration of the high school drama is no exception.  Though star Kim Yo-han is a bit “ho-hum” for me, though not terrible, the three other leads are certainly going places with their charisma, stunning looks, and strong acting chops, especially lead Cho Yi-hyun who caught the public’s eye as an adorable intern in Hospital Playlist and went on to offer an arresting performance in the high school zombie drama All of Us Are Dead (which I still watched even though I’m so tired of zombie shows).  This show doesn’t delve too deeply into the mechanics of school corruption and was delightfully unique in focusing on the blue-collar vocational high school experience, which I’d never seen in a drama before!  Such a sweet and appealing experience in the midst of another frustrating year in the real world!

7.  Nevertheless:  This is the most surprising (to me) inclusion on this list, because the show was much more steamy than I would usually watch, with a lead actress I wasn’t a huge fan of coming into the show (Han So-hee), and an off-putting, manipulative “player” as the lead romantic interest (I’m still on the fence about whether Song Kang is as stunningly attractive as his shows make him out to be), but somehow this story about university art students totally hooked me deeply!  Han So-hee was so vulnerable, showing such complex emotion as she finds herself acting against her own best instincts, and she was almost frumpy in her style here (so different from her breakout role in The World of the Married) that she won me over as a fan of her incredible acting!  Song Kang brought some depth to what I thought was just going to be a one-note seductive scoundrel part, and the “Potato Boy” Chae Jong-hyeop was adorable as the childhood friend with one-sided love, not to mention many other great performances from the rest of the cast.  I think I’m kind of a sucker for dramas set at university (like My ID is Gangnam Beauty, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo, Heartstrings, etc.), perhaps because I worked at a university for a while and saw so many students go through that transitional time of life, forging their personal identity, relationships, vocation, etc.

8.  You Are My Spring:  After the first episode of this show, which stars my favorite Korean actress, Seo Hyun-jin, I thought that this show would FOR SURE be my favorite show of the year, and for more than half of the series, I still thought that.  It was intriguing, engrossing, worlds-colliding kind of wonderful, with pitch-perfect performances all around, wonderful script, direction, etc.  But something happened to the writing in particular in the last 1/3 of the show that made me almost want to stop watching…it was like suddenly the two leads had ZERO chemistry and it was just cheesy all over the place and had inexplicable explanations thrust onto the storyline that I felt like I was watching an airplane crash in slow motion (I mean, what the heck happened with Hwang Seung-eon’s plot line as the fitness trainer with a crush on the awkward veterinarian?).  But honestly, I still loved everything about that first 2/3 SO MUCH and the two sets of friends surrounding the leads were so endearing that it still made my top 10 and I would say it’s worth watching…just be prepared for the bottom to fall out in the latter episodes!

9.  Lost:  I’m going to describe this show in such a way that you probably won’t want to watch it, but it really was quite remarkable.  It was slow…I mean there was REALLY not much happening for long periods of the show, but it was so deliberate and haunting and achingly sad and poetically scripted, that the pace ultimately didn’t matter to me.  It’s tone kind of reminded me of My Mister, which is my #1 Kdrama of all time, so if you liked that show, you may be open to the beauty and profundity of this drama.  Lead actress Jeon Do-yeon won a best actress award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for the film Secret Sunshine, and her performance here is quite intriguing.  Reply 1988’s Ryu Jun-yeol (the one who lost Lee Hye-ri to Park Bo-gum) is brilliantly cool and devastatingly melancholy as a professional escort (male prostitute?) who gets caught up in an older, married woman’s suffering.  It’s a hard watch–so much sadness and loss, but it won’t leave you broken-hearted (there is a surprising number of happy endings that you may not expect!)

10.  D.P.:  Jung Hae-in is really one of the greatest Korean actors of his generation and he shines even in this dark short series about soldiers who go out on a special patrol to track down their fellow draftees who are AWOL from their mandatory military service (which seems like a tragic experience for so many Korean young men).  Koo Kyo-hwan also justifiably won a Baeksang award for his hilarious performance as a military misfit, and the storytelling and cinematography are exceptionally high quality as well.  Not heartwarming or healing, so you’ll need to steel yourself for some difficult scenes, but it remains a powerful and gripping show nonetheless.

11.  Doom at Your Service:  I had a bit of a roller coaster experience with this show–loving the two great leads (Strong Girl Bong-soon brought the smile back to intensely charismatic demi-god Seo In-guk’s eyes), then mildly disliking it, then back in love, then feeling like it was too much of a Goblin wannabe, then impressed with the way it explored end-of-life issues and on and on.  The thing that makes me want to go back and watch it again though is actually the second-leads love triangle:  Shin Do-huyn is one of my favorite under-recognized actresses and Kang Tae-oh is always amazing in his scene-stealing second lead roles, but it was the tender confusion of Lee Soo-hyuk, who I usually cannot stand, that really blew me away. In the end, this show was anything but doomed!

12.  My Name: Since I was a new fanboy of Han So-hee, I thought I’d check out this action-packed crime drama and MAN, she knocked it out of the park again!!  Her performance here clearly should have won her some awards, but the darkly magnetic crime lord played by veteran actor Park Hee-soon was also engrossingly despicable and Ahn Bo-hyun was so lovable here after being so repulsively evil in Itaewon Class.  The plot, writing, filming, and every aspect of this show was so remarkable–money well spent, Netflix!

13.  Mad For Each Other:  Now, I’m not usually a fan of Jung Woo (who played “Trash” in Reply 1994), but he was perfectly cast as a cop on leave with anger issues who falls in love with his psychologically troubled neighbor played wonderfully by Oh Yeon-seo (who was so engaging and hilarious in Love with Flaws).  This was an unexpectedly great watch, with many delightful side characters, including Lee Su-hyun, from brother/sister pop group AKMU, in a small role which allowed her to sing at one point!)

14.  Youth of May:  This show SHOULD be so much higher on this list, as the romance between my boy Lee Do-hyun and Go Min-si was absolutely wonderful in every way possible.  But, to be honest, I never watched the last episode of the show, because I had heard how heart-breaking it was going to be.  Plus I didn’t really get too into the politics, family conflicts, etc. so it was mostly just the romance and 80’s setting for me.

15.  Move to Heaven:  Parts of this show were so profoundly moving to me, while others felt a bit overly melodramatic or sentimental (kind of a Rain Man-type story), but Lee Je-hoon is another one of the greatest current actors working in dramas today.  You really should spend the time checking this short series out. It packs a punch.

16.  The King’s Affection:  I’m not typically a fan of Korean historical dramas (the exceptions being 100 Days My Prince and Mr. Sunshine, as well as to a lesser extent, The Tale of Nokdu and Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung), but I found this show to be so delightfully charming with an achingly sincere performance from Park Eun-bin (who was also incredible in Do You Like Brahms?) and the always great Ruwoon.  I admittedly did skip some of the royal court scenes that didn’t have the two leads in it, but I also did enjoy the rest of the cast like Bae Yoon-kyung and Jung Chae-yeon (the other two members of the love quadrangle)!  The other scholars in the royal academy also cracked me up and Nam Yoon-su and Choi Byung-chan were swoony in their secondary lead roles too!

Notes on the other 2021 shows I completed:

–Hellbound:  Really well made, with an unusual plot/script and great acting, especially from Yoo Ah-in, but, ultimately, it was just too nihilistic for me to deeply enjoy.

–Hospital Playlist 2:  This was my #1 show last year, and while I did enjoy getting to follow the stories of the 5 close doctor friends, it just lacked a certain magical something this time around.

–Inspector Koo:  I was LOVING this show for about the first half of the series (in fact, I called Netflix customer service one morning to complain when a new episode was not yet available), with really incredible performances from the main leads all the way down to minor parts, a killer soundtrack from shoegaze band TRPP, and an engaging cat-and-mouse storyline, but man, did the wheels ever come off of this train.  I finished it out of a sense of completion only, but it never redeemed itself in my mind. Truly a tragedy, as it could have been so great.

–Jirisan:  I came in with high expectations, but was ultimately bored with most of this show, even though the scenery and cinematography were extraordinary.  Pretty much all of its faults lie with the writer…

–Live On:  This was a fun short high school show to watch for the emerging young actors in it, but it was pretty insubstantial in the end…I found the shameful secret at the center of the drama rather ridiculous.

–Mr. Queen:  I won’t lie: I didn’t even end up watching all of the episodes of this show, even though I liked much of what was happening.  It was funny to have Shin Hye-sun so deftly portray the man-in-a-woman’s-body, but it also felt like this cut the legs out of my enjoyment of the romantic tension between the royal couple. I did laugh a lot though.

–Run On:  I wanted to like this show, being a fan of the main leads, but the writing was just awful. I just couldn’t get into any of it…

–Scripting Your Destiny:  This short series is actually worth a watch–Jeon So-nee is an actress you need to keep your eyes on–but it just kind of flew by so quickly and ultimately felt a bit insubstantial!  

–Squid Game:  I watched the whole series the day that it dropped & I thought it had a great cast, wonderful cinematography, set & costume design, etc. but…no romance, bleak offing of endearing characters, and the truly horrible English-speaking actors just kept me from digging it as much as so many did.

–Sweet Home:  I thought this was fun in a comic book way & had a stellar cast.  It was just a bit too light on the romantic threads and a bit too heavy on the gruesomeness to keep me super engaged.

–Taxi Driver:  I think that this was probably the funniest show I watched this year.  Like I said, Lee Je-hoon is amazing.  But it was just too dark & unrealistic to grab my affection…

–Vincenzo:  This is the show that my K-drama chingus will probably not forgive me for not liking as much as they did, but for some reason, I was never quite sold on this drama.  Jeon Yeo-been was a hilarious revelation after her mournful performance in Be Melodramatic, but the over-the-top violence and one-dimensional characters left me cold.  I feel so bummed that I didn’t get into it!

Some shorter dramas that were enjoyable at the time, but which didn’t stand out in my memory too much: Growing Season, Her Bucket List, Love & Wish, Pumpkin Time, Replay, Your Playlist

2021 DRAMAS THAT I DROPPED:

–Beyond Evil:  The writing, acting, and directing were all pretty strong in this show…it just got too freaking DARK for me to handle!  Sometimes I can endure these serial killer storylines, but something about this show was just too disturbing and bleak. 

–Happiness:  I wanted to love this show so much for the two leads and their “friends to lovers” storyline, but I am just way too tired of intense zombie violence to sit through the whole thing.  I can tolerate LESS realistic horror like Sweet Home much more than this kind of angsty suspenseful horror.

–Melancholia:  I also really wanted to love THIS show too because of breakout star Lee Do-hyun, but I’ve usually dropped shows that get too much into high school politics/parents (see SKY Castle and Black Dog) and this was no exception.  Also, Im Soo-jung just seemed a WEE bit too old to be the object of Do-hyun’s romantic obsession in my book–the math just didn’t add up for me.

BEST LEAD ACTOR:

• Ji Chang-wook (Lovestruck in the City)
• Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha)
• Jung Hae-in (D.P.)
• Rowoon (The King’s Affection; She Would Never Know)
• Ryu Jun-yeol (Lost)

BEST LEAD ACTRESS:

• Han So-hee (My Name; Nevertheless)
• Kim Ji-won (Lovestruck in the City)
• Moon Ga-young (True Beauty)
• Park Eun-bin (The King’s Affection)
• Shin Min-a (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

• Hwang In-youp (True Beauty)
• Koo Kyo-hwan (D.P.)
• Lee Soo-hyuk (Doom at Your Service)
• Park Hee-soon (My Name)
• Yoo Ah-in (Hellbound)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

• Kim Hye-jun (Inspector Koo)
• Lee Joo-bin (She Would Never Know)
• Oh Hyun-kyung (You Are My Spring)
• Park Jin-joo (Our Beloved Summer)
• Shin Do-huyn (Doom at Your Service)

BEST NEW ACTOR/ACTRESS:

• Cho Yi-hyun (Hospital Playlist 2; School 2021):  Adorable beyond all measure
• Choo Young-woo (School 2021): Such a great screen presence, like a Korean James Dean
• Kwon Eun-bin (At a Distance, Spring is Green):  This girl had tons of charismatic intensity, but was very underutilized in this show (and, sadly, her other scheduled 2021 drama Dear.M got postponed due to bullying allegations against lead actress, Park Hye-su)

BEST COUPLES:

• Cha Eun-woo/Hwang In-youp & Moon Ga-young (True Beauty)
• Choi Woo-sik & Kim Da-mi (Our Beloved Summer)
• Ji Chang-wook & Kim Ji-won (Lovestruck in the City)
• Kim Seung-ho  & Shin Min-a (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha)
• Lee Do-hyun & Go Min-si (Youth of May)
• Park Eun-bin &  Ruwoon (The King’s Affection)