Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
There is a contingent of people who do not approve of adults hitting children. I am one of those people. But I also recognize that in a fictional setting like this, it can be incredibly cathartic to watch morally reprehensible youngsters getting their comeuppance — especially for real-life victims of school violence whose lives were treated as dispensable by those who were supposed to protect them.
Saying “I don’t see color” doesn’t mean you’re not racist. How this second season of “Beef” tackles Korean identity.
The Netflix film “BTS: The Return” offers insight into the pressures faced by the superstar group as they came back from military service to make their new album, “Arirang.” My latest review for Rolling Stone magazine.
Made in Korea doesn’t flinch in its portrayal of corruption by both the Korean government and its strongest ally, the U.S. military. Director Woo Min-ho presents a Korea where there are no heroes, but rather desperate survivors caught in the crosshairs.
The best K-dramas of 2025 tackle an array of relevant topics that made us cheer, scream, and cry this year. Get ready to binge. My latest for Teen Vogue.
“The Manipulated” is a film-to-series adaptation of the 2017 action film Fabricated City. Both share the same creative (Park Kwang-hyun) and leading man (Ji Chang-wook).
“As You Stood By” examines domestic abuse and how people are reluctant to help victims — most often because they are afraid of how their actions could be detrimental to their own lives (which is also a subplot in Our Unwritten Seoul).
Bon Appetit, Your Majesty is a delicious mashup of sageuk (or historical dramas), time travel, and mukbang. But basing the fictional king on a real-life despot has been controversial.
“Beyond the Bar” does such a great job of creating complete characters who don’t need a partner to be whole, leaving viewers satisfied with either choice, because we’re confident they will all be OK.
One of the elements I loved the most about this series was watching the friends eat together in every episode. Delicious jiggaes (stews), grilled meat — it was like a legal mukbang!
2025 isn’t over yet, but it’s already been an exciting year for some of the best K-dramas. Though “Squid Game” has come to an end (for now) that doesn’t mean there aren’t still plenty of Korean dramas to obsess over.
With this third and final season of “Squid Game,” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk ties up loose ends in this blood bath, which kills off almost all our favorite players (and some we hate). Park Sung-hoon and Im Si-wan stand out portraying the best and worst of us.
While “KPop Demon Hunters” could’ve been a cutesy story about a boy-crazy girl group flirting with a boy band, there is a strong subtext here with a profound message. The secrets that we keep and the lies that we tell may have started off innocently enough. But they ultimately lead to our downfall unless we deal with the truth.
If you enjoy the John Wick franchise, So Ji-sub’s “Mercy for None” will be right up your alley.
j-hope’s appearance on HOME ALONE gave insight into his role as a worldwide pop star. But it was the tender moments with his sister that were the most precious to me. They gave viewers an understanding of who he is: a man whose career is secondary to his family.
By Jae-Ha Kim Substack May 28, 2025 ☆☆☆ (out of ☆☆☆☆) Lee Hae-sook (played by Kim Hye-ja) Ko Nak-joon (played by Son Suk-ku) ↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name. tl;dr Capsule review: […]
No one tops South Korean creatives when it comes to telling high school-centered bullying stories. In the sequel to 2022’s “Weak Hero Class 1,” our protagonist Si-eun (Park Ji-hoon) wants nothing more than to be left alone and study.
Korean scriptwriters excel at presenting the childhood friends-to-lovers trope. Based on the webtoon of the same Korean title (He’s the Black Dragon), this K-drama centers on a pair of teenage gamers who reunite as adults who, coincidentally, work for the same company.
Each of us has our own favorite K-dramas that are informed by our own personal experiences (and access). For instance, I was never able to get my hands on South Korea’s early dramas like “Death Row Prisoner,” which premiered in 1956. Therefore, my picks are influenced by what I’ve seen, which are primarily shows from 2000 onward.
This emotionally-engaging show is less of a rom-com than it is a slice-of-life K-drama that explores how familial loss greatly impacts who we are today.