Korean dramas have always been providing its viewers a comforting form of escape. They are usually seen following the usual patterns, which avoids igniting any form of controversies, given their history of being a conservative society. Given the current change we have been seeing, these K-dramas are not all still playing safe. Some of these shows have quite bravely crossed the boundaries set in the past by addressing some important issues like mental health, political censorship, gender roles, LGBTQ+ rights, and also socioeconomic inequalities. These dramas sparked conversations, both good and bad, defying the set expectations and causing a stir.
1. The Glory
A revenge psychological thriller, The Glory, was released in 2022. The story is about a former victim of school violence, Moon Dong-eun, who becomes a homeroom teacher at the school of the bully leader’s child to seek revenge. Based on the actual incident that happened in 2006 in Cheongju, where middle school students were being beaten, escorted money, and they also burned a classmate. The drama put a lot of question on South Korea’s ingrained social hierarchy, and the taboo of bullying. Some people praised the show for its honesty, while others were questioning that was it promoting retaliation.
2. Itaewon Class
Former criminal Park Sae-ro-yi attempted to murder Jang Geun-won, the son of the Jangga Group. After being jailed, he became the head of Strategic Planning. When he was released, he opened DanBam in Itaewon, seeking success and revenge. He but ends up struggling with managing the business, and ends up meeting Jo Yi-seo. The drama made history for two primary reasons, one tackling racism with a black Korean character, Toni Kim, and also for presenting Korea’s first transgender character, Ma Hyun-yi. They gained a lot of recognition for embracing diversity and exposing the globe of corporate wrongdoings.
3. The World Of The Married
The World Of The Married is a melodramatic family drama that came out in 2020. Ji Seon-u, a family doctor, is betrayed by her spouse, Lee Tae-oh. She prepares retaliation and reveals his affair after divorcing him since she no longer wants to live with him. While trying to reorganize her life, her ex-husband keeps on coming back and ends up breaking up with Da-kyung, the girl with whom he had cheated. Compared to other dramas that show adultery with melodramatic forgiveness, this show doesn’t follow that concept, destroying that concept. It became pretty popular, but some sparked criticism for its sexual concept and graphic deception of treachery.
4. Love In The Big City
This is a coming-of-age melodrama released in 2024. A straight woman, Choi Mi-ae, and a gay man Go Young, live together and soon become best friends. He is struggling due to his mother’s pressure of denying his sexual orientation, and meets up with Sim Gyu-ho. He eventually discovers himself again when he goes to Thailand and ends up meeting Habibi. This plot, which examines issues of casual romance and loneliness, is unusual for Korea. While some conservative viewers disapproved of the series due to its contentious deception of homosexual love and urban excess, others applauded it.
5. Sky Castle
Sky Castle is a psychological family drama released in 2019. The story is basically about Han Seo-jin and a bunch of wealthy mothers in Seoul, who all are just obsessed with securing their children entry in the top university, that leads to a lot of unethical practices and financial strain. This drama ended up sparking a national conversation about mental health, academic corruption, and how these rich people control the system, exposing the intense pressure they face and the fierce competition that goes on in the Korean educational system, showing us the dark side.
6. Birthcare Centre
A successful executive, Oh Hyun-jin after a traumatic childbirth, finds herself in a postpartum care center, a place where all the wealthy women come to. She starts to feel embarrassed as people know what they are doing but she didn’t. What appeared to be a low point, ended up helping her a lot. The series that looks very humorous and farcical, highlights a crucial topic of the difficulty and demands that are faced by new mothers. It removes the myth of flawless parenting and ends highlights the annoying demand that are set on Korean women, showcasing and addressing gender inequity and postpartum depression, that’s quite common.
7. Squid Game
Squid Game is a worldwide Netflix phenomenon that centers on the story of a desperate guy, Seong Gi-hun, who win a life-altering amount of cash enters in a deadly survival game with 456 competitors, who end up having to play some twisted version of the classic games we played in our childhood. The story’s games and colorful backdrops tried to conceal several indictments of Korea’s wealth disparities, highlighting on the harsh truth of despair, debt, and capitalism merciless hold on people. Isn’t it weird that this is a true story from back in the days, where people played such a game, and so many people ended up losing their lives. People from all across the world admired Squid Games for it scathing satire. Its graphic savagery and anti-capitalist implications made it unpopular with certain conservatives.
8. Juvenile Justice
Hong Jong-Chan’s courtroom drama Juvenile Justice, starring Kim Hye-soo, Lee Sung-min, and Kim Mu-yeol was released in 2022. Shim Eun-seok is a well-known judge with a cold demeanor, who gets tasked with regulating juvenile criminal in the Yeonhwa District’s juvenile court. Even though she doesn’t like children, she by her own methods tires to discipline them that ended up her requiring to balance her conviction about punishment and justice. This series got a lot of worldwide discussion about the juvenile justice system of Korea and if the country’s law is effectively treating these serious juvenile offenders, due to their compelling court cases and moral dilemmas.
9. Somebody
The developer behind Somebody, a social networking software is developer Kim Sum. She is good friends with Mok-won and a detective, Gi-eun, despite of having difficulty in communicating. Soon after this, her app gets involved in the investigation of a murder that had happened. She along with her friends get confronted by Sun Yun-oh, an architectural designer. Despite of his good looks, he seems to hiding something. We rarely see a psychosexual thriller in K-dramas, and they aren’t as disturbing as this one. It violated so many Korean norms by presenting explicit sexual content and also taking the daring and uncomfortable step to obsession, connections, and psychopathy.
10. Extracurricular
Ji-Soo is an excellent bright high school student, who to cover his university fees, ends up making a poor decision. Due to this decision, a significant crime gets committed. Ji-soo, Kyu-Ri, and Min-Hee, are attending the same high school as him and end up getting entangled in his wrongdoings. The sweet and glitzy high school genre is disrupted in this drama, which substitute repercussion and crime over rebellion and romance. It did get praised for being realistic, but got criticized for its pessimistic outlook, due to having a sharp tone, moral complexity, and graphic brutality.
