Yes, I know it’s the last day of March 2026. But I don’t care. I will still blog about my 2025 Korean drama journey. I’m a great procrastinator.
For me, 2025 is a record-breaking year for Korean dramas watching.
I watched a total of 36 Korean dramas aired in 2025, completed ONLY 12 of them (33%) & dropped a WHOPPING 24. I know, IT’S UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!! This scenario has never happened before. I’d always completed more Korean dramas than dropping them.
Now, what does this say about the quality of 2025 Korean dramas? Or me?
I would say that the majority is a ME problem. I tried watching so many Korean dramas for fear of missing out. I should’ve listened to my intuition & watched shows that interest me, and not followed the hype. So, in the end, I dropped so many because they did not speak to me.
Psst, from this point on, there will be spoilers.
Another thing: This is a SUPER LONG post. And, a LONG OVERDUE post. We’re in ‘let me repeat’ last day of March for Christ’s sake. LOL
Completed 2025 Korean Dramas (by airing date)
1. Love Scout 나의 완벽한 비서 (12 eps)
The best parts of this show were Han Ji Min, her character Kang Ji Yun & the episodic candidate of the week. I find Yu Eun Ho too perfect & 1D. Therefore, I wasn’t really into their love story. Sure, it was sweet at times, but at the end of the day, it left me empty. In contrast, the second leads’ love story came together nicely at the end.
2. Study Group 스터디그룹 (10 eps)
Highly Recommended 👍👍👍
This show was made for Hwang Min Hyun. Yes, it was violent, yet it contains lots of ❤️❤️❤️ The fivesome, Yun Ga Min, Kim Se Hyun, Lee Ji Woo, Choi Hee Won & Lee Joon had such awesome chemistry & they are quirky in their own ways. If there’s a tiny weakness, it’s the ending. It felt a little less oomph. Good news is there’ll be a season 2 & I hope all of them reprise their roles.
3. The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call 중증외상센터 (8 eps)
Recommended 👍👍
This show is a riot! While it can be too graphic at times, it’s not afraid of its own humor, plus it has Ju Ji Hoon as Baek Kang Hyuk. He’s cocky, smart, & the best in his field. Surprisingly, he’s my 2nd favorite. My most favorite is Han Yu Rim. Season 2 is coming soon, too!
4. Buried Hearts 보물섬 (16 eps)
Highly Recommended 👍👍👍
I enjoyed my journey with the 9 lives Seo Dong Ju immensely. I became his fan after this. The twist and turn, & more twists, but especially Seo Dong Ju’s firecracker dynamics with the formidable trio Yeom Jang Seon, Cha Gang Cheon, & in particular Huh Il Do were breathtaking. Then, there’s that brutal ending.
5. Pump Up the Healthy Love 24시 헬스클럽 (12 eps)
Very Highly Recommended 👍👍👍👍👍
An underrated gem 💎💎💎
I tweeted this on 9th June 2025 after completing the finale:
What the #24시헬스클럽
What the best show in 2025!!!
What the 이미란
What the 도현중
근바이I will miss everything 💚💪❤️🔥🍝🍠❤️
Jun devoured his character with no crumbs left. Yummy! 🤟#LeeJunYoung #JungEunJi #PumpUpTheHealthyLove pic.twitter.com/onsm8NtVQz
— Beautiful Iyagi (@BeautifulIyagi) June 9, 2025
Even on 31st March 2026, the day I publish this post, I still stand by my conviction:
WHAT THE best show of 2025!!!
I watched this drama for Lee Jun Young, whom we all dearly called Jun. The first episode can be a hit or miss & the show’s humors may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you get it, you’ll be in for a very fun, enjoyable laugh-out-loud gym ride.
This show is heartwarming, quirky & deals with self-love. I will always remember Do Hyun Joong cussing of “What the…” & his many antics. Also, Lee Mi Ran’s love for bagel (which got me trying it again after a bad experience many many years ago) & her singing Pump Up’s style of Park Jin Young’s 니가 사는 그 집 (The House You Live In) with Do Hyun Joong & the gym rats. To be precise, it’s in ep 3 at 35′ 8″.
Despite the silly tone, this show has a lot of ❤️❤️❤️ & this is the ONLY show that remains in my mind long after an episode is over & long after the show is finished. This is the ONLY two Korean dramas of 2025 that ended with me giving a deep sigh of satisfaction (the other one is Moon River, see below). And, it’s the ONLY show that had me saying “I WANT MORE!”.
6. Head Over Heels 견우와 선녀 (12 eps)
This show was very enjoyable in the beginning, but as we go deeper & deeper, I can’t help but question the actions of certain characters. It’s like it makes no sense for them to act like that. So, it took the joy out of watching. The only reason I stayed & completed this show was because of the interesting world-building of shamanism & the main trio.
7. The Winning Try 트라이: 우리는 기적이 된다 (12 eps)
I regretted not dropping this earlier. I kept saying, “Give more chances to Yoon Kye Sang.” & I got burned in the end. 😂 There were too many noble idiocy & the writing leave much to be desired. The two best parts of the show are the boys (but even then, they were given the short end of the stick), AND the discovery of Park Jung Yeon (she’s very talented & so pretty). I was so happy when I found out she would be starring in Our Golden Days (see below). As if the underwhelming finale wasn’t enough, the ending credits didn’t mention Song Young Kyu, who unfortunately had passed during the show run due to a scandal. Because of this, this show left me with a very bad taste.
8. Our Golden Days 화려한 날들 (50 eps)
I had high expectations for this KBS weekender, so did KBS, everyone involved in this project & the fans. This was because the writer & director had a couple of weekender hits on their hands (shows that garnered a whopping +40% viewership ratings).
The show started quite bland & along the way, I had this feeling that the writer had no idea how to proceed with the story of the male lead’s character, Lee Ji Hyuk. The show only got very interesting when they built up the antagonist & really, as in really, she took over the show. From then on until the last episode, I enjoyed this show tremendously, always looking forward to the weekend.
Save for a really jarring MAIN couple (not individual characters), I like everyone & their characters in this show (even the jerky male lead), a feat! No matter how hard I tried to see the spark between our main couple, Lee Ji Hyuk & Ji Eun O, there were like teeny tiny puny bits only. It can’t start a fire at all! 😅
You see, I had this feeling that behind the camera, these two may have a fallout. I didn’t see much of their interactions in the making of videos. Because if I were the producer of the show, I would be putting all the attention on them, whether it’s in front of the camera or behind. At least that’s what I suspected. Because how else would you explain why these two talented & beautiful actors lack chemistry when they’re together? How else would you explain when their characters say they like each other & when they look at each other, you don’t see the heart eyes at all.
The greatest discovery from this weekender was Lee Tae Ran. She took my breath away with her powerful & nuanced acting. She won the Top Excellence award at the 2025 KBS Drama Awards. But for me, she’s the most deserving Daesang recipient (grand prize). I could say this because I watched the other Daesang nominees’ works except for Na Young Hee’s.
9. Tempest 북극성 (9 eps)
Despite being a long-time Kdrama watcher of over 2 decades, I finally watched a Gang Dong Won show after hearing about him for so long & he did not disappoint! I enjoyed this show except for the final scene because I wanted him there. And, I wanted more romance. And, then there’s Um Tae Goo!
10. Walking On Thin Ice 은수 좋은 날 (12 eps)
Highly Recommended 👍👍👍
This is the second most beautifully shot Kdrama of 2025 (see Moon River below). It was good to see Lee Young Ae again after watching her in Dae Jang Geum (A Jewel In The Palace) over a decade+ ago, yet this present Lee Young Ae, I can’t say I enjoy her acting. There’s something weird about her facial expression & I don’t know what. Therefore, most of the time I couldn’t really connect & emphasize with her. Someone mentioned Botox. I’ll stop here.
Despite that shortcoming & it can be too dark sometimes (we’re dealing with drugs here), I really enjoyed this drama. The partnership of Kang Eun Soo & Lee Kyung (hello Kim Young Kwang!) was awesome & I couldn’t predict anything at all, even to the last second!
11. Moon River 이강에는 달이 흐른다 (14 eps)
Highly Recommended 👍👍👍
This is the most beautifully shot Kdrama of 2025. It also provides us with the BEST chemistry of 2025 between the leads, Lee Gang & Park Dal Yi (bravo to Kang Tae Oh & Kim Se Jeong). I ❤️ the main OST, 꿈이로다 But A Dream. I almost didn’t start this drama because of Jin Goo. I just couldn’t buy him as this old man. All I see is a young man. I also brushed off some of the fantasy elements. I thought the body swap was done well, just that it was confusing initially, whereby I had to pause & regroup to determine who’s who. This is one of the only two Korean dramas of 2025 that ended with me giving a deep sigh of satisfaction!
12. Love Track: Onion Soup After Hours 러브:트랙 TRACK.01 퇴근 후 양파수프 (1 ep)
Recommended 👍👍
After 15 years of holding the name KBS Drama Special (an hour-long story), KBS has renamed it to Love Track in 2025 & it now consists of 30-minute run Love Tracks. The 1st love track is about onion soup. My, they really made the onion soup so oozingly mouthwatering. It was short, sweet, warm, comforting & to the point. It was beautifully shot, too. And, yes, I was craving a bowl of this onion soup by the end.
Dropped 2025 Korean Dramas (by airing date)
1. Who Is She 수상한 그녀 – Dropped at ep 11, a little over the half-hour mark (with 1 more ep to go). I just didn’t care anymore. Memorable plot: The Park Jun twist! My advice: Forget this drama & just watch the 2014 movie, Miss Granny 수상한 그녀, on which this drama was based.
2. When the Stars Gossip 별들에게 물어봐 – Dropped at ep 2 during Eve’s flies talk. Hey, at least I endured until there! How could A-list actors make this show so boring?
3. Motel California 모텔 캘리포니아 – Dropped at ep 3 at half-hour mark. This show has the kind of negative & depressing feelings that I dislike.
4. For Eagle Brothers 독수리 오형제를 부탁해 – I ❤️ this weekender, until I didn’t 💔 Dropped at ep 35 because some storylines of the brothers are really illogical (3rd & 4th bros). Baby Hani is the most adorable baby I’ve ever seen in Kdramaland!
5. KICKKICKKICKKICK 킥킥킥킥 – Dropped at ep 1 before the half-hour mark. I wish I had never clicked play. Very disorganized, boring & I didn’t get the humor at all.
6. My Dearest Nemesis 그놈은 흑염룡 – Dropped after completing ep 4. OTP has no chemistry. I kept seeing Ban Ju Yeon as a kid. Favorite scenes are those starring Moon Woo Jin as the teen Ju Yeon.
7. Undercover High School 언더커버 하이스쿨 – Dropped at ep 11 (with 1 more ep to go), a few minutes in. I just didn’t care anymore. The show started so well.
8. When Life Gives You Tangerines 폭싹 속았수다 – For a praise-worthy & award-winning show, I thought it was overhyped. I enjoyed the earlier episodes (1 to 6), but unfortunately, the more episodes I watched, the more my interest dwindled. I dropped it at ep 12, around the 13th minute mark. For the life of me, I just couldn’t like IU. You know how sometimes, you just dislike someone with no reason.
The three characters that stood out to me were the two mothers, Jeon Gwang Rye & Mi-Hyang, played by Yeom Hye Ran & Kim Geum Soon, respectively (their screen presence was daebak), AND Park Yeong Beom, played impeccably by Lee Jun Young. The show’s opening title is a song called 봄 Spring sung by 김정미 Kim Jung Mi in 1973 in her album Now, which is my favorite song from this drama.
9. Tastefully Yours 당신의 맛 – For a food show, it vibrates in the chaotic frequency, instead of comfort. Especially Han Beom Woo. He’s too chaotic & loud. Would you believe he’s a chaebol? Not me. More like a gangster. Dropped at ep 3 (early part).
10. Oh My Ghost Clients 노무사 노무진 – The ONLY Korean drama of 2025 that I dropped, not because it was bad, boring or couldn’t care less. But, because it shows humanity at its lowest of the lowest. It was just so heartbreaking. I dropped at ep 2 at that REVEAL. 😢😢😢
11. Good Boy 굿보이 – Dropped after completing ep 8. I knew I definitely COULD NOT endure another 8 more. 😛 I had high expectations going in, but the show felt short on storytelling. It’s like seen it, done it. The action scenes were cool but had too much exaggeration. Would you believe me if I tell you Park Bo Gum & Kim So Hyun didn’t have much chemistry between them?
12. The Nice Guy 착한 사나이 – Dropped at ep 2 before the half-hour mark because I was bored by it. I picked this up coz of Lee Dong Wook (hi, after a decade) & Lee Sung Kyung (I was watching & loving her in Call It Love).
13. My Girlfriend Is The Man 내 여자친구는 상남자 – Dropped after trying ep 1. Everything felt wrong. It felt icky & I also disliked the ‘glowing’ filter used.
14. Trigger 트리거 – Dropped near the end of ep 1 when all hell was gonna break loose. This was not for me. It’s just too violent. However, I did skim eps 2 & 3 just to see Kim Young Kwang in action for a bit.
15. Mary Kills People 메리 킬즈 피플 – Dropped after completing ep 4. For a show about euthanasia, it couldn’t capture its essence, save for ep 3 (Soo Young’s story). I was bored too.
16. My Troublesome Star 금쪽같은 내 스타 – Dropped after completing ep 3. The disconnections between the 1999 & 2025 Im Se Ra were huge for me. I couldn’t connect with the 2025’s. Wished we could just hang around in 1999. Also, it felt like I’ve seen before, done before, but acted by different actors.
17. Bon Appétit, Your Majesty 폭군의 셰프 – Dropped at ep 9 when Ya Kun asks Ji Young as a tribute. Best thing about this show was the FOODPORN & the close up of Yi Heon’s, or should I say Lee Chae Min’s sensual mouth when he’s enjoying his food. However, I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried, see Lee Chae Min as a king. He has the stature of a king & even sounds like one, but he couldn’t own it. Most of the time in the show, I just saw him as a young actor donning a king’s robe & acting as one. Another downer was that the romantic build-up was so lacking.
18. Twelve 트웰브 – This is the fastest drop Korean drama of 2025 & ALL TIME!!! I dropped it somewhere during the opening title. Hahahahahahaha
19. Confidence Queen 컨피던스맨 KR – Couldn’t get past the 35th minute of ep 1, so it was a super quick drop. Not a fan of the vibe.
20. Ms. Incognito 착한 여자 부세미 – Dropped around the first few minutes of ep 6, or perhaps, more accurately: at ep 5 when I started to press fast forward liberally when that annoying guy appears. Episodes 1 & 2 have the best opening episodes among the 2025 Korean dramas that I watched. Tsk, I never recovered from the tonal shift. I’m a fan of the chairman’s house interior.
21. Genie, Make a Wish 다 이루어질지니 – Dropped after completing ep 1. I just can’t with romanticizing evil, Iblis (is an actual devil’s name). Even if the name of the genie is a tamer one, I knew I wouldn’t continue either because the tone of the show was just not for me.
22. Would You Marry Me 우주메리미 – Dropped after completing ep 4. Episode 1 was fab, but the stories got too cliché as we moved along. Plus, the BIG negative: the cheater Woo Joo, who still had ample screentime. What a turn off.
23. Typhoon Family 태풍상사 – Dropped after completing ep 5. It was so wonderful to reminisce about the time & things we used in the 90s. The show was interesting at first when it dealt with the 1997 IMF crisis. I lost interest when it started veering into a different territory: bad guy trying to take down the good guy. I was bored as heck! The romance couldn’t do it for me either. I also felt like this show is mostly for fan service (just like King The Land – which I dropped too) for you know who.
24. Dynamite Kiss 키스는 괜히 해서! – Dropped around 35 mins in at ep 5. Yet again, another show that was headed to the typical Kdrama tropes. I went from laughing & swooning to yawning. I actually didn’t find their first kiss to be that dynamite at all. One thing I will always remember about this show: Ohh, how I disliked the sound & the way the FL talks.
Completed Older Korean Dramas (not included in the calculation)
Besides watching 2025 aired Kdramas, I also watched some older ones like below.
1. Call It Love 사랑이라 말해요 (16 eps)
Very Highly Recommended 👍👍👍👍👍
An underrated gem 💎💎💎
I heard so many good things about this show during its early run in 2023 (I skipped spoilers after that for fear of ruining it for me). I wasn’t in the right headspace to watch it then & I also knew I needed a special time to devour it. I found that special time mid of last year & sure enough, I devoured it very slowly (took my own sweet time of a couple of months to complete it).
The verdict?
I ❤️❤️❤️ this show! Kim Young Kwang & Lee Sung Kyung were so awesome as Han Dong Jin & Sim Woo Joo, respectively. Their chemistry? Off the chart! 🔥🔥🔥 In fact, all the casts were perfect for their roles. From the get go, it never failed to pull me into their world. This is storytelling of the highest level. I cherished everything: the loneliness, gloominess, hurt, pain, trauma, revenge, slow burn, love, forgiveness, hope, families, EVERYTHING… even the pink filter used.
Call It Love is the most beautifully shot Korean drama I’ve ever had the honor of experiencing. 🌟🌟🌟 Yup, even Moon River & Walking On Thin Ice could not compete with Call It Love in this department.
I have a question about the pink filter. I read someone said that the pink filter was turned off in the end, but I could not discern when. Could someone enlighten me? In which episode (final ep?) & minute?
2. KBS Drama Special 2024: The History Of Us 사관은 논한다 (1 ep)
3. KBS Drama Special 2024: Finding Handsome 핸섬을 찾아라 (1 ep)
4. KBS Drama Special 2024: The Two Women 영복, 사치코 (1 ep)
5. KBS Drama Special 2024: The Road In Between 모퉁이를 돌면 (1 ep)
6. KBS Drama Special 2024: To My Lonely Sister 발바닥이 뜨거워서 (1 ep)
Lumping no. 2 to 6: KBS only produced 5 Drama Specials for 2024 (a far cry from the usual 10 or more). I thoroughly enjoyed them all, but if I have to point to just a tad weaker Drama Special, it would be Finding Handsome. It’s also in one of these short dramas (guess which one?) that I discovered Jung Gun Joo. 😍
ANDDdddd, that’s it.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read everything or portions of it.
Last modified: 31 March 2026
