The other day, we were having a serious organizational-level debate. Should we declare Dec 16th an official holiday for Opposable Thumbs? You see, (for the unenlightened) it is the birthday of Park Seo Joon, the heartthrob of millions, the God of swooning teens (and not-so-teens), the maximus idolus of all the stars in the Korean constellation (words don’t do justice to his awesomeness). The debate raged on into the wee hours of the morning, as we played his shows on loop. 

Just kidding.

Who’d declare a holiday for this! It’s just an Optional Holiday for the fans.

As you can guess, the Korean bug has bitten us. We get severely judged, but that doesn’t deter us. Besides the eye candy, there is something sublimely compelling about their plotlines that you willingly devote 16 hours of your life to their shows.

Put aside your prejudice and hear us out for a second. We could dissect their shows genre-wise but in the interest of brevity, we’ll spare you (for now).

In today’s content universe, love is eclipsed by lust, and love stories verge on the banal. It is true that if you’ve watched enough Korean drama, you can sense a formula there (boy gives girl a piggyback ride, boy ties girl’s shoelaces, boy exhibits cute jealousy – if we are being objective, we need to list these out here), but their stories are so sweet that we crave for that innocence we lost somewhere along our teen years (when we sold our M&Bs to the kabadiwaalah). You feel warm and fuzzy, cocooned in a candy floss pink of nostalgia.

Their society is so similar to ours that we can’t help but relate to the trials and tribulations of their protagonists. Teenagers are forced to attend oppressive tutorials, the obsession with the need to score well in math and science, go through the angst of class and society, unrequited love, coming-of-age friendships, and all the strain of unbearable parental pressure. Large corporates are corrupt and plagued with nepotism (sounds familiar?). To all outward appearances they are a fashionable, modern, progressive country. But scratch the surface and we see a life we’re all familiar with mirrored in theirs.

But here’s where the differences kick in.

While we went down the gritty, grimy, lusty, realism way (nothing wrong with that), Korean stories use these simple realities and paint them into unique storylines that twist and turn and keep you on the very edge of your seat – whether it is a cute romance, or a vampire mystery set in a dystopian future.

We are not saying one is better than the other.

But if you believe that fiction is about escapism, you will fall in love with Korean drama. It is fiction with just the right amount of believability. After watching any romance, you will genuinely feel that you could be friends with that boy-next-door in the show.

P.S.: If you want recommendations to get started on your K-drama journey, leave us a message.

P.P.S.: We can also tell you the ones where the subtitles are not on-point.