K-DRAMA NEWS - April 2025
By Sharon Stern
This month’s new dramas have a bit of everything going on: a newly streaming and subbed pretty much GL story, extreme silliness, sageuk, reaper love, dark thriller intrigue, medical shenanigans, Edgar Allan Poe inspired historical settings and a heavenly spring-winter relationship. It’s seriously enough to make your head spin. Just what drama lovers live for!
* Released before April, Now Streaming in the US with English Subtitles
Friendly Rivalry - 선의의 경쟁
Viki | Starring: Hyeri (Lee Hye-ri), Chung Soo-Bin
Genre: Teen drama, mystery, thriller
Based on a webtoon by the same name, this drama tells the story of Woo Seul-gi (Chung Soo-Bin), an orphan from a small town where she was the top student and who transfers to an elite school in Seoul where only the top 1% of students can attend. She has a hard time adjusting until she makes friends with Yoo Jae-I, who is the top student at the school. Yoo Jae-I is known to be manipulative, but Woo Seul-gi ends up out maneuvering and manipulating as well. They have a very complicated and unusual relationship. As their relationship intensifies, they are both friends and rivals at the same time. There is a very real sexual tension between them as well, complicating the friend/rivalry struggle even further. Love, obsession, competition are all competing. Seul-gi begins to learn secrets about the school and its students and even unravels the story of the death of her own father.
Villains Everywhere – 빌런의 나라
Viki | Starring: Oh Na-Ra, Soo Yoo-Jin, Seo Hyun-Chul, Song Jin-Woo, and Park Young-Gyu.
Genre: Sitcom, family drama
Two middle-aged sister’s lives (along with their families) play out their lives next door to each other in this sitcom-styled K-drama. The sisters are rivals and highly competitive. One of them has a secret spicy life in her past that she is trying to hide. The sisters have two boneheaded husbands and children that pay no attention to them. And then an intruder appears. The drama features lots of silliness by both the sisters, their husbands, their kids and the father.
Tale of Lady Ok - 옥씨부인전
Kocowa | Starring: Lim Ji-Yeon, Choo Young-Woo, Yeonwoo and Kim Jae-Won.
Genre: Historical, rom-dram, thriller
This saeguk drama is about a slave named Goo Deok (Lim Ji-yeon) who escapes, takes on the name Ok Tae-young and fabricates a new life. Her secret is that her name, her husband and her status are all fake. She is known for helping people in difficult situations and even becomes a legal expert. There is definitely a Joseon-era legal drama aspect here. She ends up encountering a storyteller, Seung-Hwi (Choo Young-Woo), who covers his face in his role as storyteller. Seung-Hwi falls in love with Goo Deok the first time he sees her. Even after discovering Lady Ok’s true identity, Seung-Hwi supports her.
* New In April
Way Back Love - 내가 죽기 일주일 전
Viki | Starring: Gong Myung, Kim Min-Ha
Genre: Fantasy, romance, coming-of-age
24-year-old Jeong Hee-Wan (Kim Min-Ha) has been living as a recluse, with no will to live after the death of her first love, Kim Ram-Woo (Gong Myung). He shows up at her door…now a grim reaper and tells her she will die in a week. They have one week to spend doing things they couldn’t do when Ram-Woo was alive. Hee-Wan would rather just get her death over with, but Ram-Woo won’t hear of it. He wants her to fulfill her bucket list…except she doesn’t have one. He tells her they can fulfill his bucket list and she reluctantly agrees to do ten things on the list.
Karma – 악연
Netflix | Starring: Park Hae-Soo, Shin Min-A, Lee Hee-Joon, Kim Sung-Kyun, Lee Kwang-Soo
Genre: Crime, thriller
“Karma” is a dark crime thriller about six characters entangled in an ill-fated relationship from which they cannot escape, even if they want to. The story involves a man who makes an irreversible deal after witnessing a mysterious accident, a doctor who has a lifelong trauma from the incident she experienced as a child and meets someone she didn't want to see again, a debt-ridden man who invested in cryptocurrency by borrowing money from private lenders in hopes of striking gold but ended up in debt with negative returns, and a man who loses his job unfairly and falls into the trap of bad luck when he receives a request for a large sum of money. Each of them becomes deeply intertwined, seemingly by an ill-fated relationship. Dramabeans says, “There’s no one to get attached to, no one to root for, but there’s plenty to be fascinated by.”
Crushology 101 (also known as Bunny and Her Boys) - 바니와 오빠들
Viki | Starring: Roh Jeong-Eui, Lee Chae-Min, and Jo Joon-Young
Genre: Rom-com, coming-of-age
An outstanding university art student finds herself surrounded by four (!) super handsome guys, all vying for her attention, after her breakup with a not-so-positive relationship that left her marked as a push-over. Will she find her best match or be overwhelmed by her insecurity?
Resident Playbook (Season 1) – 언젠가는 슬기로울 전공의생활
Netflix | Starring: Go Youn-Jung, Shin Shi-A, Han Ye-Ji, Kang Yoo-Seok, Jung Joon-Won
Genre: Medical, comedy, drama
This series is a spin-off of the very popular, multi-season hit series Hospital Playbook.
Set at the Jongno branch of Yulje Medical Center, the series follows the personal and hospital lives and friendships of young obstetrics and gynecology residents, including an idol-turned doctor. The series (already slated for multiple seasons) features some newer talent and original writers from the Hospital Playbook series.
This series may very well be delightful and well produced and I have well-wishes for the cast and crew. However, I also have some very strong reservations about it, cast and crew completely aside. The production and launch date for this series was delayed because of the real-life doctor’s strike (especially by residents) in South Korea. In my personal opinion, delaying the series did nothing to change this seeming conflict of interest. The real doctor’s crisis is still unresolved, so featuring residents in a drama in the middle of this crisis seems insulting. In addition, the drama takes place in an Ob/Gyn unit. I am beginning to wonder who influenced Netflix to promote baby-making in South Korea in an age when deciding to be childless should be fine, and after we already had to gag our way through this theme in When the Stars Gossip. I love dramaland. I really do. But when those ugly political lines are crossed, it no longer feels entertaining.
The Haunted Palace (also known as Return to the Palace) - 귀궁
Viki | Starring: Yook Sungjae, Kim Ji-Yeon (Bona), Kim Ji-Hoon
Genre: Historical, fantasy, rom-com
Premieres April 18 - This series revolves around glass craftswoman Yeo-Ri (Bona) and royal officer Yun-Gap (Yook Sung-Jae), whose lives intertwine in the aftermath of a paranormal incident within the palace. Yeo-Ri is the granddaughter of a well-known shaman, but does not want to accept that she has her grandmother’s gift and therefore fate to continue her legacy. Yun-Gap is suddenly possessed by an imoogi (the Korean version of dragon spirits, believed to bring rain). People believe he has gone nuts. The imoogi needs Yeo-Ri’s body in order to ascend to heaven, but Yeo-Ri doesn’t want to allow it. Yeo-Ri enters the palace, which is filled with both powerful female ghosts and other evil spirits. The female spirits hold a grudge against the royal family. Yeo-Ri, Yun-Gap and King Yi Seong (Kim Ji-Hoon) have to figure out how to get rid of the ghosts.
Directed by Yoon Sung-Shik, “(Mr. Queen” and “Hwarang”), idols-turned-actors are its featured stars. This rom-com may somewhat resemble the Edgar Allan Poe poem, but perhaps not as much the classic Vincent Price horror film of 1963 (inspired by the poem), of the same name.
Heavenly Ever After - 천국보다 아름다운
Netflix | Starring: Kim Hye-Ja, Son Suk-Ku, Han Ji-Min, Lee Jung-Eun, Ryu Deok-Hwan
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Premieres April 19 - This drama uses a unique story line. Hae Sook (Kim Hye-Ja) has lived a happy life with her husband, Kao Nak-Joon (Son Suk-Ku) up until he dies. He tells her before he dies that she was the most beautiful at 80 years old and says that he just wants to go to heaven at his current age. When she gets to heaven, she is asked what age she wants to be there. Remembering what her husband said, she says she wants to be 80. Imagine her and her husband’s shock when she sees that he is not 80 in heaven, but his 30-year-old self. In fact, she seems to be the only one that has chosen to be an 80-year-old in heaven. They begin a new life together in heaven, 80-year-old and 30-year-old.
