K-DRAMA NEWS - Mar. 2025
By Sharon Stern
This month we have a lot of K-pop idol appearances going on in new K-dramas. There is a really wide variety of genres and streaming platforms represented, which is refreshing. And the casts of this month’s dramas are completely star-packed.
Trying to find a way to survive, a man hacks his way into a 2 trillion won slush fund. This hacker is a corporate secretary that wants to take over the company he works for. The owner of the slush fund is a law professor and former intelligence director in the NIS. His joy is found in controlling others, especially those with influence and political power. He discovers the loss of his slush fund and begins to try to figure out who stole it and reclaim it for himself.
This intense drama follows the intertwined life and ambitions of these two men as they battle for survival, but also dominance and power.
The Potato Lab – 감자연구소
Netflix – Starring: Lee Sun Bin, Kang Tae Oh
Genre: Rom-com
(Also known as Potato Research Institute) This drama follows Kim Mi Keong (Lee Sun Bin), who is a potato researcher in a mountain valley town, trying to reinvent her life after being laid off by Wonhan Retail, and So Baek Ho (Kang Tae Oh), who is an innovation director of Wonhan Retail, the company that has just merged and taken over the potato research lab, and has been assigned to oversee the lab. Mi Kung is over-the-top crazy about everything to do with potatoes, confusing people with her scientific phraseology. Baek Ho is eccentric and a loner, with no real life outside of work. Of course the two end up in a quirky relationship. The potato research lab and surrounding area is filled with unique characters that are like the herbs in the mashed potatoes.
When Life Gives You Tangerines – 폭싹 속았수다
Netflix – Starring: IU, Park Bo Gum, Moon So Ri, Park Hae Joon
Genre: Romance, slice-of-life
“Thirty-four million one hundred eighty-six thousand six hundred ninety-eight minutes is another way of saying 65 years. Over that time span, Ae-sun and Gwan-sik find more than a million ways to express their adoration, but they rarely say the words. Instead, little by little, with acts of care, loyalty, and fierce protection, they weather all four seasons of their lives. Together.”
Set in 1960s Jeju, a very difficult setting from an historic perspective, the series has been identified with certain genres, but is said to not really match them in any meaningful way. The drama takes on the slower pace of island life and features island culture in the form of haenyeos and tangerine groves, as well as Jeju dialect – currently fighting to be classified as a language and not a dialect. I am hopeful about this drama living up to its setting, its actors and its immense budget.
The Art of Negotiation – 협상의 기술
Viki – Starring: Lee Je Hoon, Kim Dae Myung, Sung Dong Il, Jang Hyun Sung, Oh Man Seok, Ahn Hyun Ho, and Cha Kang Yoon
Genre: Workplace
The theme of this drama is corporate mergers and acquisitions. A key player in the corporation Sanin Group, Yoon Joo No (Lee Je Hoon), disappears suddenly, exiting for Hawaii, no reasons given. Three years later, he is called back to try to save Sanin Group, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. To meet this goal, Yoon has to take on rival companies, internal conflicts, ethical challenges and more in this portrayal of corporate power struggles and ambitions. This drama is said to feature rapid fire dialogue and elements of mystery/thriller, as the business dealings unfold.
Hyper Knife – 하이퍼나이프
Disney+/Hulu – Starring: Park Eun Bin, Sul Kyung Gu, Yoon Chan Young, and Park Byung Eun
Genre: Medical drama, crime thriller
Premiering March 19
Park Eun Bin stars in this drama as a brilliant neurosurgeon, Jung Se Ok, disgraced, stripped of her license and haunted by past trauma. She seeks out a shadowy world of illegal surgeries, trying to break the boundaries of neurosurgery. Her old mentor, Dr. Choi Deok Hee (Sul Kyung Gu) appears, Dr. Jung’s traumas re-emerge and power game begins. As Dr. Jung attempts groundbreaking, but ethically questionable, procedures, is she really trying to improve neurosurgery or just prove herself as the best.
The cast for this drama is superb and the plot is edgy. It will no doubt keep us all quite firmly on the edges of our seats!
Heo’s Diner - 허식당
Viki, Netflix (it isn’t certain which it will be on in the US yet) – Starring: EXO‘s Xiumin (also known as Kim Min Seok) and Cosmic Girls‘ Exy (also known as Choo So Jung), Lee Sae On and Lee Soo Min.
Genre: Fantasy, rom-com
Premiering March 24
Heo Kyun (Xiumin), a progressive and liberal thinker who dreamed of establishing a society where everyone can live equally without a status system, was a problematic figure in Joseon. In the end, those ideas led to his exile. At the moment of his death, he suddenly jumped 400 years and came to Seoul in 2024! He continues his life working in a restaurant with the mother, Bong Eun Sil (Exy), and daughter who saved his life. Eun Sil is the daughter of parents who owned a home-cooked meal diner who hires Heo Kyun as the head chef. This looks like a cute rom-com with lots of eye candy. Adapted from the web novel "Heosikdang"
The Divorce Insurance – 이혼보험
Amazon Prime – Starring: Lee Dong Wook, Lee Joo Bin, Lee Kwang Soo, and Lee Da Hee and another smaller part by Exy (busy month for her)
Genre: Workplace, rom-com
Premiering March 31
The company’s ad states that there are lots of insurance plans out there: fire, disaster, flood, car. But there hasn’t been insurance against, you got it, divorce. No Ki Joon’s (Lee Dong Wook) personal life hasn’t gone as well as his career as an insurance salesman. He’s had three divorces and lost a lot of money in the process. From his personal experiences, he’s decided the world needs divorce insurance. His work causes him a lot of self-reflection about his past failures. Surrounded by co-workers he has hired, all with unique strengths, weaknesses and personalities, most of them also divorced, can any of them find a lasting relationship?
For me, there is nothing featuring Lee Dong Wook that isn’t very worth watching, so I need to go figure out what to do about a membership to Amazon Prime.
