I think I’ve finally found the
perfect gateway Korean drama for people who don’t like romances:
The End of the World, a tense
medical thriller about fighting a deadly plague outbreak. It has
danger, excitement, and intrigue (and even a little romance), but
doesn’t dwell on the kind of things that can make our love of
Kdrama so difficult for outsiders to understand. Instead of idling along with broad
comedy or aegyo antics, The End of the World’s
approach to storytelling is spare and swift, with a well-constructed
plot and lots of conflicted, nuanced characters.
Unfortunately,
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to actually recommend this drama
to civilians. Like many programs that originally aired on Korea’s
JTBC network, The End of the World is
not widely available with English subtitles. It’s one thing to send
someone to Netflix or Hulu to try a show, but I can’t imagine many
people seeking out a relatively obscure fansubbing website, signing
up for a membership, and then having the patience to watch the show
on their computer instead of on their TV.
And The End of the World is by no means the only Asian series that’s effectively out of
reach because of technical issues. My dramalist is full of shows I would like to watch but haven’t been able to find online.
This post is devoted to a few of these unicorn dramas—shows that are intriguing but currently unavailable through legitimate English-language streaming sites.
This post is devoted to a few of these unicorn dramas—shows that are intriguing but currently unavailable through legitimate English-language streaming sites.
