The 10 Worst K-Dramas On Netflix

It's a sad fact of entertainment that not all movies and television shows are created equal, with every great project balanced by at least one that's subpar at best. This axiom, of course, is also true of K-dramas, the blanket term used for scripted television from South Korea of any genre. As numerous celebrated K-dramas find widespread success with international audiences, more Korean movies and shows are available overseas through popular streaming platforms like Netflix. However, there are just some shows on Netflix that you should probably steer clear of, or at least strongly consider watching different Korean shows over instead.

With some projects suffering from formulaic writing or a clear lack of chemistry between lead actors in romance series, not every K-drama is going to be the next "Squid Game." This certainly isn't a dig on Netflix, with the platform curating a growing library of excellent K-dramas to check out. But with the bar of quality set so high by many Korean shows and so many fantastic series to choose from, these shouldn't be at the top of your list.

Here are the 10 worst K-dramas currently available to stream on Netflix.

This may be blasphemous to the BTS Army, the die-hard fans of the K-pop boy band BTS, but BTS member Kim Tae-hyung's acting debut left a lot to be desired. The project in question was the period piece K-drama "Hwarang: The Warrior Poet Youth," chronicling the creation of medieval Korea's elite warriors, the Hwarang. Queen Jiso (Kim Ji-soo) establishes this fighting force to protect her young son after sensing threats to the throne. As this ensemble learns to work together, they are secretly joined by King Jinheung (Park Hyung-sik) himself, training with them under an assumed name.

To be clear, the issues with "Hwarang: The Warrior Poet Youth" are relatively unrelated to Kim Tae-hyung, who plays the youngest recruit into the elite warrior group. Instead, the love story at the center of this series feels off, lacking the chemistry to get any sense of real emotional investment. The writing and much of the acting comes off as shallow, with only Park Seo-joon and Park Hyung-sik delivering compelling performances. None of the BTS members have acted in dramatic projects since, while Park Seo-joon would find substantial success elsewhere, including the acclaimed "Itaewon Class."

The time-bending K-drama "My Only Love Song" has spoiled actor Song Soo-jung (Gong Seung-yeon) accidentally travel back in time to 6th century Korea. There she meets On-dal (Lee Jong-hyun), a vagabond who provides for the vulnerable that he encounters in his travels. A van that Soo-jung travels back in time with takes her and On-dal on a strange magical mystery tour of awkward destinations. Along the way, On-dal contends with his prophesied destiny of one day marrying a princess.

"My Only Love Song" is one of those shows that makes less and less sense the more you think about its premise and how the story itself unfolds. The period piece road trip nature of the show makes for a disjointed narrative, whisking away the couple just as they start to find their footing. The show's reputation has since become problematic due to controversy around star Lee Jong-hyun, regarding allegations of misconduct that surfaced after its premiere. A sloppily assembled series, "My Only Love Song" has some bright spots and solid romantic chemistry, but just can't keep its time-traveling ride running smoothly.

The 2017 series "Part-Time Idol" leans into the growing popularity of K-pop and musical superstars, or idols, as they're referred to in East Asia. Successful music producer Jung Tae-kyung (Kim Min-kyo) takes an eight-year sabbatical from Korea to find himself spiritually. Returning to the industry, Tae-kyung decides to form a co-ed K-pop group assembled from a small roster of aspiring idols. However, Tae-kyung employs unorthodox methods to train and produce these hopeful popstars, raising more than a few eyebrows.

Though the young cast definitely has plenty of musical talent, "Part-Time Idol" overall is a noticeably shallowly written show. Even by Korean television standards, this show is short –- only five episodes, each lasting a little over 30 minutes -– one of the easiest K-dramas to binge on Netflix. But this truncated length means that conflicts are introduced and resolved briskly, without any sense of stakes or consequences. "Part-Time Idol" is lightweight and carefree, failing to leave any discernibly long-lasting impact to viewers after they breeze through it.

The fantasy romantic comedy "The Beauty Inside" certainly features an offbeat premise for its screwball laughs. Successful actor Han Se-gye (Seo Hyun-jin) is cursed to spend one week of every calendar month with the physical appearance of a completely different person. Se-gye meets Seo Do-jae (Lee Min-ki), an airline executive who cannot distinguish faces after suffering from a blow to the head. After a number of mishaps and other rom-com hijinks, Se-Gye and Do-jae find themselves perfectly suited to fall in love with each other.

Loosely based on the 2015 Korean comedy movie of the same name, the television adaptation suffers from prolonging its version of the story into a full series. Though Seo Hyun-jin is in top form as the cursed Se-gye, the show itself feels like it's padding out its runtime to accommodate the 16-episode order. That means all those formulaic romantic comedy tropes, even with the show's imaginative premise, are more glaringly noticeable. Better paced in movie form, "The Beauty Inside" would have been significantly better if it trimmed two to four episodes.

The popular webtoon "Clean with Passion for Now" by Aengo was adapted into a live-action romantic comedy in 2018. Affluent CEO Jang Seon-kyul (Yoon Kyun-sang) is obsessed with staying clean, which he parlays into running a successful cleaning company. Seon-kyul's latest hire, Gil Oh-so (Kim Yoo-jung), is as cheerful as she is slovenly in her lifestyle, clashing with Seon-kyul's priorities and habits. Oh-so helps Seon-kyul lighten up from his germophobic tendencies and open up to enjoy life, leading to them falling in love.

"Clean with Passion for Now" takes several episodes to settle into an engaging pace, hampered by how unlikable Seon-kyul is before he lets Oh-so influence his life. With the entire series only being 16 episodes, that lack of momentum and appeal is all the more noticeable, especially with so many other K-dramas around with stronger beginnings. The writing itself is overly silly, even by screwball romantic comedy standards, though the cast does the best with the material they're given. Certainly not a travesty, "Clean with Passion for Now" just pales considerably in comparison to similar shows available with better pacing and less formulaic plots.

The power of music and small town charm is at the heart of the 2020 romantic drama "Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol." Corporate heiress Goo Ra-ra (Go Ara) relocates to a small rural community after her family fortune is lost. As Ra-ra struggles to make ends meet by offering piano lessons, she befriends local Joon Sun-woo (Lee Jae-wook). Ra-ra and Sun-woo grow closer as she embraces this new community, only for painful details about both of their pasts, particularly about Sun-woo's health, to surface.

"Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol" is one of those shows so much of the series competently executed, and not without its moments of greatness. Where the show falls flat on its face is its ending, especially in the last half of the series finale. The last several episodes defy even the most generous suspensions of belief dialing up the typical K-drama sad narrative elements, only for the story to collapse under its ludicrous weight. The lead performances in "Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol" are earnest and energetic like the show's protagonist, but the series' glaring flaws catch up with it eventually.

Given the show's success, this may clearly be an unpopular opinion, but 2020's "Tale of the Nine Tailed" never fully lives up to its potential. The series follows a gumiho, a Korean mythical nine-tailed fox who can take the form of a human named Lee Yeon (Lee Dong-wook). While protecting Korea from monsters, Lee Yeon meets Nam Ji-ah (Jo Bo-ah), the reincarnation of his long-lost love Yi Ah-eum. Though Lee Yeon tries to keep his distance from Ji-ah to spare her from danger, the two end up falling in love as their destinies become intertwined.

"Tale of the Nine Tailed" is really a modernized take on classic Korean fairy tales, albeit with the love story element more pronounced. One of the show's biggest problems is it brings its central couple together too early in the narrative, and for a series that's running for 16 episodes, it mitigates that romantic tension. The series has since received a prequel and an animated spinoff, but the main story feels like it's spinning its wheels to pad out the narrative. A stagnant romantic fantasy that never quite figures out what it wants to be, "Tale of the Nine Tailed" features a strong performance from its leads but not much else.

"Lovestruck in the City" is probably the closest a K-drama will get to resembling "Friends," following six young people finding love in the big city. At the start of the series, these six disparate main characters are in their late 20s and early 30s and ready to settle down. Leading the ensemble is Park Jae-won (Ji Chang-wook), a lovesick architect who meets Lee Eun-o (Kim Ji-won), who goes by a false name. The series is presented in a talking head format, like the comedy series "Modern Family," as the characters confess their thoughts and feelings in private interviews.

The interview format, though fresh compared to other romantic comedy K-dramas, always feels a bit out of place in "Lovestruck in the City." While providing additional insight on the main characters, the artifice ruins the romantic tension and immersion into the story. The series starts promisingly enough as the audience gets to know its characters, but melodrama injected into the show late into its run feels forced and contrary to the characters. Running out of steam early on and trying too hard to maintain viewer attention, "Lovestruck in the City" is a wash.

The fate of the world hangs in the balance in the time-bending K-drama "Sisyphus: The Myth." Time-traveler Kang Seo-hae (Park Shin-hye) goes back in time to prevent physicist Han Tae-sul (Cho Seung-won) from inventing a time machine that will cause her war-torn timeline. Working together, Seo-hae and Tae-sul discover a far more sinister conspiracy at work, involving Tae-sul's supposedly dead brother Han Tae-san (Heo Joon-seok). As Tae-sul realizes the sacrifices he must make to ensure a peaceful future, he and Seo-hae fall in love.

"Sisyphus: The Myth" falls into all the convoluted storytelling traps that come with stories involving time travel, particularly with its use of temporal loops. This is accompanied by so many leaps in logic and cop-out moments that leave viewers rolling their eyes at the coincidental conveniences the characters encounter. This completely robs both the reveal of the story's big bad and the ludicrous series finale of any emotional impact that they may have had. A jumbled mess that feels like it makes up its rules as it goes along, "Sisyphus: The Myth" should definitely be avoided in favor of better K-drama sci-fi thrillers.

The devil finds true love among the Korean corporate scene in the 2023 romantic comedy "My Demon." Jeong Gu-won (Song Kang) is a demon who regularly tricks humans into forfeiting their souls through manipulative contracts. After losing his powers, Gu-won agrees to enter an arranged marriage with corporate heiress Do Do-hee (Kim Yoo-jung), hoping to restore his powers. As Gu-won and Do-hee grow closer, they breach each other's guarded personas and begin to genuinely love each other.

The idea of a supernatural being finding love with a human is its own sub-genre within Korean romantic comedies, best done by the cozy fantasy "Goblin." With "My Demon," everything just feels a little off, something more visible through the series' sluggish pacing. The romantic chemistry between Song Kang and Kim Yoo-jung doesn't quite click like it should while the gags from the show's fantasy premise aren't all that funny. If you're looking for a good K-drama starring Song Kang on Netflix, check him out in the bloody horror series "Sweet Home" instead and save yourself some time.