K-Drama Couch: Finales & Premieres Mark End Of 2018 Korean Drama Season

Want to check out which Korean Drama is worth to add on your 2019 watch list?

We are officially kicking off 2019 Korean Drama season with this segment to keep fans updated on K-Dramas that our team will be covering.

As a rule, we choose our K-Drama battles wisely here at HelloKpop. We believe there is no sense keening on stories that left us feeling miserable. We want to celebrate K-Dramas as much as possible, given the knowledge of what effort is driven to draw such narratives, regardless if it goes flat with its whole picture.

As we are also preparing for our “Best 2018 Korean Dramas” feature, I would like to point out why we are already starting the 2019 K-Drama parade.

K-Dramas which aired from January 2018 that ended without crossing January 2019 are included in our 2018 list. With the exception of November 3rd week releases, K-Dramas which air starting November 4th week will join the 2019 list since the finale week is slated for 2019 broadcast date.

For that reason, we are going to kick off this segment since most of November 2018 K-Dramas will pretty much reach its finale week before the new year comes.

Note that dramas which currently air since September will not be included in this weekly/bi-monthly feature as this will mark our 2019 K-Drama season run.

Note: For this article, we have covered week 2 and 3 of November 2018 K-Drama lineup.

K-Drama Finales

My Secret Terrius ended its run with flying colors. The consistency of the polished and comic plot won us over, along with of course, So Ji Sub’s golden portrayal. Let’s hope he won’t ever change.

Review: My Secret Terrius

It was one literally painful send-off for The Third Charm. Traversing the phases of real romance was the addictive merit of Seo Kang Joon and Esom’s beautifully written series.

Review: The Third Charm

Consistently predictable, The Beauty Inside was saved by Lee Min Ki and Seo Hyun Jin’s effort to win the viewers’ hearts, no matter how the series’ wobbly demeanor. The heroine-centric premise struggled to keep up in tying the conflict knots efficiently though.

Review: The Beauty Inside

Brilliantly penned, portrayed and executed, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes has streamed to one of the best melodramas in the recent years. The sound approach of presenting the characters’ motivations, which flows neat to its heartbreaking storytelling, painted a stunning series that should not be missed by avid K-Drama patrons.

Review: The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

K-Drama Premieres

The Last Empress (Wed-Thurs/SBS)

Assuming an interesting setting for main characters in this quasi-period presentation, The Last Empress shot an impressive pilot week, with an abundance of villains and fast-paced narrative spicing up the story.

I am curious how the romance line will be drawn in one of SBS last drama hurrahs. Furthermore, the lineup of top-grade actors is something to look forward to, with Jang Na Ra, Shin Sung Rok and Choi Jin Hyuk on board.

Premiere Recap: The Last Empress

God’s Quiz Reboot (Mon-Tue/OCN)

Ryu Duk Hwan reprises his role for the fifth installment of OCN’s successful franchise. God’s Quiz Reboot looks ready to rock with formidable villain Kim Jae Won onboard the project.

Premiere Recap: God’s Quiz Reboot

Children of Nobody (Wed-Thur/MBC)

This drama started so good. It has the feel of an old horror movie combined with psychological mystery. The weird events started even before Cha Woo Kyung had her accident. A boy under her counsel keeps on seeing his dead sister. The boy’s parents initially refuse to continue with the counselling. However, they relent once the child pushes a classmate down the stairs.

I love that the characters have flaws which are shown in the pilot week. Kim Sun Ah plays a child psychologist, but she suffers from a mental breakdown as well. It first happened because of her sister’s vegetative state. The same vulnerability occurred after the accident that killed a boy, and later when she miscarried her child. She has also passed judgment against the mother, who allegedly burned her child and hid her husband.

Children Of Nobody has missing children, betrayal, spooky circumstances, heinous crime and a whole lot more that make this drama an exciting addition to your K-Drama binge-watch list.

Sky Castle (Fri-Sat/jTBC)

I don’t know where this drama will lead me. It is in the brink of being crossed out of my watch list, but to be fair, I will check its second week to see if I have to go on.

First, I find the conflict too selective for its audience. For the two hours I spent watching the premiere week, my only takeaway was some information about setting up the lighting and room arrangement of a student to improve her home studying environment.

Bluntly speaking, Sky Castle is feeling like it would take me to a weekly trip of feeling sorry and sighing over stories of neighboring families with parents, who are just obsessed to send their students to top schools of the country.

A Promise to the Gods (Saturday/MBC)

Talk about complicated character relationships – this drama has that. Four people’s lives are connected intricately by their past and current affairs. The conflict revolves around a sick child and his biological parents’ desire to save him.

Seo Ji Young and Kim Jae Wook used to be a happily married couple. However, he got Ji Young’s friend, Woo Na Kyung pregnant. When Ji Young found out, she divorces him and prevents him from seeing their child. Jae Wook seems to accept it as punishment. Meanwhile, Na Kyung, who is Jae Wook’s current wife, is having trouble conceiving. She suffered multiple miscarriages. In an attempt to gain the favor of Jae Wook’s father, he files a custody lawsuit against Ji Young.

Jae Wook and Ji Young’s child has leukemia and even though he is currently on the list awaiting a donor, time is running out. Both parents are not a match and the fastest way to obtain a match is if he has a sibling. Ji Young decides to have another baby with Jae Wook to save their child.

Clearly, the ex-couple still has lingering feelings for each other, and Ji Young keeps telling herself it is hate. Next week’s preview shows Jae Wook agreeing to have another child with Ji Young. It really is complicated since both are married to someone else, but I can’t wait to see what will happen in the succeeding episodes.

The Priest (Sat-Sun/OCN)

OCN is at it again! Horror fans will be delighted as The Priest takes a deeper look at possession and exorcism. The opening scene, where a child witnessed his mother being possessed, provided a taste of what the entire drama is all about.

There are enough scary vibes emanating from the spirit possession scenes. The elements that make up a horror genre are present, such as flickering lights, that feeling of being watched, and of course possessed individuals. It is good to note that some of the frightening scenes happened in daylight. So at least those who are afraid of the dark will be able to survive watching this drama. *grin

I am sure there is something more sinister lurking around. That entity is fixated with Father Michael or Oh Soo Min, the boy who witnessed his mother’s possession. I am certain the next episodes are going to be so thrilling and exciting to watch.

Currently Airing K-Dramas

Tale of Fairy (tvN – Mon/Tues)

I am still struggling to reconcile the game plan of Tale of Fairy to be honest. We know the heroine’s goal to make his reincarnated husband remember her. Magically speaking, we cannot contest the route it is trying to thread. But hey, amnesia conflict is really annoying in regular drama plots, so what’s more for amnesia that happened 699 years ago. *chuckles

Episode 3 – 6 of the series threw in some magical rules to give us a glimpse of Fairy Seon’s world and a side conflict of a disturbed college student, who has been marking Jeom Soon. Kim Geum has also acknowledged being smitten by Fairy Seon.

Tale of Fairy is a test of patience, with its messy writing, bits of vague clue, and confusing reincarnation plot, which are not cohering to the narrative. Come on drama. We are almost halfway done, and it is still a big hazy labyrinth.

I am hoping to see some coherence and clear trajectory on its third week. Because honestly, it’s hard to keep up with a drama, who is taking a long time to prepare its ingredients; when it could have sauteed the spices already to excite us a bit, with the smell of the main dish.

Feel Good To Die (Mon-Tue/KBS)

Image from KBS

It’s getting more interesting as Baek Jin Sang is already aware, and believe that he is in a time loop. He refuses help at first, but his new assignment at the very first MW Chicken store proves he can’t do it alone. Finally, he realizes that for him to succeed, he is going to need all the help he can get.

Fortunately, Lee Ro Da is willing to extend a helping hand. It is noteworthy that Baek Jin Sang listens to Roo Da. She is also beginning to understand Baek Jin Sang a little more, and starting to see him in another light.

Feel Good To Die remains hilarious, and continues to touch on more serious office topics such reorganization, mergers and acquisitions, and employee relations. Now that Baek Jin Sang and Lee Roo Da are teaming up to see the success of the first ever store franchise, it will be interesting to see how these two will be able to achieve their goals.

When Time Stopped (Wed-Thurs/KBS W)

KBS W Facebook Page

When Time Stopped finally uncovered secrets and past lives. The main characters are closely connected than what it appears to be. God and Joon Woo have already crossed paths before his past is uncovered.

The reaper gains back his memory, and bargains with God to let his son live as reaper like him. As the characters try to keep their promises made and deal with the consequences, I wonder what’s going to happen next as the main leads now know of their previous lives.

Mid-Series Check: When Time Stopped

Love Alert (Wed-Thurs/MBN)

Photo From MBN

This drama goes by smoothly. It hasn’t been long when the two acted so awkward to each other, and now the fake relationship is real! Although the couple decides to hide it from the people close to Yoon Yoo Jung, the netizens are reacting positively to their relationship.

The main antagonist, the Kanghan Group’s youngest daughter, is a very loathsome individual. Because of her greed for her family’s recognition, she resorts to do a lot of awful things. But the couple is now hanging on to each other tightly. Thanks to Woo Hyun’s mother, who finally sees through the chaebol’s daughter. That forced breakup has the exact opposite as the couple can’t seem to let go of each other, and are now back to dating secretly.

Cha Woo Hyun’s birth secret is about to come out. I just hope when it does, it would not cause so much heartache for the main leads. I am rooting for these two; the chemistry between Yoon Eun Hye and Chun Jung Myung is still evident in every scene.

*Editor’s Note

Tale of Fairy, The Last Empress, Sky Castle, Hymn of Death, Encounter, Memories of the Alhambra, and Bad Detective will be covered by abbyinhallyuland.

When Time Stopped, Love Alert, Children of Nobody, Priest and A Promise To The Gods will be written by Emylyn.

God’s Quiz Reboot, Clean With Passion For Now, Fates and Furies, and My Strange Hero will be handled by Nicole.