5 Powerful K-Dramas That Address Serious Matters if You're Tired of Rom-Coms

K-dramas are often associated with shallow and lighthearted rom-coms. But Korean series are not just fairy tales about love. They touch on complex social, psychological, and philosophical issues and are not afraid to tackle heavy topics.

1. Navillera, 2021

Shim Deok-chul, a 70-year-old retired postman, decides to fulfill his lifelong dream of learning ballet. His teacher is Lee Chae-rok, a 23-year-old dancer in a creative crisis. The ballet lessons become a source of inspiration and inner support for both of them.

The viewer is gradually introduced to Shim Deok-chul's life, his regrets and desires. He watches as his peers die one by one, and society continues to impose an image of measured old age, a time of caring for children and grandchildren, but not for oneself.

Despite his family's resistance, Deok-chul decides to take up ballet in order to fly like a butterfly at least once in his life.

2. My Mister, 2018

Park is completely disillusioned with his work and family life, and Lee is forced to take care of her deaf-mute grandmother and pay off her mother's debts. Park always puts other people's interests ahead of his own for fear of upsetting his loved ones, for whom he has always been a support.

The man is going through a crisis, sinking into fatigue and pessimism, solving problems with alcohol. The only person who can help him is the sincere Lee, who has her own dark side.

The girl is strangled by her past, which she has been carrying around for years. Only Park's kindness and altruism help her to get rid of guilt and to live a happy life.

3. One Spring Night, 2019

Lee Jeong-in is an ordinary 30-year-old woman whose daily routine consists of working at a library, a long-term relationship with banker Kwon Gi-seok, and family dinners.

Lee's life follows the path of social expectations: the next step is marriage and children. A chance meeting brings the woman together with Yoo Ji-ho, a pharmacist and single father.

This is a realistic story of relationships between people with their own burdens of trauma, seen through the prism of the strict social framework of Korean society.

4. The Glory, 2022-2023

School bullying is one of the most sensitive issues in South Korea, and it continues to resonate in popular culture. The Glory tells the story of Moon Dong-eun, a woman who was bullied by her classmates during her high school years.

The incident left her with not only psychological but also physical scars: Moon Dong-eun was burned with hot curling irons.

Eventually, the violence became so unbearable that Moon dropped out of school and abandoned her dream. Years later, all the accumulated pain is embodied in a carefully planned, cold-blooded revenge on her bullies.

5. Move to Heaven, 2021

The series revolves around the Han family: father Jeong-woo and son Geu-ru, a young man with Asperger's syndrome. They clean the rooms of people who have died alone.

After Jeong-woo's sudden death, Geu-ru's guardian is his uncle Sang-gu, an MMA fighter recently released from prison. As they work together, the uncle and nephew encounter other people's fates, some of them tragic.

The plot of the series was inspired by Kim Sae-byul's journalistic essay Things Left Behind about the profession of a trauma cleaner.