Ryu Da In as Myeong Ja-eun in Pyramid Game. Photo Credit: Shin Su Hye, Kim Hyun Joo/Paramount+.
If you’re a fan of Korean TV shows and wondering where to get your next K-drama fix, consider checking out the selection on Paramount+. The streamer has a small but eclectic library of Korean originals and licensed content that are some of the most boundary-pushing Korean shows ever made. From the unhinged survival series Bargain to the recently released psychological thriller Pyramid Game, here’s a look at the underrated yet absolutely bingeworthy K-dramas on Paramount+.
Pyramid Game
Based on the eponymous webtoon by Dalgonyak, Pyramid Game is a captivating teen thriller that’s probably closer to Squid Game or Alice in Borderland than anything from The CW’s golden era. Sharp and cool-headed Seong Su-ji (Kim Ji-yeon, aka Bona, of Twenty Five Twenty One) transfers to an all-girls high school, where every month her class participates in a bizarre popularity contest called the Pyramid Game. Those who receive no votes from their classmates are subjected to extreme harassment and bullying—and Su-ji becomes the game’s next target. When Su-ji realizes that she and some of her classmates are in constant danger of falling victim to the game’s sadistic rules, she vows to end the Pyramid Game once and for all.
The cleverly scripted psychological drama starts to shine in its third episode, when Su-ji and the show’s main antagonist begin engaging in a battle of wits that makes them seem more like political masterminds than average high school students.
Fun facts: Shin Seul-ki, who plays the class president Seo Do-ah, first rose to fame after appearing in the Netflix K-reality show Single’s Inferno.
Jang Da-ah, who plays Baek Ha-rin, is the older sister of Jang Won-young of the popular K-pop group IVE.
Yonder
What happens after we die? Does heaven exist? And if humankind could create our own heaven, what might that look like? Would we be able to find eternal happiness there? These are just a few of the profound questions explored by Yonder, a thought-provoking sci-fi drama that was the first Korean series to be produced as part of Paramount’s partnership with Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM.
After his wife passes away, Jae-hyun receives a message from her inviting him to a mysterious place called “Yonder,” an artificial world constructed from her memories. Jae-hyun decides to join her there, but he soon discovers some unsettling truths behind the man-made paradise.
Slow-paced and subtle, Yonder stars legendary actors Shin Ha-kyun (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Extreme Job), Han Ji-min (Our Blues), Lee Jung-eun (Parasite) and Jung Jin-young (Ode to My Father, Queen of Tears) and was the most watched international series on Paramount+ in the US upon its release.
Fun fact: Yonder is the first series directed by Lee Joon-ik, who is known for directing K-cinema classics like The King and the Clown, Sunny and The Throne. Lee is among many respected Korean filmmakers who have ventured into making TV shows in recent years thanks to the rise of streaming.
Bargain
Things are never quite what they seem in this gritty six-part thriller that’s, well, absolutely nuts. Hyung-soo (played by veteran actor Jin Seon-kyu) meets Ju-young (Jeon Jong-seo of Burning fame) in a secluded motel, believing he’s there to pay Ju-young for her sexual services. Turns out though that he’s unwittingly walked into an organ harvesting ring, and he soon finds himself gagged and bound to a gurney as Ju-young begins auctioning off his organs to random strangers who’ve assembled in the room. Just when it seems like the show can’t get any crazier, a massive earthquake strikes and destroys much of the building, leaving the survivors in a desperate race to stay alive.
Aside from its batty storyline, the show stands out for its unconventional approach to filming: each episode was shot in one continuous take, which served to heighten the series’ chaotic and tense atmosphere. Winner of the 2023 Canneseries award for Best Screenplay, Bargain earned rave reviews from critics in the US and Europe, though many viewers in Korea complained about the copious amounts of cursing.
Fun fact: Bargain is based on the 2015 short film of the same name by Lee Chung-hyeon, who is currently in a relationship with Jeon Jong-seo, who plays Ju-young in the series. Lee met Jeon on the set of his K-horror flick The Call and later directed her in the Netflix revenge thriller Ballerina.
Signal
In this highly acclaimed time-slip crime thriller, police officer Hae-young (Lee Je-hoon of the hit K-drama Taxi Driver) and Detective Soo-hyun (Kim Hye-soo of Under the Queen’s Umbrella and Juvenile Justice) solve cold cases with the help of a mysterious walkie-talkie that lets them communicate with Detective Jae-han (Cho Jin-woong of The Handmaiden) from the past. Inspired by real crimes that happened in Korea, Signal won multiple accolades, including Best Drama at the 2016 Baeksang Arts Awards (roughly the Korean equivalent of the Golden Globes). Season two of the show is currently in development—about eight years after the release of its first season.
Fun fact: Signal, which was written by Kim Eun-hee (who later penned Revenant and Netflix’s first globally successful K-drama Kingdom), was originally meant to be aired by top Korean broadcaster SBS. However, SBS eventually dropped the series, partly because a couple of Kim’s previous shows had underperformed on the network. Cable TV channel tvN picked it up, and Signal would go on to become one of the most successful K-dramas of its time. You can bet those execs over at SBS were kicking themselves afterward.
Save Me
Religious cults are a hot-button issue in Korea and have sparked a number of documentaries and scripted content, but no other K-drama takes such an in-depth look at the phenomenon as Save Me does. Produced by Lee Jae-moon, who also worked on Signal, the disturbing mystery-thriller examines the enormous influence pseudo-religious groups sometimes wield in Korean society and how ordinary, rational human beings can easily be sucked into them.
The series’ first season is adapted from the webtoon Out of the World by Jo Geum-san, while the second season is based on the animated film The Fake by Yeon Sang-ho, best known for directing Train to Busan, Hellbound and Parasyte: The Grey. Both seasons are available on Paramount+.
Fun fact: Though both seasons of Save Me were released prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the show experienced a revival in Korea during the pandemic as many viewers drew comparisons between the first season and the real-life Shincheonji cult, which was largely blamed for initially spreading the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea.
Voice
One of a handful of uber-violent K-dramas before streamers like Netflix gave rise to more K-dramas with graphic content, Voice follows whip-smart policewoman Kang Kwon-joo (Lee Ha-na) as she uses her acute sense of hearing to save people from falling victim to grisly crimes. Each season she’s joined by a male detective who’s played by a Hallyu superstar (Jang Hyuk in season one, Lee Jin-wook for seasons two and three and Song Seung-heon in season four), and together they solve cases while tracking down serial killers.
Despite its depictions of extreme violence, Voice was so popular in South Korea that it was renewed for four seasons (an extremely rare feat at the time), the first two of which are available on Paramount+. It also inspired Japanese and Thai remakes.
Fun fact: Voice incited a ton of controversy and viewer complaints in South Korea for displaying excessive violence—so much so that the production team was slapped with a warning from the Korea Communications Standards Commission during the show’s first season and was forced to raise its age rating from 15 years and up to 19 years and up. However, despite continuing to show graphic content, the series went back to a 15+ rating for its second and third season, while only the first episode of season four was labeled with a 19+ rating.
A Bloody Lucky Day
When one customer after another hails his cab, taxi driver Oh Taek (Lee Sung-min of Misaeng: Incomplete Life and 12.12: The Day) thinks he’s having the luckiest day of his life. He wonders if dreaming about pigs the previous night has anything to do with his unusual luck (according to Korean superstition, seeing pigs in a dream is supposed to bring good fortune). Then a mysterious passenger who introduces himself as Geum Hyeok-soo offers him a hefty sum for a long-distance ride, leading Taek to believe that his dream truly was on point.
However, what started out as a seemingly auspicious day quickly turns into the worst night of his life, as Taek learns that Hyeok-soo is actually a psychopathic serial killer on the run. As Hyeok-soo slays victims one by one along the highway, Taek must do everything he can to stay alive.
While the premise of A Bloody Lucky Day might call to mind Collateral, the gripping 10-episode series relies more heavily on complex character development, emotional storytelling and graphic violence to draw audiences in.
Fun facts: The Korean title of the show, “운수 오진 날,” literally means “The Day of Misdiagnosed Luck,” alluding to Taek’s dream.
Actor Yoo Yeon-seok, who plays Geum Hyeok-soo, stated in interviews that he thought a lot about how to portray Hyeok-soo’s character, who is shown as having permed hair and a frog-like face in the original webtoon. Since Yoo obviously couldn’t change his facial structure, he opted to sport a curly wig and freckles instead.
