There was a time in my life where I easily binge-watched entire dramas because I couldn’t get enough of the larger-than-life plot lines and characters. But life, as it does, gets in the way and over the past few years I’ve lost touch with the whole world of k-dramas. Which is such a shame, because I actually really love dramas! They’re fun, fantastical, romantic, unbelievable, hilarious, colorful, and endearing.

I honestly can’t remember the last time that I watched a Korean drama purely for fun. I tried watching “Descendants of the Sun” and “Goblin” because they were the hottest, trendiest dramas at the time, but couldn’t stick with them because I wasn’t truly interested in the story or the actors. But I noticed recently that Netflix has been making more Korean movies and dramas available on the Korean site (which I have to use since I live in Korea) and not only that, they’ve started to (finally!) add English subtitles as well. I do study Korean but I don’t think my level is high enough to watch without subtitles, plus I like to watch dramas for fun, so subtitles are important to me.

Scrolling through Netflix, I came across “Strong Girl Bong-Soon” (also known as “Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon”) and was intrigued by the story line and the handsome/beautiful lead stars. In the past 2 days I’ve binged the first 6 episodes and I am loving the story so far! In case you are unfamiliar, I’ll give a short synopsis: Do Bong Soon is a young, unemployed woman with an extraordinary ability. Passed down the female line for centuries, Do Bong Soon has inherited super-human strength, but it must only be used for good or she will suffer the consequences of a curse. After fighting off some gangsters with her strength, she gets employed as a bodyguard for a young handsome CEO of a gaming/tech company, who witnessed her power. Meanwhile, her neighborhood is under siege by a serial kidnapper who is abducting young women. Bong Soon’s childhood friend (who she has a crush on) is a diligent cop trying to solve the case, and Do Bong Soon and her new boss get mixed up in the mystery.

I realize I’m almost a whole year late to the party but I’m just so thrilled to have found a drama that I’m watching 100% for fun that totally ticks all my boxes: it’s got humor, a strong-ish female lead (no pun intended), action and mystery, cute romance, handsome actors, and entertaining supporting characters. It’s light-hearted but also has a lot of suspense due to the serial kidnapper story line which makes it a really fun watch.

I’m also really pleased that I’m starting to understand more of the dialogue after having studyied so much this past year. It’s actually not the best drama for practicing listening because there is a LOT of rapid-fire, quick-witted dialogue. There are also a few characters who speak with a dialect which is still hard for me to understand. But I am catching things here and there and learning some new words and sentences, so it’s worthwhile.

I hope this will reignite my love for Korean dramas, and I’ll be looking out for what Netflix has to offer in the future. If anyone has drama recommendations, please leave a comment!

See you next time~