The last month’s K-dramas added a slew of kickass women to its long list of great heroines – from Queenmaker’s Hwang Do-hee (Kim Hee-ae) to Dr. Cha’s Cha Jung-sook (Uhm Jung-wa). May’s K-dramas stretch towards the realms of sci-fi and supernatural magic, featuring the second installment of 2020’s Tale of the Nine-Tailed and Netflix’s hotly anticipated dystopian drama Black Knight. From Disney+ Hotstar’s office drama Race to Viki Rakuten’s time travel mystery My Perfect Stranger, here are our top picks of the month.
When: May 10
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
Park Yoon-jo (Lee Yeon-hee) is a new employee in the PR department of a large firm. What Yoon-jo lacks in qualifications and experience, she more than makes up for in tenacity and drive. But when everyone in the company discovers that several recent hires were made as part of a newly created diversity program, Yoon-jo will have to overcome the insurmountable to win their approval. Starring Lee, Moon So-ri, Hong Jong-hyun and Chung Yun-ho, the 12-episode series is written by Kim Ru-ri.
When: May 1
Where: Viki
Calm and sweet, Yoon Hae-joon (Kim Dong-wook) has toiled hard to climb the ladder at his broadcasting company and become the youngest news reporter ever. Baek Yoon-young (Jin Ki-joo) aspires to become a writer but is working at a publishing house to make ends meet. When the two get involved in the same case, they’re mysteriously transported back to 1987 and realise that they need to team up. The series is written by Baek So-yeon.
When: May 5
Where:Viki
K-pop group Exo-K’s Sehun and Jo Joon-young play polar opposite best friends, Go Yoo and Go Joon-hee respectively. The two might bicker all day but care for one another deeply, with Go Yoo even donating a kidney to Joon-hee when the latter was in need. However, things get complicated when the boys fall for the same girl, a transfer student played by Jang Yeo-bin. The 8-episode series is written by Kang Yoon.
When: May 29
Where: Netflix (select regions)
As Lee Ro-woom, Chun Woo-hee plays a delightfully deceitful scam artist who has wielded her gift of the gab to amass a fortune. An addition to K-dramas’ long line of psychopaths, Ro-woom has no empathy. Kim Dong-wook plays Han Moo-young, a lawyer who is the complete opposite of the con-woman but teams up with her to get his own revenge. The 16-episode drama is written by Han Woo-joo.
When: May 12
Where: Netflix
With Black Knight, K-dramas take yet another stab at sci-fi – a genre they haven’t quite been successful with. Kim Woo-bin (Our Blues) stars as a deliveryman, Knight 5-8, in a dystopian world where most of South Korea has been reduced to dust by pollution. On his journey, Knight 5-8 meets a young boy who looks up to him. The six-part Netflix series is written and directed by Cho Ui-seok.
When: May 6
Where: Amazon Prime Video (select regions)
A follow-up to the popular 2020 series Tale of the Nine-Tailed, Tale of Nine-Tailed 1938 revolves around Lee Yeon (Lee Dong-wook), a mountain spirit who unexpectedly travels back to 1938. There he meets more mountain gods, native gods and other foreign monsters. The 12-episode series will chart his desperate fight to travel back to the present age, where his love Nam Ji-ah (from Tale of the Nine-Tailed) is.