If your week has been a little noisy, stressful, or just plain exhausting, consider this a small opportunity for peace. THESE KOREAN and Chinese dramas are the ones that ask nothing of you except to sit back and enjoy the ride. You’re in a time warp, enemies that really should be enemies (but aren’t), slow-burning romances, and stories that somehow make even the most dramatic twists feel comforting. From the confusion of the Joseon era to the emotional twists of the modern day, each series on this list offers its own version of cozy viewing.
1) My royal nemesis
Time travel from the Joseon era, you say? And falling in love with a cold Chaebol heir nowadays? Say no more, say no more.
My royal nemesis returns to all the drama of the K-Drama roots of yesteryear, with an enemy-lover romance, entwining the past and the present. Heo Nam-jun and Lim Ji-yeon lead the series as the two fiery leads. Nam-jun writes the clinic Cha Se-gye, who doesn’t know what has hit him when he meets Ji-yeon’s Kang Dan-shim, a woman struggling to understand the current century. It’s extremely fun and entertaining, so if you’ve had a rough week, you can cheer yourself up after spending the weekend watching My royal nemesis.
2) Love in the Clouds
If your idea of romance involves secret identities, spectacular revenge plots, and two people who would rather duel than admit they have feelings, Love in the Clouds is your next obsession.
The xianxia drama begins with the elite warrior goddess Ming Yi suffering the ultimate humiliation: she is defeated in a tournament, poisoned, and forced to exchange her armor for the silk sleeves of a seemingly frail dancer as she searches for the antidote. Unfortunately (or fortunately), her mission brings her face-to-face with Ji Bozai, the extremely clever trickster who defeated her in the first place.
Suggest a tasty cheat game. The sly smile hides an agenda and every encounter feels like a battle of wits. They spend as much time trying to outmaneuver each other as they do falling hopelessly in love, proving that nothing says romance like plotting each other’s downfalls while accidentally catching feelings.
3) Crash course in romance
What do you get when you combine exam stress, a slow-burning romance and… a serial killer? somehow, Crash Course in Romance makes the most unlikely recipe work—even if the murder mystery sticks out like a sore thumb.
At its heart, the series is a warm and funny romance set in South Korea’s fiercely competitive private education scene. A famous math teacher is overworked, exhausted and plagued by health problems until he discovers that the only meals his body can eat are cooked by a former national athlete who now runs a humble side dish shop. Their unlikely arrangement—private tutoring in exchange for home-cooked meals—gradually blossoms into one of K-drama’s most charmingly mature romances.
However, above the sweetness lies the relentless pressure placed on students by obsessive parents, while a mysterious serial killer armed with metal bearings adds an unexpected dark twist. It’s a strange mix of genres, no doubt, but when Crash Course in Romance focuses on its likeable leads, humor and sweet chemistry, it’s easy to forgive the occasional veer into thriller territory.
4) Meet yourself
Here’s another watch that would tickle your nervous system. The series follows an overworked hotel manager who, after a severe personal loss, leaves the city behind for a quiet village in Yunnan in search of a fresh start. There, she finds an unexpected community of warm, wonderfully imperfect (as always) people. including a thoughtful native dedicated to breathing new life into his hometown.
Don’t expect dramatic exchanges or high turns. Get to know yourself enjoys slowing down, finding joy in everyday conversations, shared meals, and just plain joy. It allows you to breathe. With great performances, stunning countryside scenery and a soothing soundtrack, it’s the kind of drama that grows with each episode. By the end, you’ll likely find yourself wishing you could pack a bag and disappear to Yunnan for a while, too.
5) The weirdos
One of Netflix’s best, indeed. The story follows 27-year-old Eun Chae-ni (Park Eun-bin), a hometown “train wreck” with a congenital heart condition. She hatches an extremely illegal plan to fake her kidnapping for ransom money, aided by sidekicks Ro-bin (a gentle giant with super strength) and Gyeong-hun (a broken nemesis).
The scheme collapses when Chae-ni seemingly dies, only to be promptly brought down. Soon, they discover that chemical waste from a destroyed local lab is resurfacing, giving rise to supernatural abilities. Chae-ni teleports when her heart rate increases, while Un-jeong (Cha Eun-woo), a dead civil servant, is revealed to be a powerful telekinetic carrying deep guilt from the lab’s past.
And so, it’s a messy, weird mix of science fiction and crime where broken people accidentally become heroes.
