5 K-dramas for genre newbies to watch this Valentine’s Day

The Heirs is the oldest entry on this list, and even though 2013 doesn’t seem like it was that long ago (depending on who you talk to), you’ll be shocked at how dated this show feels. But it’s dated in a comforting way: The waxy camera quality, giant cellphones, and swoopy surfer hair will transport you back to the Old Normal.

For K-drama novices, The Heirs is a crash course. The series introduces many tropes that are pretty ubiquitous throughout the genre, including how the story centers around a wealthy boy named Kim Tan (Lee Min-Ho) and a poor girl named Cha Eun-Sang (Park Shin-Hye). After a chance meeting and a subsequent series of outlandish adventures in California, Eun-Sang and Tan reunite at school in South Korea. Unlike the wackiness of their time in the States, the pair must face a sobering reality: Tan is the heir to a Korean family conglomerate (known as a chaebol) and Eun-Sang’s mom is the Kim family’s maid. With a class disparity like that, there’s no way a relationship between Tan and Eun-Sang could work—especially not within the rigid confines of the K-drama universe.

The series features a lot of discussions and depictions of wealth and class, and some of the most true-to-life but frustrating scenes come when Eun-Sang explains how she experiences life and moves through the world and Tan (young, in love, and most importantly rich) simply doesn’t get it.

Sometimes regular old television escapism isn’t working and you need something a bit stronger—you need to be transported. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is set in the seaside village of Gongjin and is stacked with dreamy shots of the ocean, cozy streets, and local businesses. It becomes immediately clear that the town itself is a character in the series.

Dentist Yoon Hye-Jin (Shin Min-A) loses her cool with her boss and gets unceremoniously fired from her job. After being blacklisted, Hye-Jin realizes that her job prospects in the city are bleak, and she must relocate if she ever wants to find work again. Instead of just commuting to another dismal, humdrum city, Hye-Jin sets up shop in enchanting Gongjin, where she meets Hong Du-sik (Kim Seon-Ho). Du-Sik is the town’s resident jack-of-all-trades: He’s a police officer, delivery man, fisherman, and a barista. There’s really nothing he can’t do.

In addition to Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha’s immersive world-building, the early joys of this drama come in the form of watching country boy Du-Sik teaching uptight Hye-Jin how to unclench.

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay is all about love. This series is about romantic love, yes, but it’s also love between siblings and, mostly importantly, love between a child and a mom. Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun) is a gentle, empathetic man who works hard to support his older autistic brother Sang-tae (Oh Jung-se). The pair have moved from town to town in the years after their mother’s death and they only find some stability once Gang-tae lands a job as a caretaker at a psychiatric ward. While he was still a child, Gang-tae’s mother often told him that she had him solely to be his brother’s keeper. Gang-tae carries the weight of the responsibilities and duties bestowed upon him by his mom even after her death.

Gang-Tae meets Ko Moon-young (Seo Yea-Ji) at a book signing; she is a bestselling children’s book author and Sang-Tae is obsessed with her work. Where Gang-Tae is all soft curves and a willingness to be as agreeable and unobtrusive as possible, Moon-Young is sharp and fiery like a flint. She has her own set of mommy issues, and she sets her sights on Gang-Tae the moment they meet. He has to remind her that he is a person, not a plaything. The show is a story about their love and all the ways Gang-Tae, Sang-Tae, and Moon-Young unpack and then redefine the meaning of the word “family.”

What makes It’s Okay Not To Be Okay an especially memorable and unique drama is its fairytale motif, which creates a tone that is whimsical at first, but becomes chilling and downright ominous toward the last half of the series.

Run On is lighter K-drama fare. There are no wild cliffhangers or polarizing plot twists. At its core, it’s a “healing” drama about two people falling in love. It’s the perfect, lightweight watch for those days where you just want to put your brain in neutral. The series follows Ki Seon-Gyeom (Im Si-Wan) a star track and field athlete and the son of a famous actor, and Oh Mi-Joo (Shin Se-Kyung) who works as an early career film translator. After an unconventional meet-cute in the middle of a city street, the two continue to hang out and eventually catch feelings.

Another thing of note about this series is that the second lead couple really give Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo a run for their money. Seo Dan-Ah (Choi Soo-Young) is the CEO of Dann Agency, a chaebol sports agency. She is a no-nonsense career woman but her soft spot is art, which is where Lee Yeong-Hwa (Kang Tae-Oh) comes in. He’s a happy-go-lucky, working class artist—the perfect romantic foil for Dan-Ah. Their easy banter and more fiery dynamic more than makes up for any perceived lack of warmth in the steady, gently simmering romance between Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo.

Breaking down the synopsis of Crash Landing On You, it’s literalness seems comical at first, but just go with it: Fashion girlboss Yoon Se-Ri (Son Ye-Jin) goes paragliding as a promotional stunt for her new clothing line, but due to a fast-moving tornado she is swept across the border and dropped into North Korea. The first episode requires the viewer to suspend quite a bit of disbelief, but the moment Se-Ri meets the reserved and austere Captain Ri Jeong-Hyeok (Ha Seok-Jin), it all comes together.

Instead of turning Se-Ri—who he naturally believes to be a South Korean spy—over to the authorities, Jeong-Hyeok brings her home until he can figure out a way to hand her over without also incriminating himself in process. While Jeong-Hyeok figures out his next steps (and firm up his plan to ultimately to get Se-Ri back over the border), Se-Ri stays with him and pretends to be his fiancé. So yes, rom-com aficionados, this means that there is in fact a fake-dating plotline.

Throughout the course of the next few episodes, Se-Ri tries to get acclimated to Jeong-Hyeok and life in North Korea. Se-Ri and Jeong-Hyeok’s relationship is a delicious slow burn; they go from being enemies to being quite literally willing to die for each other. A majority of K-dramas must walk the fine line of being sickly sweet and cheesy with a tempering bit of drama; they can’t fall too much to each side. Crash Landing On You deftly straddles that line.