Genre: Thriller
The Last Empress
Set in a hypothetical constitutional monarchy in 2018, The Last Empress, follows the story of a musical actress who marries the Emperor of the Korean Empire. As she tries to ease into a life of royalty she gets entangled in the murder of the emperor’s grandmother which eventually led to the downfall of the imperial family, all while searching for true love.
The Penthouse: War in Life
The Hera Palace is a luxury penthouse apartment dubbed as the castle for the richest one percent. With 100 floors, it’s a commanding structure that beams of opulence. However, within this expensive piece of real estate are many secrets and hidden ambitions.
Shim Su-ryeon (Lee Ji-ah) is a woman born to wealth and is considered the queen bee of the penthouse. Despite being surrounded by all the glitz and glam, Su-ryeon still couldn’t escape the shadow of a tragic past. She is married to Joo Dan-tae (Uhm Ki-joon), a successful businessman who has been hiding a secret from her.
Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So-yeon), is the prima donna of the lot. She is a famous soprano whose father heads the prestigious Cheong-ah Arts School.
Oh Yoon Hee (Eugene) comes from a poor family background, but she works hard so she can be part of high society. She wants to be the queen of the penthouse because she believes that it’s one of the true definitions of success. However, that leads her to cross paths again with Cheon Seo-jin, her mortal enemy.
Their lives take a twisted turn when a young mysterious girl named Min Seol-ah (Jo Soo-min) falls to her death during a party at the Hera Palace. While the residents try to cover it up, they can’t help but suspect if any one of them is behind it.
Sisyphus: The Myth
Sisyphus: The Myth is JTBC’s 10th anniversary K-drama inspired by the Greek drama of the same name. It jumps between two timelines—future that has been ravaged by war and is in dire need of resources, and the present where Kang Seo-hae (Park Shin-hye) has traveled to, in order to stop Han Tae-sul (Cho Seung-woo) from creating a time machine. This is in contrast to the present timeline where all is well and destruction has not yet taken root.
Mouse
This crime-thriller series asks the question: “what would you do if you could identify psychopaths through a genetic test before they are born”?
When a vicious serial killer is imprisoned, the story shows us two pregnant women sitting outside a testing center in a hospital. They came in for genetic testing to determine if their unborn child carries the “psychopath gene.” One of the women is married to the serial killer, while the other to a kind and gentle man. Having learned that the babies they carry both have the gene, they must decide what to do about it now.
Decades later, the same killer is still on death row, but a new psychopath is out for blood. Could it be the killer’s son? Is the new killer one of the unborn children that had the psychopath gene?
Jeong Ba-reum (Lee Seung-gi) is a reputable rookie police officer. His life changes after an encounter with a psychopathic killer. This leads him into a mad chase to unearth the truth behind the killer’s psychopathic behaviour with his partner Go Moo-chi (Lee Hee-jun), a man who doesn’t mind bending the rules to catch criminals.
Go Moo-chi is the way he is because of a childhood trauma. He witnessed the murder of his family by the serial killer now on death row. Now, all he wants is revenge. But along with that burning desire for retribution, he also struggles with a drinking problem and an impulsive behaviour which could threaten his career as a police officer .
Head on, the drama reveals who the new killer is, and this revelation gives viewers a sneak peek of his interesting psychosis and motive for killing. However, this leaves behind a trail of murders causing great fear among the population.
As the story progresses, it explores the concept that psychopaths are not made, rather they are born to be that way. So that challenges the possibility of conducting genetic testing to determine who are genetically predisposed. And if someone is indeed hardwired from the womb to be an unremorseful criminal, should the parents keep that child?
Signal
Signal is a 2016 drama that is a combination of several genres including mystery, thriller, crime, with a hint of fantasy. What made it so captivating is the fact that the cases used in the series were based on actual crimes and tragedies that occured in South Korea.
The story starts when Park Hae-young (Lee Je-hoon) accidentally finds an old walkie-talkie, without any battery in it. But strangely, the walkie-talkie can still be used. Through the walkie-talkie, Park Hae-young was able to communicate with a detective Lee Jae-han (Cho Jin-woong) in 1989. He was one of the senior police officers at that time.
It turns out, the walkie talkie now in Park Hae-young’s possession was Lee Jae-han’s own. He accidentally found it when it was about to be disposed of when it suddenly made the sound of Lee Jae-han’s voice. Besides turning on without any batteries, what’s even stranger is that Park Hae-young heard Lee Jae-han’s voice in 2015, but Lee Jae-han is sure that he is in 2000.
This unusual correspondence, that’s only limited to a few minutes each day, opens a can of worms. Now with the power of foresight and hindsight, Park Hae-young and Lee Jae-han, along with Cha Soo-hyun (Kim Hye-soo), are in a race against time to solve crimes or prevent them from happening. However, they will learn along the way that changing certain elements in the past can have dire consequences in the future.
Strong Girl Do Bong Soon
Do Bong Soon is a young woman born with superhuman strength, and she had to learn how to control her gift or else lose it.
Woman of 9.9 Billion
Jeong Seo-yeon has a hard life even though she has been trying to find happiness in her life. Just as she loses all hope of living, she comes across 9.9 Billion. Kang Tae-woo, an ex-detective, tries to uncover his brother’s death that he suspects to be related to the 9.9 Billion. Can she hold on to this huge sum of money?
Psychopath Diary
Yook Dong-sik works in a brokerage company. One day, he witnesses a gruesome murder and comes across a diary that contains a detailed list of the murder logs. He flees and gets into a car accident. He lost his memory and thought that he is the psycho serial killer. His personality changes drastically.
Secret Mother
Kim Yoon-jin is a successful ex-psychiatrist who quits her job to become a full-time housewife after the mysterious death of her daughter. She hires a top expert, Lisa Kim, who helps to get students to the best universities in the world. She also holds the truth to Yoon-jin’s daughter’s death.
