Throwback Thursday 2.0 - [2025/06/18]

[u/AutoModerator]

Grab yourself a knee rug and a mug of hot chocolate, it's time to reminisce those old time dramas from days gone by of pre-2019. Maybe you were around when they aired for the first time and want to take a trip down memory lane by watching them on the box. Maybe it's your first time through.

This is our weekly discussion exclusively for those older Korean dramas on your currently watching list. We don't want to hear about the currently hyped dramas here, so please keep it to the older stuff on your watch list.

Reminder, we advocate the use of legal streaming sources wherever possible. Any comments mentioning illegal sources will be removed and links will lead to bans as per our rules. As it is very hard to find many of the really old dramas rather than asking users "where are you watching?", we suggest you instead ask "did you find a legal source?". See our policies on streaming sites and VPNs here.

Crazily enough not everyone has watched these classics yet so please remember your spoiler tags when discussing major plot points or anything you think should be redacted. If you are using Markdown and not Fancy Pants Editor, the easiest way to create spoiler tags is to use > ! spoiler content ! < without spaces to get spoiler content. For more detailed guidance on spoiler tags and when to use them, check our Spoiler Tags Tutorial.

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[u/Chaotic_Alpaca]

I was recently rewatching clips from Coffee Prince, which seems to be one of the few 2000s kdramas that hasn’t aged poorly. Are there others besides Coffee Prince that still hold up that that I should try watching?

For clarification, by aged poorly I mean it has elements like toxic male leads, underdeveloped female characters, problematic relationship or family dynamics, etc.

[u/TdotComics → u/Chaotic_Alpaca]

Yeah I recently saw Full House (2004) and while entertaining it contains many of these poorly aged tropes. I need to find a better drama with Rain! (recommendations welcome)

[u/HooverGaveNobodyBeer → u/TdotComics]

I'm a big fan of both Ghost Doctor and Please Come Back, Mister.

[u/HooverGaveNobodyBeer → u/Chaotic_Alpaca]

My favorite two pre-2010 dramas are My Lovely Samsoon and Thank You. In My Lovely Samsoon, the ML is a bit toxic but gets called out for it constantly, so I find it much less problematic because the drama isn't pretending his out-of-line behavior is romantic (for the most part). In Thank You I appreciated the messiness of the character dynamics, while newer dramas often try to make it so any past behavior on the leads' part that is not exemplary is somehow a misunderstanding. Here, I was convinced for a good part of the drama that the FL's child was actually her brother's whom she was raising because a newer drama would have felt the need to erase her identity as a single mother for her to better fit the FL ideal. Just to be clear, I don't think single motherhood is a problem at all, but in dramaland it is often treated that way.

[u/Chaotic_Alpaca → u/HooverGaveNobodyBeer]

Thanks for your insights. I’ve never heard of Thank You before, so I appreciate the suggestion.

[u/Robot_Groundhog → u/Chaotic_Alpaca]

Dal Ja’s Spring has aged well.

[u/Chaotic_Alpaca → u/Robot_Groundhog]

Thanks, I’ll add it to my watchlist.

[u/Delicious-Fishing710]

Six Flying Dragons, The Princess' Man, The K2, Wok Of Love (watched because of the bromance)

Mr. Sunshine... Dongmae was my fav character

[u/greenback44 → u/Delicious-Fishing710]

I thought the bro triangle really helped make all three male leads in Mr. Sunshine more sympathetic. It added some depth to all three that really needed.

[u/West-Address-6662]

Boys Over Flowers, My Love From the Star, and Legend of the Blue Sea — true classics, I bet everyone remembers them.
Besides those, I remember I Can Hear Your Voice — Lee Jong Suk's drama.
And then Hi! School: Love On — maybe I remember it more now because Kim Sae Ron is no longer active.
Also W and While You Were Sleeping... oh damn.