Five (5) Viki Original Series for K-Drama Beginners to Watch

Viki Original series continues to grow in popularity.  The first Korean drama original series was released in 2016. Since then Viki has never looked back and their original content just keeps getting better. Here are five (5) Viki Original series K-drama beginners are sure to enjoy!

(1) “The King Loves” (2017)

This Viki Original series was named “The King Loves” or “The King in Love”.  Never understood why it was given that title because after I finished watching all 20 episodes, I was in love with the king’s best friend. If you had to choose between power, friendship, and love, which would you choose? Wang Rin (played by Hong Jong Hyun), was the king’s best friend since childhood. Even though he was of royal blood and could be chosen as king, he never coveted the throne. He clearly chose friendship over power. Then he met So Ha also known as Lady San (played by Yoona). He and his friend, the king, Wang Won (played by Im Siwan), both loved her. Did Wang Won, the king, choose power, friendship, or love? Did Wang Rin, the man who could be king, choose power, friendship, or love?

(2) “Grand Prince” (2018)

• Apologies for the ERROR. “Grand Prince” is NOT a Viki Original series, but it is streaming Only on Viki.

This Viki Original series begins by introducing two princes as children, and there was already friction between the two.  As adults, both men love the same woman. One grand prince is not willing to accept the fact that the woman he wants has already chosen his younger brother. Her choice just adds to the list of all of the rest of the reasons he is jealous and envious of his younger brother. It’s a one-sided rivalry. The younger brother truly loves his big brother. It’s not his fault that the royal adults chose to send his brother away from the palace and allowed him to stay.

• Yoon Shi Yoon plays the younger brother, Lee Hwi, Prince Eun Sung. He doesn’t want to be king, even though he has the character to become a great king. He is sent to serve in the military to prove that he is worthy.
• Jin Se Yeon plays Sung Ja-hyun, a noble lady, who falls in love with Lee Hwi. They pledged their hearts to each other and when the prince is called to military duty, she vows to wait until he returns. If he does not return she will remain unmarried and live in a Buddhist temple. One thing she has determined in her mind is that she will NOT become his older brother’s woman.
• Joo Sang Wook plays the older brother, Lee Kang, Prince Jin Yang, who covets everything that his younger brother has, including his woman. Unlike his younger brother, he believes the throne is rightfully his seat of power.  He secretly arranges for his brother to be killed in battle and intends to take his brother’s woman.

This 21-episode series is historical fiction, although it is loosely based on the true stories of Grand Prince Anpyeong and King Sejo.

(3) “Queen: Love and War” (2019)

A prince makes friends with the daughter of a nobleman when they are children. An accident happens on a boat and the girl he met is tossed overboard. Her father thinks that she drowned. Her twin sister grows up and the prince, now king chooses her to be his queen. He does not realize that she is the twin and NOT the girl he met when he was younger. Corrupt officials arranged to have both the king and his queen, Kang Eun Bo, assassinated on their wedding day. The queen dies, but the king miraculously comes back to life. The people are terrified. How can he possibly come back from the dead?

The twin sister, Kang Eun-gi, realizes that her sister has been murdered. She takes her sister’s body and secretly buries it. Then she returns to the palace AS IF she has also risen from the dead, just like the king. The king not knowing that she is the girl he had met as a child, also believes that his wife came back to life. However, Kang Eun-gi’s main purpose for returning to the palace is to discover who murdered her sister. She does not know if she can trust the king.

As she begins to uncover the truth, she eventually realizes the king is innocent and falls in love with him. The problem is that the king thinks she is her sister. This makes their personal relationship complicated. AS IF life in the palace wasn’t already complicated with all of the scheming, conniving, ruthless, politicking that was going on.

• Kim Min-kyu plays the king, Lee Kyung
• Jin Se-yeon plays the twins, Kang Eun-bo and Kang Eun-gi

This Viki Original series has 16 episodes. It’s love and war alright with the queen right in the middle.

(4) “Lovers of the Red Sky” (2021)

Do you like historical fiction and fantasy? Do you also love Kim Joo Jung? She’s one of my favorite Korean actresses. She was an impressive child actress and has grown up to be an equally impressive adult actress. Admirers have nicknamed her “Nation’s Little Sister” and the “Sageuk fairy“. If you are her loyal fan that is the only reason you need to add “Lovers of the Red Sky” to your watch list. But if you did not know her or Ahn Hyo Seop, the male lead actor who played her lover, you would likely become instant fans.

• Kim Joo Jung plays Hong Cheong-Gi, the “divine painter”. This character is based on a real historical figure who was the only female painter accepted into the Korean Royal Academy of Painting in the Joseon era.
• The leading male character, Ha Ram is played by Ahn Hyo Seop. Ha Ram is a divine astrologer, who can read the stars and predict the future.

The two main characters meet when they were children and become friends. But they get separated because Ha Ram is chosen to participate in a rain ritual. On the day the ritual is held, loses his eyesight and is possessed by Ma Wang, a demon. Also, on that same day, Hong Cheong-Gi, who was born blind, gains her eyesight. When they grow up, they meet again, and their bond of friendship is renewed and matures into romantic love. These two lovers will be tested. Their lives are endangered because they are caught up in two vicious webs:

• the politics and power games in the human world; and
• the eternal power struggle of good versus evil in the spirit world.

This series has 17 episodes and is based on a 2-volume novel of the same name.

(5) “The Red Sleeve” (2021)

Lee Jun-ho plays Yi San, later King Jeongjo. He continuously strives to be a good king; a ruler who is kind and benevolent to his people. During the Joseon Era, everybody knew that all of the women in the palace were the king’s women. He can have free access to any woman he chooses. Their permission is not needed. The king knows this is the rule. But aren’t the court ladies also his people?

Court ladies in the palace wear uniforms that have a red cuff on their sleeves. A court lady named Seong Deok-im played by Lee Se-young, attracts the king’s attention. He does not want his relationship with her based on fear. He wants her to love him willingly. Seong Deok-im initially resists the king’s advances. She feels that her life as a court lady affords her a certain amount of freedom. If she becomes the king’s woman, she will no longer be free.

Ultimately LOVE WINS. She falls in love with the king and becomes Royal Noble Consort Ui-bin Seong. Just as she predicted, she did have to give up her freedom. The king was very happy to have her by his side and she was happy to be by his side. But she was not completely happy because in order to live as the king’s woman, she had to sacrifice her free spirit.

“The drama is based on historical records such as the fact that Uibin Seong, whose real name is Seong Deok-im, rejected Jeongjo’s proposal to make her his concubine, not just once but twice. …” (Source)

This series is 16 episodes and it is a very sad love story with no fairy tale ending. Choosing to marry the prince or the king does not always result in living happily ever after.