What Do I Watch Next: Squid Games Edition
So, you’ve watched the most popular Netflix series on the planet, and now you’re wondering “what comes next?”. With the recent popularity of the Korean drama Squid Game, a lot of new people seem to have been introduced to the wonderful world of Kdramas. Most of what I’ve seen on social sites has been people asking what they should watch next. Even Netflix itself has been posting it’s recommendations. However, a lot of these recommendations have left a lot to be desired. Anybody familiar with both Kdramas and the Netflix algorithms will know it’s near miraculous when those recommendations match up with your actual watching preferences.
On top of that, how does Netflix know what you personally enjoyed about the drama? Maybe it wasn’t the violence but rather the colours? Maybe you’re really into schoolyard aesthetics, or tracksuits… how does Netflix know? Well, I’m here to help. In full disclosure, I have not actually watched Squid Game. I know me, and I know this drama is not for me. However, it is pretty hard not to have seen almost every scene from the show tweeted, blogged about, or memed. So I think I have some good recommendations. Recommendations a little more specific than Netflix’s “hey, this was also made in Korea”. All of the dramas I will recommend here are dramas that I have watched and available on Netflix. What do you have to lose?
Wild Violence
Okay, let’s get started with the most obvious comparison… violence. Squid Game has a lot of violence, and its pretty wild. If you managed to watch it without being spoiled first, I imagine some of the violence was pretty surprising initially. The idea of common childhood games becoming games of life or death is pretty wild.
The 2020 drama Sweet Home also has some wildly violent moments. A weird illness has spread over the land causing ordinary humans to become literal monsters. Locked together in a run down apartment complex, people band together to survive. One of them is a student who appears to have been infected in a way that allows him to fight the monsters without losing control of himself. The show is based on a manga and the special effects and costumes really reflect the source material well. The show is dark, and scary, and also sad and exciting. I was pretty okay with the monster movie aspects of the violence, as wild as it was. The human on human violence and betrayal however was a lot harder to take.
Tracksuits
Are you looking for a quick and easy Halloween costume? Colourful tracksuits are a perfect choice. But you don’t want to look like everybody else being game guards or contestants. Well let me suggest The Uncanny Counter. This 2020 drama follows the adventures of a group of people gifted by the gods with extraordinary powers. They use these powers to track down, fight, and banish evil spirits who walk the earth preying on human souls. The uniform of choice is a bright red tracksuit.
This drama is very action heavy. It does lean into some of the darker themes that are also seen in Squid Games. Overall though, the show is a little lighter and more manageable for a violence lightweight like myself. More action than horror, it has some scary moments but also has funny and heartwarming storytelling. The found family aspect of the story is wonderful and the production quality is excellent. I enjoyed this drama from the start to the finish. I am very much looking forward to the rumoured season two.
Rich vs. Poor
Maybe what really drew you into Squid Game was the story of rich folk amusing themselves at the sight of poor people struggling. Rich versus Poor is a very common theme in Korean dramas. My Mister tells the tale of a young woman who has been dealt many blows in life. She is very poor, struggling to pay off insurmountable debt while caring for her sick grandmother. She suffers not only mentally but also physically as the loan sharks she owes are incredibly violent with her. This drama shows the difference that one kind person can make in another person’s life. The man who comes into her life is a manager at the office she does temp work at. He sees her worth and tries to give her the ability to hope and fight for a better future.
The storytelling in this is at turns dark and depressing, and then funny and joyful. The first 4 episodes are very dark and hard to watch for this type of drama. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, and it gets bigger and brighter as the drama continues. There isn’t an uber-rich baddie in this. There are characters who use their wealth and power to mess with others. As in Squid Game, more often the poorer folk are really pitted against each other by the system. The ensemble cast of characters makes you root for their success which is really the heart of this incredible drama.
Schoolyard Hijinks
Were you drawn to the bright colours and weird schoolyard aesthetics of Squid Game? The short drama The School Nurse Files is one of the most colourful and weird dramas I’ve ever watched. The story follows a school nurse who is able to see the spirits of the dead. When these spirits become malevolent, they can cause great harm to those people they come in contact with. The spirits appear as a variety of weird and wonderfully colourful gummy type creatures. Armed with children’s toys that have been blessed by a shaman, the school nurse does her best to protect the students at her abnormally ghost-ridden school.
As oddly goofy and silly the drama could be at times, there was also a very dark thread running through it. The school is built on a Hellmouth of sorts and the local suicide rate is incredibly high. Not everyone loves this drama the way that I do, but to me this is one of the most utterly Korean dramas I have ever watched. The weirdness, the brightness, the oddly dark humour… it is all very, very Korean.
The Actors
Park Hae Soo 
Gong Yoo 
Wi Ha Joon
Some people are drawn more to the actors than any particular genre of the storytelling. If that is the case for you, then I have some good news. Netflix has some clear favourites when it comes to the actors who show up in their Kdrama originals. So if your favourite from Squid Game doesn’t already have a body of work on Netflix, chances are they will eventually.
Park Hae Soo
One of my all time favourite Kdramas is Prison Playbook. Park Hae Soo stars as a professional baseball player who goes to jail for beating up his sister’s rapist. The story does deal with darker themes (hey, it’s prison, that’s not fun) but it does so with a humour that I did not expect. He makes friends and enemies and tries his best to serve out his term and get back to baseball. His character is a lot more layered than it appears at first, and Park Hae Soo plays it perfectly.
Gong Yoo
Gong Yoo is a perennial favourite. His dramas and films have been drawing Western audiences for years. One of his first dramas to catch people’s attention is the 2007 drama Coffee Prince. Unfortunately it has disappeared from Netflix since I finished watching it a month or so ago. You might also remember him from the hit film Train to Busan… which is also not on Netflix (whomp, whomp). But never fear, he has a highly anticipated new drama coming to Netflix in December. The Silent Sea is a horror thriller set in space and co-stars another Netflix favourite, actress Bae Doo Na. The show looks incredible and I will be doing my best to watch all of it, through my scaredy-cat fingers if need be.
Wi Ha Joon
This younger actor has been on some of our radars for a while but he had yet to have a truly breakthrough role. His Squid Game popularity appears to be gaining the attention of directors in Korea. His name has been attached to some potential leading rules for the future. In the meantime though, you can catch him in side roles on several Netflix dramas. He played the younger brother in the very popular romance story Something in the Rain. In the publishing story Romance is a Bonus Book, Wi Ha Joon gets a much more central role.
And The Rest…
There are a lot of great Korean dramas on Netflix. There are romantic stories, vengeance stories, zombies, and epic fantasy. This list is only meant to get you started. I limited myself to dramas that I myself have watched. I know that there are piles of amazing dramas that I haven’t seen.
If you’re interested in getting some more Asian drama recommendations for Netflix, check out this week’s episode of The Certified Noonas. We break down some of our favourite Netflix dramas by different genres. If you’re not sure that my taste in dramas suits you, maybe one of my co-hosts will have something more to your liking. Ultimately, taste in entertainment is very personal. What draws you to a drama will be different from what draws someone else to the same drama. My final suggestion is try out anything that seems interesting. You might be surprised. Welcome to the kdrama family!
