When most people think of K-Dramas, they typically think of romantic comedies or melodramas surrounding a couple either working through some hardship or first getting together. But Stranger is a totally different genre of these dramas that exceeds expectations.
Stranger is a crime thriller that actually has no romance, and follows the story of a man who lost all sense of empathy as a child. This man, Hwang Si-mok, becomes a detective and actively looks for a serial killer while dealing with corruption within the law itself. This K-Drama also has a season two; a fairly rare feat in the world of Korean Dramas, the second installment is set two years after the first.
10 Signal
Signal is one of the most popular crime thrillers out there. This drama focuses on two detectives in two different time periods, one in 2015, and one in 1989. The two are able to communicate using special walkie-talkies that they both find. The two end up helping one another solve an ongoing cold case that had been connecting a number of different murders for the last three decades. The series was also based on real-life incidents that happened in Korea.
9 Abyss
Abyss is a crime K-drama with a romantic and supernatural twist. A prosecutor and her closest friend die and wake up in new bodies after a magical orb called "Abyss" is placed around them. The pair then realize that the prosecutor was actually murdered by an active serial killer for getting too close to uncovering him. They then work to try to solve the case, while hiding out in their new bodies and uncovering the powers of the Abyss.
8 Misaeng: Incomplete Life
Misaeng isn't a crime or thriller drama, but rather focuses on the work-life of a man who only has the equivalent of his high school diploma working in the corporate life. This drama marches to a bit of a different drum than Stranger but has a lot of the same core values.
This drama focuses on the struggles of life while working for a corporation while twisting it to be heartfelt and thought-provoking. This drama was also based on a popular Webtoon of the same name.
7 Possessed
Possessed is a supernatural crime based drama that follows the unlikely friendship of a detective and a medium for the supernatural. The two try to solve a case that involves the ghost of a murderer from many years ago that is still threatening to commit murder. This drama has some comedic moments but is pretty heavy with the crime, as the two end up working with one another in an attempt to stop this murderous ghost from continuing to do harm.
6 Tunnel
Tunnel is actually a bit similar to Signal in terms of plot. It is 1986, and an esteemed detective gets assigned a new case that is to uncover a serial killer that had been running rampant. While chasing the killer, the detective ends up following him through a tunnel that leads him to the year 2016, where he seemed to have been missing for the last 30 years. The detective now has a new partner as the killer he had originally chased seems to have ended up in this new time as well.
5 He Is Psychometric
This K-Drama stars K-pop group, Got7's Jinyoung who plays a young man who can see the memories of someone just by touching them. This mystery drama has a ton of twists and turns that focuses on Jinyoung's character trying to uncover what happened to him in the past after an accident separated him from his parents. The same thing seems to happen again, as he soon uncovers that the people who are helping him, may have actually been involved.
4 Strong Woman Do Bong Soon
While Strong Woman Do Bong Soon seems like the average romantic comedy K-Drama, it actually has a super twisted and dark subplot that resembles to crime in Stranger. Do Bong Soon has super strength, and she wants to put it to good use while also living her life. Throughout her budding romance with her new boss and her lingering feelings for her childhood best friend-now-cop, a mysterious man lurks within her neighborhood.
The man has all the makings of a serial killer from a horror movie. He wears a horrifying mask that looks like a face as he kidnaps women in the late hours of the night and takes them to his hideaway. He's killed before and it is unclear when he will do so again, and Bong Soon is determined to save them before the killer snaps.
3 Voice
Voice was such a hit that it had two subsequent seasons after the first. This series follows a detective, Moo Jin Hyuk, and a voice analyzer, Kang Kwon Joo who come to work with one another years after both of their families are brutally murdered by the same killer. The two become the "Golden Time team" as they solve cases while working towards figuring out who the murderer was behind their family members' deaths.
2 Vagabond
Yet another K-Drama heavily based on the corruption of big corporations. Vagabond follows the story of a stuntman who slowly uncovers the truth behind a horrible plane crash that supposedly killed all passengers aboard, including his nephew. Bae Suzy stars as Go Hae-ri, an agent of the National Intelligence Service, joins the stuntman in uncovering and proving that the plane crash wasn't actually unintentional, and was planned. But they first must uncover why it all happened.
1 Healer
This action thriller follows a special night courier that simply goes as "Healer" that is hired to protect a second-rate journalist. The story involves a case from the past that somehow connects three unlikely people who are now all reunited once again. This drama shares a lot of the same dark tones as Stranger as the mystery of events continues to unfold slowly while the connections between all of the characters slowly grow closer and more connected.