You Saw Them in “Squid Game,” Now Watch Their Other K-dramas
And at 4.92 billion minutes viewed, it more than doubled the runner up, “Virgin River” (2.25 billion minutes).
From what you all have been telling me, almost all of you enjoyed watching the star-studded cast, regardless of whether you gave the series a 👍 or 👎. With that in mind, I wanted to add a few fun capsule reviews of K-dramas that feature members of the “Squid Game” cast that I think you’ll enjoy.
If you’re interested in a sequel to this, featuring more of the “Squid Game” stars, leave a comment below and maybe I’ll write a Part 2 in the near future?
ETA: The third and final season of “Squid Game” will drop on Netflix on June 27, 2025.
Please note that there are some mild spoilers in this article, so please keep that in mind as you read.
First up is Wi Ha-joon, who played Detective Hwang Jun-ho in both seasons of “Squid Game.” Yes, he was good in “Gyeongseong Creature” and “Little Women,” but he absolutely sizzled in “The Worst of Evil,” playing a gangster in love with his frenemy’s wife. He wants to be a respectable man for her, but it’s clear that he is in far too deep to pull himself out of the life he’s drowning in. Be forewarned: This is a bloody, violent series. But if you can handle “Squid Game,” you’ll be able to handle the brutal beatings in “The Worst of Evil.” (I watched this on Hulu.)
I think many of us were intrigued by the North Korean Pink Guard in the second season of “Squid Game.” Is she good? Evil? Maybe a little of both? Park Gyu-young — who played the bass-playing badass in “Sweet Home,” and the nurse who had a crush on Kim Soo-hyun in “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” — stars in “Celebrity.” She portrays a beautiful young woman whose family lost all their wealth, leaving her to peddle low-end cosmetics door-to-door for the rich residents’ housekeepers. When she sees a former classmate making a lot of money as a social media influencer, she enters the market as a newbie. Almost immediately, she’s asked to collaborate with companies because she has … 500 Instagram followers. 😬 OK, just pretend that’s plausible. The series is campy and good, with a few twists and turns that you most likely won’t guess. (I watched this on Netflix.)
Prior to playing a trans woman (Player 120) in “Squid Game,” Park Sung-hoon was known for portraying the men you loved to hate in “The Glory” and “Queen of Tears.” In the latter, he is the second male lead who tries to woo Kim Ji-won away from Kim Soo-hyun. (Good luck with that one, dude.) His character, Eun-sung, is a transracial adoptee who was raised by a Korean American family in the U.S. and returns to Seoul as a wealthy, incredibly handsome childhood friend that her parents adore. But he has a dark past that viewers will catch on to as the episodes progress. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter decides to make Eun-sung a psychopath (which falls into the trope that there is something wrong with adoptees). Park was so good at playing bad that he received an onslaught of unwarranted hate from netizens that left him in tears. (I watched this on Netflix.)
I’m very curious to learn more about Player 388’s fate in the third and final season of “Squid Game.” Kang Ha-neul is excellent as a competitor who is very proud of having been a Marine, but also appears to have profound PTSD from his military days. His role in “When the Camellia Blooms” is a 180, where he portrays a goofy smalltown cop who’s enamoured by Gong Hyo-jin’s character. Their relationship moves along at a snail’s pace and is blocked by everything and everyone. But Yong-sik’s love and admiration for Dong-baek never falters as he awkwardly, but persistently, pursues her. A lot of people complain about K-drama finales doing an unsatisfactory job of tying up loose ends. I do believe that viewers will feel good about the hopeful finale of “When the Camellia Blooms,” which just felt so authentic. (I watched this on Netflix.)
Im Si-wan was superb in “Misaeng,” delightful in the “Moon Embracing the Sun,” and so very creepy in the cyber thriller “Unlocked.” In the current season of “Squid Game,” he plays Player No. 333, a smarmy crypto bro who may or may not still love the woman he impregnated. In “Summer Strike,” Im portrays a laidback librarian (stick with me, now!) who’s a math genius. He is a gentle soul who goes out of his way to help anyone who needs it and is embroiled in a decades-old murder mystery. I’ll be honest: it took a few episodes for me to really want to watch more. But once the series found its groove (about 5 episodes in), it became a slow-burning must-see that I looked forward to every week. (I watched this on Viki.)
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Yesterday, my exclusive feature on Hannah Bahng was published in Rolling Stone magazine. It’s one of my favorite articles that I’ve ever written. It’s really good. (Yes, I am owning that opinion and doing away with the pretense of modesty here!) I was able to research and weave her story together with ample time, because my editor and I wanted to wait to run it until there was a good peg.
So from start to finish, I did multiple interviews and spent more than seven months working on this piece. (Sometimes, it’s better to have a shorter deadline and just be done with it! Because I tinkered with this article a little too much!)
Once it was published, one of the things that hit me was the diversity in this one feature. I don’t recall seeing many (if any??) major articles for a legacy publication where a Korean American woman (me) interviewed a Korean Australian musician (Hannah), and the photos were shot by a Japanese photographer based out of Los Angeles. (I don’t know if Yuri is a national of the U.S. or Japan.)
We’re all diasporic Asian women who worked together. This honestly didn’t seem like a possibility for me when I was a teenager… and even older. I was literally reprimanded at my former newspaper because I had interviewed two Asian Americans for one article. Can you imagine? The xenophobia was real.
Hannah is just 20, and she spoke about how she initially thought she would have to go to South Korea to try to become a K-pop idol, because even as young as she is, she didn’t see others like her making indie music in the West — where she had been born and raised.
As old as I am, I had hoped that things would be better for Gen Z and younger. And it is, to a certain extent. But it’s also important to remember that not all of us grew up thinking that we can do or become anything we want to be. For that to become a reality, we need to see ourselves represented as more than stereotypes.
[I have an article coming out in my newspaper column on Tuesday that discusses this more at length with another celebrity. I’d love to mention their name, but I can’t do that yet. But I’ll be sure to share the article on my social media.]
Are you interested in reading more interviews in this space, like the ones I’ve done with singer-songwriter KINO, actor Sebastian Roche (who acted opposite Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won in “Queen of Tears,” and Ben Samama, one of the songwriters for BTS Jin’s solo record HAPPY?
Let me know! I’m trying to think up more ideas to keep this newsletter fun and interesting for all of you.
Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
