I am relatively a newcomer when it comes to kdrama. I have long resisted watching them and preferred American movies. I've always thought that the oppas look like cute ladies, more beautiful than their co-stars.. until i saw a cf of Rain. Wow. So my very first kdrama was a strongly recommended blockbuster worldwide Descendants of the Sun. I have been swallowed bybthe rabbit hole despite warnings of friends not to ever start watching kdramas. Curiousity got the better of me. There is no turning back after that.

@missvictrix, this is exactly how I got into Dramaland! I mean the exact same thing. I'm sure it did for many other Beanies too. I think its the odd name of the show, Boys Over Flowers. When my friend told me about it a good few years before I watched it, the name sort of got stuck in my head, until I came across it on some streaming site, and just started watching it. I think it was a beginning scene in the first episode only where Geum Jan-di was being badass and I think she punched some bully, that just got me hooked. And then Lee Min-ho! Then subsequently I just randomly looked up BOF on Google and stumbled upon Dramabeans! My second drama was Personal Taste though!
"This is partly why, now and forever, a) a tiny fragment of Lee Min-ho will always be mine; and b) why K-dramas became like a friend to me." I feel the same.

I started with Jdrama. I was watching the animated version of Nodame Cantabile and then the drama version. It was a pretty crazy heroin but surprisly it worked very well in drama. So I started to watch Jdramas but it became difficult to find them, so I tried the other countries mainly Korea and Taiwan. My first KDrama was Que Sera Sera and it was quite unusual, it didn't follow the typical formula that I discovered later. And here I am, but it feels like more an endless abyss than a hole :p

I actually got into kdramas by curiosity...I discovered in 2009 kpop first(my one big love at first sight BIGBANG via youtube mistake) and my best friend watched a kdrama Summer Scent 2003(exactly the pic posted by you) at that time and called the plot "STUPID"... In my desire to try it out for myself and somehow prove that the stupid wasn't the norm that defined kdramas even if i never watched it myself i watched 1% of Anything with Kang Dong Won and from there started watching as many as possible and mostly the newer ones at that date....My memory is a bit hazy how i stumbled with this particular one and didn't watch the same drama as my friend;i guess the synopsys wasn't appealing to me or to cringey but after finishing my own batch of drams i raved that kdramas were addicting and great to her making her give another chance(she was watching jdramas,liking them more,Gokusen ringing bells?)...being a kdrama duckling back then everything was soooo suspenful and the twists were unpredictable unlike now that have 10 years of avid viewer under my belt jajja ...Still remember looking on My Soju(older fans might know) for the dramas and was part of my daily routine...I don't regret falling into this dramaland hole because i gained much more than losing(opening my horizon to new cultures,learning korean,metting u guys)

My gateway drug errr drama was also Boys over Flowers. I initially watched it because at the time kdramas were being shown on Hulu and kept showing up on the suggested watch list. When I was younger I had loved the manga and anime Hana Yori Dango so figured I would give it a try. Me and my little brother managed to somehow binge watch the drama in 3 days. It's definitely not a good drama and I could never go back and watch it because I know it's bad. But it is ultimately what got me into dramas. I cannot name what was my 2nd drama but some other earlier ones I distinctly remember is Secret Garden and You're Beautiful which helped solidify my descent into drama watching.

It took me awhile to branch into other Asian dramas, but some of my other firsts are:

Cdrama: Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (Eternal Love)
Tdrama: Fated to Love You
Thai Drama: SOTUS the Series

Flipping through the over-the-air antenna TV channels when a period piece caught my eyes on a local Korean channel. English sub was intermittent. Show didn't seem to be on a regular schedule. Sometimes it suddenly turned dead air during the broadcast. Still, managed to watch a few episodes over a few weeks.

After a few months, some time between Thanksgiving and New Years, decided to google the show with a vague description. DramaBeans recap of The Moon Embracing the Sun were the top search results. Skimmed through the recaps the found the episodes I watched. EUREKA!

After this one, City Hunter, Secret Garden, Warrior Baek Dong Soo... VIKI and DF memberships. Then cdramas and jdramas.

I don't watch much dramas or shows in general anymore, preferring reading web novels and listening to audio dramas. Still, visiting DB and checking up general viewer sentiment about dramas has become a habit.

Ah are you me? Lol. My and your drama pattern has been the same. High school fellows started watching a strange Korean drama called Boys over flowers and discussed it everywhere. So I just gave it a try in summers and I was hooked. Hooked definitely to the reverse harem story, seeing those good looking guys and weird jerk tsundere male lead who still ended up winning my heart. It was a whole new world. Obviously I followed it with City Hunter which I love to date but never rewatched because I know these two wouldn't stand the test of time and my maturity now. But I took quite some rest and then returned in 2013 to check Heirs . Clearly I only cared about Lee Minho at this point. I don't anymore, I also think he lacks a lot of acting skills but I will still check out the first episode of a show for him. That fragment remains, he is my first kdrama crush. Though I was a little older by that time and realized soon enough that Heirs was trash. So I started seeing recaps because the show was dropped but I wanted to see how the story went. That's when I came across DB. The only platform that acknowledged Heirs for the mess it was lol. Since Heirs had a star studded cast, every other recap site (i came across) was praising it, rather praising oppas but DB was the only place critical of it and that's when I knew I needed to stick to DB. But I didn't, I took a rest again. I occasionally checked Dramafevers facebook page where they kept mentioning dramas. I saw the comments of a few and it felt that You who came from the stars was popular. I checked that out but wasn't impressed except for the first few episodes. Then all of a sudden I saw a few of my friends discussing Healer on facebook. And I thought ok let's give this one a try. And probably that might have been the last try I could ever give a kdrama because even though I liked Bof and City Hunter, they didn't really bring me down the rabbit hole. They were just on the same level as foreign language films would be. You might try them once or twice but won't watch them forever. But I knew less. Healer was it!! It was amazing. It's run had already finished so that's when I remembered I needed recaps to check reviews and voila I landed on DB again (I might have checked DB for YWCFTS but that was only for the recaps to fill up episodes but for Healer, I stayed for the comments and the personal opinion of the recappers). After I completed Healer I followed it with my first live watched show Falling for Innocence. In summers I catched up on already acclaimed shows like Misaeng and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and other Hong sisters shows. Since then I have been a regular both in kdramas and DB. Come to think of it, always my real life circle has brought me to kdramas. But unfortunately the people who introduced them to me, don't watch them anymore. Now that BOF is too old I wonder what show acts as a gateway drug. Is it Dots?

I am forever grateful to Netflix for exposing me to Kdramas. I accidentally clicked on Mirror of the Witch AKA Secret Healer, and I still remember the confused text messages to my BFF about what I was watching but I did not stop watching and by the end, I was hooked! I've been free-falling down the Kdrama (and all things Korean) rabbit hole ever since :) Now if only I could learn the language

Stumbled across a Korean movie named A Millionaires First Love on YouTube while I was pretending to do an assignment back in 2008. Watched it, loved the dashing hero with the dimples (Still in Love with him)... googled... saved LOTS some of his pics on my Nokia 6300... more googling/YT... ended up watching my first kdrama... Goong (Bunked class to binge it) ....and 11 years later here I am... still exploring in this rabbit hole!

I was born into a drama-watching family. We lived in a small town where the only entertainment were watching TV together after dinner. My first venture to kdrama was Autumn in My Heart. My roommate owned the DVD set and it had this inexplicable draw that I could not comprehend even now. I hate tear-jerker and felt iffy about the faux incest, but I could not stop watching. When Officer Min touch Jang Geum's hand in Jewel in the Palace, I screamed.

I stopped watching kdrama after for a few years because I had no access to it. Then, my friend had to gift me a DVD set of Full House and I knew of the free dial-up Internet. It's down the rabbit hole after that.

It came the time when I could not wait to go home to watch the next episode of Protect the Boss and discovered that there's live recap online. One site led to the other, and then I discovered DB. Kdrama watching experience was never the same since.

My first was BOF too. I got tired of American shows three years ago and that's why I decided to watch it after I found it on Viki and I liked it. So I then watched Playful Kiss and found it a little weird, heh. Then me and my sister who watched only the first half of BOF with me decided to watch City Hunter and we loved it. After that I finished most of LMH's dramas before I start watching other kdramas. I took a break afterwards for about a year and went back to American shows. Then I decided to finish watching the kdramas that I just left in the middle (which were quite a few), I found myself not be able to to stop. Before I knew it I was so addicted that I feel like I can never go back to anything else. I just adore kdramas now. I rarely watch anything else. I even got bored of reading even though I was a bookworm.

This is great. My first drama was Boys over Flowers too. Terrible, terrible drama. It was hilarious though. Afterward, much like you I thought if I'm bored enough I'll watch another. Then I watched Coffee Prince, after that it was all over. Coffee Prince was my 3rd drama. This is going to sound really arrogant and so I apologize for my ignorance but I was like "Oh kdramas can be good." Coffee Prince will forever and always be my rabbit hole and has a very special place in my heart.

I started with a Taiwanese drama my friend had told me she was watching, she kept talking about every episodes she watched giving me updates, I got impatient waiting for updates so I figured I should do it myself It started with a Kiss Finished it in 2 days then the 2nd season. Then I had nothing to watch. she gave me a list I watched the other Taiwanese dramas on there, then the Japanese ones (since I’d watched animes & read mangas before, it seemed more familiar.) having nothing left to watch I started my first K-drama: Delightful Girl Choon Hyang & that was it. You’re beautiful , Full House , basically anything I could get my hands on, anything with subs, not that it made a difference, I could barely speak English & had never watched anything with subtitles. Dramas became my excuse, I’m not watching TV I’m learning English. I only watched K-dramas after, binging everyday after school.

I was a huge General Hospital fan. I will never forgive my Liz and Jason ship not sailing. A GH recap blog I read reviewed Fated to Love You. I was so intrigued. I kept circling around it and then finally watched. I think Googling it brang me to DB. When I really started to consume dramas I was consuming the old recaps at the same pace. I'd read them on my commute like a book.....I really need to go back and WATCH them. Anyway, looking up dramas I'd always see Coffee Prince I just went ahead and bought the DVDs. I didnt have streaming sites figured out yet, lol. Then came Secret Garden and Samsoon. I mean once you see those cheekbones....
Boys over Flowers was like crack. I was so sleep deprived and as I'd press play I kept asking myself.."What is this? Do I even like this? But I need it!!"

Oh, The wonderful rabbit hole that is drama land! Mine was exactly the same except I started with *Personal Taste* in 2013. Hiatus for about a year then I stumbled upon the wonders called "City Hunter", "Moon that embraces the sun" and "My Love from the Star". Never looked back since! What an exciting 5 years as a non-native speaker and now I can understand about 60% of the drama w/o subs. Lee Min Ho and Kim Soo Hyun.. goldies...

K-Beauty was a gate to kpop and kdrama for me, and first dramas: My Love from Another Star ( every kbeauty blogger mentioned it), Keigo Higashino Mysteries, Dr Qin Medical Examiner.

My first k-drama was Full House with Rain and Song Hye Kyo in 2004. I was visiting my relatives in Vietnam where everyone watched it, like everybody was obsessed with the show. My eyes nearly popped out of my head at Rain’s extravagant fashion. And I mean EXTRAVAGANT. Nobody even came close to his crazy fashion from Full House days. I still remember those revealing clothes on Rain’s huge body until this day. It really was the weirdest thing to me as I was used to European and American series. I loved Full House despite all the craziness but I considered it only just anomaly and went back to my “white” TV (even though I’m not white).

It was Coffee Prince 3 years later that really pulled me into dramaland and never let me go again. My white friends used to make fun of me because I watched some girlish guys with questionable fashion but - that was before k-pop took over the world.

Nowadays dramas and Dramabeans are daily part of my life and I’m happy I found fans who are as passionate about dramas as I am.

Great write-up, thanks @missvictrix for echoing my experience on how I stumbled upon K-drama and how it remained this oasis, like a friend I can find solace in. I also got introduced to K-drama by a classmate in grad school, who insisted I watch Boys over Flower. I watched... and nvr looked bck for the past 5 yrs! Thanks to Dramabeans which makes it even more enjoyable and interesting!

I didn't start out with BOYS OVER FLOWERS, but it was my first modern drama. I started with sageuks (JUMONG, KINGDOM OF THE WINDS, EMPEROR OF THE SEA) and didn't even notice that they had +50 episodes. But I always ended up in tears, so I looked up time travelling dramas (as if those wouldn't end in tears pffft, I was young and naive).

Anyway, I was hooked by FAITH and wanted to see more of the soft-spoken handsome general Choi Young. So I looked him up, tried to learn his name (Lee Min Ho) and did my research of "best kdramas" on internet. And that's how I found BOYS OVER FLOWERS.

For me it was Coffee Prince. Our local network surprisingly aired it, and it was dubbed in my native language. I was indifferent at first when seeing the commercials. Then, one day my mom started watching it and told me to join her. And all it took was 10 minutes to fall in love with the characters, the story, the bromance and of course Gong Yoo! After it finished airing, I stopped watching kdramas for a while because the network didn't air other shows and because I didn't know where to watch them. A while later I wasn't feeling well, I was in a dark place. Remembering the fuzziness I felt while watching Coffee Prince, I started searching where I can watch kdramas online. So, Boys Over Flowers and Goong it was! Kdramas are the same for me: an oasis where I feel like I can breathe. Thank you for this piece! It was lovely!

@missvictrix Thanks for this post! That’s me speaking. When my family (my hubby included) started watching BOF, I resisted. That’s until I saw him watching My Princess and I thought Song Seung Heon was really handsome. I checked it out and he became my Oppa. It was followed by BOF, Lie to Me, Goong, Prosecutor Princess, Coffee Prince. LMH was the ultimate in City Hunter, which for me is one of my top drama, only to be beaten by Chang Wook and Healer. And BTW @msrabbit I got traumatized by the ending of Autumn in my Heart but SSH and Won Bin made it so worth it.

These weren’t perfect dramas but I feel that these older dramas were more addicting than recent dramas, tropes and all. After watching an episode, there was just this great urge to watch the next one. These days I’m more selective in my choice of dramas.

I've spent 8 years in this k-drama rabbit hole and getting very comfortable here (though also a lot more hard-to-please) that I never expected myself to experience the similar tumbling-down-another-rabbit-hole anytime soon. My gateway is I Hear Your Voice, though I unsuspectingly started this 'crazy' journey with My Girlfriend is a Gumiho thanks to my friend's recommendation one day.

But yeah, hello there, c-dramas rabbit hole. 👋

I might be the odd one out here but watching an episode or two of Boys over flowers (which was not my gateway drama) almost killed for me the drama watching experience. My first drama a binge watch of She was Pretty and i remember watching it because I was binging girl makeovers in movies on youtube and someone recommend to watch this. Park Seo joon will always have a special something in my heart.

I got started into K-drama land when I watched a locally-dubbed version of Jumong but it didn't hook me yet. Not until My Name is Kim Sam-soon and later on Queen Seon Deok did I fall down your so-called rabbit hole. So down I went through Boys Before Flowers and other Lee Min-ho dramas - City Hunter, Faith, and as far back as Personal Taste. Then it bloomed to all the other actors/actresses that I liked - Park Shin-hye, Park Hyung-shik, Jo Jung-seok, etc. Nowadays, I usually check thru Dramabeans before I start watching something new. Thank you, Dramabeans and Beanies, for your usual guidance.

Point of entry: Hulu
I was there to watch some American show (don't even remember which one) since we had cut the cord for years even back then. I now don't remember how I even came across the title on Hulu, but later I do distinctly recall Kdramas had their own "genre" tag. XD

First kdrama: Sungkyunkwan Scandal
I was doomed from the start to go headfirst down the rabbit hole.

Never stopped since then.

HEALER, naturally (in 2016). I never looked back.

I don't really remember how and when it all started. So here it goes.. me trying to recall memories~ 😆

I watched Kdramas/movies for a long time. My first might be Dae Jang Geum which was aired on local TV. Or it could be K-movie Windstruck which we watched at school on a huge screen (boarding school life 🤣).

Then I entered Uni, I got into Jdramas, Jpop and anything Japanese. I chose Jdramas over Kdramas because of the length. Jdramas are short and concise, and the content was more varied. Kdramas that I know of at that point of time were mostly romcoms and fantasies.

I got sucked into kvarieties and kpop somewhere in my uni years too. 1n2d's S1, Family Outing and Running Man. I remember liking Park Hae Jin when he appeared in Family Outing, cheered when he was part of the cast and went into a PHJ phase. I downloaded East of Eden because of him, using clubbox during dial up era, it took ages to complete. He wasn't in it much though, the drama itself was not memorable. But the journey to download the drama was haha! I watched quite a lot of kdramas in Uni and I think it was around that time that I discovered Dramabeans.

Got out of Uni and started working. Dramas took a rest too. DB changed it's layout and I was not a fan, so I drifted away. I don't have much data to download dramas and I have to time my downloads to avoid going overlimit. I didn't live watch much. I did join the Reply 1988 brouhaha, I was a Bora and Sunwoo shipper. I did watch The Best Hit on air for Yoon Shi Yoon and was active in recap comments.

At this time...I still didn't realize I was in a kdramaland rabbit hole. Since imo the amount of dramas I watch remain minimal, i watched dramas on and off, or so I think, I don't keep track of what I watched 😅.

Full House was my entry to K-Drama! I saw it around the time contract relationships and strangers cohabitation troupes were fresh. I remember dying from laughing so hard with all that was happening in that drama. I bought the director’s cut DVD years later, but I didn’t see this drama again. I don’t want to ruin my beautiful memory of this show by rewatching it and wondered by I was crazy for this drama. Thank you Rain and Song Hye Kyo for introducing me to K-Dramas.

You’re Beautiful was the first drama I went completely insane for a show! I remember getting up at 3AM just to catch this on live stream with no subs!!! I understood nothing but I was happy watching and spazzing over it! This was also the drama I joined a group to support the cast. Through donations, we gifted them a some treats and photobook with messages from all of us around the world.
We wanted to let them know, despite their lukewarm TV ratings, that we loved them and their show and that they were popular overseas! Throwback to that time javaneans supported this drive and shared it on DB! http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/11/cast-of-youre-beautiful-buoyed-by-fan-support/

You’re beautiful was also my first director’s cut dvd too! My obsession to collecting super expensive but very pretty DVD/bluray packages started with this show! Here’s a Throwback to that time too!!! http://www.dramabeans.com/2009/12/order-youre-beautiful-directors-cut-dvd/

So many memories!! 😭😭😭

Lee Min Ho is my first love. Doesn’t matter how trashy Boys Over Flowers was, the fandom at the time it aired was so insane; so hyped. It was phenomenal. I fought hard for Go Jun Pyo and Geun Jan Di ship! Boys Over Flowers, thank you for giving me my first love.

I didn’t even know what k-dramas were but while recovering from surgery in 2015 I stumbled upon Coffee Prince on Netflix and down the rabbit hole I fell.

Gateway to Kdramaland:
I had finished marathoning season 1 of the BBC show Luther on Hulu. While looking around for another good series to watch on Hulu, I came across the kdrama IRIS starring Lee Byung-hun, Kim Tae-hee, Kim So-yeon, Jung Joon-ho, Kim Seung-woo, and T.O.P (Choi Seung-hyun). And the rest is history.

I always love your posts @missvictrix

BOF was my rabbit hole, too. My brain was like "This is so unrealistic...and misogynistic... and cheesy... but OMG I can't stop." It was Cheetos, ramen or microwave Mac and Cheese. It was SO bad, but oh so good. While, like you, my drama tastes have becoming more discriminating and selective, I still have a soft spot for shows that are both absurd and addictive. Like (please don't judge me) Vagabond, or Strong Woman Bong Soon, or Secretary Kim.

I love your Alice in Wonderland reference. We are all Mad here. And it is in Madness that we find ourselves. Sometimes, Kdrama is the Caterpillar blowing smoke into my face and saying, "Who are you?" Sometimes it is Alice screaming, "You are all a bunch of cards!" And sometimes it is the funny Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the vicious Queen of Hearts, or the poor White Rabbit trying to make sense of everything -- all the parts of ourselves that we try to hide when we enter the world of adulting.

The Rabbit Hole is permission to be crazy, curious and swept by things we don't understand. It's permission to not know everything, and sometimes, stumble my way towards a Happy Ending. Because you really need to be a little Mad to love KDramas, and to love life.

What an excellent essay, missvictrix! I read so many sentences with a laugh (and a tear in my eye). I've been watching for so long now that sometimes I think I could almost write a drama - but then one comes along and is amazing and I thank the stars for the real writers. That thrill and the fizzy feeling are mostly hard to come by now that I have hundreds on my watched list but I keep plowing on in hopes that the next one will be, as you said about City Hunter, my next it. This year it was WWW and Be Melo for me.

My intro to kdrama is so much like yours, missvictrix, except for "intern", substitute exchange student from Thailand. She and another exchange student were surfing the web one day, came across images of Goong and squealed in excitement. I couldn't resist their excitement and watched with them, frantically chasing fragments of episodes around the web. Back then, it was YouTube and other pirate sites, which gave me seriously conflicted feelings. I was in library school at the time, being indoctrinated into upholding copyright. But the training and ambivalence couldn't keep me away, the feels and drama grabbed my heart, and we watched the whole thing. We even found a copy on DVD at a nearby library and marathoned it for a second watch. Goong will always be one of my favorites, even though it's not everybody's cup of tea. But the costumes and music (I had been a big costume drama watcher) were fascinating and added so much to the watching experience.
From Goong I followed Yoon Eun Hye to Vineyard Man (trash) and 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (amazing!) and have never looked back. DramaBeans was a godsend to someone who was confused a lot of the time - why does she call her fiance Mr. Philip (Soulmate)?
Anyway, it's been 12 wonderful years, with more than enough great dramas to make up for a few duds.

My sassy girl was my first Korean movie. Remember: War of the son started my kdrama rabbit hole through a Facebook recommendation.

My relationship with K Dramas began a bit differently, but also same as many others, My College roommates, neighboring roommates and some friends were hooked on Boys over flowers, I tried it, but Jan di was too annoying for me, I didn't finish the drama.. i hated it (still do).
I watched You are beautiful with two of my best friend one of which was a newbie K drama fan. Me and the other friend started to watch it just to make fun of our K- drama fan friend and we got hooked on the the drama. I liked it very much. It did not make any sense. But that was it. I was not intrigued enough to search for more dramas.
i think 2-3 years later during a very dark period of my life i woke up one day feeling nothing. That was one of the most terrifying feelings i have ever experienced... Feeling nothing. i didn't want to go to work, or do anything at all.. thankfully a rational part in my brain recognized something was wrong in my head. I put in a sick leave and went to see a psychologist. Long story short that went really really bad. For an introvert like me it was a really bad thing to happen. I already find it very hard to share. But taking that action helped me to take next step. I just had to find a reason to get by a single day at a time. i don't exactly remember why i chose to re-watch You're beautiful at that moment. But a quick research showed me the on going dramas, It was W and uncontrollably fond, Plot for W intrigued me and I am a sucker for melodramas. Set my mind to just get through my day so that I can come back and watch this. I found dramas for every day of the week and that became my one thing I look forward to, a reason to get through my day. It took more than a year for me to start actually living again but dramas kept me going, I binge watched many I live watched many, I found dramabeans during this time. And I have a happy place deep inside this rabbit hole.

I've been watching so long I can't remember exactly which drama - but I do remember it was circa Beautiful Days, Winter Sonata, Propose, Tomato, Glass Slipper, All About Eve - many many more or as they say - etc. etc. etc.!
and - X-Man!!! I know for sure X-Man propelled me into K-Pop. Coolsmurf was a wealth of information at that time - thank you!!!
And of course It also opened the door to Korean Variety shows (1N2D, Family Outing!) which I love and follow to this day.
I thankfully have episodes (random ones) of X-Man, so I can go back and watch the epic Danghyunhaji battle between KJK and LMK (yes! Lee Min Ki!) 😂

It was TVB dramas all the way through childhood, high school, and then a few popular T- dramas and J-dramas during uni days.

I had no knowledge at all of anything Korean, but one day my friend pull out a VCD and say let's watch this popular Korean movie. My Sassy Girl. I was intrigued by this girl whacking the guy for no reason. Then I was so touched when the big reveal comes, along with the unforgettable song, I Believe.

After that, Winter Sonata, Autumn, Summer Scent hits big and was shown on local TV, but I just admired the pretty scenery when I happen to turn on the TV, but did not really get into the weepy romance stories.
But one Kdramas caught my attention again a few years later. My Name Is Kim Sam Soon, again the girl was whacking the guy, see the trend ? No HK/J/TW dramas has this refreshing trend at that time. And that was the start of my rabbit hole.