My Favorite K-Dramas About Small Towns
Submitted by Michelle Ewton
1. Dr. Romantic, Teacher Kim
I don’t want to be a doctor, but watching this show sways me a bit. Maybe it’s the way that they make the job so exciting, it gets my adrenaline pumping. Or the way the main characters look at each other that gets my heart racing. This is easily one of my favorite shows of all time, and the reason it’s last on this list is because Dr. Romantic, Teacher Kim is not like a traditional small town drama. Usually the appeal of these types of dramas is the community built by the neighbors that are always in each other’s business. Instead, the drama mostly takes place within the hospital, which is located in a small town. Despite this, they are still able to convey the old school ways of living found in small towns. In the hospital they have a small amount of staff, their building is old and small, and they have to bang on the computers for them to work.
2. Hometown Cha Cha Cha
I’ll admit that Hometown Cha Cha Cha is not one of my favorites, but I did get that post-drama depression for a little while afterwards. This show blew up during the pandemic and made the genre more popular, so it felt right that the show is on this list. This is definitely the classic small town drama. A girl living in the big city needs to calm down and end up coming to a small town. She likes it there and intends to stay for a little bit. Then she meets all the lovely—and nosy—locals, falls in love with one of them, and decides to stay. To spice things up there is always a hint of mystery, surrounding the town and the leads, but you’re mostly there for a good time. You come for the sense of community, and that’s what you get when watching Hometown Cha Cha Cha. It was definitely perfect during the pandemic when we were craving interaction with others.
3. The Good Bad Mother
If you like mysteries and thrillers, you’ll love this show. The premise of The Good Bad Mother is so unique, in my humble opinion it’s the best K-drama of 2023. Our main male lead’s mother, Jin Young-soon, moves to a small town while pregnant with the lead. Before the move, her pig farm burned down, killing her husband, and she knows exactly who did it. The justice system only serves the wealthy though. Now, she is ready to start a new farm in a different town and gives birth to Choi Kang-ho. She knows the only way to avenge her husband is to gain power, so she pushes Kang-ho hard to become a prosecutor. It hurts her to make him study day in and day out with little to eat so he won’t become sleepy from a food coma, but she plays the part of the strict tiger mom. That is, until he does become a successful prosecutor. He returns home after years to have his mother meet his fiancée, but leaves after less than an hour. On the way back to the city though, an accident happens that leaves him unable to walk and with amnesia. Young-soon takes him back to their small town and rights the wrongs from the past and rebuilds their lost mother-son relationship with the help of the community that is always there for them.
Follow AAPC’s Instagram!
