Some Korean dramas have all the ingredients for a memorable series, only to lose their way as the story unfolds.
Few things are as frustrating for a K-drama fan as watching a series with a brilliant premise gradually lose its momentum. A promising beginning does not always guarantee a satisfying ending. Whether through overcomplicated storylines, underdeveloped characters or finales that leave too many loose ends, some K-dramas have struggled to live up to their early potential.
Below are five K-dramas whose promising starts were followed by storytelling choices that divided viewers.
1. When the Phone Rings (2024)
Photo: IMDb
When the Phone Rings initially appeared to be a gripping psychological drama wrapped in the story of a troubled marriage.
Starring Yoo Yeon-seok and Chae Soo-bin, the series follows Baek Sa-eon and Hong Hee-joo, a couple whose relationship has been defined by emotional distance and years of silence. Their carefully maintained arrangement takes a dramatic turn after a mysterious phone call introduces a threat that could unravel their lives.
The early episodes build suspense around Hee-joo's silence, Sa-eon's cold behaviour and the possibility that their marriage conceals far more than either is willing to admit. The setup leaves plenty of room for a tense exploration of power, resentment and secrets.
However, the narrative gradually shifts towards romance, reframing Sa-eon's behaviour through the lens of concealed affection and misunderstanding. For viewers drawn in by the darker psychological elements, this change in direction could feel like a missed opportunity.
As the story progresses, increasingly dramatic developments compete with the central relationship, and the search for a missing spouse eventually takes the drama into a war-zone setting.
The result is a series that begins with the ingredients for an intriguing thriller but struggles to maintain that focus. Its strongest hook is the mystery surrounding the couple; the later storytelling does not always make the most of it.
2. Dynamite Kiss (2025)
Photo: The Drama Corner
A chance encounter, an unforgettable kiss and a workplace romance provide the foundation for Dynamite Kiss, a series that initially embraces the lighter side of Korean romantic comedy.
Jang Ki-yong plays Gong Ji-hyeok, a team leader who becomes preoccupied with a woman he meets in Jeju. Kim Ji-an plays Go Da-rim, who takes on the identity of a married mother to secure a position at a baby-products company. Their professional relationship becomes increasingly complicated as the truth threatens to surface.
The early episodes benefit from playful misunderstandings, romantic tension and the familiar appeal of two people struggling to make sense of their feelings. The straightforward premise also offers a welcome alternative to romances burdened by unnecessarily dark subplots.
As the series moves towards its conclusion, however, the story becomes increasingly crowded. Kidnappings, fires, financial trouble, romantic complications and long-held secrets begin to compete for attention, making the original workplace-romance premise feel less central.
A particularly dramatic confrontation involving Da-rim adds to the escalating tension, while a late accident and memory-loss storyline introduce another obstacle just as the series should be preparing to resolve its central romance.
The ending had to move rapidly through the reunion and proposal before jumping ahead in time, leaving little room for the emotional payoff that the earlier episodes seemed to promise.
For viewers who prefer uncomplicated romantic comedies, Dynamite Kiss illustrates how adding more drama is not necessarily the same as developing a better story.
3. Memories of the Alhambra (2018)
Photo: Netflix
With Hyun Bin and Park Shin-hye leading the cast, Memories of the Alhambra had the potential to become one of Korean television's most distinctive fantasy thrillers.
The series follows Yoo Jin-woo, a technology executive who travels to Spain after learning about an ambitious augmented-reality game. What begins as a business opportunity soon becomes a frightening experience as the boundaries between the digital world and reality begin to collapse.
The show's early episodes are among its most intriguing features. The Spanish setting lends the drama a distinctive atmosphere, while the game's immersive mechanics create an unusual blend of technology, suspense and fantasy. The possibility that an apparently harmless game could have deadly consequences gives the story a strong central mystery.
However, the concept becomes harder to sustain as the narrative progresses. Repeated encounters with enemies and increasingly familiar action sequences begin to reduce the sense of danger that initially made the premise so compelling.
The balance between the two leads also becomes uneven. Park Shin-hye's character, Jung Hee-joo, often has less to do than the mystery seems to warrant, leaving the relationship and its wider emotional stakes underdeveloped.
Most frustratingly, the finale leaves several important questions unresolved. The ambiguity may invite interpretation, but it also risks leaving viewers feeling that the series has stopped short of delivering a complete payoff.
Memories of the Alhambra remains an ambitious experiment in genre storytelling, even if its execution does not consistently match the promise of its opening episodes.
4. Queen of Tears (2024)
Photo: IMDb
Few recent K-dramas generated as much conversation as Queen of Tears, led by Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won. Its central premise combines marital breakdown, family wealth and a medical crisis, creating opportunities for both sharp comedy and genuine emotional drama.
Baek Hyun-woo, a lawyer from a modest background, is married to Hong Hae-in, an heiress whose powerful family makes their already strained relationship even more complicated. When Hae-in receives devastating medical news, Hyun-woo's plans for separation are thrown into turmoil.
The early episodes explore the couple's resentment, buried affection and gradual rediscovery of one another. Their contrasting backgrounds provide much of the humour, while their painful history gives the romance an emotional foundation.
However, the series increasingly relies on an antagonist whose schemes repeatedly push the protagonists into fresh crises. Yoon Eun-sung's interference, the family's financial troubles and a succession of dangerous confrontations gradually shift attention away from the marriage that anchors the drama.
Hae-in's memory loss following surgery adds another major complication, forcing the relationship to revisit familiar emotional territory. Although the device creates opportunities for poignant scenes, it also risks making the couple's progress feel cyclical rather than decisive.
The final stretch attempts to resolve the story while covering an enormous amount of emotional ground, culminating in a substantial leap forward in time.
For some, the conclusion provides the closure the couple deserves, while for others, the relentless succession of villains and crises overshadows the intimate relationship that made the series so engaging in the first place.
5. Twenty-Five Twenty-One (2022)
Photo: IMDb
Twenty-Five Twenty-One is remembered by many viewers as a moving coming-of-age story whose bittersweet conclusion was also its most contentious element.
Kim Tae-ri stars as Na Hee-do, an ambitious young fencer determined to pursue her dreams despite financial and personal obstacles. Nam Joo-hyuk plays Baek Yi-jin, whose family's fortunes collapse during South Korea's 1998 financial crisis.
Their relationship develops against a backdrop of youthful ambition, friendship and uncertainty. The series captures the intensity of growing up, when relationships can feel permanent even as life continues to pull people in different directions.
The show's ensemble of friends, memorable conversations and a nostalgic atmosphere help establish an emotional connection that extends beyond the central romance. The fencing storyline also gives Hee-do a goal of her own, allowing the series to explore personal achievement alongside love.
The difficulty emerges as the drama approaches its final episodes. Because the story is framed through the adult Hee-do's past and her daughter's discovery of old diaries, viewers are encouraged to wonder how the events of her youth connect to her present life.
Instead of offering the romantic resolution many had hoped for, the story follows Hee-do and Yi-jin as professional commitments, distance and changing circumstances gradually separate them. Their breakup is painful precisely because the series has spent so much time establishing the importance of their relationship.
The ending's refusal to provide a conventional romantic payoff divided audiences. Some appreciated its recognition that not every formative love lasts, while others felt the final episodes did not sufficiently prepare them for the outcome.
Regardless, Twenty-Five Twenty-One remains a powerful story about youth, ambition and the people who shape us, even for viewers who wish its central couple had found a different future.
For some viewers, an unconventional ending can be part of a show's appeal. For others, repeated plot twists, unresolved mysteries or a sudden shift in tone can undermine the emotional investment built over many episodes. Ultimately, the most memorable K-dramas are not necessarily those with the most dramatic twists but the ones whose endings feel true to the stories they set out to tell.
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