While Beanies are scattered across the globe and living in many different climates and seasons right now, the winter blues are still a thing for a lot of us. To tide us over until things warm up, here’s our five picks for dramas to watch while the wind is whistling outside.
Flower Boy Next Door (2013)
There is no other drama that screams winter to me more than Flower Boy Next Door. It wasn’t perfect, and yes I still have second lead syndrome all these years later, but boy did it keep me company through a freezing cold winter when it aired in January and February of 2013. Our heroine is played by Park Shin-hye — she’s a shut-in-hermit-editor living in a teeny tiny apartment. It’s a freezing cold winter in Seoul, money is tight, and she regularly wears down vests and/or parkas in her apartment, sleeps with a hot water bottle, and more. She might be a traumatized shut-in, but she’s not afraid to look out her window into the world around her (thanks to some handy toy binoculars), and when her peeping is caught by her neighbor, a whole chain of events is set into motion.
Outside of loving our intimidated, skittish, and bundled up heroine, this drama also gave me everything I wanted in terms of found family feels — by way of the little apartment building where she lives. As she gets to know her neighbors, and is pulled out again into life by them, she’s able to start a new season.
Grab your favorite puffer coat and enjoy this drama — I’m not shy about saying it’s my favorite performance of Park Shin-hye, and it’s also responsible for my continuing post-it obsession, and an unbreakable love for Kim Ji-hoon.
–@missvictrix
Pinocchio (2014)
It’s completely accidental that my second winter blues rec is also a Park Shin-hye drama. Does this girl just like to shoot dramas in the cold and then take the summers off? Either way, Pinocchio is the other drama that pops into my mind when I think about huge parkas, udon shops, dramatic scarves, falling snow, visible breath — basically the gifts that dramaland gives to remind you of the good things about winter’s cold and icy blast.
It’s funny, too, that while I enjoyed the plot of this show with its rookie reporters and family drama (and trauma), it’s the tone of it that’s stuck with me the longest. And that’s the winter setting — perfectly matched by the gumption of the rookie reporters fighting their personal demons, work challenges, and ice patches alike, all to achieve their dreams and earn that happy ending. –@missvictrix
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-ju (2016)
Winter makes me nostalgic for my childhood, when a “snow day” actually meant school closures and homemade snow cream. That carefree innocence — and awkwardness, because I was hella awkward — reminds me of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-ju. It’s a drama full of varsity jackets, Messi, swag, and energetic young adults who sneak up to the dorm roof and freeze their butts off while they share a bottle of soju and gossip about boys.
Although the leading couple starts out as frenemies, they’re playful from start to finish. Spring may reign supreme as the season of love and new romances, but Weightlifting Fairy proves that kisses in the snow are just as romantic as kisses beneath falling cherry blossoms. Other perks to winter romances: sharing puffy jackets, holding hands inside coat pockets, and a boyfriend who will bring you extra clothes when you and your friends are protesting outside in the freezing cold. If you’re looking for a drama that hits you in the warm and fuzzies like the first sip of hot cocoa, then look no further. –@daebakgrits
Find Me In Your Memory (2020)
Find Me In Your Memory is like waking up to a heavy snowfall. On the surface, it’s a quiet and serene romance that moves at a leisurely pace, but like the bitter wind and swirling snowflakes that precede the calm and beauty of the morning after a snowstorm, this drama has a dark and violent story arc. This is exactly the kind of romance I like to cozy up to on a cold winter night — I’ll take a melodrama with my 5 o’clock sunsets, please and thank you!
The story centers around a man (played by Kim Dong-wook) with hyperthymesia who can’t forget — literally — every detail of the snowy night his first love was murdered in front of him. Snow is heavily associated with his sadness, and even when he starts to develop feelings for a new woman, the first snowfall triggers memories so vivid and painful that he pulls away from his present to wallow in his past. But his new leading lady is like a ray of sunshine that melts the snow away, and I loved watching her slowly thaw the ice block around his heart. –@daebakgrits
A Piece of Your Mind (2020)
Outside of anything winter (or even weather) related, this is hands-down in my top ten favorites list. My brain doesn’t strictly categorize it as a winter drama, though it does have its fair share of wool coats and visible breath. There are a few things that qualify it as a winter blues rec, though. One is quite literal, and that the backstory that haunts our hero is set during a dangerous blizzard while he lived in Norway; the visuals are quite impactful, from the snow to the heavy tone of these scenes.
The second reason this is my winter rec is because it’s very much about winter dissolving into spring. Sometimes literally, but mostly figuratively — it’s a drama about trauma and healing, and what better way to get that across than with the gentle warmth of spring? All three of our main characters have major traumas in their lives. Some are older and deeper; others are fresh and raw. But amidst all the pain and grief we witness in this drama, it’s beautiful to watch as the characters push their way through (with the help of others, and even other’s mere voices).
Introspective, dreamy, and unique, this drama didn’t disappoint me for a moment, and it’s one of the few dramas I would reach for again. –@missvictrix