One fact about me is that I am a huge K-drama fan. And, as much as I try to watch dramas for the stories, I find myself time and time again coming back to Lee Dohyun’s projects, mainly because I think he’s one of the greatest actors in the K-drama world as of now. Therefore, because I miss him and his dramas (he’s currently doing his military enlistment and cannot do any projects till May 2025), here is a comprehensive ranking of all of his projects so far so I have an excuse to share my love for him and hopefully convince readers to watch one of his K-dramas.
Before I start the ranking, to give some background to most readers who probably don’t know who he is (yet), Lee Dohyun is a K-drama actor who made his acting debut in 2017 as a side character in Prison Playbook. Throughout his career he has had a lead role in 6 different dramas: 18 Again (2020), Sweet Home (2020), Youth of May (2021), Melancholia (2021), The Glory (2022-2023), and The Good Bad Mother (2023).
Another thing that I want to mention in this ranking is that I am reviewing these dramas on all their aspects: plot, acting, enjoyability, etc, and the order presented reflects how I feel about the dramas overall and how I feel about Dohyun’s roles in them too. Anyways, let’s get to the list!
Melancholia revolves around two characters: Ji Yoon So, a passionate high school teacher who wants to make her students fall in love with math, and the emotionless Baek Seungyoo, who had a bright future due to his strong caliber in math until a traumatic experience made him apathetic towards the subject. However, what threw me off about this drama was that the two characters ended up falling in love. I am just not a fan of the large age gap and teacher/student romances. Additionally, the storyline didn’t really grip me all that much– there was a lot of math talk, and I don’t find math all that interesting, to be honest. But, I will say that the cinematography of the show is gorgeous and of course Dohyun did a fantastic job in the show and I’ll leave it at that.
The Glory is all about the carefully crafted revenge story of Moon Dong Eun against her high school bullies (honestly, I think abusers is the right word). Now, I didn’t really like this drama because I thought it had way too many filler scenes and a rushed ending that left me feeling unsatisfied. Also, I felt like the casting director wasted Dohyun’s time in this show. Dohyun played the role of Joo Yeo Jung, who was Dong Eun’s love interest who helped her with her quest for revenge. I felt that the romance felt shoe-horned in, leading to uninteresting scenes with Yeo Jung. However, the one thing I am grateful for is that this drama gave us this super iconic scene between Dohyun and Lim Jiyeon, who plays one of Dong Eun’s bullies. I felt that this scene shows off just how talented both of them are as actors and it gave me chills. All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this drama in general, and I especially wouldn’t recommend it as someone who’s interested in becoming Dohyun’s fan despite this being one of the most popular dramas he features in.
The Good Bad Mother is about Young Soon, a single mother and pig farmer who raised her son Kang Ho alone. She was a strict (abusive) mother, and this caused Kang Ho to become a closed-off prosecutor as an adult who doesn’t talk to his mom anymore. However, Kang Ho ends up in an accident that causes him to revert to a 7 year old version of himself, forcing him to return home to be taken care of by his mom. The rest of the drama then focuses on how Young Soon attempts to rebuild her relationship with her son. Now, I have very complicated feelings about this show. On one hand, I think this is Dohyun’s best project acting-wise: Dohyun takes on two alarmingly different personas as Kang Ho: he plays both a cold hearted prosecutor and a 7 year old child in an adult’s body, and he does it SO WELL. On the other hand, this show has quite a few problems in the plot department. This drama tried to be too many kinds of dramas; it had elements of a revenge story, elements of a mother/son story, and elements of a story of people living in a small town, but none of it was particularly done well. I also think that the relationship between Young Soon and Kang Ho was frustrating to watch play out on screen. The authors tried to justify Young Soon’s abuse, but she never did anything to really deserve forgiveness. Even with the plot problems, the show does a good job keeping you glued to your chair. I guess I can say that I recommend this show to really see some high level award winning acting from Dohyun, but if you are looking to just watch a drama for the story, I’d caution on this one.
Sweet Home is about people who live in an apartment complex that has become invaded by monsters, and their quest to survive. In this drama, Dohyun plays Lee Eunhyuk, whose resourcefulness almost makes him seem like he isn’t human most of the time. Now, this drama is honestly one of my favorite K-dramas ever: we are introduced to an incredibly amazing cast and I found myself deeply attached to every single one of them, and I felt like this show did an amazing job being a psychological horror but also action-packed and a drama that makes us philosophically muse on what it means to be human. The only reason why it’s being ranked lower on this list is because as a drama to show off Dohyun’s acting chops, it’s not quite as impactful as some of his other dramas. However, I will say that his chemistry with this cast is absolutely wonderful (Song Kang and Go Minsi are both here, and it was surreal watching all three of them in the same show), and that this is definitely a recommended watch for any one who just loves good TV.
Youth of May is a historical drama that takes place during the Gwangju Uprising. The story revolves around Hee Tae, an aspiring doctor who helps to treat people at an illegal clinic for students who are being targeted by the government and Myung Hee, a nurse who dreams to study medicine in Germany. The two end up meeting in a strange series of events, and fall in love. However, just like the events that led up to their first interaction, life has many twists and turns for this young couple. Now, this drama is definitely the SADDEST of all the dramas on this list. I definitely recommend having a set of tissues at hand at all times. Despite the sadness, this drama is one of my favorites because it gave us one of the best K-drama couples of all time: Hee Tae is actually the greenest of greenest flags and seeing Dohyun playing a character like Hee Tae definitely had me kicking my feet and giggling often. Additionally, his chemistry with Go Minsi, who plays Myung Hee, was actually perfect; I felt they were able to capture such a sweet and innocent romance and it was just a delight to see it play out on screen. If you are ready to go on an emotional journey, I definitely think that Youth of May is a drama you need to add to your list.
18 Again (yes, it’s a remake of the Zac Efron film 17 again) is the story of Hong Dae Young, a 38 year old man with a lot of regrets on how his life is going: he’s in the process of getting divorced from his wife Da Jung and he can’t keep a job. One day, as Hong Dae Young is returning home, he stops by his old high school basketball court, where he reminisces on his youth. As he leaves, he finds that he has turned into his 18 year old self, and has no way to turn back! Dae Young then decides to re-enroll in high school, and promises to make all the “right decisions” in life this time. The rest of the drama then chronicles all the lessons he learns with his new perspective on life. Now, I love this drama for a whole lot of reasons. Despite being a remake, it spends a lot of time fleshing out the stories of Dae Young’s family and friends, which keeps it fresh. It really feels like you become a part of Dae Young’s family and you cannot help but root for them to become closer again. I also think that this is a super complex role too, and Dohyun did an amazing job convincingly playing a 38 year old trapped in an 18 years old body (this scene of Dae Young yelling at his daughter as his 18 year old self will never not make me laugh). This is honestly just a great feel-good drama, and even though I do think it sometimes drags a bit and you may need to suspend some belief when you watch it, I still highly recommend it for both its great story and if you want to become a Dohyun fan, with his amazing acting.
Ok, so, Dohyun isn’t the lead in this one. He plays the role of Go Chung Myung, who was the ex of Jang Man Wol, a woman who is running an old hotel and cannot leave till she learns what love really is and lets go of her thirst for revenge. I’m including it here purely because this was the drama that made me fall in love with Dohyun; he was just so cute and captivating on screen and his chemistry with IU who plays Man Wol was simply incredible, I almost stopped rooting for the actual male lead from this show! But, this show is really amazing, and I definitely recommend it especially to new fans interested in exploring what the K-drama world has to offer.
And, that’s my comprehensive ranking of all of Lee Dohyun’s main projects, FOR NOW. I cannot wait for him to complete his mandatory military service and to see more amazing projects from him in the future.