Television series

Abyss

Name: Abyss
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2019
Cast: Park Bo Young, An Hyo Seop, Lee Sung Jae

A Korean drama with a high-concept premise: two murder victims wake up in different bodies and must navigate their strange new lives while uncovering who killed them. It balances body-swap comedy with genuine mystery, romantic tension, and emotional depth. Perfect for anyone who loves genre-bending K-dramas that refuse to stay in one lane.

TVMaze rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a supernatural mystery where the detective work is tangled up with a slow-burning romance, and you are willing to take a strange premise on its own terms.

Skip it if the sixteen-episode run asks a lot of a premise that depends on its gimmick, so if you want something tight and self-contained, this may feel padded.

What it asks of you: A patient, unhurried shape across a long run, with romance and case-solving moving at a deliberate pace and a tone that stays mostly sober even when the premise turns strange.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Her Private Life2019

Shares Abyss's ability to be funny and romantic without losing narrative stakes. An Hyo Seop is charming here too, and the chemistry between leads crackles. Great if you liked the lighter, warmer scenes in Abyss.

But The central conflict resolves before the season ends, so the back half pivots away from what hooked you.

Bulgasal: Immortal Souls2021

Another Korean mystery wrapped around reincarnation and violent pasts. Dense mythology, high production values, and a lead pairing with serious chemistry. Darker and more ambitious than Abyss.

But Mythology-heavy and occasionally confusing. If you want straightforward, this requires investment and note-taking.

Doom at Your Service2021

A Korean fantasy-romance where supernatural entanglement forces two people together. Inventive magical system, genuine stakes, and both leads carry it with intelligence and charm.

But The premise's logic gets increasingly fuzzy in the final act. Some viewers find the resolution unsatisfying.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Abyss

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Midnight Club2022

Both mine mystery and emotion from a premise that could be pure gimmick. Both use their strange setup to ask what it means to start over, and both take that seriously beneath the genre machinery.

A genre-hopping American limited series about strangers locked together with a dark mystery. Like Abyss, it refuses to pick a lane: horror, mystery, romance, and magical realism all coexist. Visually inventive and genuinely eerie in ways K-drama usually isn't.

But Refuses tonal consistency. If you need the story to feel like one thing, this scattered approach will frustrate you. Also: Mike Flanagan, so trauma and mortality are the baseline.

Alchemy of Souls2022

A Korean fantasy with body-swapping as a core mechanic (not the central twist). Adventure, magic system, and romance all feel purposeful. Stylish action without sacrificing character work.

But Season one is excellent; season two drops in quality. Start expecting diminishing returns partway through.

Descendants of the Sun2016

If you loved the glamour and chemistry in Abyss, this delivers: two beautiful leads in a romance that unfolds against external chaos. Addictively watchable, even if the plot is thinner than you'd like.

But The plot is genuinely thin. It coasts on star power and aesthetic; substance is secondary.

Tale of the Nine Tailed2020

A Korean fantasy where a fox spirit and a human detective solve supernatural crimes together. Moody, gorgeously shot, and the mythology feels lived-in. Good if you want Abyss's darkness without the body-swap comedy.

But Atmospheric and slow. If you need plot momentum or lightweight fun, the meditative pacing will test you.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer2006

Both use body-horror and physical transformation as metaphor for identity and obsession. Both ask: what if you woke up as someone else and had to reckon with that? But Perfume answers in blood, Abyss in romance.

An utterly committed adaptation of an 'unfilmable' novel. A man obsessed with capturing beauty through murder; visually baroque and deeply wrong. If you want body and identity transformed into the actual subject, this goes where Abyss hints.

But Slow, deeply bleak, and sexually disturbing. The whole film is about a man's dehumanizing obsession; watching it is uncomfortable by design, not accident.

Looking for Alaska2019

Both center on a death that fractures everything, and both spend their runtime asking: who was this person really? For Abyss it's literal investigation; for Alaska, it's how we construct meaning from sudden absence.

A limited series about grief, mystery, and sudden death. The first episode kills off its narrator; the rest excavates why and what it meant. Genuinely intelligent young-adult television that treats both the mystery and the emotional aftermath as plot.

But High school setting and indie sensibility will feel slight if you're looking for prestige. Also: it's about loss, not resolution—the mystery answers less than you expect.