Television series
Something in the Rain
A Korean drama about quiet longing and the terrifying beauty of falling for someone you shouldn't. Yoon Jin Ah, drifting through her thirties, develops feelings for her best friend's younger brother. It's tender and aching, built on glances and small moments rather than grand gestures. For anyone who's ever loved someone complicated.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you find the slow ache of a crush on a best friend's younger brother more interesting than fireworks, and you like romances that trust ordinary days, small talk and glances to carry the feeling.
Skip it if you need the story to move briskly, since this one lingers over quiet café mornings, hesitant small talk and long pauses, and its sweetness can feel slow or repetitive.
What it asks of you: Sixteen episodes move at a deliberately unhurried pace and the feeling builds through looks and silences rather than plot jolts, so steady attention pays off more than a skim.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Crash Landing on You2019
A South Korean heiress falls for a North Korean army officer. Like Something in the Rain, it finds romance in impossible circumstances and balances comedy with genuine emotional weight. Gorgeously shot and deeply felt.
But The fish-out-of-water setup leans comedic in ways that might feel lighter than you want if you're seeking pure melancholy.
Descendants of the Sun2016
A soldier and a surgeon navigate dangerous territory—both geographically and emotionally. It has the same tender intensity, the same sense of two people circling each other while real obstacles loom. Visually stunning.
But The action-drama elements are more prominent, so it's less intimate and more plot-driven than Something in the Rain's quiet focus.
My Love from the Star2013
An alien and an actress find connection across an impossible divide. The chemistry is electric, the longing is real, and it captures that disorienting rush of unexpected love with warmth and humour.
But It's considerably lighter in tone and leans harder into comedy than you might expect after Something in the Rain.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Something in the Rain
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind2004
Both find profound romance in loss and longing. They understand that the most affecting love stories aren't about happily ever after—they're about what you feel when happiness isn't an option.
A man watches memories of his lover disappear from his mind. Like Something in the Rain, it's about the ache of loving someone and how that love lingers even when it shouldn't. Achingly tender and structurally inventive.
But It's deliberately fragmented and philosophical, moving backwards through time in ways that can feel cold or abstract if you need linear narrative.
More like this (8)
Hotel del Luna2019
A ghostly woman and a living man develop a bond while running a supernatural hotel. Like Something in the Rain, it's built on lingering looks, unspoken feelings, and the beauty of connection despite impossible odds.
But The fantasy premise demands more suspension of disbelief, and some viewers find the pacing uneven in the second half.
100 Days My Prince2018
Two people separated by circumstance and amnesia navigate reunion and doubt. It shares Something in the Rain's emotional precision—how much feeling can live in a single scene—and its willingness to let pain breathe.
But The amnesia plot is fairly melodramatic and occasionally relies on convenience in ways that strain credibility.
Goblin Slayer2018
A goblin cursed for centuries meets a grim reaper and a young woman who can see ghosts. Achingly romantic, visually gorgeous, and fundamentally about two people who recognise something true in each other.
But It's considerably longer and more baroque than Something in the Rain; the fantasy elements and scope might feel bloated if you prefer intimacy.
Her Private Life2019
A woman hides her fangirl life from her boss, who gradually becomes her anchor. Lighter in tone but equally attentive to the small moments where two people start to matter to each other.
But It's considerably more comedic and the workplace romance can feel a bit safer than the charged tension of Something in the Rain.
Memories of the Alhambra2018
A woman and a man meet in Seoul and Spain while dealing with secrets and loss. It captures that same sense of two people becoming essential to each other while circumstances work against them.
But The virtual reality plot becomes increasingly convoluted and distracts from the emotional core in the later episodes.
Thirty But Seventeen2018
A woman frozen at seventeen wakes in her thirties to meet the man who carried her burden for years. It explores what happens when feeling meets timing, and how love can exist across versions of ourselves.
But The premise is high-concept and occasionally melodramatic; some viewers find the tone shifts uneven between the whimsy and the serious.
The Farewell2019
Both centre on a woman wrestling with competing loyalties—to her family, to her own desires—and both treat that conflict with real tenderness rather than melodrama. Both understand how love looks from the inside.
A woman returns to China to spend time with her grandmother who doesn't know she's dying. Not a romance, but equally about unspoken love, family obligation, and the distance between what we want and what we owe. Quiet, funny, devastating.
But It moves slowly and privileges mood over plot; the emotional stakes are internal rather than dramatic, which can feel anticlimactic.
In the Mood for Love2000
Wong Kar-wai does what Something in the Rain does: makes a case that the most powerful romance is the one that lives in the space between two people, unfinished and perfect because it cannot be touched.
Two neighbours discover their spouses are having an affair with each other. They begin to fall, but nothing is acted on. Shot in extraordinary colour and texture, it's pure longing—proof that desire doesn't need physical consummation to devastate.
But It's glacially paced, visually dense in ways that demand patience, and the narrative is minimal. If you want plot, this will exhaust you.
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Recommended by
Crash Landing on You, Fight for My Way, When the Camellia Blooms, Because This Is My First Life, Our Beloved Summer, Twenty-Five Twenty-One, Romance Is a Bonus Book, Be Melodramatic, Thirty But Seventeen, One Spring Night, Nevertheless,, You Are My Spring, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Forecasting Love and Weather, Thirty, Nine, Find Me in Your Memory, Come and Hug Me, Jealousy Incarnate, Between Steps, She Would Never Know, Go Back Couple, Autumn in My Heart, Another Miss Oh, Merry Berry Love, Encounter, Just Between Lovers, Angel Eyes, Winter Sonata, A Thousand Kisses, Doctors, Run On, Let's Eat, Just You, Uncontrollably Fond, Fatih Harbiye, A Love Other Than Yours, Do You Like Brahms?, Witch's Romance, A Piece of Your Mind