Dear Jelly Squishes,
I am a fan of mysteries, books, movies, dramas, shows, and even games. I’ve loved them since I was little reading Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew Books. I grew up watching Murder She Wrote, Miss Marple, Poirot, and other classic mysteries. Even now, Poirot is streaming on Hulu and it’s been playing in the background while I clean house or help my brother through his physical therapy. I’m going to share some of my favorite, most watched crime and mystery dramas.
These are not in a specific order and all availability is based on where I found it in the US.
Trigger Warnings: A lot of these shows deal with very dark themes/cases. Some of them it’s been a while since I watched them so I can’t give detailed warnings. If you’re a sensitive viewer make sure to be careful of potential triggers especially shows involving cases with sexual violence.
1. Signal - Korean Drama 2016 on Netflix
- I remember the first time I watched this years ago I made a mental note to keep an eye out for more Lee Je Hoon dramas. It’s not a perfect drama, but I found it very compelling. This is a mystery involving communication between two detectives separated in time by fifteen years. An old walkie talkie helps them communicate as they work together to find answers to cases in both time lines. I feel like there’s a lot of important things discussed in this show, especially since it deals with older laws vs newer ones and statute of limitations issues. It is quite heart breaking at times the cases that went unsolved for so many years and the ways their family suffered.
2. Reset - Chinese Drama 2022 on Youtube (I hope Viki get’s it back)
- This is a time loop mystery about a girl on a bus that explodes. Every time it happens she restarts the day after she is already on the bus. She and one other passenger try to figure out what happens and how to get the bus and its passengers safely to the end of the day. Each reset they try new methods, and investigations before time runs out. It’s got a solid cast and manage to avoid a few pitfalls that time loops dramas fall into. It sticking to a shorter 15 episodes keeps it from becoming too repetitive, and keeps it moving quickly.
3. Beyond Evil - Korean Drama 2021 on Viki and Netflix
- For more sensitive watchers I will give a heads up that this one can be quite dark and the signature of the Serial Killer is gross. This has an excellent cast and they do a good job of making you question everything you know and everyone in the village. This is a cold case that has two detectives paired up one older who has a murky connection to the twenty year old case and the younger one who is determined to solve it. I think this is one that the cast added a lot to what made it compelling.
4. Maiden Holmes - Chinese Drama 2020 on Viki
- Back during lock down I watched this drama twice. Once on my own and a second time alongside someone else at a distance. This is not a high budget production, but I found it thoroughly enjoyable. It’s also Zhang Ling He’s very first drama, for anyone who has seen any of his new and trending dramas. This is a historical mystery involving a group of five who through circumstances end up traveling together solving smaller mysteries while they try to solve a much larger conspiracy. The group, a prince undercover as a commoner, a government detective who is a woman disguised as a man (for reasons that are part of the big mystery), a martial artist that is all brawn and good intentions, and a headstrong woman with her own interesting poison knowledge. Their group is rounded out by a cutie chef who is an assistant to the prince and cooks them up delicious food to help them solve cases. This isn’t realism, or high quality, it’s entertainment.
Trigger Warnings: Attempted Sexual Assault and this is a costume drama/mystery so blood, blood, blood, and death.
5. The Uncanny Counter - Korean Drama 2020 on Viki (Season One Only)
- Supernatural mystery involving a group of noodle shop workers, whose real job is demon hunting. While their job is to get rid of supernatural evil, they start realizing the job's lines blur into dealing with human evil as well. I do get a bit frustrated with their heavenly supervisors, but over all I enjoyed it. This is also one of my Yagiya’s favorites of all time. This is a great option for fans of supernatural/superhero kinds of stories. Aside from the action/demon hunting it has a wonderful found family element to it. The drama is based on a webtoon and definitely gives that comic book action vibes.
6. The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty - Chinese Drama 2020 on Viki and Iqiyi
- 15th century China mystery involving a government official who is brilliant but has no ambition. He just wants to live his life and eat delicious food. Unfortunately his brains draw the attention of a uniform guard and an imperial eunuch who are on opposite sides of the palace politics. With the combination of delicious food prepped by the uniform guard and various threats/bribes prepared by the eunuch, our official/detective is dragged into case after case. I found the dynamic between the main detective and the two frenemies who tolerate each other for him, to be thoroughly entertaining. I also love the little family he manages to gather who always ends up eating together. Also for those who enjoy martial arts Jackie Chan was a producer and you can tell there was attention paid to the fight scenes.
7. Healer - Korean Drama 2014 on Viki
- This is an older one and you will feels its age a bit while watching it. It’s a classic I’ve revisited multiple times and watched with my spouse and my sister, both who loved it. Healer follows our main character who works as a night courier, and he works with a hacker who helps him stay out of trouble. But his latest mission has him running into a less than successful journalist, and strange things seem to follow. He finds himself falsely accused of a crime and decides to solve who really did it and the larger conspiracy dating back to the previous generation.
8. Under the Skin - Chinese Drama 2022 on Viki and Iqiyi
- The start of this one is a bit rough and quite honestly it took a long time for me to warm up to the detective. Start to finish it is the painter turned portrait artist that kept me tuned in. This is a mystery involving a lot of dark topics including sexual assault, domestic violence and trafficking. I found this one scratched a very particular itch in my brain. I love art history, and love to visit art museums. So when he gave his crime in art history lessons I was captivated.
Honorable Mention:
Don’t Call It Mystery - Japanese Drama 2022
- The reason I mention it is for anyone who might have access to this drama. I really loved watching this one but it’s no longer on Viki. This mystery follows a neurodivergent (my guess, I don’t know if the character is diagnosed), whose comfort food is curry, and spends most of his time alone reading. One day he is accused of a crime and reluctantly is forced to solve the mystery to keep himself out of jail. He is very observant of people and often wonders about things. The manga is being translated and I’ve read 1-4, I really want to catch up because I want to know what happens past what the show gave us. I find our begrudging detective with all his random questions, knowledge, and uncontrollable hair very endearing.
What mysteries do you love? Do you have a preference between episodic mysteries where there’s several mysteries through out the show or do you like one big mystery?
Happy drama watching,
-Rei
