World-class cinematography and cliffhanger plot lines keep the dramas fresh and fascinating for Indonesian viewers, as they do for millions of people around the world, and viewers become passionately involved in the stories’ twists and turns.

Ochi admits she was addicted to Crash Landing on You and watched all 16 episodes, each lasting one hour, in four days. The drama, which streamed on Netflix, tells the story of a South Korean heiress who accidentally crashes her paraglider over the border into North Korea and falls in love with her captor. Ochi’s binge-watching had painful consequences, however.

“Two weeks ago, my neck hurt, and I went to the hospital and got painkillers,” she says. “The doctor said it was due to the fact I was watching too much television on a mobile phone in a sideways, sleeping position.”

Fashion entrepreneur Arrie Adi Nugraha, 35, also turned to streaming K-dramas when his outdoor activities came to an abrupt halt more than six weeks ago.

“At first, I only watched US or European movies on Netflix,” he says. “Seeing my wife watch Korean dramas, such as The World of the Married, I finally became interested because it turned out to be a fun story. First I was curious; now I am addicted to it.”

The World of the Married , about infidelity and the ramifications of an illicit love affair, has become a viral phenomenon and much-talked-about show in Indonesia, a conservative Muslim-majority nation.

Clinical psychologist Rena Latifa, 37, who is also a lecturer at Indonesia’s Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, says the drama explores interesting questions about gender equality in terms of finances, as one of the story’s lead characters is a woman who has a more successful career than her husband. In the real world, she explains, it is common to see marital problems in a relationship when a woman is more financially secure than her partner.

“The storyline is very close to real-life problems. People are tired of being at home and they need entertainment, which led to this drama being discussed on social media and the story going viral,” she says.

The drama also portrays conflicts often seen in long-term relationships of a decade or more. At that stage of a union, Latifa says, couples are mostly stable and have adjusted to one another’s character, but that can also lead to boredom.

The depiction of a partner having an extramarital affair in The World of the Married is a reflection of the difficulties besetting marriages in many nations, and Indonesia is no different, Latifa says.

“In Indonesia, the number of divorces resulting from the involvement of a third person keep rising,” she says, with the problem existing across all levels of society.

A photo of Han that she recently posted on her Instagram account drew more than 86,000 comments, many of them from angry Indonesians. User @faniaorora commented “Don’t be a bad person, remember that karma is real”, while @batuaji.npo wrote “Damn you pelakor” in capitals, using a local slang word for a woman who steals another’s husband or boyfriend.

Some Indonesian Instagram users have reminded others that The World of the Married is fiction, and not a real story. User @tumblrmoodly commented: “It’s only a drama, take it easy.”

Others were quick to leap into the discussion in support of the actress. For example, @bunga_nada_puspita wrote in English to say that she apologised on behalf of Indonesians for inappropriate comments, pointing out that Han’s great acting had made people believe in the character she plays.

She asked the actress to ignore the small number of users who had made impolite comments, adding that a number of natural disasters that had occurred in Indonesia since January, and the ongoing coronavirus crisis, had stressed out many people. Those criticising Han were not indicative of most Indonesians, she wrote. “We are polite, respectful, highly educated and moral citizens.”

The flood of both negative and positive comments about Korean dramas on social media is a way for “damaged” people to identify with one another, Rena Latifa says, while others instinctively try to protect the targets – the actors. “In psychology terms it is called ‘collective identity theory’,” she says.

Many of the Indonesians weighing into the arguments, specifically in the case of The World of the Married, might have done so because their partner was having an affair, she adds.

“So they share their sense of group identity” and digitally lash out at a character they see as the reason for their frustration – “Han So-hee becomes the target, though she is only acting as a mistress,” she says.

In Indonesia, Korean drama-lovers use platforms that provide video-on-demand services to watch movies and television series. Several service providers, including Netflix, iFlix and Viu, offer streaming for a regular fee. Still, some viewers try to tune into the shows for free, or for the cost of downloading the programmes.

Housewife Amin Nastria, 29, who has a small business selling local products, says she watches Korean dramas via Telegram, a mobile messaging application that can be used to share videos.

The widespread social restrictions have had a negative impact on Nastria’s business, she says. Many of the stores where she buys fabric for making clothes are now closed, and like many others in Jakarta, she can’t leave her house much. She spends some of this extra leisure time watching Korean dramas, which she finds addictive.

“I can only produce a very limited number of products, so I have more free time and I can watch Korean dramas,” she says, adding that she downloads the videos onto her mobile, which has pushed up her monthly phone bill.

“Unfortunately, my mobile phone credit expenses have increased significantly, from 200,000 rupiah [US$13.5] to 400,000 rupiah,” she explains.

“I had never watched Korean dramas before,” she adds. “I had also not subscribed to any streaming services. Then a friend recommended I watch Korean dramas through several chat groups on Telegram for free, but we had to download the videos. Eventually, I was ‘poisoned’ watching Korean dramas.”