Kim’s Convenience
Cast & Key People
▶
Our Review
Cast & Key People
▶
Our Review
Kim's Convenience (2016) is a drama and comedy series from CBC. It has built a run of 65 episodes at roughly 30 minutes each. It premiered on October 11, 2016. Viewers rate it 8 out of 10. It is currently ended. It runs 5 seasons.
What Kim's Convenience Is About
Kim’s Convenience is the funny, heartfelt story of The Kims, a Korean-Canadian family, running a convenience store in downtown Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Kim (‘Appa’ and ‘Umma’) immigrated to Toronto in the 80’s to set up shop near Regent Park and had two kids, Jung and Janet who are now young adults. However, when Jung was 16, he and Appa had a major falling out involving a physical fight, stolen money and Jung leaving home. Father and son have been estranged since.
Now, Appa and Umma run the store along with Janet who is studying photography at art school. Meanwhile Jung, who secretly stays in contact with Umma and Janet, is trying to turn his life around and recently landed a job at a car rental agency. The world of Kim’s Convenience is real, colourful and urban – a diverse landscape of people and places and at the heart is the Kim family and their store. While the family continues to work and live, finding humour in the everyday tasks of running the store, they long for the day when the rift between Appa and Jung is mended and the family is whole once again.
What to Expect When You Watch
Episodes run about 30 minutes, which keeps the pace tight, the full run covers 65 episodes, spread across 5 seasons and it leans into its drama/comedy roots while leaving room for the quieter character beats.
Performance-wise the series leans on Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon and Andrea Bang to carry the emotional weight, with the rest of the ensemble filling out the world around them.
Cast and Creative Team
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon, Andrea Bang, Simu Liu, Nicole Power and Andrew Phung lead the cast.
Key roles include Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Appa Kim; Jean Yoon as Umma Kim; Andrea Bang as Janet Kim; Simu Liu as Jung Kim; Nicole Power as Shannon Ross.
Why It Stands Out
Fans of drama, comedy and family have a clear reason to give this one a shot. It sits comfortably alongside CBC’s other originals, a 8/10 audience score puts it in steady company and it commits to its premise instead of hedging between tones.
Released in 2016 and carried by CBC with the series still ended, it lands hardest with drama and comedy viewers.
How Kim's Convenience Compares
If Kim's Convenience lands for you, the next stops are Breaking Bad, Firefly and The Wire, which share its drama/comedy lean.
Each of those sits at a different point on the same spectrum, so they make a natural follow-up once you finish the run here.
Where to Stream
Kim's Convenience is available to stream on Netflix. Availability can shift by region, so confirm on the platform before you commit.
Disclosure: We may earn a commission if you sign up for a streaming service through links on this page. This helps support our independent reviews.
On the whole Kim's Convenience is the kind of series that rewards a patient watch, with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon doing the heaviest lifting, a tone that stays true to its drama/comedy roots, It has held up since 2016 and so if the premise sounds like your lane, the execution holds up.
The Bottom Line
Kim's Convenience is a safe bet for anyone already inside the drama and comedy lane, at 65 episodes it is an easy run to work through, it is streaming on Netflix right now, the audience score holds around 8/10 and so there is little risk in starting it tonight.
Verdict: 8/10. Watch it if you want drama/comedy you can settle into.
