2023 Best k-dramas

Miraculously good. Best drama of the year. Best script.  Best new actor Bae Hyun Sung. Oh Man Suk as Kai one of the best supporting actor performances of the year.

I laughed,  I cried. And waited for Mondays to come (which is a miracle in itself).

The focus on action instead of characters in Disney -style was disappointing. But I'm still happy that this epic saga received a fine ending, even though shortened from how it was originally written and planned. Jang Dong Gun deserves a Daesang, he was phenomenal. OST of the year, Forestella: Chosen One.

Heartwarming drama that had all the ingredients that make people migrate to k-dramaland and never return. Found family portrayal of a close collective, funny and moving. Ra Mi Ran deserves a Daesang for her role.

Fantastically written drama.  The dual loyalties challenge faced by the ML and FL as undercover cops was driving the the suspense, which was almost unbearable at times. Who can forget Ji Chang Wook all soaked in blood. Bromance of the year. All the cast was fantastic, but the best support actor of the year award should go to Yoon Gyung Ho as the corrupt detective. And for Bibi the best supporting actress award.

A very original drama that won many hearts for a reason. Something that nobody expected. Not to miss! Best actor award for Yoon Kye Sang!

Stark and painful realism. Courageous writing and acting. Huge respect to the writer for bringing these issues into light.

Hands down easily the funniest drama of the year. Lee Junho showing off his huge comedic skills in complete synchrony with Yoona was thoroughly enjoyable.  Not just fluff, but offering poignant lessons in human resources and business management.

We're living in an era where revenge dramas are glorified and popular. This drama's carrying theme was that revenge is very futile and only destroys the life of the one pursuing it. Unlike many other dramas this year, this one also achieved a fine balance between historical and current timelines. Beauty and sadness, with comedic relief moments. Best couple of the year for me, Kim Young Dae and Pyo Ye Jin.

Romantic and comedy, this had it all! It's more difficult than we think considering the many offerings this year that were just not comedy-ing.

Rating Part 2 higher than Part 1 because the character growth of the mains made it a less frustrating drama. Again the beef was in the portrayal of real historical characters and events. Extra interesting to first read the history and then watch how the drama portrays it.

Joseon in the wild west. Beautiful cinematography and lots of action. And of course, great actors. Could easily have been longer than just 9 episodes. Lee Ho Jung deserves best new actress Baeksang.

A quality historical drama that had the most irritating and frustrating lead couple. Historical strand was great, romance was of the cruelest kind.

Carefully fine-tuned melancholic atmosphere. Strong Breakfast at Tiffany's vibes. Found family trope. Fantastic acting from Suzy and Yang Se Jong. Suzy deserves the best actress Baeksang.

A heartbreakingly sad drama about two brothers during the military rule. Historical realism always adds extra value

Romance, detective, murder, and fusion historical drama all-in-one package, but it worked so well. Some of the best humour this year.

Short drama offering a lot of food for thought. Airy and free flowing, a real gem.

Best in the series. The tedious hospital politicking was almost all  gone and it was all about the characters and exciting events. (Random comment: if you liked this, watch D-day!)

Delightfully different, unconventional drama. Detective & workplace drama with mother-daughter relationship in the core.

Mental health issues portrayed in a realistic but empathetic and hope-filled way. Brings the characters close to the viewer. A very fine way to approach difficult issues. The kind of  lessons for life drama that sticks in the mind long after watching.

Short and sweet is a gift. Perfect for the time in between choosing between longer dramas.

Great first episodes, but the suspense slowly fizzled out, partly due to the scheduling. The justice theme and the participation of the voters in the executions  would have merited  more in-depth handling. Park Hae Jin and Park Sung Woong were once again a fantastic duo that made this very worth watching.

Surprise hit and deservedly! Not the most logical or deep drama but definitely loved it!

A high quality suspense drama in Breaking Bad style. Kim Young Kwang was too good as a villain! Wished for the bromance to have conquered and carried on until the end.

Kim Tae Ri deserves a Daesang for sure. Thiller that wasn't overly scary or gory. Plot was well-developed but drama was lacking in character depth.

Extremely enjoyable to watch, but could have been shorter. Historical, romance and action. Making us trying to guess who the king was for weeks was clever!

In principle remakes are very unnecessary. Since I hadn't seen the original this was beautiful.  But confusing. Psycho villains murdering for the pure joy of it are boring.

Unexpectedly good for a drama focused on politics. Good acting, suspense, interesting characters.

This small short drama is very sympathetic and warm. Found family is my favorite trope. Not everything worth watching needs to be big productions.

I just loved watching Rowoon doing his comedic best. He was totally swoonworthy. Misplaced flashbacks ruined the flow of the drama. Too many insufferable side characters and a cute but naive FL are sure recipes for ruining a promising romantic comedy.

Promising start with heavier content on domestic violence. The sismance and found family tropes were nice. In the end there's redemption and success. Overall something was lacking, maybe the threat from the father served dramatic purposes but the combination of elements wasn't entirely satisfactory.

Very funny in the beginning but became repetitive. Too much screentime for dreary predictable villains. Ending was a blow and not at all what the genre let us to expect. Ok Taecyeon was awesome though!

Engaging in the beginning, but lost spark towards the end. 

Detective and medical drama in Joseon. Nice but forgettable.

Good entertaining sympathetic drama to pass the time. Nothing more, nothing less.

An enjoyable drama but I was left wondering why was it made? A nice drama but thematically shallow if not even empty.

Romantic comedy with a murder plot. Too many on those this year. Also brings on the competitive school problem and  overambitious rich moms.  Attention writers: they are never nice or entertaining to watch. Not romantic enough for me to get feels of it. This had some funny and touching moments, though, for sure.  

Bigger disappointment. Historical drama with the usual palace plotting and murder plot put into a matchmaking comedy. Impossible mix.

Small, cute drama.

Enigmatic atmosphere and well made, but not engaging. Characters remained distant.

Gave a questionable lesson: how to destroy everything that was good in part 1. So the aliens came down to earth to eat humans because humans are trash. Well, a small production can't achieve great philosophic heights I guess. But it didn't have to go so low either.

Overly saintly FL combined with a bitchy 2FL is a recipe for disaster. Still middlingly entertaining. It's time for the bitchy 2FLs era to end.

The interesting theme whether lies can be for the good or always bad was lost after first half. Too many unnnecessary and boring side characters. Sloppy writing award goes to My Lovely Liar.

Half of it was good, the current timeline, half of it skippable. Hence 5.5. Too little background for the entire superpowers project or reasons for killing. Disney style just isn't for me, even with the very best actors.