Korean dramas of 2023 had binge-worthy revenge plots, big weddings and secret contracts. It was refreshing to see a trend of time travel slipping into family dramas, corporate dramas and even rom-coms. Here are the best Korean dramas of 2023.
Best Korean dramas of 2023
2023 was a great year for K-dramas with a healthy mix of comfort watches, intense family dramas, romance and a generous dose of time travel. Which one are you watching first?
1. The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract
The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract is one of the most wholesome Kdramas of 2023. Park Yeon-woo (Lee Se-young), a plucky Joseon girl is widowed on her wedding night and murdered soon after. She time travels 200 years into the future and meets a rich heir (Bae In-hyuk) who looks like her dead husband. Throw in a contract marriage, ambitious women, and manipulated history—you’ve got a winner.
2. Twinkling Watermelon
If you could go back in time and influence your parent’s lives, would you do it? Ha Eun-gyeol (Ryeoun) mysteriously walks into (literally, through a door at a store) the past and meets his father as a high school kid. Eun-gyeol is a youngest son and CODA in a deaf family who was forced to shoulder many responsibilities at a young age. He secretly plays in a band but his father is against him pursuing a musical career. When Eun-gyeol time travels to 1995, he meets his father who is so unlike the father he has known. His father is a carefree, lazy teen who has a crush on the popular cellist at school and is looking for band mates to start a band. Eun-gyeol desperately wants to save him from some unfortunate events that have not yet happened in his father’s life. But can we meddle with our past?
The show starts slow (nothing much in at least 4 episodes) and then takes you along for a beautiful musical ride. Twinkling Watermelon has been compared to Reply 1988 (my favourite K-drama) on social media by K-drama fans. Though not exactly like Reply 1988, Twinkling Watermelon is similar in its deep friendships, family bond and wholesome minor characters. I loved how a son could inspire his father in the past and help him be the father he would grow up to be. This drama made me think of parents and the pains they might have lived through, big and small, which we have no knowledge of. Did I mention Twinkling Watermelon is my favourite Korean drama of 2023? Keep tissues ready.
3. Welcome to Samdal-ri
This one’s for all who love the green flag softie guys and second chance romance. Set in Jeju island, Welcome to Samdal-ri follows two childhood friends (neighbours and ex-lovers)—Cho Yong-pil (Ji Chang-wook), a weather forecaster who is content to live and work in his hometown and Cho Sam-dal (Shin Hye-sun), a successful photographer who dreams of a career in the bustling city of Seoul. Sam-dal and her sisters are forced to move back to their home in Jeju from Seoul.
This show has many heartwarming scenes and memorable characters (mother-daughter bonds, mother-son bonds, father-son bonds) making it an intimate comfort watch. I loved the backdrop of the sea, sunny skies, haenyos (female Korean divers), weather forecasts, and the feeling of having someone who has always got your back. If you have been feeling a void in your heart after Hometown Cha Cha Cha, then tune into Welcome to Samdal-ri.
4. My Demon
A cunning (but charming) demon (Song Kang) who lost his powers and an heiress adopted into a rich family (Kim Yoo-jung) are forced to enter into a contract marriage in this rom-com. Of course they end up falling for each other, but K-drama love stories are never fulfilled that easily, are they? Fate, powers and love clash in this union. The show gets slightly repetitive but stay for the comic moments and slow romance.
5. Perfect Marriage Revenge
Who doesn’t love a revenge story with a generous side of melodrama? In Perfect Marriage Revenge, Han Yi-joo (Jung Yoo-min) is the adopted (mistreated, unloved) eldest daughter in a rich family, married to a man who doesn’t care for her. She is murdered in 2023 and miraculously wakes up in 2022 when she is engaged to the man she loves. She plots revenge against her family and fiancé and this involves entering into a contract marriage with a rich heir (Sung Hoon). Exciting!
6. Castaway Diva
Castaway Diva is one of the best Korean dramas of 2023 that leave you with a sense of hope. Seo Mok-ha (Park Eun-bin) is a teen who dreams of becoming a K-pop idol. Unfortunately, she gets stranded on an uninhabited island for 15 years (this isn’t the main plot), until she gets rescued. However, the world has changed a lot in 15 years and Mok-ha is no longer young (by diva industry standards) inspite of being incredibly talented. This drama made me think of ageism, optimistic outlook, hope, and the light at the end of the tunnel. Some quotes made me bawl my eyes out. Sometimes our dreams take a different form, and it is up to us to move forward through all the beauty and tragedy. Lovely K-drama!
PS: There is a subplot of domestic violence/anger against children which might be triggering.
7. Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938
After the widely successful run of Season 1, here’s a second season to satiate our fantasy hearts. The handsome gumiho Lee Yeon (Lee Dong-wook), now with his powers restored, is thrust into Joseon 1938 during the Japanese invasion. The second season has got a high stakes mission to find a gem that is important for the cycle of life and death, gun fights, bickering bromance (Remember the anti-hero and half-brother Lee Rang (Kim Bum) in Season 1?), humor and folklore.
8. Celebrity
I love it when dramas focus on present-day topics of relevance. Celebrity is thriller revolving around the life of elite influencers, brand deals, scams and manipulation. It makes you wonder what’s behind the rosy tinted screens through which we view (and aspire) for the influencer life. Such fun!
9. Strong girl Nam-soon
If you miss the old 2017 K-drama Strong Girl Bong-soon about a girl with superhuman strength, then Nam-soon is here for you in a spin-off series. Gang Nam-soon (Lee Yoo-mi) adopted by a Mongolian family hails from a biological family line of women with exceptional strength. The women in the family are connected through their powers. Nam-soon travels to South Korea from Mongolia in search of her parents and gets entangled in a drug case involving her mother and grandmother.
10. Mask Girll
Mask Girl is a dark comedy thriller about an insecure office employee Kim Mo-mi (Lee Han-byeol) who has a secret life as a masked camgirl. The show is a shocking commentary on the life of the modern woman in Korea.
11. Little Women
Little Women is the story of three poor sisters In-joo, In-hye, and In-kyung (Kim Go-eun, Nam Ji-hyun, Park Ji-hu). When a dead friend leaves a huge amount of money to one of the sisters, the family must decide whether the consequences are worth it. This show is about ethics, ambition, independence, money and the fine line between right and wrong. It is a battle of the haves and have-nots. I found the show super intense. There are some moments that punch you in the gut, one being a scene where the eldest sister buys a winter coat that is a marker of classism. There’s a scene where a character asks the youngest sister if she will betray the ones she loves—I felt that; It still haunts me.
12. Reborn Rich
Set against the backdrop of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Reborn Rich is a heady mix of conglomerate dynamics, fraud, relationships and money. Yoon Hyun-woo (Song Joong-ki) working for the Soonyang group is murdered by a member of a family to cover up a tax evasion scheme. However he wakes up in 1987 reincarnated as the youngest grandson of the rich family. Knowing the future, he is able to invest in successful projects. He tries to assist his real family who own a small restaurant, and plan a hostile takeover of the Soonyang group. I don’t know how I feel about the ending, but the show is definitely worth the watch. Reborn Rich is the second highest rated series on cable television (as of April, 2024).
If you enjoyed this post on the best Kdramas of 2023, PIN IT!
You might also enjoy
Best Korean dramas of 2020
Best Korean books to read now
Best Korean dramas of 2021
Subscribe
Satchel Notes, a monthly newsletter about books, curated culture pieces on the internet, creativity and other awesome sauce could be in your inbox. Subscribe!
