The 10 Best Korean Dramas of 2023 on Netflix

For years, Korean dramas have efficiently traversed borders to seize the hearts of worldwide audiences. And there’s rather more Korean tv in retailer—partially due to Netflix’s public commitment to spend $2.5 billion on South Korean film and TV production within the subsequent 4 years. 

That funding is proportional to the demand: Netflix authentic The Glory, which was first launched on Dec. 30 final 12 months and went out with a bang in March, grew to become the fifth most watched non-English present ever to premiere on the platform. Netflix additionally lately unveiled that The Glory was the third most watched present globally within the first six months of 2023, with over 622 million hours of viewership throughout that interval.

And 2023 has dropped dozens of different worthwhile exhibits too, spanning a wide range of genres for audiences of all stripes, from medical procedurals to interval Westerns, political thrillers to time-traveling romances. So whether or not you’re a Ok-drama “stanner” or a newcomer, there’s doubtless a present that will cater to your tastes.

With 2023 drawing to a detailed, TIME selects this 12 months’s must-watch Korean dramas, listed in no explicit order. All titles can be found to observe on Netflix USA.

Crash Course in Romance

Korean dramas of the romantic selection are likely to cater to the teenage or the younger skilled demographic. Crash Course in Romance is a breath of recent air: the 16-episode, sweetly humorous sequence follows the love story between 49-year-old former nationwide handball participant Nam Haeng-seon (performed by Jeon Do-yeon) and Choi Chi-yeol (performed by Jung Kyung-ho), a good-looking and fashionable math trainer at a personal tutoring middle—who additionally occurs to be 10 years Nam’s senior. The sequence gives a love story that’s neither cringeworthy nor overly dramatic—save for a serial attacker subplot—nevertheless it additionally supplies considerate commentary on the extreme competitors inside South Korea’s schooling system.

Physician Cha

For 20 years, Cha Jeong-suk (performed by Uhm Jung-hwa), a medical faculty graduate, put her profession on maintain after getting pregnant in an effort to grow to be a faithful housewife supporting her partner, mother-in-law, and kids. However after being recognized with acute liver failure, Cha sees the selfishness of her household—culminating along with her husband’s eventual refusal to be her liver donor. She then decides to cease being a doormat and applies to be a first-year medical resident in her late 40s. Physician Cha is an entertaining 16-episode sequence on discovering newfound independence and which means in life as one ages.

Bloodhounds

For those who’re on the lookout for well-choreographed fistfights and severe knifing abilities, then this webtoon-based sequence is for you. Kim Gun-woo (Woo Do-hwan), a high-school dropout decided to repay his household’s money owed, makes buddies with Hong Woo-jin (performed by Lee Sang-yi of Hometown Cha-cha-cha), a former opponent within the boxing ring. After a mortgage shark places Gun-woo’s household in peril and severely scars his face, he groups up with Woo-jin to actual justice on the highly effective lenders which have made the lives of the poor much more depressing. Apart from the motion sequences that get your blood pumping, Bloodhounds stands out for the entertaining rapport and sympathetic dynamic between its two leads that make audiences root for his or her success.

The Good Unhealthy Mom

The theme of motherhood is on the core of The Good Unhealthy Mom’s meaty if predictable story. After the homicide of her pig-farming husband, a pregnant Jin Younger-soon (Ra Mi-ran) strikes to a small city and provides beginning to her son, Choi Kang-ho (performed as an grownup by Lee Do-hyun). Jin is a tricky mum or dad to her son, which ultimately pushes him away from her and into working with the identical individuals behind her husband’s dying. However a automobile crash renders Choi with—you guessed it—amnesia, which supplies a possibility for Jin to fix their fractured relationship. Ra and Lee’s performances assist The Good Unhealthy Mom transcend its acquainted notes to grow to be a worthwhile and heart-rending watch.

Castaway Diva

Park Eun-bin (Extraordinary Legal professional Woo) is the anchor of this 12-episode drama about Search engine marketing Mok-ha, a wannabe teenage pop singer who, in an try to flee her abusive father, will get shipwrecked and forged away in one among South Korea’s many uninhabited islands. She is rescued 15 years later, and upon return to civilization as an grownup, our essential character—to whom Park lends her lovely singing voice—finds herself changing into shut buddies along with her childhood idol (performed by Kim Hyo-jin), whereas lastly changing into one herself. The present chronicles Search engine marketing’s nearly unbridled ascent into stardom, solely barely slowed down by an advanced subplot involving the household she stayed with after she was rescued.

The Glory

Regardless of this sequence’ late-2022 launch, this 2023 record wouldn’t be full with The Glory, the streaming platform’s fifth most seen non-English language present of all-time, and one which dominated within the early months of this 12 months. Throughout 16 nail-biting episodes, it tells the story of 1 girl’s plan to get revenge on the individuals who tormented and bullied her throughout highschool. Music Hye-kyo performs Moon Dong-eun, the emotionally (and bodily) scarred protagonist, in a transferring, at instances disturbing efficiency as Dong-eun orchestrates her revenge plot in opposition to her tormentors 20 years later. Equally disturbing is that most of the scenes in The Glory are based on real life, in a rustic stricken by bullying and faculty violence.

Day by day Dose of Sunshine

Nurse Jeong Da-eun (Park Bo-young of Robust Lady Bong-soon) transfers to the psychiatric ward of a hospital with a lot naïveté about what this sort of affected person care will seem like. However inside, she learns that a lot of her sufferers’ psychological well being challenges could also be extra difficult to handle than she initially believes. Day by day Dose of Sunshine capabilities as a procedural nevertheless it’s additionally informative, with every episode tackling a unique dysfunction, peppered with empathetic and generally goofy scenes. Within the context of South Korea’s mental health crisis, its leisure worth is matched by its social message.

Divorce Legal professional Shin

A piano prodigy decides to grow to be a lawyer specializing in divorce litigation in a quest to seek out justice after the premature dying of his sister, who had simply been divorced. If that plot doesn’t reel you in, Cho Seung-woo, who performs the pianist-lawyer Shin Sung-han, needs to be sufficient of a draw. Cho carries the sequence nearly single-handedly, giving viewers a personality imbued with each playfulness and empathy for shoppers who’ve the chances of successful their authorized battles stacked in opposition to them. The sequence doesn’t shrink back from the usually messy fallout related to divorce proceedings—from property settlements to custody battles—nevertheless it additionally presents the aftermath as an opportunity for brand new beginnings.

Queenmaker

Coming off the success of the hit drama The World of the Married, actor Kim Hee-ae returns to the small display screen as a cutthroat company “fixer” and imagemaker Hwang Do-hee in a binge-worthy political thriller. Used to cleansing up the scandals of the conglomerate she works for, she crosses paths with civil rights lawyer Oh Kyung-sook (performed by Moon So-ri), who has beef with Hwang’s agency. Issues take a flip for Hwang with the dying of a fired colleague, and after being unceremoniously fired from her job herself, Hwang and Oh discover that the infamous agency is fielding a candidate for the Seoul mayoral elections. The 2 resolve to band collectively as Hwang prepares Oh to run as mayor. Queenmaker is soiled politics at its sleekest.

D.P. (Season 2)

The lauded drama that tackled the traumatizing abuses in South Korea’s navy returned for a second season this 12 months. The brand new season begins the place the primary season left off: a brutal suicide try and the following fallout. Most of D.P.’s newest episodes cope with the cover-up of the navy’s scandals, however its standalone episodes add nuance to this brutality—together with the case of a deserter who performs as a drag queen whereas on the run. Although themes within the newest episodes can generally tread acquainted floor, D.P.’s second season is simply as unapologetic, as visceral, and as thought-provoking as its first, if no more so.