As avid Korean drama fans, 2023 has not been a great year. There weren’t many WOW moments this year which left us quite disappointed. But the ones that did will stay with us forever. This year the lineup has been pretty one-note too with a lot of light-hearted shows getting a thumbs up from the audience. These kdramas have been our sunshine whenever everything else seemed terrible. There is old-school kdrama romance, mental health, true love in any form and some creature horror as well. Twinkling Watermelon: 5 Finale Moments That Broke Our Hearts And Then Healed It.
So let’s rewind and talk about our best picks of the year in this list.
Twinkling Watermelon
This is one of those shows that bring a smile to your face by just existing. Despite being a time travel fiction, it deals with many real-world themes that are relevant. The scenes where the cast uses sign language are one of our favourites. The series is hilarious, poignant, sweet, and extremely impactful.
Celebrity
This Netflix series packs a punch. The veiled world of social media influencers and how it turns gullible people into manipulative and conniving persons form the crux of the story. It is done very meticulously and without over-exaggeration.
Duty After School
Koreans do a great job in creature fiction, a fantastic example being the Hellhounds and the Sweet Home series. Duty After School thus benefits from their penchant for near-perfect monstrosity on screen. But what also works is the human interactions between the people trapped in a school when attacked by aliens. It doesn’t just focus on the gore but the bonding as well.
Daily Dose of Sunshine
Mental health is a serious concern that even today sidelined despite a pandemic baring its existence substantial. This series is thus a must for many. The female lead gets depressed and the way people help her is simply fantastic. The more we talk and show such things on screen, the more important conversations they will spark.
King The Land
This series gets a hurrah just because it brought back the memories of 2015-2016 romantic comedies that were brazen yet heart-fluttering. It also aces here by making the male lead do what’s right rather than resigning to pressure.
Not Others
This is one of the most interesting and different series we have watched this year. A young mother with an adult daughter who is also a cop goes through such interesting twists and turns. This might seem like a serious topic but the makers have dealt with it entertainingly without diluting its impact. This is one of the most underrated shows of the year. Year Ender 2023: Arijit Singh Becomes Spotify’s Most Streamed Artist in India; Taylor Swift Dominates Globally.
The Good Bad Mother
Lee Do Hyun has been on a roll for over a year now and we love it. The Good Bad Mother has more highs and lows than some of the most dramatic shows in 2023. It beautifully captures the essence of motherhood and how sometimes we get irrational in our ways. Such a balanced narrative!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 23, 2023 08:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
