My favourite K-drama of 2023 is Doctor Cha in which we follow the life and travails of Cha Jeong-suk, a brilliant medical student who gets pregnant out of wedlock and has to sacrifice her career to become a stay-at-home mom. A condition millions of Asian girls can relate to. Cha Jeong-suk, played superbly by the first-generation K-pop idol, Uhm Junh-hwa, finds that her doctor husband is cheating on her. That triggers her to claim her rightful place in the world. She restarts her life by interning in her husband’s hospital. It is a memorable and powerful portrayal of a resilient, wronged woman. (Which is your favourite K-drama of 2023... December 19)
Pampa Paul
K-dramas, especially family dramas and thrillers, are my favourites because of their amazing plots and spectacular performances. All actors, no matter how small a role, have put in their best. In 2023, I watched three such dramas, which are The Glory, The Good Bad Mother and Mask Girl. The Good Bad Mother will stay in my heart forever because of Jin Young-soon, played by Ra Mi-ran. Through her transformation from a bubbly girlfriend to a strict mother and to a cancer-ridden compassionate struggling mother who can do anything to keep her son happy, Mi-ran mesmerised me with her acting skills. I could not forget her smiling face long after I finished watching the drama. I also must mention the performance of Lee Do-hyun as Choi Kang-ho. As a strict lawyer to a paralysed son who forgot the past, his performance was a tearjerker.
The second is The Glory, where the Descendants of the Sun star Song Hye-kyo’s performance was indeed stellar. Her calm and composed manner as she took revenge on her bullies was indeed satisfying to watch.
Lastly, I loved how Mask Girl, ‘unmasked’ the superficiality of Korean society in terms of beauty, the narrow-mindedness and lack of empathy towards people with a dark past and the avenging, unbending nature of a mother who lost her child.
Pallabi Chatterjee
The year offered a plethora of refreshing K-dramas which became my instant favourites. My list encompasses several K-dramas like The Glory, The Heavenly Idol, Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938, The Good Bad Mother, See You In My 19th Life and many more. But the one that tops the list is Dr. Romantic Season 3. For me, the third season has been the most intriguing and gripping watch in this medical drama franchise. I got more fond of medical dramas thanks to this K-drama. I got to know various emergencies that dedicated doctors and nurses handle with care and skill and how they make difficult choices while treating patients. Besides, the chemistry between Seo Woo-jin (Ahn Hye-seop) and Cha Eun-jae (Lee Se-kyung) was refreshing and soothing.
Sikrity Ghosh
My favourite K-drama of 2023 is Behind Your Touch. The story of this Korean show, starring Suho, Lee Min-ki and Han Ji-min, was fascinating and gripping and revolves around the two lead characters: Bong Ye-boon, who has the special psychometric power of seeing people’s pasts through touch and Moon Jang-yeol, a hot-headed detective. The story deals with how they crack crime cases together in a small town named Mujin. I immensely enjoyed watching this entertaining series in which mystery, supernatural powers and humour were blended just perfectly.
Sourish Misra
