A shaggy Lee Sun-kyun gallops on horseback through the Mongolian steppe. Back in Korea, a clean-shaven Lee conducts an orchestra of illegal traders as he outfoxes a greedy loan shark.
If these images alone are not enough to whet your appetite, then Payback: Money and Power probably is not for you. But if they are, sit back and enjoy this finance world action-thriller as it rushes through familiar beats with confidence.
9. Divorce Attorney Shin
Lead cast: Cho Seung-woo, Han Hye-jin
Final Nielsen rating: 9.49 per cent
After the mixed charms of Sisyphus: The Myth, Cho Seung-woo – known for playing eccentric geniuses – explores more grounded territory in the legal drama Divorce Attorney Shin.Cho’s Shin Sung-han is no ordinary lawyer. He was a piano prodigy and music professor in Germany before switching professions to figure out a way to save his nephew from the clutches of his awful stepmother.
8. Big Bet Part 2
Lead cast: Choi Min-sik, Son Suk-ku
Choi Min-sik, in his first television role in over two decades, leads a who’s who of Korean screen veterans as a wily Korean entrepreneur who builds up a casino empire in Southeast Asia. Son Suk-ku is the police officer trying to take him down.
There is nothing new in the up-and-down kingpin trajectory, but crime saga fans will find much to appreciate in this compelling actors’ showcase. Read our early preview | final review7. Queenmaker
Lead cast: Kim Hee-ae, Moon So-ri
Kim Hee-ae is the titular “queenmaker” in this Netflix original about an embittered corporate fixer who seeks to get back at her former power-hungry employers by becoming the unlikely campaign manager for the opponent to their pick for Seoul mayor.
She joins the camp of Moon So-ri’s human rights activist, herself an unlikely Seoul mayoral candidate.
The sly electoral machinations and bitter ideological stand-offs are great fun to watch, even if they occasionally get repetitive over the course of the show’s 11 episodes. Read our full review6. The Glory Part 2
Lead cast: Song Hye-kyo, Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon
The violent cycle of retribution and redemption in The Glory comes to a cathartic close in this year’s Part 2.
Song Hye-kyo’s bullied protagonist was so shrewd and successful in setting up her massive vendetta that there is never any question of the villains getting the better of her.5. Queen of Masks
Lead cast: Kim Sun-a, Oh Yoon-ah, Shin Eun-jung, Yoo-sun
Final Nielsen rating: 3.35 per cent
At first, prime time soap opera Queen of Masks seems like a cheap and minor addition to the melodrama genre. Over time, however, it becomes clear that it is more consistent and engaging than many of its flashier peers.
The story is of four high-society women surrounded by dangerous men and secret societies, and the show’s writers know what they are doing. There is respect for the narrative, but also indulgence in appropriately tacky melodramatic highs to keep things juicily entertaining throughout. Read our early preview | midseason recap | final review4. One Day Off
Lead cast: Lee Na-young
Lee Na-young stars in the healing drama One Day Off, a charming travelogue that follows her high-school teacher character’s weekend trips around Korea.
Escaping the stresses, pressures and expectations of work and life back home, Lee’s character follows her own desires and allows her eccentricities to guide her as she discovers new places, samples new food and encounters colourful characters during her brief trips.
3. Crash Course in Romance
Lead cast: Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Kyung-ho
Final Nielsen rating: 17.04 per cent
In this heart-warming education-themed romantic comedy, Korean screen doyen Jeon Do-yeon plays a former handball player trying to provide for her teenage niece, who collides with a star academy instructor played by Hospital Playlist’s Jung Kyung-ho.The show has all the usual K-drama romcom beats, with the romantic leads beginning at loggerheads before transitioning into tender romance, but is elevated by its cast and its compelling social themes that reflect upon South Korea’s ultra-competitive society. Read our early preview | final review2. Dr. Romantic 3
Lead cast: Han Suk-kyu, Ahn Hyo-seop, Lee Sung-kyung
Final Nielsen rating: 16.8 per cent
Han Suk-kyu’s Master Kim returns for an action-packed season of medical emergencies in his brand new Doldam Trauma Centre.
His current protégés are joined by several older ones as a number of familiar faces filter back into the show, steadily making his dream surgery team a reality.
Each character has a bit of their own drama going on, but the focus rightly remains on the life-saving surgery as the heroic Doldam team assemble time and again for breathless large-scale emergencies. Read our early preview | midseason recap | final review1. Bloodhounds
Lead cast: Woo Do-hwan, Lee Sang-yi
A pair of fresh-faced pugilists take on a despicable loan shark in Jason Kim’s thunderous action-crime drama Bloodhounds, the most exciting and impressive Korean Netflix original since the streaming platform’s golden late 2021 run of D.P., Squid Game and Hellbound.Owing to some off-screen drama involving co-star Kim Sae-ron, the show’s last two episodes, which were rewritten on the fly, drop the ball somewhat. But the thrilling midseason stretch of Bloodhounds gets the heart pumping like few shows have in the past. Read our full reviewncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuaqyxKyrsqSVZLhuvM6pZqRllKeurq2OmqmtoZOhsnB%2FkWtsam1lZH5xecGeqq1lm2Kxs63MmqpmamBngG6%2FzmadmqpdnLmwvthmmKecXZe5sLvDoaauppSoeqW%2BjKumppmeqbakeZI%3D