The best of K-Dramas in 2022: ‘My Liberation Notes,’ ‘Our Beloved Summer’ and more

From the nuanced characters of ‘Little Women’ to the sensitive writing in the global hit ’Extraordinary Attorney Woo,’ there was a lot to cherish in the K-Dramas of 2022. Here’s a look at them, and what could change in 2023

2022 was a year of highs for K-Dramas and while many of these highs could be attributed to the success of breezy, tropey shows like Business Proposal, it was also the year where characters and their lives got real and rooted on screen.

Among the stand-out shows this year, My Liberation Notes, an affecting slice-of-life tale of three siblings living on the outskirts of Seoul, their weariness and seemingly exhausting everyday routines struck a chord despite its slow initial pace. The show greatly benefitted from stand-out performances by all its leads; Lee Min-Ki with his wide-eyed monologues, Lee El’s constant professional and romantic entanglements, Son Suk-Ku’s brooding sadness, and Kim Ji-Won at her melancholic best.

There are long, dreary commutes, a loneliness that hangs heavy around all of them, increasingly frustrating work ambitions, and the desperate need to break out of this all that My Liberation Notes perfectly encompasses. “I don’t know where I’m trapped, but I feel trapped. There’s nothing in my life that relaxes me. I feel cramped and stifled. I want to break free,” says Ji-Won, as Mi-Jeong on the show, who also consistently gets the most memorable lines. This was truly the year for the slice-of-life genre, headlined by My Liberation Notes.

Louisa May Alcott’s much-beloved novel Little Women, which was adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Chung Seo-Kyung as a K-Drama of the same name, is set against the backdrop of modern-day Seoul which brings with it economic distress, the class divide, and corruption among a host of other socio-economic issues. What could have been a no-brainer thriller is elevated through nuanced writing and stellar performances by its ensemble cast.

2022 was also the year that we celebrated more mature relationships on screen. In Our Beloved Summer, one of this year’s earliest hits, a couple that dated through high school and university have to face each other once again to shoot for a documentary that they were a part of nearly a decade ago. The show, however, wasn’t just another run-of-the-mill romance. The barriers that Choi Ung and Yeon-Soo (played by Choi Woo-Shik and Kim Da-Mi) have to surmount are real and relatable — there’s a haunting reminder of past insecurities, lingering dredges of self-pity, and a quest to find one’s true ambition and identity.

While the recent romance K-Drama  Love is For Suckers starring Lee Da-Hee and Choi Si-Won eventually petered off to frustratingly-cliched territory, the start showed much promise as well. Da-Hee plays a reality show producer in her late thirties, who is single and often in doubt about her work, and the loneliness that comes with her age and relationship status begins to envelop her.

These have been several recurring themes across shows. The currently-airing  Summer Strike, starring Seolhyun and Im Siwan, has its female lead make a snap decision to go on ‘strike’, leave behind a toxic job and escape the emotional aftermath of getting dumped. Downsizing her life to a backpack, Yeo-Reum moves to a small, quaint seaside town to spend her days frequenting the library there, all the while forming slow and yet meaningful connections with the residents there. At some point, we’ve all been where Yeo-Reum has; she just wants to take off without an agenda, and leave behind the hustle and all the emotional burden.