Here is our pick of the best Korean dramas of 2022, ranked from good to great.

15. Through the Darkness

Kim Nam-gil headlines Through the Darkness, a chronicle of South Korea’s very first criminal profiler and based on a non-fiction novel. The show takes a page from David Fincher’s series Mindhunter and the memoir it was based on, which pops up on screen here.

The series, which recreates complex real-life investigations that rocked the nation in the early 2000s, sees Kim’s character lock horns with investigators who balk at his newfangled behavioural science techniques. Read our early preview | midseason recap

14. Link: Eat, Love, Kill

Yeo Jin-goo and Moon Ga-young shared some of the best on-screen chemistry this year in Link: Eat, Love, Kill, a bright romantic comedy with some surprisingly macabre flourishes.

Yeo’s handsome young chef and Moon’s effervescent young jobseeker navigate romance, high cuisine and murder in this engaging black comedy that takes place in a colourful neighbourhood filled with kooky characters. Read our early preview | final review

13. Connect

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike makes his K-drama debut with the grisly and propulsive genre series Connect.

Jung Hae-in stars as a young man with an immortal body that can heal from any wound. He develops a dangerous connection with a serial killer after he loses one of his eyes to illegal organ dealers.

12. Reborn Rich

Song Joong-ki rewrote the record books in the smash hit Reborn Rich, in which he plays a betrayed corporate stooge who is reborn as the youngest heir of the very corporation he had worked for, and proceeds to use his knowledge of the future to exact his revenge.The series, which mixes a juicy story of successional back-stabbing with a fantastical premise and places Song at the heart of it as a financial mastermind, serves as a fast-paced and compelling vehicle for the Vincenzo star. Read our early preview | midseason recap

11. Juvenile Justice

Acting doyenne Kim Hye-soo has commanded the screen twice this year. The hit royal family comedy-drama Under the Queen’s Umbrella wrapped up recently, but our pick is the show in which she had her first role this year, as the imposing Juvenile Court judge Shim Eun-sook – Netflix drama Juvenile Justice.An episodic mix of stories that shine a light on contemporary urban malaise and youth delinquency, and of micro aggressions in the court where Eun-sook presides, the series is a terrific showcase for Kim’s enduring appeal as one of Korea’s most respected stars. Read our full review

10. Weak Hero Class 1

D.P. director Han Jun-hee returned to screens as the producer of the webtoon adaptation Weak Hero Class 1.

In it, a motley crew of teenage students find themselves joining forces against a gang of bullies in school. Their battles soon take on epic proportions as they find themselves going head to head with outside gangs.

Choi Hyun-wook steals the show as the charismatic young MMA fighter of the crew. He gained notice earlier this year as one of the supporting stars of Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

9. Alchemy of Souls

This colourful romantic fantasy epic from the minds of the Hong Sisters, known for previous hits such as Hotel del Luna, features a cast of young stars romancing one another and battling each other with magic in the fictional land of Daeho.

Jung So-min plays a “soul shifter” who infiltrates an academy of mages to get her revenge, only to fall for a handsome young mage played by Lee Jae-wook.

8. Shadow Detective

Lee Sung-min exudes a gruff gravitas in the moody detective series Shadow Detective. He plays an ageing police officer fighting off dementia while a vengeful killer targets local bigwigs in their foggy seaside town and torments him with phone calls.

The show has a menacing atmosphere, thanks to the versatile director Han Dong-hwa, who landed on this list last year with the geriatric ballerina drama Navillera.

7. Our Blues

The starriest drama of the year was also one of its most easy-going and relaxing.

Set in the colourful seaside town of Seogwipo on Jeju Island, Our Blues features Lee Byung-hun, Kim Woo-bin, Han Ji-min and many others as hardy island fishmongers, fishers and merchants going about their lives.

6. Pachinko

Pachinko may not technically be a K-drama, given its Hollywood roots, but few Korean shows have captured Korean-ness the way this exemplary Apple TV+ series has.

Based on the international bestseller of the same name by Min Jin Lee, the series traces the trials and tribulations of a Korean woman forced to move to Japan during the colonial era in the early 20th century, and the alienation her family continues to feel through subsequent generations.

The show is a technical marvel and Kim Min-ha is a sensation in her debut role. Read our full review

5. Anna: Director’s Cut

Bae Suzy reveals new layers as a thespian in this rich and involving character study from director Lee Joo-young. Anna is a compelling and sophisticated dive into the life of a problematic woman that explores how circumstance, opportunity and psychology shape her during an elaborate, decades-long con.

Lee tussled with the streaming service Coupang Play, which edited her show without her consent. The dispute was eventually resolved and both versions are now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, including the eight-episode director’s cut.

4. Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Undoubtedly the global K-drama sensation of the year, Extraordinary Attorney Woo introduced us to the inimitable Woo Young-woo, a lawyer on the autism spectrum, and the delightful actress Park Eun-bin who played her.

Rookie lawyer Woo melted all our hearts in this charming show, which balanced engaging episodic cases, a touching series-long family drama and a compelling romance.

3. Twenty-Five Twenty-One

Kim Tae-ri lights up the screen as the astonishingly bubbly teenage fencer Na Hee-do alongside Nam Joo-hyuk’s adorable rookie reporter Baek Yi-jin in the smash hit Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

Its climactic miscalculations aside, involving an ill-fated trip to Manhattan in the early 2000s, the show was the zestiest and most febrile youth drama of the year and featured its most endearing romantic duo.

2. My Liberation Notes

Social inequality is the driving force of almost every drama but, thanks to My Mister writer Park Hae-young’s rich and layered characters, the sterling slice-of-life drama My Liberation Notes broke from formula and struck an unusually deep chord whose reverberations will not soon be forgotten.

Son Suk-ku’s enigmatic Mr Gu may have been the MVP, but co-stars Kim Ji-won, Lee Min-ki and Lee El were also sensational in this relatable tale of young workers struggling with long commutes and complicated professional and personal lives in modern-day Seoul. Read our early preview | midseason recap | final review

1. Little Women

Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women is completely unrecognisable in this fiercely original Korean remake of the same name. Kim Go-eun leads a marvellous ensemble cast in a cathartic series which delighted viewers with its unexpected twists week after week.With her carefully calculated scripts, writer Chung Seo-kyung played us like a fiddle in this breathless, brilliant and exquisite series that turned the makjang (Korean soap opera) drama on its head.

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