Hum... I'm going to choose a web drama : The Eigthth Sense

It was a BL drama with a great cinematography.

I really liked the characters, they were relatable. I liked how they writer addressed trauma, depression and healing. It's not so often we got a ML who talks regulary to his psy. The struggles of the characters to enter in the real life were relatable too, following our dream or getting a stable job.

I liked the romance, the actors had a nice chemistry. The other characters were well written with nice different friendships.

The theme of surf was quite original. But it didn't really make me want to start it! It looked too cold.

Perfect Marriage Revenge. No one was expecting anything from it. It was on nobody's radar. I had half an eye out for it because of Swoon Hoon. It wasn't even supposed to be recapped. We discussed having a Fanwall Community Watch for a "bad" drama. Boy! did this makjang on speed surprise us ALL!! It not only got the full treatment on weekly threads, the Fanwall was abuzz with the excited chatter. Definitely has hidden gem of 2023 written all over it. 😀

Unlock The Boss, The Kidnapping Day, and The Matchmakers.

I don't think I start any drama without having any expectations. But there are one that did wow me in ways more than one.

Unlock My Boss
Perfect Marriage Revenge
Cold Blooded Intern
And currently, Tell Me That You Love Me.

Finland Papa on the other hand was one drama that had the fluff that was just there to calm everything down. I'm yet to watch the final 3 episodes. I hope I can get to it this year or perhaps the wee weeks of next year.

And to the bean of hiddenness I'm expecting...My Happy Ending. This one gave me a pairing I know I needed but couldn't hope for.

Tell Me That You Love Me
Is so well hidden than nobody in the USA has access to it

Matchmakers: After Destined with you, I was not ready for another drama with the same lead actor and fusion seguk is not my most favorite genre but Matchmakers took me by surprise.
The story telling for this drama is almost perfect. Filled with adorable romances, memorable secondary characters, and formidable antagonist this was the perfect drama to close the year.

Perfect Marriage Revenge: When this drama came along, I had not got my fill of makjang drama for the year and yet but I was not very hopeful about it. The story looked like second rate reincarnation/ transmigration web novel with low budget but within couple of episodes I was hooked. It was the makjang drama I was waiting for whole year.
Behind your touch: I know, inclusion of this drama in this category raises a question – how a drama with such star cast could be hidden? But I have been burned by serial killer mystery drama so many times that this show was pleasant surprise.

Tell Me That You Love Me.

I had so little expectations for this show. Even after I watched the first two beautiful episodes, I was almost sure the rest was going to be a disappointment. I didn't even watch the show the next week, and I didn't give it beans during the bean count (big time regret)!

I also saw that only like ten beanies were watching it, not many fan wall posts, and I kinda forgot about it.

Then I watched the two episodes I missed, and I kept crying and wanting more. I watched the other two, and I totally fell in love. This drama is perfection and I'm not gonna elaborate on that. If you want to understand what I mean, watch it. The show is great with words, it will sell itself. I would ruin it. 🥺

So this is the most underrated gem of the year for me (even tho this was the year I mainly watched shows like that).

Honorable mentions:
The Secret Romantic Guesthouse: when I revisited the recaps I noticed that they were less comments that I remembered. The conversation of this show was intense, but it was always just a few beanies. So I'm guessing this is just another "hidden show". Anyway, TSRG was so refreshing and it was one of the few shows of the first half of the year that didn't disappoint me from beginning to end.
Trolley: missvictrix already said it all "this is a well-crafted, high-intensity drama that deserved much more attention than it got."
FantaG Spot: girl power! it's cute and not shy. If the problem are the sex scenes you can mute them and just read the subtitles while you cover the rest.
Unpredictable Family: you all already know the reasons, I haven't shut up about this show in the past four months.
Payback: this show was fun.
My Perfect Stranger and Not Others: I thought this shows weren't hidden, until we had to vote and they weren't mention once in any poll??????? Same goes for TSRG.
They're great, I would recommend you to watch them.

This was a hard choice as I loved the found family in Finland Papa and trying to guess who was behind the cafe. I liked the random settings for each of the day trips for One day off and observing her little adventures. I started The matchmakers because it looked great in the trailers so I was going to stick it out until it got too much like Poong the Joseon psychiatrist. (I am still bitter that my over confidence that Poong would be the sageuk that avoided the palace came back to bite me, big time). So when The matchmakers came through and was the sageuk I could watch and enjoy 97% of it with minimal fast forwarding through palace politics scheming I was so happy. However, my choice is so well hidden that I don’t remember ANY beanie mentioning it on the What we are watching thread or a fan wall.

🎺🎺🎺 this is the best emoji for a trumpet fanfare I could find (I really wanted those fanfare trumpets with the little piece of cloth underneath🤣)

The Adultlike aka Adult kids was a webdrama made up of eight episodes each approx. 10 minutes long showing three 30 year old friends working in the fashion industry. It was funny, had the friends vibe K dramas do so well, but also showed very realistic work based dramas that we all have to deal with whatever line of work we are in. It’s such a fun watch that I really wish more beanies knew of its existence. Thanks @ttmarls for recommending this when I needed easy watch, light dramas to get me through those pain filled weeks.

"My Lovely Boxer." The first episode was weak, but after that, the writing was so assured that I was never tempted to fast forward. For me to actually sit through, and be riveted by, boxing matches is also remarkable, but that's what happened thanks to the character-driven nature of the story. People complained about the lack of realism and the age/maturity gap between the leads, but I didn't have a problem with either one. The characters wormed their way into my heart and stayed there through the final episode. Just a lovely gem of a 12-episode drama that more viewers should give a chance.

CEO-dol Mart for being so wholesome. Lee Shin-young is great as always, but Kim Min-seok (Xiumin) had the best character development, and I adored his relationship with the halmeoni customer. The show makes you root for all the boys, and even the budding romance is cute.

I need to watch Finland Papa because I'm currently obsessed with Kim Woo-seok after Night Has Come.

I think I’m going with Stealer: The Treasure Keeper for this. Not that no one loved it as it was airing, but a whole slew of regions didn’t have access to it. I loved everything about the promos and followed the weecaps avidly, but there was just no where to watch! Now that I can find it, I’m having a blast going through it, but I think way more folks would have watched it at the time if it had not been so unavailable.

Unlock My Boss and The Matchmakers!!! Both have a strong core of kindness and sweetness, which I love.

Twinkling Watermelon was mine. I know, it's gotten a lot of attention since airing, but up until it aired, I just really didn't see much about it, and what I did see advertised ended up quite a bit shallower than the actual show, which hit me in the heart. After the first episode, I started recommending it far and wide and many people around me who also had not attached much importance to it had the same reaction I did when they finally started watching. I'm glad it was such a pleasant surprise, but it does make me wonder how many other shows I passed on based on the promo materials that maybe I would have liked.

Call it love and recipe for farewell for me

One Day Off hands down for me. My only expectation going in is that it would be quirky…and it was but it was so much more. It’s a drama that I have continued to think about (for all great reasons!) and one that I hope more people discover over time.

If we go by the definition, went in with little to no expectations and got a good surprise. It is the kidnapping day. It entered this without expected much and was won over soon by the kidnapper-father/boss-daughter dynamics.

I have to give this to a drama that received little attention by Beanies. I love Twinkling Watermelon and Perfect Marriage Revenge. Both I had little expectation going in but ended loving both. Also both has received a lot of love here so I will not choose them. I will instead give it to Daily Dose of Sunshine for its take on mental health illness and The Perfect Deal as it explored the dark side of human nature.

Unlock the Boss- I personally think this is Chae Jong Hyeop's stand out character in his career so far and he was fabulous as the lead. Also it had one of the best characters of the year from any show, Mapi who was a fabulous three dimensional baddie turned good. The show simply didn't get the recognition it deserved.
My Lovely Boxer - my introduction to Lee sang -Yeob and wow, he is a very special actor. The show simply didn't get the recognition it deserved.
Tell Me that You Love me- currently airing, this is a very quiet, gentle, special show of such high quality that only comes around once in a few years. It feels like it's flying under the radar as you don't hear much hype about it and it's not getting the recognition it deserves.

ONE DAY OFF was the surprising gem that came on with little fanfare. It was not series but episode vignettes of the FL getting away from her status quo work-life to explore new places, people, events with an introspection that is rarely done so well.

This year I have two Bean of Hiddennesses:
1. Daily Dose of Sunshine, for addressing mental illness without the typical medical drama visuals like CT scans or X-rays and instead, showing everyday and detailed depiction of life in a psychiatric ward, an aspect many of us are unaware of.
2. Boyhood, because it's Si-wan first comedy role and the drama itself promises a nostalgic journey back to the 1980s, filled with high school drama, unexpected transformations, and compelling characters.

Boyhood, which I just finished watching, gets my hidden treasure bean. So violent, so funny, so anti-sentimental yet touching. Im Si-wan is a revelation to me, perfectly ugly-handsome and dorky-cool. All the characters feel real, bullies and victims, and the ending feels earned. Black humour done right.

Just watched Unlock the Boss, after this post nudged me and hearing good things throughout the year. It was a great watch while I’m recovering from being sick over the holidays. I feel like I missed several dramas this year as the premise isn’t usually my thing, but dramabeans helped me give it a try. Matchmakers is another example. Now I need to get over my dislike of timeslip dramas to watch Twinkling Watermelon. I just hate the fish-out-of-water second-hand embarrassment stage. How bad is it?

Two of my absolute favourites this year were old-fashioned, unflashy k-dramas, with no cartoon characters, and enough cheesy melodrama to be thoroughly satisfying:
Numbers
Oasis

But they don't seem to have received much love generally, so maybe it's just that my taste is a bit weird...

I'll say The Secret Romantic Guesthouse because it didn't get too much attention outside Dramabeans, if I am not mistaken. Maybe more people in other internet sites will watch it now after Ryeoun's popularity thanks to Twinkling Watermelon (this one is the gem that nobody was expecting... but me? 😅 It was on my radar since I first read about the project. I am so happy with its success!).

The Secret Romantic Guesthouse was such a enjoyable watch for me. I said I would miss the main characters when it ended and I do.