If Kingdom is the pinnacle of the zombie kdrama, I'd say Perfect Marriage Revenge is the pinnacle of the makjang kdrama and I mean that sincerely. I had absolutely no intentions of watching this but I kept seeing rave reviews after the final episode and you know what, they were right and I had an absolute blast. The writing is excellent, with dialogue that's fresh and snappy, and the pacing is pretty much perfect, without any of the usual filler you get in 16-episode dramas but also without the rushed ending you might get from an 8-episode drama. The characters are so fun - the good guys are easy to root for and the bad guys are even easier to hate - and the relationship between Ji Yoo and Do Gook is so compelling that they just might be one of my favorite kdrama couples of the year. I really hope other drama writers are taking notes because this show took a bunch of overused tropes and elevated them with a well-written and well-paced script and the end result was pretty much magic.

I know this wasn't a Netflix original, but it feels like it could've been, and I'll still consider it part of my holy trinity of revenge dramas: there's The Glory, if you want a dark, difficult melo centered around school bullying; My Name, if you want an action crime thriller with devastating emotional stakes; and now Perfect Marriage Revenge, if you want a near-perfect execution of a contract marriage makjang.