TOP KDRAMAS I HAD WATCHED IN 2020 (#5-#1)
And this is the 3rd and final blogpost for my TOP KDRAMAS I HAD WATCHED IN 2020-list, counting down #5 to #1
WARNING: *SPOILERS AHEAD*
DISCLAIMER: The shows on this list includes programs other than "Aired in the Year 2020", and includes EVERYTHING I have watched, including older series, because that's how I roll... and ALL programs watched in their original (South) Korean language, but with English subtitles. HAVE to listen to their original language, even though I have zero knowledge of said language (:p) ~ ONWARDS!
MY #5 TOP TEN KDRAMA FOR 2020: "THE GHOST DETECTIVE"
(Also know as "Today's Private Investigator" / Hangul: 오늘의 탐정)
: "Lee Da-Il is a private investigator. He was formerly in the military, but a whistleblower case led to his discharge. Jung Yeo-Wool becomes his assistant. She is a fearless woman. They work together to solve a mystery surrounding the death of a younger sibling. They also work together to solve other cases, some involving ghosts." (asianwiki.com).
Waaaaah the synopsis did not fully reveal the main reason why I continued to watch and fervently binge on this 32-episode series from KBS2 (1/2 hour each episode, so technically "16 one-hour-episodes"?): The private detective in question "Lee Da-Il" (played by Daniel Choi) dies while investigating the serial murders - which where committed by a vengeful ghost-spirit, and he is seen only by the assistant (played by Park Eun-Bin, whom I first saw in "HOT STOVE LEAGUE") which falls for him. All this reminded me somewhat of one of my earlier ghost/human-romance combos: 2013's "THE MASTER'S SUN" (and even 2015's "OH MY GHOST"), so I am good :)
The vengeful "ghost spirit" was played by Lee Ji-Ah, whom I first watch in "My Mister" and subsequently saw glimpses of in "Penthouse", which I attribute finding this series while searching for her LOL
I am a sucker for supernatural themes, and mix in romance? DRAMA! I also realised as I was in the midst of the series, I stopped trying to rationalise the situation (*I'm no theorist) and just went with the story, and that's when I enjoyed the drama more, enjoying the ride I jumped on.
I adored the scene above, which both manages to showcase the triumph of Da-Il being able to finally "eat", but also the heartbreak from his friend, realizing his friend whom he adored and was desperately awaiting the to find information of, is "dead".
Previously aired twice a week (Weds. & Thurs. 22:00), from September 5 to October 31, 2018, this was a nice reprieve from the world around us, with a tragic love-story tantalising my weary heart lol
MY #4 TOP TEN KDRAMA FOR 2020: "GOBLIN"
(Also known as "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" / Hangul: 쓸쓸하고 찬란하神-도깨비)
MY PLOT SYNOPSIS: "A reknowned war general in ancient times is killed by his jealous king, and becomes a immortal Goblin ("Dokkaebi"), who has since lived and awaited 900 years for a human bride to help end his immortal life, who turns out to be a high school student. No, not creepy at all. She sees ghosts, and soon recognises that she is the "Dokkaebi's bride", which she in returns claims her place by the Goblin's side. No, not creepy at all... The Goblin also forms a bromance with a Grim Reaper, who turned out to be someone significant from his past." (Read synopsis on asianwiki.com)
Finally, having resisted to watch this well-recommended KDrama since EVERYONE raved about it (I'm stubborn like that :p), I took the plunge and dived deep into this 16-episoder, which understandably started a K-trend that has since enthralled me! Bolstered by my enjoyment of HOTEL DEL LUNA (My TOP WATCH for TOP TEN KDRAMA of 2019), I binged on this (December 2, 2016 - January 21, 2017) series, and its attending specials and countless fan-edits on YouTube OMG lol
This cocktail blend of Kdrama-styled romance, adaptation of (traditional Korean) folklore, with exotic locales and scenery, and exquisite cinematography and overall design, no doubt set the tone for subsequent projects - one of which is TALE OF THE NINE-TAILED, also starring Lee Dong-Wook! But, let's not forget the COMEDY, OMG :p
What can I say about Gong Yoo? Besides his fabulous role in TRAIN TO BUSAN, which also no doubt helped me turn to this series, and I am delighted I gave my "stubbornness" a break for this series!
I contemplated adding this Kdrama in THIS year's list, as without a shred of doubt this would be TOPS in earlier years', but you know what? Gotta credit when credit is due, and this series climbed up this year's list regardless of "age"...!
MY #3 TOP TEN KDRAMA FOR 2020: "18 AGAIN" (Hangul: 18 어게인)
PLOT SYNOPSIS: "Jung Da Jung was once a girl who was loved by all the girls and boys in her high school. Now, she is a mother of an 18-year-old daughter and son, the twins. As an all-around woman in her late 30’s, she tries her best to be a good mother to her children. Despite the efforts, she eventually files for divorce from her husband. Hong Dae Young, once a promising basketball player who used to be every girl’s first love and every boy’s idol, and has recently lost his job. He continued to be looked down upon by his children, and just received the divorce papers from Da Jung. On the verge of breaking down and after 18 years of devoting his life to his family, Dae Young finds his body turned into his 18-year-old self again with all other conditions unchanged. Recently hired as an anchorwoman through blind recruitment, Da Jung faces one hardship after another trying to survive the probation period. While doing so, she comes across Ko Woo Young, an 18-year-old version of Hong Dae Young. Feeling weird about how he is unusually similar to Dae Young, she tries to pull herself together, but she can’t deny the fact that he gives her a comforting, romantic feeling. At the same time, Dae Young goes through his own life crisis when he realizes how much he still loves Da Jung and his children. Da Jung, with her 18-year-old feelings coming back to her, and Dae Young, with his 18-year-old body, once again come across each other as it happened 18 years ago." (Watch on VIU.com / Video on Demand).
This KDrama series is a remake of 2009 American film "17 Again", and follows scenarios quite closely - as as mentioned in my review of Eps 1-8 - but manages to fill out an entire 16-episoder (September 7 of November 10, 2020), and offers up a exceedingly sentimental story that had won me over easily (as I am a sentimental slob), where a drama like that would not have been anywhere near a watching consideration, but for the time-switch concept.
I certainly hope to talk more about this KDrama, at least to revel the final episodes. Highly recommended for folks who are into sentimental retrospective self-revelation journeys, suitable for middle-aged men like myself LOL
MY #2 TOP TEN KDRAMA FOR 2020: "HOT STOVE LEAGUE" (Hangul: 스토브리그)
PLOT SYNOPSIS: "Before joining Dreams, the bottom-ranked baseball team as a general manager, Seung Soo successfully led a Korean wrestling team, a hockey team, and a handball team to championships only to see them disband because of their unpopularity. Even fans have lost faith and sympathy over Dreams, where coaches are fist-fighting with one and another, and players are reluctant to be picked. Seung Soo believes in the power of rationality and also that it is his only chance in making Dreams the champion. Lee Se Young is the youngest and the only female operation manager in the league. She’s been a big fan of Dreams for many years. She worked for Dreams for 10 years and she clearly understands that the team is breaking apart. However, she never wanted to admit that the lack of resources is the only reason for the team’s failure. As the two managers work their way through struggles, Se Young eventually realizes the reasons behind Seung Soo’s strategy although she remains firm with her own perspective of confronting struggles. It is a story of fierce struggles with a series of life-and-death incidents one after the other. Will the two managers be able to lead Dreams from bottom to the top?" (Watch on Netflix / Viu.com / Video On Demand).
I'm not a baseball fan by any stretch of the imagination, although I have in the past enjoyed baseball-themed features (If you count "A League of Their Own"), and there are TONS of Western baseball-films out there too, so this South Korean TV series kind of stood out .. but "interesting" enough of me to want to watch it?
Honestly, I had zero memory of WHY I would've stated watching this series, but once I did, I could not stop, and waiting for the weekly episodes was "torture"!
Airing twice a week (on Friday & Saturday 22:00) from December 13, 2019 to February 14, 2020, I had constantly rewatched random episodes on TV cable channel from the 16-episoder too. More likely I had caught an early episode on TV, liked what I saw, and tracked it down afters.
Seen in the two clips here (both from the same scene/sequence, same episode), you can see a whole lot slideshow presentations and stats thrown about, and it happens quite often too, and all of it flew over my head (heh), BUT the measure of "victory" and a "revelation" showcased, makes for a decent "positivity building" tone that certainly enriched my viewing experience!
Rooting for the underdog, with life-lessons to be learnt, even if the ending was not the triumphant victory I'd been expecting - made for a very enjoyable watch! The series reminded me much of similarly themed-dramas, like MISS LEE, or BLACK DOG, that perhaps do not oversell the victories at the end, but perhaps strives for a positive pick-me-up spirit to carry on with "life"?
The script really endeared me too, weaving in morals with the sport, and addressing the real world, makes this an exceptional series, as far as I am concerned.
Also of note, was that this series was initially listed within my "#10-#6"-list, but made a leap because I actually went back and REWATCHED THE ENTIRE Series just before publishing, and remembered WHY I love it - and now its my "#2"...!
MY #1 TOP TEN KDRAMA FOR 2020: "IT'S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY"
(Also known as "Psycho But It's Okay" / Hangul: 사이코지만 괜찮아).
PLOT SYNOPSIS: "A story about a man employed in a psychiatric ward and a woman, with an antisocial personality disorder, who is a popular writer of children's books. Moon Kang-Tae (Kim Soo-Hyun) works in the psychiatric ward. His job is to write down the patients' conditions and to deal with unexpected situations, like if patients fight or they run away. He only earns about 1.8 million won (~$1,600 USD) a month. The woman (Seo Yea-Ji) is a popular writer of children's literature, but she is extremely selfish, arrogant and rude." (asianwiki.com).
The above featured plot does describe the series, at the very least whom we get to know are the two main protagonists of the story, which develops into much much more, into what the actors initially call "healing", but I could not understand the concept of, but by the end of the 16-episoder, I'd fully embrace their intent and direction of the series from tvN, which is currently streaming on Netflix, who has a more succinct description of the series;
""An extraordinary road to emotional healing opens up for an antisocial children's book writer and a selfless psych ward caretaker when they cross paths." "
The amount of tears I had shed - openly and emotionally - for this series, astounds me more than I had anticipated, heading into this Kdrama. Along with the endless sly chuckles and laughter (not slapstick, mind you), heartwarming soul clutching triumphs and heart-wrenching failures, told through the perspective of fairytale books (some have been printed and purchasable) and heavily emotional confrontations between brothers and themselves, felt as "freeing" as much "healing" as touted.
The main actors: Kim Soo-Hyun, Seo Yea-Ji and Oh Jung-Se is beyond reproach, with strong individualistic supporting actors, had been a delight and revelation to watch.
This is an exceeding clever series, with planned storyline and executed with a deft subtle touch, without slamming your heads over with moral stories and platitudes, serving up a soft approach to tell the story they had wanted to tell. As interestingly as this was in the midst of a growing awareness of "mental wellness" global-wide (and especially in South Korea media&music), so this was to me as important to opening up emotional taboos, as it was "entertaining", IMHO.
Look, this might not be a "perfect series of all time" (pretty darn close, as far as I am concerned, thanks), but I didn't need it to be, nor is what this list is about, and I certainly have been blogging about it on this blog in EARNEST! "IT'S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY" was by far my most satisfying watch in 2020 (Aired June 20 to August 9, 2020). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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