POPCORNX's TOP TEN KDRAMAS OF 2021 (Part 2)
And here I was, whining about how long I took to publish PART 1 of my "POPCORNX's TOP TEN KDRAMAS OF 2021", it had taken me over a MONTH to finish up PART 2! So, without further adieu: Counting Down my TOP TEN KDRAMAS of 2021!
SYNOPSIS: Finding life in all that's left behind, a trauma cleaner with Asperger's and his ex-con uncle deliver the untold stories of the departed to loved ones.
#5 TOP TEN KDRAMA of 2021 on POPCORNX: Move To Heaven (무브 투 헤븐 : 나는 유품정리사입니다)
Single most evocative series that slows down the pace of everyone else on this list. And while mired in melodrama, it provides you the pause to actually think and imagine "what would you have done?" - instead of "what would you do?" in other projects with stories unfolding.
In Move To Heaven, we are reacting to what had already happened, with no redemption arc to aspire to (besides the main characters' own growth), but for our collective self-questioning of our own lives and decisions. Move To Tears.
6 months on (as I am typing this up), this series might not have left me with "memorable scenes" - as faint as they are now, especially with rewatching the trailers, but what it definitely did, was leave a lingering notion within me, but I am good with that.
"Healing" is not the word, because this might reopen "forgotten wounds" or "hidden fears", but perhaps "cathartic" might be more apt, in helping you "move to action" now.
Created by Kim Sung-ho, Yoon Ji-ryun, starring Lee Je-hoon,Tang Jun-sang, and Hong Seung-hee - MOVE TO HEAVEN is a 10-episode series, wth Season One currently streaming on Netflix.
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SYNOPSIS: Set in 2014, D.P. tells the story of a team of Korean military police with their mission to catch deserters. The series magnifies the undesirable nature of the military, especially within a South Korean context. The widespread bullying and hazing as well as the mindset for the "survival of the fittest" are rife, with those presumed the “weakest” thrown to the bottom of the pile and served horrifying experiences at the hands of their superiors and compatriots. Private Ahn Joon-ho and Corporal Han Ho-yul both team up to find the deserters, and end up in an adventurous journey. (Wiki)
#4 TOP TEN KDRAMA of 2021 on POPCORNX: D.P.
Brutal. Felt excessively uncomfortable in some scenes, and yet felt compelled to see the story unfold, intrigued to see the devastation of the train wreck, or accident outside your rear view window, a voyeur to another life that is somewhat similar to my own - not that I was bullied (not as heavily anyways), but having served in the Singapore Armed Forces as a "Military Police" myself, during active and reservist era, felt connected, as most males do when we gather and our command talking point is "serving in the army".
D.P. stands for "Detention Pursuit", and is a 6-episode series, wth Season One currently streaming on Netflix. Season Two has since been announced.
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SYNOPSIS: During a visit to his motherland, a Korean-Italian mafia lawyer gives an unrivaled conglomerate a taste of its own medicine with a side of justice.
#3 TOP TEN KDRAMA of 2021 on POPCORNX: VINCENZO (빈센조)
"Vincenzo" turned out to be such a guilty pleasure bursting at the seams of kdrama tropes. A constant rollercoaster journey of comedy, tragedy, evil-doing, slapstick, sincerity, and a lingering anti-hero vibe through to the end. A cocktail that GOOD KDRAMAS would be able to deliver with aplomb. Protagonists bolstered by a huge cast of a collection of characters battling it out with cliched cardboard villains, was quite a fun trip to go along with! Only thing that bugged me to sh*t was the opening flashback scene of the plaza being demolished, but was never addressed in subsequent episodes ... or maybe I missed something there? LOL
Imagine loving a series so much, I'd not bother much with the retconning LOL
AND also enjoying the non-redemption arc of the protagonist in the finale. Being a "unrepentant villain" was so on-brand for Vincenzo! Thank you for not sugar topping the sinful cake LOL
Rated "M-18" and consisting of 20 episodes (ranging from 75minutes to 90 mins each ep), VINCENZO is currently watchable here on Netflix.
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REVIEWED Episodes 1-3
SYNOPSIS: Beyond Evil follows the story of two fearless policemen from the Manyang Police Substation[a] of the Munju Police Station (located in the western part of Gyeonggi Province), Lee Dong-sik (Shin Ha-kyun) and Han Joo-won (Yeo Jin-goo), who break the law to catch a serial killer. In the course of uncovering the culprit's identity, they question the innocence of everyone involved in the case, including themselves. "Who is the monster?" "Is it you?" "Is it me?" "Is it us?". (Wiki)
#2 TOP TEN KDRAMA of 2021 on POPCORNX: Beyond Evil (괴물)
Intense and quite frankly sucked the life-force out of me weekly, mentally and as well physically left me exhausted and empty, not in any way exaggeration. The twists and turns and story developments dripping out at the episodes were compounded by the utterly enveloping performance by actor Shin Ha-kyun as "Lee Dong-sik" (more intense than his role in "LESS THAN EVIL"), with a supporting cast surrounding him, each a character with history and depth.
The story is as intense, and pivots on the Serial Murderer-trope. The character of "Dong-sik" is so heavily stacked against him, having been accused of murder since teen, he navigates the dark cloud hovering him from teen hood to an adult policeman. It is not easy to watch, and the actor excelled in his interpretation.
Without spoiling too much - remember when folks say "it takes a village to raise"...? Change your POV to "it takes a village to hide a crime," and let the twists take you where you did not expect to.
Rated "NC-16", and consisting of 16 episodes (ranging between 61minutes to 75min each ep), you can currently watch "Beyond Evil" here on Netflix.
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REVIEWED Episodes 1-7
SYNOPSIS: Fighting infectious diseases has become a part of our everyday life since COVID-19. Even though people have fought off COVID-19 and no longer need to wear masks, there’s another suspicious disease going around in Seyang City. Even in such situation, class discrimination and psychological battle between different classes exist. The higher floors of a newly built apartment in Seyang are for general sales whereas the lower floors are rented to the public. Sae Bom, a corporal of the SOU whose prime goal in life is to get a place of her own, wishes to get a unit of the apartment.. (VIU.com)
THE TOP TEN KDRAMA of 2021 on POPCORNX: Happiness (해피니스)
A much deeper tale beyond zombie-ism, that lingered on the edge of my further understanding of South Korean society, bordering on excitement and wonder, for a genre familiar to me, no doubt enamoured by the parallels with the COVID-pandemic which has since engulfed the world.
And while the high-rise apartment life might prove to be a slight variation of HDB-life (where I am residing), it not doubt casts a mirror to Condominium-life, which I have no taste for otherwise LOL
Rated "NC-16", and consisting of 12 episodes (each ep range from 61mins to 73mins), HAPPINESS is also currently streaming on Netflix, at time of this post!
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My Spoiler Impressions of Ep 1+2
I Love You, Han Hyo-joo!
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