Top 2020 Dramas and Movies

Back in November I started a challenge for the end of the year to get through dramas. It was partly to get through a lot that was sitting half watched on my list, but also to try to get through some of the 2020 dramas with the intention of using them for an end of the year list. While I started off well, I didn’t get through as much as I wanted to.

Because of this, I figured I wouldn’t make a list this year but decided it still would be good to talk about the top dramas that I watched even if I didn’t get to as much of the list that I wanted. I also realized that I watched a lot of Asian movies this year - much more than years in the past - and it’s worth it to start mentioning them more. While the drama list is centered in dramas that came out in 2020, the movie list will be from the list of movies I watched in 2020.

Top Five Dramas

5. My Holo Love - 나 홀로 그대: Let’s be real, I definitely started this one because of Chansung, but I stayed because it was just that good. This drama had actually been produced for a while, and I already had my eye on it so I was excited when it was announced to be airing on Netflix. I enjoyed this a lot more than I had ever expected. The story was pretty solid (and worked well with a 12 episode format), the growth in characters were naturally and more realistic, and the use of using every trope but not bogging down the overall plot made a good solid drama. This one felt like an old school drama, but new.

4. Nobody Knows - 아무도 모른다: Kim Seo Hyung is an incredible actress and have been a fan of hers since her role in Come and Hug Me, and Ryu Deok Hwan is generally an actor that I love his roles specifically his work in the God’s Quiz series. Combine those two with a crime drama, and this one really had very little fail rate for me. This drama is a little different than a lot of the crime dramas that have been coming out recently, and it is slower paced and the reveals aren’t as hyped up as others, but I really enjoyed the pacing of this one and felt that the slowness and silence really worked as it kept it consistent throughout. Everything connects really well with the mysteries, and the characters develop and grow in much more realistic ways - specifically with the high school kids.

3. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay - 사이코지만 괜찮아: While this drama took a very sharp nose dive for me towards the end of the series (semi spoiler - I wanted this drama to keep up with the horror aspects in it’s representation of the fake demons of mental illness and how the drama turned it into real I felt very much abused that plot line and the mental illness aspects it had done so well to represent up until then. There was also no logical sense on how it was possible, and it is a cliche horror trope that should not have happened in this series), I still enjoyed it. Everyone in the drama gave an absolute fantastic performance and there were some great moments. The storybook representation of some of the illness gave a good glimpse for the outsider who is not familiar with them and I thought worked really well.

2. Sweet Home - 스위트홈: Watched in one sitting and loved pretty much every aspect of this drama. I loved the focus it gave, and it genuinely had some great slasher horror moments that seamless tied into other plot lines and stories and the overall aspect of the monsters not being the monsters, but the humans themselves. A lot went into this one to do a lot more practical effects (which as a person in sort of the industry, I very much appreciated) and a lot of work went into it. I know a lot of that was definitely helped by the Netflix budget. Really everything about this drama was made for Jessie and it was such a great way to end the year on. Also thank whatever deity is up there that it was an actual creature feature and not a bait for another zombie drama.

1. Hospital Playlist - 슬기로운 의사 생활: When I started this drama, I had done it because of the podcast. It was also when I had learned that I was going to be laid off. Because of that, and a lot of the humor that was present in the first episode, I didn’t come back to it for a while. I’m a mood watcher in that I won’t push play - my mood will not change a rating or my enjoyment but I will say that this drama was around at a really great time. It allowed me to be immersed in a beautiful story about friendship and hope. Even with characters that were onscreen for all of five minutes, the drama was able to craft a beautiful story that allowed a lot of really good cries. 2020 was hard, and there were a lot of really bad tears coming from me and this drama helped a lot. It would have effected me any other year, it just helped a lot more for this one.

Top Five Movies

5. The Call - 콜: The Call is just a good thriller. Park Shin Hye’s character is contacted by someone in the past and it sets off series of events. It’s a good ride and the reveals are interesting. Jeon Jong Seo does a great job with her character and is really good at keeping the line of crazy and creepy that doesn’t fall comical and helps keep the tone.

4. More Than Blue - 比悲傷更悲傷的故事: I watched this because of our Jasper Liu episode. Grab tissues, you’ll need them. It’s a good story about relationships and love and the obstacles of life and living for others. The entire cast does so well with it.

3. A Tale of Two Sisters - 장화, 홍련: Really glad I somehow didn’t even have to beg for a horror episode and got one this year, because it allowed me to watch some things that I might not have other times (I love to do that thing where I don’t watch things cause I have other things to watch for specific projects and can’t watch what I want to watch, so when I’m allowed to play in my preferred watching all bets are off!). A Tale of Two Sisters is a classic for Korean horror, and worth a watch. The slow builds were great, I love the tension of everything and the atmosphere. I tend to love the slow quiet burns in horror purely because jump scares - or scares in general do nothing for me. This one delivered.

2. The Host - 괴물: I don’t want to hear it from any of you. Yes this was my first time watching it and I will not be judged for that. It was fantastic. Monster + Seoul + Bae Doona.

1. Theatre, A Love Story - 劇場: The movie is about a messy relationship with messy people. It’s hard to watch gritty and raw and beautiful. I also loved the aspect of how the entire thing was presented. I’m not saying that a non-theatre person wouldn’t enjoy this but I will say that I got a lot more out of it than someone who did. The parallels of the way it is shot and set up against the backdrop of theatre was just so well done. This is also super accessible on Amazon Prime, people. Go watch.

In case you missed it, check out my top 21 2021 kdramas post that can be found here.

I also try to keep up with my MyDramaList fairly regularly and have switched entirely to keeping up with movies over on Letterboxd (good if you want to know what I’m watching outside of Asian movies). Make sure to add me so we can be friends - I follow back on those platforms!

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