Dramas watched in 2020

i need all of the cute and stupid comedic revenge but the pace drags like you wouldn't believe

The leads obviously loved e/o which is appreciated and the True Villain was Miscommunication (and financial stress) but the real standout is the family relationships. Little rushed towards the end, and some unused plot threads

a lot of great elements that ultimately never really came together or were used to their full potential. CW for minor character death but also he was like The Best Character so >:(

Wild cracky fun even for people who don't enjoy necessarily enjoy makjang because it never really wallows. Fantastic female lead, and a sweet quiet minor romance. CW for transphobia/homophobia: a trans character's outing is handled about as well as you'd expect a rich conservative family to. Narratively it's handled somewhat sympathetically but with ignorance (also re: subs, note that Korean doesn't really have gendered pronouns which means it's at the subber's discretion)

Not without flaws but perfect for me. I'd call it less a romcom and more of a "healing" drama for the FL- the main lead's romance is relatively quiet and steady throughout. I didn't feel it dragged but it does grow to an hour and a half per episode later which can feel long for one sitting

Expect constant heart attacks for a 3 minute happy ending, and know that compared to the japanese version we got off lucky. Great, albeit makjang exploration of mothers and motherhood: the good, bad, and everything inbetween. Also Very Pretty cinematography. Know that the abuse is pretty explicit. Not light viewing

Were I to be ~critical~ probably closer to a 9/10; the narrative and its parts are nothing new, and deus ex machina abound but it knows exactly what the viewer wants and that's why it wins

some great action scenes and has an episode with one of the most sex-positive/sex-work positive stances i've ever seen. i wanted more of the female friendships though, and it's got a bit of a weird ending

weirdly disappointed at how little cheerleading and dancing there was and the plot was nothing new. has one of the best sympathetic villains and subsequent redemptions though, and all the characters are pretty great. CW for self-harm, suicide attempts, and for a weird incest vibe when the main leads find out their parents are dating

vigilante fun + the power of friendship + main couple is so goddamn cute. Plot's really nothing new though.

Some great action scenes and Haruka Ayase is amazing as Balsa. Very slow for me because I'm overly familiar with the books/anime. CGI monsters abound. CW for sexual assault of a minor character

A solid mystery fueled by a myriad of well-written characters. Never gets too dark and never falls too far into "Incompetent adult" territory. Didn't drag but I felt minor frustration that most of the narrative waited on one character's secrecy and manipulation.

a good mystery thriller that never drops a thread, even if i zoned out a bit whenever the main leads were off screen. great brOTP between the two main leads (or OTP if you squint)

The anthology-like episodes are great for exploring the class but ultimately I wasn't attached to anyone by the time the plot kicked in. In particular, motivations were poorly written/explored (especially the villains) and progressively felt more like a series of excuses to move a plot along. However, the "superpowers" were very creatively done without CGI

a glorious dumpsterfire of tropes but in a highly bingeable self-aware way. CW for 2 counts of attempted sexual assault of FL by ML:  it's Plot-related both times and meant to be critical of the dubcon/noncon=romance trope but it still leaves a bitter taste

Probably was amazing in 2014 but was a little messy for me in 2020. Song-yi is fantastic but I ended up being a little disappointed Min-joon's alien biology, technology, culture, etc. was never really explored. The ending was happy but also a little ????

Some nice Hurt/Comfort but sometimes at the expense of plot threads. The dreams helped maintain narrative tension but were never used to their full potential. Romance moves a liiiiittle fast in some spots for my taste but they're so cute i don't care. The dilemmas were simple but I liked that the characters struggled in doing the right thing. 

Takes an episode or two to really get going but is very tightly plotted- excellently balances dark comedy and mystery with a panel of multidimensional characters. Impressively makes you feel for all the characters no matter what they've done. Minor Knives Out vibes but not overly similar, and it's not hugely about finding the murderer in the end so much as the why and character resolution. CW for major injury (although it's walked off), and minor unreliable narrator

Ai yiyi. Some of the best and most fun characters I've seen in awhile but plagued with a plot that's not just slow but also is constantly retreading the same (annoying) conflicts over and over. The cultural differences regarding orphans, adoption, and bio-parents may be a huge factor in my frustration. CW for supporting character death

Great characters and chemistry, some of the cutest friend groups. Light-hearted, but I zoned out during some of the politics and the plot is a meandering creature. Great cinematography and soundtrack

A high rating because it's objectively good, not because it's an easy thing to watch. It's more or less two teenagers speedrunning Breaking Bad but with underage pimping instead of drugs. The teenagers are all arguably either desperate kids who have psychologically suffered from slipping through the system or sociopaths or both. The two leads in particular are highly complicated, interesting, and filled with dualities. Perhaps too extreme at times, but highlights systematic issues and dysfunctional relationships without falling too far into "all adults are incompetent" territory. CW for underage sex trafficking/ pedophilia, major violence/ blood, etc

Solid show but often more of a melo than a romcom. Personally felt both the first and second leads manage to be relatable AND unlikable which is mildly impressive and often frustrating. Pretty slow in the second half. Skip if you dislike plots that turn on coincidence (it's in the title but still)

Trippy, offbeat, strange, and every other synonym for weird. An eclectic mishmash of genres shoved into an almost slice-of-life framework. Best enjoyed if you need something out of the box and are willing to roll with it. Ending was a little rushed for me, and some things still feel left hanging/ unresolved. cw for some ableism & homophobia, and a ton of cgi slime/jelly

Well hot damn, they did it again. Perhaps slower than the first season but it fits the tone and themes. They did shoot themselves in the foot early on by having the brOTP/OTP work separately for so long but when they finally start working together it is entirely worth it.

The humor was on-point, and it's a fun mix of genres. For some reason, I couldn't get super invested though

Starts off incredibly smart and fast, with some truly hilarious meta humor and soft romance. Then starts to drag halfway with Kyung's arc and sort-of love triangle stuff. Never really recovers the initial "Let's change our fate" message although it ends well enough. I can't help but feel there was some missed potential in some of the characters who never achieved awareness, or in the central set-up (who/what is the writer,  why can Dan-Oh see the storyboard, why the black holes, etc.). Personally, in a drama with changing fate as a central theme that pokes so much fun at tropes, I would have liked to have seen things shaken up a bit more.

A fun con/revenge drama, if not quite US Leverage standards. I loved Ah-ryeong and Jin-woong right off the bat although it takes awhile for the other two to grow out of their character stereotypes. The  family moments and teasing are adorable and hilarious, and I love that Ah-ryeong is the rude little sibling and not a love interest. The cons themselves are fine, if a little labored and handwave-y sometimes. I can't bring myself to care about the rotating-but-connected cast of villains though, they're pretty bland.  CW for sexual assualt/violence & off-screen rape, and the violence is more on par with a revenge drama than a con/heist drama (thanks OCN)