Korean Shows on Netflix 2020

While COVID-19 has affected several businesses negatively, streaming entertainment companies are one of the few who have benefited for this global pandemic.  While millions are affected by stay-home orders and lock-downs, we turned to service providers like Netflix to relieve our boredom. 

From the Hollywood-oriented series, firms like Netflix are striving to improve their range of product offerings. I am definitely glad to see more Asian dramas available on Netflix, which means we international fans no longer have to scower the Internet, searching high and low for the English subbed videos or suffer the restless wait for subbed videos to be released. 

In addition, dramas are no longer for the female-centric audience with diverse stories which are not solely focused on the romance. Avoiding cliches, there are multitude of fresh narratives across various genres, striving to reach out beyond the domestic market. Shows like Prison Playbook, Vagabond, Itaewon Class, Crash Landing On You, Kingdom, The King: Eternal Monarch, Hi Bye, Mama!,  Hospital Playlist, It's Okay Not To Be Okay and Was It Love? mean you can enjoy these dramas with your family or boyfriend / husband, not just among your circle of Korean-crazed female friends. 

You may love some shows and find others boring depending on your taste and that's fine. While I find Prison Playbook not that interesting, Mister enjoyed it. Hence, there is a whole array of choices available to cater to the diverse audience.  Whether you like or dislike the drama depends on your preferences, rather than the shortcomings of the production team. 

However, not everything is perfect.  To give you a fair warning based on all the Netflix shows I have watched recently, Was It Love? suffered from bad writing. 

No, it was not love for me, when the female lead unfairly & unapologetically took away 14 years that a father & his daughter could have spent together. Even when the father’s identity was no longer a mystery, she chose to hide things from her daughter for no apparent reason other than the need to protect herself. As a mother, how could you let your daughter suffer from abandonment issues?  

I love Song Ji Hyo and was looking forward to her new drama. The first 10 episodes were amazing with awesome character development and logically sound motivations driving their actions as well as feelings. But it left me wondering why they underdeveloped the heroine of the drama. 

We were told she was independent and skillful in her job as a movie producer. But where was the proof? What was shown was her problems resolved by her suitors rather than her independence or her skills. We were told she was an amazing mother. But we saw Producer Noh left her daughter to cry by herself in an alley while she went to blame an innocent person for her troubles. All her daughter wanted from her was honesty but she didn't give it to her even after 14 years. How do you want us to root for the heroine if she is that unlikeable of a character?

What irked me was when the writers didn't make full use of the resources and opportunities accessible to them and wasted the drama. 

If you are like me and need to understand the characters before you can root for them to do well in life, then this show is not for you. I wonder what happened here as generally, Netflix original series were of a certain calibre. Well, you might be like Mister who can watch shows with some sort of detachment then go ahead.

[sorry for a rant as this is the drama I am currently watching - only finale episode left 🤨]

Conclusion: even though Netflix shows can be considered products of a pretty high standard, not everything fall into that category. For viewers who feel the characters’ emotions acutely, it’s all the more important to read reviews (synopsis is no longer sufficient) before investing a couple hours of your life to a drama. 

Stay home & stay safe everyone 💕

Adios!

xoxo

Miss N