#Russel T Davies knew what he was doing tho

[mathswizard]

dear god its just hitting me that Steven Moffats doctor who wasnt that good.

[unnursvanablog]

The TV shows I watched in 2020 / part 2.

Episodes I finished: 😊

Snowpiercer: I wasn't sure if it could live up to the movie and in my opinion it didn't even get close to it. I wasn't into the murder mystery. After a few episodes I was just watching it with one eye.

The Last Kingdom: What can I say, I'm incredibly fond of period shows. The Last Kingdom managed to tell a very contained story within each series that always managed to grab me and I had to know what happened next, while also raising the stakes for the next seasons and so on. I found this part of British history new and exciting and I liked the strategy and the comradery that we got to see here. This show is incredibly male centric tho and does fall into the traps that can come with that, which can be annoying.

Maximilium: Epic and sad. I really want to watch more period shows, and just shows in general, that is not contained to like British history or medieval fantasy inspired from that part of Europe. I really liked this show, I found it really pretty to watch and really well excecated.

Was it Love?: In my opinion this drama started of well. It was just some fluffy comedy with a ridiculous plot and I was just having a great time with it. But then over time, the episodes just got more frustrating and boring and so did the characters. It takes a bit of a skill to have four guys fighting for the attention and love of the main character and none of them end up being a good option.

It's Okay not to be Okay: unfortunately I thought the story here was stretched a bit too far, even though the basic story was cool and interesting. And that led to me not enjoying it. Most of the supporting characters were boring to me and therefor I got bored watching their filler scenes and product placements just so these episodes could be over an hour long. The story was not long enough to fill in every episode and it just dragged on.

Flower of Evil: I was amazed at how much I ended up loving this drama. It normally not the type of thing I go for. They were dramatic, dark and very emotional and I never knew what was going to happen, it kept me on the edge of the seat all the time. I loved it.

Cursed: this show had a really great idea, it tried to do something new with the Arthur legend. But they just weren't well written at all and just end up being a pretty big fantasy cliché.

The Medici: Masters of Florence: Neither the second nor the third series reached the same heights as the first one did for me. But still, this is a good period show. I just do not find the main character in the second and third series that interesting. He kinda irks me.

Ottoman - Rise of an Empire: A really fun and informative tv show / documentary. I knew little about the Ottoman Empire so I found it very exciting. And I do like battle strategies.

Record of Youth: I wanted to get so much more from this drama than I got. I cared so little about most of the character and even the ones I did care about didn't seem to do much towards the end. A little too slow for me, the plot wasn't interesting and I'm tired of some kdramas saying that they are about these two or more characters, but then just focus on the male character and the female lead is just there for the romance. It was a waste of both my time and Park So Dam's time.

The War of the World: A very interesting sci-fi period piece. Really well done, would have liked a better ending that answered all the questions I had, but I enjoyed the ride a lot.

The School Nurse Files: These episodes were so weird, but I mean it in a good way. I felt like I was watching a long and weird Doctor Who episode from the Russell T Davies era. They sometimes felt a little bit confusing and would have liked if the story was a bit more concise.

Lovecraft Country: This became this odd blend of horror, fantasy-adventure tale and then some sci-fi - Some of these episodes gave me a little Indiana Jones feel, which I enjoyed. At times it felt all over the place, yet it did serve a purpose. I expected more horror if anything, as I had been told it was really scary, but then I didn't really get scared. Maybe because I'm not the targed audience for these shows, as a white person from Europe. Really interesting show tho. Well worth the hype.

The Haunting of Hill House: Very cool show. I really enjoyed how each episode just raised the bar and you could start to see the story more clearer and better with every passing episode. And seeing how the house affected this family throughout their lives while we got to know the characters and their backstory was brilliant. You hate and love and understand almost every single character, as they all have their own baggage to carry. Really well made horror.

The Haunting of Bly Manor: eh, I felt like they never reached the same heights as the previous series. The story wasn't as captivating, the horror not that great, and I had already seen where the story was going long before it happened.

La Révolution: The story started slowly, but there was a really cool mystery at the center of it and this escalating tension that really just grabbed you and pulled you along. I also just really like a lot of the character. I thought it was a very interesting take on the French Revolution, and the horror elements surprised me in a really good way. I like period dramas that have horror elements to them. It's just a mix of two things I like. Visually it was stunning, it was well crafted, well acted and I'm excited to see more of there is more.

The Tale of the Nine Tailed: There was something about this drama that just didn't capture my heart, although I think the idea is cool and I really enjoyed how myths and other things were woven into the story. It always felt like it was trying a bit too hard to be like Goblin, you could see the influence there, and it just left me a little cold. The second leads and their story were also just a lot more interesting than the main ones. I got quite bored like half way through it.

Private Lives: I really liked this drama in the beginning. I loved how much it centered around the female characters and the story seemed cool. It sometimes jumped between timelines, which I did not like and I don't think it helped too much with the mystery. And once the more political aspect of the mystery started to creep in I found myself not as into it. And I wanted more comradery.

Birthcare Center: Cute and quite silly, but in a good way. It's really short, only 8 episodes in total, so it never dragged. I loved the whole cast and the dynamics that the character had and I felt like it did talk about some important topics about motherhood and the expectations set on women - says I who is completely childless. I enjoyed it, but I was not incredibly into it either.

The Crown: I don't think I have enjoyed this show as much as this season. In this season I had someone to root for and someone to emotionally connection to. A lot of the characters in this show are interesting, but very cold and distant, and I find it hard to relate to them, which can make it hard for me to fully get invested. But Diana was absolutely the heart and soul of this season and I loved her. The show needed her.

Queen's Gambit: I've never found chess interesting until I watched it in this show. I found it amazing how these episodes managed to create a whole story about chess tournaments and how it affected all of these characters. Amazing story, the characters were complex, and each episode just became more and more exciting and interesting.

Barbarians: I shall say it again! I love historical shows and period dramas. It isn't anything new under the sun, it feels a bit like other period shows such as Vikings, but I enjoyed it. I felt the story grew with each episode, with the first episodes being a bit more formulaic as they were setting up the story. But each episode always ended in a way that I just wanted to know more, there was something that grabbed me and I had to watch the next episode.

Sweet Home: quite a fun horror, and I usually really like how Korea does horror so while it did hit some sweet spots it also does follow some of the common apocalypses and horror tropes and I did think it brought too many new things o the table when it comes to these stories. I felt like a lot of episodes sort of lacked tension and just fell a bit flat.

Bridgeton: I love a costume dramas, especially like these romantic ones, with a hint of humor and a whole lot of yearning. I have a tendency to fall into such stories and people's lives, although it seems rather frivolous and unexciting to people who don't enjoy this romance. I sympathized so much with these characters and their ridiculous lives. I couldn't stop watching this show and it became all I thought about over the days I was watching it. There is something new about it, but it still rather familiar and maybe not as progressive as you might want at all times. For me, the main romance lost me a bit towards the end, but it was a great fun.

Show I did not finish: ☹

OCN Train: I am sure it was a well made show, I have not heard any bad review about it, just not the kind of drama that is really for me or to my taste. If I am suppose to watch and enjoy these types of show it sort of needs to do something amazing for me to be hooked into a murder mystery.

The Devil Punisher: I decided to try watching a drama from Taiwan again, since I had not done so for years and year. And although I thought the idea was cool, the first episodes were rather long-winded, all over the place and really about everything and nothing at the same time. So I just gave up.

Run On: I could actually feel it from the first episodes that this drama was not for me. Just not the kind of story that I am into at the moment. Mostly just about the lives of the people in it, but there is no bigger plot that pulls you forward. Too slow and light and not really about that much.