2020 Jaybird Awards
Another year gone, and what an interesting year it was. I think a lot of people are quite happy to see 2020 in their rear-view mirrors, but it wasn’t a year that was all bad. I am unsure whether it was just due to me luckily picking good shows, but 2020 seemed to have a higher number of good dramas than usual. There seemed to be a bit of a trend towards the melo side of things- there weren’t a whole heap of pure rom-coms that were generating a lot of buzz, so maybe it’s this tonal shift that allowed last year to have such a wide spread of great shows. Usually there’s only one or two dramas that I really fall in love with, but last year there were so many that I really enjoyed watching- and that’s even with me missing some of the bigger absolute smash hits like ‘Crash Landing on You’ and ‘The World of the Married’. I didn’t get to watch as many K-Dramas as I would have liked this year, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the number of 2019 shows I got through the year before that! I will do my best to continue reviewing as many as I’m able in the hopes that I’ll be able to bring you a great 2021 Jaybird Awards this/next year too!
Best Drama:
Nobody Knows
Ahhhh this was a tricky one to choose this year! Usually there’s an absolute standout, but as I already mentioned, there were so many wonderful K-Dramas in 2020. What I found really special about ‘Nobody Knows’ is that it’s really difficult to get a mystery-thriller done just right. And this drama was a mystery-thriller done just right. The story-line was paced perfectly with new information being revealed at appropriate times so that there was always something new happening, the heroine never felt like she was facing an unwinnable battle, and while the many mysteries of the show remained mysterious, there was enough revealed to the audience that it never felt like we weren’t being fed enough information. The tone was set so brilliantly with moody lighting, interesting camera shots and a dramatic score to back it all up. Every actor involved in the project delivered amazing performances, and the unique friendship between a lonely teenage boy and an isolated middle-aged woman was surprisingly endearing and such a breath of fresh air. This show was able to be dark without being depressing, and the eventual victory for our hero and heroine felt well earned and didn’t come too easily or too impossibly. ‘Nobody Knows’ was an extremely well executed mystery-thriller that was able to grab attention in it’s first episode and maintain that engagement until its final episode.
Runner Up: It’s Okay To Not Be Okay
Best Actor:
Kim Soo Hyun (It’s Okay To Not Be Okay)
It’s been entirely too long since Kim Soo Hyun has been on my screen (not since ‘The Producers’ in 2015 in fact). I nearly had a heart-attack during his cameo in ‘Hotel Del Luna’. I wondered if he’d lost any of his acting talent during his long hiatus, especially when I heard his last movie was such a plonker. I think we can all agree that my fears were baseless, and we can all be very thankful that Kim Soo Hyun’s amazing acting talent has not waned during his military service and brief period of inaction. ‘It’s Okay’ was a fabulous drama on so many fronts, and it gave Kim Soo Hyun such an interesting character to work with. While Kang Tae doesn’t sound like such an interesting person on paper (nurse with an autistic brother who falls in love with a whacky author), there was so much emotional depth to the character. There was a lot of struggle and grief that Kim Soo Hyun needed to portray for this role, along with scenes of such love and happiness. His character’s brother and lover caused him so much heart-ache but also provided so much joy, and it was amazing to see Kim Soo Hyun showcase this vast array of emotions particularly when the source of these deep emotions were the same people. ‘It’s Okay’ was a story that focused a lot on relationships and feelings, and they really couldn’t have picked a better actor for the job. Kim Soo Hyun was so amazingly emotive and immersed in his character, it was impossible not to get sucked into the characters and story along with him.
Runner Up: Park Seo Joon (Itaewon Class)
Best Actress:
Seo Ye Ji (It’s Okay To Not Be Okay)
I feel kind of cheeky putting both of the leads of ‘It’s Okay’ down as best actor and actress, but honestly, their performances in this show were virtually flawless. Seo Ye Ji was certainly not overshadowed by Kim Soo Hyun in this drama, and absolutely gave the performance of her career to date. While I have always thought she was a highly talented actress, she previously felt liked she lacked a bit of that special something- warmth? Charisma? Not here. In ‘It’s Okay’ Seo Ye Ji is icy cold, fiery hot, girl-crush confident, and crushingly vulnerable. While her character wasn’t exactly likeable, Seo Ye Ji gave her such an unexpected dose of heart- she forced you to like Moon Young. You didn’t have a choice. As Moon Young was a bit full-on, Seo Ye Ji had to inject so much energy into the role, and that energy shone through so brightly. Moon Young was certainly a character to remember, and Seo Ye Ji brought her to life in such a wonderfully charming way.
Runner Up: Kim Seo Hyung (Nobody Knows)
Best Short Series:
Kingdom 2
For the last few years I’ve kind of felt like there haven’t been that many great short series going around. They have all sort of seemed like low-budget, poorly scripted rom-coms that are more cringey than cute. With Netflix stepping into the K-Drama scene, it’s kind of opened a new door for K-Dramas with a short run time. Dramas such as ‘Kingdom’. ‘Kingdom’ is certainly not low budget and it’s far, far, far from a comedy. The quality of the first season was absolutely amazing, and the second instalment did not disappoint. Following off the back of Season 1, which involved a lot of set-up, Season 2 really got to get into the meat of the story. All our characters were developed a bit more, and the political intrigue really stepped it up a notch. The zombies remained a constant threat (and were so wonderfully realistic in their costuming and makeup), but we also had numerous threats in other people who wanted utilise the chaos of the zombies for their own agendas. The Crown Prince remind a likeable hero that was easy to root for, and the whole show just felt like one big Blockbuster. ‘Kingdom 2’ is pure quality from its writing to its acting to its production, and it was an absolute standout in the year.
Runner Up: Big Data Romance
Best Character:
Lee Ik Joon (Smart Doctor Living)
‘Smart Doctor Living’ was a drama that was filled with so much heart and warmth, and every character that inhabited this world was endearing and so very enjoyable to watch on screen. But the character that really won my heart, not just in the drama alone, but out of all the characters I watched in 2020, was Lee Ik Joon, portrayed by Jo Jung Suk. There was just so much life and love all wrapped up in the one character, and having him be a single parent of a young son just added a heap of emotional depth to his character. Ik Joon was juggling so much in his life, but always had time for his patients, his son and his friends. He cared for everyone and was always trying to help in whatever way he could- it was just impossible to not love him. Jo Jung Suk filed the character with so much life and energy- Ik Joon felt like a very real and lived in character. Despite the character’s goofiness, he never came across as one dimensional or shallow- in fact quite the opposite. He was layered and complex with his own struggles and heartaches, but his sunny disposition and lovely relationships with all the other characters made him such a joy to watch, and made it so easy to root for him in all his endeavours- even his one-sided crush on Song Hwa (sorry Chi Yong).
Runner Up: Yeong/Eun Seob (The King: Eternal Monarch)
Best Second Lead:
Oh Jung Min (Hi Bye, Mama)
While this drama didn’t really do much for me as a whole (it got bogged down in waaaaaaay too much avoidable angst), there is one thing about this show that I found truly special. The second female lead, who was the second wife of the male lead, was not portrayed in a negative light. When I think of love-triangles in K-Drama I can name a dozen shows were both the men vying for the heroine’s heart have been wonderful, amazing individuals. But when the triangle is two women and one man, I struggle to think of shows were both the women are respected and likeable characters- so often one is delegated to the role of ‘villain’. But in ‘Hi Bye, Mama’ Min Jung is developed as her own entity outside of the love triangle, and that entity turns out to be very likeable. While she isn’t the typical bubbly, sunny heroine, Min Jung had a quiet strength in her, and was able to care for and love Yoo Ri’s daughter as if she were her own, all while feeling an immense inadequacy to her husband’s deceased first wife. Min Jung was put in an extremely difficult and uncomfortable position, and yet she never hated or despised her husband’s late wife (even when she came back to life), and the friendship the two women were able to develop was so special and extremely heartwarming to watch play out. I loved that Min Jung was given so much development, and that she was written as a character to empathise with rather than a villain or a jilted ex-lover. I loved Min Jung as a character because she portrayed a different type of endearing female character, and while I personally didn’t love that she took back Kang Hwa after the way he treated her during his dead wife’s brief resurrection, it was also an interesting and unusual end where the second female-lead ended up with the male lead.
Runner Up: Rang (Tale of the Nine Tailed)
Best Couple:
Kang Tae and Moon Young (It’s Okay To Not Be Okay)
Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Couple…am I giving too many awards to the one show? Perhaps. But did ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’ earn every single compliment I am giving it? Absolutely. I’m not really sure there’s much more I can say about these two characters. There were amazing individually and they were amazing together. I liked that the show was less about the two ‘fixing’ each other, and more about finding someone who could love you with all the baggage you bring with you. Kang Tae and Moon Young didn’t love every single thing about the other, but they accepted each others weaknesses and insecurities because they loved each other. They worked on issues together, struggled, fought, laughed, and supported each other, and I thought it was a pretty good depiction of a loving and caring partnership. While relationships would ideally have far less issues and a lot lighter baggage, the two of them were able to become a family with Kang Tae’s brother and face all of their struggles and victories together as a team. The chemistry was absolutely sizzling and Kim Soo Hyung and So Ye Ji were just dynamic together. There was such energy between the two of them whether the characters were fighting or flirting you could really feel the tension in the air.
Runner Up: Chan Hyuk and Eun Hee (My Unfamiliar Family)
Best Villain:
Park Hoon (Nobody Knows)
For a mystery/thriller drama to be successful, you really do need a compelling villain behind it. Having a non-threatening villain or a reveal that lacks a dynamic punch can really hurt how good a drama feels. ‘Nobody Knows’ was a superb mystery/thriller, and so it stands to reason that the villain would be superb as well. While Sang Ho wasn’t exactly a hidden villain (it was certainly obvious he was shady- the question was more about to what extent), it was truly creepy to see just how dark his character went and how far his reach could go. Sang Ho wasn’t afraid to hurt whoever got in his way, and what made him more frightening was the intelligence behind his character. While it may not always be obvious to those around him, Sang Ho was certainly a strategic thinker and knew how to manipulate situations and people to his advantage. And Park Hoon played the character to perfection. The helpful, charismatic charade that Sang Ho wore always had a distinct creepiness to it, even when it Park Hoon himself wasn’t exactly doing anything outright creepy. Park Hoon had this weird ability to appear both completely welcoming and completely unsettling at the same time, while never failing to absolutely ooze charisma. Whether that charisma was being put to use to flatter and deceive or threaten and coerce, it was always there. Sang Ho was one of the most detailed, complex and intelligent villains I’ve seen in a while, and Park Hoon brought him to life so splendidly.
Runner Up: Kim Hye Joon (Kingdom 2)
Best Ensemble:
Smart Doctor Living
It just can’t be helped, I’m sorry. Any time this writer/PD duo have a drama it’s just going to be the best ensemble of the year. At this point it’s just the law. It’s almost amazing because I have so much expectation placed on the cast and the character relationships whenever a drama by this team comes out, and yet somehow they never disappoint. While some of their shows are better than others, and there are some plot points or storylines I don’t always vibe with, one thing that never disappoints is the cast, the characters and the chemistry. While usually this team pick more overlooked or unknown actors, this time we were given quite a large amount of extremely popular actors- Jo Jung Suk, Yoo Yeon Seok amd Jung Kyung Ho are far from unknown or underrated actors. They are big names that will draw big interest. Kim Dae Myung and Jeon Mi Do rounded out the cast of the main characters, and I’m glad to say that they could completely hold their own next to these other bigger name actors. The characters all had different strengths and weaknesses, both in their personal and professional lives, and the ways they banded together to face their problems and support one another was just great television. Every relationship between the characters was unique and different, and the cast all seemed to be having a great time filming this show. I always say that when the cast seem to be having a good time that it really translates well and that sense of joy and fun can really be felt by the audience. The chemistry was fabulous between everyone in the cast- Jo Jung Suk is really a chemistry king, so it’s no surprise there that he was able to bring huge emotion. This whole show was filled with a lot of heart and so much of that came from how the individual characters were constructed and how well all these different characters vibed and interacted together.
Runner Up: My Unfamiliar Family
Best Bromance:
Kang Tae and Sang Tae (It’s Okay To Not Be Okay)
Yes, yes, another award for ‘It’s Okay’. It’s not my fault- the show was really great! One of the biggest draws in this drama for me was the way the show handled the representation of Kang Tae’s autistic brother. So often I find media either leans too far to either characterising intellectually disabled characters as unintelligent, horrible people or sweet, puppy-like people who have nothing but love to give. I thought ‘It’s Okay’ did an excellent job at showing how Sang Tae had behaviours that were both extremely endearing and extremely challenging. There were a lot of ups and downs in the brothers’ relationship, and their relationship was always a bit weighed down by the feeling of responsibility Kang Tae felt. Kang Tae’s journey in the drama was very much about how he could relinquish some of his responsibility and over-protectiveness and it didn’t mean that he loved or cared for his brother any less. As Kang Tae started to learn this, it really gave space for their relationship to grow. With Sang Tae able to take on a bit more responsibility himself- such as getting a job, he allowed Kang Tae to have more freedom in his own life. As the strain between them lessened, their love and consideration for each other could truly be felt- even if they expressed this in different ways from each other. The relationship between the two brothers was such a big part of the show, and also a big part of the main romance. While Moon Young had many shortcomings, she always treated Sang Tae as his own person who was capable of making his own choices and never babied him. How she interacted with Sang Tae was a big part of her and Kang Tae’s relationship, and I’m glad that this wonderful relationship was never pushed away in order to spend more time on the romance, but rather each relationship was shown to strengthen the others.
Runner Up: Gon and Young (The King: Eternal Monarch)
Best Gal Pals:
My Unfamiliar Family
This must have been a good year for family characters in K-Dramaland as both the best bromance and the best gal pals are actually siblings. While regular same sex friendships are nice to watch, there’s something a little bit special about sibling relationships. No matter how different you are and how your tastes may vary, there’s always going to be a link between siblings. And ‘Unfamiliar Family’ really demonstrated this well. Sun Hee and Eun Joo were polar opposites, but they managed to get along. Well, some of the time anyway. Had they not been sisters these two women probably wouldn’t have been friends at all, but being related they had to spend a lot of time together and learned so much about each others' strengths and weakness, communications styles and tastes. Despite fighting a lot in the show's run, it was clear that the two really cared for each other, and in their worst moments when they were really struggling they knew they could turn to the other for help. ‘Unfamiliar Family’ was a story all about family bonds and relationships, and these two sisters were so entertaining to watch. I think anyone with a sibling could relate to their issues and to the relationship that the two of them shared.
Runner Up: Hi Bye, Mama
Best Idol Gone Actor:
Sungjae (Mystic Pop Up Bar)
Strangely I don’t think I saw that many dramas in 2020 that had idol-actors in them. Or maybe I did and I just didn’t notice because I have absolutely zero idea about new-gen idols. I’m getting old it seems. Sungjae I mostly remember doing more serious roles, so I was looking forward to seeing how he was going to fare in a drama that seemed to be a bit more comedic. While I think Sungjae is more comfortable playing serious roles that have a bit of a fun or cheeky streak, I think he handled the more silly role of Kang Bae well. While his acting wasn’t flawless, I felt he did well to hold his own against Hwang Jung Eum, who love her or hate her is very experienced in comedic roles, and Choi Won Young, who is just a phenomenal actor in absolutely everything he’s in. It was nice to see Sungjae branching out a bit and experimenting with something new, and I do think this will help him develop his acting skills (which are already great) even further. He’s off to the army for 2021, but I’ll be curious to see what role he goes with once he’s back.
Runner Up: Dasom (Was It Love)
Best New Face:
Lee Kyu Hyung (Hi Bye, Mama)
Okay, I’m not quite sure if Lee Kyu Hyung is actually a new face, or if he’s just kinda new to me. He blew me away in 2018 in ‘Smart Prison Living’, but I haven’t seen anything else he’s been in since so…he counts right? In ‘Smart Prison Living’ he was played predominantly for comedic effect, and ‘Hi Bye, Mama’ was a straight up melodrama, so I was curious to see how he would do. While ‘Hi Bye, Mama’ wasn’t exactly a great show, it did manage to show off a vast range of emotion and talent from Lee Kyu Kyung. Even when his character was being irritating or frustrating, Lee Kyu Hyung was able to make his character’s emotions easily felt. He did a great job with the materiel he had been given (which again, wasn’t great) and was able to make a memorable character. He did well with the melo genre (though I do prefer him in comedy) and it was great to see that he has such range and would be open to doing different styles of projects- I certainly don’t think he runs the risk of being typecast. If nothing else, ‘Hi Bye, Mama’ was a good watch just to see how Lee Kyu Hyung handled being in a lead role, and it did make me interested to see what project he would take on next, and if he would again return to our screens as the male lead.
Runner Up: Ahn Ji Ho (Nobody Knows)
Best Returning Face:
Kim Bun (Tale of the Nine Tailed)
Runner Up: Kim Soo Hyun (It’s Okay To Not Be Okay)
Least Convincing Couple:
Was It Love
Uuuuuggghhhhh. This drama. Was. BAD. Like yeah- seriously not good. And one of the reasons it was so bad was that the love-line sucked. Major donkey balls guys- this romance was not good. The show struggled a bit due to having so many men competing for the heroine’s heart (none of them being all that likeable either), and the show seemed to have no idea how to make the actual male lead seem like a better choice. There was a lot of misunderstanding and miscommunications between the two leads, and while the actors playing these two characters are good actors, the chemistry was extremely lacking. There was no warmth or spark between the two of them, and it honesty kind of felt like the characters didn’t really like each other that much- they were just trying to re-live their happier days when they were together in university. The show was leaning heavily on the fact that the male lead was the father of the heroine’s daughter, but honestly being the baby-daddy is just not enough to get me to cheer for a love-line. In fact, the whole time this show was going on I was really hoping it would do something different where the baby-daddy wouldn’t be the one that the heroine ended up with in the end. Spoiler alert- that did not happen, the show went the predictable route and we were saddled with a lacklustre romance as a result. If I were to imagine how the characters of this show would be doing in 2-3 years after the end of the drama, I 100% believe that the main couple would have broken up again. They were dysfunctional and selfish and just had no clue how to make solid relationship work.
Runner Up: Tale of the Nine Tailed
Show Carrier:
Choi Jin Hyuk (Zombie Detective)
‘Zombie Detective’ wasn’t exactly a bad show, and there were other cast members and characters that were enjoyable in the drama as well as Choi Jin Hyuk and his portrayal of the zombie Moo Young. But I do thing that without Chi Jin Hyuk being the actor behind Moo Young the show would have gone very differently. Most of the screen time and storyline centred around Moo Young’s character, and the drama would have been an absolute disaster if the actor behind him had not been up to scratch. While I wouldn’t have called Choi Jin Hyuk a comedic actor before seeing this, I can say that he suits comedy really well. He has a willingness to do silly things and isn’t afraid of looking daft and it really let’s him get into the humour and fun of the show. His ability to have both serious and comedic acting at his disposal was a great asset in this drama, and he was able to shift very seamlessly between the funny zombie Moo Young, and the more serious zombie Moo Young. He was just a delight to watch here, and I think so much of the draw of this show came from how brilliantly he brought the titular zombie detective to life.
Runner Up: Lee Se Young (How Are You Bread)
Biggest Disappointment:
Tale of the Nine Tailed
This drama was not terrible. In fact it was very enjoyable for a fair chunk of its run. But boy did this show fall victim to the big ol’ Hype Train. The promos for this drama were intriguing and suspenseful- we were promised a dramatic and heart-racing romance that had to stand against a dark and powerful threat that could destroy the human world as we know it. What we got was an okay-ish love-line between two characters who fell for each other weirdly quickly, and were so wrapped up in themselves that they didn’t really seem to care what happened to the human world. The spirit world was not as exciting as I was hoping for, with very few mystical creatures being explored and explained, and the Big Evil of this drama was pretty lame. While Imoogi probably has the highest body count of any K-Drama I’ve seen (he killed like 900 people in a 10 minute sequence), because we didn’t actually know (and thus care) about those people/characters, he didn’t seem all that threatening. Fate is a topic that is explored in many K-Dramas, and ‘Nine Tailed’ really added nothing new or explorative in that area. It felt like a handful of other reincarnation dramas I’ve already seen, and even the leads, Lee Dong Wook and Jo Bo Ah, kind of felt like they had given up on the show by the time it wrapped up. This show started with a bang and went out with a fizzle, and that’s never how you want your K-Drama to pan out.
Runner Up: The School Nurse Files
Jaybird’s Choice:
Smart Doctor Living
Shows with great characters will always win my heart. I love getting attached to characters and being invested in whatever it is they are doing- even if whatever it is they are doing is as mundane as being in a garage band with a terrible singer. This drama was fun and humorous and that made it easy to watch. These days with my life becoming busier, there’s less and less time to dedicate to watching K-Dramas- so I love when a show comes along that is easy to watch- I don’t have to push myself to watch another episode because I’m already so invested in what is happening on screen. With so little of my time now being spent on K-Dramas nothing is more disappointing than to set aside an hour or so of time and end up having the episode I’m up to just be draggy and over-dramatic and boring. Every single episode in ‘Smart Doctor Living’ was filled with interesting choices for our characters, relationship development and character growth. There was something special in each episode and as we dove deeper and deeper in we learned more about our characters, who they were, and why they acted the way they did. Every episode was fun and left you wanting more, and while there were so many great things about the show, it is this in particular that made it a stand out for me in 2021.
Runner Up: It’s Okay To Not Be Okay
2020 Dramas Watched:
Oh My Baby
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