English speaking countries head to Rotten Tomatoes to check out how critics and audience viewers rate movies and shows but in China it’s all about Douban. It’s the most influential and mass aggregated site for viewers to rate shows and is actually quite objective as the volume of votes drowns out crazed fans and antis trying to affect ratings. For 2020, there has been high profile K-dramas but that doesn’t translate to quality fare, and vice-versa. The highest rated K-dramas on Douban for this year has Hospital Playlist with 9.4 followed by Stove League at 9.3. Both are considered among the best K-dramas of the year from many reviewers and clearly the Chinese watchers agree. The remaining in the top 10 list are: 365: Repeat the Year (9.1), Secret Forest 2 (9.2), Diary of a Prosecutor (9.2), Flower of Evil (8.8), It’s Okay to Not be Okay (8.6), Hyena (8.9), Kingdom 2 (8.3), and When the Weather is Fine (8.6).
Continue reading
10