October Netflix Highlights

Annie You | October 15, 2020

With everything being virtual, what better up to live it up in the comfort of your own home than to live vicariously through characters in shows! These are some of my favorite October highlights and recommendations through way too many hours of binging on Netflix. This month’s recommendation includes a variety of heart wrenching moments – guaranteed tears, some spicy romantic feels, and some thrilling spookiness that ensures all nightery in fear.

It’s Okay to Not be Okay

This show is literally revolutionary for an Asian drama. It’s Okay to Not be Okay follows a caregiver of a psychiatric ward who struggles and refuses attachment of all sorts due to life’s heavy burdens that requires him to move every year. He lost his mom at a young age and became the sole support system for his brother with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In his most recent move, he crossed paths with a fairy tale writer who similarly doesn’t know what love is because of her dark past. The show ultimately features a twisted and complex history between our three main characters Kang-Tae, Sang-Tae, and Ko Moon-Young as they embark on a journey in uncovering the buried truths from their childhood. Will they learn to love? How are their childhoods connected? Who is her mom? Will they get together? Watch and find out!

Now for the real take.

I came into this show without too many expectations, I mainly just saw clips of it being featured across different Asian platforms. But man was I blown away from the complexity of the plot, the different twists and turns, and ultimately the realistic portrayal of mental health and Autism Spectrum Disorder. From the initial presentation of the characters, I could already tell that this show was going to be different. Each of the characters came from a broken past that gradually gets revealed as the show goes on. Ko Moon-Young is a children’s fairy tale novelist with a seemingly sadistic personality. She is very much that person that could give less ***** about what others think or say about her and she lives her life as she wants to. However, you’ll began to see the cracks upon her alpha façade as she crosses path with Kang-Tae and Sang-Tae.

Lucifer Season 4

A modern retelling and portrayal of one of the most infamous biblical figures, Lucifer. Within this show, our protagonist began as a misunderstood, narcissistic, yet charismatic bar owner that roamed the Earth whenever he needed a break from ruling Hell. However, during one of his trips, he encountered the unforgettable Detective Decker. As the literal King of Hell, Lucifer is able to draw out the desires of everyone around him, everyone except for the Detective. He soon inserts himself into every aspect of the Detective’s life to uncover the reason behind her immunity.

My take:

Lucifer is a really great show that has a blend of comedy, mystery, action with a pinch of complicated romantic endeavors. The plot weaves very interesting twists based in biblical stories. Each season reveals new characters from traditional bible stories and incorporates a modernized truth to them. I honestly really enjoy watching it because the main character is pretty charismatic and eccentric. Many of the support characters are also very endearing and the plot contains a good amount of dynamic in between romance and crime in the midst of an overarching existential theme.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 16

Grey’s Anatomy is an all-time classic that features the complex lives of a surgeon from residency to award winning practitioners. This show has a little something for everyone whether that be wholesome content such as finding love and friendship at the workplace or deep, emotional, and riveting portrayal of life and death situations that happen on the daily within our healthcare system. Throughout each season, the show explores different themes of lives that illustrate the truth greyness of reality.

My Take:

Grey’s Anatomy was a show that I started more out of casual interest within high school. But I kid you not, after the first season, you honestly cannot help but to be drawn in by the characters and the high intensity work environment. The show does a really good job in showcasing different medical procedures and cases alongside the development of each character’s personality, values, and relations through their medical endeavors. Every season of this show, season 16, is a guaranteed tearjerker as there is no such thing as plot armor in this show. I highly highly recommend watching if you’re not afraid of emotional commitment.