Name: 2020
Directed by: The Creator
Number of Seasons: 12
Duration: 8760 hrs.
Starring: The Descendants.
Directed by the Creator, 2020 is a year-long limited series starring all of mankind. While other critics have called it, ‘The Worst Year of All Time’ I decided to take a look at 2020 to find out if it’s really as horrible as people seem to think.
Spoiler Alert: It is.
As someone who always roots for the underdog, I desperately tried to keep an open mind while reviewing this epoch. In my experience, things are almost never as bad as people seem to think they are. I wish I could say the same about 2020. The storyline started fine, I daresay it was even enjoyable. Parasite by Bong Joon-ho won the Academy Award, Meghan and Harry left the Royal Family and even Tyrant Trump was impeached. Yes, there were bushfires in Australia and a buzz about something called COVID-19, but it was still tolerable. Unfortunately, this sentiment was short-lived. What I thought was a rocky start turned out to be a journey along a blizzard affected mountainous trail.
The closest thing 2020 had to a central plot-line was a global pandemic. However, there seemed to be some major continuity errors. Despite establishing multiple clear points in the episodes ‘Quarantine’ and ‘Lockdown,’ it seemed like everyone either developed immunity or did not care about contracting the virus anymore. They went on vacations and participated in large gatherings without wearing masks. This might just be me, but by Season 12, ‘December’ it was almost as if these characters were living in an alternate universe!
The last time I saw these many casualties on a show I was watching Game of Thrones. Too many important characters were killed off in 2020. While Irrfan Khan’s death was highly emotional and felt like a personal loss, I did feel that the death of so many migrants was unnecessary and could have been avoided. In a plot twist that managed to shock exactly 0 people, Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise was ruled a suicide and nothing more. I’m pretty sure there will be pointless fan theories about this storyline though. And then there was what could be called the most impactful passing of them all – George Floyd. While his death in Season 5 titled ‘May’ was heartbreaking, it also showed the strength of the people of the world to come together to protest against injustice. The season finale ‘Black Lives Matter’ will go down in history as one of the greatest movements of all time.
The heroes of 2020: healthcare and sanitation workers, charitable and responsible citizens, and educators played their roles exceptionally well. There was also some stellar acting from politicians who wrongly assured everybody that they had everything under control. Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un deserves a special mention for managing to convince me that he was dead when he actually wasn’t.
The worst part of 2020? Too much was going on at all times. There were riots and protests, a gas leak, the breakdown of the economy, the myth about journalistic integrity, millions of deaths, and a dramatically slowed down election. At one point there was even some shocking information about UFO sightings and just like that, it was never mentioned again. Sometimes it felt like the whole thing would never come to an end. Seasons like ‘August’ passed in a blur while others like ‘June’ seemed to go on forever. Watching 2020 if nothing else has been a masterclass in patience.
This isn’t to say that there was no saving grace for 2020. Schitt’s Creek won big at the Emmys; Kamala Harris became the first female Vice President of the USA. ‘Work from Home’ was fun at first, but dragged on longer than I would have liked. I particularly enjoyed the episodes ‘Nature Mends Itself’ and ‘One Last Time: Check Your Privilege.’
Despite its several flaws, 2020 is the kind of series that forces you to introspect. It tugs at your heartstrings and puts you in situations that would have otherwise seemed unimaginable. 2020 tests your self-restraint, attention span, and even your relationships. Most importantly, it teaches you the value of living every single moment to the fullest. After all, you never know when things might take a turn for the worse.
Should you watch 2020? Yes, and no. I would delete the whole existence of the show if I could but since I can’t, I have to admit that there is a lot you can take away from it. All I hope for now is that the sequel ‘2020+1’ will more than make up for its predecessor.