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My K-drama Notes
Not just K-dramas, but mostly K-dramas.
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Queen of Tears (2024)
On the surface this seems like just an ordinary romantic drama with an interesting premise. It turned out to be a master class in acting, editing, cinematography and (even) writing. I loved these characters and was genuinely sad to see it end.
What Worked
The two leads were amazing. Kim Soo-Hyun put in his best performance so far, and Kim Ji-Won did an excellent job making you like a character that was written to be cold and unlikeable. I'd say it was her best role, but you know My Liberation Notes was still better.
The rest of the cast was great too. Park Sung-hoon was great at playing the villain and making him both sympathetic and contemptible. Kwak Dong-yeon did an excellent job at turning the biggest idiot kid brother into someone you were cheering for at the end.
This drama, more than most, also did a standout job of using editing and film work to help set the mood for the story.
What Didn't Work
This show is as close to flawless as you can get. There are things that I wish they'd done differently, but those are more about taste than quality, because the show was excellent.
The Performances
The cast was excellent across the board. I've already mentioned the two leads. I could probably go through and say something nice about each actor, but that would be way too long. There were a few actors that were new to me that especially liked watching.
Yoon Bo-mi as "Secretary Bestie" Na Chae-yeo. This actor did an excellent job of grounding the scene and making Kim Ji-won's character more human and likable. She was also very funny on her own.
Lee Mi-sook as "Worst Mother Ever" Moh Seul-hee. The show didn't do much to explain the whys of her character, but Lee Mi-sook was so interesting to watch, that I mostly didn't care. Really good performance overall.
Kim Jung-nan as "Fighter Auntie" Hong Beom-ja. I had a hard time taking this character seriously at first, but the actor did a great job of showing you how much Beom-ja cared about her family, which made me start to care about the character. Alot of fun to watch (even if they should have given her a proper loveline at the end).
Jeon Bae-soo and Hwang Young-hee as "World's Best Parents (2024)." It would be hard to make Hyun-woo's parents unlikeable, since they get to be the moral center of the show in some ways, but it was also important to make them interesting in a cast of over the top characters. The actors did a good job with that, and I really enjoyed watching them play off the rest of the cast.
TL; DR:
If you like K-dramas you've probably already seen this. That being said, I like K-dramas and I still haven't watched this writer's other big hit Crash Landing on You, so it YMMV. Bottom line: it's your precious little life, choose wisely.
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Can't wait to see where this ends up in the comic!
more isi
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You Raise Me Up (2021)
This show is different. It's a short comedy-drama about a guy who is going through it.
In the first episode, the main lead (Yoon Shi Yoon as Do Young Shik) meets his high school sweetheart (Ahn Hee Yeon / Hani as Dr. Lee Ru Da) who is an erectile dysfunction doctor and is going to help fix him. Only not really. She is also going through it a bit because she keeps trying to break up with her current boyfriend who's a bit of a d-bag. He's a doctor at the clinic so she has to see him all the time. Ugh....
The two leads are pretty good with the humor and their chemistry is okay, though the show is definitely more of a comedy than a romance. The rest of the cast is a mixed bag, though Kim Seol Jin (who plays a trans-femme Shaman named "Jennifer") is pretty entertaining.
The show has a love triangle running throughout (which I hate), but the series is pretty short and there's not a whole lot of "Which one will she choose???" drama going on, so it was less offensive than most love triangles. That whole thing is more about how they both screwed up and should just admit it's broken and move on.
TL; DR:
If you like dick jokes, jokes about being a jobless loser, jokes about incompetent doctors, and seeing 30 year olds in bad wigs pretend to be in high school, then this show has you covered. The episodes and series are short enough that you can pick it up and give it a try without alot of investment, which I also appreciate.
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Death's Game (2023-24)
This is a smartly written show based on a webtoon that I have not read. The acting is top notch, and overall it is very effective and a quick watch. A few choices they made left me with some lingering questions...
What Worked
I liked the cast, especially the portrayal of Death by Park So-dam. I wouldn't say it's my favorite portrayal (*cough* Discworld *cough*), but the way Ms. So-dam managed to be both playful and pitiless, with a touch of someone weary of existence was interesting to watch.
And the way the clockwork pieces of the story came together at the end was also very satisfying, with the last two episodes making a touching coda.
What Didn't Work
I have quibbles. Not because the bad outweighed the good, but because the good parts made the "not so great" parts of the show stick out.
Much of the CGI was janky-af. There were goo-gah problems. The showrunners either didn't know how to use the effects budget properly, or they didn't have the right tools to do the job because there were scenes that threw me out. I assume (generously) that they were homages to something the webtoon did that the showrunners liked, but the CGI was not up to the task.
I also didn't like the terrible child abuse plotline. It was off-putting, and it didn't really add anything to the show.
Also, the metaphysics left me scratching my head in a few places. The overall message of the show is pretty good / standard existentialism, but trying to match that up with the "fire and brimstone" aesthetic they had going for Death frustrated me. It feels like they wanted to say that—even through suffering—existence is still worthwhile. But there was this fear of judgement and eternal damnation hanging over the main character the entire show that seemed to undercut that message. If existence is enough by itself, why do we need an afterlife of torment?
Maybe the webtoon fixes that problem, but the show did not.
Also, there were times when their message around suicide was confusing and a bit preachy. It's definitely a touchy issue in Korean culture though, so the fact that they're talking about it at all is something.
The Performances
Park So-dam as Death. The best part of the show, and that's saying alot because they brought in some good talent. I would have liked a few moments at the end of the show with some compassion or empathy from this character. Or at least having them show Death acknowledging the overall purpose behind their actions, but the performance itself was still great.
Seo In-guk as ("Confused Protagonist") Choi Yi-jae. Overall, the lead did a good job. I had some issues with the way Yi-jae was characterized at the beginning: he was angry and almost prideful towards Death, but somehow meek in his first life? How does that match up? This was more of a writing / show problem and could probably have been fixed if we'd had more time to get to know the character (which means more episodes).
Kim Mi-kyung as Yi-jae's (Tired) Mother. This is nothing new for Kim Mi-kyung, but still a good performance. This is another case where it would have helped if we had gotten to know the character before everything started to go bad, but a touching performance overall.
Go Youn-jung as ("Writer / Girlfriend") Lee Ji-su. I liked her alot in Moving and she was good here in a very different role. They gave her one solid episode where we got to know her, and it was really great. Again, more time at the start with her and Yi-jae would have made the show even better.
Lee Jae-wook as (MMA / Prisoner) Cho Tae-sang. Always fun to see this guy on the screen. I especially enjoyed the humor he brought to the crazy situation he was in.
Oh Jung-se as ("Old Detective") An Ji-hyeong. Another great actor knocking it out of the park. Oh Jung-se was the anchorman for this relay race, and he did a good job.
Kim Kang-hoon as ("Teenager in Crisis") Kwon Hyeok-su. This guy did such a good job that he legitimately felt like a younger version of Choi Yi-jae. Really good to watch, even if the situation / setting was kind of bleak.
Lee Do-hyun as ("Pretty Boy") Cho Tae-sang. Really good performance that walked the line in terms of story. Could easily have veered into off-putting territory. I won't spoil what happened, but there were layers to what he had to do to get the character to work, and he managed to hit all of them.
Kim Jae-wook as ("Creepy Painter") Jeong Gyu-cheol. Another actor that's just fun to watch. His character was terrible, but I couldn't take my eyes off him.
Kim Ji-hoon as ("The Worst CEO") Park Tae-woo. Very effective and menacing. The fact that I was actively rooting for the creepy serial killer, instead of the CEO, shows what a good actor he was. I feel like the writers could have made him a little less "mustache twirling evil", or else played up how he was evil as a businessman in addition to being a mass-murderer, but you can't have everything.
Everyone else. The teenage bullies did a good job. The Evil Parents of an Infant were very effective and I pray their agents got them another role ASAP so people can forget they did this. All the other side characters and minor roles were good. Basically, good casting + good acting across the board.
TL; DR:
Grimdark to its core. The acting overall was great and there are some hidden depths as far as the writing goes. Not a perfect show, but definitely give it a try if you find the premise even a little interesting.
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Bubble Tea and Cigarettes - Santa Monica
This video has been living rent free in my head this week, for some reason.
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Tell Me That You Love Me (2023-24)
This is an okay show with good actors and a nice premise. But it was very slow and I could sense a rough ending coming on, so I stopped it at episode 9, which was a relatively happy point.
The Good
The two leads are great, especially Jung Woo-sung, who plays a deaf painter who spends some of his time teaching art to deaf students. The show had some good moments of seeing the world the way deaf people see it, and it was beautifully shot as well. Shin Hyun-been, who played the female lead, also did a good job, though her character was a little bland sometimes.
There were good supporting actors, and I was very happy to see Park Jin-joo who played the fun bestie, and Kim Mi-kyung playing (yet another) strong, but disappointed mother.
The Bad
This show was meant to be "slice of life", but the pacing was very rough at times. On top of that, much of the time was spent getting to know the deaf characters, which was great, but it also meant you had to pay attention to see what they were doing—when the show had them doing so many uninteresting things.
The love-line was very meh, and then they brought in an "ex-GF with a dark history" midway through the show and I just lost interest. I would rather have had a show with the bar owner Bestie and his wife just living their lives than most of what was happening in the drama.
TL; DR:
There wasn't anything really bad about the show. At its worst, it felt like an afterschool special, and I loved seeing Deaf culture on screen. But they needed more of a story than they gave us.
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It took me a minute but yeah!
I have a very rough idea in my head that I don't think I can clearly articulate beyond "And that concludes tonight's reports on German air forc—WHAT'S THIS? IT'S KING ARTHUR WITH A STEEL CHAIR"
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Marry My Husband (2024)
This show is not perfect, and it is certainly not Perfect Marriage Revenge, but it does have its charms.
What Worked
Like that other show about a time traveling wife who was betrayed by her family and goes back in time to get her revenge, this show was good because of its villains. Song Ha-yoon who plays the evil best friend Jung Soo-min was the most fun to watch of the baddies. She was believably bad while pretending to be nice, and watching her spiral out of control over the course of the series was a treat.
The show also made the most of its side characters, giving them interesting plots and bringing in a solid cast. I especially loved watching young actor Choi Gyu-ri bring this delightful manic energy to Yoo Hui-yeon (the younger sister / bestie). I could have used more scenes with her, and hopefully she'll break into a lead role in a future series.
What DIdn't Work
Though it had a solid final two episodes, the show sagged a bit in the last third. They brought in an evil-ex fiance character that just wasn't interesting to watch.
Also, there were a few moments where the show went from "Over the Top" to "Completely Unbelievable". Like the end of episode 13 (aka the "slowest truck of doom ever") and the end of episode 14 (aka "WTF Ji-won, don't just stand there, Kick him in the nuts, FFS!").
The Performances
Park Min-Young as ("Time Traveling Wife") Kang Ji-won. I've been kind of disappointed in PMY's choices lately, so it was nice to see her in a somewhat better role. There were moments when I felt pathos, or enjoyed the romance, but not that many. Mostly, it was the moments in the show where she got to be angry—and even a little ruthless—that I remember. Which is part of the appeal for any good revenge show.
Na In-woo as ("Future CEO") Yoo Ji-hyuk. I think he was a little wooden in this, but alot of that was the writing. The show was really focused on the FL and on her relationships, and it didn't have much space for him. I didn't really mind that, but it did make those few moments where he got to cut loose a little (like the ice cream scene) more memorable.
Lee Yi-kyung as ("The terrible ex-") Park Min-hwan. This guy was great at playing a mediocre man completely out of his depth. He was like one of those clown punching bags that just pop right up after you hit them. And it was fun watching him get beaten down and come right back up for more.
Song Ha-yoon as ("The evil bestie") Jung Soo-min. I liked watching her slowly get more evil and more crazy as the show went on. The actor did a great job making her contemptible, while pretending to be kind and thoughtful.
Lee Ji-kwang as ("The chef") Baek Eun-ho. Probably the most sympathetic character in the show. He just wants to run his restaurant and feed all his friends and get a cute girlfriend and all of these crazy people keep coming in and messing with things. Would have liked to see more of him, and his loveline, but what we got was nice.
Choi Gyu-ri as ("The Best Sister in the World") Yoo Hui-yeon. This actor had golden retriever energy and it was so much fun watching her in the middle of this craziness. I want to see an entire show with her just running around living her best life. We needed more of Hui-yeon and chef's story than we got, for sure.
Gong Min-jeung as ("Sad boss") Assistant Manager Yang. I've seen this actor a few times and I always enjoy her, though they rarely give her a good loveline. She got a pretty decent one here, despite all the other crazy stuff that happened, so that was nice. Again, could have used a few more scenes with her and Lee Seok-joon.
Ha Do-kwon as ("The Salaryman") Lawyer Lee Seok-joon. He did a good job bringing some gravity to this crazy show. Was able to be funny too (in a Butler Jeeves kind of way). Not enough time spent on him and Manager Yang's story, but what we got was good.
BoA as ("The Evil Ex-") Oh Yu-ra. This character felt more like a plot device than anything. There were a few moments where she could have felt menacing or crazy, but I don't think the actor was quite up to it. They needed to cast a real Mean Girl, but they didn't have enough story for that kind of character.
Ha Do-kwon as ("Bad Manager") Lee Seok-joon. They brought in a really good character actor and this guy made the most of the part. He felt like someone I could have met in real life, and I despised him. Which means the actor did a great job.
Everyone Else. The high school bully girls were fun to watch. Yang's husband did an okay job being despicable. The judo teammates were funny. Even the grandfather had a couple of good moments. Show did a good job taking care of its minor characters.
TL; DR:
If you liked Perfect Marriage Revenge, you'll probably like this too (and vice-versa). It's different enough that you don't feel like you're watching the same show twice. It's also not quite as good as that other show, which means people likely judged it a little harder than they otherwise might have done.
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A Killer Paradox (2024)
The premise for this show is wild! It's like Dexter crossed with (the TV version) of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and it feels like it's in conversation with Taxi Driver 1. Also, it's got Choi Woo-shik and Son Suk-ku chewing gum and kicking butt for the entire series.
Once I got past the first few episodes, and things quieted down a little, the show felt very similar to other noir type thrillers, though better done than most. The characters were familiar, without being boring or cliché, and the ending was overall very good.
TL; DR: Would recommend to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of the old ultra-violence on their screen. Show is fun and thought-provoking, which is a rare mix.
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Soundtrack #1 (2022)
Short, sweet, a little bland, this four hour drama is a good break after a more serious show. But it does lean heavy into some tropes.
What Worked
The casting was great and the two leads seemed comfortable around each other, like people who really knew each other. The flashbacks and little pieces of backstory helped with that, and the writers did a good job at creating a little angst.
What Didn't Work
There were some petty / jealous moments I didn't like. It was meant to show that their feelings had changed, but it just made them seem a little unlikeable. Also, while the relationship felt comfortable, it didn't have alot of heat or spiciness. It made for a believable relationship, but it was a little dull at times.
Also, the whole conceit about how this was about songwriting or whatever, just seemed a little too on the nose.
The Performances
Everyone was okay. The show was more about looks and vibes than acting.
TL; DR:
A cute little show to put on while you do something else. Just don't expect anything too deep or memorable.
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A Time Called You (2023)
Like an extra long cassette tape from a 90s k-pop icon, this show is chock full of references I will never understand. I liked it though...
At first glance, the show seems to be about brain-bending time travel shenanigans. But it's really about nostalgia, and the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. Especially when that story turns sad and dark. It's also about the lies depression tells the person who is suffering from it.
And there's a murder mystery, which I'm not fond of, but whatever.
What Worked
Show is great at evoking nostalgia. I wasn't a teenager in Korea in the late 90s, but somehow the show made me feel like I was there. It works in the same way that a movie shot in New York makes you miss autumn in NYC, even if you've never been there. When the lights are on and the camera starts rolling, for a little while you get a chance to see the world the way the photographer sees it, and it's magical.
But the closer the show got to the present, the less magical the world seemed. Some of that was intentional, for sure. This was very effective, especially when combined with the score and the cast, but it left me feeling a little hollow at the end of the series.
What Didn't Work
I just don't like murder mysteries in the middle of my romance shows. Even if the romance is more about the romance of the past than about the relationships inside the show. In fact, that's one of the reason why the love "triangle" didn't annoy me as much, show was more about the writer using the characters to show / talk through some things than about the characters or their relationships.
Also, the ending was very rough. It wasn't exactly tacked on, as you could see the direction they were taking the sad girl main character, but still not super cheerful. I liked the message that came out of that ending though.
The Performances
Everyone was pretty good. But the show was definitely more about the writing and the direction (and the sound/music) than about any one performer. I liked the cast, but didn't really love any of them.
TL; DR:
Show was good. It went a little dark in places, but it also had some hidden depths. I'm very interested in seeing the Taiwan drama this was based on. But if you can't / don't wanna watch that, this version is still good.
#my kdrama notes#a time called you#i hate love triangles#but this was okay#into your room#theres a murder in my romance again#oof depression sucks
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Reborn Rich (2022)
Rejected taglines:
To Eat the Rich, you must first become one of them...
It's like Succession, but with time travel!
Want to relive the 90s in Korea? Watch this show!
Want to learn about the 90s in Korea? Watch this show!
Watch this show! It's pretty good!
What Worked
The premise is great. Hardworking, loyal, low-level henchman is betrayed and murdered(?) by EvilCorp. Then he wakes up as the youngest member of the family that owns.... EvilCorp. He spends the next 20 years trying to both take over EvilCorp, and make the Corp. slightly less Evil. With mixed success.
Even better is how the writers weaved all the major events of the time in a way that was believable. Once the show got going, the rhythm and the plot kept me hooked.
Show reminded me of Hot Stove League in the way it had the smart protagonist spending each new episode overcoming an obstacle, only to have to face an even tougher challenge moving into the next episode. Except the writing was smarter, the characters had more layers, and the acting was just a touch better.
What Didn't Work
The loveline was very meh. Show also spent alot of time setting up the clever storyline, which meant the relationships were a little uneven. Some were very interesting, especially between Lee Sung-min who played the grandfather, and everyone else. But others like the rivalry between the grandkids were less developed.
The Performances
Song Joong-ki was great when he played the "too clever" grandson Jin Do-jun, especially once he started trying to mess with the other members of the family. And towards the end of the show when he started to win (kind of) and started reckoning the cost to both himself and his grandfather.
Lee Sung-min was exceptional as the Chaebol grandad. I completely bought into him and Sung-min did a great job making me see things from his character's perspective. Even as you realize how warped and messed up that perspective is.
Shin Hyun-been played the prosecutor Seo Min-young. I loved her in Hospital Playlist, and she did a good job with what she was given, but they spent alot of time giving her not much to do. Also, she didn't have that much chemistry with the other lead, Song Joong-ki.
Park Ji-hyun who played the Art Director (and grand-daughter in-law of the family), Mo Hyun-min was fascinating. She was maybe the smartest of the entire clan, in terms of understanding people, and I was always interested in finding out what she was going to do next.
Everyone else. Everyone else was pretty good. The show made sure to give something even to the minor characters, and I especially loved the (not so subtle) references to real events.
TL; DR:
Show is smartly written with good acting. It's definitely more of a "brainy thriller" than a "fighty thriller", which makes the moments of action really stand out. Just don't go in expecting a timeless love story.
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The Glory (2022-23)
This show is very good television, and I when I finally got to it, I binged the heck out of it. But I do have some questions.
What Worked
As a revenge story, this is almost without peer. The villains are despicable and you love to hate them. Like Count of Monte Cristo, everything bad that happens to them feels both deserved and (in some fashion) self-inflicted. And their endings feel inevitable, somehow.
To put it simply, the villains make this show work. When they're good, the show is good. When they're written lazily, or for shock value, or as a cartoon, then the show is less good.
What Didn't Work
Like Count of Monte Cristo and similar stories, some of the antagonists were more compelling than others, and there are times when the writer is judging them harsher than they deserve. Which takes some of the enjoyment out of what happens to them.
The worst example is probably "the druggie", Lee Sa-ra, who is written like a hoodlum in a 50s "reefer madness" movie. Just a few moments of compassion, or an effort to humanize her (even a little) would have gone a long way.
There were also a few scenes where the sex and/or violence went too far and felt gratuitous. For me, these were more puzzling than off-putting, and it wasn't enough to make me dislike the show, but it did bring me out of the show a little.
The Performances
This is the best performance I've seen from Song Hye-kyo. She's always been interesting to watch (and not just aesthetically), but her acting has a tendency to be a little wooden. It helped that the character was written to be a stoic, but she managed to bring depth and subtlety to her role as well.
Lim Ji-yeon, who played the lead bully, was mesmerizing and stole every scene she was in. The villain usually has the most fun in these types of shows, but Ji-yeon managed to make a character who is normally the "spoiled princess" feel genuinely scary. Shin Ye-eun, who played the younger version of this character was very good, and very well cast.
Yeom Hye-ran who played the housekeeper turned spy Kang Hyeon-nam, was another standout. I loved her in Uncanny Counter but this is probably the best role of hers that I've seen.
Everyone else. The cast did a very good job all around, and I'm sure everyone has their favorites. I'm not going to name check them all, but there were no weak links.
TL; DR:
The show is hyped for a reason. If you're in the mood to watch some bad people get punished, this is definitely for you.
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Perfect Marriage Revenge (2023)
This show does exactly what it says on the tin, and I appreciated that.
The writer seemed to know exactly the tone they were going for: a little sweet, a little campy, very over the top, and antagonists with no redeeming qualities. And everyone executed on it. I get bored easily with these kind of soapy makjang dramas, but was rarely bored, and I never felt like they were wasting my time.
I don't really feel like picking this show apart too much. Everyone on it seemed to be on the same page, and they just made a great piece of entertainment. I loved the two leads, but the rest of the cast was solid and everyone had their moments. Even the baddies—especially the evil stepmom baddie.
TL; DR:
I've you've been curious about these kind of crazy soapy K-dramas, and you don't know where to start, this show is a good place to start.
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Castaway Diva (2023)
This show was never going to be my favorite Park Eun-bin drama, but I couldn't even finish it. I'm not sure if I'm more disappointed in the show, or myself...
If you haven't seen it. Basically Park Eun-bin's character runs away from an abusive situation and ends up trapped on an island for 15 years. Then one day she gets rescued, and soon after meets up with a pop star idol who has fallen on hard times.
The Good
Park Eun-bin! She's still fun to watch. The parts with her singing and dancing with Kim Hyo-jin were great! They were so cute! The stuff in the first episode with the child actors was excellent as well (and also very sad / scary). It was also fun in the first few episodes where Cha Hak-yeon was explaining everything that had happened since Mok-ha was trapped on the island.
I also enjoyed all the pop-star musical numbers. They were the only reason to keep watching, in my opinion.
The Bad
The story doesn't make any sense! It's not Castaway, which is probably a good thing, but it's also got alot of elements that seem to be thrown in just because the writer felt like it.
The Corporate Business Antics of Doom are what really turned me away from the show. How evil is the CEO meant to be? At first you think a 5/10 on the Scale of Evil, then you learn more about the Big Dumb Contract and you think, maybe 8/10? And then you (or at least I) start thinking about how that Big Dumb Contract would actually work and there's no way that contract exists IRL, and soon the whole plotline stops making sense.
The Ugly
Is this bad or ugly? Anyways that entire secret identity / "Who's the Real Ki-ho" plotline was bad, and ugly. And that was before they turned it into a love triangle, which I also hate. Nothing there made sense either. [Insert: Kermit-flail.gif]
Why is everyone from their island so terrible? What was the point of Eun-bin's accent? Why is it that Ran-joo is supposed to be rich and talented at one point, but she can't afford to get a good lawyer to just make the CEO pay her what she's owed? Why do they have to do that weird, stupid sell millions of records plotline instead? Why??
TL; DR:
This show left me with alot of questions, but I don't think I'll get any of the answers I'm looking for. I'll still be catching Park Eun-bin's next show, whenever that comes out.
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Itaewon Class (2020)
Is this a good show? Yes. Did I get bored in the middle and stop watching it? Also yes.
The Good
The cast is amazing. Park Seo-joon acts his stoic little heart out as this working class hero hellbent on revenge against these upper class bastards who killed his dad. Ahn Bo-hyun plays this entitled rich kid in a way that seems real and interesting, while still being contemptible. Yoo Jae-myung plays the worst CEO villain ever. And Kim Da-mi does an amazing job playing a damaged love interest who is maybe the most fascinating character in the show.
The Bad
The show sags in the middle. The "business rivalry" plotline doesn't make sense, is never explained, and seems to just throw up obstacles that we don't care about in order to make the show last longer. The CEO villain goes from greedy corporate baddy to potential serial killer type baddy, and the acting for that was good, but I wasn't sure where they were going with that. Which is kind of why I stopped watching.
The Ugly
The show's heart is in the right place for some of the issues it wants to talk about: Black Koreans (they exist!), Trans people (they exist too!), class divides (they're real, and you can't just work harder to get past them), but the execution sometimes didn't work for me. And that's okay I guess.
TL; DR:
This show is a good revenge show that kind of lost its place in the middle. It's worth a shot just because the cast is so cool, but don't feel bad if you can't finish it.
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Mystic Pop-up Bar (2020)
This show seemed like my kind of thing. A weird urban fantasy vibe with some webtoon antics. But it just didn't work for me. I think the cartoon-ish vibes in the middle of the series just threw me.
I wish I had more to say about it. Overall, it's an okay show that wasn't bad enough to be memorable, but wasn't quite good enough to make me want to finish it.
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