Comment on this episode on our website at KDramaChat.com!

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 2 of See You In My 19th Life, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Ban Ji-eum, Ahn Bo-hyun as Moon Seo-ha, Ha Yoon-kyung as Yoon Cho-won, and Ahn Dong-goo as Ha Do-yoon. We discuss:

• The songs we heard during the recap:
  • Horo by Go Go King
  • Star by Colde
• How we rewatch the first few episodes of a show to truly understand the show.
• Comments from listeners on the blog.
• The differences between transmigration, regression and reincarnation.
• We wonder why Ban Ji-eum says her 18th life is her most memorable and why she remembers her memories from her previous lives
• How Ban Ji-eum finds Moon Seo-ha in trouble, grabs his hand, tells him to run and then later asks him to marry her; she does this as a 9 year old and now as a 24-year old.
• The 3 proposals in the show: 1 by Moon Seo-ha and 2 by Ban Ji-eum
• We learn a lot about the relationships between the character through Lee Ji-seok, the son of the Daehwan Group Chairman.
• Why Moon Seo-ha ultimately gave Ban Ji-eum a job at the hotel.
• How Moon Seo-ha remembered Ban Ji-eum from his past and how he kept the handkerchief that she had used to tie up his bleeding hand.
• How Ha Do-yoon seems to be a spy for Seo-ha’s father, the Chairman of MI Group.
• The many encounters between the sisters in this episode and how Ban Ji-eum wonders what Yoon Cho-won’s feelings are toward Moon Seo-ha.
• How the MI Grand Hotel CEO Jang Yeon-ok was having an affair with Seo-ha’s father when his mother was sick!
• When Moon Se-ha lays the flowers at the grave of Yoon Jo-won, Ban Ji-eum, for the first time, realizes the pain of the people she has left behind during her many lives.
• The many K Drama elements in this episode, including the many flowers we see and the wrist grabs.
• Our 2 new elements: the gay teasing element, and the long wait for love.
• The amazing Park So-yi, the young actress who plays a young Ban Ji-eum; we love her!

References

• The Difference Between Transmigration, Regress and Reincarnation
• Go Go King on Spotify
• Colde on Spotify

Comment on this episode by going to KDramaChat.com

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 1 of See You In My 19th Life, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Ban Ji-eum, Ahn Bo-hyun as Moon Seo-ha, Ha Yoon-kyung as Yoon Cho-won, Ahn Dong-goo as Ha Do-yoon, and Cha Chung-hwa as Kim Ae-kyung. We discuss:

• The songs we featured in this episode:
  • Remember by Kim Jin ah
  • Silence by Sunwoo jung-a
• The reaction of our listeners to our choice of show for Season 10
• The characters we first get introduced to: Ban Ji-eum, Moon Seo-ha, Ha Do-yoon and Kim Ae-kyung.
• The concept of reincarnation.
• The Korean concept of inyeon, which roughly translates to providence or fate.
• The three elements of flamenco.
• When Kim Ae-kyung began to believe that Ban Ji-eum was the reincarnation of her uncle.
• The story of how Yoon Ju-won met Seo ha, got to know him, and died on his birthday.
• Ban Ji-eum’s mission to see if Moon Seo-ha is alive and ultimately be with him.
• The ages of our characters in the different timeframes.
• The importance of pools to Moon Seo-ha.
• How Ban Ji-eum finally meets Moon Seo-ha at the MI Grand Hotel and later applies for a job.
• Ban Ji-eum’s audacity in asking Moon Seo-ha if he would date her.
• How we have so many K Drama elements in this episode!
• The shows we’re watching now.

Season 10 is off to a great start! Thanks for listening! 

References

• Sunwoo Jung-a on Spotify
• Kim Jin-a on Spotify
• On Reincarnation
• The Symbols of Longevity in Korean Art and Culture – ArtinKo
• The Turtle Ship - NCTAsia
• Past Lives: This untranslatable Korean word for eternal love has ancient Buddhist roots

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 6, the finale, of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryon as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• How we appreciated the listeners who sent in their recommendations for Season 10 by sending us voice recordings, and sending us emails or messages.
• How the Crown Prince showed himself to be a different kind of leader when he refused to sacrifice the soldiers to save himself.
• The plan to lure the zombies to the lake by the rear garden is a risky one because the timing has to be just right. In the end, the Crown Prince pounds on the ice with his hands and then uses the zombie giant to finally break the ice.
• The miracle that allowed the Crown Prince and a few of his men to be saved when they fell in the water.
• The amazing Seo-bi, who manages to escape the main hall with the baby prince by using fire and her wits.
• When the Crown Prince and his men open up the palace gates, the Head Scholar says the baby prince must be found and killed so there won’t be chaos in the country.
• When the Crown Prince finds Seo-bi and the baby, Seo-bi assures him that the baby won’t turn into a monster. The prince makes the important decision to save the baby, name him the legitimate heir, and erase himself from the history books. We discuss WHEN and WHY the Crown Prince decides to do this.
• The amazing cinematography during the battle at the lake and when the Crown Prince walks away from the throne.
• In the future, we see that the country is freed from zombies once Spring comes, and the young king is being prepared by his wise teachers and guides.
• The Joseon Dynasty annals, which are so detailed, and from which so many historical K Dramas draw inspiration from.
• The Crown Prince, now just Lee Chang, along with Seo-bi and a few soldiers, continue to look for the origins of the resurrection plant. They come across the plant in other parts of the country, and then find zombies! Who is behind the continuing spread of this plague?
• The ending of the show shows the mysterious figure of a woman and a worm snaking across the young king’s face.
• The K Drama elements we saw in this episode, including crying, and protecting someone at personal cost to yourself.
• The addition of two elements to our list: a water scene and asking someone to speak casually to you.
• Mapping Kingdom to the stages of the Hero’s Journey framework. Turns out the show is quite true to the framework!
• Our final thoughts about this amazing K Drama!
• The decision-making process that went into the show that we will recap and analyze in Season 10 of K Drama Chat! (You have to listen to find out the show!).

Listeners, we want to know what you think of our choice for Season 10! Please comment on the blog at KDramaChat.com!

References

• Royal Portraits in the Late Joseon Period
• Jeonju During the Joseon Dynasty
• Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty - Wikipedia
• CLOY: The Real Ending

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 5 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• Joanna’s trip to Italy during the week of Thanksgiving and her Italian language journey.
• Sung Hee's Korean language journey.
• How the Crown Prince asks the soldiers from Mungyeong Saejae to remain loyal to him, even though their families are about to be executed.
• How the military training commander appeared to have betrayed the Crown Prince by telling the palace that the Crown Prince was at the Scholarly Institute, but in reality, the military training commander had shared Lee Seung Hui’s medical journal with the Minister of War and lured the palace guards to the Scholarly Institute where the Crown Prince would NOT be.
• Meanwhile, the Crown Prince arrives at the palace, lets his presence be known, and locks all the gates of the palace, thereby shutting out the Queen’s guards.
• How the Crown Prince, in his mourner’s outfit and peasant straw hat, looked so noble and kingly as he strode into the palace.
• How Cho Beom Pal could not bring himself to order the execution of the soldiers’ families, but he is saved by the arrival of the Crown Prince, who orders the prisoners freed.
• We speculate about whether or not the Crown Prince intends to take the throne.
• How the tide turns in favor of the Prince, as more people switch over and swear their loyalty to him, including the Minister of War, the former commander of the Royal Commandery Division, and the court ministers.
• How the Queen Consort does not seem bothered by the arrival of the Crown Prince. We speculate about her state of mind and think she’s about to burn the palace down because she knows she’s lost to the Crown Prince and she will either be banished or executed.
• The Queen’s head court lady releases the zombies from the dungeon, thereby instigating a killing spree and the creation of a zombie horde in the palace.
• The Crown Prince and his men put up a good fight, as do others in the palace, but they can’t fight against the zombie horde.
• The episode ends with the Crown Prince and a few men on one side of a gate, with hundreds of zombies banging on the other side. Seo-bi, meanwhile, is locked in the main hall with the Queen, the baby Prince, and a few soldiers.
• We list the shows that we are considering for Season 10 of K Drama Chat.
• 5 listeners shared their favorites via audio and we share them on the podcast!

References

• Baekjeong - Wikipedia.
• Seal of the Emperor: The Symbol of the Korea Empire

Comment on this week’s episode by visiting our blog at KDramaChat.com!

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 4 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring  Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• We learn the story behind the beef pancakes and how the Crown Prince asked for Mu Yeong’s loyalty to the very end in return for allowing Mu Yeong to steal from the royal meals.
• How the amazing Seo bi saves Cho Hak ju by figuring out that the zombies are afraid of water.
• The meaning of the tolling of bells in Korean culture.
• The Crown Prince makes it to Naeseonjae and saves Mu Yeong’s wife. Later, Young shin guides Seo bi to the Scholarly Institute to care for Mu Yeong’s wife. 
• Cho Hak ju visits his daughter, the Queen Consort, and asks Seo bi to check the Queen’s pulse. Seo bi confirms that the Queen did not deliver the baby boy in her arms.
• Cho Hak ju says the Queen must die for her treachery against the Haewon Cho clan and the nation, but the Queen has other plans because she poisoned her father and he dies!
• We learn that the Queen and Cheo Bom Il conspired to fake the Queen’s pregnancy when she miscarried. They vowed to keep the fake pregnancy a secret from their father.
• Turns out the Queen is the scariest person in the palace! 
• The Queen throws Seo bi into the palace dungeon and tells her to keep studying the zombies.
• The Crown Prince visits his uncle on Ganghwa Island and asks Young shin why he continues to be loyal to him, the Crown Prince.
• We have a new K Drama element: when a character asks another character to stay with them. In this episode, the Crown Prince asks Mu Yeong to stay with him until the end, and the Queen asks Cho Beom Pal to stay with her and her baby boy.
• The different types of palace guards, their training, and how they were picked.
• We’re looking for suggestions for Season 10 of K Drama Chat!

References

• Joseon Army - Wikipedia.
• Wanggung Sumunjang - Wikipedia

Listeners, we apologize that Joanna’s audio is not as good as normal. She was traveling and had to record this episode on her phone.

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 3 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• The timeline of the queen’s evil plan to get a baby boy. We have differing opinions about when it all began!
• We also disagree about when we think Mu Yeong started spying on the Crown Prince for Cho Beom Il.
• What happened three years ago when Cho Hak ju asked Lord Ahn to take the patients in the Sumang Village leper colony, kill them, and turn them into zombies to fight the Japanese army. 
• Lord Ahn agreed to the plan but he has regretted it ever since.
• How this show is an exploration of the lines that we cross and don’t dare cross to protect our families, communities, and nation.
• Whether or not Young shin knew the truth about what happened to his brother in Sumang Village.
• The Crown Prince’s impassioned speech to the soldiers at Mungyeong Saejae, whose loyalty he wants.
• The Crown Prince’s commitment to save the people trapped in the citadel of Sangju by delivering food to them.
• We now know that Mu Yeong is the traitor because he has taken Cho Hak ju and is rushing him to Hanyang.
• Seo bi’s suspicion that something is very wrong with the Queen and her pregnancy because the Queen had Cho Beom Pal bring her sappanwood from Japan. Sappanwood is known to stop bleeding after a miscarriage.
• The soldiers who take Cho Hak ju and kill Mu Yeong.
• The Crown Prince’s grief over losing Mu Yeong. When Young shin asks the Crown Prince why he did nothing about Mu Yeong’s betrayal, the Crown Prince said he didn’t want to lose someone else. 
• By the end of this episode, the Crown Prince has lost the three most important men in his life: his father, Lord Ahn, and Mu Yeong AND beheaded two of these men.
• How the head of the Royal Commandery Division is arrested and punished for daring to barge into the Royal Delivery area.
• Mu Yeong’s motivations in betraying the Crown Prince.
• Why Young shin continues to stay with the Crown Prince.
• The filming locations for Kingdom.

References

• Kingdom Filming Locations
• Visit Changdeokgung, the Filming Site of Netflix's Kingdom
• Netflix's Kingdom: Where Was the Korean Show Filmed?
• Changdeokgung - Wikipedia
• Changgyeonggung - Wikipedia
• Leprosy on Wikipedia

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 2 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• How this episode is full of betrayal: someone betrayed the Crown Prince, Cho Hak ju betrays Lord Ahn, and the Queen Consort betrays her father and the rest of the Haewon Cho clan
• How Seo-bi violated our rule of never opening mysterious chests without knowing that what’s inside is a friendly person or a cute, furry animal.
• How the Crown Prince must kill his zombie father, thereby honoring his father’s words to him from so long ago: Stay alive!
• We learn more about what happened three years ago and we learn that Lord Ahn has deeply regretted his decision to create zombies ever since.
• Cho Hak ju had Lord Ahn killed, something that the soldiers do with hesitation, given that Lord Ahn is a national war hero. So now, the Crown Prince’s mentor and guide has left him.
• Lord Ahn makes himself a weapon against Cho Hak ju when he asks the Crown Prince to turn him into a zombie.
• Back at Hanyang, the Minister of War orders the queen’s residence searched and the soldiers discover the bodies of seven mothers and babies. Curiously, the baby boy died of natural causes, while the baby girls were strangled to death.
• The court officials debate the line of succession in light of the king’s death when the head eunuch announces that the Queen Consort has gone into labor.
• The Queen, of course, is not in labor, but waiting for a baby boy to be born.
• The ID tags that all men over the age of 18 carried around during the Joseon dynasty.
• The desire for revenge by Young shin and Lord Ahn’s men, which leads them to try and take down Cho Hak ju when they are taken out of their jail cell to be transported to Hanyang.
• We wonder where Mu Yeong is.
• The crazy ending where the zombie Lord Ahn takes a chunk out of Cho Hak ju’s left cheek!
• The K Drama elements in this episode, including the Crown Prince sinking to the ground with great emotion, and the queen’s amazing abs in episode 1 of season 2.
• The enduring popularity of zombies, from around the world!
• How Korean zombies are different from Western dramas in that they often focus on the relationships between the humans and the zombies.

References

• Worn Identity, or information about the ID tags worn by people during the Joseon dynasty
• King Cheoljong and his family, who were banished to Ganghwa Island
• 30 Zombie TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer
• The Last Of Us: A Closer Look at the Zombie Genre

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 1 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• The Kingdom wiki that Joanna discovered!
• How we start to learn what happened in Sangju three years earlier and the roles that Cho Hak ju and Lord Ahn played. We wonder if Lord  Ahn has regrets over his decisions at the time.
• Deok Sung’s act of sacrifice and how Young shin gave him his dignity by killing him.
• The Crown Prince’s suspicion that Mu Young is the traitor working for Cho Hak ju.
• The moral dilemmas in this show that ask us just how far we’ll go to save our loved ones.
• How Seo bi and Cho Beom Pal make it to Mungyeong Saejae and are given shelter because Cho Beom Pal is a member of the Haewo Cho clan. We also find out that Cho Beom Pal is now the heir to the clan.
• The palace guards are on to the Queen’s evil plot to get a baby boy, but she’s counting on her baby boy to protect her.
• How the Crown Prince has decided to travel to Mungyeong Saejae and kill Cho Hak ju. Cho Hak ju is in Sangju to kill the Crown Prince.
• How extreme crisis can push people to do extreme things they didn’t know was possible.
• The actress Kim Hye-jun, who plays the Queen Consort.

References

• Kingdom wiki
• Crash Landing On You wiki
• Open Source Wiki Software
• Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) - Wikipedia
• About - Aftermath of the East Asian War of 1592-1598

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 6 of Season 1 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryon as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• How Season 2 of Kingdom dropped at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic - crazy!
• The power struggle between Chief State Councilor Cho Hak ju and the Queen Consort.
• How Lord Ahn put himself squarely in the Crown Prince’s camp when his archers shot the palace guards.
• How the Crown Prince seems like a new person. He’s determined and confident when he strikes down the chief palace guard.
• Who might be the traitor among the Crown Prince’s companions?
• The thousands of people amassing at the southern gates of Sangju. The magistrate doesn’t want to let them in, but the Crown Prince decides that the magistrate is NOT the person to make that decision.
• The Crown Prince’s plan to protect Sangju by taking advantage of the bodies of water surrounding Sangju.
• The Queen’s evil plan to have a baby boy by taking pregnant, peasant women and waiting for one of them to have a boy. The queen is not pregnant after all!
• Joanna’s theory that the queen might have had a miscarriage or gotten her period the day she asked her head court lady to burn her clothes because they had blood on them.
• How the queen punished the court lady who gossiped about her clothing.
• Why Cho Hak ju left Hanyang to go to Mungyeong Saejae, why he’s traveling with a zombie, and what his plans might be regarding the Crown Prince.
• How Seo bi finds the resurrection plant in the Frozen Valley close to Sangju. But while in the cave, she and Cheo Beom Pal are trapped by zombies, who have come out during the day! Seo bi realizes that it's the temperature, not the day and night, that controls when the zombies come out.
• How the Crown Prince and the men have an uneventful evening, but come morning, when they think they have a day’s respite, they realize that a zombie horde is coming!
• The versatile Kim Sung-kyu, the actor who plays Young shin

Next week, we will start Season 2 of Kingdom!

References

• COVID 19 from the US Centers for Disease Control
• Forbes review of Kingdom from March 2020

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 5 of Season 1 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring  Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

• K Drama Chat is featured in this month’s episode of Asian American Life from CUNY-TV! Check us out at the 10:30 mark (see link below).
• The Korean concept of Han, which is uniquely Korean and represents a emotion that is a form of resentment and hatred.
• The geography of Joseon so that we can understand the context of this episode. The Crown Prince starts in Dongnae, which was in the southeast corner of Gyeongsang Province. He was traveling to Sangju, which was in the northwestern corner of Gyeongsang. Dongnae is located in what is now Busan.
• How the Five Armies closed the gates of the mountain garrison of Mungyeong Saejae, aka Joryeong.
• How the Crown Prince wanted to be different from those who abandoned the weak. He blames himself for the deaths of the villagers, but Seo bi and Mu Young see a brave and noble prince who is risking his life for ordinary people.
• How Lord Ahn and his men show up at the pivotal moment when the Crown Prince and his crew are attacked by the village men AND the zombies.
• We learn that Lord Ahn was the prince’s teacher when he was young. Lord Ahn taught him and supported him, but also told him that he had to fend for himself AND fight injustice. Lord Ahn means so much to the prince!
• We learn more about Youngshin and his background. He is probably a member of the chakho, or the elite group that hunts tigers. He used to live in Sangju, but left during the Imjin War and even left his little brother behind.
• The evil Cho Hak ju is conducting experiments on prisoners and a mysterious noble has taken in pregnant, peasant women and is giving them shelter and food! The group includes Mu Young’s wife!
• The Queen Consort declares herself Regent, but we know that Cho Hak ju is now running the country.
• Ryu Seung-ryong, the actor who plays Cho Hak ju.

References

• Asian American Life episode featuring K Drama Chat at the 10:30 mark
• 8 Provinces of Korea during the Joseon dynasty on Wikipedia
• 8 Provinces of Korea, including where Sangju and Hanyang are located
• Crash Landing On You to be remade with Netflix USA
• Mungyeong Saejae - Wikipedia
• There's a uniquely Korean word for rage and regret. So why had I never heard of it?
• Han (cultural) - Wikipedia
• Sexagenary cycle - Wikipedia

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