K Drama Chat

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 11 and 12 of Queen of Tears, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Kim Ji-won as Hong Hae-in, Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Hyun-woo, Park Sung-hoon as Yoon Eun-Seong, Kwak Dong-Yeon as Hong Soo-cheol, and Lee Joo-bin as Cheon Da-Hye. We discuss:

• The songs we feature during the recap:
  • Can’t get over you by Paul Kim
  •  From bottom of my heart by Kim Na Young
• Some recent comments from listeners and mistakes from last week’s episode.
• Hae-in’s mother’s regret now that she knows her daughter is sick and she reflects on how she’s been so awful to her daughter all these years.
• How and why Hae-in continues to reject Hyun-woo, who knows she loves him and is desperate to show Hae-in that he will stay by her side.
• Hyun-woo and Hae-in appear to be working together to take down David Yoon but they’re still keeping secrets from each other.
• How Hyun-woo’s small apartment fills Hyun-woo and Hae-in with regret. Could their marriage have been different if they had lived in a small apartment and had to be together at the end of each day?
• Kim Soo-hyun’s amazing acting, especially when he was playing David Yoon in the car. He had David Yoon’s stare, mannerisms and tone of voice.
• How Hae-in’s dad and brother are going through a transformation.
• Cheon Da-hye is back and Soo-cheol takes her back, against his mother’s wishes.
• How David Yoon is unraveling. He’s lying to Hae-in, he basically kidnapped her, and he ordered that Hyun-woo be killed!
• The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because we learn that Moh Sul-hee had David Yoon’s adoptive parents killed, and she burned the orphanage where David Yoon was abused.
• The chairman’s ultimate sacrifice when he realized Moh Sul-hee’s treachery and killed himself to end her power of attorney over his assets.
• The hunt is on to find the 900B won that both sides believe is somewhere in the Hong residence. It looks like Hyun-woo leads the Hongs to find the secret panic room, but what is inside?
• We welcome Naa Evans, aka as KDrama Bingo, to the show! We talk about the K Drama elements in these two episodes and she talks about her K Drama tropes and her bingo cards!

Find us on Instagram @KDramaChat to see pictures of Naa, Sung Hee and Joanna, and the bingo cards that Naa sells online at https://linktr.ee/kdramabingo! 

References

• Paul Kim on Wikipedia
• Can’t Get Over You by Paul Kim on YouTube
• Kim Na Young on Wikipedia
• From Bottom of My Heart by Kim Na Young on YouTube

Today, we’ll be discussing Episodes 9 and 10 of Queen of Tears, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Kim Ji-won as Hong Hae-in, Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Hyun-woo, Park Sung-hoon as Yoon Eun-Seong, Kwak Dong-Yeon as Hong Soo-cheol, and Lee Joo-bin as Cheon Da-Hye. We are joined by Ernabel Demillo, a frequent guest on K Drama Chat and Department Chair of the Communication and Media Culture Department at Saint Peter's University and host of the Emmy-award winning "Asian American Life" show on CUNY-TV. We discuss:

• The song we feature during the recap: Fallin’ by Isaac Hong.
• Queen of Tears is now the second most popular K Drama of all time on tvN, after Crash Landing on You; both shows are written by Park Ji-eun.
• tvN has announced two extra episodes at the end of Queen of Tears; what will the episodes be about?
• Kim Soo-hyun has been nominated for Best Actor in the Baeksang Awards; we feel that Kim Ji-won, Han So-hee, Park Seo-joon, and Kim Tae-ri were snubbed.
• The Hong family is in a terrible situation. They’ve been locked out of their house, they don’t have cars, their credit cards have been canceled, they’ve lost control of their company, and they’re lost their jobs.
• Both dads are having an identity crisis: they have lost their jobs and purpose.
• Hyun-woo and Hae-in are driving us crazy because they won’t communicate with each other!
• We think their lack of communication stems from the time Hae-in emptied the nursery and Hyun-woo left the marital bedroom. When this happened, they stopped talking to each other and then their pride wouldn’t let them ask the other back into the bedroom.
• Hyun-woo and Hae-in kept missing opportunities to patch up their relationship, including when Hae-in overheard Hyun-woo talking about wanting to be by her side, when Hyun-woo came home all beat up, and when Hae-in realized the pink MP3 player was hers.
• There are many in Korea who think the story of Hae-in and Hyun-woo is based on the true story of the granddaughter of the Samsung chaebol who married an ordinary staffer.

In 1999, Samsung heiress Lee Boo Jin married Lim Woo Jae.

• Hyun-woo does a great job of convincing David Yoon that he doesn’t know where Hae-in is, even though he did pick them up in a van.
• The reference to Prince Sado, who was the father of the prince Yi San in Red Sleeve, and who later became King Jeongjo.
• Instead, Hyun-woo is investigating the land broker, the owner of the data restoration company, the failed investment fund, and the location of the Chairman.
• Hyun-woo convinced the deceived farmers to sue the land broker, which meant the land broker couldn’t leave the country for his honeymoon. Later, the land broker and his thugs try to beat up Hyun-woo, who manages to defend himself ably because he was a champion boxer in his youth.
• Our crazy predictions for this show.
• Moh Sul-hee and David Yoon are now at odds with each other because David Yoon didn’t want the Hong family banished. David Yoon wants to be with Hae-in.
• We speculate about why David Yoon is so obsessed with Hae-in.
• Until the very end, Hyun-woo is in the dark about Hae-in’s feelings towards him. He thinks she hates him because he abandoned and deceived her.
• It looks like Beom-ja will have a romance with the village marriage counselor, who looks like Leslie Cheung. Leslie Cheung is a debonair Hong Kong singer and actor. This prediction came from Laurel, one of our listeners!
• The theme of regret in this show. Hyun-woo, Hae-in and Beom-ja all express regrets over their actions.
• Hae-in is so brave when she reveals during the press conference that David Yoon threatened her. In this instance, Hyun-woo finally learns that Hae-in still cares for him.
• The amazing acting with their eyes by Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won.
• The K Drama elements we see in this episode, including: all the crying, all the food, all the drinking, the Trip and Catch, the Bulgari Serpenti necklace that Moh Sul-hee wore, and the Subway scene!
• Ernabel’s recent trip to South Korea.

References

• A sneak peak into the life and work of South Korean singer Isaac Hong
• Fallin’ by Isaac Hong on YouTube
• The Uncanny Similarities “Queen Of Tears” Bears With A Real-life Heiress Story
• Podcast episode with Dan Pink on Brene Brown’s show about the Power of Regret
• Leslie Cheung on Wikipedia
• Podcast episode with Brene Brown and Dan Pink on the Power of Regret

Today, we’ll be discussing Episodes 7 and 8 of Queen of Tears, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Kim Ji-won as Hong Hae-in, Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Hyun-woo, Park Sung-hoon as Yoon Eun-Seong, Kwak Dong-Yeon as Hong Soo-cheol, Lee Joo-bin as Cheon Da-Hye. We discuss:

• The song we feature during the recap: Love You With All My Heart by Crush.
• Soo Cheol calls Hyun-Woo “maehyeong” 매형, which means older sister’s husband.
• How Hae-in loses her will to live when Hyun-woo admits that he wanted a divorce.
• How Hyun-woo decides to make Hae-in hate him so that she has a reason to live.
• How Hyun-woo wants to stay by Hae-in’s side even if it means being the subject of her rage, humiliation and hatred; he has powerful reasons for wanting to be by her side.
• Both Hae-in and Hyun-woo are left wondering if everything the other person said and promised was a lie.
• Through the flashback of the marriage proposal, we can piece together how our couple got engaged, broke up, got back together, and finally married.
• How we held our breaths when Hyun-woo discovers that Hae-in has lost her memory of Germany and Hyun-woo wanting a divorce, which means Hae-in has to relive this trauma TWICE.
• The crazy divorce settlement scene with Song Joong-ki as Vincenzo Cassano.
• How Hae-in realizes that Hyun-woo was suffering during their marriage; she learns this when she overhears Hyun-woo at Grandma’s Home Cooking restaurant.
• The Chairman wants Hyun-woo fired by Hae-in defends him from the Security Team.
• How Hyun-woo followed David Yoon when he was following Hae-in. We see a very different Hyun-woo in that scene. We think we will see a very different Hyun-woo from now on.
• How David Yoon pressured Soo-cheol to sign the resort deal with David Yoon, and then the deal went south, giving Pione Investment the chance to swoop in and pretend to save the deal.
• But when the investors pull out and the Chairman’s embezzlement investigation comes out, David Yoon ends up with control over Queens Group.
• Meanwhile, Hae-in turns down the Hercyna deal and rejects David Yoon’s offer (again) to replace Hyun-woo.
• We feel sorry for Soo-cheol, whose wife double-crossed him, left him, and took their son to New York.
• Hyun-woo and Aunt Beom-ja have definitive proof, through a DNA test, that David Yoon is Moh Sul-hee’s son!
• Moh Sul-hee and David Yoon have been playing the long game. Moh Sul-hee endeared herself to the Chairman, whom she tricked into giving her power of attorney, and then poisoned.
• How the Hong family has been kicked out of their own company and have fled to Yongdu-ri.
• The hilarious scenes involving Hyun-woo, Hae-in and their secretaries.
• More Crash Landing On You references and tie-ins!
• The Koreans’ seeming obsession with the Myers Briggs Personality Types.
• The K Drama elements in this show, including all the crying, the epic umbrella scene involving Hyun-woo and Hae-in, more connections from the past between Hae-in and David Yoon, all the product placements, and Hyun-woo saving Hae-in from an oncoming truck.
• Our new, #39 product placement - cameos!
• Our predictions for the end of the show!
• We learn more about the amazing Park Sung-hoon!

References

• Park Sung-hoon on Wikipedia
• Myers Briggs Personality Types
• Crush on Wikipedia
• Love You With All My Heart by Crush on YouTube

Today, we’ll be discussing episodes 5 and 6 of Queen of Tears, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Kim Ji-won as Hong Hae-in, Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Hyun-woo, Park Sung-hoon as Yoon Eun-Seong, Kwak Dong-Yeon as Hong Soo-cheol, Lee Joo-bin as Cheon Da-Hye. We recap the episodes and then we discuss:

• How some Korean families have a pattern where the children share one syllable of their name. An example would be: Baek Hyun-woo and Baek Hyun-tae. This helps us keep the characters straight and know who is related to whom.
• How Hyun-woo is increasingly ambivalent about his wife. Despite his anger and hate toward his wife, he can’t help it, he begins to fall in love with her all over again.
• What is probably the root of the couple’s problems: Hyun-woo came home one day to find staff clearing out the nursery. When he got a cold response from Hae-in, he ordered his things moved to the bedroom and the couple started to sleep separately.
• Hyun-woo and Hae-in keep missing opportunities to patch up their marriage.
• Hyun-woo’s sister says Hyun-woo likes soft women, women who need to be taken care of. Is this why he was attracted to Hae-in in the first place and why he’s falling for her again?
• Hyun-woo’s confession about his tears when he found Hae-in Germany was his last ditch attempt to figure out his feelings toward his wife and to see if they could patch things up in their marriage.
• Hae-in doesn’t understand why he’s pulling away. She keeps saying, “I never said that.” 
• Hae-in’s tough armor is starting to crack. She is being nice to others and noticing happy, loving families around her.
• Hyun-woo keeps abandoning Hae-in and Hae-in, for her part, has been abandoned by her husband and family.
• The crazy plot by David Yoon, Grace, Cheo Da-hye and the former employee. We think David Yoon has a ponzi scheme that he’s running, that he doesn’t really have a fund that is returning 90% to investors.
• The evil things that David Yoon is doing to the Hong family, especially Hyu-woo, including installing hidden cameras, searching Hyun-woo’s room, planting the microwave receiver in Hyun-woo’s room, and getting Hyun-woo’s safe opened.
• We learn that David Yoon and Cheon Da-hye grew up in the same orphanage and even met the Hong family when the Chairman gave a speech at the orphanage. So when did David Yoon and Cheon Da-hye start plotting against the Hong family?
• We learn that Moh Sul-hee had a different identity thirty years ago, that she was in prison at some point and gave birth to a baby boy while in jail. Could this boy be David Yoon?
• Hong Beom-ja is turning into a really likable character because she’s the one who seems to care about other family members, including Hae-in.
• We learn how Hae-in’s brother, Soo-won, died in a boating accident, while saving Hae-in. Hae-in’s mother never forgave Hae-in for the death of her son.
• Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s sweet time in Germany is coming to an end because once Hae-in turns on her phone, she sees the photo of the divorce agreement sent by her mom. 
• The numerous K Drama elements in these episodes, including lots of crying, crying while kissing, the umbrella scene, Hyun-woo’s confession about his tears, the product placements for Mercedes-Benz and other products, Hyun-woo tending to cuts on Hae-in’s hand and knee.
• All the references to Crash Landing On You in this show, which makes sense the shows share the same writers.
• Kim Ji-won’s background and acting career! We love her!
• The shows we’re watching now: Doctor Slump and Captivating the King.

References

• The Frankfurt Love Lock Bridge
• Korean Family Naming Conventions
• Controversy Over Mercedes-Benz product placements in Queen of Tears
• Choi Ae-Ra aegyo compilation, Fight For My Way

Today, we’ll be discussing Episodes 3 and 4 of Queen of Tears, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring starring Kim Ji-won as Hong Hae-in, Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Hyun-woo, Park Sung-hoon as Yoon Eun-Seong, Kwak Dong-Yeon as Hong Soo-cheol, Lee Joo-bin as Cheon Da-Hye. We discuss:

• The three versions of the song Tell Me It’s Not a Dream by 10cm.
• Why the show is called Queen of Tears.
• How our leads seem not to care about each other much BUT they defend the other to anyone who criticizes them and Hyun-woo definitely doesn’t like seeing Hae-in with David Yoon.
• How we learn that Hyun-woo was a sharpshooter in the military.
• How the Netflix website says that Hae-in has never stopped loving her husband and she can’t understand why he’s pulling away. We see lots of things to back this up: she seems happy that Hyun-woo is jealous of David Yoon, she defends him against her family, and she wants to cuddle with him.
• David Yoon turns out to be quite the snake. We think he’s out to gain control of the Queens Group. He’s plotting with two associates; the three of them have bought shares; they’ve convinced Queens Group directors to purchase shares in a fund and use their Queens Group shares as collateral; they plan to have the Queens Group Chairman investigated for embezzlement. David Yoon may also be setting up Hae-in to fail.
• Hyun-woo seems to be the only person who is suspicious of David Yoon. Even if he says he doesn’t love Hae-in, he won’t lose her to David Yoon.
• Joanna thinks there is some nefarious connection between David Yoon and Moh Sul-hee, the Chairman’s mistress and she explains why.
• Hae-in’s seems to be looking at Hyun-woo differently since the reception with the Hercyna Chairman. She is definitely hot and bothered when she sees Hyun-woo in just a towel after his shower.
• Hae-in and Hyun-woo have a sweet scene in bed and we see a sweet flashback from when Hae-in visited Yongdu-ri.
• We also learn about a tragedy in their marriage: that they were expecting a baby on October 31. The baby clearly never came and now Hyun-woo sleeps in a separate bedroom, the former nursery.
• Hae-in’s crazy family, including the estranged son, the crazy aunt, the mother who doesn’t seem to love her, the inept brother, the caring by ineffectual dad.
• Hyun-woo’s crazy family, including the siblings who go to Seoul to try to convince Hae-in not to divorce Hyun-woo but end up creating a lot of trouble for Hyun-woo.
• How Hyun-woo’s sister messaged Hae-in to come to Yongdu-ri to support her father-in-law; as a result, Hae-in came with gifts, food, drink, and even a chef!
• Hae-in finds her old MP3 player and we see that she and Hyun-woo had crossed paths briefly in high school; that’s when she had dropped her MP3 player, and Hyun-woo had kept it all these years.
• Hae-in had another cloud cytoma incident that causes her to wander around Yongdu-ri, get lost and not remember what happened.
• When Hyun-woo finally finds her, he is really mad until he realizes she’s really sick.

References

• Tell Me It’s Not a Dream by 10am on YouTube
• Understanding titles and how to refer to people in positions of authority, including sajangnim
• Kim Soo-hyun on Wikipedia
• Kim Soo-hyun on Instagram

Today, we’ll be discussing Episodes 1 and 2 of Queen of Tears, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Kim Ji-won as Hong Hae-in, Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Hyun-woo, Park Sung-hoon as Yoon Eun-Seong, Kwak Dong-Yeon as Hong Soo-cheol, Lee Joo-bin as Cheon Da-Hye. We discuss:

• The song we featured during the recap, The Reason of my Smiles by BSS.
• We introduce the characters of this show and stumble over their Korean names.
• How there appear to be five main leads, which seems to be common in K Dramas.
• The show is set in the modern day, in Seoul and the village of Yongdu-ri.
• The central premise of the show, which is that Baek Hyun-woo and Hong Hae-in are locked in a loveless marriage. Hyun-woo wants a divorce but nobody is on his side on this matter. Then Hae-in announces that she has a rare brain tumor and she has three months to live. Hyun-woo sees a way out of this marriage and maybe a chance to inherit some wealth, if he can convince his wife of his love.
• Whether the couple was actually in love at the time of their marriage, and their motivations for marrying.
• How Hae-in was initially suspicious of Hyun-woo, but between his actions, his Internet searches and his shooting of the wild boar, she is looking at him differently.
• How cloud cytoma doesn’t appear to be a real disease.
• The origins, structure and power of the chaebol conglomerates in South Korea.
• How this show is a real study on marriage because there are so many different perspectives on marriage, many of them not very positive.
• How village life is so often romanticized in these K Dramas.
• Arranged marriages and whether the practice still exists today.
• How the royal tradition of having sons-in-law prepare the food during jesa appears to be made up by the Hong family in this show.
• Kim Soo-hyun’s amazing acting and comedic timing in this show.
• How these first two elements showcase so many K Drama elements, most notably crying, drinking, food, flowers, protesting someone you love at personal cost to yourself, a funeral, and a confession.
• How Sung Hee had so many favorite lines but Joanna made her pick just two.
• The many questions we are looking forward to exploring, like: What is the chairman’s girlfriend’s real motivations? What happened to Hae-in’s brother? What happened between Hae-in and David Yoon?

We are recapping and analyzing Queen of Tears in real time. Each episode will drop on a Friday and cover the two episodes from the previous weekend, hopefully giving our listeners the insights they need before going into the weekend, when the next two episodes drop.

References

• What to know about the chaebol families that dominate South Korea’s economy
• Can South Korea’s untouchable chaebols change?
• An economy of human sacrifice: the practice of sunjang in the ancient state of Korea
• The Reasons of my Smiles by BSS, with Korean and English lyrics

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 10, the finale of Gyeongseong Creature, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Park Seo-joon as Jang Tae-sang, Han So-hee as Yoon Chae-ok, Wi Ha-jun as Kwon Jun-taek, Kim Soo-hyun as Lady Maeda, Ji Woo as Myeong-ja, Jo Han-chul as Yoon Joong-won, and Kim Hae-sook as Nawol daek. We discuss:

• The song we feature during the recap: Forever, instrumental version, by SUHO
• How Yoon Chae-ok is nowhere to be found until Beom-oh says he knows where she is. Mrs. Nawol and Mr. Gu are dubious but Jang Tae-sang believes him.
• We have a disagreement over who Jang Tae-sang intended to use the tickets to Shanghai. Did he intend for Yoon Chae-ok and her father to use them? Or did he hope he and Yoon Chae-ok would be able to go to Shanghai?
• The sadness, loss and betrayal Yoon Chae-ok must have felt when she learned that her father had gone to her mother and blown up the hospital.
• How Sachimoto helps Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok escape the hospital. He is the only Japanese character who apologizes for the atrocities being committed at the hospital.
• How Yoon Chae-ok tried to break things off with Jang Tae-sang because she didn’t want to be a burden to him and she just can’t see a future where she can be happy. She’s been on a suicide mission for most of this show. He, however, can’t live without her, so he will devote himself to keeping her safe.
• Lady Maeda’s confrontation with Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok and her orders to her men to kill our leads. There is also a language shift here, with the conversation starting in Korean and shifting to Japanese.
• We learn that Lady Maeda lost a friend because of Seishin. Does this explain why she’s in Joseon and why she had Seishin taken prisoner so many years ago?
• How the creature escapes the fire at the hospital, tracks Yoon Chae-ok, slices through the Japanese thugs, and ends up accidentally killing her own daughter!
• How Yoon Chae-ok told her mother that it’s time to stop, and confessed that Jang Tae-sang is the man she loves.
• How Jang Tae-sang is wracked with sobs and anguish when Yoon Chae-ok dies. He finally has someone he is willing to risk everything for and she has just died!
• How Col. Kato delivered Myeong-ja’s baby, probably by performing a C-section that killed Myeong-ja. We also see that the najin is in the baby!
• How Jang Tae-sang and the rebels blow up the funeral hall where the Ishikawa memorial service is being held. Lady Maeda is badly burned as a result and Col. Kato asks her if she will return to Japan or stay in Joseon.
• How Jang Tae-sang and Kwon Jun-taek finally have their drink, but Jang Tae-sang still refuses to join the independent fighters.
• How we see Jang Tae-sang sitting and waiting on the steps of the House of Golden Treasure.
• How the war ended in August and Jang Tae-sang says “we finally recovered those that were taken from us” presumably referring to Koreans who had been taken prisoner by the Japanese.
• The K Drama elements we see in this episode, including lots of crying, lots of flowers in the funeral wreaths, and how Yoon Chae-ok and Yoon Joong-won sacrificed themselves for their loved ones.
• The cryptic and ambiguous ending where we see that Yoon Chae-ok is alive again after investing the najin from her mother, and we see a man named Ho-jae who looks remarkably like Jang Tae-sang.
• What we ultimately thought of this show.
• How we’re excited to dive into Queen of Tears starring Kim Ji-won and Kim Soo-hyun, in Season 7 of K Drama Chat.

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 9 of Gyeongseong Creature, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Park Seo-joon as Jang Tae-sang, Han So-hee as Yoon Chae-ok, Wi Ha-jun as Kwon Jun-taek, Kim Soo-hyun as Lady Maeda, Ji Woo as Myeong-ja, Jo Han-chul as Yoon Joong-won, and Kim Hae-sook as Nawol daek. We discuss:

• How Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok are reunited and they manage to sneak a few moments of joy together.
• How Yoon Chae-ok doesn’t want to be forgotten and she makes Jang Tae-sang promise that they will always remember each other.
• The amazing kiss between Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok!
• Jang Tae-sang’s plan to blow up Ongseong Hospital.
• How the Japanese control the news; the killings by Myeong-ja aren’t reported until Ishikawa is dead and then he is reported as having died honorably while going after the Joseon serial killer.
• How Yoon Chae-ok was on a suicide mission when she killed Dr. Ichiro. She can’t see a future, while Jang Tae-sang is motivated by a better future.
• After so many years of looking for her mom, now that she’s found her, Yoon Chae-ok can’t imagine a future life, and she certainly can’t imagine a life filled with happiness.
• How Lady Maeda didn’t seem too upset when she heard about her husband’s condition; in fact, she asked Dr. Ichiro to put an end to his misery.
• Yoon Joong-won has gone back into the hospital to end his wife’s misery; he lets himself be imprisoned, but then manages to get away from his captors and is now loose in the hospital.
• Nobody can find Yoon Chae-ok but we learn that she is at Lady Maeda’s house.
• Jang Tae-sang has figured out that Lady Maeda has Yoon Chae-ok, and he challenges her, saying he’ll never stop looking for Yoon Chae-ok.
• When Lady Maeda tells Jang Tae-sang about his staff’s betrayals, he counters that his people would not have had to betray their loved ones if it weren’t for the crimes of the Japanese.
• Jang Tae-sang confesses to Mrs. Nawol that he knew about her betrayal a short time after his mother died, but she doesn’t need forgiveness because it wasn’t her fault.
• Yoon Chae-ok is taken to Ongseong Hospital and the creature breaks through the grate.
• The K Drama elements in this episode, including lots of crying, more information about the connection between Lady Maeda and Seishin from the past, the amazing kiss, and the funeral for Commissioner Ishikawa.
• A bit of information about Japanese funerals and the expected behavior of guests.
• The show we will recap and analyze in Season 7 of K Drama Chat! 

References

• Attending a funeral in Japan

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 8 of Gyeongseong Creature, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Park Seo-joon as Jang Tae-sang, Han So-hee as Yoon Chae-ok, Wi Ha-hun as Kwon Jun-taek, Kim Soo-hyun as Lady Maeda, Ji Woo as Myeong-ja, Jo Han-chul as Yoon Joon-won, and Kim Hae-sook as Nawol daek. We discuss:

• How Jang Tae-sang was able to escape from Ongseong Hospital by getting the better of the Japanese soldier and holding up Lady Maeda to let him leave with her out of the hospital.
• Lady Maeda’s motivations for nursing Jang Tae-sang back to health.
• Lady Maeda calling Seishin, the creature, sensei or teacher.
• Commissioner Ishikawa confronting his wife about what is happening at Ongseong Hospital and what she did to Akiko.
• How we’re learning that Lady Maeda is the silent power behind what happens in Gyeongseong.
• How Jang Tae-sang negotiated with Ishikawa for the release of the Bonjeong merchants.
• How Mr. Gu was tortured and now we understand Mrs. Nawol’s warning about betraying your loved ones with faced with torture.
• How Jang  Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok are reunited and their hug said so much.
• How Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok are able to steal a moment of happiness together while buying dumplings but it doesn’t last long.
• How Myeong-ja has been on a killing spree through Gyeongseong and now Ishikawa knows she’s the murderer responsible for killing people and eating their brains.
• How Yoon Joong-won, Yoon Chae-ok’s father, now knows what happened to his wife.
• The K Drama elements in this episode, including: crying, lots of triangles involving Lady Maeda, Jang Tae-sang’s confession to Yoon Chae-ok, umbrella scene, and JTS pulling YCO out of the way of a speeding car when they’re chasing Myeong-ja.
• What we think of the title of the episode: Awakening, between Justification and Excuse.
• What happened to Unit 731 after the war.
• The shows we’re watching now and the shows we’re considering for Season 7 of K Drama Chat!

References

• The Na people
• What happened to Unit 731?
• Does Torture Work?
• Unit 731 on Wikipedia
• Japan discloses details of notorious chemical warfare division
• https://unit731.org
• Details of the atrocities committed by the Japanese

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 7 of Gyeongseong Creature, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Park Seo-joon as Jang Tae-sang, Han So-hee as Yoon Chae-ok, Wi Ha-jun as Kwon Jun-taek, Kim Soo-hyun as Lady Maeda, Ji Woo as Myeong-ja, Jo Han-chul as Yoon Joon-won, and Kim Hae-sook as Nawol daek. We also talk about Wi Ha-jun, the actor who plays Kwon Jun-taek. We discuss:

• The song we feature during the recap: Forever (instrumental version) by SUHO.
• The growing feelings between Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok, although it’s not exactly the time or space to express their feelings.
• The conflict between our leads when Jang Tae-sang asks Yoon Chae-ok to go down to the truck with the other women and she refuses.
• The ultimate sacrifice of the Joseon soldier who helped our leads fight off the Japanese soldiers. 
• How Jang Tae-sang made a big sacrifice when he decided to not escape from the hospital and instead create a diversion so everyone else can escape. Is he being a martyr or does he have a plan to escape?
• The elaborate plan that Jang Tae-sang sketched out to Mrs. Nawol to help all of the prisoners escape.
• How the prisoners escape via the waiting rickshaws and Mr. Gu ends up getting beaten and arrested.
• How Mrs. Nawol seems to be everywhere, including when Kwon Jun-taek was returned to his father through the expensive vase from the House of Golden Treasure.
• Mrs. Nawol’s assertion that Master Jang has a hand in everything that happens in Bonjeong.
• How Jang Tae-sang met his deadline of finding Myeong-ja before the cherry blossoms fall.
• How Lady Maeda, through Dr. Ichiro, was responsible for Myeong-ja and Yoon Chae-ok’s mother getting picked up and imprisoned.
• How Lady Maeda had a huge role in the building and funding of the hospital.
• How Col. Kato is wracked with curiosity because *someone* drank the water with the najin in his office.
• The K Drama elements in this episode, especially the connection from the past between some of our characters, Jang Tae-sang helping the prisoners escape at personal cost to himself.
• What we think of the title: Chase, between Us and Them.
• Wi Ha-jun, the amazing and talented actors who plays Kwon Jun-taek. He’s been in many prominent shows, including Squid Game, Bad and Crazy, and Little Women.

References

• Wi Ha-jun on Wikipedia