K Drama Chat

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 6 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:

• The song we featured during the recap: Time by Baek-a.
• Our upcoming, fun-filled weekend with Ernabel in New York; follow along with our adventures on Instagram @kdramachat.
• What we think of Jang Tae-sang thinking that he was busy staying alive and only caring about himself and his business until he met Yoon Chae-ok.
• Jang Tae-sang’s origin story, including how his mother saved him and told him to stay alive, and how he came to meet Mrs. Nawol when she was thrown out of the local jail.
• Jang Tae-sang is clearly influenced by his mother: his mother made him promise he would do everything he could to stay alive, and perhaps his reluctance to join the Patriotic Society was because his mom was killed because of her involvement in the independence movement.
• We know now what Mrs. Nawol meant when she told Mr. Gu to betray her and everyone else if he ever finds himself tortured.
• Jang Tae-sang’s argument with the rebel leader in Ongseong Hospital, who unlocked everyone’s cell and didn’t for Jang Tae-sang.
• Hannah Arendt’s The Banality of Evil and Eichmann in Jerusalem. Eichmann was a normal, law-abiding person who followed the rules, and obeyed the law when he was told to round up Jews and have them killed.
• How Jang Tae-sang tells Kwon Jun-taek that he will turn a blind eye if Kwon Jun-taek gets in trouble at the hospital, but in the end, Jang Tae-sang devises a plan to get everyone out of the hospital, including Kwon Jun-taek and the other prisoners.
• We wonder why Commissioner Ishikawa is so motivated to save a nobody like Myeong-ja.
• Yoon Chae-ok holding Col. Kato at gunpoint, and how he outmaneuvers her and ultimately has her chained in the cell with the creature.
• How the creature recognizes Yoon Chae-ok when Yoon Chae-ok screams “mother” at her. The creature also saved Yoon Chae-ok when nitrogen gas was released and the soldiers started shooting at both of them.
• Col. Kato’s order to find Yoo Chae-ok and kill her!
• The plan to save Jang Tae-sak, Yoon Chae-ok, Myeong-ja and the rest of the prisoners that involves Mr. Gu driving a truck into Ongseong Hospital, Mr. Gu getting a guard drunk, and the merchants of Bukchon planning a big celebration.
• The K Drama elements we see in this episode, including crying, the sneaky back hug when Jang Tae-sang saved Yoon Chae-ok from the creature, how the creature saved Yoon Chae-ok at personal cost to herself.
• What we thought of the title of this episode: Chaos, between Monster and Human.
• The background and experience of the amazing actress Kim Hae-sook, the actress who plays Mrs. Nawol.

References

• Kim Hae-sook on Wikipedia
• Time by Baek-a on YouTube

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 5 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:

• The song we featured during the recap: Forever by SUHO, instrumental version. 
• Kwon Jun-taek’s background, motivations and relationship with Jang Tae-sang. 
• Kwon Jun -taek’s father now knows that his son is a rebel. He tries to bribe Dr. Ichiro with a briefcase full of money. 
• How Col. Kato is the scariest man in the base. He doesn’t care about the soldiers or the Joseon people being killed by the creature.  
• How Col. Kato realized that Yoon Chae-ok is the creature’s daughter and is now wondering how he can use her. 
• How Yoon Chae-ok wants to fight to the end, while Jang Tae-sang is going to do whatever he needs to do to stay alive. 
• The heartbreaking realization by Yoon Chae-ok that her mother had been, or is, at the base. 
• How Jang Tae-sang finds Yoon Chae-ok and while he wants to escape and find another way to learn about her mother, she can’t give up the search for her mother. 
• The possible kilig moments in this show between our two leads. 
• How Jang Tae-sang is a planner, while Yoon Chae-ok has a bias for action. 
• What’s happening with the other characters: Yoon Joon-won, Lady Maeda, Commissioner Ishikawa. 
• What our K Drama elements are and why we talk about them. 
• The K Drama elements we find in this episode: Crying, food, wrist grab, triangles, flowers. 
• The title: Desperation: Between denial and truth. 
• The beautiful and talented Kim Soo-hyun who plays Lady Maeda. She spent time in the US, speaks perfect English, and has played roles in American movies!

References

• Claudia Kim in Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald
• Claudia Kim in Avengers: Age of Ultron
• 41 Important Japanese Honorifics

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 4 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 discuss:

• The song that we feature during the recap: Time, electric version, by LEAFY.
• We thank listeners who recently commented on the website.
• We now know what Jang Tae-sang was really doing when he was goofing around Gyeongseong: playing mahjong, riding a rickshaw aimlessly, ordering a new suit at the tailor shop.
• Why Sachimoto risked his neck and help Jang Tae-sang; we think it’s related to Yoon Chae-ok’s mom.
• What we think of Kwon Jun-taek: where he came from, his relationship with Jang Tae-sang, and why he entered the hospital (to look for two comrades who were recently picked up by the Japanese Army).
• Why Jang Tae-sang didn’t reveal who Sachimoto was when Yoon Chae-ok first met Sachimoto
• The heartbreaking scene where Yoon Chae-ok talks to Sachimoto about his drawing of her mother. Sachimoto admits that he drew Yoon Chae-ok’s mother but he says he doesn’t know where she is or what happened to her.
• How Sachimoto is the only person who has the full picture: where Yoon Chae-ok’s mom is and what happened to her.
• Jang Tae-sang’s flashback of a boy in the snow.
• How Jang Tae-sang changed his mind and helped the children escape the hospital.
• Why Yoon Chae-ok continued to insist on looking for Myeong-ja.
• The growing feelings between Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Chae-ok.
• How Dr. Ichiro is trying to train the monster.
• How the monster broke out of her prison and managed to take the elevator upstairs, killing scores of soldiers in the process.
• We now know why Lady Maeda wanted Myeong-ja kidnapped: she wanted the baby!
• The cliffhanger of an ending where Jang Tae-sang is face to face with the creature.
• The K Drama elements in this episode, especially the brewing triangle between Col. Kato. Dr. Ichiro and Lady Maeda.
• What we thought of the title of the episode: Imprinting, Between Causality and Fate.  
• We talk about the amazing and varied career or Jo Han-chul who plays Yoon Joon-won
• Japanese honorifics, specifically the word “san” and “sensei.”

References

• Alabama executes man with nitrogen gas 
• Honorifics in Japanese

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 3 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, Jo Han-chul as Yoon Joon-won, Ji Woo as Myeong-ja, Jo Han-chul as Yoon Joon-won, and Kim Hae-sook as Nawol daek. We discuss:

• The song we feature during the recap: Time by Baek A, the acoustic version
• Whether or not we think Jang Tae-sang had an affair with Lady Maeda
• Jang Tae-sang’s plan to re-enter Ongseong Hospital
• The game mahjong
• The drawing of Yoon Chae-ok’s mom and how it landed in Jang Tae-sang’s hands through the tailor
• Jang Tae-sang’s encounter with the samurais who beat him up
• How Sachimoto helped Jang Tae-sang and Kwon Jun-taek  re-enter the hospital
• How Yoon Chae-ok doesn’t hesitate to kill the doctor when she saves the children
• The significance of fireworks to the Korean military and Korean culture
• The amazing cinematography in this episode, particularly during the fireworks scene
• How Dr. Ichiro is trying to train the creature
• What anthrax is really is and Joanna’s anthrax story
• What we thought about the title of this episode: Signal, Between Obsession and Perseverance
• The amazing and beautiful Han So-hee

References

• Rules of Mahjong
• FBI Investigation into Amerithrax Case
• Han So-hee in Wikpedia

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 2 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 we are grateful to our listeners! We have listeners all over the world and our audience is growing!
• The song we feature in the recap: Forever by SUHO.
• How the Japanese and Korean characters in this show speak both Japanese and Korean and it can be very confusing.
• How knowing what language our characters are speaking gives you a sense of who has the upper hand in the conversation.
• The sleuths, who are really good, because they figured out where Myeong-ja is and how she got there (she was sent there by Lade Maeda).
• How Mr. Gu wonders if Myeong-ja is another of the many women and girls who have disappeared in Gyeongseong, a reference to the Japanese Army practice of kidnapping women and girls during WWII and turning them into sex slaves, or what they called “comfort women.”
• How we now know that Lady Maeda had a powerful motive for getting rid of Myeong-ja AND she has some relationship with Dr. Ichiro.
• The few lighthearted moments of the show, especially when Jang Tae-sang is dumbstruck when he sees Yoon Chae-ok all dressed up in the light blue suit and pillbox hat.
• The secret hand signal that the Korean independence army members use to signal each other.
• The significance of Manchuria because it shares a border with what is now North Korea.
• The origin story of Sachimoto, including the fact that he drew Yoon Chae-ok’s mom!
• How we know that the creature is Yoon Chae-ok’s mom through her swollen left eye and wooden flower pendant.
• Our thoughts on why Jang Tae-sang decides to go back into Ongseong Hospital.
• The K Drama elements we see in this episode, especially the triangle between Lady Maeda, Commissioner Ishikawa and Myeong-ja, and the umbrella scene with Lady Maeda.
• The meaning behind the title: Mother, between longing and anguish.
• How the intro scene at the beginning of each episode is NOT the origin story of Yoon Chae-ok’s mom. We made a mistake. The intro is the origin story of the first girl to swallow a najin, turn into a creature, and get captured by the Japanese.
• The amazing and handsome Park Seo-joon, including how his last name is pronounced Pahk, not Pak and not Park.
• How episode 3 has some gory scenes with the creature AND some scenes of cruelty by soldiers against prisoners and other soldiers.

References

• Korean Independence Movement in Wikipedia
• TIME Magazine article on the real history behind Gyeongseong Creature
• Park Seo-joon on Wikipedia
• Come To My Heart from A Witch’s Love sung by Park Seo-joon

Welcome to Season 6 of K Drama Chat! In this season, we will recap and analyze Gyeongseong Creature!

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 1 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. Gyeongseong Creature was written by Kang Eun-kyung, directed by Chung Dong-yoon and Roh Young-sub. The first seven episodes were released on Netflix on December 22, 2023. The last 3 episodes dropped on January 5, 2024. We discuss:

• The song we feature during the recap, Time by Baek A.
• How the setting of this show is personal to both of us because our parents were kids in Asia who lived under the Japanese occupation during WWII.
• The Japanese Army retreating from Harbin, China. Turns out Unit 731 of the Japanese Army, which was based in Harbin and was later discovered to have been doing human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing. This is absolutely horrifying!
• After the war, the US basically hid the atrocities and pardoned the researchers in exchange for their data because the US was doing its own biological weapons research.
• How Korea had been under Japanese rule officially since the annexation of Korean in 1910.
• The characters who are introduced in this episode, specifically:
  • Jang Tae-sang, the self-made man and owner of the House of Golden Treasure, a successful pawn shop in Bukchong, a fancy neighborhood in Gyeongseong (what we now know as Seoul).
  • The three staff members of the House of Golden Treasure: Manager Gu, Mrs. Nawol, and Beom-o.
  • Police Commissioner Ishikawa, husband of Lady Maeda, who is the daughter of General Maeda.
  • Hospital Dr. Ichiro and Colonel Kato, who look like they run the hospital and are in charge of the human experimentation.
  • Sleuths Yoon Joon-won and Yoon Chae-ok, who are known to never give up when looking for missing persons.
  • Painter Sachimoto, the man that the two sleuths are looking, because he has some kind of connection to a missing mom.
  • Kwon Jun-taek, a nationalist who is also the son of a successful businessman.
• The central plot line of this episode, which is that Commissioner Ishikawa wants Jang Tae-sang to find his mistress Myeong-ja, who disappeared a week before.
• The human experimentation that appears to result in the creation of a scary creature that threatens painter Sachimoto at the end of the episode.

References

• Unit 731 in Wikipedia
• The cast of Gyeongseong Creature
• US Response to Japanese Wartime Inhuman Experimentation

Today, we’re doing a special recap and review of Mr. Queen with Professor Ernabel Demillo. For those of you who don’t know Ernabel, or Ernie as we call her, she is 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:

• Why we chose Mr. Queen in the first place for Season 5
• Our favorite scenes from the entire season
• The scenes we found the funniest, all of them involving Shin Hye-sun, of course!
• That we think the show is ultimately about identity, change and transformation
• How every one of the main characters was transformed in some way
• Whether the king will love the queen in the same way, now that Jang Bong-hwan has left her body
• The small issues we had with the show
• How King Cheoljong DID try to enact some reforms, but was not successful
• Asian-American Life (AAL), the only monthly TV show devoted to the Asian-American diaspora, life and experience in the US
• How the theme of identify keeps coming up in episodes of AAL
• Ernie’s favorite AAL segments, how they find stories, how they convince people to be featured, and how they
• How Ernie manages to be a full-time professor at St. Peter’s University AND be a producer and host of AAL; she’s also writing a book loosely based on her mom’s experience as a child in the Philippines during WWII
• Why we chose Gyeongseong Creature, the show that we will recap and analyze in Season 6 of K Drama Chat

References

• Why do some Joseon kings have a title of Jo and other Jong?
• Blog with recipes from Mr. Queen
• The person behind the hanboks and jewelry in Mr. Queen
• Cheoljong of Joseon on Wikipedia
• Asian-American Life on YouTube
• Feedspot's List of Top 40 K Drama Podcasts
• What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 20 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jung-hyun as King Cheoljong, Seol In-ah as Jo Hwa-jin, Na In-woo as Kim Byeong-in, and Choi Jin-hyuk as Jang Bong-hwan. We also reveal the show that we will recap and analyze in Season 6 of K Drama Chat.

We discuss:

• Our thoughts on this final episode of Mr. Queen: it was thrilling, satisfying and touching.
• How the king and queen managed to enter the palace, get all dressed up, and fight off guards.
• How the king and queen looked so regal and badass as they walked into the palace courtyard.
• How the scarred eunuch shoots both the queen and the king and it looks like it’s the end for them, until we learn that their bulletproof vests protected them.
• How this real danger situation for the queen sends Jang Bong Hwan back to Seoul, this time for good.
• How the king fights off Kim Jwa-geun and then retakes his throne.
• How Shin Hye-sun does an amazing job of becoming Kim So-yong the minute Jang Bong-hwan leaves her body; her acting was amazing!
• How the queen and baby almost die but recover overnight, and that’s when the king (and us!) start sobbing.
• How the king metes out punishment to the Kim and Jo family ministers by not killing them, but confiscating their assets and letting them lead lives of humiliation.
• How the Grand Dowager Queen and Dowager Queen are banished to the West Palace and will never be allowed to leave again.
• We discuss: Who did the king ultimately fall in love with?
• And now that Jang Bong-hwan is gone, what is Kim So-yong left with? Does she have Jang Bong-hwan’s memories? What about his cooking skills?
• How the combination of Jang Bong-hwan and Kim So-yong is who the king ultimately fell in love with.
• The amazing K Drama elements in this episode, including all the crying, the OST, the resolved triangles, the Google product placement.
• The show that we will recap and analyze in Season 6 of K Drama Chat! (You have to listen to find out!)

Next week, we will have Ernabel Demillo back on to do a full show review of Mr. Queen and discuss identity and belonging through Ernie’s show Asian-American Life.

Listeners, we apologize for some of the issues with Joanna’s audio. We didn’t have time to record because of the holidays! Thanks for your grace!

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 19 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jung-hyun as King Cheoljong, Seol In-ah as Jo Hwa-jin, Na In-woo as Kim Byeong-in, and Choi Jin-hyuk as Jang Bong-hwan. We also talk about the shows we’re watching now and a couple more shows we’re considering for Season 6 of Drama Chat.

We discuss:

• The songs we feature during the recap:
  • Like a Star by One Star
  • Toy Soldier by Kim Deuk-su
• How the king and queen both found themselves at the cliff, threatened by Kim Byeong-in.
• How emotional we both felt when the queen was found by the king and when the queen dissolved into tears of sadness and guilt.
• How Kim Byeong-in turned on the queen but ultimately saved the queen when he thought that his beloved Kim So-yong was somewhere still inside the queen’s body.
• How the queen has had four attempts on her life: by the king, Prince Yeongpyeong, the scarred eunuch, and Kim Jwa-geun.
• The amazing reunion between the queen, the king, Court Lady Choi and Heong Yon.
• How the king is surprised and amazed by his queen, who left the palace to find him.
• How it was Dam-hyang who saved the king because she recognized him and told her father who she was. So Dam-hyang saved the queen, the king and queen saved Dam-hyang, and Dam-hyang saved the king.
• How the royal chef and the queen come up with a plan for the king and queen to sneak  back into the palace through the gate that will allow food to enter the palace, and the “special” food cart reserved for the kitchen eunuch.
• How the queen tells the king that history tells them that the king will lose, BUT she is “all in” for him; this makes the king reply that he will try his best, even if he loses.
• How Jo Hwa-jin, having been told by the queen that the king is alive, is putting up signs saying the king is alive and accusing the Andong Kim family of corruption.
• How Prince Yeongpyeong and Captain Hong are jailed so they can’t help the king. To keep his friend Kim Hwan safe, Captain Hong breaks ties with him.
•  The title of the episode: The one who came back from hell. This clearly refers to the king, who managed to escape Kim Byeong-in and is now on the cusp of retaking the palace. It could also apply to the queen, who was left wandering the forest on her own and was found by the king himself.
• At the end of the episode, the king and queen are in a food cart. We see Kim Jwa-gun order a food cart searched. Will the king and queen’s plan be foiled?
• The shows we’re watching now and the additional shows we’re considering for Season 6 of K Drama Chat.

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 18 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jyung-hun as King Cheoljong, Seol In-ah as Jo Hwa-jin, Na In-woo as Kim Byeong-in, and Choi Jin-hyuk as Jang Bong-hwan. 

We discuss:

• The songs we feature during the recap: Here I Am by Jo Hyun-ah and Conspiracy by Kim Deuk-su.
• How the episode starts and ends at the cliff and both the king and queen are pursued by Kim Byeong-in.
• How the king has an epic fight with Kim Byeong-in, then he evades being killed or captured by jumping off the cliff!
• The king is found by an herb gatherer, who we suspect is one of the Donghak rebels.
• The queen is upset and confused by the king’s departure; she sees the king everywhere in the palace through her memories.
• The queen embroiders CJ on a silk scarf; this wouldn’t make any sense to anyone in the palace since CJ is in English and the name Cheoljong wasn’t given to the king until after his death.
• How the queen figures out that the dead body that is supposedly the king is NOT the king. Now the queen knows that the king is alive!
• How Prince Yeongpyeong goes to see the queen, threatens her, and ends up imprisoned by Kim Byeong-in.
• How the queen, Court Lady Choi and Hong Yeon leave the palace to search for the king.
• Kim Byeong-in traps Kim and Jo family elders into signing a document that admits to their joint intentions to dethrone the king and enthrone a new one. This document is meant to force the two families to continue working together.
• The queen and her companions are discovered by Kim Byeong-in and his men. Court Lady Choi and Hong Yeon sacrifice themselves to try and save the queen.
• At the end of the episode, Kim Byeong-in traps the queen at the cliff and demands to show who she is and what she’s done with Kim So-yong.
• More hats from the Joseon dynasty.
• The ceremony called "a spirit on the roof," which is when the dead king’s eunuch climbs up on the roof of the palace and shouts three times while waving the king’s robe, "High majesty, please come back!"

References

• A Guide to Joseon Hairstyles and Headgear
• Visiting Joseon Royal Tombs and Funeral Customs