K Drama Chat

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 7 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jyung-hun as King  Cheojong, 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 discuss in this episode: Other world by Howl and To my one and only you by Xiumin.
• Why the episode is titled “The Mask” - lots of people in the palace are wearing masks and those masks are starting to come off.
• How we see the state that Jang Bong-hwan is in, in modern day Seoul. He’s in a vegetative state and Chief of Staff Han tried to kill him.
• We learn that Jang Bong-hwan is either in modern day Seoul or Joseon, so where is the Queen?
• The queen is in a corpse state and the royal physician uses acupuncture to treat her.
• How the king’s feelings toward the queen are changing. He has gone from wanting to kill her, to wanting her to live and wanting to understand her.
• In the confrontation between the king and Kim Byeong-in, the king shows his other side, a side that he had not been showing to others in the palace.
• What shamanism is and how it was prohibited in the palace during the Joseon Dynasty.
• How the king missed his important night with Jo Hwa-jin and this causes her to be more proactive against the queen.
• At the end of the episode, the queen regains some of Kim  So-yong’s memories, the king is thinking about his enemies and goes to train with his men, and Jo Hwa-jin is upset upon finding a book.
• The mysterious and moody Na In-woo, who plays Kim Byeong-in, the queen’s cousin.

References

• Shamanism in Ancient Korea
• Na In-woo on Wikipedia

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 6 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jung-hyun as King Cheojong, 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 featured during the recap: No Touch by Howl and Venus by Moon Jong-up.
• How this episode was aptly named Between Understanding and Misunderstanding; there are so many misunderstandings between nearly everyone in the palace, but especially between the King and the Queen.
• That things are very complicated for Jang Bong-hwan since jumping into the lake clearly won’t bring him back to modern day Korea.
• When the King saved the Queen from the lake, something changed. The King now wants the Queen to live and he wants to try to understand her.
• The King and Queen agree to do No Touch but they have very different understandings of what No Touch means.
• The Jo family tries to depose the Queen but the King shows a different side of his character when he strongly defends the Queen and throws out the petition.
• The palace intrigue continues. Lord Kim Jwa-geun has created a double agent of one of the court ladies. Oh-wol has been stabbed by the eunuch with a scar on his face, the same eunuch who tortured Oh-wol. The Dowager Queen summons her shaman to perform a ritual against the Queen. Kim Byeong-in brings together representatives from the Jo and Kim families and makes a deal with them.
• The queen became an entrepreneur with the creation of her food delivery service. In the process, she used the food palanquin delivery men to spread rumors in the palace, which serve to rehabilitate the Queen’s reputation.
• The education, background and career of the beautiful Seol In-ah.

References

• Venus by Moon Jong-up on YouTube
• Mr. Sunshine Filming Location

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 5 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jyung-hun as King  Cheojong, 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 song we feature during the recap: Puzzle by SoYou and Park Woo-jin
• The Queen or Jang Bong-hwan’s motive in admitting that she tried to commit suicide
• How the queen’s actions continually surprise and confuse the King
• The amazing dancing in the rain scene
• More of the Queen’s back story, which is quite sad because she was in love with the King, but he didn’t love her back. We also learn that she saw the Grand Dowager Queen and Kim Byeong-in the night she tried to commit suicide.
• More great cooking by the Queen.
• All the palace intrigue, including Lord Kim Jwa-geun’s meeting with the scarred eunuch, the Pungyang Jo family’s plot to depose the Queen, the King’s secret activities, and the Kim family’s plot against the Jo family.
• How Prince Yeongpyong is secretly in love with Jo Hwa-jin.
• The K Drama elements we see in this episode, including all the people talking to people sleeping, the amazing umbrella scene in the rain, and all the crying.
• The story of Achilles, his weak spot, how he died, and how this story is clearly foreshadowing what will happen in this show.
• The ending where Kim So-yong has jumped into the lake,  but she doesn’t go back to modern day Korea. Instead, the King finds her and saves her.
• The amazing, talented and hunky Kim Jung-hyun

References

• “Like the First Snow” on the Mr Queen OST
• Shin Hye-sun’s dancing scene was improvised!

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 4 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jung-hyun as King Cheojong, Seol In-ah as Jo Hwa-jin, Na In-woo as Kim Byeong-in, and Choi Jin-hyuk as Jang Bong-hwan.

We discuss:

• Then songs we played during the recap: Conspiracyby Kim Deuk-su  and Lost Memory by Howl.
• Last week’s episode was so funny, while this episode is really dark and there are bad guys everywhere.
• The Queen has figured out that it was the King who tried to kill her in the alleyway.
• The King is still desperately trying to figure out what the Queen knows.
• The many plots to frame someone for the Queen falling into the lake.
• The Queen accuses the King of going after her because she’s weak; this makes him wonder if the Queen is plotting against him or if she really is someone different.
• Jo Hwa-jin goes to Grand Dowager Queen to confess they she pushed the Queen into the lake
• When the King tries to defend Jo Hwa-jin, Queen Kim So-yong comes forward to confess that she tried to commit suicide. In this instance, it’s really Jang Bong-hwan who refuses to let the King be the coolest person around.
• The triangle forming between Hong Yeon, Captain Hong and Kim Hwan.
• The square forming where the second leads are in love with the first leads.
• A new K Drama element: protecting a love one at potentially huge personal cost. In this episode, the King injured his hand while pushing the sword away from Jo Hwa-jin.
• Joanna’s favorite hanbok in this episode: the pastel green and pink hanbok that the Queen wore at the end of the episode.
• Knee pressing was a real form of torture during the Joseon dynasty.
• The background and career of the amazing and beautiful Shin Hye-sun.

References

• Knee pressing during the Joseon dynasty
• Peine forte et dure
• Shin Hye-sun on Wikipedia
• Sung Hee on Goodpods
• Joanna on Goodpods

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 3 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jyung-hun as King  Cheojong, 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 song we feature, The Great Recipe by sEODo. 
• The awesome puns and double entendres in this show. 
• The Royal chef calls the queen’s ramen Samyang ramyeon, or literally ‘three fragrance small pot ramen’, but this is also the name of a popular ramen brand in South Korea. 
• How inviting someone to have ramyeon with you at your place is an invitation to get physical and spend the night. 
• How the king and queen mistrust each other and this is the central theme of this episode.  
• All the cooking in this episode and the queen’s antics with her cooking. 
• How we learn more about the queen’s past, including that she loved King Cheoljong but the king did not love her back. 
• A new triangle brewing between the king, the queen, and Kim Byeong-in, who has loved the queen for a very long time. 
• How the Queen wins the favor of the Grand Dowager Queen through her cooking. 
• We learn more about how the king lost his entire family, his nightmares, and his secret identity. 
• How everyone is watching everyone else. 
• The amazing court ladies, where they came from during the Joseon Dynasty, why the court needed so many court ladies, and their jobs at the palace. 

References

• Traditional Korean Clothing: K Drama Style
• Wikipedia on Gungnyeo or Palace Women
• Samyang Ramen

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 2 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jyung-hun as King  Cheojong, 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 song we feature from the OST, Like a Star is by Hanbyul Jang, an Australian-born singer and songwriter.
• We wonder if modern day Koreans would know about the reign of King Cheoljong, including the Andong Kim and the Pungyang Jo families.
• How nothing happened during the King and Queen’s night; the King even fabricated “the Red” on the bedding with pig’s blood.
• How the King and Jo Hwa-jin appear to be in love, and Queen So-yong finds out, through flashbacks, that she loved the King, but the King did not love her.
• How Jang Bong-hwan is fascinated by the court politics and the history unfolding before her.
• The Queen’s hilarious antics, including how Kim So-yong acts and moves like a man, how he hates the queen’s clothing and headgear, her awkward exit from the palanquin, how he sits with his legs spread while at court, how she flirts with concubine Jo Hwa-jin, and how he hikes up his dress when running around the palace.
• What a gisaeng house is, and how gisaeng are official government entertainers who were trained in fine arts, poetry and prose.
• How King Cheoljong acts the fool in front of the court, and how his facial expressions change depending on who he’s with and the persona he wishes to project.
• The roles of concubine, Grand Dowager Queen, and Grand Royal Dowager Queen.
• The K Drama elements we see in this episode: beautiful actors, beautiful court clothing, food, new triangles forming between the characters, flowers, talking to someone while they’re sleeping, and quirky best friend.
• Our favorite lines from this episode.
• The cliffhanger at the end of the episode. Will the King attack the Queen? What did the Queen overhear and did she understand it all?

References

• List (and titles) of Joseon royal consorts
• Hang Hyan-bul

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 1 of Mr. Queen, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Shin Hye-sun as Kim So-yong, Kim Jyung-hun as King  Cheojong, 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 historical context for the show. King Cheoljong was a real king! He was illiterate and untrained when he came to power, and was a known womanizer and drinker.
• The name of this K Drama in Korean is Queen Cheorin.
• The different characters in the show, including Jang Bong-hwan, King Cheoljong, Kim So-yong, Jo Hwa-jin, Heon Yeong, Court Lady Choi, and Kim  Byeong-in.
• How Jang Bong-hwan fell into the pool, was kissed by Kim So-yong and ended up in Kim So-yong’s body.
• The hilarious wedding between King Cheoljong and Kim So-yong.
• The two types of concubines in the Korean court during the Joseon period.
• There are so many K Drama elements in this first episode!
• How the episode ends on a cliffhanger. What will happen on King Cheoljong and Kim So-yong’s wedding night?
• How Joanna has discovered C Dramas and is absolutely obsessed with Hidden Love!
• Instagrammer Ina Kim on expressions we hear a lot in K Dramas.

References

• Background on King Cheoljong
• Ina Kim on Instagram

*** We know that the audio quality of this episode is not great. We are sorry! ***

We are in between seasons. In this episode, we recap and analyze the movie “Be With You,” the hit Korean movie starring Son Ye-jin as Im Soo-ah, So Ji-sub as Jeong Woo-jin, and Kim Ji-hwan as Jeong  Ji-ho. Be With You was released in 2018 and directed by Lee Jang-hoon. The film is a remake of the 2004 Japanese film of the same name, which is based on a novel by Takuji Ichikawa.

Special guests Dayna and Carolyn join us for this episode. This episode was filmed while we were in Bélize together for our annual girls’ trip. 

This episode is full of spoilers! If you haven’t watched this movie, drop everything, watch the movie and come back to this episode. If you’ve watched the movie, please listen to this episode and join us!

Next week, we will recap and analyze episode 1 of Mr. Queen, the K Drama we will discuss episode by episode in Season 5 of K Drama Chat. Start watching now!

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 16 of 25, 21, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Kim Tae-ri as Na Hee-do and Nam Joo-hyuk as Baek Yi-jin. Ernabel Demillo is back as our special guest! She was a reporter and news anchor in New York, AND a reporter in New York during 9/11. This is a long episode, so we hope you stick with us and enjoy this long discussion. We promise some laugh-out-loud moments! We discuss:

• The beautiful songs we hear in this episode: Starlight by O Dong Jun and New Beginnings by Jin Myoung Yong
• Baek Yi-jin’s applying for, and accepting, the correspondent job in New York. What was his motivation for going to New York and staying?
• Ernabel’s experience during 9/11. She was trapped in Italy at first. When she got back to New York, it was chaos and Ernabel and her co-workers worked really long days.
• The crushingly sad scenes between Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin: outside Na Hee-do’s house after the luggage mix-up, at the cell phone store, at the tunnel, and then at the bus stop.
• How Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin had numerous opportunities to get back together, but they just could not bridge the gap between them; they just could not understand each other.
• How the creators of K Dramas often give us clues to the show’s ending early in the show. For example, in Episode 2, we learn that Baek Yi-jin is not able to share his sadness and despair; Na Hee-do tells Baek Yi-jin that when they’re together, they should always be happy; Baek Yi-jin tells his father’s creditors that he would never be happy again.
• How Ko Yu-rim and Moon Ji-woong stay strong, despite Ko Yu-rim living in Russia. We cheer when Moon Ji-woong proposes to Ko Yu-rim.
• Ernie’s perspective on being a reporter and news anchor. How reporters are super heroes because they are often running toward danger.
• When Baek Yi-jin asks, “Did I screw this up?” we say YES!
• The amazing friendship between Na Hee-do and Ko Yu-rim, how being each other’s rival was the proudest moment of their careers.
• How Baek Yi-jin is selected by Shin Jae-kyung to be the news anchor for UBS because he represented youth and innovation.
• How Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin contributed to each other’s success. Despite their sad breakup, they each are now living pretty good lives.
• How Na Hee-do’s diary has been so central in Na Hee-do’s life and how, in the end, it reconnected Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin, and Na Hee-do and Min-chae.
• We speculate about what Na Hee-do would have done after receiving the diary after all these years. Would she call Baek Yi-jin, or do nothing?
• How Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin, through the diary, got to say what they really meant to say to each other at the tunnel that day.
• The show that we will recap and analyze in Season 5 of K Drama Chat.

References

• Things you should know about dating in Korea
• 25, 21 Alternate Ending

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 15 of 25, 21, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Kim Tae-ri as Na Hee-do and Nam Joo-hyuk as Baek Yi-jin. We discuss:

• The songs we feature in this episode: Dreaming Day by Kim Ji Young and Propose by Lim Ha Young.
• How Ko Yu-rim asked Baek Yi-jin to break the story of her move to Russia, and she wants him to say that she is doing it just for money.
• How Baek Yi-jin always hides his pain, something that makes Na Hee-do really unhappy; this echoes episode 2, when Ko Yu-rim complains that Baek Yi-jin hid his family’s financial troubles.
• How Baek Yi-jin ultimately couldn’t manage the distance between himself and his friends, and himself and the victims’ families in New York. He is getting lost in his reporting and suffering as a result.
• How Na Hee-do’s mom lets Baek Yi-jin move to the newsroom after Baek Yi-jin admits to having lost all objectivity when it comes to Na Hee-do.
• How Na Hee-do is the one who always seems to know how to comfort Baek Yi-jin, but later in the episode, when he moves to New York, he grows more distant and she can no longer comfort him.
• The amazing match in Madrid between Ko Yu-rim and Na Hee-do that showed how evenly matched they are. Na Hee-do wins the match but she tops Ko Yu-rim by just a little bit.
• How Ko Yu-rim and Moon Ji-woong’s relationship is so different from that of Na Hee-do and Baek Yi-jin. Ko Yu-rim and Moon Ji-woong are making it work; he has three part-time jobs; he even visits her in Russia!
• How Na Hee-do is shocked and saddened when she learned from her mom that Baek Yi-jin applied for a position in New York.
• How we’re furious with Baek Yi-jin for the way he is treating Na Hee-do, how he’s distanced himself from her, and how he didn’t even tell her himself that he had applied to the position in New York.
• The K Drama elements in this episode, including clothing, food, alcohol, flowers and product placement.
• We also talk about a new K Drama element: talking to someone while they sleep.
• How Ernabel Demillo will be back on the show next week!

References

• A look at Korea’s social media platforms from the past, including Freechal
• Jaurim’s 25, 21 song, with English lyrics