Mystic Pop Up Bar

 Mystic Pop Up Bar

7.5/10

Mystic Pop Up Bar

Genre:                                     Episodes: 12                      Year: 2020

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Wol Joo is the owner of the mysterious Mystic Pop Up Bar, where customers, both living and dead, come to talk and have their wounds healed.

Cast:

Hwang Jung Em (Wol Joo)

Sungjae (Han Kang Bae)

Choi Won Young (Manager Gwi)

Jung Da Eun (Kang Yeo Rin)

Lee Joon Hyuk (Director Yeom)

Na In Woo (Kim Won Hyung)

Park Shi Eun (Wol Joo)

Song Geon Hee (Yi Heon)

General Thoughts:

I feel kind of weird scoring this drama so highly because when I look at all the parts separately it feels like this show should be a silly little mess. But instead its a hidden gem! I absolutely love stumbling upon great dramas when I least expect them, and this is definitely one of those times.

Hooray for an unexpected win!

All the aspects that make up this show don’t seem to spell success- the writer is a total newbie, the plot sounds cute but seems like it has the potential to just stall for long periods of time, and the cast is the weirdest mash of actors you could think to gather. We have Hwang Jung Eum who is known for her over exaggerated comedy, Choi Won Young who is a brilliant serious and dramatic actor, and Sungjae an idol who is known for his squishy puppy roles.

Supernatural is super fun

I just couldn’t fathom what sort of story would pull these three very different actors together into one place. Well, all I can say is shame on me for my lack of faith. These three made for one of the most delightful combos I have seen in K-Drama for quite some time. They all balanced each other well, and had such easy, relaxed chemistry that it was always so enjoyable to watch them interact on screen. They were given such layered and complex characters to portray, and each one of them did so in a believable and natural way. The storyline has the potential to go completely off the rails, but the writer managed to ground the mystical and supernatural elements with a simple and steady plot line. Nothing in the story was particularly groundbreaking, and it borrowed elements that we’ve seen in other dramas at other times, but it pulled everything together to form a really compelling plot. There was a subtle addictiveness to the show that kept me reaching out to play the next episode as soon as I was done with the last. Every episode had a hearty dose of both fun and emotional, and it was so easy to keep on watching. One of the more unique and unexpected elements of this drama was that it didn’t really centre around romance, as so many K-Dramas do. Even though Wol Joo’s whole story revolved around her romance with the Crown Prince, it wasn’t the main draw of the show. The heroine’s romantic partner wasn’t even the main male lead!

I mean there were love lines, but they certainly weren't the main focus

I went in fairly confident that Sungjae wouldn’t be getting paired up with Hwang Jung Eum (dat age gap), so it wasn’t super surprising that they didn’t have a love-line, but I was a little taken aback (but not in a bad way!) that they were still both the leads. They had engaging and satisfying love-lines with other characters, but these two were certainly the heart and soul of the show. I think this is my favourite role that I’ve ever seen Hwang Jung Eum in- I’ve liked her in other shows but there was something about Wol Joo’s character that just seemed to suit her better than anything she’s done before.

My favourite Hwang Jung Eum role so far

The writer gave Wol Joo a lot of quirks, and she was a delightful mix of sassy and playful- there were so many areas that Hwang Jung Eum could pour her energy into, and it gave us a really lively character that wasn't too loud or over the top. Wol Joo still felt slightly eccentric, but it stemmed more from her character having lived out 500 years listening to other people complain about their lives as opposed to being played by an over enthusiastic actress. Hwang Jung Eum gave Wol Joo a lot of heart, and was a great leading lady. Puppy Sungjae did great job at playing puppy Kang Bae. The role isn’t a huge jump from roles he’s taken on in the past, but hey- might as well take on those cute young-guy characters while you still can! While Kang Bae also had a love line of his own, the most important aspect of his character was the relationship he developed with Wol Joo and Manager Gwi. Sungjae did a great job at giving Kang Bae a sense of loneliness and really expressing Kang Bae’s secret desire to be unconditionally loved. I think this role had a slightly more goofier comedy than perhaps Sungjae is used to, so I could see his acting bit in some of the scenes, but it does feel like he’s taking gradual steps to grow as an actor- I kind of hope his next project will be something completely new and challenging for him though. And that leaves us with Choi Won Young who is just…fabulous in anything.

He's so cool!

I mean seriously, has he ever not been great in a drama? He’s been a psychopathic murderer, a cheating husband, and a supportive father, and here he gives us a wondrously selfless prince who would sacrifice everything for the woman he loves in every life he lives. Swoon. Not that we know this until the end of course. The drama, and Choi Won Young, do a brilliant job at keeping Manager Gwi’s character endearing and relatable, even while hiding his true identity as the Crown Prince. While I was pretty much 95% sure that Manager Gwi was some form of the Crown Prince, the writer did a great job at throwing enough hints over at Kang Bae, that I couldn’t be too certain.

Is one of these buffoons really royalty?

Some dramas really struggle with sacrificing character development in order for mystery, but ‘Mystic Pop Up Bar’ happily avoided doing this. Manager Gwi was developing a relationship with Kang Bae that was all kinds of adorable, and his character was still being developed through his interactions with Wol Joo. While Wol Joo was unaware that he was her Crown Prince, they developed a new sort of relationship that wasn’t based on the simple fact that they used to be in love. Manager Gwi had become a reliable friend to Wol Joo, which felt so much more nuanced and concrete than if the show had simply banked on them being past lovers.

Wol Joo only learns this part when we do

Manager Gwi may have known all the events of the past, but as Wol Joo had died before they took place, he was still having to learn and try to come to terms with Wol Joo’s perception of events. So while it wasn’t always obvious that the man Wol Joo was referring to was Manager Gwi, we still got to see Manager Gwi’s responses and emotional reactions to Wol Joo’s memories and interpretation of events. It was a delicate balance of developing Manager Gwi's character and keeping the mystery, and I think the writer managed to straddle the line absolutely perfectly. Kang Bae and Yeo Rin were surrounded in a similar sort of mystery that was unfolding at the same pace as Manager Gwi’s reveal. This lead to a great momentum in the story, as it gave us three different characters to unravel at the same time, which meant that the plot never felt drawn out or too slow. Because all of the main four characters were involved in the past some way, finding out something about one of them provided hints on the others. The grand reveal, while not completely surprising (I had guessed the Crown Prince and Tree reincarnation before the drama confirmed), they still managed to be completely satisfying. Because the story was so sure of its path and had solidified an end game right from the start, the final reveal made sense, and it was the characters’ reactions to these revelations that was the main focus, not so much the reveal itself.

Everyone gets to be connected!

I really liked the idea that Kang Bae and Yeo Rin cancelled out each others powers as it was a nice way to bring them closer together and tie them back to the past also. The supporting cast were a delightful bunch, and we had a rotating door of cameos that came in the form of the characters whose grudges Wol Joo settled. While none of these characters had a lot of time to be developed, the writer did a great job at picking relatable, modern issues so that the audience could refer to our own experiences and emotions to fill in the blanks that didn’t necessarily play out on screen.

Kinda wish Kang Bae got to use more of his tree magic though

The grudge of the week always had a way of relating back to the main storyline whether this was lovers being separated by death, or a mother’s sacrifice for her child, and often managed to pack a huge punch. The smaller stories managed to balance the feeling of grief, regret, love and hope so perfectly that each of them was a powerful and emotional watch. Because each of these stories was also wrapped up in the same episode it was introduced in, it also meant that the drama was able to keep a rather lighthearted tone despite having so many heavy emotional beats. Because all the issues were wrapped up within the hour, the show was never bogged down by too much angst. As a whole, the show was really pretty to watch. I feel a bit spoiled in a sense, as I have also just wrapped up watching ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay’ which is also a gorgeous drama- so many pretty, pretty things! Hwang Jung Eum’s costuming for me was a particular standout. Hanboks are so unique and so stunning, so I loved seeing how the drama kept Wol Joo in this traditional style of dress while also giving the look a sleek and modern feel- Wol Joo never felt like she was cosplaying a historical figure, and it was lovely to see modernised version of the hanboks. I think maybe they did this for Manager Gwi’s character a bit too, but I was honestly so dazzled by Hwang Jung Eum’s outfits that I didn’t really notice anyone else’s- she was absolutely stunning in ever scene she was in. 

I'm so into everything this woman wears

What Was Great:

Family:

The strong theme of family interweaving all the episodes and tying everything together was really something that made this drama special. While the romance between Wol Joo and the Crown Prince, and Kang Bae and Yeo Rin were sweet, it was the scenes that highlighted the growing sense of family between our three main characters that really provided the show with depth. Having Wol Joo, Kang Bae and Manager Gwi grow close together as they worked to finish off Wol Joo’s 500 year punishment was just so enjoyable to watch.

Everybody workin' together

There were elements thrown in the story that just made these three feel like such a realistic and close family- such as Wol Joo and Manager Gwi doing a silly dance down the street after solving a grudge, or Kang Bae getting embarrassed when finding out that Wol Joo and Manager Gwi were past lovers. It was heartwarming to see Wol Joo and Manager Gwi become parental figures for Kang Bae, who had been lonely and constantly abandoned for so long. Wol Joo and Manager Gwi definitely provided a warm and safe space for Kang Bae, and the pop up bar really felt like more of Kang Bae’s home than his actual apartment.

This was unexpectedly sad

It was such a treat to see the small things that proved Kang Bae was becoming as important to Wol Joo and Manager Gwi as they were to him- such as Manager Gwi giving him an example of back scrubbing, or Wol Joo staying out all night to get fancy salt to fend off the spirits harassing Kag Bae. As the main mystery started coming together, there was a delightful tingle of hope that these two parent-like figures might actually be Kang Bae’s actual parents (albeit from a few of his lifetimes ago). The conclusion of the plot with both Wol Joo and Manager Gwi sacrificing themselves for Kang Bae was so bitter sweet, but brought about a lovely sense of completion. In the past it had been the parents who had (unknowingly) left behind their child, and the story was brought full circle with both the parents giving up their lives for their baby’s reincarnation. While I’ll admit that I don’t fully understand the mechanics of how Wol Joo was rescued from the staircase of oblivion that apparently has no bottom, or how Manager Gwi ended up not being in hell (what with the signing of that contract and all), I was too happy to see our three main characters reunited again and able to be the happy, loving family that they are that I was content to gloss over a few of the finer details. 

Steady Build:

I love 12 episode dramas. There should be more of them. Why, you ask? Because they get sh*t done, that’s why. This drama did not have a single slow patch or a single filler episode. And that’s absolutely amazing! It’s so rare for 16 episode dramas to do this, but dramas that limit themselves to 12 episodes (such as this one), seem to not need to stretch things out to bolster the episode count- they can just tell the story how they want and cram as much as they like into each episode.

Enough time for everyone to get their moment without being draggy

Every episode of ‘Mystic Pop Up Bar’ was rich with development and emotion. The smaller grudge of the hour stories padded out a fair chunk of the show’s runtime, but each smaller story brought us closer and closer to the main plotline, and revealed something more on one of our main characters. Every action, reaction and motivation for our characters was slowly building towards the final climax of Wol Joo discovering who Manager Gwi really was, and learning of her baby’s current identity. Every episode laid down some clues that lead us in the direction of the finale, and there was always a sense of building tension. By telling Wol Joo’s story backwards, we took some time to even realise that she and the Crown Prince had been romantically involved. First we are discovering what lead Wol Joo to committing suicide (the death of her mother), then we learn about her relationship with the Prince, and towards the later stages of the show we then learn that there was someone else that may have been involved in the past events- Won Hyung.

What do we say to Won Hyung trying to break up this cute 'lil family? Not today.

The introduction of Won Hyung was the drama’s way of announcing that it was entering its endgame, and the characters that had been circling each other from the start started drifting closer and closer together until they eventually collided. The pacing of the show was just brilliant, and you never had a second to be bored as there was always something going on. Even the smaller storylines were always completely new- we never repeated a story. The side characters all had different sadness and grievances that added a whole lot of interest, and allowed the show to have a bit of an excuse for some world building in the world of the Afterlife.

What Wasn’t:

He Just Wants To Be King I Guess?:

The one thing I will say that this show didn’t do particularly well was the development of its main villain. Won Hyung could have been a really intriguing and heart-wrenching villain (he had been besties with the Crown Prince after all), but I’m sad to say that he just sort of fell flat.

Such a vanilla villain

His motivations for coming after Wol Joo and the Crown Prince both in the past and in the present were so superficial and one-dimensional. He just wants…power? And then revenge? It was hard to understand why Won Hyung thought he was doing what was in the best interests of the Kingdom (if that’s even what he thought anyway or if that was just an excuse for his uprising), and his method of getting revenge against Wol Joo and Manager Gwi just wasn’t that nefarious. I mean, he didn’t even know Kang Bae was their kid until after Wol Joo and Manager Gwi found out themselves. Despite being shown to be an insanely powerful spirit who can destroy and possess workers of the Afterlife, he didn’t really do anything. Sure, he killed some characters that weren’t that important to the plot, but beyond that…nothing really. Though he did get to have a pretty fabulous fight scene with Manager Gwi at the end there. But seriously, you would think this guy would have some really good motivation for betraying his best friend and attempting to murder his mate's girlfriend- actions that resulted in all their deaths, but he just didn’t. I mean, I think he wanted to be King maybe? But then why was he marrying his sister off to the Prince while gathering arms for a coup/revolt? Seems a bit counterproductive. His character felt extremely bland and lifeless when we looked at it compared to the detailed and thoughtful character constructions that Wol Joo, Kang Bae and Manager Gwi got.

He sure didn't do much for how powerful he was meant to be

Na In Woo had about one scene where he got to actually have emotions (the scene right before he possessed his father), and it seems like he’s pretty capable of delivering on the hard hitting emotions, so it’s a shame the role didn’t really get much of a chance to explore that. 

Recommend?

Absolutely- I think the synopsis and the casting would make most people think that this is a whacky comedy (which at some points it is), but there is so much heart and warmth wrapped up in this little show and I wholeheartedly recommend people give it a chance.

Cute and fun and worth a shot