Café Minamdang (2022)

A Scam Artist, A Detective and An Ever-growing Train Wreck Walk Into ‘Café Minamdang’…

On reflection, ‘Café Minamdang’ had a lot of potential to be a good series . Its plot, setup and casting choices seemed to suggest that it was going to be somewhat avant-garde but enjoyable as well as creating potential for some likeable characters along the way for audiences also. However, there are times where reality can be very disappointing. Sadly the eighteen -episode KBS2- Netflix series rarely hit the mark and instead created a show with some very mixed results for the audience.

As suggested previously, this isn’t to say that the concept of the show was bad from the outset. It is important to acknowledge that the screenplay was adapted from “ Minamdang: Case Note”; a fairly successful novel by writer Jung Jae-ha. In charge of adapting Jung’s novel to the small screen were Screenwriter Park Hye Jin and Director Go Jae Hyun. ( Viewers will likely know these familiar names from productions such as ‘ The Emperor: Owner Of The Mask’ , ‘Smoking Gun’, as well as ‘ Black’ and ‘ Dinner Mate’ respectively.)

The narrative of the series predominantly focuses upon scam-artist and former-criminal profiler, Nam Han-joon (Seo In-Guk- ‘Reply 1997’, ‘ High School King Of Savvy’ and ‘ Doom At Your Service’). Pretending to be a shaman at his main base of operation, Café Minamdang, Han-Joon’s talents for decoding body language and micro -expressions has given him the ability to swindle people out of pocket easily and without causing suspicion. Especially thanks to the expertise of his little sister and hacker Nam Hye-joon (Kang Mi-Na- ‘ Dokgo Rewind’, ‘ Hotel del Luna’ and ‘ Moonshine’).

However after snooping around in a hit-and-run incident involving the husband of one of his clients, Han-Joon becomes acquainted with Detective Han Jae-Hee (Oh Yeon-Seo- ‘ My Husband Got A Family’, ‘ Love With Flaws’ and ‘ Mad For Each Other’). Developing a small crush on the investigator, Nam Han-Joon begins to play a cat-and-mouse game with Han-Jae-Hee, leading to many unforeseen consequences for both the detective and the scam -artist .

A lot of viewers have understandably remained divided with one major component of ‘ Café Minamdang’ among many others; its tone and mood. Of course, it isn’t unusual for a show to want to offer leverage between tense and melodramatic moments with more lighthearted or easygoing scenes. However what was noticeable for audiences with regards to Park Hye Jin’s writing, came through some of these underlying moods feelings overly inappropriate at times. To explain this in more depth, ‘ Café Minamdang’ did have its darker and tense moments which while exciting were often heavily overshadowed by strained attempts to offer " comic relief"; even when discussing serious or grave matters or when it didn’t always feel necessary to a moment of scene. However while while forms of comic relief can sometimes work well in this scenario, ‘ Café Minamdang’ often heavily relied on a physical and wacky form of comedy ; commonly found in Korean dramas and productions. Naturally, it isn’t necessarily that this comic relief was bad per say. However, it never seemed to truly flow well against some of the subject matters tackled.

As for the acting and casting choices of the series, Seo-In-Guk’s performance as the main lead is fairly solid here. Although it is fair to say that his onscreen character will either be loved or hated by viewers of equal measure .
Nam Han-Joon was an interesting male lead in his own right. scam artist with a particularly unconventional method of scamming people out of pocket, the male lead had a lot of intriguing elements to his character from the outset. However, where writing issues did become noticeable can often be said to be found through his overall character-arc.

Throughout the course of ‘ Café Minamdang’, there were few and far moments between where viewers truly got to see Nam Han Joon be held accountable for his self-absorbed personality or feel conflicted with his past and current actions. Later episodes admittedly did offer some justification for his current-self and vulnerabilities through his backstory but even then this often somewhat rough around the edges. Instead, a lot of the male lead’s personality traits were often played out for laughs and were rarely interspersed with opportunities for viewers to understand a lot more about Han-Joon.

Similarly, Oh Yeon Seo delivered a decent performance as Seo In Guk’s onscreen counterpart and female lead Han Jae-Hee. Oh Yeon Seo’s performance is admittedly a little wooden at times but this wasn’t entirely the fault of the actress per say. Instead a lot of the blame can probably be put on the writing decisions for the female lead.

Similar to male lead Nam Han-Joon, Han Jae-Hee had a lot of potential to be an intriguing character in her own right. ( Especially as someone involved in a particularly astute field of work such as crime investigation and the male lead’s initial advisory.) However, instead of the female lead having her own moments in the spotlight to be explored as a complex character with her own motivations and flaws, Jae-Hee was often subjugated to the role of being overly fractious, whiney and frivolous character; rarely changing, being explored beyond her surface level or being developed even into later episodes of the series.

In addition to the main characters of ‘ Café Minamdang’, it’s hard not to acknowledge some of the reoccurring side character also. In particular, there should be a special shout-out given to actress Kang Mi-Na. Although her onscreen persona was rarely given her moments to shine in later episodes, the actress delivered a surprisingly charming and lively edge to Nam Hye-Joon.

Acting aside, it is hard to forget one of the show’s most bizarre elements; the superhuman-like abilities of some of the main characters, especially in early episodes of the series. Admittedly, ‘ Café Minamdang’ was never truly aiming for hyper-realism with its setup and premise. However it still seemed inexplicable in a mystery-comedy series to see some of its main characters being able to suddenly run at breakneck speeds and scale buildings without any hassle. Perhaps the show was aiming to play this off for some parodical moments but instead, this often led to some slightly head scratching moments without enough context being given.

One of the major points of intrigue for ‘ Café Minamdang’ came through its crucial plot point of the “cat-and-mouse game” between detective and scam artist. Although there were moments which could be fairly entertaining, it still often seemed that the screenplay’s attempts to build up this “ hype” took a lot longer than expected. While the first few episodes of ‘ Café Minamdang’ did require for some necessary spoon-feeding for viewers towards establishing the identity of main characters as well as the main plot-arc, the tedious duration of episodes at times in addition to some unnecessary plot points could’ve been avoided with harsher writing decisions and editing. ( For example rather than attempting to pad out episodes with a surplus amount of comic relief or unnecessary subplots, the series could’ve used the time in-between to develop characters, intensify the mystery element of the storyline and heighten relationships between characters as well as using these writing points, as a tool for improving the continuity of the narrative in later episodes.) As a result, the final part of the series felt somewhat underdeveloped and lacked a satisfactory feeling of completion for many viewers.

Stylistically and under the directing leadership of Go Jae Hyun, ‘ Café Minamdang’ was fairly conventional for a Korean drama. The quality of filming was decent enough and while there were certainly a few nice moments of cinematography ( especially with contrasting palette schemes such as with natural and vivid hues ) , perhaps it is fair to say that there were was nothing particularly standout with regards to the stylistic approach either. (Perhaps it didn’t help that even for the slightly theatrical and fabricated worlds of K-dramas, the settings and set designs for ‘ Café Minamdang’ felt a bit counterfeit as they rarely felt "lived-in" by the characters.)

Certainly one of the few major and surprising highlights of the series came through its OST. ‘ Café Minamdang’ offered viewers with a surprising array of genres from the surprisingly catchy rap track “ Ghost Buster” by Jo Gwang-il and the beguiling alternative pop song “ Stay Awake” by Nam Young-joo though there were some tracks on the OST which were a little unremarkable also.

‘ Café Minamdang’ started off on a potential high note with an intriguing setup, an impressive cast and characters. Seo In Guk and Kang Mi Na delivered fairly consistent performances but even they couldn’t save the series from crashing and burning as it ran its course. Despite a talented cast and some entertaining moments here and there, ‘ Cafe Minamdang’ felt greatly overshadowed by its flaws ( especially narrative execution and character writing) rather than its strengths.

Leia Mais

I watched it because my friend suggested it. Starting it was gripping and comedy timings are good, they hit the point. But, they don't need 18 episodes. At the end I was soo bored and from the starting I knew who was the villain. When they show plot twist I was like is there any need for this, I was soo bored in the end. But I enjoyed the starting and everything was good until last episodes so I'm giving it good review.

Leia Mais

Funny, until it's not

I came for Seo In Guk. He is a terrific actor, and this role let him use facial muscles that are normally reserved only for the strangest expressions. There was an abundance of quirkiness and fun in this show, especially with the Cafe Minamdang employees. I appreciated how the writers gave us insight to how the Cafe came into being. Watching him bounce and dance around, chanting nonsense chants, and then surprising everyone with him being spot on was fun to watch.

Where it kind of fell apart for me was the overabundant number of characters to keep straight. They threw names around right and left, so many of them like the others, I spent a lot of time wondering who the heck they were talking about. I was surprised at how quickly the show went from light and fun to dark and sordid. The seamy underbelly of the police force and government officials, that's a cliche that gets used too much for my taste.

I also had a problem with the age difference between a few of the characters, only because it made absolutely no sense and wasn't believable.

Without giving anything away, there was one character that I was hoping beyond all hope that they wouldn't take him in a certain direction. When they did, though, I was glad because it made more sense. But it came so close to the end of the show it seemed like it was tacked on at the last minute.

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but there should not have been a romance between the main couple. There was no chemistry, it wasn't believable, and I focused on the secondary couple.

The OST was wonderful.

I won't watch this again, because I didn't find it interesting enough, and the main couple was so bland.

I'm not going to say don't watch it. You'll be thoroughly entertained in the first few episodes, but as for the rest, I just really felt like there was something missing.

Leia Mais

I don't know why people are saying so many bad things about this drama

People usually starts a k-drama thinking it'll be a north-american series, but it's much better than that.
Plotlines, story, characters, OST, everything is SO PERFECT about this drama.
Sometimes, I remembered of Vincenzo because of some things (the fake shaman thing and the songs)
But what the heck is the Auntie Im age problem?
Excluding this, the drama is beyond all things I was expecting. The best since Vincenzo.
Seo In Guk it's now, my favie Korean actor, just by the side of Song Joon-ki and Taecyeon. The female lead (I can't remember actress name) is the most wonderful and funny, her plot is so aaaaaa
I can't say what I loved the most

Leia Mais

Give Café Minamdang more Love!

I have put great "Hits" on ice after watching 1 or 2 episodes.And there are still in my On Hold List.I thought the same would happen with Café Minamdang.So many bad reviews.So many bad ratings.I admit i was too hesitant to start it.I usually trust my instincts(not only about watching Dramas,lol)and i though is better to waste one hour of my life and watch the first episode rather than rejecting it without giving it any chance.Main reason -i can't lie-was Seo In Guk.Although i usually don't follow his work as he participates mostly in series with heavy romance ,and i try my best to avoid the genre!
But i know he is a very good actor.He was brilliant in Hello Monster.A role of a Shaman here!Yes why not?
So i hit "play" and i was lost in this crazy squad's world.I didn't even realize when the first episode ended.And i already knew it.I was falling shameless!

First let's talk about all the great things this Drama has.

Music:i can guarantee it.You will instantly fall for all the OSTs,music themes and every single note plays here.
My two favorite are Stay Awake & Endless Night.(though Ghost Buster is very funny so check it out too!)

Production /Direction/Cinematography:Feel safe.Everything is well made.The quality is Top.
Special credits to Costume Team for the amazing.colorful and fashionable suits the ML wears!

Cast/Acting: Everyone delivered the feelings and vibes of his/her role to maximum.Seo In Guk's role has both comedic and emotional parts and once again he was amazing.His facial expressions and the body language took over the speaking part of his role.He would deliver every emotion even if the role was without lines!

Characters:

The Dynamic Trio:
Nam Han Joon,ML:A conman a fake Shaman ex criminal profiler .Super Smart a sweet talker,super sexy.He has his own agenda and his own motives.He is a man in pain fighting for justice.--No spoilers needed--

Gong Soo Cheol, a private detective:Ml's best friend working together.Partners in scamming!A giant bear kicking asses,also saving Ml's ass numerous times!He is sweet,naive and with a golden heart.He is hilarious as well.

Nam Hye Joon,ML's younger sister.Super smart too(is in the genes!LOL)An elite hacker,the team i bet can't survive without her.Funny and colorful character.With colorful hair!

Han Jae Hee,The Detective:Stubborn,hot headead.Annoying as hell most of the time.Another char with a hidden agenda and secrets.Badass.she loves giving punches!Kicks asses better than men.

---Side Note related to the Female Lead---

Judging by most of the reviews almost all have problems with this character.Many -said-dropped the drama cause of her,which is really sad but respected.

It seems that the Annoying Female Lead char,is the necessary "evil" in most Kdramas.Writers should finally listen to the viewers and change the bad habit of creating annoying female chars who shouts instead of speaking and acting hysterically at any time.This is not attractive.It doesnt give depth to the character and we have enough of this old fashioned trope.
We need more down to earth female chars.Realisic female roles.Women can be strong and smart.Can debate and argue in the most civil way without need to raise their voice and act like "kittens".
Unfortunately the annoying type is the rule and not the exception.Writers WAKE UP!You,yourselves ruins your own scripts.
Where can i file an official complain?Lol!
---End of Side Note---

Story/Plot:

Ok,let me start by saying.Please check the Genre.Says Mystery & Comedy.
For me firstly this Drama is a well written Comedy.A Series with endless fun,hilarious moments and funny characters.
Read my Lips(just saying!)CO-ME-DY!This Drama is the definition of this Greek word.My language!So don't be mistaken.Noone fools you here.If you decide to watch this prepare yourself for many silly moments.
To make it more juicy the writer decided to add Mystery too.And the dose of mystery is sufficient to tie the fun and the serious part in a nicely done blend which can satisfy both comedy and mystery lovers.
Definitely it has NOT the gravity of a good and solid Crime/Mystery Drama as is more based on the fun element.And in my opinion that is the reason for the many bad reviews.Because viewers expected a flawless crime drama so most they are disturbed about not finding this here.I totally respect this.Is everyone's choice to hate or love it.I chose to love it because i had so much fun.I loved all the characters,even the annoying female detective.If you give this a chance i bet you will laugh 9 out of 10 scenes.After all that is the purpose of a comedy.
Also many said the romance here was forced and unnecessary.Not true.And take this from someone who always looking for the minimum romance when i search series and i get blisters with the idea of any cheesy romantic story!
Both primary and secondary couple's love story was light, funny and cute and added the right dose of fluffiness'.

Something else i really liked was the "epilogue" at the end of each episode.Was always the more serious part of the story.A concentrated review /explanation of what we saw.That was a very fine touch to me which added more credits to the Drama.

Ofc iam not blind not to see all the flaws and negatives Cafe also has.The time line is not the best,It can be confusing.Plot holes?Yes of course there are.I have my objections too over few things about the story.
The never-aged Shaman Lady and the "who is older/younger than whom" was silly enough.I know!(you will understand if you watch what i mean)
But all these weren't enough to make me hate this Drama.Flaws exists even in masterpieces.
I watched this non-stop.Never hesitated to hit the next episode button.I didn't put in "on hold"I had fun i laughed A LOT.I trully enjoyed it.
I admired Seo In Guk's versatility.That was a different role to see him in and iam glad i chose Cafe.
So my last thought is...

Give it some ❤ It deserves it!

Leia Mais

THE PLOT ! THE MYSTERY ! THE THRILLER ! THE COMEDY ! THE SEO INGUK!

It has the best mystery and suspense with perfect amount of humour, as it goes seo inguk never disappoints! from the pilot episode till the end i never felt bored of a single scene. the story starts from the get go with the yonhae dong wonder shaman solving mystery in his swag style and till the end seo inguk keeps the same aura. he was really no doubt the backbone of the drama however we really need to give kudos to rest of the cast too ! especially Oh Yeonseo I have indeed scene many people finding her character annoying but that was the point! the essence of her character she is supposed to be annoying at first so that we can get the satisfaction when her character develops. plus I really fell head over heels from the acting of soohyun the way he pulled of prosecutor cha's character you can't help but fall in love. I really need to mention that not a single scene is shippable I really really enjoyed the drama. I will surely recommend

Leia Mais

Drastic tone shifts, 10 filler episodes,useless FL

The male lead went all out in his role as the shaman and his 'siblings' completed the idiotic trio scamming their clients. I would have absolutely loved 18 episodes of just their shenanigans with occasional disputes with the local police. But the police really is what dragged everything down in every way. Absolutely incompetent female lead who besides a punch here and there never accomplishes anything let alone makes new discoveries regarding their investigations 3-4 business days after the Café crew.
While I do love a good side dish of romance the two couples we get have the most anticlimactic development and get more and more obnoxious as time goes on.

-slightest spoiler-
one of the final scenes of them talking in baby voices, worrying about each other as there is a serial killer currently on the lose really showcases the whack genre clash. macabre humor is up my alley but this was just cringy.
-spoiler end-

Anyways...giving this an okay rating just cause I could see the potential, Male lead was so unhinged at times that I couldn't help but love him oh and the last 3 episodes when they seemingly remembered the plot hadn't progressed whatsoever they wrapped it up pretty nicely.

Leia Mais

Really good but a little lame

I like the cast that was selected the only problem that I have is that the male female lead is Oh Yeon-Seo. For some reason I have not liked her since I saw Korean Odyssey and I love Korean Odyssey I wish there was a second season. In Cafe Minamdang the character she play really pisses me off she’s so selfish and only see things one-sided she don’t look at the full picture and never takes the blame when she is wrong another thing is the prosecutor that’s in the show he kind of throws me off because when Choi Young-Seop was killed in the hospital room by Gopuri she and Nam Han Joon left to go chase after him and when they got back to Choi Young Seop room the prosecutor was gone where the hell was he? second she couldn’t stop the injection from going in the IV she seen how Choi was scared see she could’ve stopped it. She could’ve stopped him from leaving the room. Finally Nam Han Joon why does he keep getting beat up by her we all know he’s a good martial artist from the first episode but somehow he just keep on getting his ass beat that pisses me off I wanna actually see him go full out in a fight and win.
Update: I really hate the female lead omfg she she’s so annoying this is why I try to avoid watching anything that has her in it.
Update #2: I knew Cha Do Won the prosecutor was suspicious. I’m on ep 16 now I can’t wait to finish and write my last review of this.

Leia Mais

A Decent Cop Thriller with some Comedy thrown in

Hey, Everyone, welcome back to the K-drama Study. Last time we talked about the spectacular drama Twenty Five Twenty One. Today I'll be talking about the Seo In Guk drama Cafe Minamdang which aired from June 27 - August 23. The last time we saw Seo In Guk, he was in Doom At Your Service, A drama that could've been significantly improved. So did Seo In Guk's new drama impress me more, or did it have similar problems to his last drama? Let's jump into the Cafe Minamdang world and see what I think.



Characters:

Oh Yeon-seo as Han Jae-hui: Starting this Review, we talk about the female lead with whom I was in the middle. The actress acted well, but the whole character was weak. It felt like all the female lead did was punch and threaten the male lead. Stealing evidence and never catching the bad guy which felt like a never-ending cycle. I also found the female lead annoying at times, which made me dislike her that much. I wish I could throw her character away since she sometimes felt useless in this show, but I kept watching her to see if she would grow, and yes, she grew on me a bit.

Seo In-guk as Nam Han-joon: Seo In Guk's acting perfectly fit his character. I loved seeing him play a shaman, which made me laugh occasionally. I will say some of the shaman humor got old often. However, I enjoyed how slick her was when he needed to be and how he was the brains of the operation they were putting on. Seeing the Male lead interact with the female lead felt like I was watching Tom and jerry. I still wish his character was more serious and less goofy to fit with the thriller elements.

Kang Mi-na as Nam Hye-joon: My favorite character in the show played by former gugudan member Kang Mina. I love how serious her character could be and go into funny/cute. Hye-joon is excellent at computers and is super intelligent. I also loved the romance hse had with Gong Soo Cheol; that was super cute and funny. This character felt necessary to the show helping the story to progress further.

Story:
There are so many things to say about this exciting story that didn't impress me. Unfortunately, the writers built more on comedy and less on the mystery elements, making the whole story not connect well. I did find some of the casting to feel strange as some of the actors and actresses felt out of place playing some of the characters. The biggest letdown was the plot which I was excited about after reading it, but this show didn't live up to it. My favorite episode was when minamdang and the police raided a club with a good balance of comedy and thriller. The shaman moments where he was advising people felt like he was a con artist lying to them, but those moments were great. Now I will mention that the episodes dragged on too long, making my board halfway through them. The cringy moment of the show was the romance between the Shaman and the female police, as they didn't fit together well. There weren't too many romance scenes, but watching them made me sick. However, I did like the moments where Seo In Guk's character was fighting the villain; that was cool to see. The comedy this show had was good, but there were times that they used it in the wrong moments. The first couple of comedy episodes were too over the top, which made me dislike those moments that much.
During episode one, the two male police thought the female police officer was a ghost, and I thought that wasn't an excellent addition to the show. The second ML. who played as the cop who got let go. He started promising but looked like a weak, slow-witted pig. I don't care for characters like that, as they feel like throwaways. There was one moment when the Shaman came down the steps in the cafe, and all the girls were like, he is so cute and felt cringy and not crucial to the show. One thing the police did was break the law so many times in this show. The show's ending showed the male and female lead find a dead body on their holiday, which made them go back to work. I felt the conclusion was building up to a season 2, which I don't want to see.

OSTs:
I found the OSts to be the best thing about this show. Gwangil Jo had the first OST, which I enjoyed, but I found it not to be my favorite. Raina had a piano ballad song, the first track from the show became my first obsession. The second was Seo In Guk's track which showcased his killer vocals, and I've been listening to that tune a lot these past few days. SuA of Dreamcatcher had the 7th and final song, which was a perfect closer for the OSTs. The dance of Minamdang was the weirdest song for me as I still don't know if I like it. I'm happy with the songs from this show as they worked well with the story. I will still be repeating these tracks since there were some good ones.

Thanks for reading my review for Cafe Minamdang, a show that used too much comedy that sometimes felt unnecessary. I will give this show a D for having a poorly executed story that the writers could've done better on. I hope the next Seo In Guk drama is much better than this one. Don't forget to come back next time I talk about Sejeong's drama Today's Webtoon.

Leia Mais

It could have been shorter

Overall, the drama is all right. It could have been shorter though. I feel like the sections of the female detective doubting/hating the main male lead is kinda long and repetitive.

Romance is not that attractive. I would not ship these two leads. There aren't much romance scene in this drama. (not gonna lie, I skipped the romantic scene between them at the end of the drama lol)

The acting is not bad. Actors are good, but the characters itself are sometimes silly.

I do like Kang Mi Na acting in this drama. She's funny to watch. :)

For Kwon Soo Hyun, this is the first time I saw him acting. He is not bad. I like his Cha Do Won character; it's mysterious but not enough. His sense of justice kinda remind me of character K in Inspector Koo. Both kill people that are deserved to be punished. However, the difference is Cha Do Won also kill the innocent (prosecutor Han). One thing I would change Cha Do Won acting is show more creepy expression to create more mysterious vibe (smiling). His smiling is more of like forcing himself to smile (not natural). It would have been better if he shows more expressions. His expression in this drama is kinda stiff.

One thing I like about this drama is when Nam Han Joon did the criminal profiling. I love criminal topics such as forensic science; so it's interesting to learn how criminal profiling works.

Overall, my rewatch value is 4/10. Story is 5/10. Acting is 7/10. Romance is 3/10. Music is 5/10

Leia Mais

*All in all, was the story successful??* Ummm.... nop.

*First of all, does it need 18 episodes?* Not really. They could have told the story in waaay less episodes than that.

*Police vs shaman? was the synergy successful??* Again not really. It was already hard to find a midpoint in the harmony between police and shaman to catch criminals and the shaman here is really just a profiler and a hacker.

*Is comedy successful?* tbh Seo In Guk did an amazing job of trying to bring out the humour within his characters and maybe the shaman team did a good job but the police team failed miserably and so when taking the entire story the comedy fell short.

*Characters?* again Seo In Guk did the best out of his characters, but the female lead failed miserably. or maybe her character was really annoying in the first place. Han Jae Hee is a self-opinionated woman, who just believes what she wants to believe. And she is caught up in her own guilt for her brother's death, which also was a result of her own bullheaded personality. And she always screws up Nam Han Joon undercover projects.
The first few episodes are like Nam Han Joon goes undercover --> Han Jae Hee discovers him -->Han Jae Hee screams Nam Han Joon name as loudly as she can --> The bad guys discover that something is fishy --> Han Jae Hee ends up revealing herself as an undercover cop while also exposing Nam Han Joon.
This was soo annoying tbh.

*All in all, was the story successful??* Ummm.... nop. This is sad for me to say really, cuz I'm a huge fan of Seo In Guk and I just feel sad that he choose a project like this. I know he did his best, but the overall story was a failure.

Leia Mais