Café Minamdang (2022)

Entertaining. Fun. Great Acting.

This was a seriously enjoyable and entertaining watch from beginning till end. First intro'd to Seo In Guk in Doom At Your Service where he looked bored AF. Having watched Cafe Minamdang, I can see why. He's got a great comedic range and is effusive and charismatic in Cafe Minamdang. He goes through the roles of brother, friend, mentor, shaman, son, charlatan, detective and beau effortlessly. The chemistry between him and his movie sister, Nam Hye Joon, and his longtime buddy, Gong Soo Chul, is so genuine it's a pleasure to watch. Also Gong Soo Chul and Nam Hye Joon is a seriously cute couple.

Although it was obvious to this viewer that Cha Do Won, the prosecutor, was the villain from the moment he appeared it still did not detract me from enjoying this hilarious romp. There were enough shenanigans that were unpredictable to have kept my interest going.

Probably the only thing I'd criticise is the age consideration in the casting. Jung Da Eun is meant to be years older than Won Hyun Joon and Seo In Guk a few years older than Oh Yeon Seo. And some unrealistic behaviours like how when Cha Do Won called out for help when he caught and was decked by Goo Tae Soo, I would not expect a detective like Han Jae Hee to go to him without looking around her and seeing the assailant run away. Also, I would've liked to have seen Gong Soo Chul's character show more of the fact that he had been a homicide detective in the past. Aside from the flashback, he was consistently the clown character throughout the series and at times it was frustrating as one can't help but feel that he wouldn't think or react this way because he's been trained as a homicide detective before! But anyway these sorts of unrealistic behaviours seem to be a hallmark of many Kdramas anyway so it's tolerated.

Highly recommend.

Leia Mais

Tengo la mala costumbre de hacerme ideas preconcebidas que al final suelen ser erróneas. En mi cabeza este drama era otra cosa, ni mejor ni peor, era diferente. Esto me pasa por no leer argumentos, sólo veo algún teaser y ya está. Con eso tengo suficiente para saber si me va o no me va.
Volviendo al drama. Me he estrenado con Seo In Guk, aún no había visto nada de él y me ha gustado su interpretación. La historia me ha gustado, es buena y da para un drama, el uso de la figura del chamán y el chamanísmo me ha parecido muy acertado, pero creo que algunas cosas lo han estropeado como un uso excesivo de los flashbacks, un uso inadecuado de los recursos narrativos, un exceso de “cuquismo” con ciertos personajes (sobre todo la pareja secundaria) y en ciertos momentos añadir innecesariamente más comedia en las escenas cómicas. El drama tiene 18 episodios, pero creo que podrían haberlo dejado en 16 sin problemas.

Leia Mais

worth to watch

kaget dikit sama endingnya, udah ngira gopuri nya dia tapi ga nyangka ajaa. keren banget pliss layak untuk ditonton 😻😻 walaupun diawal awal agak kesel sama han jaehee tapi dia baik kokk. overall baguss banget sii, komedi, thiller, roman dapat semua, acting nya juga. ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️

️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️

️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️ ️️

Leia Mais

Acceptable mess!

Don't expect this show to be a mind-stirring thriller-mystery, and you'll be able to watch it! for many of the viewers, this turned out to be a disappointment which is understandable as many of us had high expectations from the plot line and the casts...this story definitely had potential but they couldn't bring justice to it. It's more of a comedy series as clearly specified in the genre but the mystery part was a fail due to pretty predictable and poor story development. While watching I could feel like something's missing, unnecessary disputes and logic were constantly repeated, and it seemed like they were trying to make progress with the storyline but ended up with a mess. there were times when I couldn't find sense in certain characters' thoughts and certain behaviors. Anyways this show made my Mondays and Tuesdays light-hearted! For the comedy part, they sure did a Good job, it's a good drama if you're looking for a good laugh with a hint of thrill. I really enjoyed watching their fun- interaction . The whole minamdang crew was my favorite throughout the show! Acting wise all of the cast members did their best to portray their characters! the ending ost's such a bop!! This's all I gotta say...you won't regret this for a single watch or you might?! IDK!!>_< . <3

Leia Mais

a light-hearted thriller !

First of all, I want to emphasize that I'm not much of a comedy fan, but I really enjoyed watching this series. Despite what many people say, I think the mix of comedy and crime was nicely done here. Sometimes a bit exaggerated, but I think that was the directors' intention.
However, I do agree that the FL was incredibly annoying for the first few episodes, which almost made me drop the drama. Although she became more bearable later on, the romance between her and the ML felt forced/fake. There was no chemistry between them.
However, the same cannot be said about the group of friends from the cafe. Their interactions honestly saved this drama for me. The cast did a really great job playing their roles !
Despite many mistakes and holes in the plot, I highly recommend watching the drama <3

Leia Mais

Great thriller with surprising plot twist.

I got to admit, I wasn't sure about this show after the first two episodes. But once his it gets going, boy does it ever get good. Absolutely amazing, not to mention the plot twist in episode 16. Amazing show and most synopses don't do it justice.

Cafe Minamdang (2022)

A story about a former criminal profiler who was falsley accused of evidence tampering in his best friends murder. Upon being released from prison he now works as a fraudster posing as a fortune teller, tryingto solve that murder. He inadvertently ends up teaming up with a police detective who turns out to be the dead friends little sister. As they begin to trust each other and fall in love the begins to take surprising and unexpected twists and turns.

Leia Mais

Good, but could have been better.

I overall liked Cafe Minamdang, liked the cast, liked the premise, but just found that the series strayed at certain points. Some of the plot twists weren't exactly neccesary and just added length to the series. Sometimes I wish that a series was 18 episodes, but this one was the opposite, and I found myself pausing after certain episodes and taking a break before revisiting.

Main criticisms from my perspective:
- I really liked the premise about the faux-shaman profiler, but I found they could have leaned into it harder. Some episodes were unique and fit the theme, and others seemed to have forgotten it completely and became more of a generic suspense/mystery/cop series.
- Sometimes I found solutions to mysteries were well explained, if subtly or briefly, by Nam Han Joon's skills, but on other occasions, they just kind of handwave it with a scene of him thinking really hard and having flashbacks that, as a viewer, I felt were didn't link the puzzle pieces together.
- One of my biggst peeves with the series is Han Jae Hee. I like Oh Yeon Seo and thought she did well, but the character was written too inconsistently. Sometimes she was "Han the Ghost" who could run down and beat up entire groups of thugs without breaking a sweat, and other times she was a helpless damsel who suddenly couldn't do anything but struggle and cough and cry, when she should reasonably be able to save herself and others. Especially when Nam Han Joon is the one saving her. I assume this was to play up the romance, but they could have done it in better ways that didn't detract from the character.

I like it, I finished it, but I think it had the potentil to be a 9-10 star series where I actually relished the 18 episode runtime.

Leia Mais

A Drama with Twists and Twists on those Twists

This is probably one of the most enjoyable crime oriented dramas I have ever watched, the drama does a great job in reeling in the viewer with introducing them to wild cast of characters headed by the wild outlandish Shaman Nam Han Jun and the Charming yet deadly Han Jae Hee and each other's respective groups. The drama also does a great job in keeping true to the tone it sets in the first few episodes which allows for a very easy view while not throwing off the drama's balance at all.

There is tons of twists however which do get a tad bit disorienting but overall they aren't too far fetched in terms of the story. The drama does leave some good hints here and there for sharp eyed viewers to discern who the real main villain of the story is, although it drama does a good job just throwing in little bit of doubt which kept me invested in the story. The 18 episode/1 hour time run per episode fit the story perfect and allowed for everything mentioned to be resolved or at least attended to.

The drama's ability to maintain its tone it set is also its weak point, while being able to balance between the comedy and the very dark seriousness of specific crimes involved. Both sides of the drama were fantastic but I just feel like personally for myself the drama's story would have been much better if they would have completely devoted to one over the other, if anything, the drama's wild outlandish main cast could have totally created one of the best comedy crime dramas.

The music is fantastic, the opening theme by Gonia, the Dance of Minamdang has instantly become my all time favorite drama theme, I just can't stop playing it! The overall quality of the production from the sets, like Cafe Minamdang to the filming locations was all high quality.

This drama would totally be perfect if it would run for more than just one season, the concept of fraud Shaman with his team of comedic goofs running around leaves so many limitless ideas. Great drama all around!

Leia Mais

Confused About Ages

I LOVED it when I first started it. I originally gave it 10/10. It was so funny.

However, by the end, it just wasn't my fav. It gets dark throughout the show, which was to be expected.
I was not a big fan of the relationships. The age gap was really weird to me for the leads, but it was even weirder considering the actors are the same age? I also hated that the main character's little sister and best friend got together--another weird age gap (both onscreen and offscreen).

I predicted the plot twist/villain from the beginning, so nothing really shocked me? The biggest confusion/shock was that there was one character who did not age at all while the others around them aged significantly (let's say she looked like she was in her 30s when she met some guys who were chilren. When they grew up, becoming middle-aged men, she still looked like 30)-- and there was no explanation for it.

Over all, I liked the comedy x mystery vibes. It's kind of giving K-Drama version of "Psych," which is one of my fav TV shows.

Leia Mais