Skip to main content

6.1 - Review of Episode 1 of Gyeongseong Creature

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


###

K Drama Chat is a weekly podcast where we take one Korean (K) Drama each season and and recap and analyze each episode. K Drama Chat is available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify and Stitcher.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

11.10 - Podcast Review of Episode 10 of When Life Gives You Tangerines

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 10 of When Life Gives You Tangerines , the hit K Drama on Netflix starring IU as Oh Ae-sun and Park Bo-gum as Yang Gwan-sik as young adults, then Moon So-ri as Oh Ae-sun and Park Hae-joon as Yang Gwan-sik as older adults. We discuss: The featured song during the recap: “Theme of Ae-sun” by Park Sung-il, the musician who also wrote “Theme of Gwan-sik,” “Spring in a Heartbeat,” and “Two Faced Summer” from this OST. The Baeksang Awards wins for this show—Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor—and how validating it feels to have picked a gem for Season 11 of our podcast! How this episode focuses on three mothers and their powerful love for their children: Ae-sun, Yeong-ran, and Chung-seop’s mom. The symbolic and cultural significance of white rice, and how Bu Sang-gil uses it as a weapon in his drunken tirade. Oh Seong’s boiling anger against his father and sister, and his tragic learned behavior from witnessin...

12.6 - Podcast Review of Episode 6 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 6 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo , the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Park Eun-bin as Woo Young-woo, Kang Tae-oh as Lee Jun-ho, Ha Yoon-kyung as Choi Soo-yeon, Ju Hyung-young as Dong Geu-rami, Kang Ki-young as Jung Myung-seok, and Joo Jong-hyuk as Kwon Min-woo. We discuss: The songs we featured during the recap: Overture and Girl Dad (It Takes Such a Long Time) by Roh Young Sim. Our delightful Zoom meet and greet with listeners, where many shared their love of Extraordinary Attorney Woo as their gateway into K Dramas. The varied opinions on Lee Jun-ho, from the fantasy of a perfect green-flag partner to the critique that he’s bland or too idealized. The heartbreaking case of a North Korean defector, Gye Hyang-sim, and how it highlights issues of motherhood, justice, and societal prejudice. The dangerous and emotionally devastating journey of North Korean defectors and how the South Korean government processes and supports them. The emotionally ...

5.4 - Review of Episode 4 of Mr. Queen

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 H...