Stephanie Ruby Yakam

It's Kim Hye Soo! Need I say more? There are a plethora of components that make this movie gripping and binge worthy. Firstly, the characters. Each character is so distinct with their own personality and they don't bleed into each other. Each character is given some time to shine and so you can understand the back stories. There is the main storyline, but within it there are mini stories that collaborate well with the main story and gives it context and makes you far more emotionally invested then you already were. The queen is a badass woman, protective and caring mother and a power house queen. I absolutely love the characters, even the antagonists. The storyline itself of a woman doing everything within and far beyond her capabilities to protect her children. The vying for power between the princes, then the ladies of the palace had me at the edge of my seat. There was also moments of humor and fun which kept the series from feeling burdensome. All around a binge worthy movie that had me pulling an all nighter. It is a movie I recommend to both k drama fans and anti fans.

I’ll start off with the good qualities. I firstly love the male lead characters. K dramas had a bad common thread of making one of the male leads an arrogant piece of trash we are supposed to simp over. In this drama and a lot of others these days, male leads have had a more in depth and better portrayals. I love how caring, sweet and quirky both men are. The other side characters as well, such as Woori’s mother, father and grandmother are interesting and complex characters that I have grown fond of. I especially like Ma Ri or Mal Ja (Raphael’s ex). I find her character far more interesting than Woori. She was annoying and made me want stick a pencil in my eye at first. However, there was definitely a shift and development in her character. I watched her show remorse and regret and made her attempts to amend relationships. She may still revert since we are on episode 12. But she is an interesting character. The problem I have with the drama is the plot itself. I didn’t find there to be any reason for there to be a murder mystery story thrown in there. The murder mystery plot seemed as though it had no real relation and would make no real impact to the main storyline or the characters. It seemed as though it was thrown in there to fill out episodes and keep them entertaining. I think it still would have made for a great series if they just stuck to the story of Woori being pregnant and her journey and the other characters and their relationships. There have been many other k dramas that focused on such stories and they still turned out wonderful, such as Hometown Cha Cha Cha and hospital playlist. Another critique is the chemistry of the actors. I find the relationship between firstly Woori and Kang Jae not really awkward but kind of boring and not really there. Between Woori and Raphael just seemed forced. I prefer Sang Hoon’s (Raphael) chemistry with Shin Hye Sun in Five Enough, they were cute. The last criticism is that every character other than Woori had faults. I would think it would be a drama where because such a great responsibility is just thrown at her, she would go through a kind of metamorphosis, in which she would learn and grow and make mistakes and kind of figure out what to do and how to raise the child. Instead we get an unnecessary diversion to a murder story and a female lead who was perfect from the get go and did not need to grow as a character, but everyone else had to around her. Exhausting! All in all it’s not something that has me hooked and desperately waiting for the next episode. I do not have high expectations for the last episodes either. However I hate leaving movies unfinished so I shall see it to the end.

This is such a relaxing chill and amazing series to binge watch. This is by far one of my favorite k drama series for several reasons. 1. The most important reason is the female lead. Decades ago, the problem with female characters was that they were mostly 2 dimensional characters placed there to make male leads look cool. These days, the female character has become to arrogant, entitled and trying too hard to be 'one of the guys'. This female lead is such a superb character. She is free spirited and playful, yet determined and moody. I love her resilience and never give up spirit. She is one of the best female leads I've seen in K drama. 2. The male much like the female lead is such a determined and resilient spirit. I love watching him grow and develop as a character and gain more self confidence and love as well as help the female lead. 3. The storyline. It may not be complicated. The storyline may seem simple. When the storyline seems simple I get suspicious that it could be repetitive. But this storyline has charm in its simplicity and keeps you hooked on every episode. On episode 7 and praying for days to go by quick to watch the other episodes.

Mystic pop up bar is a mix of fantasy, comedy, romance and all round humanitarian series. This, in my books, goes down as a highly underrated series. The storyline itself hooks you in and keeps you entranced. It's intricate and skillfully threads different stories onto the main storyline. There is never a boring moment in the series. The characters themselves, I am gripped by. Each character has depth and personality and brings color to the series. There is character development and you are able to see growth and complexity. As a whole, every aspect of this series combines intricately, creating a gripping story, with characters you fall in love with and brings out a kaleidoscope of emotions. If you are looking for a humanitarian movie about family, love, self discovery and self love, Mystic Pop Up Bar is a must watch. As a Korean movie and TV series enthusiast, I rank this as a top notch, binge worthy tv series.