I want to hang out at the MYSTIC POP-UP BAR (2020 - Korea - Fantasy/Drama/Comedy) with Wol-Ju and the gang

 

Weol Joo, a young girl with the ability to enter into others' dreams and help them solve deep rooted emotional problems, is called upon to cure a young prince, stuck in slumber. She tells his mother, the realms queen, that it is spirits of those wronged by the royal family, who now need to be put to rest in proper burial grounds, and offers to help.
After a few days, the prince wakes, unharmed, but unresponsive to those calling his name, as he wanders and talks to thin air, laughing at things others cannot hear, or see.
Soon Woel Joo is being blamed, and called a witch, accused of cursing the prince, rumors starting of her promiscuity with the prince begin to go around.

Lies.

Soon, she must flee the village, and amidst plans to do so, finds her mother, also a shaman, murdered. With nothing to live for, and nowhere to go, the young girl hangs herself on a hill overlooking the village, a curse to those who betrayed her and her mother on her dying lips. But the sin of her suicide becomes a 500  year sentence, sent back to the realm of the living, on the mission to help 100,000 people, who must first confess their problems to her.
Weol Joo returns in the form of older, feisty Wol-Ju, who runs a cart bar/eatery called the Ssanggab, which exists on the borderlands of our reality, in between our world and the Netherworld.

That is the initial set-up. The show seems to be anthology based, with a different guest/problem each episode, that the regular crew solves. Wol-Ju is joined by her "cook" and spiritual sidekick, Cheif Gwi, who I still know very little about (after a little reading it looks like his past is going to also figure heavily into the series) and young man, Han Kang Bae, who has the gift of getting people to confess their intensely personal truths and problems, by a mere touch.

In the first episode, Han Kang Bae stops a co-worker from committing suicide by bus, over the fact she is being severely harassed by an asshole boss, at a job she cannot afford to lose. In the aftermath, Han Kang Bae suggests getting something to eat, always a good idea after almost being turned into paste by a careening, massive automotive vehicle. Conveniently, they find a pop-up right on the corner, and we enter the Ssanggab for our first taste of adventure.




A lot of threads dangling after this first episode, which seem likely to coalesce in wonderful ways after, again, some light mostly spoiler free reading, as well as given it's super positive reaction among fans of Korean dramas.

I am fairly well versed in Korean cinema, and have been a regular watcher for about fifteen years. I've also delved into the older stuff, and explored it's history. But I have never watched Korean television, an entire world that also seems very connected to Korean cinema, a lot of the actors moving between the two, and often music as well. I look forward to connecting those dots better for myself this year (2021) and "discovering" more of these shows. In the meantime, I still have nine more episodes of MYSTIC POP-UP BAR, which makes me happy...and thirsty...and hungry.

Also, if you can't already tell, it's available on Netflix.

- 8/10 excitement level for more episodes.

UPDATE - EPISODE 2

A woman who has raised a daughter that was not her own, unbeknownst to the child, now a woman. The reasons are painful and involve the death of the birth mother and complete disappearance of the birth father.

Cue the gang at the Ssanggab, who become involved, thus supplying us with another episode of humorous, sentimental, tear jerking goodness.

In the over-reaching rc, Han Kang Bae finally signs the contract to officially help Wol-Ju (who I am becoming even more fond of) achieve her goal of having helped save 100,000 souls from despair.

- 8/10 excitement level for more episodes MAINTAINS.