Dramabeans Podcast #31
by javabeans
It’s a new year, and we’re eager to get through all of our backlog so we can start fresh again! We have a lot of catching up to do in this podcast, so we did our best to speed through to cover as much as we could in a (somewhat) reasonable amount of time. It’s a longer podcast today, but there was a lot on the docket, and as always, we’ve given timestamps marking the topic changes, in the event you choose to skip some of the discussion.
Podcast #31
Running time: 1:35:38
Topics and dramas discussed:
- D-Day: The ups and downs of the disaster drama, the effects, and the story choices
- Sassy Go Go: What we found cute about it, and what fell a little short (6:15)
- Village: Secret of Achiara: The thrills, the secrets, the acting and the overall effect of suspense and mystery (17:00)
- Awl: Why this cable drama about the driest sounding topic was so riveting, and what we found compelling about the characterizations, the directing, the acting (23:42)
- Bubblegum: The writing, the directing, the low-key atmosphere (38:32)
- Answer Me 1988: High highs, low lows, and lots of tears. (43:20)
- Oh My Venus: The bubbly cute drama that lacked for plot but had a winning lead pair (1:01:36)
- Imaginary Cat: Yoo Seung-ho with a cat! (1:07:46)
- Remember—Son’s War: Yoo Seung-ho with tears! Not to mention Namgoong Min’s reinvention as a villain (1:11:18)
- Cheese in the Trap: We’re early days yet, but cautiously optimistic… (1:17:00)
Names mentioned:
Kim Young-kwang, Jung So-min, Ha Suk-jin, Kim Tae-hee, Jung Eun-ji, Ji-soo, Lee Won-geun, Lee Jong-seok, Kim Woo-bin, Chae Soo-bin, Jang Hee-jin, Moon Geun-young, Yook Sung-jae, Shin Eun-kyung, Kim Jae-wook, Lee Yeol-eum, Jo Seung-woo, Ohn Joo-wan, Ji Hyun-woo, Ahn Nae-sang, Hyun-woo, Yesung, Kim Hee-won, Lee Dong-wook, Jung Ryeo-won, Bae Jong-ok, Ryu Joon-yeol, Ra Mi-ran, Kim Sung-kyun, Sung Dong-il, Lee Il-hwa, Park Bo-gum, Jung Woo, Sung Shi-kyung, Lee Mi-yeon, Lee Moon-se, Lee Sun-hee, Byun Jin-sub, So Ji-sub, Yoo In-young, Jung Kyeo-woon, Yoo Seung-ho, Park Shin-hye, Park Sung-woong, Namgoong Min, Seo Kang-joon, Jung Yong-hwa, Lee Yeon-hee, Cha Seung-won
[ Download podcast | Mirror ]
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Songs Used in Podcast (In order of use)
“오늘도 맑음” (Today is clear too) by Tearliner from the Cheese in the Trap OST
“Shooting Star” by Han Byul from the Sassy Go Go OST
“Inferno Symphony – Main Title” from the Awl OST
“너만 생각해” (Only think of you) by Yoon Gun from the Bubblegum OST
“청춘” (Youth) by Kim Feel (feat. Kim Chang-wan) from the Answer Me 1988 OST
“Beautiful Lady” by Jonghyun from the Oh My Venus OST
“Cheese in the Trap” by Twenty Years Old from the Cheese in the Trap OST
“어쩌면 좋아” (What should I do) by Cosmos Hippie from the Cheese in the Trap OST
RELATED POSTS
Tags: Answer Me 1988, Awl, Bubblegum, Cheese in the Trap, D-Day, featured, Imaginary Cat, Oh My Venus, Remember—Son's War, Sassy Go Go, Village: Secret of Achiara
Required fields are marked *
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
26 coinseller
January 22, 2016 at 1:33 PM
Yay another podcast! Absolutely love listening to them!
Required fields are marked *
27 bluecow
January 22, 2016 at 1:49 PM
Thank you for the podcast! Agreed with most everything you said about the series I've watched (esp. about Oh My Venus not having enough plot to hold up conflict), and I added Awl to my watchlist :)
Required fields are marked *
28 dramawatcher
January 22, 2016 at 3:22 PM
I felt like Sassy go go did explain why the main actress went to that school though.
Required fields are marked *
dkaoru
January 22, 2016 at 7:52 PM
why did she go to that school?
I didn't quite get it, but I love Sassy Go go anyway :) it's illogically fun due to crinkle eyes and grumptopus
Required fields are marked *
pigsnout
January 22, 2016 at 9:26 PM
Yeah didn't Jung Eunji say her mother her to go to that school and so she stayed?
And Soo Ah didn't get forgiven just like that, ep 10-12 clearly say she takes a zero on her tests and Eunji and the gang say she has to earn back their trust. They saved her, but they are not stupid to just let it go with no words to her. And her mother didn't get away with it either, we know she's getting investigated for bribing the school. So I don't understand why jb/gf say Soo-ah just got away with everything, it's not like School 2015 where the villain girl never even said sorry.
I don't understand the bromance problem either, the boys were not like Lee Jong Seok and Kim Woo Bin who were trying to repair a broken friendship, they already had a strong friendship that helped them through hard times. Relationships don't need to be broken first to feel real or important.
Required fields are marked *
pogo 🍉
January 23, 2016 at 7:04 AM
yeah, I don't get the criticisms against Sassy Go Go, that way - I mean, taking up a weird-sounding activity for a line on a college application sounds way more plausible to me than having to go to idol school to escape loan sharks, even within the world of the drama. And even staying in that school is pretty well explained within the story itself - we've seen that her mom would take her out if she found the school treating her daughter badly, but Yeon-doo knows she wants her to stay despite that. And she does have a tendency to stand her ground, which is why I can buy her leaving and then coming back. I've said it before, but I actually found it refreshing that Yeon-doo is just a regular kid and not some dirt poor Candy who needs a million part-time jobs, you CAN sympathise with a heroine who doesn't have trouble keeping a roof over her head.
(and for the last time, Soo-ah DIDN'T get away scot-free/without consequences, her midterm results are basically nullified and the kids make it clear she isn't home free, they just forgave her enough so she wouldn't, you know, kill herself)
Required fields are marked *
29 coby
January 23, 2016 at 12:11 AM
Yay! Super miss podcast
Required fields are marked *
30 cupkate
January 23, 2016 at 5:30 AM
Oh I'll watch AWL then!!
Required fields are marked *
31 cupkate
January 23, 2016 at 5:38 AM
Oh! I'm one of those few people who was satisfied about the ending. Probably because it's the first time among the franchise that I watch as the series went on (I marathoned 94 and already knew Oppa was endgame and didn't get to watch 97) that I found it really refreshing. To each his or her own I guess?
Required fields are marked *
32 Lunatic4KD
January 23, 2016 at 7:33 PM
Hey, Javabeans and Girlfriday - the thing about Seo Kang-joon is he established his really great personality in RoomMate!!!!!! That's where he came from and got attention. He was wonderful in that house. Kang-Joon and Lee Dong Wook held the place together. I didn't care for him in Sly and Single Again, which I watched before RoomMate, but I suddenly sat up and noticed him in RoomMate, especially because the other young new guy on the reality show (Park Min-Woo) proved to be slightly insecure and jealous around the quiet strength of Kang-Joon. It was a really interesting social experiment to watch. You could just tell that Kang-joon was loved and admired by everyone in the house...Poor Park Min-woo couldn't deal with it and had melt-downs - to the point where Big Brother to all, Lee Dong Wook, had to take him aside and counsel the poor kid to build him up again. I think Park Kang-joon is really proving himself in Cheese in the Trap and, with a little more maturity and some age on that face, will really shine as an actor in the future.
Required fields are marked *
33 flatbear
January 23, 2016 at 7:45 PM
yay another podcast! finally!
Required fields are marked *
34 flamingotamer
January 23, 2016 at 11:01 PM
Yay! Another podcast! Thank you! Love you guys!!
Required fields are marked *
35 yayabean
January 24, 2016 at 7:05 AM
How the heck did i miss this podcast posting even though I'm constantly checking the DB blog!!??
Nonetheless - woo-hoo.Podcast! Thank you ?
Required fields are marked *
36 its_boms
February 1, 2016 at 12:28 AM
What's crazy to me is (maybe it was to make sure he could act authentically) that I think even Ryu Jun Yeol didn't know the result and was disheartened when he found out that he wasn't the husband either... He even mentioned they even filmed scenes when he and DS went to the Lee Moon Sae concert, but chose NOT to include the scenes. So the writer could have definitely changed their minds.. just cause they can... lol and when Taek would take center stage, RJY said that the confession/goodbye to DS was his official farewell to the show- like he was starting to distance himself from there on out... BAH it still baffles me. BUT I'm so glad at how much this has boosted up the careers for many of these actors and actresses (ESPECIALLY RJY) and though it was a painful first love experience we all shared, I would totes watch it again.
Required fields are marked *
its_boms
February 1, 2016 at 12:33 AM
also- I realize. the next installment should be a reversal- Dong Il and Il Hwa as Elderly folks, remembering their prime as younger folks and rather than us guessing who the husband is, it should be us guessing who the to be wife is amongst a group of girlfriends. HA.
Required fields are marked *
37 Greenhazelia
February 5, 2016 at 10:21 PM
I really agree with you about Reply 1988, Oh My Venus and also Cheese in Trap.
I was like.. "Thank you for voicing out my mind."
Ryu Jun Yeol started as a lead and end up as an extra, also hurt my heart. Taek is great, it's not like i hate that he got the girl but i just feel very sad that they don't bring anything, any story, any conclusion for Junghwan. That so sad.
Oh my venus, well just a romantic story for So Ji Sub and Shin Min Ah to be lovey dovey XD
Cheese in Trap is the great hope for me, and looks promising.. hope that the story will end up great too ^^
Required fields are marked *
38 Alessar
March 1, 2016 at 9:12 AM
How weird... I read the site every day and somehow I never saw this one go up. It was only when I noticed it listed in the CITT recap list of links.
Required fields are marked *
39 yingception
March 15, 2016 at 2:31 AM
Thanks guys for this really interesting podcast! Just a sidenote though: one voice was much louder than the other so it was a little uncomfortable so maybe you can just modify it next time. Thanks for sharing again!
Required fields are marked *
40 Charlotte
September 6, 2017 at 2:52 PM
Re: D-Day comments. I really enjoyed this Drama. Your reviewer (the only one who'd watched it) seemed to feel there wasn't enough disaster scenes and that it turned into a hospital drama. But that was the part that drew my interest so much. Seeing the variety of personalities (greedy versus altruistic) in the staff, the man/woman on the streets, the patients and the different management & government levels was eye-opening. Both the hero & the villain was the basic humanity in each of us that's broken by disaster or made to shine. Every character, big or very small, showed us how we might all react given hardship. This gave us plenty of scope for different levels of character-growth...something Korean drama does far better for me than american dramas. Listening to the reviewers talk about D-Day as well as Sassy, I got the impression they were judging these dramas through an american filter---because in an american drama there would be a lot more disaster/action scenes...or something "thrilling" (as one reviewer commented was lacking in a drama). Precisely one of the reasons I've moved away from american tv, which lately needs to shock and awe the viewer with dark cynicism mixed with calatamous events. Actually, if we had even more characters inching their way around the streets of Seoul colliding with one disastrous event after another, it might show more buildings collapsing, but the disaster, as the sole point of tension, could eventually gets so overwhelming it becomes stale. I much prefer the depth of character korean dramas offer. For me, D-Day gave me a mix of action, emotion and spectacle that was a complete package. The same happened with Sassy in trying to understand the competition for 'specs' among students seemed inconsequential but in Korea--in their culture ...this is very real. Hard to understand from an american viewpoint but also not to be judged. Sorry, just needed to get this off my chest.
Required fields are marked *