The thread is now open.
Gifs from kimgoeun’s tumblr
Yeahhhh, why indeed?
Enjoy the show!
35 Comments On “Cafe Minamdang: Eps 3 & 4 Open Thread”
Comments are closed.
The thread is now open.
Gifs from kimgoeun’s tumblr
Yeahhhh, why indeed?
Enjoy the show!
Comments are closed.
Thanks @pkml3. SIG is a hoot in this show. He really believes he’s all that.
Kalimera @Packmule!
Thank you for the thread!
SIG made me laugh. “Sexy”…. ๐๐
Those gifs made me laugh all over again. How can he do that without laughing? Thank you.
Iโm laughing at all his Shaman moves. ๐
Just like that Iโm watching 2 kdramas.
Detective Han is so preoccupied with Inspector Nam, that she cannot see that he was set up.
Seriously, what a mess…
Gye Hoon’s father Kwon Hyuk from Link here plays the corrupted Cop Internal Inspector Jung Cheong-Gi from the Internal Affairs who set up Nam previously and covered the murders of the rich Vice Chairman Shin Gyeong-Ho.
Annyeong ๐ผ
funny gifs @PM3. he so sexy! haha he is full of himself from the get go. even the cafe name is narcissistic?
that head butt – ouch! and the stinky sock that knocked them all out. too funny!
So we get a history of how Cafe Minamdang started. Daebak! and the motley crew. hilarious! serendipitous? FUNNy how Hanjun hit on his sister walking off from prison — she was late in picking him up. no tofu either. * how Hanjung ended up being the “shaman” instead of Soo-cheol. They worked hard to where they are now – the cafe is such a perfect cover. When they do their sleuthing at night- they crack me up!
@Cleo, i can’t wait until Det Han is on Hanjun’s side. i feel bad for him when she was glaring at him with a vengeance. i think the prosecutor likes Det Han. hmmm. when Hanjung caught Det Han with a flourish – that dip like they’ve been dancing the Tango ๐ and when he dropped her- that’s when he had the epiphany? that this Det Han is the Little Ms Police of his past. i like that he extended his hand to her – a mirror of the past.
can’t wait for Det Han and HJ to work together in harmony – will it ever happen?
Episode 4:
Oh, the plot is thickening!
@HK_Lady, it will happen because they are looking for the same guy!
OH, I’ll have to catch up with this tomorrow. My head is still reeling from Link this evening.
What is with SIG’s characters talking about their own handsomeness? He did the same in Doom at Your Service. And there are adoring characters openly commenting on his good looks. In real life in South Korea, will bystanders be vocal with their opinions of others’looks?
SIG isn’t the only actor with comments about his good looks built into the script. I’ve seen it in many other Kdramas. But this show seems to be over the top with his character’s self reference to his looks and charm. And it doesn’t seem to just be part of his shaman act, since he did it as he walked from prison.
I’m glad this show is presented as a dramedy. If it was all bad guys, murder, corruption, and revenge, I’d find it hard to watch. So I suspend disbelief at some moments to appreciate the comic relief, such as the three complimenting Soo Cheol on his fighting from the safety of the car.
I believe I’ve answered the question I posed above, after doing some research using my Papago app. For people who speak and read Korean, the word-play joke probably would be obvious at first glance.
The name of the show is Cafe Minamdang. The way the name came about is shown in Episode 3 around 21:55. The setting is Su Cheol’s failing detective agency, in a shoddy space he cobbled together from two offices he bought, one having been the Temple of Shamanka. There are notices taped on the doors of both offices from the electric company saying power is being shut off due to non-payment. When Nam and his sister enter Su Cheol’s office, it is lit by many candles.
Before Nam joined his sister in the building, he’d overheard a woman outside talking on her phone. Her son had gone missing, taking her bankbook and seal, behavior uncharacteristic him. Since the police just think he’s just a runaway, she wants to hire a detective to find him.
Show calls our attention to a particular window in what had been the temple portion of Su Cheol’s office when Nam tries, and fails, to open it. On it are written three phrases vertically in Hangul. The colors of the vertical phrases vary, and the one furthest to the right has five words, not four, like the two others, throwing some of the horizontal lines out of kilter. The vertical phrases read:
๋ฏธ๋ ๋ณด์ด – beauty bodhisattva
๋จ๋ ๊ถํ – male and female compatibility
๋น์ฌ์ฃผ์ฒ๋ฌธ – our stock astronomy
The mother whose son is missing enters Su Cheol’s office, and immediately starts to withdraw upon seeing the mess inside. To stop the customer from leaving, Nam repeats the details of the case without revealing he’d overheard them downstairs. The woman turns back around, looks at the window behind Nam, and reads the top three words horizontally: “Mi, nam, dang.” She assumes Nam is a shaman.
Each word in the top horizontal line means separately:
๋ฏธ (mi) – beauty
๋จ (nam) – other
๋น (dang) – party
When you combine them, different meanings emerge:
๋ฏธ๋จ (mi nam) – handsome guy
๋จ๋น (nam dang) – a male party
๋ฏธ๋จ๋น (minamdang)- handsome party (why does this make me think of Coffee Prince or Chippendales?)
Nam, Su Cheol, and Nam’s sister resolve the missing-boy case, stopping the bullies just as they’re forcing the boy to take out an illegal loan. The boy’s friend thinks Nam, et al. are cool and wants to be their assistant. When the four of them return to Su Cheol’s office, Nam proposes continuing the shaman business, accidentally named Minamdang (handsome party) by their customer. He tells Jo Na Dan that he’s hired. Why? “…Because you’re handsome.”
Kalimera @Welmaris,
I think the jakkanim is trolling the public.
Don’t forget that SIG was abused and targeted by the public because of his looks back in the time. He had some pounds above the average and they consistently criticized him for it. As a result, he suffered from bulimia nervosa and he is self conscious about his body.
Yes, the dramedy makes us laugh and takes away the bad guys malice.
I have to say that I am in love with Kwak Yi Sang’s weird transformation. The man makes me laugh with his dialect and bizarre hairdos and clothing, everytime he is on the screen! Kudos for his bravery to change his handsome persona that much.
There are times I think we are watching a farse!
@Cleopatra, Kalo mesimeri. I saw an interview on YouTube in which SIG said that sometimes he thinks his face is handsome and sometimes he thinks he is ugly. I tried to find the video, but can’t locate it now. His is an unusual face. He has had a difficult time with some people online, but personally I like to see actors who aren’t in Prince Charming looks category. His character comes down to pure talent. I think Son Seok-koo is like that as well.
Now for some actual WFH, then I will reward myself with Cafe M afterwards.
Kalo mesimeri @Fern,
Yes it is true that SIG has an unusual face. I really like him for this and his talent. He stands out. I agree about Son Seok Koo even though I haven’t watched “My Liberation Notes”.
You should watch it, you will laugh and then the dramaverse’s reality hits hard.
Hi @Cleo, are you enjoying ‘Cafe M’? I find it a barrel of fun. SIG is enjoying himself and it’s just fun seeing the actors having a great time. Can’t take anything over seriously, although there is a serious undercurrent. I like that it’s so over-the-top and zany at times, and then suddenly we get something so full of heart. To me, that’s the mark of kdramas!
I can’t wait for Nam and Han to really work properly together. ๐
Kalimera my dear @GB Unnie!
We have missed you! Yes, I am enjoying “Cafe M”! I think most of us can tell that the actors are having fun on set. It shows on their silliness!
The scene with the kid in the sewer and how SIG / Nam talked so kindly and calmy to him, it made me smile. Also, how he covered his eyes from not seeing the dead body!
I think that Han will realize sooner or later that under that exterior Nam has a heart of gold.
Afterall, Nam went to visit her brother’s memorial place to talk to him. They seemed to be best friends. The thing is Han didn’t know that?
Yes, I am waiting for that part of the show as well!
My Agapimeni Cleo! I’ve missed you and being here too… or maybe I’m just too distracted to ‘feel’ much *sigh*. I’ll see you on Saturday for the rewatch and the Voting results!!! We already know what we’re going to watch for the next party. โบ๏ธ ๐
Dear @Growing Beautifully, it sounds like you have been busy and I hope that you are all right. I know that some BoD people have been dealing with the latest round of contagion and hope that all is well with you and yours. It’s a bit crazy in England atm: flights being cancelled even after boarding started, supply chaos, high prices and empty shelves in stores, many cases in schools…
I liked how they reacted to the child in the sewer. It felt warm, until Nam spotted the gauze floating in the flow. The older boy must have passed by that. There was a side tunnel at the beginning of the investigation of the sewer. I had a feeling that someone was hiding there.
The boat to safety had me laughing. I went on one of those a few years back and found that my lack of motion sickness had dissipated. I blamed it on my glasses prescription, but maybe it’s just me.
@Fern, I also had a feeling they were making a mistake to just walk by that side tunnel without even glancing into it.
My Dear Fern, thank you for asking about me. We are all very well. So far only 1 family member had Covid, (it was quite mild), and has fully recovered. We are having a rash of infections over in this part of the world, but no news as to more restrictions yet. I’m hoping to be less busy in a few weeks and to still have an interesting show to chat about.
Yes, that meeting with the child and how their priorities changed to take care of her was sweet. I hope we do get to see the follow-up care for the little girl and her brother next week.
I really like how cheeky the Nam siblings are. They keep to the letter of their word LOL and put that crooked prosecutor on a boat as promised. LOL.
@GB Unnie,
I totally get it that you are busy in RL. Yes, of course we are going to see each other this Saturday evening! Yes, I am okay with the “Liar Game”. All I have to do is start watching it…LOL
@Fern,
I have heard on the news that things are a bit crazy. Are you okay? We are in the next round of contagion ourselves too, mostly because it is summer and there are a lot of tourists already here and more are coming up.
There are some scenes that are hilarious indeed!
@Welmaris I do hope you are okay too…
Hugs to @Cleopatra, @Welmaris and @Fern
Iโm enjoying this show too and I found myself laughing out loud a few times so itโs good. โบ๏ธ
@Cleo, you have some 6 weeks to watch Liar Game ๐ ๐คจ … about 40 minutes per episode, I think. I didn’t note it but @WE mentioned it. ๐
Better not forget you @GB ๐๐ค
@GB Unnie!
Most likely I will start it after my holidays…
Hello there @agdr03!
Glad to have you on board! ๐
SIG is great here and he looks mighty fine in suits, I must say. ๐
@agdr03,
I agree with you. Also check Kwak Yi Sang. His metamorphosis into the innocent, but also naive ex police officer, now barista cracks me everytime. He is the fighter of the gang!
Now, please watch the video I am posting, I have already posted in the first episodes, but you need to see it for yourself… This is from a greek movie back in 1960…and when I saw KYS I cried literally from laughter…
Does the bar’s employee speech ring a bell? ๐๐๐คฃ
Hi @agdr03, I know you didn’t mean to forget me LOL.
@Cleopatra, I can’t get an English sub for this video. Please could you tell me the name of the film and I’ll try to find it on YouTube.
Haha, by crazy in England do you mean the infection rate or the politics? I think that the politics wins today – we’ll see who gets put forward by the party soon. ATM, we have no leader.
@Fern,
The movie is called The Yellow Gloves (1960). It is one of our classics.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180782/
The thing is because I know the narrative, when I saw KYS and especially when he talked for the first time, the image of Yannis Gionakis and that specific scene came into my mind. The haircut and the speech is almost the same.
So, he did resign…*sigh*
I do hope that it will be fixed somehow. Things are getting too weird…๐
Thank you, @Cleopatra. I don’t know why I couldn’t get subtitles. I will research it now.
I won’t go into the politics because I ought not to do that here. I will get put on the naughty step and it’s not worthwhile. I would miss the chat here too much.
@Fern,
If you can you will enjoy the movie.
Yes, of course. BTW, you can find me on MyDramaList if you want to!
Thank you!
@Fern,
I will leave my handle on the thread about the next Rewatch Party. ๐