Skip to main content

1.01 - 14 Elements of Every K Drama


This is the pilot episode for K Drama Chat. In this episode, we introduce ourselves, Joanna Pineda and Jen McWhorter, and talk about why we love K Dramas and why we decided to create this podcast.

K Drama Chat is available on your favorite podcast service: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.

Rather than just do a surface review our favorite K Dramas, we want to go deep and analyze each episode of our favorite series. For our first season, we have chosen Hotel Del Luna. This series is on Netflix, so it's easy for everyone to watch. This series features amazing actors, an amazing storyline, gorgeous cinematography, layers of myth and symbolism, and plenty of side stories and surprises.

But before delving in Hotel Del Luna, we talk about the 14 elements that, our experience, exist in every K Drama series. Some of our favorites are:

  1. Beautiful actors
  2. Crying, by both women and men
  3. Gorgeous OSTs (original sound tracks)
  4. Food; there's lot of eating in K Dramas
  5. Alcohol; drinking by both men and women
  6. The trip and catch
  7. Piggyback rides
  8. The back hug
  9. Product placements
  10. Holding hands
  11. The wrist grab
  12. Flowers
  13. Love triangles
  14. Umbrella scene

K Drama Chat is a weekly series, with new episodes dropping every Friday. 

We welcome your comments about our shows, what we got right, what we got wrong, and what we missed. We also want to hear your insights into the episodes that we cover, and your suggestions for shows to cover in future seasons.

###

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 Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.

Comments

  1. Joanna PinedaApril 2, 2022 at 4:56 PM

    In future episodes, we actually come up with other K Drama Elements: #15: Rich/poor tension, #16: Quirky best friend or roommate, #17: Deep Lean, #18: Arm Rest.

    ReplyDelete
  2. TimTTMay 25, 2022 at 7:29 PM

    Hi Joanna and Jen. My name is Tim. I am happy to hear you guys are starting a podcast about recapping and talking about kdramas. I got into to kdramas in the same way Joanna did: the pandemic. My fiancee, now wife, was the one who got me introduced to kdrama with Crash Landing on You. Ever since I have been obsessed with watching kdramas on Netflix and other streaming services. I am excited to hear your thoughts about Hotel Del Luna. If I may make a suggestion, once you are done with Hotel Del Luna, I recommend Crash Landing on You. It is my first and favorite kdrama. I even made my own review of the show at the link below. Hope you enjoy it.

    https://medium.com/@timtran649/crash-landing-on-you-review-a00d51a41fde

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment on this episode!

Popular posts from this blog

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...
1 comment
Read more

9.2.4 - Podcast Review of Season 2, Episode 4 of Kingdom

Comment on this week’s episode by visiting our blog at KDramaChat.com ! Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 4 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring  Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss: We learn the story behind the beef pancakes and how the Crown Prince asked for Mu Yeong’s loyalty to the very end in return for allowing Mu Yeong to steal from the royal meals. How the amazing Seo bi saves Cho Hak ju by figuring out that the zombies are afraid of water. The meaning of the tolling of bells in Korean culture. The Crown Prince makes it to Naeseonjae and saves Mu Yeong’s wife. Later, Young shin guides Seo bi to the Scholarly Institute to care for Mu Yeong’s wife.  Cho Hak ju visits his daughter, the Queen Consort, and asks Seo bi to check the Queen’s pulse. Seo bi confirms that the Queen did n...
15 comments
Read more

9.1.6 - Podcast Review of Season 1, Episode 6 of Kingdom

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 6 of Season 1 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryon as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss: How Season 2 of Kingdom dropped at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic - crazy! The power struggle between Chief State Councilor Cho Hak ju and the Queen Consort. How Lord Ahn put himself squarely in the Crown Prince’s camp when his archers shot the palace guards. How the Crown Prince seems like a new person. He’s determined and confident when he strikes down the chief palace guard. Who might be the traitor among the Crown Prince’s companions? The thousands of people amassing at the southern gates of Sangju. The magistrate doesn’t want to let them in, but the Crown Prince decides that the magistrate is NOT the person to make that decision. The Crown Prince’s plan to protect Sangju by taking advantag...
10 comments
Read more