Mystic Pop-Up Bar

Presentation

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Analysis

Synopsis

​When she was young, Weol Ju fell in love with the Crowned Prince. However, he betrayed her and her mother was supposedly murdered by him. Revengeful, Weol Ju committed suicide on a secret tree. Doing so, she brought bad luck to the tree and was condemned to saving 100,000 lives in order to avoid going to Hell. 500 years later, Weol Ju has almost finished her task, but spirits from the past resurface in her life, tampering with her mission. 

​My Opinion (No Spoilers)

Loved it! Mystic Pop-Up Bar is the perfect combination between romance, suspense and fantasy. I was so happy to see Hwang Jung Eum in a new drama, since the Undateables in 2018. The main trio has also a good chemistry and there was not one boring moment in the drama. 

Plus, it is only 12-episode long, so quickly watched.

​Analysis (Spoiler Alert)

Characters: Weol Ju (Hwang Jung Eum) was a shaman, when she was little. Because of her gift, she was asked to cure the Crowned Prince, haunted in his dreams. She helped him and they fell in love. However, the Queen Mother disapproved of the marriage and forced the Crowned Prince to marry someone else. On the day she discovers her lover is about to marry someone else, Weol Ju’s house is set on fire and she finds her mother dead inside. Weol Ju is thus convinced the royal family is behind that terrible act. As part of her revenge, Weol Ju hangs herself to a secret tree. Unfortunately, she brings bad luck to it and once in the heavenly world, she is punished. Instead of going to Hell, she is asked to save 100,000 lives to make amends. After 500 years, Weol Ju is not the same as she used to be as a teenager. Indeed, she used to be quite naïve and innocent, that’s why she trusted the Crowned Prince. Yet, his betrayal turned Weol Ju into this bitter person, resentful and deeply hurt. She doesn’t trust people anymore and hasn’t recovered from her past wounds yet. 

Amidst her misery, I think that Weol Ju still manages to stand strong, she is a bit eccentric and funny, but can also easily become cynical and criticize human beings for their actions. At the beginning, she appears as a strong and determined character. However, the more episodes we see, the more we get to see her soft side and how vulnerable she is; making her more human and less ghostly. 

Manager Gwi (Choi Won Young) is Weol Ju’s associate. He puts up with Weol Ju’s strong behavior and outbursts and the reason behind his presence in the bar stays mysterious for quite a long time. Indeed, we rather focus on Weol Ju’s past first and then by the end, we get to understand why Manager Gwi helps her. I found that the drama was really good at keeping his identity hidden. At some point, when the reincarnation of the Queen Mother recognizes her son in the street, we even wonder if HanKang Bae (Yook Sung Jae) is not the Crowned Prince. 

For me, the great common point that both characters and lovers have actually in common, is that they are both sacrificial. If it means saving those they love, they are willing to go to great lengths to protect them. When their misunderstanding is actually cleared, we get to witness how much they missed each other, how much they care for one another. Manager Gwi/The Crowned Prince feels responsible for what happened to Weol Ju, he bears the burden and the guilt, and even dies for her (fortunately not entirely, remember they are not mortals!) to make up for what happened in the past. 

The last main character of the trio is Kang Bae. Just like our two other adults, Kang Bae has led quite the difficult life, because of his special ability. Every time he touches someone, that person will spill his worries and real thoughts. For that reason, he was constantly rejected as as a kid. The trio is thus formed of three atypical characters; whose past is really painful. 

I really liked personally, the fact that even though they have suffered for different reasons, they get closer to each other especially because of that. They carry different burdens but being together enable them to alleviate these little by little and they find comfort in each other. 

Drinking is sharing: The entire drama is based on the idea that drinking with someone is an excellent remedy to your problems. Indeed, Weol Ju has a special drink that enables her to visit people’s dreams and get rid of their worries. She uses it to make her clients’ lives better. On a general scale, Mystic Pop-Up Bar shows that sharing a drink with someone is an excellent therapy and a social act. First, it enables you to be with other people (either friends or the bartender or anyone) and to form a bond. Second, it prevents your feelings from being bottled up inside you and destroying you from the inside. Third, it can most of the time lead to solutions or advice that can radically change your life. In the case of the Pop-Up bar, Weol Ju can heal humans’ struggles and help them with that. There is no judgement whatsoever, only external action. This anonymity is also quite important, when sharing problems. You get a fresh pair of eyes on them and are able to get a good awakening, if need be (just like when you talk a shrink!). 

I really saw the Pop-Up bar as a therapeutic and magical place, that consoles, makes happier, comforts people and helps them moving on. 

The final scene is by the way an invitation to share, with Weol Ju asking the viewer her/himself, if he wishes to share a drink with her. She can relieve the viewer from his/her problems, just by using the magical drink. 

The backstories: I think that the gravity of all backstories really take the drama out of daily struggles that viewers can have. Indeed, serious matters are tackled such as: infertility; missing children; sexual harassment; abandonment from parents… These topics give a lot of strength to the drama and emphasize the power that Weol Ju can have; but it also on the contrary decreases the gravity of our daily problems as viewers (we are not confronted with this kind of situations every day indeed). 

Moreover, each supporting story either echoes our characters’ personal situations – for instance, losing a child or not being able to have one reflects Weol Ju’s past life, since she committed suicide while pregnant (she didn’t know it) and had to make up for the 100,000 lives in order to save her son’s soul – or uncovers our trio’s troubled past – for example, The Cinnabar has been reincarnated in Kang Yeo Rin (Jung Da Eun). In the present she echoes Kang Bae’s difficulty to form a relationship with anyone because of his gift. In the past, she refers to her love story with Kim Won Hyung (Na In Woo), who happens to be Weol Ju’s mother’s murderer. 

A mirroring process that is deeply rooted in the intrigue and gives some rhythm to the plot. 

A reconstructed family: Even though all characters are scattered at the beginning, each pursuing their own grudge; I loved to see how karma in the end prevails. Indeed, Won Hyung is brought back to Hell after all the suffering he has brought to others; and our trio is reunited as a family. It literally took 500 years to clear misunderstandings and reunite The Crowned Prince, Weol Ju and their son Kang Bae; but surely the ending is really satisfying. Of course, the drama resolved quite rapidly all problems that were introduced; but who cares? It was really heart-warming. There is heavenly justice in the end. 

Mix of genres: I really thought the drama wonderfully managed to mix a lot of different genres. There is of course fantasy, but also romance; there is a prominent historical presence (past and some parts of the plot like conspiracy, uprising, vengeance) and a touch of suspense and mystery. I was really happy to see that I couldn’t quite decipher who the real Crowned Prince was and Kang Bae and Yeo Rin’s identities were even harder to discover. 

Anyway, I recommend you clearly watch it, it was super good!

P.S.: OMG, did you spot the reference to Coach Kim from Sky Castle? Hilarious!