The Chasing Albert K-Drama Guide

Commical – Episode title: The Chasing Albert K-Drama Guide

Published 11/12/2023 on Chasing Albert website, spotify and apple podcasts.

Marie 00:00
Hi everybody. This is Marie from Chasing Albert, and it's awesome to be back. It's been a while since we've released a podcast, and I thought we'd do something festive for the end of the year, something a little bit fun and loose. And for us this year, it's about K-dramas. It's been something that myself and my colleague Alex have been speaking about non-stop for the entire year. So we thought our gift to you could be the ultimate K-drama guide from Chasing Albert. So ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to my amazing colleague, Alex, who's our graphic designer. Welcome, Alex.

Guest 01:14
Hi, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and excited to discuss some K-dramas with you, even though we have very differing tastes.

Marie 01:22
Yes, which will become evident to those who may have dabbled, or who will hopefully watch something. But that gives everybody listening a range to choose from, right? I also just want to tell everybody who's listening that we record these remotely. So Alex joins us from Perth, and I'm in Sydney.

Guest 01:56
Yes, very exciting, over the interwaves, having a fabulous conversation.

Marie 02:01
Exactly. Guys, before we kick off, we thought we would give you some disclaimers. All right, things you need to be aware of before you delve into the world of Korean dramas. Alex, maybe I'll do one and you do one?

Guest 02:15
Yeah, sounds good. Let's share.

Marie 02:18
Okay, the first disclaimer that I've got for you is you've got to be committed and invest time into the first few episodes before you make a judgment call. K-dramas love to set the scene, and they love to really establish the characters. So you've got to be ready to commit and just go, okay, I'm going to give this three episodes. Yeah, would you agree?

Guest 02:33
I agree. Also, a lot of the time, episode one and then episode five can feel completely different. So it's always good to give them time. It is a time dedication, but you'll get hooked.

Marie 02:52
And she says it's a time dedication because, guys, most episodes are an hour to an hour and 20.

Guest 03:00
Yeah.

Marie 03:01
But don't fret, because Alex has a cracker tip, which was a game changer for me, that will help you get through that hour and 20 minutes faster. Do you remember it?

Guest 03:17
Yeah. My tip - and I do this with everything, not just K-dramas - is I watch everything on two times speed. I know it's a function you can use on most streaming services. It's not on all, but if you have that option, it is 100% worth it, especially maybe for the first few episodes, because sometimes you've just got to get into the main story, and you don't want to spend six hours on three episodes, you could say. So yeah, definitely recommend doing two times speed. As long as you're a fast reader, you'll be good, in my opinion.

Marie 03:56
Well, I think on the topic of fast reading, it leads us to another point - maybe not so much a disclaimer, but something to consider - is whether you want to actually have it subtitled or watch it dubbed with an American accent over it. I'm on team subtitles because it makes me feel like I'm intelligent and reading and learning another language while also binging really light entertainment content.

Guest 04:21
There is a correct and incorrect answer for this. If you watch the dub, what's the point? Why are you watching a K-drama? It's an experience, and the experience includes reading.

Marie 04:39
Reading and learning the language. I'm not going to lie and say I can speak Korean - I absolutely cannot - but I can say hello, I can say thank you, yes, no, et cetera. These are all things that you learn when you turn on the subtitles.

Guest 04:58
And it just sounds better. For me, I have an issue when something is being said and the mouth is not moving in the same way, so that's an issue for me with a dub. So I definitely recommend subtitles. The only thing with it is that you've got to dedicate time to it. You can't just put a show on and do your cooking or do your knitting. You've got to sit there and be ready for the ride you're about to be on.

Marie 05:28
Oh, you can iron. I feel like you don't have to look at what you're doing when you're ironing.

Guest 05:33
That's true.

Marie 05:34
Do you reckon you can kind of do that?

Guest 05:37
I don't know.

Marie 05:38
All right, which, guys, I want to prepare you for: Alex is like, dude, you've got to know. So I love watching rom-coms and dramedies and that kind of thing. Typically, there's always a love theme through everything I watch. But in these K-dramas, what you'll find in that particular genre is they really milk the connection moments and strong emotional moments. They can literally go for two minutes - eye contact, eyes meeting for the first time. Someone bringing an umbrella to cover the lead actress, and it's a moment where they fall in love in the rain. Two minutes.

Guest 06:24
Or they hug. Sometimes they do hug. When we say the connection moments, it's not just the same shot on replay. You get all of the angles. It's like 360 K-drama. You get the bird's-eye view, the under view, the side angle, the close-up shot, the far-away shots - everything. So if that's your thing and you like to really see it from every single angle, it's definitely for you. It does take a lot of time, especially in romantic dramas, which you'll see is not my jam. But it makes it way more satisfying in terms of the actual connection. It makes it more dramatic, even for the viewer.

Marie 07:24
You're like, oh. And you know what? Sometimes they'll build up between two characters - a lot of tension, sexual tension and energy - and then episode eight, usually it's episode eight, true or not? Everyone knows episode eight is when the action happens between two people. And by action, I mean a full-on hug. You're going to get a hug. You're going to get maybe a peck. You don't get the typical love or romantic scenes. So don't expect Bridgerton, is all I'm saying.

Guest 08:00
Oh my God. Imagine a Korean Bridgerton. That would be amazing.

Marie 08:04
I'd be here for it. All right, any other disclaimers before we move on to our top 10?

Guest 08:12
I feel like there is a very important one that we've missed.

Marie 08:16
What is it?

Guest 08:18
Everyone has trauma. When we say trauma, we mean one specific type of trauma: parental trauma from the ages of zero onwards. Someone's either lost a parent, they don't like their parent, they're an orphan, they weren't raised right, there is trauma, they were poor. That's a common one.

Marie 08:44
Yeah, they were poor, very common one. But please don't let this turn you off, because it's still awesome. They are still so awesome, I promise you. And the other thing that's always in every single romantic comedy or drama is the lead characters who eventually fall in love probably went to school together, or know each other. There's always a childhood story. Either they were born at the same hospital, or their parents were friends.

Guest 09:25
It's true. Totally true.

Marie 09:28
But just know, despite all of this, you are in for a real treat because they are addictive. And I find that you really do experience escapism because it's a different language, different culture, different scenery, different clothing, different everything. So it's a truly awesome way to just escape and switch off and have a really good time.

Guest 09:49
Yes.

Marie 09:50
So without further ado, boom, boom, boom, our top 10. Alex, you can start, my friend, as the special guest.

Guest 09:56
Okay, I'll start. I think what we should do, Marie, is should I go five, you go five, four, four?

Marie 10:03
Let's go.

Guest 10:05
All right, perfect. My number five, which might be changing very soon, but for now, it is Sweet Home. If you're into K-dramas, you know this drama. It's basically based off a graphic novel. It's about this boy who lives in an apartment building - and yes, he has childhood trauma - and basically people are turning into monsters. The first season is all about the apartment building coming together and trying to figure out how to survive. Season two premiered about five days ago. I'm getting through it and, oh my God, if the season ends well, it might be my number one. The season is so good. We have Song Kang as the lead. He's sexy, let's be honest. Season two, all I'm going to say is, you see a lot of him. But no, aside from that, the plot is amazing. It's really, really fun. We have a really cool soundtrack, which kind of makes it better. I feel like all the pieces come together perfectly. That's definitely my number five. Might be number one.

Marie 11:34
So good. Might have to watch that one, because I know the cast is pretty amazing. Guys, I'm going to really struggle, but I've promised Alex I will only do five. This is the second time we recorded this episode, because the first one went for over an hour and my top five ended up being my top 17. So I promise to stick to it. But given it's my podcast, I just want to say one thing, Alex, because I can. Can we just agree? I'm not going to put these in my top five, but I want the world to know that Descendants of the Sun and Crash Landing on You are two of the most iconic K-dramas of all time, and therefore should be on your list of things to watch. You have to watch them.

Guest 12:30
That was important. To be honest, they are iconic. You can't start a K-drama lifestyle and not watch those.

Marie 12:38
Exactly. When you watch them, I'll leave that to you. They weren't my first. My first K-drama, like most first times, was absolutely horrific, but I committed and watched all 52 episodes, and it was the worst show I've ever seen in my life. I didn't care.

Guest 12:57
That's uncommon. Fifty-two is normally a lot.

Marie 13:00
Well, I knew nothing about K-dramas when I got into this, and then I realised it's basically The Young and the Restless of Korea, and it was awful. Anyway, guys, don't be me and use this list to your advantage. All right, my number five is Something in the Rain, and it features two amazing actors, Jung Hae-in and Son Ye-jin. Son Ye-jin is a female actress and she is sensational, and she's in a lot of the movies that I love. She's a brilliant actress. This is the story of a forbidden love. She falls in love with her best friend's brother, who happens to be 10 years younger than her, but of legal age. And I stress that because Alex, in the first recording, went, 'That's gross,' and I went, 'Hang on a second, I need to clarify: of legal age.' It's basically the story of how they fall in love despite all the odds, and the ending is really surprising, and it's just gorgeous. So highly recommend Something in the Rain.

Guest 14:08
Okay, that's good. Also, it's a good starter as well.

Marie 14:16
Yeah, it's light, but it's warm and fuzzy. I really love it.

Guest 14:20
Like hot chocolate and a blanket.

Marie 14:25
Totally. I have to say the soundtrack sucks. The soundtrack is very bad. The song will irritate you to no end. I'm sorry. Just look beyond it. Stay focused.

Guest 14:38
We should have put that in a disclaimer. There is only one song that they play the whole time.

Marie 14:48
Well, I'm watching Something in the Rain for the second time, so can you feel my pain with the song? But it's just such easy, beautiful viewing.

Guest 14:59
That's it. I'm glad that you at least like it.

Marie 15:02
Your number four, Alexandra.

Guest 15:06
While Marie is all soft and warm and fuzzy, I am not. My next one is based off a Spanish TV show which a lot of people have seen: Money Heist: Korea. I'm pretty sure a lot of people have seen Money Heist, the Spanish version. Money Heist: Korea kind of follows the same thing. It's a heist, and who doesn't love a heist? But the difference is that it's in a world where North Korea and South Korea become one country again, so just a unified Korea. Obviously there is a lot of economic and social stuff happening, and that's where we find our main characters. Let me tell you, the stuff that happens in the show is so good. We have twists and we have turns. I didn't even predict half of them. It's really, really good. Everyone has seen Squid Game - or almost everyone.

Marie 16:09
I haven't seen it. I refuse to see it. Well, I think it's violent, isn't it? It's gory. Not my soul.

Guest 16:20
We have one of the actors from Squid Game in the show, and listen, he is acting his heart out. Park Hae-soo plays someone from North Korea who's on the heist team, and he's really, really good. So I definitely would recommend this if you liked Money Heist, the Spanish version, or you're coming off Squid Game and you want to see what else is out there. It's on Netflix. It's great. You can watch it in two times speed.

Marie 16:54
Amazing. You know what, Alex? People also raved about Parasite. I did not enjoy Parasite at all.

Guest 17:04
It's very psychological, that one.

Marie 17:07
Yeah. You know what's funny? My husband, who I've forced to watch some K-dramas with me and who hates his life every minute of it, loved Parasite and I hated it. Go figure.

Guest 17:20
My dad's like that too. I go into the lounge and I see him watching a random K-drama that I've recommended him, and I'm like, 'Oh, thank you for listening.' He's like, 'Yeah, it's fine. I just don't want to read the subtitles.'

Marie 17:40
All right, my number four - I can't believe we're only up to number four - is Extraordinary Attorney Woo. This is a show about an autistic lawyer. She has childhood trauma, right, but she overcomes it. What they learn about her is that she's actually brilliant. She's got a fantastic legal mind and a photographic memory, and turns out to be an exceptional attorney. It's the story of how her career develops. It's a story about how her love life develops. It is sweet. It's interesting. It's got so many different subplots as it takes you through the story of her family life and her relationship with her dad and her estranged mum. But what's good about Extraordinary Attorney Woo is you get a start and finish to every episode, kind of like Law & Order. So there's a case that gets solved, or not, but the subplot runs throughout the whole season. And they're currently working on a season two, and I'm super excited for it.

Guest 18:51
I've heard good things about it. There's a funny meme from the show, and it's very cute, so that's on my list to watch.

Guest 18:59
All right, my number three: Bloodhounds. This show is about two boxers basically hunting down a loan shark gang, which is very vague, but it's a really good show. We have a lot of action. We have a bromance. I love when friends come together and love each other. We have childhood trauma, which is Marie's favourite genre. Honestly, I have nothing much to say about the show except that it's just really good. It's kind of a no-brainer in terms of not having to think super hard, but I really, really like the show. I thought it was really fun and executed pretty well. So yeah, that's my number three.

Marie 19:55
My number three is The Good Bad Mother, and this was released this year, so it's very, very new. It features phenomenal actors, which I think they all do. When you're watching these, you'll see that the calibre of Korean acting is insanely good. But The Good Bad Mother is the story of a boy who was raised by his widowed mother, and she was very, very strict. She basically gave him no alternative but to be academic and to study and become an attorney, to eventually avenge his father's death. This story has romance and twists. It's got a legal and criminal background story to it as well, as you follow the case or cases that he works on, and eventually his father's case. Absolutely phenomenal. Loved it. And I love Lee Do-hyun.

Guest 20:59
He's in Sweet Home. He's so good. He was honestly the best on that show.

Marie 21:03
You need to see him in The Good Bad Mother. And he's also in my number two, which I'll come to. He's just such a good actor. He's on military leave at the moment.

Guest 21:12
He is. I think The Glory was the last thing he worked on before he went to the military.

Marie 21:16
Did you just reveal my number two? That's okay, I'll allow it. So yes, my number two is The Glory. He is phenomenal. The Glory is the story of a girl with childhood trauma.

Guest 21:37
We love childhood trauma.

Marie 21:41
She was severely and brutally bullied at school, and she makes it her life mission to get the bastards back, basically. It's an incredible story, and despite me being a massive fan of the romance genre, there's a romantic subplot to this, but actually that's not what this is about at all. It's absolutely insane how good this one is. And to be honest, a lot of the disclaimers that we led with, you don't get in The Glory, and you don't get in The Good Bad Mother. You do in Something in the Rain. But yeah, The Glory is brilliant. Really, really highly recommend it. Over to you, Alex. Your number two.

Guest 22:29
My number two is My Name, another Netflix show. We have Han So-hee as the lead. She's been in a bunch of stuff. She is a phenomenal actor. She was in a show called Nevertheless, which is not on either of our lists.

Marie 22:50
I liked it, but it's not my top. And Song Kang was in it too, and he was great.

Guest 22:58
But yeah, she wasn't that good in that show. I gave My Name a chance, and oh my gosh, she was outstanding. The emotional rollercoaster. In this show, it's about this girl who lives with her father and spends her whole life trying to get revenge on the killer. So she's part of a mafia gang, and she goes into the police force, and she's trying to work it out. It's very good. I would definitely recommend that one.

Marie 23:37
That's on my list. Okay, we are up to my number one. I think it was also released this year or late last year, and it's called Itaewon Class, and it features the lead actor Park Seo-joon, who happens to be my number one actor in the whole wide world. I love him. In fact, I love most of his movies, but I had to be so picky with these damn top fives. It's the story of a boy with, you guessed it, childhood trauma. But actually his childhood trauma extends to his teenage years when his father dies. The way in which his father dies is not cool, but I don't want to spoil it for you. What he then goes on to do is say, 'That's it. I'm going to build an empire to take on the people behind my father's death and who didn't show him love and respect.' It does have a love story as well, which is awesome, and a bit of a love triangle.

Guest 24:48
You haven't seen it?

Marie 24:50
Don't give me the hand wobble. I won't accept your hand wobble until you've seen five episodes of this show.

Guest 24:58
Marie, I did watch five.

Marie 25:00
Oh really? Yeah, you didn't like it? Okay, well, don't say that. I'm trying to convince people to watch it, not talk them out of it. I don't get a commission from Netflix. Watch whatever you want. But this one was probably the first of the K-dramas that I watched that truly gripped me. Truly. I've loved them all in their own way, but this one truly gripped me, and he's a phenomenal actor. So yeah, I highly recommend it. I highly recommend it. I've said 'I highly recommend' a million times. Do you reckon I can ask Connor - Connor, by the way, guys, does our editing, he works on our content - I wonder if I can ask him to cut out every time I say 'I highly recommend'.

Guest 25:39
He should just get AI to replace it with another word.

Marie 25:45
I don't know, something funny or ridiculous.

Guest 25:48
'I believe that you should really watch this show.'

Marie 25:52
So they're my top five, guys. And I am going to write a blog and share it because there's just not enough time to go through all of them. So watch this space. We'll put the link in the notes, and if it's not there, it's because I'm on holidays. Give me a break.

Guest 26:07
Alex, it is Christmas.

Marie 26:10
I know. This is our gift to you. Enjoy it. Alex, your number one.

Guest 26:14
My number one is Goblin. Again, another K-drama. A lot of people know this show. It's very convoluted in the plot, but basically it's about a person who is immortal. In Korean folklore, they're called dokkaebi, I think that's correct, so goblins basically. He finds this girl and they have a connection in a way that neither of them can explain, and it goes into their relationship, and then his relationship with his roommate, who turns out to be someone very important to him and to the plot. So basically, it is a romance show, which is funny, but it is so amazing. It is so gut-wrenching and heartwarming. Toward the end, when I was watching it week to week, I cried for like four episodes straight. It was outstanding. That's definitely my number one. It has to be. I've never felt anything like that again.

Marie 27:46
And I think it needs to be said that this is another iconic show. It is definitely one to watch. You have to watch it. I have to watch it too.

Guest 27:57
I don't even recommend it. You have to. It's actually like double mandatory.

Marie 28:02
So guys, I just did some quick maths for you. On the basis of a season being 16 episodes long and, on average, one hour and 20 minutes, if you were to watch everything that Alex and I just recommended, you would only need 192 hours. What better way to spend your time? I'm asking you. What better way to spend your time? By a pool, watching K-dramas. Get into it, people. No better way to cure a hangover.

Guest 28:32
It's so easy. And think about it: if that's 192 hours, if you divide that by two because you're watching on two times speed, like I recommended, even less.

Marie 28:46
Perfect. You know, guys, I really hope you take some time to watch. Thank you, Alex, for coming on. I really enjoyed chatting to you. Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. We wish you a merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. Happy holidays. Take some time to recharge. We'll be back next year, hopefully with some more fun content. Actually, we will do one on K-pop, right?

Guest 29:07
Yes, we'll do an episode. I think we should.

Marie 29:10
So watch out for that, everyone. Alex also happens to be an amazing illustrator, and she's illustrated some really cool stickers with a K-drama theme. So if you want some, hit us up. And certainly let us know if you watch any of these and what you think, or if you have recommendations. We'd love to hear them. Merry Christmas.

Guest 29:31
Merry Christmas. Thanks for listening.