It's unsurprising that, given the upsurge in interest in Korean TV, particularly following the runaway success of Squid Game last year, Netflix has positioned itself as the premier streamer of K-dramas in Western countries. This summer, the service has added Café Minamdang to the list. The series began in the last week of June and is currently halfway through an 18-episode run.
The series' protagonist, Nam Han-joon, is the world's flashiest con artist. A natty dresser with an air of uber-cool about him, he uses cold reading to work out the motivations behind business associates, clients, and marks. All the while, he maintains a mystical aura, complete with props, to give the impression his powers of deduction are down to shamanic abilities. The stage is set for Han-joon to carry out swindle after swindle, aided and abetted by his hacker sister.
Here's why you should be watching.
Café Minamdang: The Cast
Set in Seoul, Café Minamdang features some of the South Korean capital's most famous landmarks and a few seedier locations, as it befits the underworld plot.
In the role of Nam Han-joon is Seo In-guk, a long-established star on Korean TV. The actor recently became better known to Western audiences as Myul Mang in Doom At Your Service, last year's fantasy romance on Viki. It's easy to see how In-guk's performance as the angel whose very presence dooms those around him to misfortune brought him to the attention of Café Minamdang's producers. Here, he brings the same intensity to his work as Han-joon. Starring opposite is Oh Yeon-seo as Han Jae-hee. Both stars cut their teeth in K-pop, as In-guk was the winner of the reality TV show Superstar K and Yeon-seo is a founding member of LUV.
Jung Man-sik, who had a supporting role in last year's well-reviewed political thriller Escape From Mogadishu, helps round out the cast with Heo Jae-ho and Jung Ha-joon. The actors play a trio of detectives -- one grizzled, one superstitious, one wet behind the ears -- who are discomfited when Yeon-seo, as the "Ghost of Han," an almost mythical detective capable of taking down whole gangs of crooks single-handed, finds herself in their midst.
Café Minamdang: The Plot
The storytelling is economical to a fault, but what Café Minamdang lacks in interest in the scenic route to the plot, it more than makes up for in direction. With smash cuts galore, a bevy of extreme close-ups, soft focus shots, the odd sepia-tinged childhood flashback, and some impressive drone coverage of action scenes, as well as a bare minimum of exposition, the scene transitions attain a level of slickness unusual even for K-dramas.
In-guk's comedic chops are put to good use in his portrayal of his character's seemingly boundless ego (key lines: "I'm so tired of being so popular!" and "Why am I so sexy?"). Kang Mi-na plays it droll as Han-joon's sister, a national intelligence service operator turned freelance hacker who gives Han-joon the lowdown on potential marks.
But an equally rich source of humor is the constant stream of genre-bending and homages. In the first episode alone, we get Hans Zimmer-esque orchestral stabs and a Matrix-style fight scene courtesy of Oh Yeon-seo in some very Carrie-Anne Moss-stylized getup, complete with slo-mo closeups and wirework. In the next, the show switches genres again, and the beginnings of an opposites-attract, love-hate romance between Han-joon and Jae-hee are sketched (if indeed that's how it will turn out). Subtle it is not, as their first big row ends with a kick in the shins for Han-joon. The audience gets compensation in the way of fast-paced plot development.
As the Story Continues
As the tension builds between Han-joon and his concern for "managing" the needs of his VVIP clients, and Jae-hee, who is looking to corner a criminal she doesn't yet know is Han-joon, the pair cross swords on more than one occasion. Han-joon getting a shady customer off the hook on a technicality supposedly brought to him by the "spirits," for example. But the labyrinthine plot calls for a "client of the week"-type structure while allowing the separate story arcs to develop independently.
Taken as a comedy first and foremost, Café Minamdang can be forgiven for its occasional forays into farce, particularly when it comes to the full-on fight scenes. Not to mention the infodumps that have become increasingly common ways of filling in the audience on missing plot points in recent episodes. But the high-octane thrills and spills, the laughs, and the committed performances of the ensemble cast make for a uniquely entertaining combination.
How and Where to Watch
The final episode of Café Minamdang's first season is due to premiere on August 23, 2022. Episodes drop on Netflix every Monday and Tuesday.