What a view | In Netflix’s new Korean drama Mystic Pop-Up Bar, a cursed woman is on a mission to save souls
Mystic Pop-Up Bar’s ghostly hosts bring wit, warmth and wonder to downtown Seoul while Matthew Rhys returns as Perry Mason in a whole new look
“We are spirits in the material world,” warbled Sting, inadvertently predicting the advent of Netflix series Mystic Pop-Up Bar.
And that’s precisely what the staff of a temporary Seoul eatery turn out to be: a couple of spectres at their own feasts, served at their seemingly normal downtown cafe. There, they delve into the secrets of the subconscious, helping enraged, aggrieved, sorrowful or otherwise disturbed humans settle scores or make amends, all by entering their dreams.
The impossibly glamorous proprietress is Weol-ju (Hwang Jung-eum), who, despite appearances, is a 500-year-old ghost. She has been sentenced by the queen of the spirit domain to comfort 100,000 people in the living realm: punishment for Weol-ju’s bestowing a curse on her town and hanging herself from a sacred tree.
But her dispensing of spiritual salvation has hit the buffers. Even with help from fellow phantom Guibanjang (Choi Won-young) her deadline is looming and she remains nine mortals short – with eternal damnation awaiting should she fail. Luckily for her, however, superpowers habitually spring from unexpected sources: enter Kang-bae (Yook Sung-jae), a timid shop assistant from whom the slightest touch sends any troubled individual into a dream state, allowing Weol-ju and company into “the black hole of the soul”.
All 12 episodes of series one bring wit, warmth and insight to unravelling the secrets of the subconscious. Tragedy, comedy, romance, fantasy and more come oozing out as Weol-ju’s “customers” are blessed with redress.