Paranormal, Fantasy, and Magical Kdramas with Shea MacLeod

S2 E19 / Like a bit of magic in your Kdramas? Shea MacLeod is here with lots of recommendations for you that run the gamut from light to dark in genres ranging from rom com to mystery to horror. 

🔮 We explore the joys of discovering Kdramas with supernatural elements, what makes Kdrama fantasy so unique from a Western perspective, and how Shea’s own background in paranormal fiction influences her drama watching.

🍸 Plus, Shea shares her soju-inspired cocktail creations!

⌛ Timestamps:

[00:00:23] Meet Shea

[00:02:20] Currently Watching

• The Potato Lab
• Four Eagle Brothers
• Divorce Insurance
• Summer Strike
• Nine Puzzles

[00:06:59] Shea's Kdrama Origin Story and Recommendations 

🛑 Spoiler warning! Our wide-ranging conversation touches on the following shows: 

• Mystic Pop-Up Bar
• Miss Night and Day
• Crash Course in Romance
• Miss Sherlock
• Midnight Studio
• Light Shop
• Midnight Studio
• When the Phone Rings
• From Now On Showtime
• Behind Your Touch

https://www.sheamacleod.com/

Transcript

Paranomral, Fantasy, and Magical Kdramas with Shea FINAL

SPEAKER_01 0:04

This is the How I Met My K-Drama podcast, and it's all about K-drama origin stories and recommendations. I'm Sarah Rosette, and today Shea is here with me. Hi, Shea.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

Hi. So excited to be here.

Meet Shea

SPEAKER_01 0:17

I'm excited to talk to you about K-drama too. So this will be a lot of fun. Tell a little bit about yourself for people who aren't familiar with you.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Hello, everybody in K-Drama Land. My name is Shea McLeod, and I'm a USA Today best-selling author of Cozy Mysteries and Paranormal Women's Fiction. And I'm a totally K-drama-obsessed night owl. And I have way more crystals and tarot decks than I will ever admit to owning. And I am really into like vintage cocktails and coffee, of course, you know. And uh and I collect all things Wonder Woman. So there we go.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

I did not know that. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Yes, I do. And today I have my This is my K drama watching cup.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Oh, okay. It says something K-drama on there. I can't read it.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

It says this is my K-drama watching cup.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Okay. Literally, this is my K-drama watching cup. It's one of those big tumblers.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Yeah.

unknown 1:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Well, this is really fun for me because Shay and I know each other. We both write 1920s historical mysteries. So we knew each other in the author world. And then I got into K-dramas and a mutual friend of ours emailed me and or messaged me and said, Hey, did you Shay is watching K-dramas too? And I was like, no. So this is fun. I think there's a lot of people that watch them that I don't know about. Yeah. It's fun to get together and talk about this for us.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

I know. I love it. I have found a few people, they don't really talk about just yesterday. An author friend of mine posted that every time she posts about her love of K dramas or K pop, she actually loses friends. And I'm like, why? Who yikes on who yikes on someone else's yum? You know what I'm saying? So yeah, it's like I think a lot of people watch K dramas, but don't necessarily talk about it because you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Who knows why?

SPEAKER_03 2:09

People will tease. I get teased a lot, like in a good way. Like gently, lovingly teased. Yes. But you know what? I don't care. I I like what I like.

Currently Watching

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Me too. So let's talk about what we're currently watching. Do you have anything you're currently watching right now?

SPEAKER_03 2:24

I'm actually watching three. I got I got a little sidetracked by a French murder show I started watching. So um I love those two. Yes, this one's really good, and it's got a lot of episodes. So I am but uh so I'm bouncing back and forth between that and my K drama. So uh but I'm actually watching three K dramas. So I'm watching the Potato Lab. I still have two episodes left on that, and I'm also watching on Vicky, it's called Four Eagle Brothers.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

I've seen that one, but I haven't watched it.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

It's apparently, I guess, like a long like it's meant to be a long running one. So like I got to like 10 episodes and was like, are we gonna wrap this up? Like, you know, because they usually it's like anywhere from 12 to 16 or maybe 20. But um, all of a sudden it was like 50 episodes, and I'm like, oh, holy cow, okay, this has been going for a while.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Like, what have I done?

SPEAKER_03 3:18

I didn't quite mean to invest that much time in in a K drama, but that's okay. It's it's been kind of fun because it has more of that. It's not a soap opera at all, but it has more of that vibe where you're continuing each week with something going on. Yeah. And it's it's covering several different people and what's happening in their lives. And then the other one, and I just started it, it's on Prime and it's called Divorce Insurance.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

And I I've only watched like the first one or two episodes, and it's real it's really cute so far. So that's what I'm watching right now.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Okay, cool. Well, I started divorce insurance and I got about six or seven episodes in, and I got distracted by something else new and shiny. Yeah, and I just haven't gone back to it, and I've heard varying reports on it. So I'll be interested to hear what you say.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yeah, yeah, because I tend to like to um I I want K dramas that have happy endings or satisfying endings. I don't like investing time and then not having a satisfying ending or happy ending. You know, I'm into romance, so um, I typically will look up uh a K drama and see, does this have a happy ending?

SPEAKER_01 4:32

And you don't need to know the ending, you just need to know I just need to know if it's gonna be okay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

And then I can go in and relax because they get me very nervous with all the white van stuff. Yeah, and this and the serial killers, every every Rob Tom, there's like a serial killer.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yes, there's um some show, what was it? Free guy, that at the end, it's a movie. At the end, the two characters see each other from across the street and they run together and they meet each other in the middle of the street. And I was like, Oh, white truck of doom.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

It just made me so nervous I couldn't handle it. And it was not, it's not a K-drama, but it's like once you start seeing that, you start expecting it.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Now we're looking for white bands of doom everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Yeah, so spoiler, they don't die or get hurt or anything.

unknown 5:15

So that's fine.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

So I couldn't do that with divorce insurance, so I started it because it just looked cute.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Well, let's see. I'm watching, I tried Second Shot at Love, which is on Vicky, and it's about a woman who she drinks a lot and she realizes she's an alcoholic, and then it's like her journey. But it's it's a comedy. I think it's Chase Woo Young is the lead in it. She was in. Let's see, she was in Run On and a couple of other ones that I really enjoyed. So I was like, oh, I like her, so let me try this out. But I think I'm dropping it because it seems like it can't decide, like it's trying to walk the line between comedy, is drinking funny or is it tragic? It's alcoholism funny, or is it tragic again? Yeah, to me, I just can't. I don't know, maybe it'll get better. I may go back to it later, but that one I'm not really enjoying that much. But I just started, let's see, I finished Summer Strike because I kind of wanted to watch something summary, and I was like, okay, let's try this. And it was pretty good. It wasn't like my top tier choice, you know. Yeah, I enjoyed it, it was fun. Had some quibbles with the ending about it. Like you're saying, you want a satisfying ending. But then I started Nine Puzzles, which is on Hulu, and it's a mystery, it's totally mystery, and it's I'm really enjoying it. It's um got this pairing of two sleuths. The guy does not want to work with the woman, the young woman, and she's like, no, no, we're gonna solve this case together. It's got all these references to classic mysteries, and it's just a lot of it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

So I'm interested in that sounds right up my alley. Yeah, yeah.

Shea's Kdrama Origin Story

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Okay, so we're gonna just talk about K-dramas now. So if you don't want any spoilers, then skip ahead to the next episode, I guess. Because we're gonna talk about whatever we want to talk about. So so anyway, spoilers ahead, possibly. So, how did you get into K-dramas and what was your face first K-drama? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_03 7:13

I'm pretty sure I can't. I was trying to remember if I tried to watch any K-dramas before this or not, and I can't remember. But I know the first one that I started watching and like I watched all the way through, and that really hooked me on K-dramas was the Mystic Pop-Up Bar.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

I stumbled on it on Netflix. Um, I didn't even at that point in time know that really that K-dramas were a thing. It was on Netflix, and I really loved, I can't remember how they described it, but it's basically this woman who has died in the past, and it's her, she is uh in order to redeem herself from this thing that she did that they, you know, don't immediately tell you, but she committed a grave sin against the gods or whatever. And so she is uh sentenced to help 5,000 souls over the course of, or maybe it's a thousand souls. I don't know. I don't know. It's a lot of souls, it's a lot of people. She has a certain time limit, she has to do it in, and it's like 500 years. So we're in modern day now, and she only has like 10 souls left, and she's having trouble getting anybody to help because she's very contankerous. And but the thing that really drew me was the fact that her pop-up bar, it kind of basically pops in and out of like existence. Like it'll it travels around, it'll be it'll be here on this street, and it'll stay there maybe for a little while, and then she'll move on and it just kind of goes with her to the next place and it just pops up out of nowhere. Like all of a sudden there's this pop-up bar that you know, and so I I loved that idea of this traveling pop-up bar, you know, and she's trying to help these people and and to you know make up for her sins, and and she's like so grouchy, and the actress is, and I liked that the actress, I think she's in her 40s and or around 40, and then that the male lead. Well, there's sort of two couples, it's about two couples, it's about a younger couple, human couple, and then it's about this woman and her, I guess he's kind of like her assistant slash minder. And he's a demon hunter. He's also was formerly human and he died and then became this demon hunter or whatever. Anyway, but it's really cool. She like goes into people's minds, and it's really weird because she like helps them seek revenge, but in their dreams, um so that they stop being obsessed with it in their real life and can move on with their life.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

They can move on, yeah. Interesting. But yeah, K dramas have such interesting concepts, they're just so interesting. They're so interesting.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

They really do. And I I enjoy the some that a lot of the ones that have more of a like a paranormal angle to them. I mean, I'd like all kinds, but like the ones that have a paranormal, they're so because I write paranormal, yeah. To me, it's so interesting because I'm so used to, and I think we all in the in the Western world are so used to sort of like Western European mythology, especially.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

And a lot of my mythology that I write into my books comes from Celtic mythology, Germanic mythology. That's our that's my background, and I think that's just what a lot of our stories aim at. So seeing it come from this completely different angle that I'm not familiar with, and it's completely different set of mythos, is so cool and fascinating. And I just love it. And I I researched because I'm like, oh, is that really a thing? You know, right.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

And then I'm like, I go look up that god or that reference and I go and get get to learn more about the real thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah. So yeah, I think a lot of us do that. Oh, this is intriguing. Let me go see what this is. I know I do. I just what's that thing? Yeah, I just Googled something today as I was watching the show. So what K drama has a special place in your heart and why does it resonate with you?

SPEAKER_03 11:16

This was hard because I have quite a few, quite a few. But the most recent one for me is Miss Night and Day.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

And so it's about I love, let me see if I get her name right. Li Zhang. Yeah. She is so brilliant and amazing. And I love that she's like this 50 plus year old woman who is not classically, you know, she's not thin, she's not classically beautiful, but she's so delightful to watch. She's she's funny, she's clever, she's such a great actress, and I just enjoy watching her. And so she's actually the story is about this young woman. She's in like she's approaching 30, and her life is kind of a mess. Like, she has tried to pass, you know, those exams that they take.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yes, the government service exam. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

Yeah. So she's tried to take that like seven times or something like that. And she's failed every time. And she she just kind of feels worthless. And one night she gets drunk on, I think it's Soju. I I don't I can't remember. She's drinking something right, some something she's drinking. She gets drunk out of her mind and she sees this cat. And it has like kind of this magical jingle. And she's complaining about how terrible her life is, and she is talking to this cat, and she says she wishes that she could have a better life or whatever. Right. And she wakes up the next morning and she has gone from this young late 20s girl to this 50-something woman. And she's like freaking out. Her parents think someone's broken into their house.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

There's a lot of humor in that one.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

Yeah. Yes. And it is the funniest thing because she like keeps trying to, she gets arrested at some point. And her ID that she has on her obviously looks nothing like her. And she keeps saying, Yes, I was born in 1993. And she keep does this dance, this K-pop dance, to try and prove that she and it is so funny. I was laughing so hard. It's so funny. But it also she ends up because of her age, she is able to get an internship at with a this government office, even though she was never able to pass the exams because she actually uses her aunt's name. Her aunt has passed away. But she would she's like the same age in her 50-year-old body as her aunt. So she's able to show how good she is. She's able to actually intern with them, you know, it ends up getting a job with them, ends up being so efficient and they're astonished because they don't expect her to be good at anything. So it really reveals ageism and a lot of actually sexism because you know she's not classically beautiful as a you know woman. So that she's she's totally invisible as this 50-year-old woman. And so I uh it's really interesting. It addresses that, but it also for her, she also grows to learn how capable she is, and that the only thing stopping her is herself, and that she can have this life that she wants to have.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

I always love stories like that about self-yeah, and and even though K dramas do that a lot, where it's like this is kind of this fantastical setting that the struggles and the aha moments people have are very universal, you know, the like that that she's capable and she just needs to accept that about herself and believe that about herself and let that be and you know, live in that reality instead of the her other one. That's something we can all identify with. So that's very cool.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

Absolutely. It was really neat, and so I think it was such a clever concept, too. At night, she turns back into her 30-something self. Oh, that's the thing. So daytime she's like she looks 50, nighttime she looks 30. So that it's played by two different actresses, and they're really good at capturing each other's movements and intonation things like that. So like you really believe this poor woman is trapped in this horrible situation back and forth. Yeah, exactly. It's wild. I really loved it.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah, I liked seeing that the dichotomy of that. I have some quimbles about the mystery plot because I figured it out pretty quickly. And so I was like, oh, but I enjoyed watching that actress play that role. I feel like with K-dramas, you get I mean, a lot of the women, the older women are playing moms. So this was nice that she didn't have to pay play a mom. But even the roles for the moms, there are a lot of K-drama moms and they have a big role where sometimes, you know, if you hit 40 35 or 40, it seems like you're done a lot of times. So at least for our roles. I would hope there would be more type of this type of role where it's not just the moms, right? Or the grandmoth.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

I would love to see more of that, actually. Yeah, because it's really enjoyable. And and I do like it's very interesting to me because like you know, I know they're like in in Korea, they're really into like plastic surgery. And so you see a lot of the older women have had extensive plastic surgery. But then you have some that haven't had any at all. And I love seeing that. You know, I think you know, I'm a feminist and pe I believe women should do whatever they want for our body. Yeah. But I really love seeing women who look their age and are aging naturally and really just sort of kicking ass, you know. Yeah, and so and that's what that's who she that's the kind of, you know, I obviously don't know her in real life, but on the screen, that's the person she is. I just love watching.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

And it's fun to watch that. Yeah. Do you have uh like a go-to comfort watch? Do you have do you re-watch shows?

SPEAKER_03 17:34

I don't re-watch shows very much. I've the one show I probably re-watch the most ever out of all shows ever is Murder. She wrote. I've probably seen that show like three or four times all the way through. Um excellent choice. But you know, I don't typically re-watch shows, but I would say if I were to sit down and watch a comfort show, this was my first rom-com K-drama that I wrote was uh wrote, excuse me. I wish I could write a K-drama, that would be amazing. That'd be fun. Um Crash Course in Romance. Okay. That one has an older female lead.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

It has like adult romance basically.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

They're grown people. And and I just and I that it was so well done, and it has it's really feel good, and it's just a wonderful journey of someone he has like nothing in his life at all, except his success. And she has lots in her life, but she's sacrificed herself for everybody else. So seeing these people find each other and find this someone who they could be themselves with and support each other and everything. And I just really love that. And it had such a great, and I think she's meant to be a little bit older than him.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, there's a little bit of that dynamic there. That little Nuna thing, a little controversial Nuna, not really controversial, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

I mean, you know, he's supposed to be, I think, close to 40. And yeah, and so that it's not the age gap isn't huge, but it's yeah, I just it was just such a sweet, feel-good romance that I think that would be probably one I would definitely rewatch. And I would definitely re-watch Miss Night and Day because it was just so much fun. So um, I haven't yet, but if I run out of pay traumas, it's gonna be a problem, right? That's the thing. They just keep putting more of them out, and I'm like, see people oversleep.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Really? I know.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

But now we went from having only like a few on Netflix to how having now we have Vicky, and then we have them on Prime, we have them on Hulu, we have them on Disney Plus, we have them on the I know it's like we're spoiled for choice now.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

We can't, I know it is hard to, and then all the subscriptions. I'm like, okay, I have to save myself. I'm gonna turn this one off for a month or two, turn this one on, then turn that one off. That's what I do too. Well, is there a K-drama trope that you just can't resist? It's like, oh, I'm definitely watching this one, no questions asked.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

Pretty much any K-drama that has like a woman over 40 in the female lead. Time you get, especially if it's like a romance or something like that. Enjoy the younger ones too, but I really want to see those women over 40. And I love anything like with a bit of mystery in it, but not I don't I'm not really into the dark, gritty cop mysteries. You know, you know me, I'm more into the cozy mysteries.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

So um I totally get it.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Yeah, they don't seem to have as many. I don't know if I've ever run into one that is what we would define strictly as cozy mystery, but there's plenty of them that are a romance with a mystery on the side or something, right? I enjoy those.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Yeah, yeah. When this show, when this episode comes out, I think the one that comes out right before it will be a mystery one that I did with Caitlin with the podcast No Sleep for Dramas, and she loves mysteries. And so we did one together where we gave recommendations for like all different kinds of mysteries. And I found a couple of more like I would consider them more cozy, like kind of amateur sleuth type mysteries, and then a couple of uh in K drama, and then a couple in J drama, which like Japanese dramas.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

So I yeah, I have yeah, I did see Miss Sherlock in Japanese drama, and it was so good. And yeah, I loved that. So I will have to listen to that episode and get your recommendations. I'm excited about that. But yeah, I also love enemies to lovers, that's always a fun one, especially like a grumpy sunshine pairing. I just love a grumpy sunshine pairing.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

I just they are just so much fun, right? They really are. You get so much mileage out of the yes, the banter and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Yeah, and I just love the long, poor, long-suffering, grumpy one putting up with this little ring of sunshine, and it doesn't matter. matter to me, you know, whether it's the male or the female, right? That is one or the I don't care either way, but I just enjoy that. And then of course I always enjoy in anything that I watch, I love a fish out of water. So I love like when someone from Seoul goes to a small town and how you know something like that. So I yeah or like the in I don't know if you saw behind behind your touch.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

No, I started that one but I never kept going with it. I thought this is perfect. I would love this. And then I couldn't quite get past the conceits that she can see all this stuff. I was like this is just weird.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

Oh it was absolutely bonkers and it started out so zany and then it turned into a whole serial killer thing and it was wild.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Well I would probably like that I probably need to go back and just get to that part and then I'll be fine.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

Yeah it told it totally turned about them chasing the serial killer and then here's this cop from the big city come to this small town and he's clearly way out of his depth. So yeah that was a fun one too. But yeah so those are kind of my you know if it says oh so and so goes from the big city to the small town I'm like oh sign me up like you shut up and take my money.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Exactly do you have a character or a couple that lives rent-free in your head something that you continue to think of after you finish the show.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

The villain from strong girl nam soon who was played by um let's see if I get this Bjom Usock Bjom Husok.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Um I I terrible really terrible I tried to spell spell it out with phonetics so I would it's okay it's okay I'm not a good pronouncer with even English words sometimes so we're just doing our best here and yeah it was forgive us if we mispronounce it.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

Yes I tried my best I I I wrote it out in phonetics so I I hope I got it right but he it is one of the most well written villain like oh I mean the plot is a little bonkers but but he is such a well-written villain and he's has so much emotional death depth and like you can see all this trauma but he still keeps choosing and he's even given this opportunity to go away from the bad choices that he's made choices that weren't even really his like you know and he just he keeps choosing to be evil because he just he just it seems like he just doesn't see another way to live like he just he can't see himself he can't break out of his pattern. Yeah right wow and he's got you know he's essentially part of a mafia kind of a thing and so they have too strong a hold on him and too much power I think and so it's it's sort of heartbreaking because obviously he doesn't win because it's a K drama but um but I I think about him a lot. Like that role is just so amazing and him in that role I've seen him in other things and he's a really great actor but in this he just embodied this role. He was so evil but he was so fun about the evil you know I he was just there was so and there was just so much emotion.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

And and I I you know sometimes villains are portrayed as like you know but they don't have the depth they're just like ah here's the villain he's bad and you're like it's so much better if you have more information and you understand a little bit more about the motivations.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

And they actually showed his past like some of his past and how he grew up and how he was you know trained and all of this sort of thing and all of the trauma and all of the heartache and it's like so you actually just sort of related like in a way because it was so awful and it's like but you don't have to be a villain but he was that was his choice and a choice that he kept making until it destroyed him. And if and it was like and so in the end you actually felt really bad for him because you were actually kind of rooting for him a little bit but yeah even though I know you're evil but I want you to heal and not be evil anymore.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Can we get a redemption arc here in the third act just for this one just a little one.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Just this one none of the rest. Yeah that's interesting okay is there a drama that um you have been surprised you liked the Light Shop which is I'm not sure if it it I watched it through Disney Plus but I think it's on I think it's on Hulu as well yeah yeah I think it's on Hulu. I'd heard from some people that often like similar things to me that it was really good and I wasn't totally sure because like I wasn't sure what I was getting into because it was there's this mysterious light shop this alley and there wasn't a lot of information and so I'm like okay let's go for it because the I think the episodes are only like 30 minutes and there's only like 10 of them or maybe I don't remember it's a pr it's short very short in K drama it is yes it's very short. And so when it started off I'm like it's very atmospheric and I love the music and at first started out I thought it was going to be a horror and it does have some light elements of horror but and you're like and it's like what is going on here? This is weird. This is and then as it moves on all of a sudden you learn what's going on and all of a sudden you're morphing into this whole other story that is just so emotional and so lovely and beautiful and sometimes dark and it just it follows a few different people and some of those people have what you would call a happy satisfying ending. Some of them have kind of a scary not great ending you said we could do spoilers but I kind of don't want to do spoilers. That whole thing is that I deliberately decided not to look ahead on this one because you were willing to take the ride wherever it was like yes there was something I I could tell there was something going on and that the writer who's apparently very well known and he had this journey he was taking you on. And when I watched the whole thing I realized if you hadn't gone on that journey you wouldn't have had the emotional impact that it did. So it's not yeah probably better not to say right it's not my typical cup of tea like but I absolutely loved it. And again here see I've already forgotten I'm so bad at names from Miss Night and Day she was she's in it as well okay yeah I didn't know yeah she's in it and she is just of course she plays a completely different character and it is just so sweet and wonderful and heartbreaking and delightful and this little touch of of horror and very atmospheric it'd be a great thing to watch like at Halloween.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Halloween that's what I was thinking yeah like I think it came out at Halloween last year.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

So that sounds good too how do you pick what you're going to watch next I it kind of depends on my mood you know if I'm looking for something lighter or whatever. A lot of times it'll be by the actor or the actress if I've seen them in something else and really like them. And of course I'll read the blurb and if it's got it tropes that I like and it sounds fun and I will do that. Sometimes a bit on based on recommendations, although I don't always so many people love Crash Landing on you. I tried watching that and it just didn't do it for me. So that doesn't always work but um I don't tend to like angsty things so I you know but yeah so I just like yeah based on the blurb based on the actors and what my mood is really and sometimes I'll give something a chance that well I'm not sure about this but I'll give it a chance and see if I like it.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Yeah there's something about well it's only 12 episodes or 16 episodes. I'll try one or two and if it's not my cup of tea that's fine.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Exactly that's kind of how it yeah it's really it's a lot easier I think because you know it's just going to be this number of episodes typically and so you don't have to make this big commitment to 12 seasons of hour long shows.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Yeah. Well so things not being your cup of tea I love that expression because it means it's not you know maybe it went for me but somebody else will like it do you have any other shows that were just like not your cup of tea um I'm trying to think it's hard to say because there's been quite a few that I've tried and went ah it's not really for me.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yeah uh and I can't always remember what they are someone recommended when the I think it's called when the phone rings. Yeah when the phone rings yeah yeah and I actually really loved it up until the the ending like I was the this whole thing where like literally one conversation would have fixed everything.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Or just a phone call or a text.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Yeah whole thing between them I mean it was interesting to see two people who are having feelings for each other like not realize that the other person is totally in love with them and so end up wasting all this time. So on the one hand but it was like all you had to do is sit down and have a conversation or a text or you know something.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

Write a letter you know and I that kind of annoys me. I hate yeah it's so ridiculous. And then he just he just hairs off to the middle of the jungle for like a year without telling her where he is or yeah after you're not alone in that sentiment because I I I actually enjoyed the tension between them and I enjoyed the mystery of that one.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

It's kind of the thriller aspect to it. What's going on? This is what's going on but then yeah the ending it was very odd.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

It was yeah and it was so rushed because they realized they're both in love with each other or I thought they did maybe they didn't quite and he jumps off to go to the middle of the jungle somewhere with no word. She has no idea where he is and and then when they finally get together and I'm like oh I love you oh I love you oh wow we wasted all this time boom we're together uh so it left us left me kind of wanting more of that part of them getting together well him leaving was so ridiculously stupid but I mean it was like seriously what are we 12?

SPEAKER_01 32:56

I know it was not satisfying that was one of those that was not satisfying yeah it yeah even though it ended happily it wasn't satisfying but the show itself was really good up until you know like you said up until it up until it was that detour.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Yeah yeah and went to Argan which is what I've seen people think does this show go to Argan do I need to be careful that's so sad that's become the shorthand it sounds like you drop things if you're not into them.

SPEAKER_03 33:23

I I do and the same with reading if I don't if a book doesn't capture me within the first chapter or whatever stop reading. Life is too short yeah for I I don't want to say that it's bad books or bad TV shows because somebody likes them they're for somebody they're just not for me.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Yeah and that's totally fine.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Yeah and there's no point in forcing myself to watch or read something that just isn't for me.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Because there's other things out there and we have plenty of choices of other things. Yeah yeah well do you keep track of the dramas you've watched no I'm really terrible like I I keep thinking you don't have to feel bad a lot of people I've noticed with this question if people keep track of dramas they're like yes and they're all I want to talk about their spreadsheet or whatever. And the people who don't are almost apologetic and I'm like it's okay I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

Well I keep the funny thing is I keep thinking like I should keep a journal and like write what I've write down what I've seen and whether I liked it or whatever just so I can keep track. But mostly I just keep track through the that through the app like whether I watched it or not and if it that's fine. That's funny. The downside of that is I find myself going through going did I watch that?

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Yeah. Yeah and if they change up the thumbnail thing you can think that you know it's hard to figure out like getting into there was one they there was one they did that recently too when I was like oh this sounds cute and I was like of course it sounds cute because I watched it this is the um K drama made me do it question do you have something that you've done because you watched a K-drama like try to food or skincare or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Yeah well I have to be really careful with skincare because I have very sensitive skin and um I'm not always sure how you know what's in if some of those will work. So I haven't tried that yet you can't read the label right yeah yeah and so I'm like I really want to try this but I don't know I'm kind of nervous so I haven't done that yet I the first thing I tried was and I'm gonna slaughter the pronunciation but tekabaki techbaki sounds good I know what you're talking about. Yes yeah from but here's the thing I got it from Trader Joe's because I happened to be at Trader Joe's and they had it there and I'm like oh well I'll give this a try you know it wasn't it wasn't expensive so I figured if I don't like it you know and so that was probably my mistake buying it from sometimes Trader Joe's stuff is really good. Yeah this was not good so I don't know if it was just bad or or if it's just not my thing. So one of these days I really want to go to a Korean place and actually try the real Nico. But the other thing I tried more recently is soju. I mean they're always drinking soju right so I'm like I was at my local liquor store to pick up some ingredients for you know all the vintage cocktails I do for my Lady Rample series. And um because I'm with Aunt Buddy I'm writing I just finished writing uh the Aunt Buddy book and I was okay I need to figure out what cocktail I need for Aunt Buddy. So and then I was like oh you know while I'm here and I went and I said by the way do you have soju and she's like oh yes would you like the such and such size or the such and such size and I'm like wait they come in more they come in different sizes than just that little green bottle yeah they most of them come in the little green bottle but I guess the plain also has like a a big one but and they have different flavors like they had a strawberry they had a apple mango they had plum plum plum and apple mango are two of my favorites they're very tasty but then I I took the clear the regular original unflavored and I'm like oh this is quite similar to like vodka you know that's what it does yeah yeah and so I actually made some cocktails with it like oh I just took cocktails where it was meant to have sake or vodka and replaced the soju and I did one that had like I think had mango juice and coconut water and and the soju and it was so so so so good. So yeah and the nice thing too that I like because I love a cocktail but I don't like to get like drunk. I I don't enjoy that and I don't I can't handle alcohol as well as I used to yeah so soju is more similar to wine in level of alcohol um which then explained why they have six bottles of soju on the table I was sometimes I think wow how are they even alive are they not in the hospital but so because it's it's only like 14% alcohol okay or or well I think it runs between 14 and 17 something like that. And then you but you know our vodka is like what 40% or 30% or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Yeah and that's quite a leap.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Yeah so it's like half the alcohol so basically the cocktail ends up being half the alcohol you would typically have in a cocktail generally speaking and so I really like that because it was so light and refreshing and and tasted so lovely and I'm like ooh so now I'm a soju convert. I love it. We I mean we only get like one brand here there's like no other brands maybe other places have more but um yeah but I like it. So that's now my whenever I go to the liquor store pick up some soju too. So that's that's my K drama made me do it.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

That's great. We talk about this a lot but one of the questions I have is why are K drama special to you?

SPEAKER_03 38:42

Do you have anything else to add on that or we mostly covered it but I one thing that I for me personally as a writer that was just something that I found is just the way they're written the way they're the way they're put together the way they're the sort of the pace right has been a real revelation. I mean it's been a real like lesson for me in pacing and crafting a story. Yeah I mean obviously there's some that are better than others but but they're how they sort of pace them is different than how we pace Siries over here um a little bit but they really are really good at that hook that keeps you going.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

The cliffhangery hook that you're like oh my goodness yeah yeah I have to watch this right now.

SPEAKER_03 39:32

Yes and I am like ooh that and so that is um something that is really just sort of been it's uh it's awe inspiring. So always while I'm watching a K drama I'm also always looking for that hook and that that arc that keeps you going and when they get this really satisfying ending how that goes and also how they reveal the characters backgrounds and histories and why they are the way they are and the depth that they go sometimes with them without being boring. The craft of it has been really special. I've really enjoyed that and they're just for me a way to escape from modern daily day-to-day life I mean I know that's what they're showing on the screen but they're showing it for a different culture that I'm not as familiar with and I love that I love getting to know I'm sure much of it is fictualized and exaggerated and whatever just like here but just getting to know a new and different culture is just really fun and I just I just really enjoy that it I get to travel so to speak.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Vicariously yeah it's great well what drama do you feel is overlooked or you wish more people knew about or watched do you have any that you're like this would be a great K drama.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Yeah the Midnight Studio is it's really good. And I don't I haven't heard a lot of people talk about it but it's a really nice blend of like romance and with paranormal elements. So the the male main character has this curse on his family where uh and he actually an ancestor of his stole this special camera from like the God of death or whatever like from death and and so he was cursed to him and his male descendants had to be basically the photographers for the dead so this studio kind of exists in almost like a pocket dimension between the living and the dead okay so you if you go into it from the living side it just looks like the little studio. But then you step through the special door which takes you to the TARDIS like inside of this the real studio and the the ghosts will come in and have their picture taken like with a loved one or something. The female lead is a lawyer who worked for the sort of like the DA or whatever. Okay. Yeah but she um is quote unquote disgraced because she did the right thing.

unknown 42:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

You know it's one of these where it's one of those where the corruption she couldn't stand the the corruption right pushed her out yeah yes and so she ends up he's renting her she ends up moving in with her grandmother and who it owns the studio that he's renting. And so she now thinks there's all kinds of there's something suspicious going on right because she must investigate. Yes and of course there's a serial killer. But yeah so it's a really fun blend of romance and paranormal elements and um and it's they have great chemistry and it has a very satisfying ending and it just feels it's a it's a really for all of the drama and edge of your seat excitement um it's also really feel good. So it's just a really really nice show. I really like it.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Yeah I have heard of that one but I haven't heard many people talking about it but you sold me on it.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

I think I need to check it out too I think you would probably like that. And then another cute one along the same vein that's sort of like paranormal elements but also a really good romance is um From Now on Showtime no okay from now showtime I haven't heard of it yeah it is from now on showtime. Yes okay and that's on Vicky and um yeah he's essentially a shaman but he refuses to accept his shamanic gifts and instead he's hired ghosts to like because he's a magician. So he's hired ghosts so everybody thinks he's the greatest magician mute magician but it's actually ghosts doing all the things like making the cards float they're running around in a circle with like playing cards in the air so it looks like they're floating in a circle around No. And they'll show you this picture of him doing something dramatic and then it'll show you from the other side, these poor little ghosts running around doing a and it's really cute and really funny. And it has a pretty satisfying ending, too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

Yeah. All right. Well, I'll put those, I'll put all those titles in the show notes. And then this has just been fun. I've enjoyed talking to you. And some great recs that I don't know have come up before. So this will be good. Give some people some new stuff to look into.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Where can people find out about you and your books if they're interested in that?

SPEAKER_03 44:32

Well, they can go to my website, which is Shaya McLeod.com, and McLeod is spelled M-A-C. And my shop is there. So there's a there's a tab for my shop so you can go and actually buy directly from me, or you could just go through the various tabs and look at the various books and find out more. And um, all my books are on Colo, Amazon, all of those places, and they're also available uh through your local library. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

Nice. Okay. All right. Well, I'll have a link to your website in the show notes as well. And fun to talk to.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

Yeah, you too. Super fun.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a few minutes to write or review it wherever you listen to podcasts. That will help K Drama fans find the podcast. And we'll see you next time. Bye, everybody.