The Dumplings
Mystic Pop-up Bar returns with a heartbreaking and touching episode focusing this time on grief and dealing with the passing of a loved one. The drama carries on giving us some great episodes with enough humour and intrigue to keep you coming back for more. Episode 5 of Mystic Pop-up Bar starts with Kang-Bae waking up to Weol-Ju cooking him food. He is very touched by this as he has never had anyone prepare him a home cooked meal before. She tells him to eat up and rest as they still have work to do. The next day at work, Jin-Dong and Seung-Ho convince him to participate in a couple dance competition. Kang-Bae is not happy at first as he knows what will happen if he touches someone but then he notices that Yeo-Rin is at the meeting too. Meanwhile, Weol-Ju and Guibanjang are out exercising in the park. Guibanjang is a little jealous when he hears that Weol-Jo cooked for Kang-Bae but she brushes it off. After a fun bike ride, Yeom comes to see them and asks for a favour. He needs their help to track a wandering spirit who ran away because she wasn’t able to say goodbye to her family. Weol-Ju refuses at first as she doesn’t have time so Yeom adds that it would help her too as she can help the spirit go into her family’s dream and therefore settle her grudge. We then cut to a man, Oh Sang-Gun, talking about his late mother with his wife, Jin-Suk. Sang-Gun tells her he regrets not coming to her bedside to say goodbye as he was too busy with work. As they leave each other, Sang-Gun heads to buy alcohol in the shop while Guibanjang is following him. In the pop-up bar, a depressed Kang-Bae arrives to work. He explains to Weol-Ju he has entered in a couple dance competition at work and is worried people will find out about his condition. Since Yeo-Rin has also signed up, Weol-Ju suggests he team up with her. As she mentions their next job, Sang-Gun arrives in the bar and eats dumplings. However, when Kang-Bae touches him, his power strangely doesn’t work. They then send Guibanjang to investigate his flat but he doesn’t find anything. After reconvening with Weol-Ji and Kang-Bae, they decide to put him under proper surveillance. The next day, Weol-Ju and Guibanjang take the same bus as Sang-Gun. Eventually, Guibanjang notices someone acting strange and realises that it is their spirit who has taken possession of a human. The spirit suddenly runs off so the two start to chase after him. Guibanjang catches up to him in a car park and realizes quickly it’s not their spirit but an evil one. After Guibanjang tries to strangle him out of the body, it manages to free itself and runs towards Weol-Ju. Guibanjang then throws his magical glowing scythe at him, which turns him into a red glass ball. Weol-Ju tells him that she realizes his job as a cop must have been quite hard and decides to carry on following Sang-Gun. Weol-Ju arrives in his office and eventually sees a spirit clouded in smoke following him. She runs after it up the stairs and tries to get the ghost to come with her, explaining that she also left behind someone she loved when she died. Just as the ghost is about to follow her, they are interrupted by another worker who throws her out. In the supermarket, Kang-Bae decides to ask Yeo-Rin to be his dance partner. She tells him that since she knows he is in the CIA, it makes her uncomfortable. He decides to tell her she is special to him because she is the only one who doesn’t feel anything when he touches her. Pretending to hit him, she asks how it would feel if she punched and kicked him. He later relays to his friends the trouble he is having getting Yeo-Rin to accept. They suggest he act more confidently and forceful but Kang-Bae doesn’t think it will be a good idea. He then joins her in a restaurant where Yeo-Rin ends up confronting a woman causing a fuss when a blind man comes in with a guide dog, which impresses him. We then cut to Sang-Gun returning home. He struggles to remember the code to get in and his wife has to come and open the door. He tells her how distracted he has been all day and even missed his bus. As he enters the bedroom, we see the same dark spirit hovering in the hallway. Meanwhile, Weol-Ju takes Guibanjang out for a meal and discusses her encounter with the spirit. She tells him she felt sorry for her as she had to leave her loved ones too. Guibanjang pities Sang-Gun as he wasn’t there when his mother passed. Kang-Bae joins them and relays what happened with Yeo-Rin. Guibanjang tells him that he shouldn’t say that he needs that someone but he want to be the person she needs. As Weol-Ju listens to his words, she remembers the past when she was still alive and the crown prince declared his love to her with the same words. She replied that they couldn’t be together as he needed to marry someone of his status and that he didn’t have to feel indebted to him. The next day, Sang-Gun gets in trouble at work when he forgets to attend an important meeting with a chairman from China. His boss calls him in his office and suggests that he resign as the company will be laying people off soon, hinting that he’ll be next,. He tries protesting as he has worked hard and promises to be better after some rest. When his boss mentions his behaviour since losing his wife, Sang-Gun acts very confused. We then see that his wife has recently passed away and that he has been diagnosed with vascular dementia. Arriving home, he sees his wife in the kitchen but after eating dumplings, she disappears and he bursts into tears. The dark spirit that has been following him then turns into his wife and walks out to find Guibanjang waiting for her. In the pop-up bar, Weol-Ju and Guibanjang speaks to the spirit who explains that she feels sad for her husband and wonders how he is going to manage on his own. They tell her that she shouldn’t be wandering off or it will affect her in the afterlife. She apologies and wishes to be able to say goodbye to him. In the dreamworld, Sang-Gun and Jin-Suk walk through a park. She tells him she is happy to have shared her life with him but that today is their last day together. Sang-Gun blames himself for her death as he sent her on that trip. She tells him not to and asks him to start accepting treatment for his condition. He accepts but tells her he is worried he is going to forget everything about her. She reassures him though and reveals that when they meet again she will remind him of everything. He tells her he loves her and they embrace. The next day in the supermarket, Yeo-Rin catches someone stealing alcohol. However, when confronting the thief his bag is strangely empty. He acts outraged and demands that Yeo-Rin beg for forgiveness. Kang-Bae then decides to touch him and makes the thief admit that he actually had an accomplice with whom he switched bags. After this, Yeo-Rin thanks Kang-Bae for his help and finally asks him to be her dance partner while Sang-Gun gets ready to go into a nursing home. He first heads into the mystic pop-up bar and eats shrimp dumplings. He tells them he is moving and reveals that his wife has passed away. After both Guibanjang and Sang-Gun leave, Jin-Suk tells Weol-Ju that she now feels better after seeing her husband eat and was able to say goodbye to him properly. She tells Weol-Ju that she may act tough but that she can tell she is lonely and hopes that one day she will get to meet the man she loved. The episode ends with a flashback of the past with the crown prince waiting for Weol-Ju with a ring to give her. She watched from afar, hoping he will forgive her for leaving him without saying goodbye. As she walked away, a strange man was watching, looking very angry. Mystic Pop-up Bar has so far managed to develop the characters quite well as we learn more details about their lives during each episode and we see their different relationships change over the weeks. While Kang-Bae is getting closer to Yeo-Rin, we are also seeing some sparks between Weol-Ju and Guibanjang. With her days numbered on earth, it will be interesting to see what will happen between the two. There has been more intrigue added to this episode too as we see the past with the crown prince being in love with Weol-Ju and a new strange man watching her as the episode ended. All these different plot points definitely make this latest K-Drama worth checking out and this consistent amount of humour and drama makes for a really satisfying watch. Published: 04 June 2020 at 5:05 pm on TheReviewGeek.com
