A Detective And A Shaman Solve Crimes In The K-Drama ‘Cafe Minamdong’

Hollywood & Entertainment A Detective And A Shaman Solve Crimes In The K-Drama ‘Cafe Minamdong’ Joan MacDonald Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I’m a journalist fascinated by Korean drama and film. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jun 27, 2022, 08:32pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Seo In-guk plays a shaman who does not believe in spirits. Netflix A shaman and an ace detective might not seem to have any skills in common, but the shaman played by Seo In-guk in the k-drama Cafe Minamdong is not really channeling the supernatural. He’s really a scam artist using high tech surveillance to gather personal details and a detective foot soldier to sort things out.

He and his minions set up shop in Cafe Minamdong, where eager fans await an audience. Only a lucky few get that far. Shaman Nam Jun-hun is a scam artist, but his investigations into people’s problems usually uncover crimes and corner criminals.

What Jun-hun does have in common with detective Han Jae-hui is his keen observation skills. He was once a police profiler, so he has a well-developed sense of who the villains are. Jun-hun is conceited and over-confident, but then he does usually deliver the goods.

Jae-hui, played by Oh Yeon-seo, has reasons to be confident too. She’s not only smart, but her strength, uncanny speed and agility earned her the reputation of being the Ghost of Yongjin Station. When Nam-jun sees her trounce some thugs it’s love at first sight—only it isn’t first sight.

They met before and he doesn’t remember. Will the shaman and the detective team up in ‘Cafe Minamdong?’ Netflix Cafe Minamdong is a very physical comedy with every character enthusiastically getting into the spirit, whether it’s a fight against the odds or a hilarious seance. Oh approaches her over-the-top action scenes with great energy and a cool unflustered stare that can silence her fellow police officers.

She’s a force to be reckoned with. MORE FOR YOU ‘Dune’ Tops Foreign Box Office With Promising $77M Cume ‘Shang-Chi’ Box Office: Marvel Movie Tops $360M Worldwide 4 Series Coming To Netflix In October That Are Worth The Binge Seo is funny as Jun-hun, the detail-obsessed rock-star shaman who writes talismans in squiggles rather than calligraphy. Seo, who is equally good in serious and comic roles, seems very comfortable playing Jun-hun as a laughable but lovable scam artist.

The KBS2 drama also features a bevy of character actors who get to fully engage with their comic roles. Jeong Man-sik is hilarious as Jae-hui’s second in command, a detective who prefers easy cases and looking the other way. Nam Jun’s partners in crime are his younger sister Hye-jun, played by Kang Mi-na, and Su-cheol, played by Kwak Si-yang.

Hye-jun is a genius hacker and Su-cheol runs a private detective agency. The drama is based on the 2018 novel Mindamdang Sagun Soochub by Jung Jae-han. Seo previously appeared in the dramas Doom at Your Service, Shopaholic Louis, The King’s Face and High School King of Savvy, while Oh appeared in Mad For Each Other, A Korean Odyssey, My Sassy Girl and Come Back Mister .

It doesn’t take a shaman to guess that Jae-hui will enlist Jun-hun and his team to help solve cases, but it’s hard to predict how complicated things might get. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Check out my website .

Joan MacDonald Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.