'Mystic Pop-up Bar' Episode 2 Review: Weol-ju and Kang-bae partner up in fantasy about making wishes come true
'Mystic Pop-up Bar' Episode 2 begins with Weol-ju (Hwang Jung-eum) and Kang-bae (Yook Sung-jae) realizing that they could use each other's help in the very tough situation that the two of them are stuck in. Weol-ju needs to help 10 more humans within one month to complete the punishment that she got from the God of Underworld for the sin that he had committed when she was alive. The tree that she hung herself from was cursed and as a result, thousands of lives were affected. She was initially given 300 years to complete the task, however, she had received a 200-year extension. However, now, the God of Underworld is not ready to extend the time period further.
However, Weol-ju is unable to get humans to confide their troubles in her because of the absence of sympathy. They find her distant and this is throwing her plans off. However, Kang-bae, on the other hand is a person who gets people to confide in him even when he doesn't want to hear other people's troubles. Something about his touch has everyone in the vicinity confessing their life stories to him. However, Kang-bae doesn't have the temperament to deal with all the attention that he has been receiving forever. He has tried to stay away from human contact all his life because of this and has also been a loner. When he meets Weol-ju, she tells him that she can make his dreams come true and that is exactly what Kang-bae hopes would happen.
So despite the difference in opinion when it comes to who should be helped and who shouldn't be. The two end up partnering up. For instance, Kang-bae's neighbor, an old lady who is preparing for her daughter's wedding is someone who is worth helping because of how hard she has worked in bringing her daughter up. Despite an act of selfishness in the past that broke a family apart -- all because of her -- she has since tried to atone for her sins. Which is the reason why Kang-bae tries his best to help her. However, Weol-ju disagrees because her mother was also killed because of people like Kang-bae's neighbor.
In the process, the two of them and manager Gwi (Choi Won-young) help the old woman by making her last wish come true. They see how she atones for her sin beyond death and this experience brings them close enough for Weol-ju to reveal the reason why she is tasked with making 100,000 happy. She seems to have taken up the task in someone else's place, for her sins apparently do not just stop with cursing a sacred tree. What exactly did Weol-ju do to deserve a punishment as harsh as living among beings that Weol-ju hated the most? That will be the story explored in the 12-episode long show.
'Mystic Pop-up Bar' originally airs in South Korea on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9.30 pm KST on JTBC and can be streamed on Netflix in the US.