When the Camellia Blooms: Season 1 - all episodes
November 21, 2019 1:30 PM - Season 1 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Dong Baek is a single mother living in the small town of Ongsan. She runs the bar-restaurant Camellia, while also taking care of her son Pil Gu. Regardless of what the locals may whisper about Dong Baek, local police officer Hwang Yong Shik is deeply in love with her. While Dong Baek tries to find happiness, something truly sinister lurks in the background. A serial killer roams Ongsan and Dong Baek may be a target. (Netflix US premiere, KBS Korean original)
(synopsis cribbed from MyDramaList)
Dramabeans coverage - Premiere recap and all tagged pages
Bustle - If you’re a human being whose taste in television is directly correlated to how “in love” its main characters appear, then you likely experienced the trailer drop for Netflix’s new K drama When the Camellia Blooms as though the series were announcing its candidacy for your new favorite show. “A person’s feelings can turn upside down in three, just three seconds,” scruffy, small town cop Hwang Yonsik (Kang Ha-neul) stutters, glancing toward the object of his affection. Dongbaek (Gong Hyo-jin) smiles, mysteriously, as if she is the sort of lovely person whose own lovely thoughts are sufficient to make her smile. ... In addition to tracing the will-they-won’t-they-but-mostly-will-they of the two main characters, the show follows the lives of two other couples, each in a different stage in their relationships. As director Cha Young Hoon recently told the Korean press, “When the Camellia Blooms will be the kind of drama that makes you want to give your mom a call, reminds you of an old love, and fills viewers with many emotions.”
(synopsis cribbed from MyDramaList)
Dramabeans coverage - Premiere recap and all tagged pages
Bustle - If you’re a human being whose taste in television is directly correlated to how “in love” its main characters appear, then you likely experienced the trailer drop for Netflix’s new K drama When the Camellia Blooms as though the series were announcing its candidacy for your new favorite show. “A person’s feelings can turn upside down in three, just three seconds,” scruffy, small town cop Hwang Yonsik (Kang Ha-neul) stutters, glancing toward the object of his affection. Dongbaek (Gong Hyo-jin) smiles, mysteriously, as if she is the sort of lovely person whose own lovely thoughts are sufficient to make her smile. ... In addition to tracing the will-they-won’t-they-but-mostly-will-they of the two main characters, the show follows the lives of two other couples, each in a different stage in their relationships. As director Cha Young Hoon recently told the Korean press, “When the Camellia Blooms will be the kind of drama that makes you want to give your mom a call, reminds you of an old love, and fills viewers with many emotions.”
I haven't watched this yet because life has been too crazy for me to focus on a TV show that isn't The Good Place, but this is high on my list since it's Kang Ha-neul's first show after his military enlistment (yay!), plus the easiest thing to draw me in after a drama hiatus is something that is relaxed and character-driven, with a focus on a family and a dash of romance that isn't the usual version of the chaebol-Candy love-line (this is a wild speculation based on this writer's previous works, at least -- Fight My Way was like this and Baek-hee Has Returned is a criminally underrated mini-drama full of heart and goofiness and enough of a plot undercurrent to keep you interested).
Although I really do wish that the whole "serial killer" trend in rom-coms had died off by now. Keep the killers in the thrillers, please!
But Gong Hyo-jin is girl-crush goals so I'm rarely disappointed by anything she's in.
(I feel like I'm adding nothing of substance, but I just get excited seeing kdramas added to fanfare!)
posted by paisley sheep at 2:33 PM on November 21, 2019
Although I really do wish that the whole "serial killer" trend in rom-coms had died off by now. Keep the killers in the thrillers, please!
But Gong Hyo-jin is girl-crush goals so I'm rarely disappointed by anything she's in.
(I feel like I'm adding nothing of substance, but I just get excited seeing kdramas added to fanfare!)
posted by paisley sheep at 2:33 PM on November 21, 2019
I wasn't sure about the serial-killer element at the start, but, I think overall it was handled pretty well. They don't glamorize the killer by making him some kind of Hannibal Lector criminal genius, or spend a lot of screen time on the actual murdering. Also, for most of the first half of the season, they tease the identity of whose body has been found at the crime scene - like, they at first imply that it's our heroine Dong-baek, but, I don't think I'm spoiling anything to say it's not her. The audience is given enough clues to realize who it is before the storyline catches up to those flash-forwards, so there's an inevitability to the tragedy by the time you get there.
posted by oh yeah! at 2:54 PM on November 21, 2019
posted by oh yeah! at 2:54 PM on November 21, 2019
Just adding my own two cents that this one was WONDERFUL.
The wife and I have been watching KDramas for about 12 years, now and we first saw Gong Hyo-jin in "Pasta", which was one of the first shows that we watched together.
We love her, and call her "Goldfish" after her character in that show and always make a point to search out shows with her in it.
She is the Queen of the KDrama cry.
posted by Bill Watches Movies Podcast at 4:16 AM on June 25, 2020
The wife and I have been watching KDramas for about 12 years, now and we first saw Gong Hyo-jin in "Pasta", which was one of the first shows that we watched together.
We love her, and call her "Goldfish" after her character in that show and always make a point to search out shows with her in it.
She is the Queen of the KDrama cry.
posted by Bill Watches Movies Podcast at 4:16 AM on June 25, 2020
It took a couple episodes for this to grow on us, but we're now hooked.
Wife and I exclaimed together: "Hey, it's that lady who led the village group in Crash Landing on You!"
The couple is just KHHHHHHHHHHK adorable (we've never heard that clearing-the-throat sound for emphasis before, in k-drama or in real life, and it's kind of hard to even search for. But here's a short supercut and some explanation)
posted by kurumi at 11:55 PM on August 20, 2020
Wife and I exclaimed together: "Hey, it's that lady who led the village group in Crash Landing on You!"
The couple is just KHHHHHHHHHHK adorable (we've never heard that clearing-the-throat sound for emphasis before, in k-drama or in real life, and it's kind of hard to even search for. But here's a short supercut and some explanation)
posted by kurumi at 11:55 PM on August 20, 2020
Wife and I exclaimed together: "Hey, it's that lady who led the village group in Crash Landing on You!"
Yes, Kim Sun Young, I love seeing her pop up in shows. She has some very lovely scenes in 'Because This Is My First Life' as the mother of the main female lead - probably the least comedic thing I've seen her in and she kills it. I'm partway through Romance Is A Bonus Book now, and she's playing one of the marketing executives, first time I've seen her in a non-Mom/ajumma role, I almost didn't recognize her all glammed up.
(we've never heard that clearing-the-throat sound for emphasis before, in k-drama or in real life, and it's kind of hard to even search for. But here's a short supercut yt and some explanation yt )
Thanks for that link! I wondered about the frequent 'KHHHHHHHHHHK's when I was watching the show, but figured maybe it was some kind of regional dialect/accent thing, since the show so often mentioned Ongsan being a small town.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:10 AM on August 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yes, Kim Sun Young, I love seeing her pop up in shows. She has some very lovely scenes in 'Because This Is My First Life' as the mother of the main female lead - probably the least comedic thing I've seen her in and she kills it. I'm partway through Romance Is A Bonus Book now, and she's playing one of the marketing executives, first time I've seen her in a non-Mom/ajumma role, I almost didn't recognize her all glammed up.
(we've never heard that clearing-the-throat sound for emphasis before, in k-drama or in real life, and it's kind of hard to even search for. But here's a short supercut yt and some explanation yt )
Thanks for that link! I wondered about the frequent 'KHHHHHHHHHHK's when I was watching the show, but figured maybe it was some kind of regional dialect/accent thing, since the show so often mentioned Ongsan being a small town.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:10 AM on August 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yes, Kim Sun Young, I love seeing her pop up in shows.
Have you seen Her Private Life? Her role in that was insane and hilarious. (And very glammed up!)
posted by trig at 7:37 AM on August 21, 2020
Have you seen Her Private Life? Her role in that was insane and hilarious. (And very glammed up!)
posted by trig at 7:37 AM on August 21, 2020
Not yet, and it looks like 'Her Private Life' isn't on Netflix US right now, sadly. (I'm sure I'll start using Viki eventually, since they seem to have the kdramas that Netflix doesn't, but I've still got a slew to get through before the Netflix well will have run dry.)
posted by oh yeah! at 9:16 AM on August 21, 2020
posted by oh yeah! at 9:16 AM on August 21, 2020
We visited Camellia Hill (floral park) in Jeju and I saw a shop called Dongbaek something (동백 and 2 other characters) and thought that was a coincidence; any tie-in to the show?
No; dongbaek is the word for camellia. Which means the Camellia doing the Blooming is Dongbaek herself!
posted by kurumi at 7:53 AM on June 16, 2022
No; dongbaek is the word for camellia. Which means the Camellia doing the Blooming is Dongbaek herself!
posted by kurumi at 7:53 AM on June 16, 2022
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Anyway, I thought this was a great mix of romance, comedy, and drama. I guess it's a little slow in some places (from skimming the comments at Dramabeans it seems that the episode order was increased at some point in the process), but I thought the gradual reveal of various characters' hidden depths/backstories was really well done. There were some really heartrending scenes - but aside from the main tragedy of the murder that is teased from the opening sequence, I was doing a lot of happy-crying.
posted by oh yeah! at 2:25 PM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]