ktown konnection #17 | "Goodbye Earth" premieres, "Queen Of Tears" dominates

PREMIERES

• April 26 “Goodbye Earth” (Netflix)

• May 1 “Frankly Speaking” (JTBC) (Netflix)

“Goodbye Earth” premieres tomorrow; the bleak dystopian series starring Ahn Eun-jin (“The Good Bad Mother”) and Yoo Ah-in (“Hellbound”) gives me “Concrete Utopia” x “Time To Hunt” x “The Purge” vibes. Many scenes with Yoo were cut; the actor is undergoing legal proceedings for illegal drug use.

On the rom-com side, Go Kyung-pyo (“D.P. 2”) and Kang Han-na (“Bloody Heart”) can be seen in the lighthearted “Frankly Speaking.”

“Queen Of Tears” wraps this weekend, and has been dominating ratings - domestically and globally - for weeks.

Also: there are so, so many new shows in May, so stay tuned!

What I’m Watching “Blood Free” got a whole lot better with eps 4 and beyond, with more action-packed scenes and clingy cliffhangers; still waiting for deeper character development for Han Hyo-joo and Ju Ji-hoon’s roles.

Wednesday-Thursday Apr 24-25
“Blood Free” (Disney+)

Friday-Saturday Apr 26-27
“Escape of the 7: Resurrection” (SBS) (Viki)
“Chief Detective 1958” (MBC) (Disney+)
“Goodbye Earth” (Netflix)

Saturday-Sunday Apr 27-28
“Queen of Tears” (tvN) (Netflix)
“Beauty and Mr. Romantic” (KBS2) (Viki)
“Hide” (Coupang Play, JTBC) (Viki)
“Missing Crown Prince” (MBN) (Viki)

Monday-Tuesday Apr 29-30
“Lovely Runner” (tvN) (Viki)
“The Midnight Studio” (ENA) (Viki)
“Nothing Uncovered" (KBS2) (Viki)

(*Streaming platforms shown are for U.S. only; distributors vary by country.)

KDRAMA/FILM/TV

This week’s Top Global Titles 🌎  “Queen Of Tears,” “Parasyte: The Grey,” “Marry My Husband,” and on Viki: “Lovely Runner,” “Missing Crown Prince.” FlixPatrol

“Queen Of Tears” is tvN’s 2nd best drama, beating out “Goblin.” (“Crash Landing On You” is its highest rated series.) The Korea Times

Summer pairings “Single’s Inferno 4” is set to begin production this summer. TCD 

Korea’s watching “Chief Detective 1958,'‘ “Queen of Tears.” dramabeans

New thriller from “Unlocked” director The next feature from Kim Tae-joon, “Wall To Wall,” stars Kang Ha-neul (“When The Camellia Blooms”) Seo Hyun-woo (“A Shop For Killers”), Yeom Hye-ran (“The Uncanny Counter 2”). A release date is tba from Netflix. ContentAsia

In OTT: Netflix stops sharing subscriber data. Reuters

SOUTH KOREA NEWS 🇰🇷

(Grocery) sticker shock 🛒 Inflation is still at a high, with food inflation roughly at 7% for the month of February. The Korea Herald

HYBE’s internal turmoil An audit and allegations including copycat work and subsidiary mutiny are among details emerging surrounding the BTS label, one of its subsidiary CEOs, New Jeans, and investments at stake. A story navigating the noise was in Notes on K-pop this week.