Hang on a second: Who’s actually watched Strangers From Hell?
I’m asking this because last time I posted something about Seo Moon-jo’s vibrant and completely caring personality (sorry, I mean absolutely not vibrant personality but there’s an element of care even though it is a little misplaced), I came across a long list of comments dissing the poor guy’s attempt at artistic dentistry (more on this later) and explaining that they haven’t watched the drama.
Baes… are you the same people who voted that you would rather live with your abusive in-laws rather than with psycho Lee Dong-wook in a run-down dorm? And you have no idea what Strangers From Hell is about?
Welcome to team “let me tell you all about that K-drama I have not watched”. I’m not watching Queen of Tears so, as you can guess, nobody is better prepared than me to diss the Hongs, and especially Hae-in whom I can not defend one bit… I know all my facts from not watching said K-drama so you can guess how useful they are.
Secondary Voice
All of my best opinions are completely and intentionally uninformed.
Third Voice
IMHO, information always ruins the whole opinion thing. I do not need my opinion to be based on facts. I want it to be based on the visceral feeling I get from an unrelated and contextless 0.1-second-long gif spotted somewhere online.
Fourth Voice
I hear you, and I hear myself too, but at the same time, my mind’s fixation is holding onto Strangers From Hell facts like a hungry dog on a bone. I will not let myself have a free-spirited opinion in peace. I am my worst enemy.
So anyway… let me bore you a little longer with some random facts that you did not ask for. I voted to share a dorm with Seo Moon-jo, aka psycho Lee Dong-wook. Not necessarily for the Lee Dong-wook-ness of it because the most interesting thing about Moon-jo is not being a lanky eye candy. That’s just the cherry on top. As it happens, I did watch Strangers From Hell so for once, I knew half of the facts, which is a lot more than usual.
It was a horribly exciting watch.
Not one single tear was shed.
Let me introduce to you, SFH, or to fit in the current title trend, Queen of Spears. Technically, there isn’t a single spear in it. But, somehow queen of the small dental extraction pliers, which would be more accurate, doesn’t have the same ring to it.
This was a fiery pit. A dreadful one… made by strangers
Doesn’t look like a safe and happy K drama
No. It’s not. It’s anything but.
But that’s what’s great about it. Originally, SFH is a webtoon, and it’s something you get to guess fairly quickly from some of the camera angles. Not that all webtoon-inspired K dramas turned out well but they tend to have a slightly more solid plot.
Secondary Voice A Good Day to be a Dog is a fantastic example of how to fuck things up. Solid webtoon, tragic K-drama transcription.
Third Voice
At the other extreme of the scale, there’s Perfect Marriage Revenge which lost the plot halfway through the webtoon and got rescued by writer-nim Im Seo-ra’s commendable narrative power. Writer-nim, I’ll be looking for your next projects.
So, if you are going to give SFH a try, be prepared to know that there is a storyline and that it is fairly solid.
If, like me you found yourself at some point in your life reading philosophy books (forcibly in my case, but it still counts), you’ll appreciate the reference to Sartre’s “Hell is other people”. And SFH does a great job at putting in gritty images what Sartre put into a play.
Yet, don’t be fooled. Hell does not hide just inside the Eden goshiwon alongside everybody’s favourite 80s-born eye candy and his little scalpel. No. Hell is everywhere and in almost everyone our main character, Yoon Jong-woo (eye candy number two, but more pocket-sized than LDG) gets to meet.
By the way, “Hell is other people” is the literal translation of the webtoon and K-drama title. 타인은 지옥이다 (ta-in-eun ji-og-i-da, if you want to read it aloud). Other people is hell itself… and yes, after struggling through a lot of poorly written K-drama plots, 타인은 지옥이죠 indeed. I have a little list of names if anybody wants to discuss hellish writers with me.
The plot
We follow Jong-woo, aspiring writer, as he moves to Seoul to start a seriously underpaid internship at a former classmate’s business and get closer to his girlfriend, who already lives and works in Seoul.
Jong-woo ends up picking the most affordable place for his budget, Eden dorm. There is absolutely no secret as to why the rent is so cheap, cue to the mould on his bedroom wall and ceiling. The neighbours are not exactly the friendliest either. They’re creepy and they set you on edge as soon as you look at them.
But there is one friendly neighbour who appears the most normal of the lot and who shares common interests with Jong-woo, Moon-jo.
It’s not so much the fact they may share a favourite writer. What’s interesting is the fact Moon-jo immediately sees himself in the new dorm-mate.
And this is where things get interesting. Moon-jo has zero interest in killing Jong-woo. He wants to make a mini-me. He’s also got a good sense of Jong-woo’s natural potential, and we find out more about it as the story progresses.
New tenants who join the goshiwon are not there to become new preys for Moon-jo. They become students that he nurtures. Just saying, if you were to share a dorm with psycho LDW, you wouldn’t necessarily end up at the pointy end of the knife.
Also, can we just admire the glorious camera angle here. This almost feels like a scene out of a love story. They slowly turn toward each other. A pause. A soft line spoken in a soft voice. ”You are like me”, he says. It just needs a kiss to be perfect. The romance you didn’t know you needed.
Moon-jo has got some fantastic lines that sometimes sound like he’s stolen them from a romantic K-drama.
Jagiya
Enough said.
If you need only one reason to watch SFH, let this be LDW jakiya-ing everyone in sight in it in the most unsettling way.
For some reason, this tickles my funny bone.
The cast
Aside from the main leads, we’ve got a lot of known faces. I’m only going to show some of them because there are only so many gifs one wants to make.
Secondary Voice
It is rather distressful to admit that I can get bored of too many gifs… I am ashamed to admit it.
Third Voice
But that’s not the case here. I’m just getting lazy. I just wanted to pretend I had a grown-up excuse.
Yes, she just went for it and slapped his ass. She’s the “friendly” landlady. You don’t want to go to a karaoke bar with her.
Mr. Not Creepy At All. Another dorm tenant. I was about to say you don’t want to go on his bad side. But he’s got no other side.
Ahn Eun-jin policing away and also dealing with a toothache. Guess who her dentist is…
Award of the worst fashion for Hyun Bong-sik who is doing his absolutely best to make this atrocious shirt work. I’ve also researched a little about him… Would you believe it if I told you Lee Dong-wook is actually older than Hyun Bong-sik?
The dental artistry
Look at him. Look at him making little friendship bracelets out of teeth.
Isn’t it top-level cuteness in a slightly psycho way? But this is true to Moon-jo’s personality. He describes what he does as art, and this is his present for his (unwilling) pupil.
But, more to the point, the story is not and will never be, about Moon-jo going on a killing rampage in his dental clinic. He doesn’t go around slaughtering his patients. We do get some glimpses of his day-to-day work and there is nothing here that screams manic killer. So, I appreciate the typical horror story about dentists may be at the front of your mind, but this isn’t the plot here.
So, if you’ve seen too many scary films about mad dentists, you can relax. This has got nothing to do with it.
Not saying Moong-jo is a well-balanced gentleman, because he fucking isn’t. But the story doesn’t wander around gore and blood-splattered dental clinics.
That being said, he does collect human teeth. But not those of his paying patients. When I say he makes friendship bracelets, I’m serious about it. There is in his mind a clear bond with Jong-woo, and the entire story is about Jong-woo trying to escape a bond he doesn’t see.
You’ll be pleased to know that I won’t, for once, ruin it by revealing the end. I’m just going to say that if you are familiar with Hobbes’s work, you may have come to the same conclusion yourself.
Hell is other people because we are all inherently bad.
I leave it to you to finish the Hobbesian thought and find out how SFH concludes it too.
I appreciate this isn’t exactly a K-drama for everyone.
But then there is no such thing as a K-drama for everyone.
And as much as I can’t bring myself to watch too much of Queen of Tears, I realise that those gritty, atypical stories where nobody wins seem to be my cup of tea.
I also enjoyed A Killer Paradox for the same reasons.
Anyway, I apologise for being a freak.
Secondary Voice
I don’t mean it. I’m not apologising.
I hereby encourage you to join me on the freak side. We’ve got friendship bracelets and snacks.
I have watched some of Strangers from Hell but I am not (unfortunately?) someone who finds much enjoyment from stories where no one wins and it’s hard to even find anyone to cheer for. I actually found it sort of boring for this reason, and ended up dropping (I think it was my first drop ever actually) and finishing off the story through the recaps on here. Cause I wanted to know what happened, but not, like, five-more-hours-of-my-time-wanted-to-know.
However, I love that there is no kdrama for everyone! I love reading your takes and I hope I can still participate in the friendship bracelets and snacks.
I get what you mean. The first time I tried watching it, I gave up after 3 episodes. I wanted to know what happened and I also couldn’t find a hook to it.
I needed to go through a few infuriatingly bad dramas to find my motivation again. My second time around, I was so pleased to spot all the narrative hooks around the goshiwon & around Jong-woo. Not sure how I managed to miss all of them the first time around. I think I was expecting a different kind of drama 🤷🏻♀️ Now, I’ve finally reached the point in my life where my soul is as dark as Eden goshiwon, and everything falls into place neatly 🤣
I would read the CRAP out of your actual take on the plot of QoT without you having seen a single episode. I would also participate in a community-writing prompt to narrate this show, something created solely by those of us with ZERO actual experience with the drama.
“I’ve not watched QoT but let me tell you AALLLL about it: The Fan Wall Post,” it’d be called. Preferably illustrated solely with gifs we steal from other content creators and opinions cribbed from MyDramaList.
I’m starting to think we should let those who have not watched the drama write the recaps. I want completely unhinged recaps based on the gifs posted by other Beanies.
It’s all about putting the drama back in K-drama.
“We don’t know what we’re talking about but that’s not going to stop us. Watch us recap that drama we know nothing about.
Enter carnage.
OMG, I love it. I love it so much. Imagine the amount of dramas I could recap rather than wasting my time watching them?
Serial clueless recapist
I want it on a t-shirt. It’s going to be my new job title now.
I would choose the Hongs over any character in Strangers from Hell, but I really liked the show (SFH). And I recommend it too!
And I’m pretty sure I would’ve liked A Killer Paradox too. I really wanted to ignore what bothered me and just finished it. The little I saw was really fun.
It would be nice to have more shows like that. I think what we need is OCN back.
I read Beanies’ comments before I started to watch so I was ready of it and I completely focused the absolute disengaged look on his face throughout. That’s what I kept from it: Whatever the fantasy going on in his mind, he doesn’t engage emotionally with it (it’s got mental disorder warning red signs all over)
Nope. I don’t think I got that far. It was the flashbacks from the FL as a kid.
The entire “mistreating the child to make them stronger” thing isn’t my style. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I was trying to let it pass until the uncle did something to her that made me go “nope, f that dude”. 🤣😂 But before that it was fun.
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Cecee
April 24, 2024 at 10:11 AM
Hang on a second: Who’s actually watched Strangers From Hell?
I’m asking this because last time I posted something about Seo Moon-jo’s vibrant and completely caring personality (sorry, I mean absolutely not vibrant personality but there’s an element of care even though it is a little misplaced), I came across a long list of comments dissing the poor guy’s attempt at artistic dentistry (more on this later) and explaining that they haven’t watched the drama.
Baes… are you the same people who voted that you would rather live with your abusive in-laws rather than with psycho Lee Dong-wook in a run-down dorm? And you have no idea what Strangers From Hell is about?
Welcome to team “let me tell you all about that K-drama I have not watched”. I’m not watching Queen of Tears so, as you can guess, nobody is better prepared than me to diss the Hongs, and especially Hae-in whom I can not defend one bit… I know all my facts from not watching said K-drama so you can guess how useful they are.
Secondary Voice
All of my best opinions are completely and intentionally uninformed.
Third Voice
IMHO, information always ruins the whole opinion thing. I do not need my opinion to be based on facts. I want it to be based on the visceral feeling I get from an unrelated and contextless 0.1-second-long gif spotted somewhere online.
Fourth Voice
I hear you, and I hear myself too, but at the same time, my mind’s fixation is holding onto Strangers From Hell facts like a hungry dog on a bone. I will not let myself have a free-spirited opinion in peace. I am my worst enemy.
So anyway… let me bore you a little longer with some random facts that you did not ask for. I voted to share a dorm with Seo Moon-jo, aka psycho Lee Dong-wook. Not necessarily for the Lee Dong-wook-ness of it because the most interesting thing about Moon-jo is not being a lanky eye candy. That’s just the cherry on top. As it happens, I did watch Strangers From Hell so for once, I knew half of the facts, which is a lot more than usual.
It was a horribly exciting watch.
Not one single tear was shed.
Let me introduce to you, SFH, or to fit in the current title trend, Queen of Spears. Technically, there isn’t a single spear in it. But, somehow queen of the small dental extraction pliers, which would be more accurate, doesn’t have the same ring to it.
This was a fiery pit. A dreadful one… made by strangers
Doesn’t look like a safe and happy K drama
No. It’s not. It’s anything but.
But that’s what’s great about it. Originally, SFH is a webtoon, and it’s something you get to guess fairly quickly from some of the camera angles. Not that all webtoon-inspired K dramas turned out well but they tend to have a slightly more solid plot.
Secondary Voice
A Good Day to be a Dog is a fantastic example of how to fuck things up. Solid webtoon, tragic K-drama transcription.
Third Voice
At the other extreme of the scale, there’s Perfect Marriage Revenge which lost the plot halfway through the webtoon and got rescued by writer-nim Im Seo-ra’s commendable narrative power. Writer-nim, I’ll be looking for your next projects.
So, if you are going to give SFH a try, be prepared to know that there is a storyline and that it is fairly solid.
If, like me you found yourself at some point in your life reading philosophy books (forcibly in my case, but it still counts), you’ll appreciate the reference to Sartre’s “Hell is other people”. And SFH does a great job at putting in gritty images what Sartre put into a play.
Yet, don’t be fooled. Hell does not hide just inside the Eden goshiwon alongside everybody’s favourite 80s-born eye candy and his little scalpel. No. Hell is everywhere and in almost everyone our main character, Yoon Jong-woo (eye candy number two, but more pocket-sized than LDG) gets to meet.
By the way, “Hell is other people” is the literal translation of the webtoon and K-drama title. 타인은 지옥이다 (ta-in-eun ji-og-i-da, if you want to read it aloud). Other people is hell itself… and yes, after struggling through a lot of poorly written K-drama plots, 타인은 지옥이죠 indeed. I have a little list of names if anybody wants to discuss hellish writers with me.
The plot
We follow Jong-woo, aspiring writer, as he moves to Seoul to start a seriously underpaid internship at a former classmate’s business and get closer to his girlfriend, who already lives and works in Seoul.
Jong-woo ends up picking the most affordable place for his budget, Eden dorm. There is absolutely no secret as to why the rent is so cheap, cue to the mould on his bedroom wall and ceiling. The neighbours are not exactly the friendliest either. They’re creepy and they set you on edge as soon as you look at them.
But there is one friendly neighbour who appears the most normal of the lot and who shares common interests with Jong-woo, Moon-jo.
It’s not so much the fact they may share a favourite writer. What’s interesting is the fact Moon-jo immediately sees himself in the new dorm-mate.
And this is where things get interesting. Moon-jo has zero interest in killing Jong-woo. He wants to make a mini-me. He’s also got a good sense of Jong-woo’s natural potential, and we find out more about it as the story progresses.
New tenants who join the goshiwon are not there to become new preys for Moon-jo. They become students that he nurtures. Just saying, if you were to share a dorm with psycho LDW, you wouldn’t necessarily end up at the pointy end of the knife.
Also, can we just admire the glorious camera angle here. This almost feels like a scene out of a love story. They slowly turn toward each other. A pause. A soft line spoken in a soft voice. ”You are like me”, he says. It just needs a kiss to be perfect. The romance you didn’t know you needed.
Moon-jo has got some fantastic lines that sometimes sound like he’s stolen them from a romantic K-drama.
Jagiya
Enough said.
If you need only one reason to watch SFH, let this be LDW jakiya-ing everyone in sight in it in the most unsettling way.
For some reason, this tickles my funny bone.
The cast
Aside from the main leads, we’ve got a lot of known faces. I’m only going to show some of them because there are only so many gifs one wants to make.
Secondary Voice
It is rather distressful to admit that I can get bored of too many gifs… I am ashamed to admit it.
Third Voice
But that’s not the case here. I’m just getting lazy. I just wanted to pretend I had a grown-up excuse.
Yes, she just went for it and slapped his ass. She’s the “friendly” landlady. You don’t want to go to a karaoke bar with her.
Mr. Not Creepy At All. Another dorm tenant. I was about to say you don’t want to go on his bad side. But he’s got no other side.
Ahn Eun-jin policing away and also dealing with a toothache. Guess who her dentist is…
Award of the worst fashion for Hyun Bong-sik who is doing his absolutely best to make this atrocious shirt work. I’ve also researched a little about him… Would you believe it if I told you Lee Dong-wook is actually older than Hyun Bong-sik?
The dental artistry
Look at him. Look at him making little friendship bracelets out of teeth.
Isn’t it top-level cuteness in a slightly psycho way? But this is true to Moon-jo’s personality. He describes what he does as art, and this is his present for his (unwilling) pupil.
But, more to the point, the story is not and will never be, about Moon-jo going on a killing rampage in his dental clinic. He doesn’t go around slaughtering his patients. We do get some glimpses of his day-to-day work and there is nothing here that screams manic killer. So, I appreciate the typical horror story about dentists may be at the front of your mind, but this isn’t the plot here.
So, if you’ve seen too many scary films about mad dentists, you can relax. This has got nothing to do with it.
Not saying Moong-jo is a well-balanced gentleman, because he fucking isn’t. But the story doesn’t wander around gore and blood-splattered dental clinics.
That being said, he does collect human teeth. But not those of his paying patients. When I say he makes friendship bracelets, I’m serious about it. There is in his mind a clear bond with Jong-woo, and the entire story is about Jong-woo trying to escape a bond he doesn’t see.
You’ll be pleased to know that I won’t, for once, ruin it by revealing the end. I’m just going to say that if you are familiar with Hobbes’s work, you may have come to the same conclusion yourself.
Hell is other people because we are all inherently bad.
I leave it to you to finish the Hobbesian thought and find out how SFH concludes it too.
I appreciate this isn’t exactly a K-drama for everyone.
But then there is no such thing as a K-drama for everyone.
And as much as I can’t bring myself to watch too much of Queen of Tears, I realise that those gritty, atypical stories where nobody wins seem to be my cup of tea.
I also enjoyed A Killer Paradox for the same reasons.
Anyway, I apologise for being a freak.
Secondary Voice
I don’t mean it. I’m not apologising.
I hereby encourage you to join me on the freak side. We’ve got friendship bracelets and snacks.
Unaspirated
April 24, 2024 at 10:26 AM
I have watched some of Strangers from Hell but I am not (unfortunately?) someone who finds much enjoyment from stories where no one wins and it’s hard to even find anyone to cheer for. I actually found it sort of boring for this reason, and ended up dropping (I think it was my first drop ever actually) and finishing off the story through the recaps on here. Cause I wanted to know what happened, but not, like, five-more-hours-of-my-time-wanted-to-know.
However, I love that there is no kdrama for everyone! I love reading your takes and I hope I can still participate in the friendship bracelets and snacks.
Cecee
April 24, 2024 at 3:23 PM
I get what you mean. The first time I tried watching it, I gave up after 3 episodes. I wanted to know what happened and I also couldn’t find a hook to it.
I needed to go through a few infuriatingly bad dramas to find my motivation again. My second time around, I was so pleased to spot all the narrative hooks around the goshiwon & around Jong-woo. Not sure how I managed to miss all of them the first time around. I think I was expecting a different kind of drama 🤷🏻♀️ Now, I’ve finally reached the point in my life where my soul is as dark as Eden goshiwon, and everything falls into place neatly 🤣
zindigo
April 24, 2024 at 12:28 PM
THIS is why I love you Beanies SO much!!!
I laugh my *ss off every time I visit DB. EVERY. TIME.
*bows* to @DarkCc
🌸 Cera (@Seeker) 🌸
April 25, 2024 at 7:20 PM
🌸 Cera (@Seeker) 🌸
April 25, 2024 at 7:21 PM
Cecee ♥️👏💪
Seon-ha
April 24, 2024 at 2:31 PM
Comment was deleted
Seon-ha
April 24, 2024 at 2:33 PM
I would read the CRAP out of your actual take on the plot of QoT without you having seen a single episode. I would also participate in a community-writing prompt to narrate this show, something created solely by those of us with ZERO actual experience with the drama.
“I’ve not watched QoT but let me tell you AALLLL about it: The Fan Wall Post,” it’d be called. Preferably illustrated solely with gifs we steal from other content creators and opinions cribbed from MyDramaList.
Cecee
April 24, 2024 at 2:56 PM
How amazing would it be? I can already picture it!
Seon-ha
April 24, 2024 at 3:01 PM
It would be content for the ages.
Cecee
April 25, 2024 at 4:40 AM
I’m starting to think we should let those who have not watched the drama write the recaps. I want completely unhinged recaps based on the gifs posted by other Beanies.
It’s all about putting the drama back in K-drama.
“We don’t know what we’re talking about but that’s not going to stop us. Watch us recap that drama we know nothing about.
Enter carnage.
OMG, I love it. I love it so much. Imagine the amount of dramas I could recap rather than wasting my time watching them?
Serial clueless recapist
I want it on a t-shirt. It’s going to be my new job title now.
tabong has two different tears🍉
April 24, 2024 at 10:16 PM
I would choose the Hongs over any character in Strangers from Hell, but I really liked the show (SFH). And I recommend it too!
And I’m pretty sure I would’ve liked A Killer Paradox too. I really wanted to ignore what bothered me and just finished it. The little I saw was really fun.
It would be nice to have more shows like that. I think what we need is OCN back.
Cecee
April 25, 2024 at 4:44 AM
Was it the weird sex fantasy from the start?
I read Beanies’ comments before I started to watch so I was ready of it and I completely focused the absolute disengaged look on his face throughout. That’s what I kept from it: Whatever the fantasy going on in his mind, he doesn’t engage emotionally with it (it’s got mental disorder warning red signs all over)
tabong has two different tears🍉
April 25, 2024 at 12:33 PM
Nope. I don’t think I got that far. It was the flashbacks from the FL as a kid.
The entire “mistreating the child to make them stronger” thing isn’t my style. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I was trying to let it pass until the uncle did something to her that made me go “nope, f that dude”. 🤣😂 But before that it was fun.