Afternoona Asks

Sarah and Grace are back together to discuss Season 2 of Better Late Than Single, which aired on Netflix this summer. For those who have not yet seen this show, we chat about what makes Korean dating shows appealing, the societal resonance of this show, and some cultural considerations in the spoiler-free section. Then we discuss our favorite castmates, which couples we were rooting for, and how we would tweak the format of the next season in the spoiler section. Whether you are curious if you would enjoy this show, or have already seen it, we hope you have as...

We are delighted to be back with another Chinese Drama deep dive featuring one of the biggest CDrama actors of 2026 - Zhang Ling He - this is an older drama of his and Sarah is joined by Tania and Eileen to discuss why we think this is a must watch drama. We start with a spoiler-free intro to review why it might work for you and how it won't really fit any Pursuit of Jade hole you might have in your life, but is still absolutely worth it any way. Then we get into a spoiler section to discuss...

How did it become the third quarter already?! We like to think time is flying by because we've had some good dramas this quarter to keep us entertained. Sarah is joined by new Patreon guests Reb & Beth as well as returning guest Susan to discuss this quarters dramas in detail. Join us to hear our thoughts on A Bona Fide Killer, Scandal, My Spooky Love, My Bias, My Boss and many other dramas. We also chat through what we're looking forward to for the final quarter of the year.

Show Notes

Susan’s previous Korean Fo...

The Patreon Dragon Squad—Katie, Carolien, Charlotte & Zoe—took over the Afternoona Asks
podcast to persuade you to watch the epic drama SIX FLYING DRAGONS.

We provide non-spoilery background information, gush over our favourite Dragons (no, not you,
Sambong) and consider whether the better comp is Hamlet or Alchemy of Souls. But most of all
we hope to infuse you with our enthusiasm so that you will press play as soon as you finish
listening to us.

Sarah & Grace would like to thank The Patreon Dragon Squad for all their enthusiasm and...

Sarah and Grace are back together to catch up on their summers and share K-Drama inspired travel experiences and tips. We begin with a bit of a tangent about our first BTS concert experiences (!!!), before a short check-in on what K-content we're watching. Then (starting around 25:40), we discuss Sarah's most recent work trip to Korea. She squeezed in quite a few fun new K-drama inspired experiences and learned some new travel tips. Grace also offers some highlights of a spring family trip to Seoul, as well as an overview of her quick trip to Quebec City, where it was...

We are back with another deep, deep, deep dive into an Ahn Pan Seok classic drama - Secret Love Affair, a 2014 Korean Drama starring Yoo Ah In and Kim Hee Ae - this is an Afternoona Patreon fave for a set of slice-of-life, melodrama lovers. Sarah is back with Katie & Charlotte (who you may have heard discussing The Art of Negotiation, another Ahn Pan Seok directed drama) to chat through this, one of their joint faves.

As ever, there is a spoiler free section where we discuss the show so you can listen in to see if...

Sarah is back with two new Patreon guests - Amber and Vicki - to take a look at this year's second quarter Asian dramas. We discuss releases this quarter such as My Royal Nemesis, Filing for Love, Yumi Cells 3, The Perfect Crown and many others. We also get to know Amber and Vicki and their tastes in dramas. Note there will be some small spoilers for dramas discussed.

Show Notes

Something in the Rain Deep Dive - Afternoona Delight Episode 183

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KECBbwqvazE

My...

Sarah and Grace are back together to deep dive a 2022 top Kdrama, Under the Queen's Umbrella. If you have not yet seen this drama, join us as we discuss the incredible acting by two of our favorite female leads supported by a stellar ensemble cast, the amazing writing by a relatively unknown screenwriter we expect more great things from, and what made this drama resonate with us, in the spoiler-free section. And for those who have watched this drama, relive the drama with us as we reflect on the themes of motherhood and revenge, the positive impact a well-written...

Welcome to our latest episode! This is now the third in our series of Asian language introductions for Asian Drama fans. We are delighted to be joined by Shogo, an old University friend of Sarah's and tri-lingual Japanese, English and Mandarin Chinese speaker to the podcast - where he gives us an intro to Japanese and comparisons with Chinese and Korean. All three of us share cultural and linguistic experiences and we also get into some Japanese culture questions sent in by listeners.

For previous episodes on Korean and Chinese check out links below:

An...

We deep dive the beautiful and criminally underrated Korean Drama Lost in this episode. Sarah is joined by fellow Patreon guests Cate and Angela.  We discuss why this slice of life drama is such a cult fave for KDrama watchers that love a slower, character centred and inner conflict driven drama. If you have yet to watch this drama, check out our non-spoiler section to see if this drama might work for you - we cover what makes it stand out, how amazing the cast are and talk through our favourite scenes.

Show Notes

Sarah and Grace are back together to deep dive one of our first-quarter-2026 top Kdramas, Can This Love Be Translated. If you have not seen this drama yet, join us as we discuss what made this drama a bit polarizing and why it worked for us, as well as the theme of communication across languages and life experiences, in the spoiler-free section. Grace also shares an update on what's been keeping her extra busy and touches on how much of a difference she found there is between subbed and dubbed translations for Kdramas. And for those who have watched...

Welcome back to Part 3 of our monster episode of Pursuit of Jade - we've never done a two-part Deep Dive on a drama before, let alone three! Sarah is joined by Patreon guests Cynthia and Saraiah to discuss the 2026 smash hit Chinese Drama Pursuit of Jade that has taken the Asian drama world by storm. Starring Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei, this historical drama delivers all the feels, swoons and romance that has swept the Patreon away. If you've yet to watch this drama, this episode will give a non-spoiler intro to the drama. Otherwise if you've...

Welcome back to Part 2 of our monster episode of Pursuit of Jade - we've never done a two-part Deep Dive on a drama before, let alone three! Sarah is joined by Patreon guests Cynthia and Saraiah to discuss the 2026 smash hit Chinese Drama Pursuit of Jade that has taken the Asian drama world by storm. Starring Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei, this historical drama delivers all the feels, swoons and romance that has swept the Patreon away. If you've yet to watch this drama, this episode will give a non-spoiler intro to the drama. Otherwise if you've...

Welcome to our monster episode of Pursuit of Jade - we've never done a two-part Deep Dive on a drama before, let alone three! Sarah is joined by Patreon guests Cynthia and Saraiah to discuss the 2026 smash hit Chinese Drama Pursuit of Jade that has taken the Asian drama world by storm. Starring Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei, this historical drama delivers all the feels, swoons and romance that has swept the Patreon away. If you've yet to watch this drama, this episode will give a non-spoiler intro to the drama. Otherwise if you've seen and want...

We've just finished the first quarter in Asian dramas - join us to discuss the winners and the duds of the quarter so far. Sarah is joined by Patreon guests Yarrow and Zoe to chat through our favourite dramas, performances and the ones we dropped. See if you agree with our takes or perhaps find new dramas you wish to start.

Show Notes
Hometown Cha Cha Cha Deep Dive (Sarah's first podcast! With Afternoona Delight) - Episode 45

Liberation Notes Deep Dive - Afternoona Delight - Episode 175

Love Next Door...

Sarah and Grace got together in late 2025 to discuss the 2023 C-drama Meet Yourself and are excited to finally share the episode now. If you have not seen this drama yet, join us as we discuss what made this slice-of-life + slow-burn romance drama such a healing and impactful watch, in the spoiler-free section. And if you've watched, come relive favorite moments and storylines of the drama with us. As always, we discuss some language and culture questions too!

#cdrama #cdramalovers #cdramapodcast #chinesedrama #chinesedramas #cdramareview #asiandrama #asiandramapodcast

We are back! Sarah & Grace are joined once again by Lisa for a deep dive on the Korean Cookery Reality TV show that we love - Culinary Class Wars. The Netflix show returned for a second season late 2025 so we just had to get the gang back together to break down the drama and relive the dishes. If you've not watched the programme, we have a short spoiler free section to tell you all about it before heading to the spoiler section to discuss the competition and highlight our faves and compare it to Season 1. 

Show Notes

Grace and Sarah are back to discuss another type of K-Content they both love - Korean Reality TV shows! This time it's the turn of the Physical series and they are delighted to be joined by sister podcast Afternoona Delight co-host Megan (and also fellow fan) to discuss. The trio cover both the series of Physical 100 but do an in-depth discussion to the 2025 released version, Physical Asia which was a big hit for Netflix.

We have a spoiler-free section where we discuss the Physical series as a whole, how they find Korean Reality TV differs from Western...

Each year we survey the Afternoona Delight Patreon for their views on dramas - so join us to check out the 2025 results! Our Patreon have fantastic taste, watch widely and have plenty to say, so tune in to find out who were our fave characters, the best performances and what they want to wag their finger at in dramaland.

Sarah is joined by fellow patreon Erin as Grace couldn't make this record to run through the results and give us her take too. We hope you all enjoy the run down and find some recommendations that you...

We are delighted to welcome Busan-based artists Silas Jennings and Ryan Estrada to the show to discuss the 2025 South Korean drama Tempest. Silas and Ryan share their experiences as extras on the show as well as other insights about being Western actors on South Korean drama productions. We also discuss the drama's target audience, its highlights, our quibbles, and whether it lived up to high expectations for its esteemed writer/director team. Join us for a fascinating look behind the scenes!

Find a further introduction to Ryan Estrada from his first guest appearance here:

...

We are delighted to welcome our fellow Patreon member Lorna to share her latest Seoul trip with her. Lorna went to Seoul primarily to try their skincare and beauty treatments, following months of extensive research! We are lucky that she's happy to come and discuss them on the podcast with us. She also took an MBC studio tour and tells us about that and her other experiences in Seoul. Join us for a virtual trip to Seoul this January!

Show Notes

Patreon Guest hosts take over the podcast to discuss the year in BL dramas!

We welcome Nicole, Alison, Heather, and Gavin to discuss the highs and lows of BL in 2025, while asking and answering questions like what country had the best year in the world of BL? Is Heesu in Class 2 underrated? Which of us are My Stubborn stans and who is Team Khemjira? Listen and find out the answers to these questions and more in this BL recap episode of Afternoona Asks. 

Show notes:

BLs talked a...

Join us for our annual Year End Review of Korean and other Asian dramas for 2025! As with our previous year end episodes, Sarah and Grace are joined by Afternoona Delight Patreon guests to discuss the drama year. We are delighted to be joined by Kate B and Jimmy this year. In this Part 2 episode, Jimmy and Grace discuss their faves, their misses, and the winners of their own drama awards.

Hope you have fun reliving 2025 with us!

Other podcast episodes mentioned in this episode:

Afternoona Delight - Our Blues

Daebak Pod...

Join us for our annual Year End review of Korean and other Asian dramas for 2025! As per previous episodes, Grace and Sarah are joined by an Afternoona Delight Patreon guest to discuss their drama year. We are delighted to be joined by Kate B and Jimmy this year and in this part 1 episode, Kate B and Sarah discuss their faves, their misses and the winners of their own drama awards.

Have fun reliving 2025 with us!

Show Notes
Podcast Episodes mentioned
2024's Year End Reviews Part 1 and Part 2
2025 Chinese Drama review with Tea...

For the third year, we are welcoming back Liliana from Tea and Soju Podcast to discuss all things Chinese dramas in 2025. This has been a great year for Chinese dramas so we are discussing some of our faves. Liliana also highlights some dramas we may have missed, tells us about Zhao Lusi's 2025 and what to look forward to for 2026.

Show Notes:
Restaurants in London:
My Old Place, Liverpool St

Nan Hotpot, Leicester Square

Previous Podcasts mentioned:
2024 Year End CDrama Review with Tea and Soju Pod

Chinese Dramas 101 with...

Sarah and Grace are back together to discuss our mutual favorite 2025 K-drama to date, the slice of life rom-com Our Unwritten Seoul. If you have not seen this drama yet, join us as we discuss the meaningful themes, thoughtful details, and story-telling devices that made this drama so relatable and impactful, in the spoiler-free section. And if you've watched, relive the drama with us as we heap praise on the incredible acting performances delivered by the stellar ensemble cast, get misty-eyed while sharing our favorite moving scenes, and squee over the adorkable romances. 

K-Drama Comps

R...

Konnichiwa! Welcome to our latest episode, and our first Deep Dive for a Japanese Drama. We are discussing the 2022 Japanese drama First Love, starrring Satoh Takeru and Mitsushima Hikari and inspired by the songs by Hitada Ukaru. We are delighted to welcome Amy, from our sister podcast Afternoona Delight as well as fellow Patreon Gavin on to the show to disucss all the things we loved about this drama - and we really loved this drama!

If you haven't yet seen this, join us for the first section of our podcast when we discuss it spoiler-free to...

Sarah and Grace tackle the first in a planned series of episodes covering Korean History for fans of KDramas. We discuss the first "Korean" nations, starting with Gojoseon, then working our way through the Three Kingdoms period, touching on Unified/Late Silla, and concluding with the short-lived Later Three Kingdoms. We also talk about historical (aka sageuk) KDramas set in these various periods, including ones we both have and have not watched. 

Dramas mentioned:

Arthdal Chronicles

The Bride of Habaek

Jumong

Gwanggaeto the Great Conqueror

How have we already gotten to the third quarter of 2025? Relive the third quarter in dramas with Sarah and Afternoona Delight Patreon guests Laura and Debra. We discuss our favourite dramas of the year, performances that wowed us and dramas we ended up dropping. Sarah discusses how KDramas have been missing the mark for her and what dramas have been working instead.

Show Notes
To listen to the previous quarterly review episodes please check these:

First quarter 2025 in dramas - with Erin & Cate

Second quarter 2025 in dramas - with Kalena and Shannon<...

We are delighted to be covering another Chinese drama deep dive - and this time it's the 2023 drama Till the End of the Moon, which is an epic Xianxia Fantasy Historical. Sarah is joined by special guests Corinne from Sex, Love, Literature podcast and fellow Afternoona Delight Patreon, Carolien.

If you haven't watched and wonder if this might be for you, check out our spoiler-free intro to see if demon red flag heroes are for you or not. And if you've seen, relive all the blood gushes, the love/hate, enemies to lovers romance and listen to...

Sarah and Grace had a great time catching up and answering listener questions in this AMA episode. We chat about the impact of Kpop Demon Hunters and compare notes on our summer kpop concert experiences. We answer questions about Korean and Chinese naming conventions, the concept of Jeong, what goes into a Chinese wedding ceremony, and much more!

Other podcast episodes mentioned on this episode:

Afternoona Asks: Intro to Korean Language
Afternoona Asks: Second quarter review
Afternoona Asks: Art of Negotiation
Afternoona Delight Dear Hongrang Review

Sarah loved the Chinese Drama Prisoner of Beauty so got fellow Patreon fans Heather and Nicole on the podcast to discuss this 2025 historical drama which starred Liu Yuning and Song Zu Er. This is a romance drama with plenty of levity with a real focus on the leads arranged marriage. Hear more about it in our non spoiler section to see if this drama might work for you.

Or if you've already seen and want to relive what we loved about the drama, as well as some disagreements on other key characters in the show, check out...

It's already been a half year of dramas for 2025 - Sarah is joined by Patreon guests Kalena and Shannon to chat through the second quarter of Korean dramas so far. Join us on our quick run through of our favourite dramas, performances as well as the ones who could have done better and ones we dropped entirely.

If you've not managed to watch some dramas yet you can also check out how we found these dramas before starting!

Dramas covered that include spoilers - with timestamps so you can...

Sarah and Grace had a lovely time chatting through what makes K-dramas special in this short primer geared toward new and curious potential viewers. We discuss what a K-drama is, the genres that K-dramas do well, and give a brief overview of K-drama history. We also give recommendations for viewers who are just starting out, as well as those who have already dipped their toes in the water and are wondering where to head next.

Dramas mentioned:

Hospital Playlist (Netflix)

Residents Playbook (Netflix)

Pachinko (Apple TV)

...

Sarah is joined by fellow Patreon guests Katie & Charlotte for a deep dive of the 2025 drama, The Art of Negotiation. This drama stars Lee Jehoon and was a bit of of a niche drama for Western audiences - but we think it needs much greater love. It's available on Viki. All three of us love this director, Ahn Pan Seok - who also directed Something in the Rain, One Spring Night and Secret Love Affair. This corporate drama doesn't feature a romance but has much of what we love about this Director's dramas. Check out the spoiler-free intro to...

We were delighted to chat about Culinary Class Wars with returning guest Lisa. We discussed what made the 2024 Netflix food competition so entertaining and unique, who our favorites were among the chefs battling it out to make their names known, what foods we most wanted to eat, and how we would like to refine the next season (hopefully it's not derailed by Chef Paik's ongoing business and legal troubles!). We also talked about various Korean and Chinese food words in our language section.

You can find Lisa on YouTube as Army Auntie and on...

We discuss the 2024 Korean Drama The Atypical Family with guest Lindsay. All three of us love this quirky fantasy drama and enjoyed deep diving what made it such a compelling watch for us. Listen to find out why we receommend this drama, discuss how we think it handled time travel and what stood out for us.

To listen to Lindsay's first episode with us check out our Learning Korean with Lindsay episode

Grace had a wonderful time chatting with friend and guest Robert about their respective trips to South Korea earlier this year. They discussed highlights and let downs, yummy and interesting food and drinks they tried, and the virtues and pitfalls of intensive planning versus flying by the seat of your pants. They reflected on the changes they have noticed over several visits to South Korea and talked about hopes and plans for future trips there. They also recommended helpful apps and websites, gave travel tips, and, in the language section, suggested useful Korean phrases to learn. 

Dramas M...

Introducing our first Chinese Drama Deep Dive on Afternoona Asks, wher we cover the 2025 romance drama The First Frost. Sarah is delighted to be joined by Afternoona Delight Patreon guests Tania and Kortney to discuss this popular drama. We give a spoiler-free intro to the drama so if you're interested in hearing what we liked and recommend about The First Frost check this section out. After a short Chinese langauge section we get into the nitty-gritty of what we liked and didn't like so much about this drama, how we found the romance and relationship and did we think...

Join Sarah and special Patreon guests Erin and Cate as they discuss the drama year so far in 2025. What Korean and Chinese dramas have they been watching and which dramas have they enjoyed, which have been dropped and who have had the standout performances so far?

We do touch on spoilers for some of the dramas that we discuss, so please see below for the timestamps of each drama so you can skip ahead if you don't wish to be spoiled:

34.44 The First Frost

36.40 When Life Gives you Tangerines

40.00 Love Scout<...