Chocolate

✒ ☕️ Son of Privilege ♻ Son of Disgrace °6.5° °trope sampler°

Ah, food. We love to watch it sizzling, basting, bubbling, and we love to watch people enjoying it. Nothing says comfort like food. And what's the deal with chocolate? It's the most comforting food of all. Cha needs chocolate when she's feeling low.

Now also serving: lowkey melodrama. He's a surgeon who injures his hand, she's a cook who loses her sense of taste. They quietly navigate life's numerous heartbreaks and keep trudging on. “I've been running for a long time to come to you. There were times when I wanted to stop… I wanted to flop down and collapse… But because of you, I could come this far.” Our 2 leads have had many encounters over the years.

But first, let's go back to the beginning.

1992: Wando. Not far from Jeju, this cozy little fishing community is all the way at the bottom of Mainland South Korea. When a little girl comes by the restaurant trying to eat what's set aside for the cows, he /has/ to feed her. He invites her back the following day by promising to make her chocolate Shasta. Later that day, his deceased father's rich family comes by. He and his cousin get into an all-out brawl and end up in the hospital. Her family has to leave early and she isn't able to keep her promise to come back the next day, anyway. We see that neither one of them has a settled home life.

1993: Wando. The little girl finally comes back, but the boy has moved to Seoul. Apparently his daddy had run off with the maid's daughter and died not long after he - their child - was born. The privileged family had decided to collect their grandson.

2012: Seoul. He is an adult honoring his mother on her death day. Both parents gone, he's been abandoned in a snake pit. His aunt, uncle, and cousin Joon see him as a threat, and his grandmother, the matriarch, is a cold-hearted authoritarian. The family owns a hospital. He had wanted to be a chef, but he's a doctor. As a patient, she runs into him at the hospital and thinks she remembers him? He doesn't recognize her.

2013: Seoul. Inspired by him all those years ago, she's now a chef. He's been sent to Libya by his hateful aunt and uncle. He almost doesn't survive.

A couple years later, he comes home from Libya and she's dating his friend. Once again, she recognizes him, but he doesn't recognize her. Now that she's seen him again, she knows she can't stay with his friend. Cha has been in love with Kang since the day he fed her. When she breaks up with his friend for “no reason”, Kang is disgusted with her. Cha runs away to Greece.

C is a 2019 release that is rated 89 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 65-minute episodes. Yoon Kye Sang (Malmoe: The Secret Mission, The Kidnapping Day) is ‘he’, Lee “Kang”. We have to wait until deep into ep15 before we see Kang genuinely smile. He spends most of the show looking much like Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh. Ha Ji Won (Secret Garden, Empress Ki, Portrait of a Family) is ‘she’, Moon “Cha” Young. She spends the whole show acting like a trauma survivor, which she is. She never shows much spark of personality. In fact, each of the leads is so low and depressed that one feels sorry for them, but it's difficult to bond with them. They aren't unlikable, but they are a tad uncomfortable.

The ultra attractive Jang Seung Jo (Snowdrop, Death's Game-7.8) is Kang’s cousin, Lee Joon. His father is a fatuous imbecile, while his mother is smart, but conniving & ruthless. He's been pitted against Kang most of his life. I rather enjoy the relationship journey that these two men take. In the waning episodes Joon asks his parents why he even did that? Do they have to hate e/o? He's starting to get tired of it all. This is especially true because he learned of a dark family secret.

Kim Won Hae plays Hospice Director Kwon Hyun Suk. He has 133 credits on MDL. He's everywhere. I've seen him in Signal-8.6, While You Were Sleeping-7.3, Black-9, Clean with Passion for Now-7, The Hymn of Death-8.4, Start-up-8, Awaken-8.7, & Revenant-7.4 as well as his guest appearances in 8 additional features. He is like MSG; he makes every feature more delicious.

Min Jin Woong (My Father Is Strange, Nobody Knows) plays our FL's ne'er-do-well brother, Moon Tae Hyun. She has to get a job to pay off his debt instead of returning to Greece. He continues to plague her for the entire run of the show. He picks up on the vibe between the two leads early on and never fails to make suggestive jokes or comments to them, much to her horror. Once again, there's several child actors who are amazing; Woo Sung Min & Lee Chan Yoo stand out. Screenwriter, Lee Kyung Hee, also brought us Thank You & Uncontrollably Fond. Her first credit is from 1997, and this is her most recent work. The director is Lee Hyung Min of Strong Woman Do Bong Soon & Miss Night and Day.

Even as late as ep9 I was enjoying this. While it's not the masterwork that My Mister-9.5 is, I rather enjoyed the relaxation. Their aimless wandering left nowhere for the show to go, though. The romance trudges along and then sorta happens, with little fanfare. For the most part, the characters are engaging and relatable, while the sedation is the biggest reward. The romance is the weakest part of the finished product. It isn't a great romance. It is debatable as to whether it's good at all. All that can be said is that it should have been better. As a chef, managing heat is her profession. But this romance has no heat.

The show is heavy handed with melodrama, like a triple-thick ganache. It smothers everything. He is giving her a ride and there's an accident. He operates on her to save her life but, in doing so, ends up waiting too long to be operated on himself and his hand doesn't work right afterwards. He can't be a surgeon anymore. At this point, he still hates Cha, so it's a bitter pill for Kang. The family sends him to run the hospice center, where she works already, and she can't quit until her brother's debt is cleared. She loses her sense of taste and smell after an angry patron shoves her and she strikes her head. Given their past traumas, together they make a whole person, I guess. One patient is blind and her case becomes a bit of a situation. One of the cooks at the facility has Alzheimer's, so she's losing her mind - she's out of touch. It almost seemed like there was an overarching message about the five senses, the will, and the brain, but nobody goes deaf, so there can't be. We are left scratching our heads. The taste is Hershey's, not Godiva.

Then they threw in the jellies, nougats, caramels, cherries and toffees - they made trope goulash. Terminal illness. Rich family. Poor family. Missing or absent parents. Toxic parents. Competition. Debt collectors. WKEWY, or we knew e/o when {we were} young. I don't know why I thought they wouldn't do it, but with around 25 minutes to go, they just couldn't help themselves. They brought in the MSS trope.

MSS, or mandatory separation syndrome, is an overdone Kdrama plot point in which a pair, once they get together, are separated. ('I love you! Finally, we're together! Now I'll catch you later...' Huh?). Presumably this is to show that what is between them is true love that stands the tests of time and distance. A generous 15% of the time, it's a good thing and usually shows a lack of originality and poor implementation skills. It's common to see shows that are especially well written take a dive for an episode or 2 in order to wedge in something like this. In C, the MSS is awful. Sure, she's got stuff to work through, but running away is nonsensical. It also made the entire show look like a checklist tutorial on useless overdone tropes. The final episode could have done much to tie the show up nicely and redeem its shortcomings, but it was a disappointment and took things further south.

The writing is C's weakness. It's like a standardized modular home. They brought in that chunk & this chunk & tossed in another chunk & made a chain restaurant melodrama. The acting and directing aren't bad, but they aren't enough to elevate the production. The soothing cadence with the soft strumming soundtrack in the background make it mostly watchable, but the poor wrap up left a bad taste in my mouth.

Once again, here's a Kdrama showing competition killing the soul. Kcountry is a highly pressurized society. Common entertainment themes are toxic parents putting pressure on the children, severe competition, the detachment of those who are privileged from those who are not, and in-fighting among families who are privileged. Kang's father ran away with the maid. He was a son of disgrace. Kang loved his life in Wando but the family came to collect him. It will come out that he is not the only son of disgrace in the family. Many of these patterns are cyclical and many people appear to have everything are not everything they appear to be.

C always circles back to food. Kang was given chocolate by his mother's paramour when he was young. It made a big impression. His mother was on the way to purchase him some chocolates with the plan to take them and Kang back to Wando, but she died in an accident. When Cha was young she waited hours for her mother to meet her at the mall, but mom never showed. What did happen was that the mall collapsed and Cha was stuck there for days. A woman who was trapped and dying under the rubble gave her chocolate. Cha believes it saved her life. Yet she was merely existing until Kang gave her hope for the future. Chocolate (and food, in general) represents warmth, memory, caring, and love; all comforts that were too scarce in our leads’ lives. Together, they learn how to combine the sweet and the bitter into their own special recipe.


QUOTE📢 Everyone is terminally fated to die from the moment that they're born. They just tend to forget that when they're living.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.3 📝5.7 🎭7.3 💓6 🦋4.5 🎨6 🔚5 🤗3 ▪ 🌞5⚡3 😅1 😭4.5 😱2 😯2.5 🤢2 🤔4 💤1

🎵/🔊 7.7 Shazams: Just Look for you, by Ailee; Always be here by Jung Jin Woo; Special, by 유빈; The credits song is You & I by ID:Earth

Rated TV-15 just for language: F💣, $h!+, but there isn't much of it.


Re-📺? Once is enough

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If You Have Time

I would suggest watching this show if you have a little time to waste.
Story: Though it can feel kind of slow paced the storyline really progresses quite quickly. I enjoyed how problems were not dragged along for to long except the ones from their backstory like them being first loves and the mom being the one she was trapped with at the department store. This show reminded me of “Hotel Del Luna” with the characters coming to the hospice before their death and helping to teach the main character a lesson. One thing that angered me was this man got into a car accident and lost it surgeon status yet he still driving with one hand on the wheel leaning on the window. Like my guy have you not learned your lesson.
Acting: The acting was phenomenal even in some scenes where I was like why are you crying it still made me feel bad. The cast was great and made you love them or hate them (especially that brother god he should have been in that department store)
Music: The songs were greatly composed and added to the story I never felt like it was unnecessary.
Rewatch: I honestly wouldn’t rewatch because this was not a show I would typically watch. I tend to enjoy shows like “Goblin”, “He is psychometric”, and “Tale of The Nine Tailed” to give you an idea, but if you like sad mellow drama you would enjoy this.
Overall: The drama is quite forgettable and doesn’t even touch my top ten drama list. It’s just a chill drama to relax and watch (maybe cry a little).

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Great acting but mostly depressing

This is another KDrama that is hard to rate. It is so well done, but whether you would like it is very dependent on what you are looking for. For example, are you looking to be subjected to hours of sadness? Then watch it. :-)

I usually point out the good before the not so good, but I’ll reverse it this time since the not so good is the determining factor for me.

Sub-Optimal
- Sadness. Hours and hours of sadness. Too much for me, honestly.
- The writers were like, “We gave ‘em a few minutes of happiness, time to kill off someone!” Gads.
- Inexplicable choices by the leads in the last couple of episodes. Even for a KDrama, and their normal tropes, the leads’ choices seemed to not fit the characters as we knew them. So unnecessary and did not add to, but only detracted from, the story.
- What we were all waiting for pretty much came in the last couple of minutes. Too late.

The Good
- Great acting! By absolutely everyone.
- Great cinematography!
- Ha Ji-Won is the reason to watch. So beautiful and so talented. Her small and subtle, cute and comedic scenes made the series. There was just not enough of them.

So, all in all a 7. With less depression and less buffoonery at the end, would have been a 10.

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Comfort Food

Maserati, Quiznos, Godiva. I'm starting with the product placements this time. Godiva I get, as Chocolate is the title and the unifying plot strand. And clearly the writer and director chose to use food preparation sequences to balance out the harsh realities of a hospice environment lest the series just become a tearfest. Upping the playback speed to 1.5 has been beneficial as it removes some on the intentional slowness of many scenes and I'm still able to read the subtitles. Again, I fast forward through much of the subplots / side characters. Except Iron Ranger III. I didn't enjoy the finale victory lap as much as usual, possibly due to how quickly I binged this series and also due to nature of the hospice. Would I recommend this series to someone new to Kdramas? Probably not. Yet for those who have already watched many Kdrama series this one has a place at the table. Not the entree, not a dessert, just a side dish.

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Kleenex Needed

I kept putting this drama off. Maybe it was the title of the drama. Maybe it was the actors whom I didn’t know well. This one is an emotional one. I think I cried at every episode. Not a light hearted drama but one with heart. Overall story well done. There was many stories inside the story. Enjoyed the ML. Had never heard/seen him before. Secondary cast was good also. At first it was hard to get into but as it goes along it improves. Amazing at how much food is spotlighted in this. FL must have had to take some
cooking classes for all of the cooking scenes. It is a good one to watch but grab Kleenex .

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Life, Love, Death and Chocolate

I passed on chocolate so many times and I'm glad I stopped and actually gave it a try. The first few episodes are hard to get into and through, but once you make it past the overall setup for the drama then it gets pretty good. Chocolate is about hospice care and the people living out the rest of their lives in them. The romance itself is EXTREMELY slow burn and is a back burner story to the several other plot lines going on.

Cha-Young has been through a great deal of trauma in her life and finds herself becoming a chef after coming across Lee Kang when they were younger who is now a neurosurgeon. He also has childhood trauma and is very cold and distant as a result. Their paths always seem to cross at different stages of their lives and they always seem to find each other even when Cha-Young left South Korea. As the drama goes on, they both begin to open up and Kang becomes more open and caring.

The huge piece that kept me coming back to this drama were the people inside of the hospice and the food. They each have beautiful stories that play out and are each given the last dish they want to taste by Cha-Young. So many episodes had me crying and mourning with everyone. It feels like you are a part of their last few months as well and really helps drive home that they are people who live there and aren't just in the hospital. They are cherishing their every moment and everything in it.

As well as all of the hospice patients, the director of hospice and Ms. Han, were such incredible characters that pulled at my heart strings every moment they got. It really hit home for me personally and just had me feeling for the both of them. Life gets in the way so much and sometimes you only have the moments before it's too late. They were such a beautiful story in the world of chocolate. I felt the same way about Cha-Young's brother Tae-Hyun and the woman he meets while in hospice. So many beautiful people and stories linked together through food and love.

--Spoilers in this paragraph! --
I rated this drama an 8.5 because of their relationship mostly. I was rooting for them from the beginning and even more so towards the middle of the show and the burn is very slow. I could appreciate this entirely because it made it even more worth it when they finally did get together, but the ending made it fall flat for me. It felt as though the writer felt they had to keep going when they could've just stopped. We didn't need to see Cha-Young meeting her mom again after 20 years... It was really unnecessary in the story and only added to the weird ending that we got. We spend almost 14-15 episodes waiting for them to get together and when they finally do, Cha-Young just dips again to Greece? Leaving behind Kang AGAIN after waiting for him to love her back... right after they were talking about running away together and eloping. It just didn't give me the conclusion I felt was good enough for the love story I had watched. The show could've been so much better had it just ended with a cheesy marriage scene. Sometimes the happy ending is the better one versus trying to tie in more of this "We always find each other" stuff. It really ruined the overall vibe of the last episode for me. Episode 15 would of been a perfect ending point.

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It hurt so good until it didn't

This will be the first drama that I take time to review because it had the potential to be one of my favorites, yet ended up turning into one of my greatest disappointments.

What starts out as a tragic romance ends on an incredibly dry and bland note which I'll get into in the spoilers below. I still give this 8 stars because I enjoyed the overall story, and when I did enjoy it I had so much fun with it. The angst of the leads was addicting and left me anticipating new episodes every week since I watched it as it aired. Outside of the romance, the setting is interesting and allows for some heartbreaking but worthwhile storylines, and a lot of the characters that could have been very one-note were developed in interesting ways, especially the male lead's cousin.

I recommend if if you're ever feeling in a masochistic mood (look into trigger warnings first), but personally I was left feeling disappointed and betrayed by an underdeveloped relationship and unexplored plotlines.

Mild spoilers ahead:
One of my favorite aspects of the drama, as mentioned above, was the ANGST. There was so much longing and anticipation building up for their inevitable relationship, which at the time felt like it was leading up to a fantastic and passionate romance. I'm not typically into the childhood connection and shared trauma tropes but it worked so well here, and as they continued to face hardships it just felt like we were building and building before getting to a satisfying conclusion. I also usually hate when things keep going wrong for the leads, but again, it just worked here. I mean a surgeon who can't use his hands, and a chef who can't taste? CINEMA. I was hooked. And then...

And then they got together. Finally. And everything just. Fizzled. All this lead up and there was no passion. There wasn't much of anything. I'll be fair and note that I haven't watched this in four years, but I remember being so disappointed in their relationship once they were actually together. At one point he throws her a little birthday party, and it should have been so cute. But it just felt so awkward. Once they were together there just weren't any sparks left, and the female lead just seemed to lose all personality, just standing around blank-faced while he seemed happy enough. It never really felt like they connected. I ended up kind of hoping that things would pick up between the FL and the ML's cousin because at least they felt like they connected on a real level rather than just "Oh, we liked each other as kids." Even the tragedy of their careers (surgeon who can't use his hands/chef who can't taste) wasn't explored as deeply as I had been anticipating. I just wish they had taken more time to develop the relationship once they were actually together, as well as more development as they worked to overcome or accept their past and present trauma as a couple.

I still give it a high score because there is so much more to this drama outside of the romance, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't my main reason for me to watch it, as well as the main reason for my disappointment.

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Slow-burn Romance

I didn’t expect this drama before I watched .
I watched this because of Oppa ( main lead actor ) I knew him from current Kdrama “kiss sixth sense”.

this drama is quite nice , meaningful scripts , nice ost / music , main lead actor can act micro-expression !!
I like the actress too. It is slow-burn romance .
Their love story is made me nostalgic and heart-warming .
Main lead actor and actress have great chemistry!
This drama also included foreign country scenes and was largely filmed on location in Greece and Wando Island, setting up a series filled with postcard-perfect scenes.

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" Chocolate " was a good combination of food, travel and melodrama.

The story had a nice amount of romance, drama and family dynamics. The tragedy was all over it, not only in the background stories of the two leads, but with the actual side stories of the hospice as well. Some of the characters were annoying though. However, overall, the family drama was good, the bromance was nice, the love story intense enough and with enough chemistry, and the performances were very professional on top of that. The story, however, was lacking a bit of intensity and that made it boring at times, as it was easily predictable.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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Don’t be fooled by the title, this is a very sad and heavy drama

I think the main point of this drama is acceptance of different things, be it relationship, family, life or death. The story mainly focus on a Hospice, so you should except to see a lot of deaths. When we know the end is near, there are a lot of things we need to learn to accept. But the lesson learned is not just for those facing deaths, it also pertinent to those around them, from family, friends, doctors, nurses and even the staff member of the hospice.

This would be a great drama if they delve deeper on just some of the plot point they have instead of trying to divulge all the plot points. There are too many different messages they want to impart with the plots that everything is just skimming the surface, without any depth. It feels like looking at a lake, where you could see the surface, but you don’t know what’s inside. It left me unsatisfied by the end of it.

There are quite a few plot point that for me worth to be explored more deeply and some could probably be saved for later. There are too much going on that it felt scattered, unfocus and shallow. It has romance in it, that I think really need to be developed more. The brotherly relationship between Lee Kang and Lee Jun should also be delved deeper, because it’s so interesting. And a lot more other plot points that I think they could actually make several season of the drama to be able to explore them all.

The drama have a lot of medical undertone, but they just gloss over it. It’s a hospice, there are doctors and nurses and hospital, but they never go over the medical aspects. For me this was a real negative point of this drama, other than the skimming the top plot. I wish they explore more of the medical problem faced by the people in the hospice and even the doctors.

There are a lot of food, cooking and eating, but it still only feels like a garnish, not a meal or even a complete dish. This drama really feels like snacking, it only feels you up for a little while but it actually make you yearn for something more substantial. I really wish they just focus and delve deeper on some plot point and expand it. They should make several season with all the plot fully explored.

The chemistry of the casts are top notch. My favorite is Kim Ho Jung, playing as Han Sun Ae, the chef in the hospice that have Alzheimer. She’s convey they progression of the decease so convincingly. Min Jin Woong as Moon Tae Hyun also great at portraying this really annoying brother of our MFL, wish they give him more time on screen and developed him. The main female lead character, Ha Ji Won as Moon Cha Young, for me is too one dimensional, she’s just too nice and sympathetic. The main male lead character, Yoon Kye Sang as Lee Kang, is better developed, you could see the change in his world view after working in the hospice. Jang Sung Jo as Lee Jun should have been explored more, because I think he could have a really great character development.

The music is good, it really help developed the atmosphere of the drama and build up the mood. Nothing that I would remember afterward though.

The cinematography feels very artistic, a lot of beautiful scenery with with angled shot, and also close up of delicious looking food. The show makes me feel hungry after looking at all the food they cook, and makes me want to travel to all the places they shoot at.

I would rewatch some of the scene to enjoy the cooking and scenery, but it would always makes me a bit annoyed because I feel like they should have explore the story more.

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Food, Romance, Destiny, Life and Death

I recently finished (as in minutes ago) Chocolate in 5 days and that just shows how addictive the show was.
The first few episodes drew me in and when the plot revolved more around the hospice, it got even more interesting.
I love a childhood/ first love romance theme, but this one made it interesting with the theme of missed opportunities and chance meetings.
The characters we interesting and loveable and the ones that were annoying were infuriating as they should be.
I enjoyed the character growth of the main cast members, especially Lee Jun. At first I was super annoyed with him, but he later grew on me. Everyone's relationships were precious as well.
Spoiler: it had to happen, but I'm still sad Min Seong had to die. His scene asking out Cha Young was adorable!!
Also idk if anyone here watches Jolly (youtube), but Min Seong legit reminds me of a Korean Josh lol

Anyway, I enjoyed the theme of a hospice and it's importance in people's lives . I find kdrama's always get me thinking about life and cherishing moments more. Sadly with just 16 episodes and taking a bit to get to the hospice, I found myself not crying at the deaths of characters. Normally I get super immersed, but with the pacing I guess I wasn't as attached to certain character's deaths. For instance (could blame squid game too lol spoiler) the grand pa always waiting for his son at a chinese place death didn't make me emotional. Where as with something like Hi, Bye, Mama!and Goblin the passing of the ghosts had me bawling tears.
I do give them props for depicting the struggles of alzheimer's on people and those around them though.

The theme of trauma and harsh expectations in a rich family were aspects I liked as well. It reminded me of the cut throat attitudes in Seri's family in CLOY. The building disaster also reminded me of Rain or Shine (Just between lovers) which may be why it was recommended as something to watch after viewing it.


I'll say this drama was quite the pallet cleanser after not enjoying One Spring Night and I believe it's a nice suggestion to watch if you liked Rain or Shine.
The only really negative thing I have to say is that I wasn't as satisfied with the ending as I thought I would be. I guess I wish there was more of a nice bow put onto the other character's story lines. Also the fact that Cha Young ran off to Greece again and Lee Kang went to go find her????
Like okay? Idk just felt funny, like it connects with how the story opened but why? XD

Anyway I still say give it a watch! Make your own opinions on it too cause I'm sure people would love to see more.

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