GREAT MODERN/TRADI KDRAMA !
On my list from the start because I really like Lee Chae Min in everything he does, and Yoona, I like her more and more; her acting is improving, and the emotions are there. Not being a big fan of cooking dramas, even though I've seen a ton of them, I was thrilled to launch a story that blends modernity in 2025 with the old times through time travel.The first episodes won me over! Whether it was Lee Chae Min, with her undeniable charisma as King Joseon, or Yoona, radiant, on point in her emotions and performances, not to mention the dose of humor that made the whole thing sparkle with kindness. Kang Hanna's acting didn't really touch me; the writing for her character was relatively cold, so she left me neither hot nor cold.
The dishes were visually exquisite, and the arrangement of each dish was mouthwatering! It was beautiful, colorful, and appetizing. Although the culinary complexity was too much for my taste, to the detriment of the romance, I still loved seeing the King stuff himself, haha.
Exactly, let's talk about the romance!
I found it sublime. There was good chemistry between the two, but in a "sweet" and "caring" way, like two people who have been together for a very long time. Like a habit. However, I didn't feel any passionate or sensual chemistry, which was 200% due to the age difference, for sure. However, that didn't stop me from loving them immensely together and also laughing at the old-couple snark they would make at each other.
Overall, I loved BON APPÉTIT YOUR MAJESTY because it's a story that exudes positive vibes. Despite the corruption and internal conflicts, I didn't feel the war politics were very present. It's still a rom-com, so nothing to give you a headache. I thank the entire cast for their nuanced and remarkable performances. I loved the music and can't wait to get the soundtrack album.
I would add a small criticism at the end for the unanswered questions regarding Monsieur's arrival. Indeed, in 2025, there are things that can't be magical without administrative oversight! In short, let's let magic exist anyway!
I obviously recommend BON APPÉTIT YOUR MAJESTY! This year's favorite for me.
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nice
It ended exactly as I predicted in episode 1!!Fun, intriguing story...the cooking scenes are beautiful, of course. The costumes and locations are beautiful. The direction and sometimes the writing are terrible, but it was enjoyable to watch with my wife.
What a shock to see what happens in the penultimate episode, though!
Unfortunately, the story ends like this, and there won't be room for a season 2, perhaps set in the present day. What a shame.
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Episode 3 was amazing!
Episode 3 was amazing! It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt this much excitement while watching a series, and waited so eagerly for the next episode 😍🥺😍🥺😍🥺😍As for Choi Min’s acting, I really have to say I’m impressed. At first, when I heard Park Sung Hoon had stepped down from the role due to the controversies, I was disappointed. But now, I’m actually glad it happened, because it gave Choi Min the chance to shine.
His proud expressions, that crooked smile, the tone of his voice, the aura he carries, even the way he goes ‘oohooooh’—it honestly feels like he was made for this role. Even though he’s 11 years younger than Yoona, his performance is so strong that the age gap doesn’t show at all.
Who would’ve thought that the cute little bartender with a short role in Alchemy of Souls would end up here, playing such a capable king? 🥺😍😂
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This review may contain spoilers
Loopholes, We've Got Your Loopholes of All Sizes Here!
Nothing was explained or made sense: why was a modern woman outrageously, belligerently fearless in an isolated area when a man repeatedly tried to kill her (with arrows, sword, and knife!); if she was from the future and had foreknowledge, why didn't she make better choices or give out warnings; why would cooks well-known for their knife skills choose wooden spoons as weapons to save their lives; and why was the king's mother killed? The ending is equally nonsensical, and the writers even admitted in a sideways fashion that they couldn't come up with a viable explanation. As for loose ends, the whole drama garment was frayed! If you don't need logic or explanations, this is the drama for you.Even so, I enjoyed myself. The leads and supporting cast were fun. I enjoy food dramas, and I could happily watch the ML eat in slow motion for an entire drama. Which is, basically, the main reason to watch this show. I've added an entire star for the ML's acting skills in relishing each bite.
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Kept me interested.
Nov/Dec 2025Some very funny moments, in the early episodes especially, but as the story moves on, there are much darker elements.
I found it easy to watch and stick with.
I liked the cast a lot ~ including supporting and didn't feel there were any irritatingly weak or stupid characters ~ though some were very naive.
I didn't like the ending, which felt rushed and, in many ways, quite a big cop-out. What followed a tense and distressing culmination, was a too light and half-hearted finale.
I also thought that the character of said His Majesty, was far from sweet or romantic; yes he changed on falling in love, but he was a maniacal, controlling tyrant before, who had a lot to make up for. That was readily glossed over, which didn't fit a lot of the FL character's principles, I felt.
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Clanker's first Strike
BAYM…. is kind of a mess. Inconsistent characters, pacing and plot coherency abound.Do not watch this show if you are actually interested in watching a solid historical costume drama with great political intrigue, do watch if you're a foodie who wants to turn off their brain for a moment of pleasure.
I will start by saying that the cast here is pretty commendable. Lots of veteran actors playing new roles that I've never seen from them. This is Yoona at her best (when she's not with GG) her acting is consistent and sincere, I really enjoyed every time she was on screen. Her costars range from amazing to acceptable, but I'm okay with that.
The food was amazing to see and the direction for the cooking scenes were fluid and actually made a lot of sense. It's almost like choreography for dances or fights.
I start having issues with the plot, I get that the show is only 12 episode, but I still feel that the pacing should have been a little more consistent. Now that everything has been completed, I have a hero I don't understand too well nor can be invested in because his development was way too inconsistent. The villain's motivations are unclear and very hard to understand logically. I got why everyone was doing what they were doing on a surface level… but thats all. If you stop and think about any main faction's motivation you will realize that everything is shallow and just a little dumb.
All of that is forgivable, my issue is the amount of ai in this drama. When ai started becoming more accessible it never occured to me that it would eventually make its way to dramas. There are multiple scenes and dreamy sequences where ai is used to highlight the characters reaction to food. Multiple instances in multiple episodes… I can only imagine how many liters of water were wasted to render that dumb pea scene. All of these could have been replaced with using stock photos and video and a dash of clever editing… I'm so disappointed to see that clanker made content has infiltrated a medium I have deep affection for.
Going forward I will be dropping dramas that have ai, If I can see it, it will be dropped.
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This review may contain spoilers
Sloppy ending and a weird way to reimagine a horrific period in Korean history
...Idk I really wanted to love this the way everyone else did, but I walked away a bit underwhelmed.Let me start with the positives, because there are quite a few. Yoona was genuinely great, I just love watching her on screen and love that she is getting proper roles and is being taken seriously as an actor. She just has that effortless charm that makes everything more enjoyable. And I called a hit fo Lee Chae-min ever since Crash Course in Romance, so I’m very pleased to see him getting more recognition. He was really solid here too. I thought he did a great job shouldering a very solid lead, especially on such short notice due to him esentially replacing the original actor who was supposed to play the role.
I also really loved how they gave the editing a cooking show touch with recipes you could actually recreate. I thought the cooking itself was the main attraction.
The comedy at the beginning was so good. Like actually funny, not just "ig i should laugh" funny. Which is why it’s even more disappointing that they slowly let that element fade as the show went on. By the time the political conflict took center stage, I was already kind of checked out, it just wasn’t that compelling nor well written.
The leads had good chemistry, I’ll give them that. But the romance itself felt… undercooked. Like all the ingredients were there, but no one left it on the stove long enough. And then the ending?? SUCH a cop-out. It really felt like they backed themselves into a corner and just went “eh, good enough” instead of properly explaining things.
(MAJOR SPOILER) The whole situation with him being in Yoona's world fully as himself while everyone else is some version of reincarnated or altered selves?? Yeah… that needed way more thought and explanation. Did he also travel with the page? But the page was destroyed so how did that work? (END SPOILER)
Now another part that I absolutely hated was the casual reference to SA??? Why did the showrunners think to "reimagine" a true hated figure in actual Korean history?? Why are we redeeming and romanticizing someone who was terribly cruel to women? I think they could have just invented a fake character and gave him a similar backstory(and not as laced with SA!!??) for the initial misunderstandings to happen and it would have served the same purpose.
Also, small but persistent annoyance I had was how they kept marketing this as “Western food meets Joseon cuisine,” but let’s be real, it was just French food. French techniques, French presentation, French everything. Which is fine! Just… call it what it is. The “Western” umbrella felt a bit misleading when there was barely any range beyond that.
All that being said… I still had a good time after forcing myself to overlook the actual historical figure. At the end of the day, it’s pretty people on my screen and I can rarely say no to that.
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Sometimes Silly Time Travel Period Piece
I learned so much about history. and food, and society watching this. I hope some of it was accurate.This story takes serious things with too little importance and light hearted things with too much seriousness. Yet it is still delightful and a pleasure to watch.
the interesting relationships between the branches of the royal family and the importance the concubines play in everyday life is fascinating if true.
The too cute love story between the main character and the queen and the time travel while essential to the story, also kind of drag it down a little. Still worth watching.
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Culinary Class wars + history!! Humorous & Adorable!!!
Reccomend for its super cute word play and humor!!!A pretty light drama to me - although it has some "serious" aspects to political, violence, and military gore... but overall, the cooking aspect was fun! It sort of reminded me of Culinary Class wars in some bits, with the details of the food, cooking, and display / consumption of the meals!
Love love the humor, absolutely funny, adorable, and clever!!
A light drama with a twist of fate mixed with some historical background - honestly, wouldn't say the best drama in the world BUT think it's definitely worth a watch!
Yoona's acting is so cute and actually loved the main male lead as well! The side characters all were such perfect roles for their supportive parts and honestly enjoyed it!
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This review may contain spoilers
Less than mediocre
So masterbatory. They don’t get together at the end so what’s the point? The female lead is like a nun. So unresponsive to the king’s overatures. Script and dialogue so lame. ML is hot. Totally a waste of time. Hopefully the rioters won’t work again. The story formula is old and tired with lot of,pointless filler.Was this review helpful to you?
Good but a little dragged out
Overall, the plot and the characters were really good. I liked the drama quite a bit, but the last few episode dragged on a little too much. There is an upper limit, to how many times I need the leads to get a full flashback of all the times they have looked romantically into each others eyes. Especially when we are at climax of the plot. Let the plot unfold. This was however, a minor issue, thst only started in the last episodes. Overall the show was enjoyable, just a little too long IMO.The acting was great and the casting was amazing. Every character felt fully compatible with the actor behind.
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Great Story, unbelievable ending
This was wayyy better than I expected. I thought it was carry on with the slight silliness, dramatic animations, and slice-of-life mixed with a hint of Supernatural elements vibe — but the intense scenes towards the end made me cry.The cast's acting was also top notch!!
My only regret about this is that the ending could have been explained better — perhaps the king had been reborn, or maybe we could see Magunrok bring him back too...
"How did he get back? that's a secret"... really, now 🥲
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