Bon Appetit, Your Majesty

Tastefully Fun, Until Overdone

I enjoyed this fun, fresh take on an old story as I don't watch a lot of food based dramas. The acting was good, and the story was nice with a good balance of action, and comedy in the beginning. For the most part this is an enjoyable watching experience, however, I really didn't enjoy the final 2 episodes. The final episodes felt like they strayed from the original story line, music scores, fun, quirky parts. It went from zero to hero with no real investment, and the final episode was laughable in its laziness in terms of writing. I seen this tastefully overcooked lol (-l

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"Bon Appetit, Your Majesty"? NO, it's "Come look, a travesty"

Ok, first of all, I started this K-drama with high hopes, as an avid K-drama watcher I had been meaning to watch this drama for a while now, It had been reccomended to me by many people and the story SOUNDED interesting. So I started watching episode one, and I was happy for the most part, and then the mings came over and they started dragging it on so much, like half those episodes weren't even neccesary, waste of everybody's time. Also the effects when they were eating the food were very funny but the ogolgye samgyetang one was literally AI and nobody is telling me otherwise because you cannot be that lazy.

Yes the Female lead had good acting but it was like, "omg look at me I'm brazen, I can stand up to men, I know how to cook." and then suddenly "Jeonha jeonha jeonha" she played her part very well but it is the writing THAT IS SO WEAK LIKE SOOOOOOOOO WEEEEAAAAAAK. Girl please whoever wrote this absolute crap needs to go in time out.
I liked Gil-Geum in this and I also liked the jester dude he was really nice and had chemistry with everyone, literally everyone, especially that soldier dude who was always with the king. The inventor was the best dude in the show and he needs a raise.
OH GOD KANG MOK JA GIRL I HATE YOU SO MUCH but, she was the best actress out of all of them, that lady knows how to play her psycho characters realllllyy well. Ok the King dude was really good at acting and he was funny during most of it, but it was so badly put together that everybody in this show was BIPOLAR SO DAMN BIPOLAR.

WHAT WAS THAT ENDING???????????????????????
SO RUSHED I WAS CRYING, SO SAD I WAS CRYING , SO DAMN STUPID I WAS CRYING.
bro I literally saw the ending, the bro Yi Heon somehow timetravelled and he gets to live here now and then they go "How did he get here, well thats a secret." THE REAL SECRET HERE IS WHY THE HELL THIS WAS WRITTEN LIKE THIS AND ALLOWED TO AIR AND WHY IS THERE SO MUCH HYPE GOD I SWEAR. I SHUT MY LAPTOP AS SOON AS I HEARD BRO SAY ITS A SECRET, THEN I WENT TO CRASH OUT FOR 5 MINUTES. The first thought I had was whoever wrote this shit was on drugs, high or going through a midlife crisis because what the hell. I hated this ending more than i hated the ending of "Where stars land" .

Lastly I believe all the watchers of this k-drama deserve an apology for having 12 hours of our lives wasted on garbage. and this could come in the form of a special episode BUT YOU GUYS AREN'T THAI BL COMPANIES SO YOU DONT CARE BUT WHATEVER.

Overall, dont watch this drama, please dont waste your time.

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Bon Appétit, Your Majesty — it needed more time in the oven.

Just an idea, but can’t the protagonist, for once, travel forward in time? Having said that, here’s my honest review.

Food: looking delicious.
The King: looking mighty appetising.
The chef: looking very professional.
The chemistry: looking... but cannot find it.

At times, it felt like I was watching Top Chef. Don’t get me wrong — I did enjoy watching the dishes being prepared and adapted to the Joseon era, and seeing how the FL figured her way around each episode’s dish. But if the show is only 12 episodes long, I don’t want to spend four of those watching a cooking battle. There was more sizzle in the meat she was frying than between the leads, and the romance didn’t really start until episode 11, when the FL feebly stated, “What is this feeling that I’m feeling?” And that was supposed to show her love for the King — who, I might add, had been far more invested in her for far longer. Let’s say he wanted to devour the Royal Cook along with her tasty meals.

A lot of situations were never explained. For instance: why did Kang Mok-ju hate the King so much and want to have him dethroned? Was she jealous? Power hungry? No answers to that. Also — and one of the biggest issues — how in the heck did the King travel to the future? When asked, he said, “That’s not important.” Uhm, yes it is! It’s a big deal. Give us a hint, at least. That, to me, spells lazy writing — not finishing the story properly. They put all this attention to detail, all this effort into showing us how the meals are prepared, but didn’t bother to at least give a hint as to how the King travelled hundreds of years into the future — and how he became so well adjusted! He looked like a chaebol, to be honest…

On the plus side, we were given three great supporting characters: Kang Mok-ju — faithful and lovable sidekick to the female lead, with the nose of a bloodhound and a very good eye as well (she spotted the attractive Gong Gil quite quickly); the aforementioned Gong Gil — intrepid jester with a plan of his own and a fantastic set of skills (and abs, let’s admit it); and finally, Sin Su Hyeok — the Commander of Urumwi, who was as brave as he was swift with that sword and, apparently, immortal, because he got out of more than one dangerous situation completely unscathed.

The baddies were really bad, the good ones were very good, Lee Chae-Min was an acceptable find, and the kitchen staff was a bit iffy at times — like meat that’s been defrosted a few days ago (all these food comparisons, I know).

All in all, if you want to enjoy the show, just suspend disbelief — the same way a bag of sous vide is suspended in water — and don’t ask the writers for a proper ending...or to make sense.

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Master chef

The future of the country in the hands of a chef!
At times exasperating, unfair tests, immense pressure on a single chef, a challenge with injustice and corrupt judges...
The usual jealous woman plotting to harm this woman to earn her place next to the king. Witch, who wants you?
Then when they taste the dishes... all these "trip"-like scenes.
Wasn't the king supposed to be so "evil"? If I were him, I would have already broken all my uncle's bones and lowered him into a well, like all the traitors, and yet he's still benevolent.

Is it possible that two bosses have to evaluate a challenge, eating and giving opinions on their chef. Then awarding victory in the first round and acting good when you have so much to lose... idiots.

But how long did it take her to deliver the Chinese chef's message to the king? How did he manage to get to her?
A plot that makes me nervous. I wouldn't want to watch it again.

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don’t expect too much

It started off strong for the first four episodes, then completely lost its spark. I honestly don’t understand how the ratings are this high for such a dull, directionless show. The female lead supposedly comes from the future, yet her character contributes nothing — just endless cooking scenes with no real impact.

I went in expecting a witty, lighthearted drama in the vein of Mr. Queen, but what I got was a tedious mess. The last two episodes were painful to sit through. I was frustrated, disappointed, and honestly a bit insulted that something this flat is being praised so highly.

The only redeeming factor is the male lead — he’s charismatic and even has a bit of a Xu Kai vibe — but that alone doesn’t save it. Don’t waste your time because of the ratings. If you really must watch it, go in with rock-bottom expectations.

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Michelin Star: 1

This could have been a good drama but it fell so flat in so many ways. First of all, I do love a good time travelling trope especially if it is executed well (Mr. Queen, anyone?) but this was just such a mess. I was curious how the story would unfold so I kept watching, but the ending really disappointed me.

Loved the food and how the episodes were written around them. The effects when they tasted the food were pure comical but I guess that's the point. I did not feel such great chemistry between the two leads though. I was not entirely convinced of the two of them being passionately in love or into each other. I mean, I do adore Lee Chae Min, he did a great job with the role. I just didn't think the two of them made me feel anything special. As for Yoona's character, I mean, for someone who came from the future and knows the future - she really did not do anything much except with the food. It was such a letdown. How can you time-travel to the past and not try to change things with the knowledge you have?

As for that ending, I can't accept that they just left it like that. Such a cop out. I just felt like it was rushed, not overly thought of, and they just decided they didn't need to explain it. The end. So frustrating.

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Nice work from the actors of this drama and I'd like to commend the efforts of the entire cast and crew.
However, I'd just like to point out these few observations. Asides the acting, details are quite important and it makes any film genre seem more realistic. In the scene where they competed with the Chinese chefs, not a single window was open. It would have been better if the competition was done outdoors.
Also, there wasn't enough build up of love/romance between the Leads. There was too much focus on the cooking and schemes of the bad guys that there wasn't enough scenes to show both Leads develop feelings for each other. And it's not just in this movie but Korean movies/dramas generally find it difficult to show romance, actual, intense moments between their Leads. I watch Chinese movies/ dramas and their romance is far better.
And talk of the last two episodes.. what was going on??
Kdramas don't have that spark for me anymore. In an entire season of a drama, the love scenes or romance starts to build up at the end of the drama.
I expected more from the drama.

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Taming of the Tyrant

This is the first role of Yoona's that I've enjoyed. 3 star Michelin Chef Yeon Ji Yeong is exactly skilled and audacious enough to root for as she navigates surviving the past she time travelled to. The show takes the path of the main character not caring about butterfly effect of straight up telling people she's from the future and in fact deliberately tries to change historical events. She's all about culinary science not mathematical theories. It does bring about the hilarious way that it shows enormous skill and a dash of pretty privilege to go around saying something that sounds insane to both ancient and modern people alike since she's so good at being a chef. I really enjoy how all the food contest and meal prep and eating scenes moves seamlessly with the overarching relationship developments and palace intrigue plots.

I'm neutral to the romance pairing of the leads, it's serviceable. It was silly to make the Chef Yeon 27 instead of the actress's actual age around the time of filming which was probably 34/35. King Yi Heon mentioned she's "older" than she looks and appointed her in charge of the palace kitchen. It wouldn't have mattered if she was playing her actual age, she would have still been appointed the gig. The flashbacks of previously shown scenes during the romance moments was too repetitive and time wasting though. The drama needed to trust that the present scene of the leads developing their bond is enough. I also would have rather the screen time went to showing a bit of Ji Yeong's time dealing with the power dynamics in the modern kitchens where she alluded she sharpened her abilities not just to craft and innovate meals, but to deal with bullies ancient and modern alike.

Killing off the amiable court lady food tester and the head Eunuch was a good move to show the stakes of the rebellion. The kitchen folk should have been too, though I get why the show saved them for the kicthen/jester/loyal guard/ inventor man team up with the deposed King Yi Heon. It's good that that Yi Heon did recognize that he did some really horrible things like ordering the deaths a lot of people in the course of his revenge when facing down his devious uncle. He should have also been sorry for literally kidnapping and terrorizing a whole nation of his own female citizens until he got obsessed with a magical time travel chef. It's annoying enough that Ji Yeong gets kidnapped in the rescue stand off, but then she unties herself and stands there and shouts at Yi Heon, distracting him when he's fighting alone against his uncle's goons. She could have at least thrown something at the assailants or the uncle to help and he notices her that way.

The last portion of the last episode is the weakest of the entire show, like they ran out of time for writing. There's no explanation for how the Mangurok meal journal that Yi Heon wrote ends up in France for Ji Yeong to pick up for her dad if the book disappears with her to travel back to the present. She doesn't spend anytime with her father that she missed so much. The torn page was good to explain how Yi Heon could travel to the present, but it doesn't explain how he got his new clothes and styling and found his way to her. This show definitely needed a one episode extension to tie things up neatly. The most offensive thing is that it condescends to the audience that it knows the audience wants to know, but it doesn't matter within the final dialogue of the show. Lamp shading doesn't solve the issue of it not doing the properly conclude with things it set up on it's own and failing finish. That lowers the overall score and enjoyment at the end.

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Michelin star cooking , fast food script

I will keep it short as it is really not a complex show.

It began as a fun drama full of comedic moments but it didn't manage to stay consistent.
The culprit were the screenwriters, even-though I did enjoy the cooking aspects of it, they never balanced the other elements so we ended up with a mangled mess, the romance was rushed , the ending was rushed and the complicated political dynamics were badly showcased.

But in general it is a fine show, with good acting , good chemistry for the main couple (despite the scrip not giving them enough movements to shine) beautiful cinematography and the food looked DELICIOUS.

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Didn't meet the expectations

I am biggest fan of historical korean drama. Tbh i won't say this drama is bad but not like i expected. I think this drama became so popular coz of international fan. For those who is watching korean historical drama for the first time it might be best but for people like me who enjoyed watching like love in the moonlight, bossam:steal the fate, moon that embraces the sun, the red sleeve, the kings affection, arang and magistrate, empress ki, gu family book, iljimae, kingmaker: the change of destiny, the princess man, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Queen Seondeok and many more might not be like we expected. This drama is equal to the lovers of red sky coz both watched due to the actresses. I am not saying this drama bad or anything but when u watch many classic historical korean drama then its obvious that something is missing. It didn't meet the expectations i wish. Last 2 episode were very good other episode was so-so.

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