MilicaB

I loved this kdrama. So bubbly and fun. Very comical and also rather profound. It is a good thing I lasted towards the end while the script writer almost killed this kdrama by repeating the same "plot". The ending saved it, luckily.

This kdrama is about concepts that are not going to thrill empty-minded audience.
Ep 1 is a heavy hitter, addressing social injustice and social change, as both ML and FL are rebels and change makers. Then the kdrama gets into rom com and Koran history and food and psychological thriller. I find it really interesting and fun. Yeah it is a time travel trope but with twists :)

I find the acting excellent. Especially the villain and the FL and also the ML. Villain was a perfect villain, it is hard to find a villain actor this good. FL was great greasy snide, and ML was a great bubbly positive character, all shiney. He was so clean and shiney and FL was so greasy yet they lived in the same house :) He was ALL SPARKLEY sunshine.

It is so hard to find a FL who can truly act, and be a complex character, like this one. That actress is amazing and really gives a deep complex flavor to this character. FL is insecure, scared, desperate, but also tough, rebel, striving, so she is sarcacstic, angry, greedy, warm, caring, and steadily moving on, IN HONESTY. Until she gets stuck on the villain bc she kisses as# of authority and she trusts the "nice rich guy" blindly. Unfortunately, the script writer never made her grow up, so watching her DUMB and BRAINLESS to the very end was painful.
AFTER WATCHING this actress in Divorce Insurance, I think she cannot act any role but snide sarcasm.

The sarcastic insecure hungry scared urban rat FL is a perfect match for the bubbly, overly confident ML, who is a perfect OBLIVIOUS entitled male character, socially inept, cannot read the room, has ZERO ability or interests for politics and games. He is smart and was lucky to be born rich so he has NO doubt in his mind that the world is a good place and he can just do whatever he wants - and he wants to do nice things and social change, he is a naive VISIONARY and HEALER. He heals people by his warmth and honesty. The good part about him is that he is like SUNSHINE, he is a bubble of sheer light, positive energy and wisdom. Well except for recognizing the villain LOL

I think the ML actor is very good and the role of the bubbly peppy guy matches so well next to the gloomy FL, who is not pretty, dolled up nor energetic at all. no clothes, no flirting, nothing to look at, ... so the two of them just complimented so well and are very comical. ML is all clean and pretty and energetic and happy and grateful and polite and generous and nourishing, so he makes up a positive energy bubble that allows her to stand by him in some drab kitchen clothes, looking very unkept, and spewing funny sarcastic doubtful hopeless comments.

THAT WAS OK UNTIL HALF OF THE SHOW. But then ML and FL kept being dumb and trusting the villain blindly, and that was too much. The script writer almost killed this lovely kdrama. FL should have taken a shower, washed her face and hair, and wore some nicer clothes after work. She should have stopped calling Heo "Mr Homeless" even in public. She was so rude crude ungrateful!!! just bc he wasnt rich and famous ..... FL should have grown up a lot more then just asking the detective to tell her why he is there.

Now the Villain. I dont enjoy watching him bc he is too good of a villain and reminds me of people from real life LOL. That actor was superb as a villain (until the last episodes, when he lost the sliminess and cold cruelty under a polite look). Wow so real.
The villain character is an exemplary SOCIOPATH, read "The Empathy Trap" article online. https://www.recoveryplusjournal.com/2017/10/the-empathy-trap/

The Chef is a master sociopath. He is soooo scary!!!!!!!!! Scarier than any monster out there. He is so smooth, PLEASANT, SEEMINGLY CARING, and obviously SUCCESSFUL and IMPORTANT, handsome, rich, well connected, political, cunning, imposing to people, and lying and cheating and backstabbing and killing and destroying people... since Joseaon. HE IS EVIL AND SLIMEY AND LOOKING NICE. He is truly scary That actor really conveys it well. I love and hate watching him bc he is sooooo good in acting that villain.... One value of this kdrama is to watch the Villain to see what kind of facial gestures, body language, look in the eye, are signs of a camouflaged monster.

Honestly, this actor was so good as the villain that I find this Villain a LOT MORE SCARY than any Godzilla zombies etc out there. He is so scary because he is real. People like that are all around us. They are soooo hard to detect because they are such skilled liars.

The script is good bc it shows moments that are good to see to get the message. Like the Villain beating the horse or talking about no social change. Or the moment when ML looked at her hand and then left to buy groceries :) that moment was short but so sweet and revealing, so critical.

BUT the script writer dragged it too long. We never got to see how ML and FL changed. The villain probably will never change. But we need to see how ML and FL fight him, sooner than the very last episode!!!!

FL and ML are Visionaries and social changers, and their fault is that both are too childish and naive. They were fortunate to be able to stay naive... FL had her mother to protect her, and ML was a rich noble man... BUT NOW... the diner might close unless they grow up and get it together. and finally register that there are bad people out there right in front of their noses and they gotta take care of themselves.

ML AND FL WERE SHELTERED ALL THEIR LIVES AND DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT BAD PPL ARE OUT THERE DOING BAD STUFF

FL grew up enough to ask tough questions, but one smooth lie from the Villain and she is back under his spell, she is so insecure about her looks and social status that she gets sooo smitten when someone so cool pays any attention to her and then she trusts him blindly. Tsk tsk... FL is a smart chick so this character flow gotta be taken care of!

AND IT WAS NOT. That was suffocating. I am sure many ppl dropped out from watching. I read the comments, by ep 6 ppl were dropping out bc yeah it was too much of watching two dumb fools fall for the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again.... !!!! and it lasted till episode 9!!!!

At about half of the show, we needed to see how ML and FL grew up a little bit and kept growing up. But it never came. So they are not really worthy of being the main characters n the story if they are not going to change......

FL did not really grow up at all except to recognize the villain.
ML has not grown up except to realize the villain. He ignored his feelings of red flags, his memories, etc. In his world. evil just does not exist. He was NAIVE . At least he recognized the villain but did not change in any other ways, he still spoke up and caused his own death.
THe villain hasnt changed at all either. He is still trying to elbow forward by any means. The smaller villains as well.

So we get to see the entire Josean gang AGAIN doing the same things in the modern day bc they havent cleaned up their karma.

THIS DRAMA HAS KARMA, has magical entities. and time travel. THe lessons about karma are amazing. ML and the villain "practiced" their emotional weaknesses since Joseon and probably before,.... Since they practiced so long and so hard, all their bad habits are so well ingrained. THey are just BLIND.... ML is a naive smart good guy and Villain is a well-camouflaged monster.

So ... recognize yourself in all of them. THe naive good guy, the insecure girl, the smooth talking liar Chef..... the vane and damaged MaChong....

The entire drama is about real life. Real stuff happening to you and me. Yeah including karma and magical entities LOL

10 episodes is waaay too short though :) If you want to drag showing off how the villain controls ML and FL...... and then you need time to finish it off properly..... Ep 6 had so much going on, the plot went sooo much faster, ... bc THE VILLAIN IS TAKING ACTION and the diner might die off. But unfortunately the script writer did not show how ML and FL grew and overcame... until ... episode 9 for ML and Episode 10 for FL. That could be ok in a 16 episode drama, but not in a 10 episode drama....

So the ending was positive but rushed and somewhat fake, everything resolved in a POOF! of magic ... and that is not how the real life works :) We need to see how ML and FL matured a little bit at least.

This kdrama should have been 12 or 16 episodes kdrama, if the script writer needed 9 episodes to start showing growth of the characters. Then the ending could be proper, we would get to see what Heo does when he leaves the diner and we get to meet the guy who walks in at the last scene. Also, the script writer should have given some time to the FL to grow up too. And it would be funny to see what happened with the Chef. Sociopaths do not really change unless it is some major miracle