This review may contain spoilers
They Wanted to Have It All — and in the End, They Gave Us Nothing
I was initially enthralled by this series, from the pen of Jeong Seo-kyeong (she gave us Decision to Leave and Lady Vengeance, people!). Gang Dong-won is manly, steadfast, caring, sexy—an all-encompassing amazing guy fighting for the woman he loves (?). Jun Ji-hyun is calm, gorgeous, steely, and engaging. We even have John Cho in the cast and a special appearance by Uhm Tae-goo—what could go wrong?Well, quite a lot. For me, it started going south around episode 6. It got convoluted and hard to believe; I think the writer bit off more than she could chew and then had to spit it all out in what turned out to be a very predictable mess. My biggest issue is the way they ended it. I hate it when I have to Google “ending explained” to see if anyone else understood what the heck happened. Did that character survive or not? There were clues that they maybe did, but might as well have not survived—it’s all up to interpretation.
In my opinion, they’re trying to have their cake and eat it too, because it could be a not-so-good ending, but if the ratings are good, there’s a slightly open door for a second series. In the end, they leave the viewer with a generalized meh sensation... what a letdown, honestly.
The action scenes were very fast—sometimes a bit much and hard to follow for some viewers—but overall well performed and enjoyable. The ML was a total badass, and there’s one particular scene in an elevator that got me thinking about Gang Dong-won’s long legs. What can I say? The man exudes charisma and sex appeal even when sitting down.
There was very good chemistry between the leads, but I think they’re both the type of people who could have excellent chemistry even with a wall. In the end, the series left me wanting more. I’m not asking to tie it up with a neat little bow, but don’t make me go all Sherlock Holmes on the Internet trying to see what really happened. Personally, I do not like open-ended finales—just pick a lane and stick to it. Do you have to off one of the characters? Do so and be brave about it! Don’t leave us in a cloud of ambiguity.
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This review may contain spoilers
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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