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A Beautifully Plated Mess
This isn’t a bad show, but nothing about it is great either. The most annoying thing is the undeserved hype and praise it received online, which had me going in with unrealistic expectations. I’m not quite sure what exactly I expected — I just know it didn’t deliver on any front.
First of all, what exactly passes as fantasy these days? Time travel? That’s all it takes, I guess. The plot was a nonexistent mess. This wasn’t a story with food in it — it was food with a side of story. The writers must have realized this problem toward the end and tried to throw in an actual plot in the last few episodes, but by then, it felt like a betrayal of the tone.
Most of the characters are shallow and one-dimensional. The ML was the only one with any real growth. The side characters were a waste of time and space — their arcs went nowhere and added nothing to the main story. The overused trope of using childhood trauma to justify a ML’s horrendous actions was painfully on the nose here. We barely got a moment to meet his character before being hit with the unbearable tragedy he endured as a child, which the show then used to excuse his behaviour.
As for the romance, how these two fell in love is still a mystery to me. No real conversations, no shared experiences outside of a few scattered episodes. I started watching K-dramas for the romance, but lately, writers seem to have forgotten how to depict the act of falling in love on screen in any believable way. It was so forced, with no build-up — even the actors’ chemistry couldn’t save it.
The acting was fine. Lee Chaemin was good, though I don’t think he deserves any awards for this. Yoona looked like she was in it for an easy paycheck. I’d like to see her in something that actually challenges her.
The OST was pleasant but forgettable. The visuals were overwhelming — and not in a good way. The excessive editing and endless effects scenes got old after the first few times.
Without going into much detail, the last episode was genuinely awful — like hot, flaming, pile-of-garbage awful. I enjoyed this show in the same way I enjoy other average ones like Business Proposal. It wasn’t great, but at least it wasn’t King the Land bad.
First of all, what exactly passes as fantasy these days? Time travel? That’s all it takes, I guess. The plot was a nonexistent mess. This wasn’t a story with food in it — it was food with a side of story. The writers must have realized this problem toward the end and tried to throw in an actual plot in the last few episodes, but by then, it felt like a betrayal of the tone.
Most of the characters are shallow and one-dimensional. The ML was the only one with any real growth. The side characters were a waste of time and space — their arcs went nowhere and added nothing to the main story. The overused trope of using childhood trauma to justify a ML’s horrendous actions was painfully on the nose here. We barely got a moment to meet his character before being hit with the unbearable tragedy he endured as a child, which the show then used to excuse his behaviour.
As for the romance, how these two fell in love is still a mystery to me. No real conversations, no shared experiences outside of a few scattered episodes. I started watching K-dramas for the romance, but lately, writers seem to have forgotten how to depict the act of falling in love on screen in any believable way. It was so forced, with no build-up — even the actors’ chemistry couldn’t save it.
The acting was fine. Lee Chaemin was good, though I don’t think he deserves any awards for this. Yoona looked like she was in it for an easy paycheck. I’d like to see her in something that actually challenges her.
The OST was pleasant but forgettable. The visuals were overwhelming — and not in a good way. The excessive editing and endless effects scenes got old after the first few times.
Without going into much detail, the last episode was genuinely awful — like hot, flaming, pile-of-garbage awful. I enjoyed this show in the same way I enjoy other average ones like Business Proposal. It wasn’t great, but at least it wasn’t King the Land bad.
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