tsutsuloo

I love it. You got it covered in a couple languages! ;)

@linger—Thanks for catching this! I watch on iQIYI and go elsewhere for the previews. I noticed the extra bits of the movie date on *cough* and was confused why I hadn't seen it at iq.com. Hae-kyung makes me a bit feverish so I thought I'd somehow missed it.

For same-day translations/recaps, check out @V's recaps at DRAMA MILK—she's really thorough and sometimes give cultural context. She splits the hour into two parts. Here's the page for the date scene: https://www.dramamilk.com/dinner-mate-episode-21-22-live-recap-part-2/ . @V usually translates the previews too.

Where's my kdrama neck brace? It's another case of tonal shift-induced whiplash.

I love this show so much BUT Ep. 12 was deeply ungratifying and exemplifies what I LOATHE about kdramas—I dread their penchant for injecting unnecessary melodrama in something that was funny, heartfelt, warm and tender.

Frankly, it feels TOXIC to mix high moments like sweet, sensuous moments (Ep. 11) with dreadful shenanigans from the exes in Ep. 12.

Blargh. This show better pull itself together in the last four episodes. I didn't sign up to watch Jae-hyuk go off the rails.

Park Ho-sun (Keanu) is SILVER FOX. The actor normally has salt and pepper hair (more salt than pepper), which I think adds to his appeal. He's one of those Hey It's That Guy actors who improves everything he's in. He was devilishly good —and good looking—in PEGASUS MARKET, one of the funniest, most absurd kdramas of 2019.

iQIYI page for Dinner Mate: https://www.iq.com/play/19ry7ba9fc

I envy all of you multi-lingual TV fans! Aigoo! My mom never spoke a lick of Cantonese to me. :(

I share your frustration with Keanu. Dribs and drabs of information are not helpful, especially if Jae-kyung is more dangerous than anybody realizes. The older doctor seems like a wounded soul.

There have been a couple flashes of foreshadowed violence. Sweet Nurse Lee-byung Jin said it was his job to protect Hae-kyung and their patients (Ep. 8, 24:39). And while Do-hee was driving Jae-kyung home from the hospital, JK twice said they could get into a car accident if she didn't look at the road (Ep. 8, 45:27, 45:43). Ugh.

I actually laughed at the ASMR scenario. @jingerbread’s comment made me revisit the scene from a different perspective.

I’m not dissing slapstick. Rather, I’m observing patterns and exploring the cultural context of humor. South Korea is well-known for its reverence for physical beauty. I’m curious if "fatness" (and its associated “sins”) is or isn’t a source of humor in SK. And when does humor veer into mockery?

As an American teen, I grew up with David Letterman's spoofs featuring very large people. A half-dressed, sweaty fat man getting out of a vinyl chair. A suited fat man shoveling fistfulls of food into his mouth. Countless fat jokes about Gov. Chris Christie. Would these bits fly today? Nah, not since the Daily Show set a high bar for late night humor x biting social commentary.

As a multi-cultural person who works in broadcasting, I often look at media through the lens of cultural criticism. But, really, I’m primarily here to laugh and swoon at this electrifying OTP and cheer on their wonderful love story.

Ramen. That is all.

*chef's kiss* it was that good.

Ep. 9 (17/18) also featured Im So-ra doing a live ASMR show, shaving a fat man's head. Very slapstick. Not quite the same as Park Jin-gyu's issues but maybe reflective of a particular ethos where Fat=Funny or Fat=Gross.

The demanding, clingy ex feels like an overripe trope, doesn't it? Personally, I'd happily file them away with kimchee slaps. Over-the-top exes are an essential element of makjangs or dramas that want to inject a bit of makjang flavor to an otherwise "normal" 16-ep drama. While Jae-hyuk is mentally ill, it is No-eul who captures the old school flavor of delusional exes.

I've only been watching kramas since 2017 and will occasionally dig into the archives for juicy makjang.

For a classic cray cray ex, peek at SOMETHING ABOUT 1 PERCENT (2016). It's only four years old and already feels pretty retrograde. As much as I like a good contract dating scenario, this one was gross. The lead is a domineering, wrist-grabbing jerk. And his ex? Laaaaawdy. At one point, she drugs the FL in a hotel room to set her up to be raped by the second male lead who isn't having any of it. ML still punches the SML anyway. *shakes head*

I find Jae-hyuk and No-eul particular hard to bear because our OTP is exceptionally lovely. Time with the exes takes time away from our sweet, sweet lovers! Sadly, Son Na-eun is miscast here. She's a decade too young and her acting is not quite up to the task. I think Writer-nim also fails to demonstrate how she was a good companion to Hae-kyung, beyond eating together.

I don't think anybody has a clear picture yet. JAE-HYUK'S world view is pretty disordered.

While waiting at the bus stoop after getting his stitches checked, JAE-HYUK told DO-HEE that his mother was sick at the time (Ep. 9, 23:34) "Things were happening so fast." But later, we learn that he hid the truth about his family's identity from everybody. It's stunning how much he's hiding from his friends, family and his first love. Juggling all the secrets and lies doesn't help JK'S fragile mental health. Who knows if he even told the truth to his doctor?

Only GEON-WOO knows the truth about JH's family (they're cousins) but even he doesn't know the depth of his cousin's shenanigans . GW is linked professionally and personally to all four leads, but he's not the keeper of all their secrets.

Fingers crossed. The subs are usually quite good and even ready by mid-morning CST.

Thanks!

I love this show to bits but Ep. 9 (17/18) was a slog, save for all the scenes with our OTP. They shimmered as always.

Is anyone else having issues with the English captions at iQIYI's international site today? It feels like 40% of the episode was sporadically subbed. (The other languages seemed fine.) And the subs at the "alternative" sites were worse today. The cognitive load of having to mentally correct ALL the misgendered pronouns sucked the fun out of it for me. Thankfully @V at dramamilk does superb same-day translation/recaps in English.

Ah, I'm confused about the status of Keanu's family. In Chinese dramas, I've seen the metaphor of "left" referring to death, just English speakers might use, "passed." So, when he tells Ah-young, "in the past, they had a good reason to go," he's being literal?

@Mr_Morningstar is correct about the ending. English title for this manhwa is Shall We Have Dinner Tonight? Read official English translation here: https://bato.to/series/70312

It's a STRETCH to call this drama an adaptation. Major character names are the same and there's food. But just about EVERYTHING else is different. Source of conflicts, careers, sexual histories (particularly for HK), and how they relate to exes and their parents are all vastly different. The romance is much more low-key, even passive.

HK's mother, Lee Moon Jung, is the character most closely aligned with her manwha counterpart. Her timeline in the story predates the OTP relationship. An independent woman of dry wit, she's a writer of sexy novels and doesn't care much about social propriety. The scenario and some of her dialogue in the drama's Ep. 17/18 (hour 9) actually comes from the manwha's Ch. 18. Most importantly, mother and son have a close, comfortable relationship. I wasn't sure if she was still married to HK's dad but she absolutely did not "abandon" her child either. [Ch. 18 is the most moving chapter in the whole manwha. Save it for later because I suspect the drama is taking all the best bits from this chapter.]

If you read the manwha, treat it as a completely different story.

Aaaaaah, Twitter! Thank you! #dinnermate is another addiction added to my plate! SSH is one of the most symmetrical men in kdrama, but he seems especially handsome when he laughs and shares the screen with our regal Seo Ji Hye. So much fun! ;)

Rewatching Jae-hyuk's scenes is revelatory. What was initially bizarre—the nerve of his misplaced confidence!—now thrums with menace.