Skate Into Love (2020)

I decided to take a break from K-dramas and check out a few offerings that come from our friends in China. I know what you’re saying, “But China is our mortal enemy!” That may be true, but I also think it is important to separate the people from their government. I am not especially fond of the United States government, but I don’t hate my country. I also know from experience that people have way more in common than they might think, and it wasn’t for social media and blind allegiances to political parties, we might be able to set aside our differences and find genuine solutions. I apologize for the lecture, but I would rather be an idealist than a cynic.

Skate Into Love is an interesting blend of romantic comedy, sports show, and propaganda. Its unfortunate title belies its overall quality – it is fairly realistic look at college athletes and the pressures they have to deal with.  The three central characters all take part in ice sports – Tang Xue competes in women’s short track speed skating; Li Yu Bing is the star player on the university’s ice hockey team, the X Dragons; and Yu Yan is a promising figure skater. They all have their own insecurities they must overcome, and their path to glory is often met with failure. 

Skate Into Love follows the formula of most romantic comedies – the two main protagonists, Tang Xue and Li Yu Bing, are initially antagonistic towards one another. There is however an interesting twist to the formula – the two of them were desk mates in elementary school and Li Yu Bing still holds a grudge against Tang Xue – he was a small, timid boy in elementary school and viewed Tang Xue as a bully. When it came time to attend middle school, Li Yu Bing chose to attend a different middle school than Tang Xue, so he could get away from her. Flash forward to six years later and Tang Xue just happens to transfer to the very same university (Lin Da University) that Yu Bing is attending.  Her initially major is veterinary science – she quit short track speed skating after being injured in a tournament. However, she is still drawn to the ice and applies to be an assistant to “The God of Ice,” unaware it is Yu Bing. When the two of them finally meet, she immediately recognizes him and expects a warm reunion – but Yu Bing is filled with such resentment that he makes her life a living hell. However, he also begins to develop feelings with her, and he is torn between his desire for revenge and giving Tang Xue a second chance. The inner child in him wants revenge but his current self wants to forgive her. The latter wins out and the two of them bury the hatchet (Yu Bing realizes he has gone too far in his revenge). Xang Tue can’t focus on her studies because she wants to get back on the ice and compete. Yu Bing uses his influence into convincing coach of Girl’s Short Track Speed Skating to give Tang Xue a chance – he also pays for her training fee and buys her new ice skates – he also urges the coach to keep this a secret from Tang Xue. When she receives the ice skates, she assumes they are standard issued.

The coach is skeptical of Tang Xue’s abilities – she hasn’t competed in two years, lost a lot of leg muscle, and is slow compared to other members of the team.  The coach gives her a challenge – in a month’s time, if Tang Xue can overtake the slowest member on the team, she will be allowed to stay on the team.  After a month of grueling training (with Yu Bing) she does overtake the slowest member and becomes a permanent member of the team. She also finds herself developing feelings for Yu Bing. 

The two of them have very different memories of their childhood – Tang Xue confesses to Yu Bing their time together in high school was the happiest time of her life. She considered Yu Bing her best friend and was heartbroken when he attended a different middle school than her. It took her nearly two years to get over the loss of Yu Bing before she was able to adapt to her new environment.  Yu Bing, on the other hand, viewed Tang Xue as a bully and was scared of her. However, in hindsight, he realizes that Tang Xue wasn’t a bully - she was a tom boy, with an assertive personality, who always bossed him around.  Yu Bing was a late bloomer and Tang Xue towered above him for the entirety of elementary school. This pain could have easy been avoided if they had been more honest with each other – Tang Xue should have made clear her feelings for Yu Bing, and Yu Bing should have pushed back on Tang Xue’s various schemes. He only focused on her negative traits while ignoring all her positive ones. In Yu Bing’s case, he was a timid boy, who just couldn’t deal with Tang Xue’s rough housing.  This is an accurate representation of childhood – sensitive children will often interpret another child’s teasing as “bullying.” There was no ill intent on Tang Xue’s part; she was just oblivious to Yu Bing’s true feelings. 

Yu Bing not only has to let go of his past, but he also has two contend with two other suitors who are looking to win over Tang Xue’s hand - Yu Yan, a figure skater, and Bian Cheng, a journalism major, who covers sports and attends another college. However, Yu Yan is never a serious threat to Yu Bing – he is immediately placed in the friend zone by Tang Xue.  Yu Yan has lived a sheltered life – his mother is stern taskmaster and won’t discourages him from making friends because they would get in the way of his training. He is an introverted individual and a man of few words. Tang Xue is impressed by his talents, but also senses that he a timid individual and treats him with kid gloves – she views him as a younger brother who she needs to protect. She is able to get him out of his shell – she takes him to an aquarium and later persuades him (and Yu Bing) to help her out in a singing contest.

However, as is normally the case with unrequited love, Yu Yan becomes increasingly bitter that Tang Xue “chooses” Yu Bing over him. In his mind, Yu Bing stole Tang Xue away from him (even though she has never his to begin with). This bitterness gets further amplified when his mother sends him to Canada for training. He has been sidelined and feels helpless when he reads online about the blooming romance between Yu Bing and Tang Xue. He begins to lose sleep, and this eventually effects his performance on ice – he fails multiple competitions and then loses all interest in figure skating. Note to young males out there – if you are interested in woman but she does not return your feelings, DO NOT fall into the “just friends” trap, instead cut your losses and WALK AWAY. It might hurt, but it will benefit you in the long term. If Yu Yan had followed this simple advice, he would have avoided falling into depression. You can not be “just friends” with a woman you are interested in.

 When Yu Yan returns to China, he locks himself in his room and refuses to come out. This forces his mother to turn to Tang Xue – she asks Tang Xue to guide Yu Yan out of his depression. Tang Xue visits Yu Yan and gradually gets him to cheer up. However, this also comes at the expense of her relationship with Yu Bing. She stands up Yu Bing multiple times and then lies to him about her whereabouts – she tells Yu Bing that her friends, Xie Meng Huan and Ye Liu Ying, were blindsided by an emergency and they needed her support. It didn’t occur to her than Yu Bing might actually run into her friends and ask them about said emergency – when they give him a different story, he naturally becomes suspicious. When she spots Tang Xue walking into Yu Yan’s house, he believes that the two of them are having an affair. He lets his emotions get the better of him and suggests that they break up. While Yu Bing’s suspicions are understandable, he never gives Tang Xue the opportunity to explain herself. The reason she lied to him about Yu Yan is because his mother asked her to keep his condition a secret (even from Yu Bing).

It wouldn’t be a drama if the writers did not figure out some way to separate our two romantic leads, but at least in this instance it is believable. It is also an example of neither of them being at fault and, simultaneously, both being at fault – Tang Xue’s intentions were good, but she shouldn’t have lied to Yu Bing, and Yu Bing should have given Tang Xue the benefit of the doubt and allowed her to explain herself. What makes it even worse is that the two of them are separated for a month – Tang Xue and her teammate/Yu Bing’s best friend, Yuiwei, are given an opportunity to compete for a spot on the national women’s short distance speed skating team and will be in Beijing for a month. They also decided to turn off their cellphones to avoid outside distractions. When Yu Bing learns the truth from Yu Yan, he feels like an ass, and tries to call Tang Xue to apologize. When he can’t get hold of her, leave her a text and begs her to get back together. However, the only thing he can do is wait for her to see the text message. 

This also allows me a smooth transition into the character of Bian Cheng. In high school, Tang Xue had a crush on Bian Cheng and even wrote him a letter that expressed her feelings, but he shot her down.  It is through sheer happenstance that he bumps into her – he is doing a story about LU’s hockey team and just happens to see Tang Xue at the ice rink. He is determined to win her back (even though, like Yu Yan, he never had her in the first place). He even forms with an alliance with Tang Xue’s cousin, Zhou Ran – he will help her hook up with Yu Bing and she will help him with Tang Xue. The problem is that Bian Cheng’s window of opportunity with Tang Xue has been slammed shut and, despite his best efforts, she rejects his advances – he even makes a public fool out of his self when he holds up a banner expressing his love for Tang Xue. When displays of public affection fail, he tries to win her hand by sucking up to her father, who is an editor of a local newspaper. This kind of works – Tang Xue’s father is impressed with Bian Cheng and believes he would be a great son-in-law. Also working in Bian Cheng’s favor is the fact that Tang Xue’s father dislikes Yu Bing. He doesn’t approve of Yu Bing playing ice hockey and he also holds a grudge against Yu Bing for lying to his daughter (when Yu Bing was TWELVE YEARS OLD).  Unfortunately, while Tang Xue’s father is over the moon about Bian Cheng, she is just not interested in him. She has found her soulmate in Yu Bing and, at best, sees Bian Cheng as “just friends” material. Again, if Bian Cheng had just taken my advice and WALKED AWAY, he could have easily avoided all the misery that comes his way.  Unfortunately, Bian Cheng does not handle Tang Xue’s rejection well and decides to go all scorched Earth – If he can’t be with Tang Xue, then no one can. He is determined to destroy Yu Bing’s reputation. Zhou Ran can see where this is headed and bows out – she realizes that she will never be a couple with Yu Bing and doesn’t want to devote all her free time to breaking up Tang Xue and Yu Bing (on the slim chance he might get together with her).  She opts to bury the hatchet with her estranged cousin and focus on her studies, but Bian Cheng is so filled with resentment that he can’t let it go so easily.  

Bian Cheng writes an article about the country’s lack of interest in ice hockey and then doctors a photo to make it seem like the X Dragons are playing to an empty arena. Tang Xue’s father looking to kill to two birds with one stone – help out his protégé Bian Cheng and embarrass Yu Bing – publishes Bian Cheng’s article in his newspaper. Bian Chang even got a nomination for a journalism award. However, Yu Bing notices the forgery and has another photo from the same game that shows a packed house, and files a complaint against the newspaper. Tang Xue’s father is embarrassed that he feels for the forgery and apologizes for allowing his bias to get in the way of journalism.  Bian Cheng’s credibility has taken a massive and gets the award stripped away from him. This would be an ideal time for Bian Cheng to self-reflect but he blames Yu Bing for all of his misfortunes. Tang Xue’s father, for his part, realizes he misjudged Yu Bing and gives the ice hockey star his blessing to date his daughter.

The next step in Bian Cheng’s quest for revenge is to post a smear piece about Yu Bing on the campus forums.  It has the desired effect as many of the fanbase begin to turn on Yu Bing. When Bian Cheng is interviewing the owner of a rival ice hockey team, the Black Scorpions, the owner asks Bian Cheng for information about Yu Bing, and he happily obliges. Bian Chang accidentally leaves his recorder in the owner’s office and manages to capture a conversion the owner is having with his assistant about hiring goons to beat up Yu Bing the day before the match. Bian Cheng sits on this information and allows the beating to happen – the goons are able to lure out Yu Bing by calling his phone and telling him a lie that Tang Xue was hit by a car.  Yu Bing tries to call Tang Xue’s phone, but she has turned it off. He fears the worst and rushes out to find her – he then is ambushed in the stairwell by a bunch of goons, who beat him senseless.  Yu Bing still plays in the game and his last-minute heroics win the game for the X Dragons, but it comes at a price – he is giving quite a beating by the rival team. While his teammates are celebrating their improbable victory, Yu Bing starts to bleed profusely from the forehead and passes out. He is taken to the hospital and insists that he is fine, but weeks after the beating, he still gets dizzy spells.  The assistant doctor, and Tang Xue’s friend, Lia Zhenyu, insists that Yu Bing go in for a checkup, but Yu Bing tells him he will wait until the season is over to get a checkup. However, before the final game of the season, Yu Bing passes out and is rushed to the hospital. It turns out that he suffers from chronic subdural hematoma and needs to have surgery to drain the hematoma.

It’s also while Yu Bing is in the hospital that he is finally reunited with Tang Xue and the two of them clear the air and reaffirm their commitment to one another. Tang Xue has been selected to the national team, but she initially decides not to go because she doesn’t want to leave Yu Bing’s side. While Yu Bing goes through a rough patch, especially when the owner decides to kick him off the team and even brings in his replacement. The sponsors have pulled their funding from the team due to the controversy surrounding Yu Bing, and the only way the owner will even consider keeping Yu Bing on the team is if he can pay back the sponsors and he is only given five days to do so. This is also when the Skate Into Love enters into Saved By the Bell territory – the team’s brilliant plan to raise money is by making a beefcake calendar of themselves. It ends up selling like hot cakes and the sponsors change their mind and pour money back into the team. Yu Bing is touched by the support from his teammates and friends, and insists Tang Xue join the national team. Bian Cheng is consumed with guilt by and eventually turns in the recording to the police. He doesn’t walk away completely unscathed – the owner learns about this and has his goons beat up Bian Cheng. 

There are two prominent themes in Skate Into Love:

1.     Bitterness can lead to truly dark places. Yu Bing, Bian Cheng, Zhou Ran, and Yu Yan all become consumed with bitterness. Yu Bing is still bitter over the way Tang Xue treated him in elementary school and this result him mistreating her in the early going. It takes him a while to realize that she is a different person from when she was a child and is, in fact, a genuinely decent human being. The inner child in him just can’t believe it and wants to go through with the revenge, but common sense eventually prevails. 
Bian Cheng is an intelligent individual with a promising future, but he nearly ruins it all because he can’t get over the fact that Tang Xue prefers Yu Bing over him. It gets to the point where he forgets his initial goal – to win back Tang Xue – and becomes obsessed with wanting to ruin Yu Bing. 
Zhou Ran’s grudge against her cousin stems from the fact that her academic success was overshadowed by Tang Xue’s speed skating success. She also has a crush on Yu Bing and wants to be with, so it naturally grinds her gears when she learns that Yu Bing is in love with Tang Xue. She initially teams up with Bian Cheng to derail their relationship, but realizes how petty, and pathetic, the whole thing is and buries the hatchet with her cousin.
Yu Yan falls into a depression after he learns that Yu Bing and Tang Xue are dating. He just can’t understand why Tang Xue would choose Yu Bing over him. This results in him losing interest in figure skating and locking himself in his room. 

2.     The second prominent theme in Skate Into Love is forgiveness. This is a word that has disappeared from the English language – especially in the age of cancel culture. There are many positives to the internet but also can bring out people’s worst traits – one of which is to assume bad intentions where none actually exists. People are so quick to judge and cancel people over past comments that they never want to consider that a person is capable of changing. Of course, they also are very selective over which comments they find offensive and over who they want to cancel. The refreshing aspect of Skate Into Love is the characters ability to let go of grudges and forgive. Hell, even Bian Cheng is given a second chance. Tang Xue’s father doesn’t bear any ill well to Bian Cheng and wishes him the best of luck. After, Bian Cheng turns the recording of the Black Scorpions’ owner to the police, he apologizes to Yu Bing, who accepts the apology and offers his hand in friendship. Yu Bing realizes that his grudge against Tang Xue is ridiculous, moves on from the past, and eventually falls in love with her. 

\

I haven’t even talked about the secondary couples – Xia Meng Huan/Lia Zhenyu and Zhang Yuewei/Jiang Shi Jia. These two couples are mirror images of one another – Xia Meng Huan and Lia Zhenyu are Tang Xue’s two best friends while Zhang Yuewei and Jiang Shi Jia are Yu Bing’s two best friends.

       A song that aptly describes Jiang Shi Jia’s relationship with Zhang Yuewei is The J.Geil’s Band classic, Love Stinks. The song opens with, “You love her/ But she loves him/ And he loves somebody else/ You just can’t win.”  Jiang Shi Jia loves Zhang Yuewei, but she loves Yu Bing, and he loves Tang Xue. Yu Bing, Jiang Shi Jia, and Zhang Yuewei are an inseparable trio – Yu Bing and Jiang Shi Jia are teammates on the male ice hockey team and Zhang Yuewei is the captain of the women’s Short Track Speeding Racing team. Zhang Yuewei’s ego takes quite a beating – if it wasn’t bad enough that Yu Bing loves Tang Xue (her potential rival on the woman’s ice-skating team), it is made worse by the fact that Yu Bing doesn’t even think of her as a woman – he constantly calls her “brother.” Yuewei comes across as masculine – she has a short haircut, has a cold personality, likes to rough house, and is extremely competitive (though, even with her short hair cut, the actress, Han Juinuo, is still incredibly cute and it is easy to believe a guy like Jiang Shi Jia falling for her). Despite her tough exterior, she also wants to be loved. Jiang Shi Jia has been in love with Zhang Yuewei for some time but has never said anything for two reasons: he is aware of her feelings for Yu Bing, and he doesn’t want to destroy their friendship. If he confesses his feelings to her and she rejects him, it will make things awkward between the two of them. This is also the reason why Yuewei never confessed her feelings to Yu Bing. At the end of day, Yuewei realizes a potential romance with Yu Bing is a pipe dream and is content with being his friend. However, she does achieve her dream of making the national team (and competing in the Olympics) and she realizes that she also has feelings for Jiang Shi Jia – it is a happy ending for everyone.

      The relationship between Xia Meng Huan and Lia Zhenyu isn’t as dramatic as the Zhang Yuewei/Jiang Shi Jia storyline. When Lia Zhenyu meets Xia Meng Huan it is love at first sight – he is determined to win her over. She is also interested in him but is hesitant to get in a relationship with a friend of a friend – in the early going, they both are lackeys to Tang Xue and always refer to her as “master.” Xia Meng Huan eventually realizes that Lia Zhenyu is a kind soul and falls in love with him. Xia Meng Huan is majoring veterinarian science and has an affinity for animals – when she wants to open a shelter for stray animals, Lia Zhenyu is all in and even builds small houses for the animals to sleep in. He also raises money for the animal shelter creating a collage of stray animals, displaying it on the college campus, and using a bullhorn to get the students’ attention. Lia Zhenyu is devoted to Xia Meng Huan – in fact, he is too devoted – to the point where it begins to affect his studies. He devotes so much time to Xia Meng Huan that his grades begin to slip. While Xia Meng Huan likes the attention, she also feels guilty about Lia Zhenyu’s piss poor grades and tells him that they need to pump the brakes on their relationship. She wants Lia Zhenyu to achieve his dream and would feel terrible if she was the reason he failed to pursue it. At first Lia Zhenyu is hurt by her honesty but realizes that she is correct and gets back on track with his studies. He eventually becomes the assistant doctor for the X Dragons. 

      The most refreshing thing about the characters is how supportive they are each other – there is never a scene where a main character issues an ultimatum, “It is either ice skating or me!” Yu Bing is unblinking with his support for Tang Xue – he uses his pull to give her a spot on the short track speed skating and even pays for her training. When he is in the hospital, he insists that she joins the national team. He doesn’t want her to pass up a once in a lifetime opportunity. She also is supportive of his ice hockey career, even though she knows it could possibly end in injury. She knows it would be far worse for Yu Bing if he gave up ice hockey, because he would live with regret for the rest of his life. Xia Meng Huan and Lia Zhenya support each other’s careers – when Xia Meng Huan, for her major, takes a class trip to South America, Lia Zhenya is genuinely happy for her. Even Zhang Yuewei and Jiang Shi Jia are very supportive of one another.  They are also very devoted to one another – Tang Xue is already thinking of her post-speed skating career, while Yu Bing is unconscious at the hospital, she tells him that she wants to settle down and have two children (a boy and a girl), and then they can teach their offspring speed skating and ice hockey.

      While Skate Into Love is an entertaining romantic comedy, it also makes for a fascinating piece of propaganda. It often plays like a long commercial for the 2022 Winter Olympics (which were held in Beijing).  Also, propaganda isn't always a bad thing - especially when it is used to unite a country. I am curious by the writing process for this series – it feels like it was commissioned by the Chinese government as a way to drum up support for Ice Hockey (which, at the time, wasn’t popular in China). The Chinese government wanted to field a competitive team ice hockey team in the Winter Olympics and emphasized the need for improvement. The show even ends with a montage of Chinese gold medalists from the previous Winter Olympics. There is even a cameo appearance by Olympic gold medalist Wu Daijing - he won the gold medal in the Men's 500 Metres at the 2018 Winter Olympics. 

\     I suspect the reason the main characters can forgive one another so easily is to emphasize unity among the masses – the main characters are able to overcome their petty differences for the greater good and the rest of the country should follow their example. The Chinese government is also trying to reverse the effects of their “One Child” policy, so it makes sense that there is a scene where the lead female openly discusses having two children with her partner. There is even a scene where Yu Bing’s parents talk about how the government is encouraging couples to have more children. However, despite (or because of) this, Skate Into Love is an entertaining show. It can be redundant at times (this is not surprising given that it is 40 episodes long) but its appealing cast makes it worthwhile – Janice Wu and Steven Zhang have incredible chemistry (to the point where I got annoyed when their two characters were separated for a few episodes).

Cast: Janice Wu (Tang Xue), Steven Zhang (Li Yu Bing), Zhou Li Jie (Yu Yan), Han Jiunuo (Zhang Yuewei), He Zuan Lin (Xia Meng Huan), Cao Bo (Jiang Shi Jia), Qin Tianyu (Liao Zhenyu), Vincent Wei (Bian Cheng), Lu Junyao (Ye Liu Ying), Chuyue Chen (Zhou Ran), Zhang Lei (Coach Xu, Ice hockey coach), Ding Zi Ling (Coach Chu, Short track speed skating, coach), Xia Minghao (Coach Jin, figure skating coach), Jin Zi He (Deng Jian Guo), Tian Miao (Tang Xue’s mother), Miao Hao Jun (Tang Xue’s father), Wang Shuo (Li Yu Bing’s father), Opheila Yang (Ms. Liang, Yu Yan’s mother), Yang Ping (Li Yu Bing’s mother), Xiao Yu (Song An Jie), Luo Hao (Coach Wang), Zhang Shang Ming Zhu (Young Tang Xue), Li Chao Ping (Young Li Yu Bing), Deng Lun (Xu Feng “Ice God”), Wu Dajing (Himself).

Director: Zhu Ruibin
Writer: Ma Jia
40 episodes ~ 45 minutes

TWO FOR ONE: MY SASSY GIRL (2017)/ THE HEIRS (2013)

I recently watched two K-dramas, My Sassy Girl and The Heirs, and rather than writing separate long-winded reviews for each drama, I decided to kill two birds with one stone by writing about both in a single post. There is an even a thematic similarity between the two – the protagonist in each show (Gyeon Woo in My Sassy Girl and Cha Eun-sang in The Heirs) come from humble origins and end up falling in love with a social elite (Princess Hye-myung in My Sassy Girl and Kim Tan in The Heirs). They must overcome nonstop hurdles (misunderstandings, pre-arranged marriages, disapproving parents and friends, etc.) in order to be together but, in the end, love conquers all. 

My Sassy Girl

The biggest hurdle that My Sassy Girl has to overcome is, unfortunately, the title character, Princess Hye-myung. We’re supposed to find her to be endearing but she is really annoying in the early going – she constantly yells at people and even resorts to physical violence when she doesn’t get her way. She never thinks about the consequences of her actions. – she sneaks out of the palace at night and often gets drunk. It is often her eunuch and bodyguard who are made to suffer for her disobedience – they are blamed by the queen for neglecting the princess and even get caned for not keeping a better eye on her. She usually thinks the worst of people and rarely gives them the benefit of a doubt – due to a misunderstanding she believes Gyeon Woo attempted to rape her and isn’t willing to hear him out. Earlier, in her state of drunkenness she vomited all over him and herself and then lost consciousness.  Gyeon Woo takes her to an inn and, while she is asleep, he washes the vomit from his robe. When he notices vomit on the goreum of the princess's hanbok, he decides to wash it and, is in the process of untying it, when the princess wakes up and believes he is attempting to rape her. She cusses him out and then get physically violent with him before passing out again.

Through the next few episodes, the princess bumps into Gyeon Woo and publicly smears him as a rapist. She also managed to misplace a ring that was given to her by her deposed mother and assumes that Gyeon Woo stole it.  In one scene, Gyeon Woo is having lunch with Jung Da-yeon, a potential love interest, and the princess approaches him and starts hurling all sorts of accusations at him, intentionally embarrassing him in front of Da-yeon. The problem with this subplot is that the show never properly resolves it – Gyeon Woo has a bunch of eyewitnesses who could back his story, but he never uses them. The princess continues to believe he is a pervert…until she doesn’t. If she genuinely believes that he is a rapist, it is very unlikely that she would fall in love with him, despite the multiple times he bails her out of dangerous situations. There at least needed to be a scene where she remembers vomiting all of Gyeon Woo and the assistance he offered her. It is a huge flaw in the scripting and an odd way for the two main characters to meet. It doesn’t help that Oh Yeon-seo’s acting is all over the place – in the early episodes, she consistently mugs for the camera by making odd faces, bugging out her eyes, and shouting at the top of her lungs. Though, this also a cultural difference – I rarely find Korean comedy funny, but that is largely due to the fact that I have to rely on subtitles to understand the joke. There is a huge difference between hearing a joke and reading a joke. To Oh Yeon-seo’s credit, she does significantly better in the series dramatic moments, because her performance is more restrained. The show itself is tonally all over the place – it ranges from slapstick comedy to political thriller – the first half of the series is more comedic in tone while the second half is more dramatic. 

The bright spot of the series is Joo Won as the unflappable Gyeon Woo. The phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” greatly applies to the character of Gyeon Woo – he is a well-meaning individual whose actions are misunderstood and end up costing him dearly. When a bunch of men are accosting the drunk princess, he sticks up for her and scares them away. His reward – she vomits all over his robes and then later accuses him of rape.  When he helps the princess look for her lost ring – it leads them to a den of loan sharks. The princess steals a book that contains the names of the people who owe them money. Later on, they come after the princess and Gyeon Woo ends up getting stabbed while defending her. Gyeon Woo is a well-respected scholar – he spent three years in Qing, China learning their language and culture. When he comes back to Korea, he is somewhat of a celebrity – he is greeted by a whole group of female admirers. He is also appointed to be the young prince’s (Hye-myung’s kid brother) teacher. When Hye-myung finds out that Gyeon Woo is teaching her younger brother, she threatens to tell her father (the king) that he is a pervert.

 When it is decided to marry off the princess to the Qing prince, Gyeon Woo is, naturally, chosen to be the interpreter. It is to the show’s credit that the Qing prince is actually a decent person – he makes a genuine effort to win over Hye-myung’s family, especially her younger brother, who disapproves of their union. The princess fails to understand the predicament Gyeon Woo is in (he is not any position to refuse a request from the king) and, once again, hurls insults at him. At this point, their relationship has been volatile, yet she believes Gyeon Woo has betrayed her for acting as an interpreter. It was at this point where I wished Gyeon Woo would have taken his own advice and stayed away from the princess. In fact, as snobby as Da-yeon can be, there is a sense that if Gyeon Woo had accepted her proposal, he could have brought out her better side. The only reason for her bratty demeanor is that she has been spoiled her entire life by her father, the Minister of the Left. When you have been given everything your entire life and never been humbled, it is difficult to sympathize with the plight of the less fortunate. 

I also sensed that the writers were kind of winging it in the second half of the series, Gyeon Woo begins to have dreams that involve his ten-year-old self and the deposed queen. It turns out that he is recovering forgotten memories. There is no hint of this in the first half of the series, all of a sudden, he is beginning to remember an event from his past that he had completely forgotten about. This is when the series becomes increasingly more convoluted – when he was ten years old, he stumbled upon a murder scene at the ink house. Before he passed away, the master of the house handed Gyeon Woo an ink brush and begged him to expose the truth. While going through documents, he came across a letter that seemed to implicate the queen – it was a love letter to her supposed lover.  In Gyeon Woo’s eyes, it seemed like the queen had ordered the hit to cover up her infidelity.  He wrote a scathing letter about the queen and then posted it on the public bulletin board. The Minister of the Left stumbled across the letter and used it for his own political purposes – he had been wanting to depose the queen for a long time, and he made copies of Gyeon Woo’s letter to stir up the masses. Later, Gyeon Woo found a letter hidden inside the ink brush that proved the queen’s innocence and immediately set out to correct his mistake – he initially tried to deliver it to his father, who was an advisor to the king, but was denied entry into the palace by the guards. He then decided he would find the queen and give it to her – the only problem was that she had been exiled, and her convoy was currently marching through the forest.  While running after the queen, he stumbled across a younger version of Hye-myung sneaking out of the palace. The two of them decided to look for the queen together.  They came across the remains of her convoy (they had all been slaughtered) but could find no trace of the queen. They then got lost in the forest and when Gyeon Woo went get some help, he lost his footing, tumbled down a hillside, crashed into a tree, and lost his memories of this incident.  The most perplexing thing about this subplot is: How come the princess doesn’t remember meeting Gyeon Woo ten years earlier?  There is no indication that she suffers from amnesia – in fact, she still recalls chasing after mother, but she apparently has forgotten the boy she met on the way. A boy, who like Gyeon Woo, was a scholar. It wouldn’t be that hard to put the two together, yet there is no scene where the princess recognizes Gyeon Woo as the boy she met ten years ago.

I also can’t help but notice the double standard when it comes to princess and Gyeon Woo – she spends the first half of the series publicly smearing Gyeon Woo and never apologizes for it, but Gyeon Woo forgives her any ways.  When Gyeon Woo regains his memory of the writing the scathing letter about the queen, he decides to atone for his mistake by showing the king the letter that proved her innocence – he knows that this will taint his relationship with the king and princess, but he it is important to him that the truth comes out. His mistake is not telling the princess herself about the letter, and she ends up finding out from Da-yeon (who in turn found out from Gyeon Woo’s nosy younger sister). When she confronts him with this, he cannot deny it and she vows that she will never forgive him. 

I actually checked out the comments section YouTube and there were many people who agreed with princess “What he did was unforgivable!”  But apparently her smearing him in public is totally forgivable. They also conveniently ignored a few facts: Gyeon Woo was ten years old when he wrote that letter. Secondly, he stumbled upon a murder scene (which would traumatize anyone) and found evidence that implicated the queen in the slaughter of a family. Third, when he found evidence that exonerated the queen, he immediately tried to fix his mistake. If it wasn’t for him getting into an accident and losing his memory, this could have been cleared up years ago. Finally, when he regained his memory, he contacted the king and showed him the letter that proved the queen’s innocence, knowing fully it would tarnish his relationship with the king. He also atones for his mistake by not only thwarting the Minister of the Left’s attempt to usurp the throne, and reuniting Hye-myong with her mother, but by exiling himself to an island that is far away. He pays more than his dues.  The princess realizes she still loves him and stops him before he can get on the boat, but I was actually hoping she would be too late and could only watch teary eyed as he sailed away.

 I’m going to be perfectly blunt: the princess doesn’t deserve Gyeon Woo. It’s one of the most one-sided relationships I have seen in television history – Gyeon puts his life on the line multiple times to save the royal family, while the princess has everything handed to her. The only reason she is preferable to Da-yeon is because the script says so – even though Da-yeon puts forth an actual effort to be with Gyeon Woo. She has a higher social standing them him but is willing to ingratiate herself with his family and humble herself before him. She is another casualty of the script – in the first few episodes, she is more likable than the princess. It feels like the writers feared that the audience might prefer her over the princess and decided to rewrite her as a cold-hearted bitch.  “We can’t have the audience shipping Gyeon Woo and Da-yeon. Quick, write a scene where she treats her servants poorly.”

The other thing that bugs me is that Gyeon Woo’s younger sister, Gyeon Hee, is never given an actual character arc. She is Da-yeon’s lacky and is a total gossip – she cannot keep secrets, no matter how damaging they might be to her family. She is, justifiably, skeptical of the princess and desperately wants her older brother to hook up Da-yeon. I was waiting for that one scene where she redeems herself – like, I don’t know, a scene where she divulges useful information to her older brother. Anything. It feels like the writers are setting her up for a character arc, but it never arrives. It’s only after Da-yeon lashes out against her and her mother that she realizes that she was backing the wrong side, but I would have preferred she come to this realization herself.  It's a shame because the actress, Jung Da-bin, is likable enough but the writers don’t know what to do with her character. 

Wow! I spent more time writing about My Sassy Girl than I originally intended, but it does perfectly sum how frustrating this series was. There are a lot of things to like about My Sassy Girl (the lead actor, the supporting cast, and a few clever plot twists) but it never gels as a whole. It’s about two rewrites away from being a first-rate show, instead of being just watchable.

 

The Heirs

One of the most influential television shows in South Korean history was Boys Over Flowers – it was based off a Japanese manga and was one of the most watched shows in Southeast Asia. It not only set the template for future K-dramas, but many of its cast members went onto successful careers in South Korea.  In Boys Over Flowers, Geum Jan-di is a girl who comes from a working-class family (her family runs a dry-cleaning business) and, after preventing a student from committing suicide a prestigious high school (Shinwa High School) is given a scholarship to attend the high school (mainly to appease public outrage). She manages to fall into the cross hairs of the F4 (the four most popular boys at the school who come from the wealthiest families in the country).  Gu Jun-pyo, the ringleader of the group, initially is antagonistic towards Jan-di, but after she sticks up for herself, he finds himself falling for her.  The rest of the series chronicles the ups and downs of their turbulent relationship. The cast is uniformly excellent, but it was Lee Min-ho’s performance as the volatile Jun-pyo that really stood out – he took a detestable character and made him sympathetic. The following year, Playful Kiss came out and it sported a similar plot – Oh Ha Ni is a well-meaning but ditzy female who is in love with the most popular student on campus, Baek Seung-jo (played by Kim Hyun-joong who also made a splash on Boys Over Flowers) who rejects her feelings. Through a series of contrivances, Oh Ha Ni and her family end up moving in with Seung-jo’s family. Just like Boys Over Flowers, the show chronicles the ups and downs of their turbulent relationship and ends with Seung-jo marrying Oh Ha Ni. I actually prefer it to Boys Over Flowers – it is more efficiently paced and better written. My main issue with Boys Over Flowers is that is incredibly drawn out (25 episodes) and inconsistent in its writing – there is very little regard for character continuity. It is still a highly entertaining show thanks to its likable cast, but it could have used a rewrite to fix these flaws. 

This leads me to the subject of this review, The Heirs. It not only has a similar plot to Boys over Flowers, but it also stars Lee Min-ho as Kim Tan, the heir of the Jeguk Group, and the illegitimate son of the CEO, Kim Nam-yoon. He also has an older half-brother, Kim Won, who views Kim Tan as a potential rival.  The other common factor the three shows have in common is they feature a terrific lead actress (Koo Hye-sun in Boys Over Flowers, Jung So-min in Playful Kiss, and Park Shin-hye in The Heirs) who are required to do much of the heavy lifting – all three series are told from the perspective of their female protagonist, all of whom come from working class families. In The Heirs, Park Shin-hye is Che Eun-sang, a girl whose mother is a mute and works as in-house maid for the Kim clan.  To help her mother pay the bills, Eun-sang works multiple part-time jobs and becomes increasingly more frustrated with her life – she lives paycheck to paycheck and there is no foreseeable future in her sights. While most girls her age often have ambitious dreams, she would be content with working an office job and making roughly $2,000 a month.  Her outlook on life is very bleak. What makes is even worse is that her older sister, Cha Eun-suk, is apparently living it up in Los Angeles – she is engaged and attending a university.

When their mother wants to wire money to Eun-suk money for her wedding, Eun-sang insists on delivering it in person. In truth, she hopes to bail on their money, move in with her older sister, and hopefully find a good paying career in Los Angeles. However, her trip turns into a disaster – her older sister isn’t engaged (she is in relationship with a two-timing boyfriend) and she isn’t attending college but working part-time as a waitress.  Eun-sang gets into a public argument with her older sister, and it ends with Eun-suk taking the money and running away.  Coincidentally, their entire argument is witnessed by none other than Kim Tan.  She is stranded in Los Angeles without money and a phone. Kim Tan learns of her predicament and offers her shelter in his home.  She is skeptical of his generosity, but given her predicament, she doesn’t really have much of a choice.

I always enjoy how small of a place the world is in K-dramas – Los Angeles has a population of about 3.8 million people and yet, on her first day in foreign country, Eun-sang not only runs into Kim Tan – who also happens to be youngest son of the Tan clan, the same family her mother works for.  Not only does she run into Kim Tan, but his bitchy fiancée, Rachel, at the airport. If there is a flaw with The Heirs is that the entire series is built on a very flimsy foundation.  The LA scenes are the weakest part of the drama – I’m not too bothered by the multiple coincidences that get stacked up in the first four episodes because it plays into the theme that Kim Tan and Eun-sang are destined to be together. Despite all the hurdles that get tossed in their direction, they overcome all of them and these obstacles only strengthen their bond. The biggest issue I have with the LA scenes is the atrocious acting by the American actors. In LA, Kim Tan’s best friend is a stereotypical stoner dude – to the point where he mistakes the bean powder Eun-sang is carrying around in her suitcase (meant for her older sister) for drugs, steals the bag, ingests a handful, has an allergic reaction, and ends up in the hospital. His cartoonish performance is jarring when compared to the more restrained performances of Park Shin-hye and Lee Min-ho. I also get annoyed when I see American actors popping up in K-dramas – the appeal of them is that they offer another country’s take on popular genres.  The Heirs is a soap opera told from the South Korean perspective, and I find the American actors to be intrusive (mainly because they tend to be bad actors).  I’m not interested in Kim Tan’s stoner friend, especially when his strained relationship with his older brother is more interesting. 

When Eun-sang returns to South Korea, she finds that her mother has moved out of their apartment and into the Tan residence – she is now an in-house maid. Eun-sang has no choice but to move into the servant’s quarters with her mother.  It just so happens that Kim Tan also returns to South Korea (after spending three years in the states) and it is only inevitable that the two of them run into each other.  While Eun-sang is attracted to Kim Tan, she is also reluctant to get involved with because of their social standings – he is the son of a CEO, while she is the daughter of mute maid.   While Kim Tan doesn’t see class, it is all Eun-sang can think about – with good reason, because their relationship is opposed by different factions.  It also doesn’t help that he is engaged to Rachel. The marriage has been arranged by their parents – Rachel’s mother, Esther Lee, is a successful businesswoman and a shareholder in the Jeguk Group. In three K-dramas I have mentioned, marriage among the elites is more of a business merger and love rarely factors into the equation. It is even more extreme in the case of Kim Tan and Rachel; they have been engaged since they were seventeen. 

Like the previous two dramas, there is the female lead is part of a love triangle – in the case, it is between Eun-sang, Kim Tan, and his bitter rival, Choi Young-do (whose father is engaged to Rachel’s mother).  Kim Tan and Young-do used to be best friends but had a falling out.  Young-do is the school bully and initially sets his sights on Eun-sang but eventually falls for her.  After Kim Tan’s father learns of his son’s relationship with Eun-sang, he gives her a scholarship so she can attend Jeguk High School. However, we learn that his motive his less than altruistic – he is hoping that, by attending Jeguk High School, Eun-sang will learn her place and realize that it would be futile to pursue a relationship with Kim Tan.

However, Eun-sang has an advantage, her best friend, Yoon Chan-young and his girlfriend, Lee Bo-na, both attend Jeguk High School and give her pointers as to how to survive the hostile environment.  Chan-young points out the strict caste system at Jeguk High School – there are four tiers of students:
The first tier is the Business Heir Group – that would include Kim Tan, Young-do, and Rachel, whose parents own successful businesses.
The second tier is the Stock Heir Group. That includes Bo-na and a few other females. They will not inherit their parents’ business, but they are major shareholders.
The third tier is Honorable Heir Group. They are offsprings of politicians, judges, etc. Or they are from families who recently acquired wealth.
At the bottom is the Social Welfare Group.  People like Eun-sang who got in because of scholarships and grants. They are the outcasts of the school and are often picked on by those at the top tier. Chan-young advises Eun-sang to lie about her social status and say that she is from the third tier.  Of course, this proves to be difficult as Eun-sang works multiple part-time jobs and is even seen by Young-do delivering food. Not to mention, her relationship with Kim Tan makes their classmates curious and they start to dig up information on Eun-sang. The most curious of them all is Rachel, who is baffled by what her fiancé sees in Eun-sang. Even worse is that Kim Tan’s opponents will often target Eun-sang as a way of getting to him.  It’s actually impressive that Eun-sang can keep up the façade for as long as she does, considering how the deck is stacked against her. 

There are also a couple of things that end up working in Eun-sang’s favor – the most notable thing is when Kim Tan’s mother poses as Eun-sang’s mother at the PTA meeting. Kim Tan’s mother Han Ki-ae is his father’s mistress and, so as not to tarnish the family, she is not allowed to make public appearances. However, she desperately wants to attend a PTA meeting and when Eun-sang’s mother opts not go, Ki-ae goes in her place.  It should be noted that Tan and Won’s stepmother, Jung Ji-suk, is the chairwoman of Jeguk High School and when Ki-ae pops up at the PTA, she is speechless. Ki-ae manages to impress the other members of the board by offering to pay for the food at an upcoming event. This information trickles down to the student body and they are convinced that Eun-sang comes from a wealthy family.

The relationship between Han Ki-ae and Eun-sang’s mother, Park Hee-nam, is one of the most interesting aspects of The Heirs. At first, there is a mutual understanding between the two of them – Hee-nam is depends on Ki-ae for employment while Ki-ae often confides all of her insecurities to Hee-nam. In fact, the reason Ki-ae permits Eun-sang to move into servants’ quarters with her mother is because all of the dirt Hee-nam has on her. The two of them eventually become close friends – after Ki-ae leaves Nam-yoon she visits Hee-nam and they both admit they missed one another. \

They both think of themselves as being burdens to their children -  Hee-nam feels guilty about how her mute condition limits her career opportunities and Ki-ae, being a mistress to Tan’s father, believes that publicly showing her son affection will tarnish his name – everyone believes that his stepmom is his biological mom.  She wants what is best for her son and fears that she will only hinder his career. Kim Tan feels differently and is appalled by how poorly his mother is treated by his father and stepmother. They both love their children unconditionally but feel bad that they can’t do more for them. After Kim Tan announces that Ki-ae is his biological mother, this creates all sorts of shock waves in the Jeguk Group, but it also gives Ki-ae the confidence to leave Kim Nam-yoon. No matter what, Tan will always have her back and proclaims to his father that he would rather be Ki-ae’s son than an heir to the Kim Empire.  It is the ultimate show of love. Ki-ae initially opposes Tan and Eun-sang seeing each other but it’s nothing personal, she genuinely believes that it is more beneficial for her son to marry Rachel.  She is worried that his father might disinherit Tan if he chooses Rachel.

The other interesting relationship is between Tan and his older half-brother, Kim Won. It’s a very one-sided relationship on the surface – Tan looks up to his older brother while Won acts very coldly to his younger brother. He thinks of Tan as less of a sibling and more of a rival – it was Won who exiled Tan to the Los Angeles.  However, there is a sense that Won’s coldness is an act, that this is actually a case of tough love – in order for Tan to survive the business world, he needs to be strong and has to be willing to turn off his emotions. After Eun-sang and her mother move out of the Kim household and to unknown location, Tan has a complete breakdown and hits rock bottom – he frequents the bars and gets into fist fights with other patrons. It is Won who comes to his brother’s rescue and helps him get back together with Eun-sang. Won, like his younger brother, is also romantically involved with a woman of a lower class, Jeon Hyun-joo, who initially works as tutor and them becomes a teacher at Jeguk High School. Won is also given a similar choice as Tan – the family business or true love?  His father wants him to marry the daughter of a prominent businessman, but he can’t get over his feelings for Hyun-joo. 

There is also a nice character arc with Lee Bo-na. She is the girlfriend of Yoon Chan-young, Eun-sang’s best friend, and she doesn’t like how close her boyfriend is with Eun-sang. Yet, despite her constantly proclaiming her dislike for Eun-sang, she always has Eun-sang’s back. She knows the truth about Eun-sang (that she is from the Social Welfare Group) but keeps this information to herself. She also takes Eun-sang under her wing and protects her from the spiteful Rachel. She is a good example of “actions speak louder than words” – she claims to dislike Eun-sang but her actions prove the opposite.  It is interesting to see so much thought given to a supporting character.

The show, rather unsuccessfully, tries to set up a love triangle between Eun-sang, Kim Tan, and Choi Young-do. It is amusing to see Kim Woo-bin play the role that Lee Min-ho played in Boys Over Flowers – the bad boy who initially bullies the female protagonist but ends up fall in loving with her.  In Young-do’s case, it is a case of unrequited love. Eun-sang resents him for most of the series and then pities him towards the end, but there is never a sense that she considers him potential dating material. He is also at a huge disadvantage – they don’t actually meet each other until episode five. It doesn’t help that her first impression of Young-do is a negative one – she is appalled by his nonstop bullying of a lower classman. Her initial resistance to Kim Tan is not because she dislikes him (in fact, she likes him quite a lot) but because of their class differences. Boys Over Flowers, for all its flaws, had more believable love triangle between Geum Jan-di, Gu Jun-pyo, and Yoo Ji-hoo. In the first few episodes, Jan-di is much closer to (and has a crush on) Ji-hoo and views Jun-pyo with suspicion (with good reason, as he was her tormenter in the first two episodes). What Jun-pyo finds impressive about Jan-di is her ability to stick up for herself and others – she is the first person who has given him push back. His initial respect turns into love, and she eventually reciprocates his feelings.

Both Boys Over Flowers and The Heirs feature one of my least favorite tropes in K-dramas – THE NOBLE SACRIFICE. This is when the lead protagonist concludes that their love interest would be better off without them and pushes love interest away by giving him/her the cold treatment.  Boys Over Flowers takes this trope to most extreme level – most of the second half is devoted to Jun-pyo giving Jan-di the cold treatment, because his parents are pressuring him to marry Ha Jae-kyung. This subplot consumes so much screentime that you wish Jan-di would just move on.  In The Heirs, Nam-yoon forces Eun-sang and her mother to leave his estate. They move to a small town near the ocean. Kim Tan and Young-do put aside their differences and pool their resources to find her.  Kim Tan finds her first but does not initially make contact – he blames himself for her current situation. However, he desperately needs to see her and visits her at the bookstore he works at, and she gives him the cold treatment. However, he is persistent, and she can’t resist his charms. This trope is used more effectively in The Heirs than it is in Boys Over Flowers, because it is set up better.  There is always a cloud of uncertainty that hangs over Tan and Eun-sang’s relationship, despite their attraction to one another, so when the shit hits the fan, it is believable that Eun-sang would push Tan away so he can move on with his life. However, most of the time “the noble sacrifice” trope feels like filler – the writers are obligated to write a certain number of episodes, and they need to find a reason to separate the lead romantic couple. They spend days pace around the room until a light bulb goes in of their heads, “I KNOW! THE NOBLE SACRIFICE!” It is also interesting to note that this trope isn’t limited to K-dramas – the Harold Lloyd silent comedy, Girl Shy, also features the "noble sacifice." 

I’m only scratching the surface of The Heirs – however, for brevity’s sake, I only touched on the main plot points. If I were to go into all the subplots, supporting characters, and themes, this review would be well over 100 pages. The same applies to My Sassy Girl, there are a lot of subplots I didn’t touch upon. So, if you have the time and are willing to sit through subtitles, I recommend you check out both shows. The Heirs is significantly better, but My Sassy Girl has a certain charm about it. 

Credits
MY SASSY GIRL (2017)
Cast: Joo Won (Gyeon Woo), Oh Yeon-seo (Princess Hye-myung), Lee Jung-shin (Kang Joon-young), 
Kim Yoon-hye (Jung Da-yeon), Jung Da-bin (Gyeon Hee, Woo's sister), Son Chang-min (King Hwijong), Yoon Se-ah (Queen Park), Yoon So-jung (Dowager Queen Jihye), Choi Ro-woon (the Heir Presumptive), Ryu Dam (Young-shin, eunuch to the princess), Tae Mi (Byeol-i, the bodyguard to the princess), Lee Kyung-hwa (the Deposed Queen Han), Jo Hee-bong (Gyeon Pil-hyung, Woo's father), Jang Young-nam (Lady Heo, Woo's mother), Jung Woong-in (Jung Ki-joon, Left Minster and Da-yeon's father), Shim Hyung-tak (Choon-poong/ Prince Eunseong), Kwak Hee-sung (Park Chang-whi), Lee Si-eon (Bang Se-ho), Seol Jung-hwan (Maeng Kwang-soo), Park Young-soo (Hwang-ga),  Seo Eun-ah (Mal-geum, Da-yeon's servant), Kris Sun (Prince Darhan of Qing), Kim Min-jun (Prince Choosung).

Director: Oh Jin-seok 
Writer: Yoon Hyo-je
16 episodes ~ 60 minutes

THE HEIRS (2013)
Cast: Lee Min-ho (Kim Tan), Park Shin-hye (Cha Eun-sang), Kim Woo-bin (Choi Young-do), Kim Ji-won (Yoo Rachel), Kang Min-hyuk (Yoon Chan-young), Krystal Jung (Lee Bo-na), Choi Jin-hyuk (Kim Won), Kim Sung-ryung (Han Ki-ae, Tan's mother), Kim Mi-kyung (Park Hee-nam, Eun-sang's mother), Jung Dong-hwan (Kim Nam-yoon, father of Tan and Won), Park Joon-geum (Jung Ji-suk, Tan and Won's stepmother), Choi Won-young (Yoon Jae-ho), Kang Ha-neul (Lee Hyo-shin), Park Hyung-sik (Jo Myung-soo), Jeon Soo-jin (Kang Ye-sol), Cho Yoon-woo (Moon Joon-young), Choi Jin-ho (Choi Dong-wook), Yoon So-ha (Esthe Lee), Lim Ju-eun (Jeon Hyun-joo), Baek Seung-hyeon (Secretary Jung), Choi Ji-na (Yonng-do's mother), Yoon Jin-seo (Cha Eun-sak, Eun-sang's sister), Wang Ji-won (Kim Won's blind date). 

Directors: Kang Shin-hyo, Boo Sung-chul 
Writer: Kim Eun-sook 
20 episodes ~ 60 minutes 

Let's Eat (Series 1 & 2) (2013 - 2015)

The Let’s Eat series is simultaneously charming and frustrating – a show that gets a huge boost from its likable cast, and lively direction, but often gets bogged down in subplots, and an air of familiarity (though, this mostly applies to season two).

 There are three seasons total (I have only watched the first two) and they all star Yoon Doo-joon as smooth-talking insurance consultant, Goo Dae-young, who is also a food enthusiast.  In his spare time he runs a food themed blog called “Let’s Eat,” where he goes to restaurants and, if the meal is good, he posts pictures of empty plates onto the website. If the food isn’t good, he straight out tells the owners so.  Dae-young is a very outgoing individual and is very quick to make friends – in season one, he immediately befriends his next-door neighbor, Yoon Jin-yi, and all of Soo-kyung’s co-workers at the law firm she works at.  In season two, he befriends the elderly woman Lee Jum-yi who lives in the apartment downstairs, the part-time convenience store worker Hwang Hye-rim, and even Lee Sang-woo – a public official at the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, who is also Baek Soo-ji’s love interest.  He is also prone to give long lectures about food, usually after someone makes a dismissive comment about the dish they are eating.   In season two, Dae-young and Soo-ji often get into heated arguments over the proper way to eat a dish.

The two series not to only feature the same lead actor, but also have similar characters, themes, and plot points.  To save time, and my sanity, I thought break them down into different categories:

The Female Protagonist

The female protagonist in season one is Lee Soo-kyung, who is the assistant manager at a law firm (and is treated poorly by her boss, Kim Hak-soon). Ten years of working at this law firm and getting divorced from her husband has made her a bitter and suspicious individual.  She initially dislikes Dae-young – he doesn’t exactly ingratiate himself towards her with his slobbish behavior – when he is taking out the garbage he leaves behind a trail of garbage water in the hallway. Soo-kyung points this out to him and he promises to clean it up, but it takes him a few days to follow up on that promise. However, it feels like the two of them are beginning to warm to each other, especially when they realize they have a similar taste in food. One of Soo-kyung’s quirks is that she doesn’t like to eat alone and if someone invites her to dinner, she will always accept, no matter who it is.  She has dinner with Soo-kyung with Dae-young and Jin-yi a few times and three of them decide to form a food club. She is also a huge fan of Dae-young’s blog, Let’s Eat – though, she is not aware that he is the creator. 

However, their food club is threatened when Soo-kyung suspects that Dae-young is the stalker who assaults young women in the streets. Soo-kyung witnesses the suspect assaulting a woman and gets a brief side view of him. He wears the same get up as Dae-young – a ball cap and winter jacket – and Soo-kyung believes this is enough evidence to convict Dae-young. She informs the police about her suspicions and Dae-young is taken into custody.  This just doesn’t harm Dae-young’s reputation, but it ends up costing him 100, 000 dollars. One of his insurance customers named him the beneficiary on her life insurance and he set to inherit 100,000 dollars.  Soo-kyung suspects he manipulated the woman into naming him the main beneficiary, and the woman’s estranged brother agrees. In truth, the reason the woman named Dae-young the beneficiary was because he was only one who consistently visited her in the hospital while she was sick. The woman’s brother threatens to take Dae-young to court. Dae-young retains Soo-kyung’s boss, Kim Hak-moon, to represent him.  While Soo-kyung was witnessing the woman being assaulted, Dae-young was in another part of the city trying to work out a deal with the brother.  When Dae-young is detained, the brother will only provide Dae-young with an alibi if he agrees to waive the inheritance. Dae-young realizes he has no choice and agrees to the brother’s demands, even though Kim Hak-moon advises him not to do so.

Meanwhile, Soo-kyung is so convinced of Dae-young’s guilt that she boasts to her co-workers, Oh Do-yeon and Cho Kyu-sik (her best friend’s husband) about how she helped bring him to justice. When she finds out that Dae-young is innocent, Kyu-sik advises her not to say anything. However, the cat is let out of the bag by Do-yeon, who is horny for Dae-young. When Dae-young confronts Soo-kyung about this, she gets all defensive about it and even accuses him of bribing a witness. He is disgusted by her excuses and comments, “All you had to do was say you’re sorry.”

The more interesting aspect of Let’s Eat is how unlikable Soo-kyung is in the early going. Even after Dae-young proves to be the bigger person and forgives Soo-kyung for upending his life, she is still very dismissive towards him.  It isn’t until after she learns that he is the creator of Let’s Eat that she begins to feel differently towards him – she immediately becomes infatuated with him. We also learn that Soo-kyung has a history of falling for men she was initially a fan of:

1)     She became enamored by a singer in a church choir and nearly converted to Catholicism just so she could be with the man.

2)     In college, she was a fan of the captain of the basketball team and eventually dated him.

3)     Her ex-husband was a DJ at the college radio station and Soo-kyung was at first a fan, and then later became his lover. 

When you factor in her dating history, Soo-kyung’s romance with Dae-young feels more like a short fling. In fact, this is later proven in Let’s Eat 2, where it is revealed that they have broken up.  I also personally believe that Dae-young ends up with the wrong woman – Jin-yi is a much better match for him and is cuter and more likable (but more on that later).

The female protagonist in season two is Baek Soo-ji. This is probably an unpopular opinion but a prefer Soo-ji over Soo-kyung – this is largely due to the fact that I feel Seo Hyun-ji is slightly better actress than Lee Soo-kyung. However, season two of Let’s Eat is very reminiscent of Flower Boys Next Door.  Soo-ji often feels like a carbon copy of that show’s heroine, Go Dok-mi. They are both introverted individuals who rarely leave their apartments. They are both writers – Dok-mi edits manuscripts while Soo-ji does freelance work for the Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. They are both in love with a highly respected individual – Dok-mi is in love with the doctor who lives next door while Soo-ji is in love with Lee Sang-woo, a public official she works with.  Dok-mi’s love interest doesn’t even know she exists while Sang-woo constantly gets Baek Soo-ji’s surname wrong (he constantly calls her Mrs. Park). Soo-ji is the type of person who would rather be in a bad relationship than be single. Like most desperate people, she believes that getting married to a successful person will solve all of her problems – even though her problems are more psychological than financial.  

Like Dok-mi, Soo-ji had a very traumatic childhood – she used to be obese and was bullied throughout school.  She also has a history with Dae-young – they attended the same elementary school, and he befriended her. However, it turns out the main reason he befriended her was to bring business to his mother’s restaurant. There wasn’t really any ill intent on Dae-young’s part, he wanted to help out his mother and didn’t stop to think how this information might hurt Soo-ji.  She largely blames Dae-young for her traumatic childhood. Dae-young genuinely feels bad for what he did and asks Soo-ji how he can make it up to her. She tells him that the only way she will forgive him is if he helps her marry Sang-woo.   Dae-young reluctantly takes on this assignment but realizes that it is going to take a lot of work, because Soo-ji is one awkward individual.

 He initially gives her some basic advice to help her break the ice with Sang-woo (find out his interests, laugh at his jokes) but Soo-ji completely botches it – she laughs at the most inappropriate moments and just has problems maintaining a conversation with the man she is in love with. She has a lot of things she would like to say, but she doesn’t know how to say them. This is something most people in a one-sided relationship can relate to - you are often so enamored by the individual that you freeze up around them. You often second guess yourself and are worried that they might find you ridiculous. It’s very easy to sympathize with Soo-ji in these scenes even when she makes irrational decisions. 

What is even more annoying for Soo-ji is how easy to is for Dae-young to befriend Sang-woo – the two of them bond over soccer and video games. Publicly, Sang-woo puts an act of respectability, but privately he is not the prude that he appears to be – he gets drunk on weekends, goes on blind dates, and curses when he gets upset.  Dae-young talks up Soo-ji to Sang-woo, and when the two of them are supposed to go bicycling, Dae-young tells Soo-ji that she should “accidentally” bump into them at the park.   There is a slight flaw with Dae-young’s plan – Soo-ji doesn’t know how to ride a bike, so he spends most of the previous evening teaching her how to ride a bike.  The next day, when she accidentally bumps into Dae-young and Soo-ji at the park, Dae-young insists she rides along with them, much to the annoyance of Sang-woo (who just wants to hang out with his new bestie). Dae-young tells Soo-ji that he will leave first, so she can have some alone time with Sang-woo. However, Sang-woo thinks that Dae-young is challenging him to a bicycle race and he speeds after him, while Soo-ji is left in the dust. However, Soo-ji does use this to her advantage – she later breaks the ice with Sang-woo by asking his advice for which bicycle she should buy. He takes her to a bicycle shop and points out the ideal bike for her – the only catch is that is also expensive ($1000), which is well beyond her price tag. She is so determined to win over Sang-woo, she buys the bicycle and spends the next few days avoiding the apartment manager, who keeps trying to collect the rent from Soo-ji. Dae-young is able to sell the bike to his friend and co-worker, Lim Taek-soo but Soo-ji fails to learn her lesson.  I will get back to this relationship later on.

When Soo-ji is with Dae-young, she is looser and freer to be herself, because she knows that Dae-young won’t think of her any less. She is always uncomfortable around Sang-woo (even though they are dating) because she is worried that any misstep on her part will result in him judging and, potentially, leaving her.  It is not surprising that she finds herself falling for Dae-young, but a simple misunderstanding (and a failure to communicate) keeps them apart – he believes she is still in love with Sang-woo while she thinks he is madly in love with his (nonexistent) girlfriend.  Finally, Dae-young decides to take an insurance gig in Seoul and moves out of the apartment. Of course, you can’t end a K-drama on a depressing note and the two eventually end up together.  However, it is also a credit to Soo-ji’s growth that after breaking up with Sang-woo, she doesn’t immediately rush into another relationship. She uses this time alone to sort out her own affairs - she starts to write again and works on improving her relationships with her neighbors – she even becomes roommates with Hye-rim. It is only after she has sorted out her life that she is comfortable being in a relationship with Dae-young.

The “Kind of” Love Triangle

In both Let’s Eat series, Dae-young finds himself in a kind of love triangle with the lead female protagonist and her boss. I use the phrase “kind of” because in both series Dae-young does not initially seek a romance with the female protagonist – in fact, he, at first, is hoping to play the role of matchmaker with the lead female and her boss. In series one, it is even more complicated because Lee Soo-kyung never actually reciprocates the feelings of her boss, Kim Hak-moon. 

Soo-kyung has worked as the assistant manager at Kim Hak-moon’s law firm for ten years and he has done everything to make her workplace a living hell – he treats her like a secretary, has her perform menial tasks, and scolds her over minor things. While he gives his other employees a money bonus, he takes Soo-kyung out to dinner and tells her to enjoy her bonus. It is revealed that the two of them attended the same college and Hak-moon still holds a grudge against Soo-kyung for rejecting him. In college, Soo-kyung was very popular among the male students – Hak-moon was one of her many admirers but was a total nerd and had no idea on how to approach her.  One day, he went all for broke and handed her a present – a broach – and then quickly walked away. The next day, he was deflated when he saw her best friend, Kyung-mi, wearing the broach. He never forgot Soo-kyung’s rejection and when she applied for the assistant manager at his law firm, he was convinced that this was fate giving him a chance to exact his revenge. 

While Soo-kyung is, initially, an unlikable protagonist, she wasn’tin the wrong here. First, Hak-moon kind of blind-sided Soo-kyung with his “confession”, I put that word in quotation marks, because he didn’t say anything to Soo-kyung, he just handed her a present and then walked away. What did Hak-moon expect to happen?  Did he believe that she would immediately fall in love with him?  Remember, Soo-kyung was a very popular female on the college campus, she probably had many males confess their love to her and Hak-moon probably got lost in the shuffle. Plus, I think most women would be creeped out if a guy they didn’t know approached them and handed them a gift. At the very least, it would be extremely awkward for the woman. She wouldn’t know what to make of the gift or what to do with it. Does she really want to wear the broach in public and possibly send the wrong message to her creepy admirer?  

Soo-kyung tolerates Hak-moon’s abusive behavior for ten years because she desperately needs the money. However, Hak-moon eventually crosses the line by attacking Soo-kyung’s personal life – he implies the reason Soo-kyung’s husband divorced her was because she was sleeping around.  This is, understandably, a step too far for Soo-kyung and she hands in her letter of resignation. Again, as unlikable as Soo-kyung can be at times, this is one instance where I found myself cheering for her.  No one should put up with that level of abuse.  It is only after she has quit that Hak-moon realizes that he still has feelings for Soo-kyung and regrets driving her away. He is able to talk into taking her old job and promises he will treat her better from now on. This also proves to be fortuitous for Soo-kyung, because she was having difficulty finding another job. She applies to multiple jobs (including coffee barista) and is rejected mostly due to her age (33). These potential employers consider her too old to be doing these types of jobs.  She is initially hesitant to take up Hak-moon’s offer but changes her mind when he promises to give her a significant pay raise.  Hak-moon is good on his word, he gives Soo-kyung a raise and treats her significantly better than before. 

It is also at this point that Hak-moon confesses his feelings for Soo-kyung. She is, naturally, overwhelmed by his confession. She just returned to the law firm and now her boss, who had treated her like garbage for a decade, is confessing his love for her – she is confused by the whole affair and is even suspicious of his motives. Is this part of his revenge?  Despite Hak-moon’s best efforts, she just can’t see him as anything other than her boss. She also developed feelings for Dae-young, even though he is four years her junior. 

In series two, Dae-young finds himself in a love triangle with Soo-ji and public official, Sang-woo. Dae-young tries to play matchmaker for these two, but it often ends in disaster. It doesn’t help that Sang-woo constantly gets Soo-ji’s name wrong and is more interested in being besties with Dae-young. However, Dae-young lets it slip that Soo-ji like Sang-woo. At first, Sang-woo is unmoved by this info, but when he later encounters an intoxicated Soo-ji and she berates him for not being interested in her, his curiosity gets the better of him and he decides to give her a chance.

Against all odds, Soo-ji and Sang-woo become a couple. She finally gets what she always wanted and ends up being more miserable than ever.  This is not because Sang-woo is a bad guy (he is actually a decent and considerate person) but because the two of them inhabit separate worlds.  He is used to the finer things in life, which often come with an expensive price tag. Soo-ji believes the only way to maintain his interest is by living beyond her means – when he suggests they go hiking, she spends over $1000 on hiking gear. Sang-woo offers to pay for it, but she insists that she will pay for it by herself (and later regrets this decision). She is often baffled by his expensive taste – he takes her to a fancy French restaurant, and she is astounded by the bill (especially given how small the portions were).

They also rarely do anything alone – they often ask Dae-young to come along with them, so they can hide the fact they are dating.  Sang-woo is a public official and if it is revealed he is dating an employee, it could possibly create a scandal.  This means that they are constantly walking on eggshells when they are in public, and they only feel safe when Dae-young is accompanying them. When Sang-woo and Soo-ji go hiking, they invite Dae-young to come with them. He declines the offer but then changes his mind. Sang-woo is called away on business and Soo-ji ends up hanging out with Dae-young – he even rescues her from a group of rowdy male hikers.  It is at this point in the series that Dae-young begins to fall in love with Soo-ji. He really likes Soo-ji but also wants to respect her relationship with Sang-woo.  He begins to distance himself from Soo-ji and lies by telling her that he has a girlfriend. However, he also genuinely cares about Soo-ji that it becomes impossible for him to keep a distance.  When Soo-ji puts herself down, Dae-young will interrupt her and point out all of her strengths. The sad aspect of Soo-ji is she never focuses on the positives of her life - when she was younger, she got a novel published and it won an award. She was morbidly obese throughout most of her life, but thanks to dedication and hard work, she lost a lot of weight and lives a healthier lifestyle. These are both impressive feats, but Soo-ji can only focus on the fact that she is thirty and single – this is mainly because she doesn’t get out and puts little effort into meeting new people.  While Dae-young is making new friends left and right, Soo-ji spends most of her time sulking in her apartment and pining for Sang-woo.  

The Cute Girl Next Door

Both series one and two feature a young, attractive female who befriends Dae-young and the lead female protagonists.  In series one, Yoon Jin-yi, moves into the apartment next door to Soo-kyung and immediately befriends Dae-young – he helps her move into her apartment. Yoon Jin-yi is kind of a flake, but she is a good-natured flake. This is the first time that Jin-yi has lived on her own – she comes from wealth, but her father was recently jailed for fraud and his business went bankrupt, this resulted in Jin-yi’s family being split up. She is naïve to the ways of the world – she is not aware that rent and utilities are two separate bills.  She is also a bit too trusting – she gives the passcode to her apartment to a delivery boy she befriended, unaware that he has an ulterior motive for wanting to get close to her.

She also has a case of one-sided love for Dae-young, who views her as a younger sister. When she confesses her feelings to Dae-young, he lets her down gently by telling an elaborate story about still being in love with his first love (he later tells a similar story to Oh Do-yeon, Soo-kyung’s co-worker). Jin-yi is moved by his story but, because he didn’t shoot down her feelings, she is convinced that she will be given another opportunity to be with Dae-young.

 I must admit that I found myself rooting for Dae-young and Jin-yi to become a couple, because she is a much better match for him.  She is naïve, at first, but she wises up as the series progresses and it is Dae-young who really brings out her better qualities. She is also a very upbeat person – even after her father has been jailed, she is convinced that he will be exonerated, and her family will be restored. Dae-young even persuades Hak-moon to represent Jin-yi’s father. She eventually starts up her own small business – she makes sweaters for dogs, and they prove to be a hit in the neighborhood. She constantly looks after Soo-kyung’s pet dog, and it is while watching him that she comes up with the idea of making sweaters for dogs.

She has a jealous streak – when she learns that Soo-kyung’s coworker, Oh Do-yeon, also likes Dae-young, the two of the constantly take pot shots at one another and tries to sabotage each other’s chances with Dae-young. Later, when Soo-kyung and Dae-young start dating, she feels betrayed and gives Soo-kyung the cold shoulder.  This is coupled with the revelation that her dad is probably guilty of committing fraud and her entire world seems to collapse.  However, Jin-yi proves to be a resilient girl and by the series end, she not only buries the hatchet with Soo-kyung but also becomes more self-sufficient. She is not going to allow her father’s corruption to define her as a human being.

Jin-yi’s counterpart in series two is Hwang Hye-rim, a part-time worker and beauty blogger. 
Hye-rim is also a flake – she spends most of her work shift at the convenience store taking selfies of herself and uploading them to her blog.  She also uses her looks to her advantage – she has her many male admirers do all of the heavy lifting at the convenience store.  Like most young attractive females her age, there is no malice in her actions. If these guys are willing to break their backs, over a small chance she might hook up with them, then that is their fault for being complete simps. The only male who doesn’t fall for her charms is Dae-young – she bats her eyelashes at him and puts on the sad face, but he immediately shoots her down. Later, after the two of them have become better acquainted, he does help move the bottled waters, but that’s because he is helping a friend as opposed to hoping they will hook up. 

Hye-rim strikes up a potential romance with Lee Joo-seung – a mysterious lodger who (illegally) lives in a tiny shack on top of the apartment that Dae-young and Soo-ji live in. At first, their relationship is no different from all the other male suitors hoping to win Hye-rim’s hand – he does all the heavy lifting for at the convenience store. However, after falling into a few hardships of her own, Hye-rim matures significantly and decides to give Joo-seung a chance. I will get back to this character later, because his subplot is easily the weakest aspect of series two. 

Hye-rim is responsible for one of the show’s biggest misdirection – while working at the convenience store, a woman approaches Hye-rim and tells her she could make more money working at a gentlemen’s club. Hye-rim quits her job at the convenience store and disappears from sight and all the other characters begin to wonder what happened to her.  Our initially fear is that she took the job at the gentlemen’s club, but she later pops up at a restaurant, working as a waitress. It never crossed her mind to work at some sleazy gentlemen’s club.

After she has been kicked out of her apartment, she moves in with Lee Jum-yi, the resident grandma. They both hide this information from the landlady, who dislikes Hye-rim – the two of them exchanged a few choice words at the convenience store.  Hye-rim agrees to pay a portion of the rent and do household choirs in exchange for a roof over her head. She eventually grows tired of grandma’s nonstop scolding and moves in with Soo-ji, who after blowing her finances on stupid shit could use help with the rent.

The biggest difference between Jin-yi and Hye-rim (other than their backgrounds) is that Hye-rim never becomes enamored with Dae-young – she flirts with him a few times but then realizes she values him more as a friend. She also desperately wants Hye-rim and Soo-ji to become a couple.

 

The Creeper

Both series feature a subplot involving a creeper. In series one, there is a stalker who attacks random women in the streets. Soo-kyung witnesses one of these attacks and suspects that Dae-young might be the attacker. She shares her suspicions with the police, but Dae-young has an alibi and is released. This creates friction between Soo-kyung and Dae-young, but he eventually forgives her for her suspicious (and screwing him out of 100,000 dollars).

Soo-kyung, despite her flaws, also proves to be a brave soul when she helps the police catch the Creeper. She receives a message from “the brother” of the woman who was attacked, and he wishes to thank her in person.  Soo-kyung agrees to meet the brother in person. Dae-young hears about this and learns that the woman doesn’t have a brother. Fearing for Soo-kyung, he runs to her rescue and manages to injure himself in the process. When he finally arrives, he initially fears that he is too late – he sees a body on stretcher being loaded into the back of the ambulance – but it turns out that Soo-kyung is fine. In this instance, her suspicious nature paid off – she already knows the woman didn’t have a brother.  After she received the call, she notified the police and agreed to act as bait in a sting operation. The police successfully apprehend the suspect and, thanks to Soo-kyung, the woman in her neighborhood can breathe a sigh of relief.

There is also another creeper in series one, Hyun Kwang-suk, the delivery boy who Jin-yi befriends. The two of strike up what initially seems to be an innocent relationship – Jin-yi even invites him to her apartment for some ramen. She even blindly gives him the passcode to her apartment, so he can drop off her packages when she is out. This proves to be a mistake as he constantly sneaks into her apartment so he can search for an unknown object. In turns out that his father was an employee at Jin-yi’s father company and when the company declared bankruptcy, Kwang-suk’s father took his life. Kwang-suk is hoping to find evidence that will prove Jin-yi’s father is guilty of fraud. When he can’t find evidence in her apartment, he issues threats to Jin-yi and endangers her life when he takes her to the rooftop of the building built by her father.  The whole resolution to this subplot is absurd – despite making death threats to Jin-yi and endangering her life, she completely forgives him, and he joins Jin-yi, Dae-young, and Su-kyung for dinner at his mother’s restaurant. WHAT?! He apologizes for his actions, but that doesn’t excuse him making threats to an innocent woman. The only thing that prevented him from pushing Jin-yi off the rooftop was the timely intervention of a security guard. If he hadn’t showed up, would Kwang-suk been able to control his anger? Or would he be lamenting that he just killed an innocent woman?

The creeper in series two is Lee Jeung-soo, the mysterious tenant who lives in a tiny shack on the rooftop. Jeung-soo makes all sorts of claims: that he is thirty years-old (even though he looks like a teenager); that he served in the military (which is mandatory for males in South Korea), and that is studying for the public service exams. Despite his living situation, he has a shit ton of money stuffed under his mattress.  He also claims that he has killed in a person in his past. For the first few episodes, his presence is only known to grandma and the landlady – when Soo-jj complains about cigarette butts on her balcony (which could only come from the rooftop), the landlady dismisses it and tries to pin the blame on Soo-ji. “Are you sure those cigarette butts aren’t from you?” 

The audience is led to believe that Jeung-soo is a serial killer. When Hye-rim quits her part-time job at the convenience store, Jeung-soo is livid that she didn’t bother to inform him, and he believes that she has betrayed him.  He goes back to his little shed, grabs a box cutter and stuffs it in his jacket pocket, and searches the streets for Hye-rim. He finds her standing outside of her restaurant and tells her that he wants to talk to her. He takes her into an alley and reaches for the box cutter in his pocket but changes his mind when she apologizes for not telling him about quitting her job at the convenience. The problem was there was no way for her to reach Jeung-soo because he doesn’t have a cell phone. Plus, she has no idea where he lives.

We are also led to believe that Jeung-soo murders Hye-rim – he takes her up to his little shack and gives her the stink eye. In the next scene, he is wheeling a huge suitcase into the woods to bury it. Does it contain the remains of the recently departed Hye-rim? Did this creeper murder the sweet natured Hye-rim in cold blood? Nope! In the next episode, she turns up very much alive. I won’t spoil the resolution to the Jeung-soo subplot, mainly because the character just isn’t that interesting. It was clear that this subplot exists solely as filler – the writers had to figure out way to pad seventeen episodes and decided that an incel subplot was the way to go. I found myself getting progressively annoyed with it – Dae-yeon and Soo-ji have such great chemistry that found myself yelling at the television whenever this subplot interrupted their storyline. 

The Creeper subplot in series one was kind of distraction, but at least it provided Soo-kyung with a nice character moment. It also doesn’t help that the attempts to make Jeung-soo look menacing are laughable – he is total pipsqueak. I suspect that even Hye-rim could take him in a fight. Though, this is intentional – he is not the psychopath that he pretends to be.

Food Porn

The Let’s Eat series offer up some of the best food porn to ever air on television. A good chunk of screentime is devoted to the characters eating mouthwatering meals. The characters often will drop everything just so they can enjoy a meal together – it doesn’t matter how dire the situation might be in their lives. The central premise of the series is the ability of food to bring people together. In series one, Soo-kyung and Dae-young start off on the wrong foot, but it is their similar tastes in food that brings them together – the two of the form a food club with Jin-yi.
The show often feels like a travelogue for South Korea. “While visiting South Korea, be sure to check out our many first-rate restaurants.” It is incredibly effective – watching the main characters enjoy all these delicious looking dishes makes me want to visit South Korea, or at the very least taking a South Korean cooking class.  

 

Season One

Cast: Lee Soo-kyung (Lee Soo-kyung), Yoon  Doo-joon (Goo Dae-young), Shim Hyung-tak (Kim Hak-moon), Yoo So-hee (Yoon Jin-yi), Lee Do-yeon (Oh Do-yeon), Jang Won-young (Cho Kyu-sik), Jung Soo-young (Park Kyung-mi), Feeldog (Hyun Kwang-suk), Choi Dae-sung (Laundromat Boss), Jung Tae-sung (Hak-moon’s nephew), Nam Nung-mi (Soo-kyung’s mother).

Directors: Park Joon-hwa, Im Se-bin, Im Young-jin, Kim Bo-yeon (Seo Min-jung), Kim Gye-young, Park Min-hyun, Choi Min-sun, Kim Se-hee.

Writers: Im Soo-mi, Jun Ji-hyun, Jo Yoon-kyung, Kim Hyo-shin, Lee Ye-rim.

16 episodes ~ 60 minutes

Season Two

Cast: Yoon Doo-joon (Goo Dae-young), Seo Hyun-ji (Baek Soo-ji), Kwon Yul (Lee Sang-woo), Kim Hee-won (Lim Taek-soo), Hwang Seok-jeong (Kim Mi-ran, the landlady), Jo Eun-ji (Hong In-ah, Soo-ji’s co-worker), Hwang Seung-eon (Hwang Hye-rim), Kim Ji-young (Lee Jum-yi/granny), Lee Joo-seung (Lee Joo-seung/ Ah Chan-soo), Kim Dan-yool (Park Joo-win, Mi-ran’s son), Heo Ga-yoon (Hong Mi-nah), In-ah’s sister).

Director: Park Joon-hwa

Writer: Im Soo-mi

18 episodes ~ 60 minutes