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
