The two don't know each other's names or professions and, to repay him for all his help, Do-Hee offers to buy him dinner once they get back to Seoul but gets upset when Hae Kyung comes up with the most extravagant condition under which they should eventually meet again.
Meanwhile, she coincidentally keeps on meeting Hae Kyung and so they decide to become 'dinner mate': they'll have dinner together but won't try to force any other kind of relations on each other.
Since she's not aware that Dr. Kim and her 'dinner mate' buddy are the same person, Do-Hee's insistent approach to cast Dr. Kim becomes aggressive, with the (hilarious) result that the two get to each other's nerves.
Hae Kyung has his own issues to deal with: his long-estranged mother and his ex-girlfriend Ji No Eul want to force their ways back into his life...
My Opinion👍👎
the 'B-class videos' squad!
The strength points of the series are the unconventional characters, with a female lead that is very straight forward and firm about how she wants to run her beloved shows. Dr. Kim's is a rational and pragmatic person and a bit presumptuous since he thinks that, because he's a psychiatrist, he can figure someone's out immediately...a concept that gets proved wrong because he both can't stand Do-Hee while he enjoys his meals with her as a dinner mate.
Food is also a protagonist and a very important one: the idea that Dr. Kim uses food and takes his patience out for a meal to "cure" them is quite original and interesting. Plus, his assistant Lee Byeong-Jin is my favorite character thanks to his witty assumptions and the fact that he has more common sense than the actual doctor...at some point in the series he speaks Italian and I was sold!
We have to kinds of villains in this drama:
Ji No Eul is set in getting back with Dr. Kim and she's not going to stop even in front of the evidence that he doesn't care about her in that way anymore. Her passive-aggressive behaviors and sneaky subterfuges to reach her goal gave me chills.
My first opinion on Jae Hyung was of a coward, but it turned out to be more complex because he's the textbook stalker: he charms everyone around him and gets them to his side to help him get back with Do-Hee. When he understands he's not getting his way, he goes crazy and somewhat scary...
The support characters are all amazing (shoutout to the homeless philosopher!!) and one of them is openly gay, which is something we don't see much in k-dramaland, while I know Thai and Taiwanese dramas are more open about this theme.
The topics of mental health and food-related disorders maybe aren't as deepened as I wished them to be, but they're discussed so I guess it's a first step...
Other dramas that talk about mental health are Soul Mechanic and Psycho, But It's Okay.
The topics of mental health and food-related disorders maybe aren't as deepened as I wished them to be, but they're discussed so I guess it's a first step...
Other dramas that talk about mental health are Soul Mechanic and Psycho, But It's Okay.
Final thoughts: there's a good balance between rom-com and seriousness, but I'm not totally convinced about Do-Hee evolution throughout the story: she starts as a resilient woman, self-humorous and with her priorities straight and then when it's time to make her point she stumbles a bit...
Still, it was pretty funny and I'm happy to say that I can add 'Do you want to have dinner with me?' into my Korean phrases list.
Rating: 4/5
Ph: hancinema.net
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