Akhilesh Dandge
It's not bad as most the reviews out here, but certainly has its flaws
Well looking at the trailer and the title, I wasn't exactly expecting anything way too serious and dramatic and anticipated it too be all the way fluff for the mainstream female BL watchers out there. But I was wrong! The progression of the two guys slowly getting close and intimate with each other, until one of them gave in and braced his inner desires, felt very natural and realistic to me (Me being a gay guy myself). The situations is somehow believable and something which may happen in real life.
Well most of the watchers out there may disagree with me, but as for the mainstream BL watchers out there, whom I know are mostly female fangirls and not actual LGBTQ people out there, I sincerely request you guys to take know how most real gay relationships work by perhaps asking any gay friend or colleague you may know, before you go ahead and start ranting about your expectations from the show. Most gay relationships, at least the major 90%, evolve from lust, sexual explorations and curiosity, and hardly from just mere emotions and conversations, and your cutesy falls and cheesy gestures. The gay world won't really fit into your typical stereotypical straight world.
The show had its fare share of BL tropes, but were not as much evident and cringey like say Light On Me or Tasty Florida, which I felt had mostly plasticky 2D characters with no sense of realism at all.
The show gave somewhat indie vibes, paired with good amount of OSTs made it a very pleasant and refreshing watch. The show doesn't go hardcore into the gay world like the small production houses like strongberry and matchbox go, but doesn't go too BLish either. It was a subtle watch. The chemistry between the leads felt intimate enough, though i expected more of a proper passionate kiss from them.
Now coming to the bad parts. The script had very lousy writing. The writer just made sure to fit in every cliché BL trope into the time slot, enemies to lovers, evil female villain, drama, happy ending. The female character is not exactly a villain here in the story, for it is her restaurant and the shortfall of profit gives her every right to replace the head chef, but just to maybe have a more diplomatic approach as to not come off as extremely materialistic, made her first employee go through a self test (not so plausible justification of her actions, but yeah :/). The story did have hell number of plotholes. Everything was going on smoothly until we reach the final two episodes
The ending was the worst part of the show. Without giving any sort of justification by Jung Woo for his actions, Do Gun was so quick to forgive Jung Woo for his inexplicable actions which stopped his source of livelihood, just for the pure sake of a Happy Ending. The concepts for the names of the dishes were too lousy and just felt like a freshman winding up his last minute assignment. The colleagues who spend more time with Do Gun, instead of feeling bad for their star chef, started cheering for Jung Woo instead. Why would any sensible colleague do that?
Not the worst show to be watched, but rather a laid back and relaxed watch. Best to be enjoyed in your free time and preferably binge watch as it's short enough. Not to keep too many expectations.
*I AM MOSTLY LENIENT WITH THE KOREAN BL RATINGS AS THEY HAVEN'T YET FULLY EVOLVED INTO A PROPER MARKET YET, BUT I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T LIKE IT DELVING INTO A CRINGEY UNREALISTIC FANSERVICE WHICH MAJORITY OF THAI BLS DO*
Well most of the watchers out there may disagree with me, but as for the mainstream BL watchers out there, whom I know are mostly female fangirls and not actual LGBTQ people out there, I sincerely request you guys to take know how most real gay relationships work by perhaps asking any gay friend or colleague you may know, before you go ahead and start ranting about your expectations from the show. Most gay relationships, at least the major 90%, evolve from lust, sexual explorations and curiosity, and hardly from just mere emotions and conversations, and your cutesy falls and cheesy gestures. The gay world won't really fit into your typical stereotypical straight world.
The show had its fare share of BL tropes, but were not as much evident and cringey like say Light On Me or Tasty Florida, which I felt had mostly plasticky 2D characters with no sense of realism at all.
The show gave somewhat indie vibes, paired with good amount of OSTs made it a very pleasant and refreshing watch. The show doesn't go hardcore into the gay world like the small production houses like strongberry and matchbox go, but doesn't go too BLish either. It was a subtle watch. The chemistry between the leads felt intimate enough, though i expected more of a proper passionate kiss from them.
Now coming to the bad parts. The script had very lousy writing. The writer just made sure to fit in every cliché BL trope into the time slot, enemies to lovers, evil female villain, drama, happy ending. The female character is not exactly a villain here in the story, for it is her restaurant and the shortfall of profit gives her every right to replace the head chef, but just to maybe have a more diplomatic approach as to not come off as extremely materialistic, made her first employee go through a self test (not so plausible justification of her actions, but yeah :/). The story did have hell number of plotholes. Everything was going on smoothly until we reach the final two episodes
The ending was the worst part of the show. Without giving any sort of justification by Jung Woo for his actions, Do Gun was so quick to forgive Jung Woo for his inexplicable actions which stopped his source of livelihood, just for the pure sake of a Happy Ending. The concepts for the names of the dishes were too lousy and just felt like a freshman winding up his last minute assignment. The colleagues who spend more time with Do Gun, instead of feeling bad for their star chef, started cheering for Jung Woo instead. Why would any sensible colleague do that?
Not the worst show to be watched, but rather a laid back and relaxed watch. Best to be enjoyed in your free time and preferably binge watch as it's short enough. Not to keep too many expectations.
*I AM MOSTLY LENIENT WITH THE KOREAN BL RATINGS AS THEY HAVEN'T YET FULLY EVOLVED INTO A PROPER MARKET YET, BUT I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T LIKE IT DELVING INTO A CRINGEY UNREALISTIC FANSERVICE WHICH MAJORITY OF THAI BLS DO*
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