I didn’t know there was such a job as dietitian/nutritionist in a school/university/company cafeteria. That was interesting. I wish Song Ji-eun could have breathed more life and soul into the character. Well, she does try and we just have to accept the limits of her acting abilities, which were mainly two expressions: troubled/disturbed and shocked/surprised.
It took me more than 10 episodes to understand Yu-mi’s irony and insecurities. You can tell that she is embarrassed about her mother being an adult movie actress but I didn’t realise she deliberately dresses conservatively and can’t date properly because of it until she says so. So that’s the thing about her acting. For Sung Hoon, you can tell he has trouble eating and sleeping even when it is not spelt out for us.
Ji-eun is fortunate to have two strong guys supporting her. Hyun-tae (well played by Kim Jae-young) is the kindest and loveliest of friends.
The worst is getting that narcissistic, stuck up and mean Hye-ri (played by Jung Da-sol) foisted on him by the script. Yes, she matures a little after all the trouble but still, how could they give the nicest guy in the show this horrible girl? Better to pair her with Jin-wook’s father, who seems the only person who likes her!
The main parents are awful. Yu-mi’s mother is ridiculous and Yu-mi is right that she only cares for herself. How can she just go off to try all kinds of silly ways to get on-screen again and keep dumping poor Dong-gu on Yu-mi, Hyun-tae and even Jin-wook when he awakes from his drunken sleep and she had never met him before?? And talking on national television about her daughter’s “scandal” and her one-night stand?? Jin-wook’s father is no better – bugging him to marry Hye-ri when he knows his son is not interested, just because he wants a grandchild. The worst is the scene where little Jin-wook is crying for his mum and the dad just looks at him and walks past without saying or doing anything. No wonder the boy grows up with problems.
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| buries his hurts and melancholy for years |
Jin-wook’s mother appears to be the most normal of the parents but we don’t really know why she had left the family, so…
The last few episodes are a bit of a mess – the main characters go round in circles, with massive amounts of flashback moments, but my favourite scenes are from there. One is when the cafeteria staff members are worrying about Yu-mi (and the cute boy has even tried calling her) and then Mr Jang cries on the – ahem, chest! – of the one he likes, asking “those two will be alright, won’t they?” The other is Jin-wook crying away while eating his mother’s abalone porridge.
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| the colourful cafeteria team |
Another thing I liked was how Jin-wook’s (very big) team is constantly coming up with mundane, useless or no ideas, and he keeps muttering or shouting they should do better, coming up with the brilliant ideas himself, but he keeps them anyway and takes them with him when he leaves his father’s company!
Some loose ends that I wish were tied:
- why doesn’t Dong-gu talk when he is already three, and why doesn’t anyone say or do something about it?
- I didn't like how Yu-mi felt she had to hide Dong-gu and why she couldn't just say upfront that he is her half-brother.
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| at least he gets love from everyone |
The show has a very early 2000s feel, and it was almost like I was sitting on our previous sofa watching My Girl, Sam-soon or 1% of Anything! That is charming in a way.
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| they didn't forget to add the ubiquitous K drama shoe scene |
It is not often that we get the male and female leads singing the theme song together but here they are, singing ‘Same’. They each have solos in the soundtrack too!
14 episodes, OCN
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