MaryMeKpop

Noooo! My biggest fear about this drama came true and this week was the week that it finally happened. This week was the first week where I felt like the drama wavered a little bit.

To be blunt and honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this week’s episodes, especially episode 6. Episode 6 featured the appearance of Yeon-joo’s ex-boyfriend, Jeon Min (played by Yoo Yeon-seok), which stirred up our Jungjae team a bit and their operations of the restaurant. Yeon-joo ended up having to take a leave of absence in order to go to Japan with Jeon Min.

Up until episode 6, the drama was fun and incredibly charming. It was so simple and easy and effortless to watch. I loved watching our team work together to compete in a food truck competition and to win over the hearts of a couple whose parents didn’t get along all that well at first. It proved that their food was a miracle in itself and that it could solve even what seemed like the biggest challenges and issues. Team Jungjae’s food united people and brought people together. Then we even had some progress in the romance department between Yeon-joo and Beom-woo and even if I felt like their romance was a little rushed, I could understand because the drama was only 10 episodes. I thought they were still adorable enough that I could gloss over how quickly they developed feelings for each other (it also helped that Beom-woo was smitten with Yeon-joo since like the beginning, lol).

But then there was one brief moment in episode 3 that showed some cracks with the whole mystery/thriller that felt like it came out of nowhere. I wasn’t sure why the drama introduced it, why it was a thing, and where the show planned on going with it. And it seemed like the drama had no idea either and must have forgotten about it because it didn’t give us any new details or information about this subplot before diving into its next one: the sudden appearance of Jeon Min.

The thing about Jeon Min’s sudden addition into the show is that the drama did something that I actually wanted and was curious about since the beginning: it gave us the backstory behind Yeon-joo’s life. I wanted to know more about her character, her story, and how she ended up becoming the owner of Jungjae and we were able to learn about this through Jeon Min’s appearance. But what I wasn’t a big fan of was the timing that the drama focused on this subplot and the placement in which it happened. The drama did such a wonderful job in honing in on Team Jungjae, their teamwork, and the romance between Yeon-joo and Beom-woo that I became invested in their journey together and the success of their restaurant. The drama did a great job in making me care about our quartet and their funny shenanigans. Then it halted all of that by 1) implementing the odd mystery thriller with the arson and 2) adding Jeon Min in halfway into the show.

Episode 6 sort of felt like a filler episode in that there wasn’t a whole lot that was going on. Yeon-joo ended up traveling to Japan with Jeon Min to visit her former boss who was hospitalized but even then, they didn’t do much. Yes, we got the backstory behind her character but at what cost? I was so into our quartet that I didn’t care about Jeon Min and I don’t think the drama needed to drag on his involvement with the story as much as it did with episodes 5 and 6. It just felt so out of place, so unnecessary, and random. I don’t think the drama should have introduced Yeon-joo’s side of her story so late into the show. We were finally halfway through the drama and then the drama suddenly threw us this curveball. In the first half, it was as if the drama was telling me to only care about Team Jungjae and then in this week’s episodes, it wanted me to care about something else. It just felt odd.

I still have questions that I hope the drama will address later on. What happened to the person who set the restaurant on fire? Was it ever confirmed that it was Sun-woo who did it? Is the drama going to circle back to this or is it just going to pretend like it never happened? What about Beom-woo and his initial plans of stealing Yeon-joo’s recipes? There was a little bit of progress on this in episode 6 but still, one would think that would be the main plot. But instead, the drama dove into all these other random things. I liked episode 5 but episode 6 kind of got distracted and went off the rails (it honestly felt like they just wanted a reason to travel to Japan so they just came up with something. LOL).

Typically in dramas, the sudden appearance of an ex-lover is used to test the feelings of the main couple. Sometimes, this can be a hit or miss depending on the main couple and where they’re at in their relationship. In the case of “Tastefully Yours”, Jeon Min’s character wasn’t needed because Beom-woo already liked Yeon-joo and Yeon-joo already sort of had feelings for Beom-woo (that she is just in denial about). They even went on dates together and Beom-woo had no issue at all in expressing his feelings and crush on Yeon-joo (I love that in order to make it extra clear that he likes her, he even shouts it at the top of his lungs LOL). I’m not really sure what the purpose of Jeon Min’s appearance was or where the drama planned on going with this sub-plot. Beom-woo and Yeon-joo’s relationship alone was great, fun, and entertaining enough. Jeon Min was not needed and I get that the end of episode 6 previewed what kind of involvement he would have in all of this but it felt like the drama did it just for the sake of doing it.

Even though this week’s episodes were a little underwhelming and disappointing, I still thought episode 5 was great and mostly consistent with what we saw in the previous episodes. There were some bright spots including the humor and comedy that remains consistent throughout the drama (I loved Myeong-sook and Chun-seung teasing Beom-woo and Yeon-joo for kissing. Beom-woo, Chun-seung, and Myeong-sook are also just so funny together!). But perhaps the most charming part of this week’s episodes was the ending to episode 5 when Beom-woo and Yeon-joo were on their little date and sat next to each other on the bench. Yeon-joo finally felt comfortable enough and trusted in Beom-woo to share some of her story to him. But my favorite part was when Yeon-joo revealed Jeon Min’s intentions in returning back to her which was that he wanted her to work with him again. And for a few seconds, Beom-woo was a little concerned and doubtful. Would she leave him? Would she leave Jungjae? Would she leave the great work that she created with her team? Yeon-joo reassured him that she wouldn’t leave Team Jungjae given how successful their restaurant was. In this moment, Beom-woo wasn’t just afraid of losing Jungjae but was also afraid of losing Yeon-joo. He didn’t want to lose her, especially to her ex-boyfriend. The few seconds wait for Yeon-joo’s response felt like the longest wait ever and the scene itself was so well done and executed. It felt calm, relaxing, and peaceful. It also felt so honest and real. There was finally a moment of relaxation and peace between the two business partners and lovers.

It felt as if the drama took one step forward and two steps back with this week’s episodes. I ignored the little crack I saw in episode 3 and thought things would get better with episodes 5 and 6 only to be left a little disappointed and sad. I’m definitely not going to give up on this drama and I think I’ll see it the whole way through. It just started off so strong that I thought it would stay this way the entire time. I enjoyed this drama so much that I didn’t see this coming nor did I think it would go in this direction. I haven’t lost hope just yet but admittedly, my confidence in this drama has wavered a little bit. Here’s to hoping the drama can pick itself back up next week.