MaryMeKpop

The drama is finally over. It’s finally done. It’s been such an exhausting, frustrating, but also heartwarming experience watching “Tastefully Yours” for the past 5 weeks. Even though the drama was only 10 episodes long, it felt like the longest 5 weeks ever. It felt like a roller coaster ride watching the drama. It felt like the torture and disappointment would never end. I also didn’t want the bonding, fun, and shenanigans of our Jungjae team to end. I enjoyed watching our Jungjae team do what they do best, but I’m also relieved that the show is finally over.

Episode 8 concluded with Beom-woo and Yeon-joo ending on bad terms so I was unsure as to how the drama would wrap up their sticky situation in just 2 episodes. There was still the whole Motto vs. Jungjae sub-plot that the drama wanted to explore as well so there were still some things that it wanted to do. Unfortunately, I had already learned to temper my expectations for the final 2 episodes which was why I surprisingly didn’t hate episodes 9 and 10 (which doesn’t say a whole lot though, lol). Episode 9 primarily focused on the aftermath of the fallout between Beom-woo and Yeon-joo. You had a disappointed and heartbroken Beom-woo moping around and begging for forgiveness from Myeong-sook and Chun-seung. Meanwhile, Yeon-joo returned back to the temple where she grew up to take a break from everything and just focus on herself for a bit. I actually thought the drama handled the aftermath pretty well. Yes, a part of it was frustrating in that I wanted to see Beom-woo just own up to his mistake and communicate directly with Yeon-joo about what he did wrong. But at the same time, I could understand why they didn’t contact each other for a while. They needed their own privacy, they needed their own space, they needed their own time to process everything that happened. Beom-woo knew he messed up and reflected on his actions. For Yeon-joo, she felt incredibly betrayed by someone who she trusted and liked. She was someone who built up her walls and refused to let anyone in so the one time she finally let someone in, that person betrayed her. I especially liked the confrontation scene between Myeong-sook, Chun-seung, and Beom-woo at Chun-seung’s dad’s gukbap restaurant. Myeong-sook and Chun-seung’s disappointment in Beom-woo was so real and raw. I also thought it was ironic that Beom-woo begged for their forgiveness and help at the same gukbap restaurant where Chun-seung originally begged for their forgiveness when he was accused of committing arson at the Jungjae restaurant. The tables turned on Beom-woo and this time it was him who pleaded for forgiveness at the same exact location. Even if it did feel rushed, I understood why Myeong-sook and Chun-seung forgave Beom-woo to help him out. They knew that he was sorry for his actions and felt his sincerity. They still cared about him after all that they went through and they also cared about Jungjae. I also enjoyed the scene of Yeon-joo talking to her younger self in the kitchen at the temple. It was a little reminder to herself of what her true passion was (cooking) and where her heart lied (Jungjae). It was as if her heart was telling her that Jungjae was her home, her restaurant, and evidence of all her hard work and effort. That was where she belonged.

Something else that I liked was the appearance of our two villagers when they showed up to help Team Jungjae with the reality cooking competition show. Again, there were many things that I wished the drama could have done differently so this was one of them but I thought the drama was originally going to go the route of Beom-woo getting more involved with the villagers/residents in the town. We saw a brief glimpse of that in episode 2 which I was excited about because I thought it was proof of Beom-woo settling into his new role as the manager of Jungjae and that he would eventually be able to adjust and adapt to a new life in a new place. But the drama never really explored more of this aspect which was such a shame. It could have kept things simple by just showing Beom-woo bonding and interacting with our 2 villagers as well as others in the town but it decided to go off and do other things instead. It was such a delight to see them return in the final 2 episodes.

I didn’t care for the whole Motto vs. Jungjae cooking competition show and just chalked that up to the show not really knowing what it wanted to do so it randomly just came up with something. Unfortunately, this was a trend that the drama honestly sort of showed from the beginning so it didn’t come as a surprise that it went this direction again. From the food truck competition to the couple whose parents didn’t get along to the ex-boyfriend appearance and trip to Japan to the reality cooking competition show, this drama was all over the place. It was never really stable and confident in what it wanted to do or what type of show it wanted to be. With that in mind, I was not interested or invested in the cooking competition show in the final 2 episodes. Even if it was cliche, I really wished the drama had just had Yeon-joo show up at the end of episode 9 to join the Jungjae team so that it could move on to doing other things. Take out the first round of the show and just proceed to the “rematch” situation where Yeon-joo cooked a home-made meal for Beom-woo and his family. That moment was actually quite touching because I thought that it brought home the message that 1) Yeon-joo learned as a chef and 2) the purpose and power behind her cooking. It wasn’t about Yeon-joo’s cooking skills and talent but rather about the people who she was cooking for. Her cooking for Beom-woo and his family was a prime example of that all coming together. Here, Beom-woo and his family never ate proper meals together and never felt like a family because his mom was busy focusing on her career. They finally sat down and shared a meal together again with recipes that was cooked by Yeon-joo which Beom-woo’s mom cooked herself when she was younger. I thought it was a great idea and I liked the full circle moment. Episode 10 could have wrapped things up so much faster and better by going straight to this moment so that it could have left the rest of the time to focusing on Yeon-joo and Beom-woo who didn’t have a proper discussion about their situation. I really wanted to see them have a heartfelt and honest conversation with each other about what happened between them and how they would be better for it. I thought the drama was going to finally give us that when Beom-woo approached Yeon-joo in the backyard on the night that she returned to the restaurant. I understood that Yeon-joo was still upset and frustrated at Beom-woo, but I really wanted to see them talk things out. But nope, it wasn’t a surprise that the drama ran away from the missed opportunity and didn’t give us a proper conversation between the two lovers. Instead, it spent way too much time on Beom-woo’s mom and brother and the cooking reality competition show and rather fast forwarded to Beom-woo and Yeon-joo suddenly being on good terms. It was such a shame because there were so many missed opportunities. The episode also remembered that Beom-woo was the main character so it decided to finally give some backstory on his childhood. The drama showed him being neglected by his mom growing up and instead being cared for by his grandma. The drama finally gave us this context and insight 10 episodes too late. Lol.

I sort of mentioned this in my review for episodes 7 and 8, but it really was such an odd watching experience with this drama. If a drama started off bad, I would at least know that it was bad and not have any expectations for it whatsoever. I can sort of just watch the drama for what it is and see how much worse it could get. But “Tastefully Yours” was a drama that started off so good and then completely changed and dipped in quality. This was what made the whole experience so much more frustrating, disappointing, and sad. It became a completely different show and wasted all the potential it had, all the great build-up that it did in the beginning, and all the talent from the casting and directing. It had something going for it in the beginning; the drama was onto something. But unfortunately, it pivoted so fast and abruptly that it became a show many of us didn’t recognize anymore. I’m not really sure what happened to the drama and why it turned out this way. A part of me wants to forget that episodes 5-7 ever happened and that the drama jumped from episode 4 to 8 LOL. But that also doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better so I’m not sure if that does much. Instead of the ex-boyfriend storyline, the drama should have dedicated those episodes to focusing on Beom-woo and Yeon-joo’s backgrounds and lives, give us more of Jungjae, and develop the romance between Beom-woo and Yeon-joo. It should have just focused on our characters like it had been doing in the beginning.

Even if the drama’s writing wasn’t the greatest or strongest, the casting and directing was still good (I can’t believe this is the same director as “Weak Hero Class”! Quite a pleasant surprise!). The drama still had its moments in almost every single episode that really got to me or that I enjoyed or that was heartfelt and touching. I started off really liking the drama and then eventually losing my trust in it to the point where I ended up watching it just to watch it. I knew the drama would never return back to the way that it was in the first half which I sadly came around to accept. It lost its charm, its spark, its fun, and its energy. The drama just wasn’t the same anymore. I had high hopes for this drama because I thought it was the one show that would finally get me over the slump that I suffered after “Melo Movie.” It was such a shame with how the drama turned out because I enjoyed watching our Jungjae team and their fun dynamic. To Kang Ha-neul, I hope to see you in another project next time that’s much much better. And to “Tastefully Yours”, you left a sour taste in my mouth that I just unfortunately could not get rid of.