BLISS RATING: ★★★
“Eating is a necessity, but cooking is an art.” – Unknown
This series is an example of effrontery. It is confusing and having watched the ending now twice, still incomprehensible to me as to what it is all about, really. So let us break this series down. There is an Italian Restaurant called Laura’s Dinning with head Chef Yoon Do Gun (Lee Chang Hyung). He is a traditional chef and does not deviate from what is classical and standard. He is not experimental or innovative. His personality matches his style of cooking as well. He is a no-nonsense pragmatic individual who seems totally focused on cooking, with nothing else seemingly matters. While the restaurant has a stellar reputation, the eponymous restaurant owner, Laura (Jo Seo Hu), wants newer dishes to keep up with the latest trends.
One day in comes a gregarious enigmatic individual who claims to be a chef but seems to lack formal training. He seems to know how to make meals from observation and simply by taste. He is Chef Choi Jung Woo (Eui Soo Jang). He is an outgoing, gregarious, and an innovative ‘chef’.
He likes to be creative with his dishes and learns to incorporate so much more into a dish. While Yoon Do Gun is a traditionalist, Choi Jung Woo is an innovator. Unbeknownst to Chief Yoon Do Gun, he has been brought in by Lara to awaken him from simply relying on traditional dishes and broaden into something chic. She has established a contest between the two whereas whoever wins, will be the head chef. Chef Yoon Do Gun seems to accept his fate with acceptance and stoicism. Through the antics in the kitchen interactions and the continuous bantering between the two, not only does a friendship develop but, in some sense, a deep respectability for each other’s strengths also develops. Soon more than a friendship is fostered and in a rather short period of time, they fall hard for one another.
But here is where it falls off the rails. And why the story makes no sense, at least to me. Chef Yoon Do Gun had to know or at least sense that he was going to be replaced. I have been around the block a few times and when this type of situation arises (especially when you must compete for your own job, which by the way I have had to do), your days are numbered, as the decision has undoubtedly already been made. And indeed, it had been. Perhaps not initially, but Laura made the decision to replace Chef Yoon Do Gun with Chef Choi Jung Woo. Chef Choi Jung Woo’s whole past is a bit shady and at the very least enigmatic.
Laura wanted a changed and used him to make this change and he knew it. This undoubtedly made him an accomplice and yet he continues with this charade like this contest was somehow legitimate. Even more incredulous is that Chef Yoon Do Gun went along with this charade as well. Did he go along with this out of naiveness, complete ignorance, or fatalism? Yet, there is always the possibility of a much more intensely personal reason. And that is Yoon Do Gun is absolutely in love for Choi Jung Woo and made the supreme sacrifice to not stand in his way.
I base this assumption on a number of observations. One, he never asked Choi Jung Woo why he did what he did. He accepted it even though he was told the real story by a staff person who overheard the conversation between Choi Jung Woo and Laura. Two, he dismissed out of hand the rumor told to him that Choi Jung Woo stole recipes from other and called them his. Three, when he does confront Choi Jung Woo, he tells him that although he hates him, he misses him and asks him if any of it was real what they felt for each other. He does so with genuine raw emotions. Choi Jung Woo says his feelings are genuine and real.
So, when the contest is held, Choi Jung Woo inevitably becomes the head chef. But Laura (which made absolutely no sense to me) privately afterwards tells Yoon Do Gun that his dish is the best dish she has ever tasted. In a gesture of magnanimity and grace and total class or utter submission, Yoon Do Gun admitted his stubbornness and acknowledges his mistakes. Why he did not show bitterness, anger, hurt, towards Laura and Choi Jung Woo is absolutely incomprehensible. His whole demeanor was simply astonishing and one of complete acceptance of the inevitability of his situation with calm resolute. That can only be based on his intense love he had for Choi Jun Woo as anything else is inexplicable. Or simply, his nature was incapable of showing true negative emotions.
If this is what the intent was, it was projected poorly. The biggest problem for me was that there was no real chemistry between the two chefs. I never bought that they were rivals and even less so that they were in love. I admit that I am not Thai and know very little about Thai culture and customs, but I have a hard time believing that two people who ‘like’ each other are so standoffish with each other, even in private. There has to be something that they can give to the audience that remotely shows there is some connection between the two besides the usual staring in each other’s eyes, or smiling, or romping in the ocean. Lee Chang Hyung as Chef Yoon Do Gun was a bit more animated and his scene when he explains that he cannot stop thinking about him felt so real and frankly was unexpected.
But frankly, that was the beginning and end of their connection. It appeared or at least implied that afterwards they had no affiliation to each other for 3 months. Suddenly, Yoon Do Gun calls Choi Jun Woo and he goes running to him. Too much of a mind-twist for me. I just did not understand their relationship even after two reviews. How can you be in love with someone, then steal his job, and confess your desire to be with him and then seemingly have no idea what he is doing, where he is, or frankly any physical connection with him for three months. And then suddenly like a flash run immediately towards him? What??
This is a series that tells more of a story by what was not said then by what was said. We frankly did got to know any of them because they all keep secrets. Plotting and scheming behind each other’s back. In other words, there is no real veracity amongst them. Even if I wished to, I would not for one minute believe that any intimate relationship will last since its foundation is not based on honesty or trust. Both are deceitful.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? Clearly the only one who stands out as real and genuine is Laura, played by Jo Seo Hu. She encapsulates this part with a delicious malevolence that is couched with smiles and crocodile tears. She is manipulative and gets what she wants and is not phony or pretentious. Yes, she tells you what she is going to do and if you are too stupid to not see it, then that is your mistake. She made her character fetchingly intimidating but with such grace and flair. She could instill fear by her mere presence, and she knew it. The only one who know she was phony was Chef Joon Do Gun and he accepted his fate with quiet resignation and the reality that nothing he could have done would have changed her mind. She is evil with a smile. There is a biblical proverb of ‘beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing’. This is what that term means. It was beautifully portrayed. Kudos to her masterful performance.
Just a final note on the title of this series. It is not until the end do you really find out why it is titled so. And frankly and honestly, it is endearing and a real stroke of cinematic artistry. I would not have guessed it, but it totally made sense and thus this series earned a little extra respect. For me, that was impactful and genuine. I just wish more of the series was real and relatable and impactful as the last scene was.
Perhaps on that alone, this series might be worth another look-see.
Leave a Reply