I don’t know if I am the only one who’s lost in this drama, but I feel like I am standing in the middle of an intersection while watching poorly executed scenes with lackluster storytelling.
Let me start with the Whole Shrimp Festival whatever… so finally we get to see Hungry Wok get filled with happy customers. They really deserve it – even us viewers deserved this scene. After what – 10 full hours worth of episodes – we finally get to see Poong (Junho) and his kitchen team cook real food for real people. It’s just so disappointing that we only get to see it now, and I am not even sure if this will continue on because of more hindrances to come.
So yes, speaking of hindrances… Seol-ja (Park Ji-young) is torn whether to take the job offer at the hotel with obviously higher pay or to stay at Hungry Wok and not betray Poong. I know it’s really a hard decision to make especially for someone as talented as her. She desperately needs money, but Poong isn’t someone she likes to betray. I particularly didn’t like how Seol-ja literally stopped right in the middle of a pedestrian lane, acting confused whether to go to Master Wang (Lim Won-hee) or Poong. Of course, Poong won’t ever give her up, especially not to Master Wang, so he literally carried her back to their humble kitchen.
Next, let’s talk about Sae-woo (Jung Ryeo-won) and her feelings. Girl, it’s as clear as broad daylight that she likes Poong more than Chil-sung (Jang Hyuk). But I don’t really understand why this OTP doesn’t hit me. Is there something wrong with me? Am I buried deep in the Chil-sung territory? I liked Poong and Sae-woo as individuals, but man… when Sae-woo learned that her hospital hug “dream” with Poong was not really a dream, I wanted to stop her from rejoicing. LOL.
Anyway, I’m still glad that at least the story is going forward finally. They both established that they are now single, but Poong doesn’t really open his heart to Sae-woo yet, even though it’s also obvious that he likes her, too. I think everyone in Hungry Wok can already tell that they like each other, so they don’t really have to suppress their feelings anymore.
Lastly, the not-so-big revelation about Chil-sung’s real mom. So now we have a name for gum peddler ahjumma (Lee Mi-sook) and it’s Kim Su-nyeo. Just as we all expected, she is the biological mom of our dearest gangster leader, the one who abandoned him, then eventually followed him around whenever he goes now that he is much older.
GRUMPY ALLEY
When Chil-sung asked Poong about the need to get his revenge, it appeared to me as if he wanted to tell him to stop it and just move forward with his life. What’s really his purpose? To avenge his wife’s cheating? He likes another woman now. To make Finishing Touches suffer for not promoting him as the head chef? He runs his own restaurant now. So what’s the point?
That “drowning” question really hit my soft spot. I felt that Chil-sung really tells the truth when he told Poong that he will do everything to save him and Sae-woo. The sincerity behind the statement “I can swim really well, I can save you both” really spoke volumes about the extent on how Chil-sung will do whatever it takes to protect everyone.
Even though I’m not a fan of Poong as the character, I really liked how he looked like when he saw all those satisfied customers. He was teary-eyed and thankful. Finally, they are starting to reap the fruits of their labor.
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ahjummamshies.com 
I feel you. I do feel that our strong SLS is not helping get on board the OTP but I also think that OTP romance started in a weird way that made it difficult to even believe them. I managed to accept them now and it has made my watching experience a little more pleasant but that doesn’t mean I’m into them. For some reason I was pleased with these episodes. At least they showed more than just OTP. The drama is too slow for my taste though.
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I agree that this OTP really started out really weird! I feel like they are dragging the story to the point that it’s so slow paced because it’s 20 episodes and they don’t really have the strong material to support the 20-hour long series. Maybe I’m wrong, but at least now we have some significant developments in the story now that we’re on the second half.
(I really hope we get to see more of Chil-sung’s gangster boys though, their backstories and character developments.)
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