Mario Gonzalez

This show is great and is at least an A-, or 4.5 stars. At it's best, it's a nice isekai cooking show where the protagonist Chef Yoon shows off her skills to craft a dish to solve a character's problem. The show is funny, well produced (i.e. some fun visual effects) and does end on a positive note. However, some plot points take an unusual amount of attention that detracts from the experience. Episodes 1 and 2 are the set up, and are ... silly? Campy? It works, and the dishes are already tasty, but some gags are drawn out and I would encourage viewers to stick with it until episode 3-4, when it really shines. The highlight of the show is definitely episodes 3-10. Several episodes are devoted to a cooking contest, and this largely works. You see great costumes. Great dishes. Drama in whether Chef Yoon will succeed. And excellent supporting cast members. But then you get to episode 11 and I was left wondering if I had accidently changed the show to game of thrones. It was such a tonal shift... I was worried that, as some on reddit would say, the K Drama would become a K Trauma. Hints of violence were there in the early episodes but it goes to 11 (as it were) in episode 11. Thankfully, they do successfully land the plane in episode 12, and while many questions persist, the story does end satisfyingly. And that's the major reason for the downgrade. In trying to do too much, you lose the strength of the focus of this being a fun cooking historial romance show. Speaking of the romance... In episode 4 there's a scene with a non-consensual kiss and the way the show treated it was just very jarring. For one, the romantic music started playing? All while one member of the kiss was like ... "what's going on!?!? Is this really happening?" (And not in a good way). Eventually the story writes this person growing feelings, but the romantic journey is not a strength of the writing, even if by episode 10 or so, the romance is a bit more convincing and moving to the show. The highlight actor is the male lead, king yi huun (i.e. "chona" in the show). I may have spelled that incorrectly. But he shows a huge range, especially at the end. Chef Yoon (actress Yoona?) Is not bad and is convincing as a chef. Some of the antagonists are fun to watch. And the acting when the characters first try a dish is 10/10. So watch the show. Get to episode 3. Savor it until episode 10. Power through episode 11. Episode 12 does land the plane (even if they skip some steps... but not enough to ruin the ending). Enjoy!

The premise of this show is that there is a killer on the loose, and a couple stumbles upon him. Rather than act logically, they decide to extort the killer to make a podcast about the kills. Where this show shines is in the deeper character insights and motivations. The wife Ava suggests this endeavor, and the husband Nate refuses initially. However, when he learns that everybody in their friend group has an affair, and one of the friends, Ruby, likes her Paramour because "he's a go getter", he decides that taking the safe route is a risk to their marriage which was struggling for many reasons, and that this adventure into a podcast with a murder may bring some life (ironically) back into their relationship. But those moments into the crisis and problems of well to do in LA are blemished by the idiocy of many of the characters. The couple Ava and Nate (expecting a baby btw) never think through how to market their podcast, contingencies for the killer (Matt), nor even an alibi when their friends inevitably find out that there is more going on with the trio. It's not ridiculous that the killer (who has been busy) is a smart one to get away with his deeds for so long. It IS ridiculous that the couple never thinks through "What if he wants to make his own podcast?" "How do we explain Matt to our friends and family, and keep him away from them", to, and I'm not kidding, "Should I think more about a dog than my incoming baby?" Worse, the season includes many "dream scenes", where someone dies or starts having sex with someone, and then minutes later, you learn that was all fake. There is potential here. The core ideas of a killer, podcast, even crime con and the drama between the friends keeping secrets could make a great show. Instead, you get show full of characters that never think through the consequences of their actions, where you are constantly yelling at the TV that no one is that dumb, and you find difficult to take seriously because half of the time it's a dream scene anyway.