Wild Chives & Soybean Soup

Title:	Wild Chives & Soybean Soup: 12 Year Reunion
Alternate Title(s):	N/A
Genre(s):	Melodrama, Romantic Comedy
Episodes	26
Network:	JTBC
Year Produced:	2014
Available to Watch On:	DramaFever, Hulu, dramafans.org

Summary: Wild Chives & Soybean Soup is a k-drama that has several intertwined stories that all revolve around three families: Yoo, Jang, and Joo. The primary story begins in 2002 with high school students Yoo Joon Soo (Lee Won Geun/Nam Gung Min) and Jang Gook (Yoon So Hee/Lee So Yeon), who fall in love and conceive a child after a night of drinking and celebrating a World Cup win. The families quickly object to their relationship and they are ultimately torn apart. Jang Gook, unable to cope, flees to the US to heal her broken heart. The show then fast forwards 12 years and the couple is reunited by a strange twist of fate. Other key narratives involve friendship, parent-child relationships, one-sided love, marriage, and divorce.

RATING:

♥♥♥

Sad. I wish it had more episodes.

Recommendation: It is a little difficult to review this k-drama because it was just starting to hit its stride when the series was canceled. Consequently, the ending is rushed and somewhat disappointing with many of the major plots being resolved inadequately or not at all. I think it is worth a watch but with an understanding that you'll be left with more questions than answers. While I personally feel that family themed dramas don't translate well into 50 episode arcs, I thought this one might be moderately successful. I was obviously wrong as the viewers didn't tune in for it. Still, the teen and adult cast are all strong actors and I wish them the best on their next projects.

Let's Eat

Summary: Let's Eat is a 2014 South Korean drama about foodies, random assaults, first love, and broken hearts. The story's central character is Lee Soo Kyung (Lee Soo Kyung), a 30 something divorcee working as a secretary in a law firm owned by Attorney Kim (Shim Hyung Tak). After the mysterious death of her next door neighbor, she connects with the other tenants on her floor played by Yoon Doo Joon and Yoon So Hee. These four main characters develop complicated relationships with one another that explore the ups and downs of friendship and falling in love.

+1/2 a heart for a shirtless Shim Hyung Tak

Recommendation: I went back and forth on whether or not I liked this drama. It's a slower paced series that sometimes feels more like a character study than a RomCom. But, the fact is, I tuned in religiously for new episodes each week when I've let others fall behind (i.e. Golden Rainbow). Lee Soo Kyung delivers a solid performance, as always, and I fell in love Shim Hyung Tak. Yes, his performance was a little hammy, but there was something endearing about it. I'm going to give this one a thumbs up and encourage other k-drama fans to give it a chance. The characters grow on you.

Off to the gun show with a six pack...

Other Thoughts: First, I want to say that I am a fan of Lee Soo Kyung. This is the 4th drama that I've seen where she has a major role and she continues to impress me. Let's Eat follows right on the heels of I Summon You, Gold and I think it was a nice transition from the super sexy and manipulative jewelry designer to the divorced secretary. To her credit, I didn't find myself contemplating if she was still playing the same role in a different setting.

I feel obligated to point out that Shim Hyung Tak has a scene in episode 7 where he takes off his shirt in a dressing room. For lack of a more eloquent way to say it, I'll just comment that the dude is ripped! Which way to the beach, Shim Hyung Tak?

It's worth noting that he was simultaneously filming the series Can We Love? with Eugene and Uhm Tae Woong.

The food. I can't write about Let's Eat without mentioning the food. I'm really curious if the cast gained a lot of weight because in each episode there were easily 2-3 scenes where they did nothing but eat. I'm not a big fan of seafood but this show made everything (except the marinated crabs) look delicious.

Let's (Not) Eat

Let's Eat is one of the k-dramas that I'm currently following and, so far, I'm really enjoying it. For those not familiar with it, this drama centers around a group of foodies, their relationships with one another, and a strange murder/crime spree that brings them together. The series isn't over, yet, but after the most recent episode I felt compelled to write something.

For those that know me, my dislike of all things seafood is well known. There's no logical explanation why I should dislike it so much as I can't recall ever having a bad experience with seafood. But there is something about the smell and appearance of it that is completely off putting.

So, as I was watching this week's episode of Let's Eat, you can imagine my reaction to the crab eating scene that takes place about 40 minutes into it. Goo Do Young (Yoon Doo Joon) , Yoon Jin Yi (Yoon So Hee), and Oh Do Yeon (Lee Do Yeon) go to a restaurant that specializes in crabs marinated in soy sauce and they completely devour a huge bowl of it. There were so many close-ups of the dinner party gnawing and slurping on the crab bits that I was completely nauseated by the whole thing. It was a good 5 minutes of people shoving my least favorite food into their mouths! Gross.

Five minutes of my life that I can never get back...

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