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Dine with Love chinese drama review
Completed
Dine with Love
2 people found this review helpful
by Cas
Nov 17, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

Last episodes ruined it for me

Ok, so, how do I start? I mean, I loved this drama, the romance, the couple, the interactions between them. It was going to be one of the best cdramas I've watched ever, BUT... last episodes ruined it for me.

For starters, DWL tells the story of how Su Kelan, who loves cooking, teaches Yu Hao, her boss, how to cook and also some manners along the way. This is a typical "brooding boy/gentle girl" situation, he's cold and annoying, and very rude to his subordinates, while she's caring and sweet and everyone seems to like her. I usually tend to like these stories, and it was no different here. All the romance parts went really well, she was penetrating his barriers and he fell in love with her. They started to date and everything seemed to be alright. There are some sweet and fluffy scenes of them together, which I loved. They were happy and making plans for the future. Until FL has to make a work trip, without ML, and when she's on the plane she gets a call from the hospital saying her mother's health worsened. What happens from this moment on is a sequence of bad choices made by FL.

When FL gets the call she simply leaves the plane (where she was headed to a VERY important work meeting btw) and gives no explanation whatsoever, neither to her colleague who was going with her nor to Yu Hao who kept calling her to know what was happening. I can't explain how outraged I was in that moment. It's not that I'm diminishing her mother's situation or her love for her mother. But what harm would be done if she just... idk... called to let him know?! If only that was the only mistake, it would be fine. I could forgive her. But then, after this she decides that the best choice is to break up with Yu Hao bc she felt she was neglecting her mother for him. That didn't make any sense for me bc 1) FL didn't have any social or personal life beyond work and taking care of her mother. And Yu Hao gave that to her, she was happier and her mother felt that. He was even going to live together with her mother bc of her health issues; 2) ML was her boss, so she could just step down and quit if it was too much for her. I know he would understand, he became a very much more understanding person BECAUSE of her. But she'd rather break up with him than try a different way. And so, they spend a long time apart.

But I knew there was a happy ending to this story. Only I was hoping that because it was her decision to break up due to her personal problems, I thought she was gonna be the one to start the reconciliation. How naive of me. It's him who makes the move and proposes to her after he knows her mother is 100% well and she's "free" to be with him. And to make matters worse, this only happens like in the second half of the last ep. So we spend the last episodes just seeing them apart living their lives. FL taking care of her mother during treatment; ML working to become a better person. It was the worst. I honestly thought he deserved better than her. She got so annoying close to the end, acting like she was the victim and like he wasn't waiting for her to change her mind and come back to him.

The second couple (the leads' bffs), on the other side, were way better. I mean, they had problems as well but they always chose to work things out together instead of leaving each other. There's a moment that they get divorced but, at least in my view, it was understandable bc they married on a whim so it made sense that when they had a big fight they ended up divorcing. But, like I said, they work things out, have a child together and end up happy.

The other side couple (the director and the actress) were very disappointing. They had a lot of potential, but it was a total waste bc they spent a longer time than it should trying to separate the main couple. Both of them had a crush on the leads and that brought them together, she falls for him eventually but he doesn't apparently, and for what I remember they never really get together in the end. He just signs that he might try with her. So I got very disappointed with them.

As for the production, it was really well done. It had a kdrama vibe to me. Not only bc of the number of eps but also the story and pace as well. In the beginning it was really good. It tried to kinda discuss some topics and it wasn't just drama for drama. It felt deep somehow. So it was great.

The rating could've been worse but the drama was the best for most eps so I had to consider that as well. But it really deserved a 5 or 4 just because of the ending. Regardless of all that I said here, if you're reading this bc you're planning on watching and don't want to watch silly dramas with stupid characters then I'd reccomend this one. Most people seemed to have liked this drama here. Just be prepared for the last few eps cuz FL gets annoying af. But apart from that, it's not a bad drama.
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