It almost worked.
Why, oh why are Korean writers so obsessed with overcomplicating everything. Not all romantic comedies need a slapstick over the top side characters, not one, but two obsessive exs with various levels of traumatic past, and 978674 random plot lines. Remove 70% of plot lines and elaborate on the remaining 30%, give characters more depth and time to develop and you would have a truly amazing healing rom-com. Sadly, we still had to deal with the unnecessary 70%, because the Korean writers believe in a simple rule of “more means better”.I loved the relationship between Hae Kyung and Woo Do Hee. Even though at first it might have seemed like a one way street, by the end of the show it was clear that they both helped each other a lot. Jung Jae Hyuk truly stole the show in the second half and Lee Ji Hoon easily delivered the best performance. The connection between Jae Hyun and Keanu was one of the best side plots of the drama and I would have loved to watch a show focused on them more. On the other hand Jin Noh Eul was one of the most boring and cliche second female leads ever. Even though she was nowhere near as toxic as the second male lead, I somehow hated her more, simply because she was so poorly written.
Dinner Mate had some great messages and the overall plot, but too much was going on for anything to be truly developed in a meaningful way. One thing I did appreciate though is how it clearly showed that dealing with mental issues is a long process that at times takes many attempts and different approaches - sometimes it takes years to face what you fear and what holds you back, sometimes you will never be ready to fully accept it.
Overall, everything was good, but almost nothing was truly great. The few plots that stood out the most could not save the drama, when there were most scenes and plots that felt completely useless and empty. Maybe it should have been a 8 to 12 episode drama with none of the filler?
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This review may contain spoilers
This is such a light heart warming drama!!! I'm so glad I decided to start watching this!!!The two main leads are so adorable together!!! The story is not too overly cute that you'll get fed up, it was not too mature that you'll easily get bored. It was a right mix of everything. The concept of a "dinner mate" was so simple but somehow it was a unique concept.
The script writing, directing, casting, acting was orchestrated well!
I really loved the idea of "not staying with a person who is uncomfortable to eat with", because though this is common sense to some, I know a lot of us still tend to push this idea aside. But yeah, as a food lover and a kdrama lover I really loved this drama.
Song Seungheon and Seo Jihye Fighting!!!! Congratulations to the whole team behind this drama!!!
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Watch it 8_10ep before giving up.
●I took my time for the show to grow on me, so it was 8 ep (or say 4ep of 1hour) that clenched me to watch it until end. I was literally slow watching 1ep a day and wanted to give up but health-care is my profession so didn’t want to drop it. Good drama, enjoyable but failed to impress on psychiatry and the treatment basis. I liked all the deep and meaningful conversations happening throughout not just the leads but everyone. They were touching and meaningful.●Story- everyone read the synopsis and two people meet on jeju islands and coincidently keeps on meeting. So they decide to be DINNER MATE, then there is return of the Ex's. then the story is slow and there is one more couple of a homeless man and a Female CEO, who also bond over food. This drama is more of love of food.
●Acting- everyone was amazing. My favourite is
▪︎Park-ho-san as Keanu, the homeless man. He nailed the character of homeless man. His makeup, hair, clothes, were bang on which actually made me sympathize with him.Well his laughter reminds of JANG HYUK.
▪︎Seo-ji-hye as woo do hee was amazing, I actually enjoyed her eating food scenes, as if thats the most delicious meal. She was confident and determined and knew what she wants. She always spoke her mind.
▪︎Song-seung-heon as kim hae kyung was good. I liked his character as a person but not as a psychiatrist. As the writer did poor job in researching and treating the patients. It wasn’t his fault but that aspect affected the character a lot.
●Music- each OST was exceptional. Lyrics and music perfect.
Ovan-ost1 and Yummy-ost2, its lyrics was amazing. It felt so good when I read the translation. The hunger and invitation of dinner in the lyrics was WOW. An applause to the song-writers.
Midnight Cinderella-ost5 was like a dream song. It felt as if its written for me.
Dear my star-ost3 and more than words-ost4 were also worth listening.
●Rewatch- I would watch it but not anytime soon, this drama also has lot of plot-holes, maybe I get to understand while re-watching it.
● Appreciation- I loved the proposal scene, while having food, it goes well with concept of dinner mate. Not usual like Ring and going knees.It was Simple and lovely.
●Criticism- writers should have put more effort on the clinical aspect of food, as the ML was treating them with food, he felt as nutritionist more than psychiatrist.
As this drama was also a bonding over food, I wished if they showed more good shots of food.
I was confused with the character of jae-hyuk, yes I understood him during his few scenes that he is a stalker but were the writers trying to make him into culprit or a sympathizing character.
Keanu past wasn’t written properly. He is homeless man, then he wears suit and comes to meet ML, then he again starts on his career as psychiatrist.
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A REFRESHING FEEL GOOD DRAMA WITH A GOOD STORY
I didn't have high expectations from this drama, but I enjoyed it a lot more and I thought I would. The story progresses at a steady pace, and it surprisingly has a good amount of substance and depth in the story. The acting was great and the chemistry between the leads was strong. The female lead certainly deserves more main roles in K-dramas. The whole experience was great, and the ending was good as well. Highly recommended if you wanna watch something lighthearted, but different and wanna feel satisfied with the end.Was this review helpful to you?
Dinner Mate is one of the best romantic drama of 2020! why?
The OST is super fascinating and it perfectly fit the drama, the cast did very well in their acting especially Song Seung-Heon and Seo Ji-Hye plus their chemistry as well as the plot; (Would you lIke to Have a Dinner with Me) for me is a strong and imaginative title for it seems to value family, friends and or relatives enjoying their everyday meal in their every day life and it proves in the drama by means of different kinds of experiencing food to eat not being lonely but being with our loved ones! INDEED A GOOD HEART-WARMING ROMANTIC DRAMA THIS 2020, KUDOS TO THE PRODUCTION TEAM, CASTING TEAM AND TO THE WRITER AND DIRECTOR WHO MAKE THIS DRAMA WONDERFUL! WELL DESERVED.Was this review helpful to you?
Fantastic kdrama
Actully I watched this drama without any reason and anything make me exiting.but i love it and after that i became a big fan of song seung heon . i started watching his all dramas and movies.he is great .For me this drama is better than many dramas in 2020 .
Plz watch this drama because it makes you feel happy and thinking about love .
Thank you all dinnermate team . that was great. I hope lead actor and actress play another drama together.
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I just loved the Lead couple. Both of them are super awesome. And their Chemistry..Omg... totally Heart fluttering. Song Seung heon was So Good & Perfect. Seo Ji Hye... she was great , this role is totally opposite from Crash Landing in you ... & I love her in this drama. ?❤️
Music was Beautiful specially ... Would you like OST by Ovan.
It's genre is also food and I'm sure you'll crave for delicious food while watching it. ??
Without any fanciness it was Simply superb. You should definitely watch it.❤️
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It's not something new, at the same time, it's sophisticated
I came to this drama because of Seo Ji Hye, and I made the right choice. This drama is something I need to refresh my mind in the midst of stress.I've watched almost all Korean RomCom dramas from 2014-present, and let me tell you, the story itself is not something new. There is a sense of familiarity between Dinner Mate and dramas like Another Miss Oh, or other dramas that involves shameless exes trying to get back together. However, at the same time, this drama has a fresh feeling to it. It's the perfect drama for people who loves watching typical RomCom without feeling bored.
As for the actors/actresses performances, they did a great job. I particularly enjoyed the 2 ML's acting. Song Seung-Heon's acting is as detailed as expected. Usually when doing an act of uneasy feeling, actors can come off as flat, or even awkward, however, Song Seung-Heon did a great job portraying it. Lee Ji-Hoon too, he did an excellent job portraying a man with obsession disorder who has a painful and pitiful backstory. I just wish he got offered more interesting roles as a main male lead.
I rarely state anything about music in drama reviews, however, one of the most impressive element on this drama is its soundtracks. This drama has one of the best soundtracks in my opinion and I've saved multiple of their songs on my playlist.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is my first review. Honestly, the only reason I finished this show was because of how good the first half-ish was. It started going downhill at around episode 9/18 (Each episode is cut into two episodes. Episode 1 is episode 1 and 2, etc.) The biggest problem I had with it at this point was that it was a flaming bus of a drama. Nobody knew what was going on. People did things just to do them. The ex-girlfriend and boyfriend coming back to their lovers to cause havoc got old really fast.The first half of this show was amazing, though. Two people intertwined by fate and destiny keep meeting over and over to have a meal. It was beautiful. I had the feeling I was seeing one of the best stories, if not overall dramas, I've ever seen. And that thought just crashed and burned in disappointment at the strange turns this drama took. If the second half of this show was a drama by itself, I'd give it a negative score. But the first half was so good like I said that the overall score is above average. Watch the show if you want. It might be different for different people.
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Some great, some good and some plain meeh that failed to ignite the spark in me
Some dramas keep you on your toes, others send you off on an amazing roller coaster ride, or a ride thru the alps with beautiful scenery and exitment... This one has some good scenery, and lovely food shots that may make you feel some hunger but its more of a country ride with a stop to eat on the way then a thrilling ride. I did not feel the it factor, you know the whole wow factor igniting my emotions... yes that is it it did not ignite enough emotional reactions from me to get exited about it.This drama has all the components to make it great! Showing both social issues, mental illness and bad ass female characters that make you competently fall for them. The side characters are mostly great but mid annoying at worst, but have good character development as well as some really good side characters with some really good lines. My favorit line from the whole dram comes from a mid annoying side character that said: unwanted love is not real love, it is violence! But then he spent most of his screen time trying to push people in to the pit of re living their toxic relationships so I can't really say he is as good as that line.
There is a homeless man that is made human, but still annoying and well does not really represent the social issue of homelessness at all except for maybe one line... This had so much potential but just turned in to meeh...
But the sismance, oh the sismance as well as the mother daughter relationship was great. The way they wrote the female lead was just so good, I loved it! incorporating both self blame, shame, moving on,inner struggles, the exterior vs. the interior, fear, regret.... She really goes thru allot and just handels it like a human being. Her boss is just cool, I love that actress and the way she gets these bad ass quirky fun characters that are just filled with great easy humor that is low without becoming annoying.
But then we have the only fat person in the whole drama who could have been portrayed as a competent fun person but instead is portrayed as a smelly less competent stereotypical fat guy. Come on, this is not nice, please stop. fat people are just as competent, lovable and can even smell really nice and deserve respect and love just the way they are.
I did however like part of the dramas take on stalking, mental illness and the need for help while still showing the consequences for the victims of the actions of the persons actions while being on an episode. This is really important to me, yes we need to raise awareness of people struggling with mental illness as being competent human beings with feelings deserving to be loved and further being punished by societies prejades. But rhe people around them do get hurt and should have the right to put up boundaries as well as distance them slevs. What I a ms saying is that it is complicated and this drama does a pretty okay job showing that it is complicated and I loved that about it.
The male lead is also really cool, I love the way he keeps calm more or less in every situation and well he is both nice to look att and does all these nice things that make ones heart flutter... Even though the main couple seems to lack chemistry the interactions and dialog between them is hilarious at times it just lacks that little spark that many other drama couples have. But both characters are well written and really great.. if they only had that spark.
So all in all worth a watch just don't expect to much of an emotional ride...
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This review may contain spoilers
This was soo painful to watch
This probably went from becoming one of my favoutite shows to one that i despise.PROS
- ML is kind and extremely caring
-Fl is played by Seo Ji Hye
-Acting is good......... Yep That's all.
CONS
The FL was suffering from heartbreak from her previous relationships. Meets the ML. Decide to become friends. After a series of events likes him. He noticed the hints and confessed. They date. She dumps him for no reason. She pities herself even tho she dumps him. ML has to be the bigger person and always runs back to her. they date again. she dumps again. she pities herself again. Ml has to go and comfort her again. This happens at least 2 more times. Till ep 14 which is pretty much most of the show she still sides with her ex sometimes and the ML has to act like he fine She also lied to him and never really opened up to him up till ep 15 whereas ML gave his all to their relation ship. It felt so one sided i found it hard to watch. Just because the EX has mental disorders doesn't mean he can do anything he wants and doesn't mean she have to do anything for him, especially since he was extremely shit to her,
I truly felt she didn't like the ML up till ep 15 (he had to get in an accident for the stupid biatch to realize). As for the ML's ex she was just a bother in the beginning but layed off soon only.
You can even check the ep ratings and how they dropped from 8.3-8.8 all the way to 7.2-7.8
Anyways enough of my ranting but i would not recommend this show for how infuriating it was even though it started so well.
PS: WHAT MADE ME LOOSE MY SHIT WAS SHE LIED TO ML SAYING HER MOM WAS OVER WHEN IN REALITY HER EX WAS AT HER HOME. EVEN WHEN SHE FOUND OUT THE ML KNEW SHE JUST KEPT QUIET. ISTG I WANTED TO PUNCHED MY MONITOR AT LEASSST 20 TIMES WATCHING THIS SHOW. UGHHH SO INFURIATING.
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