julwa

This is the first historical drama I’ve ever watched, and for the most part, I think it was genuinely excellent - enjoyable, engaging, and easy to get invested in. Almost until the very end, the story was handled really well, so there was never a sense of boredom or the feeling that the drama was dragging. The only exception was the culinary battle arc against the Ming delegation, which could be considered somewhat stretched out. Personally, I enjoyed it, but it definitely slowed down the pacing. It could have been shortened to two episodes, which would have left more time for a stronger ending. Unfortunately, the final twenty minutes were quite disappointing, but I’ll get to that later. Another huge strength was the visual aspect of the drama - the costumes, scenery, and overall atmosphere were beautiful. The food also looked absolutely delicious, although I do think that, over time, watching everyone jump around in delight every time they ate her dishes became slightly repetitive and unnecessary.

Now I need to express my love for the actor who played King Yi Heon - Lee Chae Min. This is the first drama I’ve watched featuring him, and I’m completely captivated by his performance. In my opinion, both his character and his acting were the greatest strengths of this drama.

Moving on to the main couple - Yeon Ji Yeong & King Yi Heon. They were complete opposites, and the fact that they came from entirely different time periods made that contrast even stronger. Their dynamic was wonderful to watch. I loved seeing how she gradually helped him become a better person and show more humanity, and how much influence she had on him. I also loved the way he fought for her. Their chemistry was very good as well, although I do think there was still room for improvement.

It was also fascinating to watch whether she would succeed in changing history and whether that was even possible in the first place. As the story progressed, we were given increasingly strong hints that she had already lived alongside him during the Joseon era, which strongly suggested that she was reliving their story. And this is where one of my biggest issues appears. I felt that the drama never properly explained who she had been in her previous life. We know she was a cook, but how did she end up in that position? Even more importantly, I wanted to know what their original story had looked like. And why was her absent from recorded history? I also struggle to understand why, if she was trying to change the future, she never told him who was going to betray him. She knew exactly who it was.

Speaking of negatives, my second biggest issue was the ending itself - pretty much all of it. Have I seen worse endings? Absolutely. Was this a good ending? Not really. First of all, she suddenly wakes up in the hospital, and we’re never told how much time has passed. Then lookalikes of her chef friends suddenly appear in the restaurant, which honestly makes little to no sense. Later, we see a lookalike of Im Song Jae, and at the same time the male lead shows up. Their reunion left a lot to be desired. He seemed completely cold toward her - I genuinely thought he didn’t remember her - despite the fact that we had just seen how devastated he was by her disappearance. Even stranger, he treats Im Song Jae’s lookalike even more coldly and shows no interest in him whatsoever, even though it’s the counterpart of the secretary whose loss he mourned so deeply in the forest. And things don’t get any better afterward. The drama turns the question of how he arrived in the present into some kind of mystery. Personally, I see that as a slap in the face to viewers. I can’t shake the feeling that the writers wanted a happy ending in the present day but simply couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for how he got there, so they hid it behind vague mystery instead. Even if we assume he traveled through time using a page from the Mangunrok, what guarantee do we have that he won’t suddenly disappear back into the past? There should have been at least one full episode showing his return to the palace, his attempts to get back to the female lead, his arrival in the present, his struggle to adapt to modern life, and a much better-written reunion between them.

While we’re on the subject of her chef friends, I think they were treated terribly in the end. They played important roles throughout the story, yet by the finale we know absolutely nothing about what happened to them afterward. They never even found out what became of Yeon Ji Yeong and King Yi Heon, both of them simply vanished. I especially feel bad for Seo Gil Geum, whom I absolutely adored. I really wanted to know how her story ended, including the hinted romance with Gong Gil, but instead we got nothing.

On the positive side, the drama featured plenty of political schemes and manipulation, which were genuinely interesting to watch. Among the villains, the acting performance of Kang Mok Ju deserves special praise, and I also appreciated the fact that justice finally caught up with the antagonists in the end. The most satisfying moment was undoubtedly her death at Gong Gil’s hands. There’s also one thing I keep wondering about. At one point, I got the impression that the drama was hinting that Kang Mok Ju had been drugging or poisoning King Yi Heon in some way, which might have been the cause of his attacks. However, the story never returned to that idea.