Let's Eat 3 review

 

Drama name: Let's Eat 3

Country: South Korea

Year: July- Aug 2018

I heard of this third installment during the time of airing, but didn't watch it then. I have watched Season 1 & 2 respectively so I was on the fence whether to watch this or not. Asked an online friend what was the storyline about, she told me that it will tell you how he became a food blogger and why he takes photos of empty bowls. I just kept it in mind and finally watched it recently. 

So,what's this drama about?

It picks up after Season 2 of this series where Goo Dae Young moves to another place outside Seoul to restart his life. He seems to be having a quarter life crisis, where he doesn't fill any motivation for his job or even food. 

One day, he bumps into his old neighbour during university times, Lee Ji Woo while returning a lost dog. Ji Woo was the food expert back then and that's how he learnt a lot about food from her. He was excited to meet her again, as she brought back happy memories from his university times. However, she has lost her zeal for food and works long hours as a nurse. He moves in next door to her and the rest of the story goes on with flashbacks to the past during university times and current timeline where he begins a new career path. 

Overall thoughts

For me, this is probably the worst of all three seasons of this franchise. Sorry not sorry! Season 2 was so draggy and it focused so much on the love story. In Season 3, the writer decides to kill off the girlfriend to write in a new one which is supposed to be the first love instead. Seems like every season Dae Young has a new girlfriend! 

There is no proper storyline even, apart from flashbacks of his university times. However, the food this time is much better than the previous season. 

Best parts of the drama

Definitely the food. Dae Young still has the usual exclamation and explanation before each meal... 

More seafood this season as well... and some yummy desserts too! 

Dae Young's university friends... their friendship is really nice... 

Some bromance with the second male lead, similar to Season 2 but on a lighter scale... 

If you are familiar with the series, there is always a dog involved. In this season, there is a sweet Golden Retriever named Peanut... 

And Dae Young will always be the neighbour to his love interest... Ji Woo's house is quite interesting as it is above a cafe... 

For the hopeless romantics, there isn't any real romance here. Just some sweet moments between the leads... 

Conclusion

The drama was cut short because Doo Joon had to enlist for military service. The story ends with Ji Woo confessing her long crush on Dae Young. Dae Young didn't reject her entirely but asked for time as he is still trying to move on from his previous girlfriend. Dae Young is focusing his energy on his new business of semi- prepared food delivery for single persons. 

The ending scene just shows the four leads having a meal together... 

As mentioned above, I feel this is the worst installment of the series. I didn't enjoy the flashbacks of Dae Young's college/ university days. I guess it is meant for the younger audience who are currently students so they can relate to that. 

I also disliked the second female lead's character so much. Don't understand why the writer gave her so much screen time. I read a comment somewhere, the person said if the writer kept the second male lead's interest in the female lead it would have been better. I agree, it would have taken the story on a different direction where Dae Young rediscover his first love for Ji Woo. 

There was so much focus on the second female and flashbacks that we didn't even get to know what happened to the rest of the guys from university. The only one featured was the one who got married. Lots of unanswered questions regarding how Dae Young and Ji Woo lost touch with each other... all because of the death of the stepfather? 

It just doesn't add up. She could have at least wrote him a letter informing him that she will be moving or something, since she was so in love with Dae Young back then... Plus I also got irritated with Ji Woo's accent during the flashbacks... I know it's supposed to be a Busan dialect, satoori or something... just that it irritated me I don't know why... 

Very disappointed with this season. Perhaps the military enlistment was good thing, it saved us from a worse ending by the writer... 

Alright, that's about it. Thanks for reading. Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Take care. Will leave you with the cute doggo... 

*Image credits: dramabeans, own screenshots & Google image search*

Let's Eat 2 Conclusion

My concluding thoughts about season 2? It's an okay watch. Not much of a story to start with, the food variety is more than season 1. The female lead has more connection with the male lead, she played the role really well. It was more believable as she had to exercise off all the food that she ate... I think many enjoyed her cutesy moments but I found myself cringing and skipping most of it actually... (Sorry!) 

The creepy backstory line is also more realistic, Joo Seung or real identity Ahn Chan Soo.. had to go to jail for identity theft and also possibly injuring the real Joo Seung... But this made the story even heavier than it already was. 

I found some interesting comments on AsianWiki:

@namelessone: 

"Season 1: Goo Dae Young acts like cupid, trying to help the second male lead to get the girl he likes who's the main female lead. When they go on a date he starts to realize that he himself likes the girl. Goo Dae Young and the female lead get together.

Season 2: Goo Dae Young acts like cupid, trying to help the main female lead to get the man she likes, who is the second male lead. When these two start to date he starts to realise that he himself likes the girl. Goo Dae Young and the female lead get together.

Season 3: Well, you should know by now."

@Ruki:

"I did go through with the second season for the sake of the first season. I probably wouldn't watch it till the end if I never saw the first one. It's not bad, it's just mediocre. There wasn't any particular story to talk about. Some funny scenes here and there. The food scenes were just there, like fillers. No memorable side characters. To my surprise, Goo Dae Young was my main problem because unlike the first season he felt more like Doojoon himself than the character (there are also traits of Doojoon himself in season 1 but I could still see him as the character Goo Dae Young)...."

@Kitiara: 

"So they want the viewers to believe in this season's romance? But how and why? What if they make another season where Doojoon breaks up again and finds a new love? Why should we trust this couple if the first one didn't last very long? What happened to "promise me that you won't let go of my hand in the future"? Now we know that that promise didn't even last in the near future. Too soon dear writers and producers, to soon. And don't tell me that this happens in real life, too, this is not a reality show or documentary."

Now, if the director/producers really want to make another season 3... (I'm cringing now) I seriously would like to see Dae Yeong in another relationship with a guy this time!! Hahahah!!! I found this hilarious scene while running through season 1 for screenshots: 

So that's about it. Here are some nice scenic views from Dae Yeong's drive back to Seoul in the final episode... 

Yes, maybe you should have stayed single... 

Hey, isn't that the same karaoke place for single people from season 1?! Oh wait, it now available for two persons... 

And last but not least, a cameo by the director himself and the writer (?) or producer?

I still prefer season 1 to season 2. It was more light hearted and the food was the one that captured my interest in this drama series. After all, if the first one wasn't good there wouldn't be a second season right??!! :P Hope you all enjoyed this review and also the food recap. See you in the next K-drama! ;D

Let's Eat 2 Review Part 3

Season 2's overall vibe is quite emotionally "heavy" compared to season 1. I felt the characters in season 2 seem to have all sorts of problems and they were also quite random... as in they were not really connected to each other until very much later in the series...almost at the end actually.

I didn't really like any of the characters in season 2 as much as I did in season 1. There was the landlady, grandmother... I know quite a number of you will say halmoeni was really nice and caring but I actually found her to be annoying because she kept butting into the creepy guy's life... The character I dislike the most would be the Soo Ji's colleague (Hong In Ah/ Ms.Hong) who was always bragging about her husband but in actual fact her marriage is a total gone case... Even the cute Barassi replacement: Happy the dog didn't win my heart. (Sorry Happy, Barassi stole it and never gave it back ;P) It was kinda disgusting too that Happy was peeing all over the place... (Did we need to see him pee at the dustbin and on the drunk hyung?!) 

Here are the characters stacked up to those in season 1: 

I couldn't find a character from season 1 corresponding with the land lady so I left that blank. As I was going through season 1 for this screenshots I realised that the laundromat guy had more screenplay in season 1 than season 2. 

Apart from that, I did enjoy some of the interiors/ cafes featured in season 2...

Why yes! ;D

Sang Woo's apartment and the villa where Dae Yeong and Soo Ji are renting is pretty neat too... 

Let's Eat 2 Review Part 2

So, the story picks up from episode 3 onwards... We find out that Baek Soo Ji is so mean to Dae Yeong because back in school, she was a chubby girl. Everyone bullied her for her weight, and the one she thought was her friend (or more like crush) Dae Yeong, was also using her to gain business for his parents' ddoekbokki (rice cake) restaurant. 

Anyways, to sum the story of season 2... Dae Yeong decides to help Soo Ji to win the heart of her dream man, Sang Woo (Who is an Administrative officer- rich guy) to make up for his past mistake back during school/ childhood days. Soo Ji wants to marry this Sang Woo guy because she believes her life will change for the better... In the end, Dae Yeong falls for Soo Ji.. and Soo Ji also realises that Sang Woo is not her ideal man after all. She and Dae Yeong get together at the last episode. 

I seriously thought Sang Woo was gay at first, because he came across as someone without any emotions/ repressed emotions.... As seen in the earlier episodes, he would be spending the weekends back in Seoul, drinking with his buddies and saying a lot of cuss words. (Whut?! Scary.. I really couldn't accept such a doll like face with profanities coming out of his mouth..)

I would have shipped Sang Woo and Dae Yeong as a couple... :D Their bromance was something nice and I enjoyed the cycling scene with the cherry blossoms...

What else did I enjoyed from season 2? Dae Yeong's car! Yes, it's a convertible... I think it's a Mercedes... but they had to cover/ change the logo as it was probably not a sponsor of the show. Even grandma enjoyed the open top ride!

More pics of the car... best of all, it has a black box! ;P

Let's Eat 2 Review Part 1

Finally finished watching Let's Eat 2! To be honest, it was really hard for me to watch season 2 right after finishing season 1. Season 1 ended with a beautiful poem about rice; that lonely, sad, bored people can become a family and the sweet promise of never letting go of each other's hands...

To my dismay, season 2 starts with the story of break-up from the lead female of season 1 and the downhill career path of Goo Dae Yeong which forces him to move to a smaller town, Sejong... about 2 hours drive from Seoul. 

However, I did enjoy the scenic drive from episode one... Reservoirs, bridges, motorway and tunnels... and finally arriving at the destination of the huge government buildings... 

I actually didn't continue season 2 after watching the first episode. Found it really hard because the new female lead was b*tchy to Dae Yeong right from the start. The other side characters such as the land lady, grandmother and Dae Yeong's colleague (I can't even remember his name) didn't make a good impression from the start.

It was only after awhile (also because I had to wait every week for the next episode of W!!) I decided to give the series another go... and I'm glad that I did, as the story did pick up from episode 2- 3 onwards... explaining the reason Baek Soo Ji was being so mean to Dae Yeong as well as the creepy creature living on the rooftop.

Let's Eat 2 Episode 7 - 8 Food recap

Let's Eat 2 Episode 7 Food recap

1. Convenience store breakfast - Okay, another 7-E foodie? But the message is don't skip breakfast, the most important meal of the day... ;D 
2. Fried Chicken
3. Octopus dishes - Fried baby octopus, Octopus soup, Dumpling and some rice. (Octopus is in season during Spring) 
4. Banana - Hanging a banana to trick it... ??! Dae Yeong is kinda right there... but my bananas usually peel off when they are hung too long... :( 
5. Abalone Porridge 

Let's Eat 2 Episode 8 Food recap

1. Strawberry desserts - Mmmmm!!! Those look so good!!! 
2. Strawberry Jam - Cooked by Grandma. (Strawberries are in season during Spring too) 
3. Meat cutlets - Not sure what kind of meat, but they look a bit like fish and chips/ chicken chop. Dae Yeong gets one with almond slices on top. 
4. Sweet sour pork & Lasagna (?) - Delivery food ordered by Baek Soo Ji to binge eat. I think the lasagna is corn with some olives on top. 
5. Ramyeon with egg