No, not just you. Although there have plently of shows dropping with a few good offereings at the start of the year on the whole I have found most to be bland and not worth the time.

Thank you for the recap Unit.
Finally something decent to watch and it doesn't have to do much at that.
I'm not the greatest fan of Yoona but so far she is doing ok in this.

Thank you for the recap DaebakGrits.
Sadly, I found this boring and didn't connect with any of the characters.
What is up with this trend lately of having a great group of actors but the show itself is bland and just meh.
The fight scenes felt like filler,
I will wait until it's finished and see itf its worth going back to watch.

Shout-out: for those who are interested in dramas featuring the historical Yeonsanggun (yes, the man who was considered the absolute worst tyrant in their history)

You may wanna pair your light timeslip romcom (Tyrant's Chef) with the excellent and weightier historical drama (Queen for 7 Days) featuring an angst-ridden love triangle, fidelity to historical details with an imagination to fill out the unspoken, and a very intense award-winning portrayal of Yeonsanggun by the smothering Lee Dong-gun.

Said drama was so excellent the DB site actually saw both founders writing long finale reviews and final comments for the last episode (which was very rare on DB). and I, despite knowing he was the worst tyrant, ended up rooting/shipping for him so badly cos the character was so well-written and so complex.

I think the angry teen vibes is *just* about right. Joseon kings get to be kings pretty young anyway lol. So tis a noona-romance brewing!

Hence all the jokes about her *already* being 27 are so hilarious (in this Joseon time-slip context)

I love her side-kick already! More comic shenanigans in the kitchen please!

Two random comic highlights for me:

1) when the king was finally rescued by his entourage and he hollered with outrage: "There is a rebel who humiliated me!" 🤣🤣 It's petty with a capital P

2) when the king, after having an out-of-body experience eating her sous vide beef, became very solicitous and started to ask our FL for her name, her age, whether she has a hubby, and why she wanted to cook. That scene was comic incongruity GOLD!

It was SO un-kingly and a tonal whiplash from the tyrant-mode-on. He suddenly transformed into this rather indulgent man with an avuncular interest. The LOL punch-line was when he asked for her age, and gasped that she is already 27! and NO husband yet! (it's so tonally off for a supposed tyrant it's hilarious!)

I think PSH had to drop out cos of a controversy issue so Chae-Min stepped in to fill the role

I thought LCM did well though, and I don't mind at all he feels like a young brat (Joseon days everyone is young! You get to be king even as a young kid)

Thanks for clearing up the confusion, as did @magajesj too!

So, I was half right. It was originally based on the historical Yeonsanggun, but drama changed his name WHILST still keeping in the script all the atrocities the real tyrant did in real life (hence the confusion for me)

As the female lead in the C drama Dream within a Dream says, ¨He has plot armor.¨

Should have added this to my previous reply –

Another reason I support the theory of Seongjae and Su-bin ending up together is because she took up for Jihyuk and admitted she wanted a life free of financial struggle.

Yeong-ra is supposed to be Seongjae's stepsister, right? I don't think we know what happened to Seongjae's birth mother yet, do we?

Has anyone else watched "Cinderella with Four Knights"? Is the Haneul name of BoA's father's company an Easter egg? I noticed they also used that as the baby name in "The Real Has Come!" with Ahn Jae-hyun from CwFK.

I keep thinking about Jihyuk's "fool" thoughts and his whole outlook on love. What does love even mean, on his terms?

I’ve started BENEATH THE UNDERTOW

I really liked The Knockout

Thank you for the recap

I am bit disappointed that Park Hyung Sik doesn't get to flex his muscles the first 2 episodes. Hopefully this will be rectified by the 8th minute of episode 3.

I am in general pleased that the fighting scenes are well-choreographed, and not long and drawn-out, a la John Wick style.....

Let's see how the remaining 6 episodes play out, especially when the episodes are less than an hour long.....seems not enough time for a complex storyline or much character development.....

"Longer term possible dramatic purpose: Seongjae has a deadline from his dad to get married" - same wavelength, Lawyer.

Ouch... Twelve got only 10 cast members and its characters instead of 12?! WTF is this?

The 10 real cast members... but I don't know if the final 2 cast members will be added. Maybe because Twelve only had 10 stars then later adding 2 more stars instead, not 12 stars. Maybe I got confused and worried about the missing final 2 cast members/characters in this Kdrama. I hope there will be 2 more stars/characters to complete its eponymous/titular number need to be added soon.

With all the moping around and general depression in Episode 6 I forgot to note the very cute moment when our 2ML has been called to meet Su-bin- who is begging him to model for her YouTube channel. She lays on the total cuteness but he is not buying it. Purpose of this scene: This is how 2ML finds out that her brother Ji-won is jobless again and thus available to protect his little sister Yeong-ra. Longer term possible dramatic purpose: Seongjae has a deadline from his dad to get married- maybe we are getting a foreshadowing of a moment in say about a year from now when a beautiful young wife is laying the aegyo on her handsome hubby?

Yes I know I was not exactly being original in raising this issue, in fact, I first learned of it in early discussions of the show before the episodes, and @vienibenmio notes it above.

But it personally struck me again in these two episodes--which I have to stress, again, that I enjoyed because the tone of the show really is fantasy sageuk rom com, and it was done well. But, if I think about it, the specificity of historical references suggest a serious critique-- which then is undermined by the rom-com part, because Yoona's character is so resourceful and a her chef abilities are well portrayed, and the king-abuser is good-looking, and after all he was just doing the chaehong for revenge and not because of less kdrama-respectable motives of royal domination, lust and thinking of women as only sexual objects to be used for his pleasure, the way it totally was in real life.

You make a good point that if the theme is how appropriate views of female equality would have really shaken up the Joseon patriarchy, and altered the course of Joseon events, maybe the historical connections are necessary, and politics will be key to illustrating how modern views would have changed things for the better. But I still would have enjoyed the rom-com part more if there wasn't this nightmare historical background as a key part of the show.

I really enjoyed the primer episodes! Lots of good food shots too. I find it refreshing that this is one of the few FL who time travels not through water ( like parks marriage contract, mr queen, etc) but in an air plane!! I hope we continue to get a good story’ and good food!

Otherwise, I hope Gil-Geum will have a longer life than Baek-Yi in The Tale of Lady Ok... I wondered where I heard this accent with this face as the loyal servant.