I do not know if Yeong-ra is Seong-jae's stepsister or his half-sister. Seong-jae's mother is never mentioned. Either way his father is likely to object to Yeong-ra being with Su-bin's brother. However, he has effectively trapped himself into accepting Su-bin as a daughter-in-law given the deadline made to Seong-jae. He cannot even claim that Seongjae does not know her real character given how long Su-bin and Seongjae have actually known each other- he practically watched her grow up and knows her family very well. Now that Su-bin wants to marry and Seongjae essentially has to marry they are a very natural pairing once Song-jae understands that he is not going to be with Eunoh. The only question will be which of them will hit on the desirability of the match first. Note that at this moment Su-bin does not have Song-jae on her radar even though he is the one man that she knows who actually matches what she says she wants. This is a good thing because she first needs to figure out what marriage really means beyond a set of perks.

PD from Kidnapping Day
FL from Vincenzo
Joo Hyun-young who has been an asset to shows like Extraordinary Attorney Woo & Story Of Park's Marriage Contract

Sounds promising so far, but Chaebol succession (again) and moving to small town (again). I'll have to try it anyway.

Oh gosh, the Penric stories! I would never have thought of them but they are perfect k-drama fodder!

Are on the writer’s radar. This is a unique stand alone story compared to the webtoon and I think the write has done a great job adding their own twist on the story.

Week 6

The drama I have looked forward to eagerly after thoroughly enjoying the first episode ends tomorrow. I am writing this before watching the final episodes because I have enjoyed this series so much. It has stuck with the brief of being a low stress and very silly drama. I am scared that it will have a weak and frustrating ending that will steal my joy. I have been here before with two other rom coms I was heavily invested in and I don’t want this to be the third.

I was so disappointed with one of the storylines in Sh**ting stars that I nearly dropped the drama. The tonal shift felt out of synch with the general comedic tone despite the plot point making sense in the world of the drama. I stayed after reading the recap which redirected me back to all that was good and I managed to enjoy the rest of the drama despite that inclusion. The latter episodes of my fun watch No gain, no love started to hint at where things would go wrong so I expected the diversion but I was still raging when they relegated the MAIN love story to a rushed end credits countdown.

In this drama the standard second female lead trope has been used as the main vehicle for angst which feels unnecessary when there is already a love triangle with the female lead’s second form. I am concerned that the far more interesting unique elements of the couple relationship will not be properly concluded because there are a lot of elements to tie up:

Jieun/Jihun needs paperwork for long term survival in an ID based society.

Career development for Jieun/Jihun. We know Jieun has inherited the literary skillset so could potentially gain an income working in that field.

The main couple long term survival plan in the face of the prejudice and uncertainty they will have to endure. Who will need to be included in the inner circle of people who know the truth to help them overcome the challenges e.g. military service, choices re marriage and children.

Yunjae’s study abroad and future career plans.

Jieun’s sister and friend have potential changes in their relationship status that need to be addressed.

We could do with a bit more on Jieun’s family history re how far back this curse has been present and how they managed the situation long term. There is a massive gap in information around Jieun’s mum’s experience. At least we know great grandmother gained an income from poetry, but we don’t know what happened to her husband. Grandmother has her own business and people who have only known her in her male form so has been accepted in her community. We don’t know if Jieun’s grandmother’s husband was aware of the family history when he met and married his wife and if he maintained contact with his daughter. We don’t know if any of the other women had siblings to know if it only shows up in one child, there is no guarantee that Jieun’s sister is not going to experience a similar fate later in life like her grandmother.

We will see whether these or other issues...

Yes, amfalula! A college flashback had Eunho and Juihyuk with a group, where she asked if he wouldn't marry even if he met the love his life. Someone else said what if met a pretty, educated, rich woman. He laughed it off and said something about why would a woman like that ever be interested in him. It makes me wonder if, at least in part, his reasoning for rebuking Eunoh is because he doesn't think he's good enough for her? We know she thinks the opposite right now.

As for "Haneul", I just wondered if K-drama writers do little things like that since US writers do.

I watched Cinderella and the four Knights. Hanuel is the company name for Boa's dad and Hanuel house was the name of the home in Cinderella and the Four Nights. (Ahn Jae-Hyun and Jung Il Woo were both in that). Hmmm.

Love on his terms, I'm not sure. Didn't Ji Hyuk say something about---who would ever marry/love him (I can't remember exactly, but it was a flashback friend group conversation). I was thinking there is something in the past---something that has to do with the cafe since the cafe is supposed to be a kind of safe space. Our heroine also mentioned a woman that he cared for back in college. I thought it was also interesting that Boa said that Ji Hyuk wasn't the kind of person that loves----that is a serious indictment of someone. (if I understood the dialog correctly). Is he a fool for trying to protect himself emotionally? A fool for thinking he had people he could trust? A fool that he could live a decent life?

It's fun to contemplate while we wait for more episodes.

well, i couldn't finish the chicken nugget one - so this might be a good change to undo her typecasting. she's so adorable - i worry about these child actors, i hope she has fabulous parents and a good agent/manager watching over her.

Six episodes in, I’m liking the cases and the characters…. All except for the portrayal of the FL. I think the actress for the FL is the weakest of the entire cast— and I do mean the entire cast— even the supporting and side characters are acting circles around Li Lan Di (the FL actress) ☹️ The main struggle I’m having right now is that during the autopsy scenes, it’s written all over Li Lan Di’s face just how unsure of herself she is in acting out the scenes and how stiff her motions are, completely unlike the experienced person she’s supposed to be in autopsies and medical procedures.
Hopefully this improves with 24 more episodes to go!

With episodes only being 45-49 minutes each, they were watchable and quick to digest. But there needs to be more plot within that short amount of time.

Tae San hugging the familiar old man and how Geum Soon was calling him Ahjussi were cute and touching.

For a non-Korean viewer, it wasn't immediately clear who was which Zodiac animal. I could decently guess who was which by their names (I also skimmed the cast list from a while ago).

Ma Rok is human, but I was surprised to see him during the olden times looking the same. I wondered how much time had passed.

DaebakGrits is not wrong about dark and sexy demon Park Hyung Shik. x] Just a few of his facial expressions and the narrowing of his eyes has me anticipating more.

The first fight scene was nothing special. I guess the thugs were supposed to be average. They seemed extra slow and clunky with their punches and swings. I get that usually in movies/dramas, they show thugs fighting one vs one to highlight the single protagonist and/or out of fairness, but in this case, the scene felt a tad long and it would have made more sense if the rest of the thugs started attacking Tae San at once by the end. They don't have to play fair and if they saw the other members losing, they should start double-teaming (XD). Maybe this is a minor quibble. The second fight scene with the 3 Zodiac Angels was better. They looked tough and mighty against the regular humans, but not so strong against the supernatural.

I was interested and curious while watching this drama. However, after the episodes were over, I was left feeling unsatisfied. Even more so due to the short episode lengths! We don't have time for filler or lengthy fight scenes.

Well, I'm going to continue for now due to the short length and see more of Park Hyung Shik (gimme a break, I tried Buried Hearts for him and couldn't last. D;)

I just rewatched a few scenes, and I agree that LCM is definitely holding his own in this role. And you're right about everybody being young in Joseon. After all, they pegged the FL as an old hag at the ripe age of 27!

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)