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Post by Knov1 on Jul 8, 2020 13:22:27 GMT -5
Warning: Post contains spoilers!
Hae Kyung gets upset when Jae Hyuk reveals that he broke into Do Hee’s home. Hae Kyung punches Jae Hyuk and warns him to stay away from Do Hee. While Hae Kyung is distracted with another patient, Do Hee leaves the clinic with Jae Hyuk. She takes him to a police station but can’t bring herself to file charges against him. Do Hee calls Geon Woo to come pick up Jae Hyuk. She doesn't want him coming near her again. The following morning Hae Kyung goes to see Do Hee for breakfast but she’s uncomfortable eating with him. Hae Kyung has homeless doctor check on Jae Hyuk. No Eul pays Hae Kyung a visit at his clinic. She’s giving up on him and moving on. Do Hee takes a 3 day break from work. Hae Kyung’s mom passes away during surgery.
Hae Kyung’s mom left him a note saying she loved him and was sorry for forgetting he was the most important person in her life. Do Hee goes to the hospital to comfort Hae Kyung. Jae Hyuk shows up at Do Hee’s house. He apologizes to Do Hee and doesn’t want her to hate him. A funeral is held for Hae Kyung’s mom. Homeless doctor is going to treat Jae Hyuk at Hae Kyung’s clinic. Do hee cooks noodles for Hae Kyung. No Eul goes to Hae Kyung’s house and runs into Do Hee. No Eul is upset that Hae Kyung didn’t tell her about his mother’s death. Do Hee tells No Eul to stop pretending she’s ok. No Eul wants to stay in touch and be friends with Hae Kyung but he doesn’t feel that’s possible right now. Maybe down the line. Homeless doctor finally gets a phone so Ah Young can contact him. Ah Young finds out homeless doctor is a psychiatrist and gets mad at him. Do Hee’s mom sets her up on a blind date that gets interrupted by Hae Kyung. Do Hee reveals to Hae Kyung that the patient who wouldn’t let her daughter date a guy like him was Do Hee’s mother. Do Hee and Hae Kyung plan on visiting her mother so Hae Kyung can try and get on her good side. Hae Kyung and Do Hee run into Jae Hyuk while walking. Hae Kyung talks to Jae Hyuk. Jae Hyuk runs out into the street. Hae Kyung follows after him and gets struck by a car.
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I laughed when Hae Kyung said he was popular with mothers. That was more a comment about Song Seung Heon than Hae Kyung. The series has turned into such a melodramatic mess that the lighter moments feel weird now. It’s like the makers of the series wanted to cram in as much conflict as they could regardless of whether it makes any sense or not. It’s a shame because Dinner Mate should have been a light feel good story like Touch Your Heart. Instead we’re getting Something in the Rain. I rarely look forward to Kdrama finales. In the case of Dinner Mate, I’m glad it’s ending next week so we can be done with this mess.
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Post by ajk on Jul 8, 2020 23:15:35 GMT -5
It’s starting very much to look like the original plan was for this series to end at 16 or 20 episodes and somebody ordered it extended after the script was written. That would explain a lot—why the endgame came so early and why we’re getting all of this extra material that doesn’t connect very well with the Doc/Dohee storyline that was supposed to be the inspiration for the series. We’ve seen this in several historicals and the result in every case has been as bad as what’s happened here. So it would make sense.
Hour 13 was just sort of floundering around with no apparent purpose. Dohee pushed Doc away and was so miserable but there was no sufficient reason for it. She ends up sobbing on the street because Ex was causing her so much trouble--why? You can understand her being frustrated, but totally freaking out in self-pity and then stiffing Doc over it? She’s stronger than that. Felt like manufactured drama.
Oh and reporting someone to the police for stalking is going to be a tough sell if you’re inviting your stalker to come with you the police station to do it. Just sayin’.
And look at this, Ex isn’t wearing socks either. Well no wonder Dohee had a breakdown.
That Geon-u guy is the only one consistently talking sense in this thing. Right now he’s the MVP. Except he said “Did I give up Hae-kyong because I didn’t love him back then?” Wait, was he trying to turn Doc gay? I had the impression early on that Geon-u was gay. Something huge slipped through there...but come to think of it a while back didn’t we see a picture of Doc and Geon-u together? Is Doc bisexual?
“Hey, wake up. You have to pay for the counseling!” Thank goodness for Homeless Guy. He and Geon-u are the only things worth watching right now. Let’s face it—at this point the third most interesting character in the whole thing is the stuffed penguin. Not good not good.
Doc: “I was going to ring the doorbell if you didn’t come out soon.” Oh I see, so you’re not actually stalking her. Because it sort of is starting to seem like it. You spend a lot of time outside her front door.
Dohee’s mom tells her she went to a therapist and Dohee immediately parrots back something that her mom told the therapist. Umm, doctor/patient confidentiality? If that were me I would go ballistic! Yes there’s an innocent explanation for it and he didn’t tell Dohee the patient’s name, but her mom didn’t know that. Her mom should have been horrified.
Give some credit to the crazy-in-love guy patient for offering some of his homemade food to Doc’s assistant. Good for him. Very nice.
“How could he be so bad at relationships when he got his own patient a wife? It must be his personality.” If the assistant weren’t such a simpering weakling the guy could be an excellent character. He has a great perspective to watch everything unfold from.
What the heck was that outfit Barbie was running in? Actually I liked it, but exercising in something so loose-fitting? I don’t think so. She’s supposed to be a fitness expert and that thing was like a dropcloth on her.
But speaking of Barbie, she had the one really uplifting moment of the whole hour, the way she went to Doc and calmly told him she’s done trying with him. It was a real breakthrough for her and we like her more (or more accurately dislike her less) for it. The crying afterwards helped sell it too.
Actually the nice moments between Doc and his mom were good too—a sense of progress and healing there just like with Barbie. But here too, is this really relevant to his relationship with Dohee? It felt like more floundering around. You had to think mom was a goner with the stage 4 cancer and all of the dawdling and waiting for her operation (which by the way made no sense)...but the end of the hour it felt like we’ve drifted into a sequel.
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The surgeon walks out, says “I’m sorry,” and walks away. What kind of a surgeon does that? Actually there were three surgeons, who spoke a total of two words. And for that matter, you don’t hear about a lot of stomach cancer patients dying in the operating room. Maybe that’s why they wouldn’t talk. Lousy doctors.
But after that weak start most of Hour 14 was actually much better. There were some nice moments in it and it was more like the better episodes when people were making progress in their lives and relationships. The only two weak parts were (of course) in the beginning and the end when Ex showed up to be a pain in the butt. You could just feel the air deflating out of the episode both times. Blecch.
And you know what, Ex is supposed to be the crazy one but Doc is showing his share of out-of-control behavior himself. Especially suffering from grief at the moment, he should have enough insight to know how his grief is affecting his mental state.
And speaking of grief, didn’t the funeral seem to happen awfully soon? I got completely confused on the passage of time because it felt like they were starting her funeral within hours after the operation. Couldn’t figure it out.
It was nice of those work people to come to the gravesite. They barely know Doc.
And now Homeless Guy is going to be Ex’s therapist? That’s no better than Doc doing it! Good grief will this never end. But danged if he isn’t excellent at his job. He was very good with Ex, especially considering the grudge he should have against him.
Doc makes his move again...and gets shot down again! Geez Doc you really aren’t gettin’ it done. Woof woof.
Boss Lady: “I guess I’m the crazy one. I let him work here for you to see him again.” THANK you. Finally! Yes you do bear some responsibility for all this.
The blind date walks out on Doc and Dohee. “At least he can read the table.” Okay that was the funniest line in a long time. Cracked me up.
The ending...well...the immediate thought was how could there be no people around. That car has a driver, right? And Doc pushed Ex out of the way, so why is Ex laying there unconscious? He should have been fine.
But that aside, this is now the most significant thing that’s happened in the whole series, to the point where everything else just isn’t important any more. The relationships and the other struggles, who will think about any of it when Doc is fighting for his life? He’s not going to get up and walk away from this. Why would you write this into the story with only two hours left? No matter what the resolution is, I don’t like it. And could they actually kill Doc off? There definitely is a path for that—what would happen to everyone else if he dies, right down to the redeemed Homeless Guy who steps into Doc's practice. But the arrogance of writing that ending to this series, I hope it doesn’t happen because that would be just too much. Viewers would riot over it.
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Post by Knov1 on Jul 9, 2020 17:03:04 GMT -5
It’s starting very much to look like the original plan was for this series to end at 16 or 20 episodes and somebody ordered it extended after the script was written. That would explain a lot—why the endgame came so early and why we’re getting all of this extra material that doesn’t connect very well with the Doc/Dohee storyline that was supposed to be the inspiration for the series. We’ve seen this in several historicals and the result in every case has been as bad as what’s happened here. So it would make sense. This series was always meant to be 32 eps (16 hrs). I think Dinner Mate's biggest issue is that character decisions seem more based on creating drama/conflict rather than what makes the most sense for the characters. That Geon-u guy is the only one consistently talking sense in this thing. Right now he’s the MVP. Except he said “Did I give up Hae-kyong because I didn’t love him back then?” Wait, was he trying to turn Doc gay? I had the impression early on that Geon-u was gay. Something huge slipped through there...but come to think of it a while back didn’t we see a picture of Doc and Geon-u together? Is Doc bisexual? Geon Woo is gay. He has a one sided crush on Hae Kyung. Actually the nice moments between Doc and his mom were good too—a sense of progress and healing there just like with Barbie. But here too, is this really relevant to his relationship with Dohee? It felt like more floundering around. You had to think mom was a goner with the stage 4 cancer and all of the dawdling and waiting for her operation (which by the way made no sense)...but the end of the hour it felt like we’ve drifted into a sequel. His mom's death was sad but was also used as a catalyst to get Hae Kyung and Do Hee back together. His mom died so now everything is forgiven and forgotten. It was nice of those work people to come to the gravesite. They barely know Doc. This felt more like having people there for the sake of having people there. As you said, they don't really know Hae Kyung. But that aside, this is now the most significant thing that’s happened in the whole series, to the point where everything else just isn’t important any more. The relationships and the other struggles, who will think about any of it when Doc is fighting for his life? He’s not going to get up and walk away from this. Why would you write this into the story with only two hours left? No matter what the resolution is, I don’t like it. And could they actually kill Doc off? There definitely is a path for that—what would happen to everyone else if he dies, right down to the redeemed Homeless Guy who steps into Doc's practice. But the arrogance of writing that ending to this series, I hope it doesn’t happen because that would be just too much. Viewers would riot over it. Hae Kyung isn't going to die. Maybe goes into a coma or has amnesia. |
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Post by ajk on Jul 10, 2020 1:40:21 GMT -5
Yeah it would be a big stretch to kill him. But I remember A Tale of Two Sisters, that silly daily drama we all watched when KBS first came back to Chicago. All of that grinding drama with Monster Girl and then after she finally grew up and started to redeem herself they had her get hit by a car and killed right at the end. It was almost surreal. But hopefully you're right.
The series may have always been announced at 32 episodes but I'd still like to hear the backstory of how the contract was signed. I'd bet a lot of money there was a finished plan for something shorter at some point.
But it's all academic now. Whatever the reason for it the car accident really has cast a pall over the thing.
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I forgot about this but when they had that scene with the smelly foods I wondered about the foods so I looked into it. Turns out somebody really did their homework.
One of them was a durian, that was the only one I knew. It’s an Asian fruit and supposedly it tastes amazing but the smell is absolutely horrid. Have never found one in a store here. Probably there isn’t much export demand for them, or more likely no one wants to transport them.
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-does-the-durian-fruit-smell-so-terrible-149205532/
The skate, I had never heard of anybody eating skate before and it turns out there’s a good reason. Skates excrete their waste through their skins and eventually the uric acid makes them smell like ammonia. But it’s acutally a legit Korean dish called hongeo and some people love it. It sounds disgusting:
www.odditycentral.com/foods/koreas-most-popular-fermented-fish-dish-smells-like-a-public-toilet.html
And then the cheese, I had always thought from devotedly watching The Three Stooges that limburger was the smelliest cheese. But apparently some scientists went through every cheese out there and picked vieux boulogne.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1477473/Worlds-smelliest-cheese-named.html
So high marks for accuracy there.
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