[Funcurve Review] "I Order You"
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Tasty Love Story
Falling in love at first sight? More like falling in love at first taste. "I Order You" immediately intrigued and pulled me in with the way the female lead lusts after food. But beyond the atypical gluttonous heroine, I really liked the way it introduces each character as time goes on to help the story progress naturally. "I Order You" is also fast moving with each episode being about 20 minutes long. It's the perfect length to get the story across and build character depth, while not long enough to make me bored. Most importantly, "I Order You" seems to be a lighthearted drama with a hint of romantic comedy upon first impression. But it actually explores deeper issues than initially expected and is full of surprises. You never really know what's going to happen next, which kept me interested throughout the drama.
Episodes 1-3 Review 
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The opening of "I Order You" is very pleasant and attention-grabbing. The drama begins with scenes of different people's lunch hours - some are satisfied and others are unhappy. I didn't know how significant of a role food is going to play in the drama. But soon enough, it was made known to me when the voiceover explains that life is like lunch because they both can have different flavors and meanings. What an unusual analogy!
The lead characters, Park Song-ah (Kim Ga-eun) and Yeo Gook-dae (U-Know), are quickly introduced in a lunchbox making restaurant, FLada, owned by Gook-dae. Song-ah is super cute and quirky, but a bit stubborn. Gook-dae is an extremely good looking and talented chef, which probably explains why he seems to be a bit full of himself. Song-ah meets Gook-dae at FLada while running an errand for her brother. She instantly falls in love with not only Gook-dae's charms, but also his food because it reminds her of her mother's cooking. Their love story has rollercoaster ride written all over it since the first encounter. From their push-and-pull interactions, I knew at once that Song-ah and Gook-dae's relationship will be very entertaining to watch as they play cat and mouse. The fact that I couldn't tell who will be the mouse and who will be the cat made me eager to continue.
Through a strange turn of events, Song-ah ends up working at FLada. This is a key development in the plot to conveniently put Song-ah and Gook-dae together and allow their relationship to flourish. It also helps tie in other important characters such as FLada employees Nam Soo-ri and Han Bi-ryong. Their distinctive personalities made an impression on me and they quickly became two of my favorite characters. Soo-ri is the youngest and an absolute lady's man. He frequently tells lies like owning FLada to get new girlfriends, yet you can't help but love his charisma. Bi-ryong is the most reliable of the bunch and knows Gook-dae better than anyone. They keep Gook-dae grounded while challenge him at the same time, which is comforting for me to see since Gook-dae comes across as an elitist at times. These characters help the plot develop and keep the drama moving forward.
Episodes 4-7 Review 
In this section of "I Order You", we are introduced to the second male lead, Ke Bin (Jang Seung-jo), who helps progress the storyline quickly. Ke Bin is the new team lead at Song-ah's company. He immediately takes a liking to Song-ah and keeps staring at her with a smile during their staff meeting. Ke Bin often goes out of his way to accommodate Song-ah as well. His strange behaviors feel out of the blue and uncomfortable to watch at times. The drama also wastes no time in introducing Ke Bin to Gook-dae and things rapidly heat up between them. Gook-dae feels the competition over Song-ah and their relationship advances at a much faster speed as a result. The change of pace caught me by surprise, but I appreciated how the addition of Ke Bin helps spice things up.
We find out a bit later that the reason Ke Bin acts strangely around Song-ah is that she knew him as Joo Gyeong-joo from her past. Once their history is made known, my initial skepticism around Ke Bin disappeared and I started to like him as a character. But Song-ah is still hesitant to interact with Ke Bin because she doesn't want people at work to get the wrong impression.
I appreciate how the addition of Ke Bin helps spice things up.The past resurfacing in the present is a consistent theme. Gook-dae also reveals something about an old relationship of his and causes the cat and mouse game between him and Song-ah to resume once again. It was frustrating to watch Gook-dae constantly leading Song-ah on but never making his feelings for her clear. However, I knew that this is all for moving the story along and patiently watched on.
Episode 8-9 Review 
At this point, Song-ah finally becomes fed up with the mixed signals from Gook-dae and confronts him. It was a huge sigh of relief for me to see Song-ah taking matters into her own hands. At the same time, I also enjoyed watching Gook-dae start to open up to Song-ah and display his real emotions. Nonetheless, Song-ah tells Gook-dae that he toyed with her heart too much and it's too late for anything to happen between them. Props to her for standing up for herself again!
Although I was pleased with how "I Order You" matured Song-ah's character, I was frustrated to feel the plot dragging. Beyond the confrontations, these episodes doesn't add any new twists to make the drama more interesting. The storyline pretty much stays the same and becomes quite predictable.
Episode 10-13 Review
To add a little spice to the story, "I Order You" introduces a new character, Ah Da-hwa (Goo Jae-yee). Da-hwa is a very important woman from Gook-dae's past and is meant to be a roadblock in Song-ah and Gook-dae's love line. She does everything in her power to make Song-ah's feelings waver, and would not take no for an answer despite Gook-dae making his feelings for Song-ah transparent. I find the addition of Da-hwa refreshing as it creates a little more conflict and a bit of uncertainty in where the story is going to go next.
Unexpectedly, Da-hwa's antics also help reveal things from Gook-dae's past that are important to the plot. We learn that important women in Song-ah's and Gook-dae's lives were killed in similar accidents - a finding that brings them even closer together. This discovery really touched me because I felt like they are fated to be together and made for each other.
Episode 14-16 Review 
There's so much excitement leading up to the end that I was disappointed to find the last few episodes being quite rushed. The flow of the story is disrupted with too many themes crammed in all at once. Gook-dae and Song-ah's relationship is tested once again as Song-ah learns about an incident from Gook-dae's past that actually affected her past and present life as well. It seemed to me that this conflict is introduced too late and could have been played up a lot more had it been brought up earlier. Meanwhile, Da-hwa continues to make splashes thinking that she can drive a wedge between the two. But of course, to no avail.
The love that surrounds Song-ah and Gook-dae makes the less than satisfying ending bearable. They both have a great support system in their friends and family, which I found very relatable as it added a real life feel to the drama.
All in all, my perceptions of "I Order You" simply being a lighthearted romantic comedy is proven wrong as there are a lot of surprisingly deep issues addressed within the drama. Thanks to its fast pacing, meaningful characters, and unexpected developments of the storyline, "I Order You" leaves me full of pleasant and delightful tastes.
Written by: Jara from 'Funcurve'
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