[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Let's Eat" Episode 13

I don't know how this drama is able to do such a good job consistently escalating awkward situations. Oh wait yes I do. Since when has anything become less awkward after a love confession? Sure there's the big romantic scene, the adulation, the culmination of a dozen episodes worth of sexual tension- but that stuff's not real. It's a desperately wishful fantasy. Thank you "Let's Eat" for crushing my spirits, giving a hard reminder of why people avoid making love confessions in the first place.

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There's gotta be something else here to hook on to. Right the food porn. Thank goodness for the food porn. Nothing quite takes out the shame and humiliation of romantic angst like just obsessing about food for awhile. What's the right way to eat food? The most romantic? How many different kinds of food can be stuffed into a single meal? How much social decorum is involved with questions of being invited to partake in a meal or not?

...And the awkwardness is still there, not going away, no matter how much food we've got to deal with. Darn it. All right, in terms of merits, I like what the drama does with Soo-kyeong's viewpoint here. Granted, she was really crabby last week on Valentine's Day for no reason. At the same time, getting pushed into this love confession stuff doesn't actually fix those problems. I love how Soo-kyeong basically realizes she's being kind of a surly child. She wants something, but then when she can actually have it she doesn't really.

As for Hak-moon, he seems to have finally gotten a clue as to what kinds of things Soo-kyeong actually likes and wants. But is it enough? Honestly I don't know. It's a rather fitting mystery. Right now Soo-kyeong herself has no idea how to respond to these advances, so there's genuine dramatic tension here. Even jokes don't really add that much levity to the situation. It's like everything's at a stall waiting for what will happen next.

It's consequently fitting that the rest of the supporting cast is in the exact same situation as us in the audience- genuinely really curious about what will happen next. And yet at the same time this excessive interest is stifling. It only makes the plotline between Soo-kyeong and Hak-moon that more awkward. It's a vicious feedback loop that does a lot to escalate the tension. This goes on right up to the intense cliffhanger, and a preview that seems to spoil too much but, come to think of it, how much is the drama actually saying?

Review by William Schwartz

"Let's Eat" is directed by Park Joon-hwa and written by Lim Soo-mi and features Lee Soo-kyung, Yoon Doo-joon, Yoon So-hee and Shim Hyung-tak.