Dinner Mate (2020)

This was really very classic and decent drama till episode 11
The story was good
The Romance was ok
The plot was connected well
Then
After that it became very annoying,
Repetitive , slow pace and nothing new

The most annoying episode ever was no. 13
The FL left him literally for no reason
Just following the frustrating rule of separation at every Korean drama
Inspite of she was the one who left him with no reason
Everyone around the Ml accused him of being the reason of this failure which annoyed me as hell
And was really illogical at all

I wanted to slap her so much
Many times I didn't recognise what does she want really
Her position was extremely fluid
Towards both men
Although she told her ex many times in a strict way she doesn't love him anymore,
But also her attitude towards her current boyfriend
Seems lukewarm and cold

I hated that her mother interfere her life many times
And At the beginning I hated both exs
Then I felt sympathy with the FL's ex so much and felt sorrow for what happened to him and hated his father a lot

And I hated the ML's mother and his ex so much

Both were extremely selfish and thought that saying sorry can fix everything

Even the side stories had a share of stupid separation

Many many stupid events had no need for it
like :
the gay character
The long length for many scenes
the repititive dialogue
scenes of the refusing mother to the ML
And definitely the accident scene

ONE TIME WATCH DRAMA
What ruined this drama that they insist to reach 16 episodes anyway
12 was going to be perfect
After EP 11 , I literally dislike it
I tripled the speed's watching and jumped many scenes

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I've read the manwha "Shall We Have Dinner Tonight?" even before my kdrama addiction has started. So I was kind of hyped about this drama. Also Before Sunset is like one of my favorite movies of all time & I'm bringing this up, because the manwha reminded me of that quite a bit. I'm saying it confidently that the writers have butchered the magic of the original. The witty dialog & the bonding over food is almost completely missing from the drama. What's funny though that I did not even mind while watching the first half. Episodes 1-9~ were very entertaining for me with a lot of charm, it felt like I was watching a light hearted romcom, where even the exes were interesting in their own way. I hate love triangles, but while watching those early episodes I thought that with a story sequenced like this having more aggressive secondary love interests was perfectly fine.
Unfortunately the ratings were low & as customary with live filming, major changes were made. There are about 3 episodes where the focus is completely on Jung Jae Hyuk's (second ML)'s mental illness & not only that but our FL is also doing some incredibly stupid and frustrating things. Honestly at times I felt that the writer was just cruel to the audience.

The entire cast was great, perhaps the ML's performance is the weakest link. The OST is extremely repetitive, there was an episode where the the "Mokja nyan nyan" song was played like 6-7 times. The visuals were great, but nowadays that's true for all kdramas..

My suggestion is to keep watching until episode 11 & then just skip to episode 14 for the best experience.

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My main issue is with Woo Do-Hee, she's very selfish and seem to only truly care about her own issues and feelings. I don't understand why she gives her mother the cold shoulder for struggling when her husband is cheating on her as she's clearly a house wife and her whole universe is her husband who's absent and doesn't care about her. I don't understand why she's dealing with Jae Hyuk the way she is. She isn't helping anyone when she's not reporting him. He breaks into her apartment, she gives him a warning, then he goes to Hae Kyung to further ruin the relationship and she again lets him off the hook? You're not helping Jae Hyuk at all, he needs to be kept in a supervised mental unit. When she goes to the convenient store when Hae Kyung is drunk and LEAVE HIM THERE, I was like that girl is so damn stupid. Call a cab, get him home, do something, don't leave him outside all night when THERE'S A LITERAL STALKER ON THE LOOSE? Like damn thats poor character writing. She thinks she's smart, but she's impulsive and very self-centered. Seung Heon's character is the only reason I stayed. I love that actress, so it was a very frustrating to watch this unfold.

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This drama started with a promising story but the writer decided to make a cliche conflict which destroy the future of this drama. I really disappointed with how the writer depicts the exes of both lead. Also, other downside is from the music cut. The music transition between scenes is not that smooth.

At first, i really like the female lead character because she is not a weak lead, but a strong one. Her character is a rational one, until...her ex comes in (first ex). The male lead character is a gem in K-drama land because not many male lead character is as mature as he is. Dr. Kim is a mature man with a great amount of patience for his girlfriend. Whenever the female lead starts to get anxious, the male lead is there to guide her. The male lead is always there for her, but is she? She is a selfish girlfriend and always pushes the male lead away no matter how hard the male lead tried to get close to her. The male lead, never, for once, had a doubt in their relationship, even from the first time they met. But the female lead had nothing but doubt, and that only goes away in the last 2 episode (after the exes conflict).

I get it, I understand her, at first, because she just got cheated on by her 2nd ex. But as the story goes on, I don't think that her way of trying to make it better by hurting the male lead is right, by trying to push away the male lead. I really hate the misunderstanding the female lead feels. She feels like she brings nothing but problems to the male lead which by the way, the male lead is okay with it. So, what's the problem? It's just a problem the writer wrote when he/she did not have any other brilliant choice of conflict, "just use the same old tricks, here comes the exes problem that will put your relationship on a test".

This drama had so much potential to make it to my best drama list along with It's Ok It's Love, but the conflict just take it all away. It's such a shame cause the leads chemistry is like no other. I rarely see the lead chemistry as mature as they are. That's why I put It's Ok It's Love as my first choice of best drama i've ever watched. The lead's relationship (in Dinner Mate) feels real, even if there is not much kiss or hot scene between the leads, but I can feel the warmth from their relationship. The kiss feels real, the touchy scene also feels real, except for one specific kiss scene (you'll know which when you see it).

My last thought of this drama, my regret for the writer is that it would’ve been better if the conflict is the build up of the leads romance. Because the two lead is someone who got hurt by their past (twice for the female lead), it woud've been better if the writer put more focus on the process of the lead getting to know each other. The exes story would be better if they are just one of the conflict not the main conflict. And it will be even better for the ending to show the leads marriage, not just a proposal. Actually, for me, it may be even better if the two lead got married throughout the story and the conflict are them trying to build a family together. Because, marriage is not the real ending in a relationship, and how they maintain their marriage is a great ordeal for this kind of story (like Tomorrow With You with less dramatic story).

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Not your kind cliche love story

Heart warming and realistic relationship. It might be a lil bit boring for someone who likes clingy things and fluttering love story, but i personally love their relationship so much, it shows how mature and health relationship should be. Also, there are many cameo and supporting role who are really good so it brings up the vibe and make this drama even better.

The sick ex ones actually bring a little tension and thriller in this drama, eventhough i think they're too much focusing on him. But overall i don't find it bothers the whole story. Super worth to watch.

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I have been on the watch for this drama to come out for a long time, as it is based on a webtoon, and dramas like that tend to have an intriguing storyline. I was really drawn to the whole ambience and aesthetics of this drama from the very first episode. The characters had a lot of chemistry together, and I enjoyed that the female lead could easily overpower the male. Their love story was well-built, with a bit of a "destiny" kick to it. Personally, I feel like some of the side characters did not get as good of a backstory as some of the others. I can proudly say that the OST was phenomenal and is the new gem in my playlist. Overall, it was a light drama to watch after work, nothing special, although very promising.

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I'll just give this drama a 5/10.

This drama is just 'alright'. Not bad, but not good either. There is really nothing memorable or 'impactful' scene in this drama. The chemistry between the main leads are so-so. I only watched this drama for Na-Eun (Jin No-Eul) but her character annoys me (I believe that's a good thing because it means she did her character well that it makes me want to slap her because of her selfishness).

On the other side, the coloring of this drama is very pretty and aesthetic looking, and the OSTs are good.

So far my least favorite types of dramas are dramas about foods.

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A show with a decent first half and a phenomenal second half.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS AND IS MOSTLY AIMED AT PEOPLE WHO'VE ALREADY SEEN THE SHOW.

No other drama compelled me to write a review as much as Dinner Mate did, especially so after I read all the other reviews which seem to be very big opposites of what I liked about the drama. This won't be much of a coherent review but rather writing down my thoughts after just finishing the show 3 minutes ago.

A big thing I read in other people's reviews is that they felt the first half was good but soon after the quality went down and the show started dragging. For me it was the complete opposite where I felt the 2nd half to be vastly superior in both quality and storytelling (though not flawless). The main things I want to talk about are the characters Woo Do Hee and Jung Jae Hyuk for I felt that this drama did an amazing job of creating an ex boyfriend turned stalker/obsessive personality disorder and secondly Do Hee is a very intelligently written character and played to near perfection by the lovely Seo Ji Hye.

Jae Hyuk and Do Hee made this show for me. While I liked the romance of Do Hee and Hae Kyung I didn't particularly feel connected to Hae Kyung's character and as a male lead he was majorly outshined by Do Hee.

I felt that Jae Hyuk's gradual change from an ex boyfriend who felt that he had a chance to fix his old relationship to a stalker with an obsessive personality disorder was done very well. This is the part of the show that fascinated me the most. Yeah there have been stalker plots in other drama's but this is the first time I felt sympathetic towards them, which makes this a good moment to shout out the actor Lee JI Hoon who played Jae Hyuk. God my heart genuinely ached during his breakdowns after the second half. The pain I could see in his eyes and face was done amazingly well. During the first half of the show I didn't like his character at all and I think that probably goes for many people but during the second half I started to sympathize with him. Not because I think his behaviour was okay or should be accepted but because at some point in the show I started asking myself; What did he do to deserve all this misfortune? Yeah, he absolutely broke into Do Hee's home and trashed the place to look for a picture while being in his delusion. He took the wrong approach in trying to gain back her love by focussing too much on what they had in the past rather than how Do Hee feels in the present but the key thing to me is that unlike other stalker plots not once did he become violent or started to entertain dangerous thoughts towards Do Hee. He did not try to kidnap her because ''SHE'S MINE!!''. He never became violent towards her or threatened to be and only ever wanted the best for her, that which was the best in his own warped delusional way but what matters to me is intent. I think that the writers did a splendid job of creating a character who treaded so dangerously close to the line throughout the entire show and even passed that line at points but never to an extent where you felt indifferent towards him or weren't able to feel his pain. The scene where he entered Do Hee's home to look for a picture is a prime example of that. Yeah, he broke in. He committed a crime. He saw her door. Started getting delusions about their past where they were happy and proceeded to use her passcode which still worked because it was never changed. For a man to escape their delusions they must be faced with reality and that's what happened in that scene. Like he said during that scene ''There's nothing here that shows our love'' while sobbing hysterically and being totally out of reality. Rather than be angry at him, or call him a loser I just wanted him to become happy. I wanted Jae Hyuk to heal, to become better. He has made mistakes in his life but I never once felt like he should've been denied the opportunity to become happy himself.

I mentioned that it was both Jae Hyuk and Do Hee who made the show for me.

Do Hee's character was phenomenal, for the most part. I will say that during the first half I felt that her decisions didn't always
make that much sense to me but I'm not going to talk about that because that's not what I'm writing down my thoughts for. These moments weren't nearly egregious enough to ruin what I felt like her character was. They were still in line with what I thougth her character was but I did feel like she could've gone about it differently. That aside I'm going to focus on her character near the second half.

Jae Hyuk was gradually getting worse in his obsession with Do Hee. Became more aggressive towards her ( in a non violent way ) to get back together and was naturally shot down each time. I'm so glad that Do Hee never considered getting back to him a single time. Firmly rejected his advances every time. She was over him, you could see that and I'm glad the writers agreed that this is how her character should be. Before I started this show I read about the ex's coming back part and I was hoping it wouldn't be like your typical; ex's come back, female lead is happy to see them and become friendly with them but in the end the male lead wins. It wasn't like that at all. I will say this for No Eul and Hae Kyung as well. I hated No Eul's character at many points in the show but their relationship was very similar in the sense that Hae Kyung also never budged or considered getting back together, not even once. Now the reason I am happy about this is not because I think ex's should never be given a second chance. Sometimes things don't work out you know, sometimes many years without seeing eachother and forgetting eachother can mature a person to where a relationship could suddenly work out. But this wasn't that kind of show. Do Hee didn't want to get back with him whatsoever so there was nothing to fix.

A key thing about Do Hee, something that complicated her relationship with Hae Kyung, was that every time Jae Hyuk would pull something to get back with her or try to win her heart but made mistakes in the process Do Hee felt so small and embarassed. At first I didn't quite get why. I feel like if I was in Do Hee's shoes I would detach my own self and worth from him and rather than feel embarassed I would feel annoyed but not be impacted on how I would interact with a love interest. After watching more of Do Hee and these moments I realized that what she really wanted was a normal relationship and to a lesser extent a normal life. She mentioned multiple times how her relationships had gotten to be such a mess. I think she was probably scared for a repeat of that, because it happened twice already and Jae Hyuk was well on his way to ruin it all.

A particular scene that really stood out to me and will probably remain with me for a while was when Do Hee took Jae Hyuk to the police station by taxi to report him for stalking and breaking in. She was incredibly cold unlike what we've seen of her in the show. She felt dead inside and so jaded by Jae Hyuk. After they stepped out of the taxi Jae Hyuk walked behind her and just said his typical ''mianhae'' after which she lost it and collapsed on her knees while screaming out of frustration. Rather than Jae Hyuk coming over to her to console or try to take advantage of this situation he just stood there, with a slightly shocked but stoic face. At that point he probably realized what he's doing to Do Hee and what an effect everything has on him. It was after this scene that he slowly started to entertain the thought of being ill, though being dismissive of it at first but later coming to terms with it. I felt that this scene was incredibly well done. The softer side of Do Hee came back and rather than actually report him for stalking and breaking in she called Geon u to take him away to a psychiatrist. I felt that this moment really showed what Do Hee deep down wanted. She wanted nothing to do anymore with Jae Hyuk but deep down wanted him to heal and find his own happiness for the sake of both of them.

Jae Hyuk and Do Hee had an incredibly toxic relationship during the entire show. But for me personally it was written in such a way that you could really see the gradual change from ''annoying ex boyfriend'' to someone who was a danger to himself and in complete delusion of where he stands.

Dinner mate absolutely has it's flaws but amidst scenes of mediocrity the complexity of two characters really elevated parts of this show to be something really special. Many people will not agree with me but that's the beauty about media and more specifically a show like this. People with different values and tolerance levels will enjoy different parts about this show.

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Specific love journey

All characters are well played
Especially ~Seo Ji Hye [ Woo Do Hee ] her smile acting all is cloud nine
Main lead Song Seung Heon [ Kim Hae Kyung ] and Seo Ji Hye [ Woo Do Hee ] are best pair
Their chemistry in love scenes are mesmerising
Ost is also awesome
thank you
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Too much filler

Dropped it after episode 8.

I guess I'm one of the few people who didn't particularly like this show. It just felt like I could skip several episodes at a time without missing anything from the storyline. Too much of their daily lives, not enough of lead male/female interactions. Where in other shows side characters move the plot along and paint the picture of what the lead character's life looks like, here they take so much screen time you completely forget the plot and whose life story you're supposed to be following.

The only thing I liked was leads' acting, though it was difficult to feel the chemistry between the characters, with their interactions so far spread out throughout the show. I also found myself not really caring about either of them the more I watched.

Not a bad show, just not the show for me.

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First reason why I watched this is because of the two leads. For the review, the 1st scene of Episode 1 is a bit boring for me. But don't worry that doesn't last long because getting deep into the female lead's monologue is a plus point. Those type of lines are worth it to listen. The next scene is something to look forward to. This is part of a number of interesting scenes that caught my interest. In Ep1&2,there are cameos and bits of scenes that will make you reminisce a recent story you're familiar with, a story that might even touched your heart then. You'll know what I am referring to when you already watched CLOY and The Player. That adds up the excitement and makes the drama more relatable to viewers at some point. Big factor however is the strange but not so strange relationship development between the two leads. It's not rushed and awkward. The scenes are scalating just right giving us time to appreciate how different the two leads are at the same time let's us see their connection and similarities. The excitement we get as viewers every time they meet is... (I don't know the exact word to describe it but there is that feeling you'll know when you watch it)! Also not to mention the humor this drama offers.

For the music, I ranked it seven for now. I know the OST is not bad but can't recall a memorable melody just yet compare to other dramas where you get hooked by the soundtrack right on the 1st episode. A few popular music however was featured.

For the 4 episodes so far, it's definitely worth watching. I will continue supporting this drama and see how it wraps up and I hope it wraps up great.

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