Summary
Tastefully Yours comes together nicely in Episode 3. The characters are bedding in and the dynamics are becoming more complex and engaging.
As much as I’ll always relish the opportunity for food puns, I should start taking Tastefully Yours a bit more seriously since, as of Episode 3, it’s really starting to cohere. It’s still very much paddling in comfortably shallow waters, but the characters are bedding in, the flavours are starting to develop, and it seems like there’s going to be enough here to justify every course. Sorry, I’ll stop doing that.
The three-way dynamic at the core of things here really works, and is beginning to do so more with time. The slew of obstacles that crop up allows for meaningful and logical growth, and that dynamic is evolving thanks to the conflicting personas and motivations. There’s a sense that the core group will continue to expand as we go, too, which should fold in some more welcome complexity as the narrative progresses.
Anyway, picking up from where we left things, alcohol has greased the wheels somewhat, with Beom-woo noisily leaving Young-hye a voicemail message about his plans to steal Yeon-joo’s recipes, which will be easier said than done since she won’t give them up easily, and this is a K-Drama, so he’ll no doubt change his mind. But this motivation continues hovering in the background while Yeon-joo’s restaurant is faced with a litany of different problems.
Initially, it becomes apparent that a rumour is going around that the place is shutting down, and it has gathered enough steam that the landlady is already showing prospective tenants around. Naturally, Chan-seung is the prime suspect given the events of the previous evening, and he seems liable to have complained about the fire regulations and health certificate as well.
Beom-woo and Myung-sook are on the same page about this and want revenge. They devise a scheme to report Chan-seung’s illegal garage extension, but in response, he parks his car right in front of the restaurant, only adding to Yeon-joo’s stress, which also comes to include a missing ingredient that hasn’t been sent by the usual supplier.
Suspecting Chan-seung’s involvement again, Yeon-joo heads out to the guy’s house by bus – accompanied by Beom-woo – to speak to him directly, and it turns out Chan-seung is innocent of any wrongdoing, at least in this matter. The journey back and forth is a good opportunity for Yeon-joo and Beom-woo to spend some time together, and sparks are indeed flying. But Tastefully Yours Episode 3 gives the pair more pressing matters to attend to.
This turns out to be Yeon-joo’s restaurant being set on fire. Despite suspicion understandably falling on him once again, Chan-seung is innocent of the fire, if not of drunkenly breaking a window. In exchange for not being reported, he agrees to help Yeon-joo get the kitchen up and running within a three-day time frame, completely fails, and then breaks down in tears when Myung-sook tells him how useless he is. Maybe it was just me, but I expected Chan-seung to be a one-and-done or at least peripheral obstacle, but his focus here, including this moment when he reveals his own frustration stemming from his general uselessness and the pressure exerted on him by his father, allows him to blossom into a more interesting character who I’m sure will become part of the main team.
As if to prove this, Chan-seung helps the restaurant to register for a food truck competition with a hefty prize pot by driving like a maniac across town to make the registration window. This is good news, but it’s followed by another issue. Young-hye has arrived in town. To keep her quiet about his theft plans, Beom-woo pretends she’s his ex-girlfriend, an assumption that Yeon-joo had already made earlier. Things are about to get interesting.
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