Pasta Episode 1-5

Pasta: Episode 1

Ratings update, regarding the new dramas’ second episodes: The numbers shifted slightly, but as you can see, the race remains tight. Pasta now stands at 15.1%. God of Study moved upward with 15.9%, and Jejoongwon fell slightly to 14.6%. An hour before, Wish Upon a Star rose slightly to 11.3%.

Usually in a three-way race, one of the three will drop far behind, clearing the way for a two-way battle. However, this is an unusual circumstance where there’s no clear winner or loser, quality-wise. All these dramas have their appeal, which means Mondays and Tuesdays should be interesting for a while…

SONG OF THE DAY

Nadia – “Rewind” [ Download ]

I’ve already given my first impressions on Pasta in a previous post, so I’ll keep this to the point.

EPISODE 1 RECAP

There’s a food-filled intro that lingers a bit too long (food porn is fun, but only when it serves a point), which introduces us to our main character, SEO YOO-KYUNG (Gong Hyo-jin). She’s the lowest-ranking member of the kitchen staff at top Italian restaurant La Sfera. Yoo-kyung fulfills the role of general assistant, dishwasher, and errand girl, but today is her last day as such because she has been promoted. After three years, the Italian head chef, Totti, has made her assistant to the pasta chef.

Yoo-kyung has a stern father and younger brother (her mother is deceased), and lives in a nice apartment shared with three of her restaurant sunbaes.

Yoo-kyung makes a morning trip to the marketplace to buy some supplies for the restaurant and to renew an order with the egg guy (who’s a little shifty with the eggs, swapping out the larger ones with smaller ones). Picking up a free goldfish from the cashier, she heads outside to the crosswalk, where a man hurrying past bumps into her and sends her crashing to the ground. The plastic bag containing the goldfish bursts open, and Yoo-kyung tries to figure out what to do with the flopping fish before the light changes to red.

One of the people crossing the street is CHOI HYUN-WOOK (Lee Seon-kyun), and he stops to help. He instructs her to gather her hands together, the pours water from his water bottle into them, placing the fish there.

Safe at the other side of the intersection, they start to exchange goodbyes. She thanks him for his help as though to end the encounter, but he points out the problem of her two plastic bags. With her hands literally full, she can’t carry her bags, which means they are left with only one option: he must accompany her to her destination.

The moment’s a little awkward, but also a little flirty. Yoo-kyung’s first suspicion of the smooth-talking stranger is, “He’s a player,” but he’s very polite and keeps the conversation focused on the problem at hand. She revises her opinion, wondering, “Then is he a gentleman?”

They walk together, with Hyun-wook periodically refreshing the water in her hands. Along the way, he entertains her with fun facts about goldfish, who only have a memory span of two seconds.

Arriving at the back entrance of the restaurant, they again linger before parting ways — they’re attracted, but it’s that weird stage when they haven’t decided to do anything about it. He turns to go, but then she realizes she can’t open the door and asks him to unlock it for her. Her keys aren’t in her backpack, so she asks for him to fish in her jacket pockets. A bit awkwardly, he feels around, and she directs him to her inner pockets.

He jokes, “Are you deliberately saying you don’t remember where you put them to make me grope around?” Finally he produces the key — but rather than immediately opening the door, he takes his time thinking something over.

What’s so enjoyable about their chemistry is that they’re interested in each other (and he more than she), so the pause, along with his thoughtful smirk, is pretty sexy. He asks, “Are you free tonight?” At her startled reaction, he laughs, “Why are you hesitating? You’re supposed to reject the first time.”

When Yoo-kyung offers that she’s free after eleven, he replies without missing a beat, “A man and woman meeting for a first date at that time can have only one thing to do. Sleeping together. That can’t be what you mean, but if so I’m grateful for the thought.” Hyun-wook is so glib that Yoo-kyung is a little uncertain of how to respond, though she’s also amused.

Yoo-kyung: “It’s because that’s when I get off work.”
Hyun-wook: “You must find me acceptable, since you don’t reject me when I ask you out and agree to meet at midnight.”
Yoo-kyung: “I was just thinking of buying you a beer to thank you.”
Hyun-wook: “You could have put down the fish for a second and found the keys yourself, without having me feel around for them.”
Yoo-kyung: “Hey…”
Hyun-wook: “Fine, let’s meet at 11 pm in the same place, that street. Not tonight, not tomorrow, but the day after. I’m pretending that I’ve been rejected for tonight and tomorrow, to preserve your pride. Okay?”

With that, he turns to go, but asks for directions — does she know where La Sfera is? He’s due to start working there. That comment makes her realize that Hyun-wook must be the new guy — the assistant who’s starting tomorrow to take over her old job. Immediately, she drops the formal speech and shows him around the kitchen saying things like, “Hey kid.”

Her mistake is understandable, since nobody knows that their chef has just been fired — Manager Sol is dissatisfied with his food, which has become ordinary and unexciting. Hyun-wook is not the errand boy, but he lets her boss him around and takes it in with a smile.

He leaves her with a puzzling comment, that her fish are unfortunately bound to die soon — they don’t suit the kitchen, because they’re female.

That evening, Yoo-kyung has to deal with a return customer whom she finds exasperating; he asks for her personal recommendations and treats her with an overly familiar air that bothers her. This is KIM SAN (Clazziquai’s Alex), who is an ardent foodie and frequent La Sfera patron.

Feeling uncomfortable with his behavior, she takes him aside after dinner to ask him not to return. He doesn’t seem inclined to oblige her.

The next day, the staff is shocked to hear that their chef has been let go, and that they will be welcoming a new one. Hyun-wook saunters in, and Yoo-kyung realizes that Hyun-wook is the new chef, and that the new assistant is the young guy standing behind him.

Hyun-wook goes down the line to greet his staff, and makes quite an impression on the cooks. The women find him handsome and charming (as does one of the men). Dying of embarrassment, Yoo-kyung introduces herself as the pasta assistant.

As the staff readies for dinner service, Hyun-woo says genially that they may all proceed as normal. He stands back and watches calmly as they go about their work. He and Yoo-kyung don’t betray that they’ve already met; they act professionally, although there’s definitely a spark between them.

It’s only at the end of the night that we get a hint of what’s to come. Hyun-wook tells the manager calmly that the kitchen was a mess: “It’s not my kitchen yet. My kitchen hasn’t even begun.”

Another surprise greets Yoo-kyung in the morning on her way out of her apartment for work: Hyun-wook is in the elevator, too. He must also live in this building.

His posture remains cool and nonchalant while she says, still embarrassed, that she’s sorry for how she treated him before, assuming he was the new assistant. He seems disinterested, but his words contrast with his pose: “Don’t forget our date tonight. 11 pm.” He strolls away without a backward glance.

Day 2 is a completely different scenario from Day 1, and the staff is in for a very rude awakening. Now that Hyun-wook has seen how the kitchen works, he’s done watching and now ready to assert his high standards. And unfortunately for the staff, their work is oh-so-subpar. The salad is a mountain of fluff, the pasta drips with oil, and so on. Instead of stating his complaints calmly, Hyun-wook shocks everyone by throwing one offending dish to the floor. He runs his hand through a pasta dish, and shoves a plate into another cook’s chest. Stunned into silence, the cooks are jolted out of their friendly camaraderie and rush to do Hyun-wook’s bidding.

To make things worse, a super-picky patron sits in the dining room and sniffs at her lobster plate. It’s tough, and she sends it back to the kitchen. The second time, she sneers that the lobsters are obviously frozen when the menu says they’re fresh. She sends the plate back again.

Two other diners nearby watch this with interest — it’s San and his date, OH SE-YOUNG (Honey Lee), who is a food television personality (think Rachael Ray or Nigella Lawson). She recognizes the woman as a food critic.

When the lobster dish comes back a third time, the cook, Hee-joo, can’t take it anymore. Fuming, she grabs two fresh lobsters and slaps them on the table. How dare they accuse her of using inferior product and be so rude as to complain three times?

This, of course, gets her fired.

Meanwhile, a pair of cooks takes some time to make out in the backroom — and they’re caught in the act by Hyun-wook himself. Also fired.

The two beg him for mercy, but he coldly ignores their pleas. As he tries to pass Yoo-kyung, she’s nervous and unintentionally blocks his path, so he has to physically move her aside. The problem is, she’s carrying a large bowl of ice, and as stumbles, the ice flies — into the deep fryer.

Seeing impending disaster, the cooks all scatter. Hyun-wook grabs Yoo-kyung and shields her from the rain of hot oil.

The lineup after dinner service is subdued as Hyun-wook addresses his offenders in turn. Hee-joo still burns in indignation about the lobster diner, but he scolds her — she put the fresh lobster into a styrofoam box. That means that even though she put it in the refrigerator, it wouldn’t refrigerate, making the flesh tough. On top of that, she berated the customer.

Second is the cook Mi-hee, who was making out with her boyfriend. He charges her with running her hands — with which she must then cook — all over her boyfriend’s body, in his hair, on his chest, et cetera. Kissing belongs outside of the kitchen.

At this, a third woman, Chan-hee (Mi-hee’s sister) speaks up, unable to take his officious behavior. She rips her apron off angrily and refuses to work with such a horrible tyrant. Hyun-wook has no problem with that.

Last, he faces Yoo-kyung. In a kitchen full of knives, fire, and oil, the most dangerous is oil: “For doing something crazy with ice in the kitchen, of course you are also fired.”

Mi-hee makes one last bid for mercy for her boyfriend, saying that without her around, he won’t have any chances to repeat his offense. Hyun-wook listens to her tearful plea, then answers carelessly, “Okay.” He dismisses his staff: “You’ve been hard at work causing accidents today.” As he walks off, he mutters under his breath, “Now there are no women in my kitchen.”

That last comment lingers in Yoo-kyung’s mind, and she thinks back to Hyun-wook’s cryptic line about the fish not suiting the kitchen. She realizes, “He planned it all from the start.”

Therefore, that night when she heads out to the street to meet him for their “date,” she confronts him with her realization. He was going to fire the women no matter what, wasn’t he?

Hyun-wook doesn’t answer that, and just asks, “You haven’t dated a man before, have you?” Leaning closer, he proposes, “Let’s date.”

COMMENTS

Out of the four new dramas, Pasta seems the most engaging to me at the moment, and the one I’m most eager to follow. The atmosphere is breezy, and the story is cute without being cloying. We haven’t seen much of the second leads, but the main couple is fantastically paired. (I also have a hunch that we may expect good things of Lee Hyung-chul, of On Air and City Hall, who’s the kitchen’s No. 2.)

Lee Seon-kyun is drawing a lot of praise in the media and by fans for his wonderfully entertaining character. I like that he has shades of some of our favorite kdrama archetypes, but he’s not a mere repeat of them, like another Kang-mae (Beethoven Virus) or Gu Jun-pyo (Boys Before Flowers). His misogyny is an interesting addition, because while I have certainly seen and experienced my share of misogyny in Korean (and Korean American) culture, you don’t often see it played up like this as a plot point. Furthermore, as I mentioned in the prior post, he is very entertaining to watch because he goes from hot to cold in an instant. It’s that volatility that keeps the kitchen in a state of fear, and makes him unpredictable. He can keep a polite smile on his face while uttering contrastingly harsh words (like when he announces the kitchen is a mess with a pleasant tone), which is the opposite of what Kang-mae or Hwang Tae-kyung (You’re Beautiful) would do — they were mean with a sneer. I think some of his shouting gets to be a bit much, so I do want to see him dial it down a notch in future episodes, but I’m pretty sure he will because plot development demands it.

Gong Hyo-jin has a natural, appealing vibe to her acting, and while Yoo-kyung can do some klutzy things, I appreciate that she’s not the caricature of the bumbling kdrama heroine, either. (That role falls to Choi Jung-won in Wish Upon a Star.) She’s a genuine, likable heroine whose cuteness comes from the fact that she doesn’t seem to know she’s cute. I suspect that’s why Hyun-wook likes her, and I really enjoy that he feels the attraction first.

Pasta: Episode 2

Another cute episode. Nothing earth-shattering here, but Episode 2 continues the light, breezy tone of the premiere and brings in more of the supporting cast. I continue to love Gong Hyo-jin, who is so good at showing a mix of insecurity and strength, as well as Lee Seon-kyun, who must be enjoying the heck out of playing such a meanie for once.

SONG OF THE DAY

Urban Zakapa – “커피를 마시고” (Drinking Coffee) [ Download ]

EPISODE 2 RECAP

Soon after Hyun-wook makes his startling suggestion (“Let’s date”), the crosswalk light turns red, and they now stand amidst traffic. They ignore the cars, which drive around them, as they have their conversation.

She wonders if he’s asking her out because he’s sorry he fired her, to which he answers, “I’m not sorry at all.” In an “it’s nothing personal” tone of voice, Hyun-wook explains, “There are no women in my kitchen. You can’t work in my kitchen.”

The light turns green again, signaling that it’s time for Yoo-kyung to make her decision — which side of the street? Hyun-wook takes her arm to lead her his way. She casts his arm off.

Message is clear, and Hyun-wook tells her to do as she likes — he won’t bother with women who dislike him. He stalks off without looking back.

The three fired women (Hee-joo, Chan-hee, Mi-hee) drink that night, and are curious over Hyun-wook’s no-women-in-the-kitchen rule. Yoo-kyung doesn’t explain about his offer to date, and they’re left to wonder at his aversion for women. They lament their lost jobs, saying that Yoo-kyung is the worst off of all of them — since she got fired on her first day cooking, she doesn’t have any experience and would have to start over in a new kitchen at the bottom.

The women don’t understand Hyun-wook’s mentality, but we get a glimpse of it through Se-young’s eyes. She thinks back to an earlier time when she had worked in the kitchen, and been involved with Hyun-wook. The grim expression on her face indicates that their relationship did not end well, and that she still feels the sting. We can guess from Hyun-wook’s attitude that he also harbors bad memories.

The women stagger off drunkenly afterward, heading back to their apartment. Yoo-kyung feels the worst, and fights the urge to gag. As they pass, another passerby takes notice of them — Kim San, the La Sfera enthusiast.

He follows Yoo-kyung when she rushes off to retch, offering a helping hand as he pounds on her back. He guesses from her behavior that she has been fired, which is something she refuses to admit. Since he’s someone who talks to her more familiarly than she would like, she bickers with him for a few moments, calling him unemployed, which is a misconception he lets her believe. (He heads up to his own spacious apartment, as he also lives here.)

In the morning, Hyun-wook arrives at work in a great mood, removing the women’s names from their work lockers with gusto. To his surprise, he opens his own locker to find someone slumped inside, asleep and smelling of liquor. Yoo-kyung.

She wakes up as he looks over at her in both puzzlement and amusement. She comments, “You’re out early.” He returns, “Aren’t you earlier?”

Yoo-kyung corrects him: “I’m not early, I just didn’t go home. If I went home, I wouldn’t have the courage to come back.” (I think a very large part of this drama’s fun is in its banter and dialogue, such as when she answers his question of why she’s in his locker with a muttered, “It’s the biggest and it’s nice and warm… the complete opposite of you.”)

She surprises him by announcing stubbornly, “I’m not going to quit, I’m going to keep working here.” It would be foolish for her to just accept this after she’s worked for three years to finally get a chance to cook. Yoo-kyung delivers her decision in a voice that starts out firm, then grows uncertain and trails off at the end.

When she suffers a leg cramp, he automatically reaches over and massages her leg while looking at her incredulously. She says, a little pathetically, “I want to make pasta.”

At the morning staff meeting, Hyun-wook doesn’t acknowledge her, but at least he doesn’t kick her out, either. He goes over the lunch menu with the cooks and voices a complaint with the special. The salad is a diet item, but the pasta is a cream sauce spaghetti with bacon and egg. This makes no sense, so he’s changing it to a shrimp dish instead.

However, the No. 2 cook, Seok-ho, balks — this is hardly the time to change the menu. He is overrruled.

As they prep for lunch service, the remaining cooks anticipate the disaster to come — Hyun-wook’s created an impossible situation for himself with the menu switch. They’re not outright revolting, but they’re definitely not working with pride.

As predicted, lunchtime proves to be a crunch — a lot of dissatisfied diners complain of the long waits. Inside the kitchen, Hyun-wook is his usual loud, dissatisfied, shouty self, adding to the tension.

Oddly enough, Hyun-wook does something unexpected: He strides out to the dining hall where a table of three young men sit. He asks if they would be willing to take a raincheck on the meal, and they follow him to the kitchen.

Turns out that this is a trio of cooks that Hyun-wook had worked with previously, and he had called them in to replace the fired women. For ease of describing, I’ll refer to them as the website does: this is Team Italy, while the remaining cooks are Team Korea.

Hyun-wook puts them to work, reassigning their stations. He takes Yoo-kyung (whom he insults by calling a goldfish with a two-second memory) off the line. She protests but Hyun-wook kicks her out and, adding insult to injury, promotes the lowly new guy to her assistant position.

After the restaurant closes that night, Team Italy (plus New Guy, aka Eun-soo) go out for drinks, and they ask if Hyun-wook is still acting like this because of “that woman.” They argue for him to change his mind — there are many women who are good cooks who stick with their job these days.

In a different restaurant, Team Korea is having a less convivial night. Bitterly, they complain about the new chef, saying, “If our frying pans get stolen away, we have nothing.” Seok-ho in particular sits in angry silence.

Back at the restaurant, Yoo-kyung feels hungry as she closes up and whips up some pasta for herself. As she eats, she says that hers is pretty good — good enough to serve to diners. Hyun-wook never even tasted her food, so how would he know?

The next morning, Yoo-kyung is back in line, but today Hyun-wook is in no mood to humor her. She even offers to take back her former assistant position, which he ignores while assigning everyone else to their roles for the day.

The Team Italy guys are affable enough and try to greet their new co-workers, but Team Korea isn’t having it. Insulted, they ignore the gesture coldly. Meanwhile, Seok-ho scolds Yoo-kyung for actually offering to demote herself — doesn’t she have pride? If he told her to die, would she die? If something is stolen away from you, the right thing to do is protest. She should just go home.

San comes to the restaurant while it’s not yet open, and wheedles for Yoo-kyung to make an exception and make him lunch. Also, he’d like to request a delivery to his office. She turns him down since their restaurant is neither open nor one that makes deliveries, but after a moment, she reconsiders.

A waiter tries to talk her out of it — does she know how much trouble she could get into? What does she think she’s doing? She’s not even allowed to be cooking, much less breaking the rules like this. Yoo-kyung answers matter-of-factly that their job is to make the customer happy, and doesn’t that include bending a little for special requests? On top of that, she just wants to cook, and when else will she get the chance?

Not surprisingly, Hyun-wook stops her — not one single dish is allowed to leave his kitchen without his approval. Yoo-kyung answers that this isn’t really HIS kitchen, nor is it hers — it’s for the patrons. Therefore, if the patrons want something, they should be accommodating.

Taking a jab at her background (he saw a card advertising her father’s Chinese restaurant), he jeers, “Is this some third-rate jjamppong restaurant?” But Yoo-kyung isn’t insulted by that, merely finding his logic flawed — what does catering to a customer’s wishes have to do with being third-rate? She’ll handle this order so he doesn’t have to worry. He retorts, “What if you embarrass yourself?” She shoots back, “Then you do it.”

He has to laugh at her spunky answer, but his face grows serious a moment later. He proposes a solution: they’ll both make pasta. Yoo-kyung adds that if the customer likes her dish, he should make her a pasta assistant again. Hyun-wook replies that if he loses, he’ll leave her kitchen.

The other cooks gather round curiously and watch them cook, wondering if this is fair. Team Italy answers that this is just Hyun-wook giving her a last chance, since she’d be fired anyway.

As they set to work, Yoo-kyung periodically watches how Hyun-wook does things, and follows his lead. When it’s time for delivery, she uses a Chinese delivery box (from her father’s place), while he prepares a fancy platter. Together, they head over to San’s nearby office building, and he issues a warning:

Hyun-wook: “You said last time was a mistake. This time it’s based on skill. If your skill isn’t sufficient, a cook must give up. If you lose, you’re fired. The moment you walk in, you’re fired.”

In the office, San watches in pleased surprise as both cooks unload their dishes and set it before him. Hyun-wook’s dish is ready to serve, but Yoo-kyung takes out hers in separate dishes and mixes the pasta right before serving.

Of course, an unexpected wrench is thrown into the proceedings with the arrival of a fourth person, who had made plans to join San for lunch. It’s Se-young, and the moment she steps inside, she and Hyun-wook recognize each other. Instantly, his mood grows blacker, although the other two don’t notice the weird energy in the air.

After gathering her composure, Se-young comments on the two dishes. Hyun-wook chose linguine because he was compensating for the delivery — this pasta would stick less and lose less oil. On the other hand, Yoo-kyung’s choice of spaghetti hasn’t suffered too much because she tossed it on the spot, so it’s like eating it at the restaurant.

Asked for their honest evaluation, both pick the linguine. Se-young says as she looks at Hyun-wook, with some meaning, “I want to eat this one again.”

San asks if he can speak frankly, then goes on about how inferior the spaghetti dish is, not knowing anything about the cooks’ challenge. Yoo-kyung accepts this with dismay, while Hyun-wook excuses himself curtly.

Feeling dejected at her loss, Yoo-kyung also turns to go, then turns back and asks if she can try it too. She tastes her own dish first, then tries Hyun-wook’s. As she eats, it’s clear from her stricken face that she recognizes the disparity.

Racing outside, Yoo-kyung catches up to Hyun-wook at the elevators, where he tells her grimly, “It’s over. You’re fired.” She starts to speak, but he cuts her off. Seeing that Se-young and San have followed them out to the hallway, he directs his glare at Se-young — he’s angrier at her than he is at Yoo-kyung — as he shouts, “In my KITCHEN! There are no women.”

When the elevator doors open, Hyun-wook steps in. Left behind, Yoo-kyung sinks to the floor in defeat.

COMMENTS

This looks like it’ll be a drama where the secondary leads and pairings aren’t terribly compelling. I like Honey Lee and I like Alex, and although this is not an acting debut for either one, they’re doing pretty well for relative newbies. They have screen presence and are handling dialogue fairly naturally. But their characters (what little we know of them) and their screen chemistry doesn’t really speak to me, either when they’re together or when they’re with the other two.

But I’m not SO disappointed, because Lee Seon-kyun and Gong Hyo-jin continue to have wonderful, natural rapport and are so good together that it’s okay that their secondary complications aren’t as believable. Of course, I prefer dramas were every single component is strong and believable — for instance, I not only like the characters but the reasons supporting all the various pairings in Will It Snow For Christmas — but I’m probably willing to let this one go because it’s already proven to be a happy surprise. I wasn’t expecting that much of Pasta, and I think I’m okay with the great main couple.

I mean, cute, right? I continue to be drawn in to how Hyun-wook can so clearly separate the personal from the work-related. Granted, it’s easier for him since he’s the one in charge. Still, he can banter lightly with Yoo-kyung even while she’s still smarting from his cold dismissal, which is an amusing quirk to his prickly character.

Hold that thought while I introduce another point; I’ll be back in a second.

I also love scenes when people eat with angst. I know, that’s an awfully specific sort of scene to be drawn to, but there are several that stick in my mind where a main character cries while eating, and it always gets to me. Yoo-kyung does it twice here — she isn’t actually crying in this pictured scene, but she does have tears in her eyes in the ending scene, when she tastes Hyun-wook’s pasta and realizes that yes, his is better. (Also, I’m very relieved that she lost. We know she’s not a genius and it would be a little too ridiculous for her to have beaten Hyun-wook on her first try.) Two other instances in other dramas are Yoo Seung-ho in this week’s episode of God of Study (which totally brought me to tears), and Jung Yumi in Que Sera Sera.

Speaking of which, there’s an indefinable quality about Pasta that reminds me of Que Sera Sera, and I had this thought several times although I couldn’t pinpoint the source. In tone and subject matter, this is much more along the lines of Sam-soon and/or Coffee Prince, and it’s nowhere near as hard or intense as Que Sera Sera. But Gong Hyo-jin’s Yoo-kyung has shades of Jung Yumi’s Eun-soo (although she’s less of an oddball), from the way she can seem insecure and gamine-like at times while also asserting an unexpected stubborn streak at others. It’s that willfulness that catches Hyun-wook off-guard, much in the way that Eric was thrown off-kilter by Jung Yumi’s unexpected actions and reactions. He, like Hyun-wook, was confident and arrogant and thought he had his ladies well under control, but found himself the one in a constant state of surprise.

(Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the dramas will be similar, and it’ll take a LOT for Pasta to bring itself to Que Sera Sera‘s level of awesome, but it just struck me as peculiar.)

Pasta: Episode 3

This was a cute episode, if a little low-key, which I suppose is Pasta‘s appeal — the light vibe and its realistic, amusing depiction of relationships.

Gong Hyo-jin is really what makes this drama work for me. Lee Seon-kyun is, of course, very entertaining as the boss from hell, and it wouldn’t work so well without him. But it’s Gong’s natural, empathetic reading of her character that has me tuning in for more.

SONG OF THE DAY

Peppertones – “Victory” [ Download ]

EPISODE 3 RECAP

After Yoo-kyung loses the lunch challenge, San and Se-young see Hyun-wook firing her and feel pity at her crushed reaction. But when San starts to head toward her, Se-young holds him back, advising that it’s best to leave her alone.

At La Sfera, the staff anxiously awaits the results, but they don’t get any hints from Hyun-wook; he storms into his office, agitated over seeing Se-young so unexpectedly. Yoo-kyung hesitantly enters to tell him that she’ll leave after dinner service is over, but he yells at her to leave immediately.

No use arguing, so she cleans out her locker. A sympathetic Nemo (the host-waiter who looks after Yoo-kyung) commiserates with her as she tells him in a defeated voice that she lost and that her pasta wasn’t good. However, he says that after all she did to get here, she can’t just leave like this, and reminds her of the first day they met at La Sfera.

The flashback takes us three years ago, when Yoo-kyung had come to eat at the restaurant with a group of her cooking school friends. They had eaten and drunk their fill, and at the end of the night, Yoo-kyung had been settling the bill while her friends waited outside. When the total came to more than a whopping 2 million won ($1,800), she had said with wide eyes, “But I don’t have any money.”

The workers had gaped at her — how could she eat with no money? — but as her friends waited outside, they indicated that this was part of the plan. Yoo-kyung had even gone to culinary school with her sights set on working at La Sfera. And sure enough, when Yoo-kyung bounded out of the front door, she’d been grinning widely — she got the job! Happily, she had erased the sign seeking a kitchen assistant, because this was her way of making sure they would take her. Smart! (And ballsy.)

What’s clever of this scene is that we then see it in another perspective, from a slightly different angle (literally). San broods in his office, thinking of Yoo-kyung’s defeat and feeling sorry for her. In his memory, we see the same flashback as before, only the camera pulls back this time to reveal that San had been there at the restaurant that night. He had seen her confessing to having no money, and then celebrating getting the job with her friends.

At the time, he had smiled in appreciation of her pluck. Now, however, he feels guilty: “She worked so hard, and got fired because of me.” He also has trouble understanding Hyun-wook’s thought process — if San were the chef, he’d fire all the guys and keep the girls.

Nemo’s reminder does the trick, because Yoo-kyung decides it’s too early to give up. It is with utter bafflement that Hyun-wook goes to work the next day, ready to start cooking — and Yoo-kyung walks in, just pretty as you please, ready to take care of her chores as usual.

The other cooks seem to admire Yoo-kyung’s nerve, and it has Hyun-wook so off-guard that he doesn’t react immediately. As though too tired to deal with this now, he proceeds with the first order of the day, but makes a pointed comment that the kitchen assistant position will be vacated tomorrow.

At the end of the day, one of the Team Italy cooks, Ji-hoon (who is giving me serious Lee Junki vibes), passes around beers. The mood is jovial and he gives them to everyone in the kitchen, Team Korea and Team Italy alike. Yoo-kyung finishes her work trying to pretend she doesn’t care if she’s included or not.

Ji-hoon turns to the boss last to hand him a beer, but fakes him out. He moves to toss him a can a second time, but at the last moment, he tosses it to the side instead, toward Yoo-kyung. Hyun-wook reacts instinctively, as though grabbing it for himself, and ends up losing his balance…

The others gawk, trying to hide their amusement. Hyun-wook and Yoo-kyung straighten from this embarrassing clinch and try to act normally, and when Hyun-wook offers the beer, she declines it. However, she does make an embarrassing mistake by assuming he’s going to keep pressing it on her when in fact he’s about to drink it.

He asks, “Do you have any last words?” She retorts, “It wasn’t enough to take my job but you’ve taken my beer — does that make you happy? Is it refreshing?” He take a sip and loudly replies, “Ah~! It’s refreshing.”

No. 2 cook Seok-ho meets with President Seol (I’d prevoiusly referred to him as restaurant manager) to discuss Hyun-wook’s reign of terror. When he heard Chef Totti was being let go, Seok-ho had thought he would be promoted, and he’s unhappy with the way the new chef is running the kitchen. The way he acts, he’ll wreck the restaurant. Seok-ho offers to help the president, and it seems they’re on their way to reaching some sort of understanding.

As Yoo-kyung wraps up her work, she recalls a few memories of Hyun-wook that show that she may be feeling a growing attraction to him, such as their initial encounter when he helped her with the goldfish. Still, anger is still the prevailing emotion, so when she stops by a pojangmacha and sees Hyun-wook sitting there, she recoils. She is looking forward to spending some time alone with her misery, and her roommates are currently home so she can’t go there, so after a moment of deliberation, she makes up her mind. She sits with her back to him and orders.

Hyun-wook looks over and notices her sitting there, and casually suggests that she might find a knife in her back, so she may as well face him.

She remains stubbornly seated with her back to him as she admits that yes, she lost their battle. She adds that if you think about it, it makes no sense that she’d win when she’s just an assistant and he’s the chef. Indignantly, she asks, “Why do I have to be fired over something that’s expected? If I were a man, would you have fired me like this today?” She theorizes that he must have a complex about women.

Getting worked up, Yoo-kyung stands up suddenly, walks over and faces him. Does he think she worked as assistant for three years to get fired like this? Then, surprisingly: “Is there a woman you like?”

She clarifies, has he ever liked a woman before? Hyun-wook answers yes, he has. In fact, he saw that woman today. A bit confused now, Yoo-kyung wonders, “Then why has someone who’s experienced love act like that with us?”

Hyun-wook explains he dislikes women COOKS — he’s not saying he hates women in general. With that he gets up to leave, and hilariously, she shoves him back down and starts talking, “When I was a senior in high school…”

He does not want to hear it, but she continues with her story anyway.

When she was in high school, her mother once ran away. She’d been gone for three days when Yoo-kyung had finally met with her; it had been in the La Sfera neighborhood, and her mother had suggested eating there. Yoo-kyung had protested — they had no business spending such money on fancy food — but her mother reasoned, when else will she eat in a place like this? It’s okay, they could just order the cheapest thing.

Exasperated, Yoo-kyung had dragged her mother off, but later found out that her mother had just found out that she was in the last stages of cancer. With three months left to live, she’d been overcome with worries, afraid that her hospital bills would make it impossible for Yoo-kyung to go to university, and hence she’d run away.

After her mother died, Yoo-kyung had gone back to the restaurant alone, where she ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. Looking around at all the other happy mothers and daughters dining together, Yoo-kyung had eaten her pasta — it was delicious, and she cried eating it.

Yoo-kyung asks Hyun-wook, “If my mother had eaten that delicious food, would she have wanted to live longer? I wondered if she would have lived longer.” The pasta she’d ordered that day was the dish she made today, the one that had embarrassed her.

Grabbing the soju away from him, she drinks: “This is for the beer you stole from me earlier. I’m going to get back the job that was taken from me too, and I’ll make sure the day comes that you acknowledge my pasta. Those are my last words.”

She gets up and walks away, leaving him sitting at the table.

Hyun-wook finishes working out at his apartment complex’s gym when, to his surprise, he comes face to face with Se-young. Staring in disbelief, he guesses, “I’m sure this isn’t a coincidence.”

Se-young’s voice is pleasant and calm as she greets him, “It’s been a while. It’s good to see you.” Hyun-wook returns sarcastically, “Good to see me? We saw each other yesterday.” She compliments his pasta dish, and jokes that they should compete — doesn’t he want to try her cooking? Coolly, he turns her down and leaves. Undeterred by his reaction, Se-young smiles, saying, “You’ll eat it soon, in your kitchen.”

We don’t know what’s up with Se-young yet, but we do know that Hyun-wook was hired on the basis of her recommendation, which is a fact she asks President Seol to keep a secret from Hyun-wook.

Now that the four roommates are unemployed, the three cooks fume over their firing. Hee-joo (on the left) is the most bloodthirsty for revenge, and tells the other two to get busy thinking of possible ideas.

As Yoo-kyung lies on the couch at home, she thinks of all the chores she’d normally be doing at the restaurant. Deciding to try her hand at cooking, she heads to the kitchen and starts preparing pasta dishes. Unfortunately, they’re no good and she discards each of her failed attempts.

She’s called out of the house by her brother, who is headed over to La Sfera with their father. Panicking, Yoo-kyung races to intercept them (hiding from Hyun-wook when he passes by), and dissuades them. As a mere cook, it’s clear her father never had much faith in her ability (her brother’s a medical student) or respect for her goals. Therefore, when notices her street clothes, he immediately guesses that she must have been fired.

Afterward, Yoo-kyung sits in a convenience store with a bowl of cup ramen, which is where San runs into her. She’s still annoyed with him (for being a pest in general) and keeps her distance, even when San tries to be friendly and engage her in conversation. Spying something in her wallet, he pulls it out to inspect a photo of a flower, which she grabs back in annoyance. (It’s one of the photos that had been posted in her work locker, whose significance hasn’t been explained to us.)

Meanwhile, Se-young meets with Kim Kang, who is San’s older sister (played by Byun Jung-soo). Kang wonders when Se-young and her brother will get married, not quite buying the answer that they’re just friends. They both do think that San’s acting funny these days, and wonder about it.

Back at home, Yoo-kyung gets back to the kitchen and resumes cooking. She whips up batch after batch of pasta but remains dissatisfied with each attempt, dumping them in frustration.

Therefore, she goes back to the source: She heads to La Sfera, but as a customer this time. She orders the dish she has been trying to make, and with the first bite she knows this is the elusive flavor she has been trying to re-create.

Calling Nemo over, she asks for the chef, acting like a patron who merely wants to thank the cook for a nice meal. Nemo informs Hyun-wook that a diner was so happy with the dish that they asked to speak with him, but instead of heading out himself, Hyun-wook orders Philip (the pretty boy with long hair) to take care of it.

When Philip sees who the diner is, he smiles and winks at her, then heads back inside to tell Hyun-wook that the diner really wants to speak with him. It’s nice to see that all the other cooks are all on Yoo-kyung’s side, even Team Italy.

When he realizes who has called for him, Hyun-wook faces Yoo-kyung with impatience and amusement. She gives him a thumbs-up on the dish, then asks a question, “as a customer”: “Why can’t I produce this taste?”

Hyun-wook asks if she is tasting her dish. She answers yes, so he asks pointedly, “When?” She doesn’t get what he means by that, but he’s too busy and his patience is gone. He dismisses her.

As the loser of the challenge, Yoo-kyung wants to understand why she lost and she doesn’t give up trying to figure it out. She even pesters Hyun-wook at home, showing up at his apartment door with a plate of pasta and shoving the dish at him. She waits outside the door, and when he opens it again, he returns the dish saying, “It was inedible.”

At the morning staff meeting, President Seol asks Hyun-wook how he plans to hire the new kitchen assistant — there are some people in the serving ranks who’d like the shot at auditioning for the spot. Hyun-wook is ready to shoot him down — most of the servers are women, right? — but several of his cooks from Team Korea speak up to back up the idea. After all, it’s not like there’s some invisible divide between servers and cooks — they should be able to try.

Though it wasn’t his preference, Hyun-wook revises his plan. Fine, he’ll perform a blind audition. Then the winner will be based on skill alone, so it’s open to anyone who wants to try.

Since the four women roommates have all lost their jobs, they are now vacating the apartment, and a realtor drops by with a prospective new tenant. It’s Se-young.

Se-young takes a look around and, noticing the cooking supplies in the kitchen, apologizes for their last encounter. Yoo-kyung notices her looking into the sink, where piles of failed pasta dishes have been dumped, and explains that she’s been practicing. Se-young says, “So you’re not a good cook, then.” But she says it with a smile, and Yoo-kyung doesn’t take offense. It’s true enough.

After they leave, Yoo-kyung looks at the mess in the sink with frustration, then picks up a few strands of pasta to taste it. And this time, something clicks in her mind — she has a moment of discovery.

At the same time, back in the La Sfera kitchen, Ji-hoon is making the same mistake that she had made. When his dish comes back to the kitchen, Hyun-wook makes him taste it, and points out his error. With sweet or salty food, the food tastes different hot than it does after cooling: “Guests leave the table remembering the last taste. Make sure their last spoonful is delicious.”

Now Yoo-kyung understands what he meant when he’d asked her when in the process she tasted her food.

The next morning, the elevator ride is an exercise in awkwardness when Hyun-wook joins the fired women, who all glare at him. Hilariously, the sisters Chan-hee and Mi-hee prod Hee-joo and urge her to act with furtive gestures. Hee-joo timidly takes the cue and starts to say something to Hyun-wook…. and then chickens out.

After he leaves, they complain that she had been ranting about getting even with Hyun-wook — what happened to her bravado? Hee-joo answers defensively that they haven’t come up with a good idea yet.

The roomies also hear about La Sfera’s blind cooking audition, but they’re still so angry with Hyun-wook that sneer at the opportunity. No way they’re going back for more abuse.

Yoo-kyung feels torn, but ultimately decides to go out on more job interviews with other restaurants. She has a discouraging morning when she’s turned away by several chefs, but at last one of them looks at her resume and gives her a job. She’s startled — doesn’t he want to test her out or audition her? The chef answers that it doesn’t matter; there’s such high traffic here that all the dishes are pretty much the same. Although she would be able to cook at this restaurant, she’s not happy with this explanation, which is so different from the exacting standards at La Sfera.

This niggles at her, and finally she makes up her mind. She rushes to the restaurant in time to join the prospective cooks for their test.

The task is to cook a pasta dish using only the materials in particular ingredient box. This has some of the other cooks wilting in dismay, because they had practiced dishes that require elements that are not in the box. On the other hand, Yoo-kyung smiles — this is right up her alley.

The cooks are given a pan and a time limit, and afterward, they line up in the kitchen with their dishes. Hyun-wook is seated with a blindfold and awaits the tasting.

He waits for a long, tense moment before signaling the first dish. (The others wonder why he waits so long, but it’s to ensure that there is cooling time, to test whether these cooks are aware of how to season appropriately to account for the temperature change.)

He eats one bite of the first dish, then moves on to the next. And the next. He goes through them methodically, though one dish he pushes away without even eating — he can tell that the consistency is all wrong. The next one he spits out.

His dissatisfaction intensifies the anxiety in the room, and finally, Yoo-kyung places her dish in front of him. He only takes one bite and shows no reaction, but for the first time, he speaks: “Who are you? From tomorrow, you’ll work the frying pan. You start tomorrow.”

Success!

Yoo-kyung is so excited that in a fit, she pulls off his blindfold, and Hyun-wook looks up at the winner.

 

Pasta: Episode 4

I think this is going to be my last Pasta recap. I’m enjoying this series for the chemistry between Lee Seon-kyun and Gong Hyo-jin and I still think that there are solid elements to this drama, but given the landscape at the moment, it’s just not commanding my attention. I’ll explain more below.

SONG OF THE DAY

Pasta OST – “Lucky Day” by Every Single Day. I’ve been a fan of rock band Every Single Day for a while, and it’s good to see them come out with something new. [ Download ]

EPISODE 4 RECAP

Yoo-kyung is so stunned to be named the winner of the blind audition that she asks Hyun-wook — who’s stunned as well to see who he has picked — to repeat himself. She prods him to reiterate, “Tomorrow, you will…?” Everyone waits with bated breath for his reluctant response: “…work the frying pan.”

Team Korea revels at this development because they know how angry Hyun-wook must be. Everyone goes around tasting Yoo-kyung’s winning dish, and they agree that it’s deserving. Despite the lines that have been drawn between the two kitchen sides, Team Italy is friendly and welcoming; the leader tells Yoo-kyung that it was good enough to go out to a customer.

Team Italy discusses this surprising turn — this is a first time for Hyun-wook. Even in Italy when he’d done blind tastings, he’d never picked a woman. The three guys were also picked this way.

The most junior cook on Team Italy, Eun-soo, wonders who will be the new assistant now that Yoo-kyung has been promoted. He realizes belatedly that this means he’s been demoted. (I don’t feel too bad for him since he was promoted hastily anyway, and he hasn’t been a proper assistant to earn the place of cook in the first place.)

Hyun-wook is frustrated with this development, but there’s really nothing he can do about it. The mood when they meet in the locker room is, unsurprisingly, tense. As he changes his clothes, it’s like he’s challenging her to leave, especially when he deliberately reaches to unbutton his pants and tells Yoo-kyung, “If you’re uncomfortable, leave.”

(And the silly girl actually leaves!)

Still, Hyun-wook is the head chef and he has an eager new cook, so he takes her aside to teach her a few tips. She’s a little slow and unsteady, so he demonstrates how to cook a dish and plate it, then warns her about the lunch rush. Her wrist and arm muscles get a workout from holding the heavy pans, which she’ll have to repeat dozens of times during meal hours.

Yoo-kyung knows that Hyun-wook must be angry to be stuck with her, “But I won’t make you regret it. Please teach me, chef.”

The next staff meeting shakes things up further, because Hyun-wook is making three major changes to their menu. First, no more foie gras. Apparently this drama forgets that foie gras is French and therefore would not reasonably be the best-seller at an Italian restaurant, but let’s go with it. Second, no more spoons. The reason being, they are drowning their pasta in sauce, when really it should just coat the noodles. Third and most importantly, no more pickles.

Each of these decisions is shocking for the staff, but the pickle decree practically gives everyone a fit. No pickles at an Italian restaurant would be like no kimchi at a Korean restaurant! (Supposedly.) Without the free side dish set at every table, patrons wouldn’t have that tang to cut through the rich pasta taste. Hyun-wook argues that pickles are loaded in sugar and affects the way people taste the pasta. Their taste buds will adjust in due time.

President Seol is facing flagging sales and puts his foot down on Hyun-wook’s changes, but Hyun-wook proceeds anyway.

This divides the kitchen further. As the leader of Team Korea, Seok-ho stands up to Hyun-wook to say that he’ll take responsibility and keep sending out those foods. Hyun-wook argues that the chef’s word is law. Yoo-kyung is torn, because while she just won her job after such difficulty, she believes that these changes are wrong. Furthermore, in the three years she was assistant, she was responsible for making the pickles, which were the only food that she made that actually got served. Ultimately she joins her colleagues on Team Korea.

The first day the changes are implemented, the dining hall is loud and clear in their complaints. Skimping on the sauce and withholding pickles? Who do they think they are to lecture the diners on the sugary properties of their side dishes? And if it’s so bad for them today, why was it perfectly fine to serve yesterday?

During the restaurant’s idle time, Yoo-kyung looks up through the glass ceiling to see Hyun-wook brooding by himself on the roof. She joins him, and he asks whether she thinks he’s doing this just to pick a fight. It’s like the staff assumes he’s just being difficult, but he does have a reason for his choices. Yoo-kyung stands around uncertainly, not quite sure what to say. She asks what his dream for his kitchen is, and explains that if he hadn’t helped her with the goldfish, she wouldn’t have had the courage to return.

Hyun-wook: “Is this consolation or flattery?”
Yoo-kyung: “Would flattery work?”
Hyun-wook: “No.”
Yoo-kyung: “Would consolation work?”
Hyun-wook: “No.”
Yoo-kyung: “What would work, then?”
Hyun-wook: “Nothing.”

But at least he smiles when he says it.

It’s a different story, however, when a filming crew descends upon the kitchen of La Sfera. It’s bad enough that the kitchen staff wasn’t notified (arrangements had been made through President Seol), but absolutely infuriating when it turns out to be Se-young’s crew. They promise to be out before dinner service, but that’s hardly a satisfactory answer.

Hyun-wook glares at Se-young, who looks at him with infuriating calmness. It’s like she’s provoking him on purpose by offering to let him taste her pasta, but he won’t bite (literally or figuratively). He storms out of the kitchen.

Hyun-wook goes for an aggressive drive, and now that he’s alone, he can’t contain his rage. Se-young calls him, telling him she’s glad that he’s angry with her. She’s prepared to take his fury — she was most afraid of the opposite, that he would have forgotten her.

When he returns, the film crew is gone, and Se-young has left a plate of pasta for him to taste. Instead, he drops it on the ground: “It’s poisoned. If you eat it, you’ll die.”

Although San has taken efforts not to link himself to the restaurant, now it becomes clear that his family in fact owns it. He knows his sister Kang’s taste in men, and hints that she ought to drop by to check out the new cooks. And sure enough, the moment she sets her eyes on Phillip, she’s smitten.

The customer uproar over the pickles is reaching a deafening pitch, so President Seol makes an executive decision. Since Hyun-wook has thrown out all their pickles and refuses to send them out, he instructs the wait staff to serve them from the dining hall, without Hyun-wook knowing. He orders Yoo-kyung to continue making the pickles, and she protests. But he holds the cards here, because he knows about the egg money and blackmails with her. Yoo-kyung had previously found a deposit in her account from the egg supplier (a sort of bribe for their patronage) and returned it to Chef Totti before he was fired. President Seol says that there’s record that she received the money, but no record of it being returned.

What she doesn’t know is that Totti had in fact returned the money to President Seol — who had pocketed it himself. When Hyun-wook goes out to buy fresh ingredients, he meets the acquaintance of their egg vendor.

Yoo-kyung’s roommates have all packed up and moved out, since they are all unemployed now. Yoo-kyung can’t stay here either, but she has no place to go, so she calls home and urges her brother to move out so she can move in. (Their home doesn’t have room for both of them.) After all, he’s a medical student so he can live in the dorms, right?

Yoo-kyung’s father barks his denial. Her brother will stay put and she’ll have to figure something else out.

When a VIP customer comes in and orders foie gras, Hyun-wook goes out to apologize that they no longer serve it. The table grows upset, and Seok-ho hastens to contradict him, offering to prepare the dish. Hyun-wook says no. Seok-ho says yes. The stand-off continues.

However, now that he’s in the dining room, something else catches his attention — the pickles being served on all the tables. What the…? Realizing that his staff has circumvented his authority, he finds the batch of pickles and charges into the kitchen.

Knowing that Yoo-kyung must be behind it, he grabs her furiously. How dare she directly defy his orders? His anger is so strong that the others are alarmed, and Yoo-kyung falls to her knees pleading for his mercy.

He talks to her one on one in his office, calmer now, asking for the full story. Why did she make the pickles? Yoo-kyung won’t tell him her reasons, so he asks if she will continue to make them. Morosely, she answers yes. Rather than growing angrier, he has to wonder at her contrary responses.

That evening, she sits in front of a tub of cucumbers, debating whether or not to proceed with the pickling. In a comic sequence, Team Italy tries to get inside to stop her, clawing at the door, held back by Team Korea,.

Yoo-kyung is in the backroom for a long while, and when she emerges, both Teams are collapsed on the floor, exhausted from fighting each other. They assume she has proceeded with the pickling, but instead, she presents them with a new idea. She has put together a fruit salad mix that will solve the problem of excessive sugar, since the fruit is naturally sweet. She’s barely into the explanation when an indignant President Seol bursts in — does she know how much money she has just thrown away? Fruit is incredibly expensive compared to pickles — and now she’s suggesting they give it away for free too?

The scene is disrupted by Hyun-wook, who comes in and, surprisingly, goes directly to Yoo-kyung, pulling her in close. Everyone is shocked at his gesture, but as he leans in, he asks, “The eggs — that was you, right?”

Pasta: Episode 5

Hello, Skimmy here! I will be taking over the Pasta recaps along with Andromytta (who is also recapping Hero). I’ve been a long-time follower/admirer of Javabeans and her blog, so it’s an honor and a pleasure to come on board. Without further ado, on with the show!

Lee Seon-kyun is really just too cute.

EPISODE 5 RECAP

When we last left off, our hapless heroine, Seo Yoo-kyung, was getting chewed out by President Seol for making fruit salad instead of pickles. Apparently, the whole point of offering pickles as a free side dish is that cucumbers are cheap. In the midst of this, walks in chef Choi Hyun-wook. Yoo-kyung musters a weak “chef” when Hyun-wook pulls her towards him in what looks like a hug. Close to her ear, he asks, “the eggs – you’re in charge of them, right? Do you have anything you want to tell me?”

Yoo-kyung concedes that she received 10,000,000 won ($8,550) from the egg vendor, but insists that despite appearances, she’s innocent. Hyun-wook storms off while President Seol stands there looking mighty suspicious. Yoo-kyung chases after Hyun-wook into the garage. She states that she has something to show him. He yanks her into the car and they drive off, leaving the puzzled staff behind. Team Korea and Team Italy are left to wonder about the 10,000,000 won, the hug, and where the heck Yoo-kyung and Hyun-wook are headed at this hour.

As it turns out, Hyun-wook drives Yoo-kyung back to the marketplace to confront the egg vendor, Kang. Yoo-kyung continues to protest her innocence and shows him her bank book that shows a measly balance of 36,500 won ($31). Hyun-wook asks if she’s trying to justify accepting the bribe because she’s so poor.

Dragging her to the egg vendor, Hyun-wook confronts the two of him. Yoo-kyung says that she returned the money to Chef Totti immediately after she received the money. She believes that Totti would have then returned to Vendor Kang. Vendor Kang denies this and then he and Yoo-kyung begin to bicker amongst themselves. Watching from the sidelines, Hyun-wook applauds the show they’re putting on.

Hyun-wook turns to leave (not before smashing a tray of eggs), when Yoo-kyung stops him. He gets a thoughtful look on his face when she mentions President Seol’s involvement. Vendor Kang and Yoo-kyung both deny ever mentioning the bribe to Seol.

Back in his office, President Seol is going through his nightly histrionics after reviewing the daily profit figures. He texts the figures to Kim San, who is with his sister and Oh Se-young. After San reviews the text, he mumbles worriedly to himself that the revenues keep falling at La Sfera. Se-young asks whether he receives updates daily. Kang says that she’s heading out and slyly suggests that the two of them sleep together.

Meanwhile, Hyun-wook and Yoo-kyung are trudging back to his car with him snarking about her guilt and her sniveling about her innocence. They’re interrupted by good-hearted extras . . . urm . . . cucumber vendors who wave Yoo-kyung over to partake in some late-night ramen.

She invites Hyun-wook to stay, but he grumpily tells her he’s going home. When he returns moments later, he tells Yoo-kyung that his car is missing. He left his bag in the car, so he now has no car and no money for a cab. Yoo-kyung, with only $31 dollars to her name, is of no help as her plan was to gorge on ramen and hitch a ride on the back of the good-hearted cucumber vendors’ truck. Left with no other alternative, he sullenly sits down to join her as the two continue to snip at each other about him not believing her.

As they eat, Hyun-wook asks the vendors if they have any kimchi. The wife says that she has something better and brings out . . . PICKLES! Yoo-kyung made them for the couple, but these are different from the ones at the restaurant. The husband is diabetic, so she made them without any sugar. After she tastes one, she notices that it’s special and forces Hyun-wook to try one. Both of them are surprised at how tasty they are despite the lack of sugar.

Later, in the frigid night air, they make their way back home on the back of the cucumber vendors’ truck. Hyun-wook yells at Yoo-kyung for not accepting the couple’s offer to pay for a taxi. She says that she won’t accept even 1,000 won (85 cents) from anyone for free (point taken, you’re innocent!).

At the apartment complex, San walks Se-Young out. Se-young notes that San is an entirely different person when he’s talking about business, which makes him so scary.

As Hyun-wook and Yoo-kyung return to the building, the two couples conveniently run into each other. Dramatic music ensues.

San asks Yoo-kyung if she’s sick, as she shivers from the cold, while Hyun-wook stalks off. Yoo-kyung runs after him and San grumbles aloud that Hyun-wook is keeping her out far too late and is working her to death.

As he continues to walk her out, San notices the pained expression on Se-Young’s face as she stares after Hyun-wook, and asks her why she wants to live in the building – does it have something to do with her past? She laughs it off and wonders at the propriety of a landlord asking such questions of a potential tenant. He hands her the rental agreement and says there’s a condition attached. She has to live with an existing employee. Guess who?

The next morning at La Sfera, the staff is gathered for their morning run-down. When Yoo-kyung makes her entrance, Team Korea gives her a hard time about the egg bribe. Seok-ho pointedly asks her where she went with the chef last night. Ho-nam tells her that a cook’s hands should be clean, but money dirties them. Seung-jae walks over to her to sniff her hands (blech) when Hyun-wook walks in and smacks him upside the head (I love the expression on Lee Seon-kyun’s face in this picture).

Hyun-wook announces that the Italian Consul General will be at the restaurant for dinner. Everyone should be on their toes for this special event. Seok-ho then asks whether Yoo-kyung has the right to remain in the kitchen. Hyun-wook turns to look at President Seol and repeats the question to him.

Seol deflects and responds by saying that Yoo-kyung is not the only questionable person in the kitchen. He raises his clipboard with his nifty graph of sales between last year and this year. This year’s sales have dropped drastically and do you know what accounts for this decline? Pickles! It’s all because of the PICKLES!

Seol announces that starting tomorrow, he’s going start posting grade reports and ranks on the sales of the various menu items and cooks. Looking fairly unhappy about the whole business, Hyun-wook claps his hands and walks off.

Later, President Seol and Seok-ho have moved to his office to discuss the future of the La Sfera. Seol notes that once a few upstarts are out of the way, Seok-ho will be named head chef.

We then see Se-young happily arriving at the apartment complex with her enormous moving truck. Cut to San and his sister at an art gallery, where Kang scolds San for not helping Se-young with the move. He tells Kang that Se-young didn’t want him there, and his sister exasperatedly says, “when a woman says no, do you really think it means no?” (um, yes creepy lady, that’s exactly what it means). Kang then insists that they two of them will have lunch at La Sfera tomorrow.

Now we arrive at the first of many awkward and unintentionally hilarious scenes in this episode where people try to speak Italian. In his office, Hyun-wook attempts to track down Chef Totti (to discuss the egg money).

Team Italy arrives to confronts Hyun-wook and urge him to fire Yoo-kyung. They note that he’s behaving totally out of character and giving President Seol more leverage to use against him. Hyun-wook tells them to focus on their jobs and walks out.

Yoo-kyung, in the meantime, has spent the day being harrassed by her co-workers about the egg money. She runs into Hyun-wook in the dining hall and he follows her into the empty kitchen. He reminds her of the Consul’s ensuing visit and tells her to make sure they have all the necessary ingredients on hand. Yoo-kyung says that she knows what Consul will order – Vongole (linguine/spaghetti with clams). Hyun-wook gives her a skeptical look and asks how she could know that.

Yoo-kyung: Just do.
Hyun-wook: Just do?
Yoo-kyung: I’m pretty sure . . .
Hyun-wook: Pretty sure, my ass.

Yoo-kyung replies that the Consul has never ordered the same pasta twice, and that of the 30 types of pasta on the menu, there is only one dish that he hasn’t ordered yet – Vongole. Not convinced by her reasoning, Hyun-wook grabs the oversized cooking chopsticks and corners her over the sink. Telling her not to speculate, but instead be prepared for anything, Hyun-wook pulls her close to give her a forehead bump. It’s at this precise moment, the rest of the kitchen staff decide to show up.

That evening, the Italian Consul General arrives with his entourage, which includes Se-young. They are welcomed to the restaurant by Hyun-wook, President Seol, and the dining hall staff. Hyun-wook is none too pleased to see Se-young.

In the kitchen, the staff are busily running around preparing the evening’s orders. A server lets them know the Consul and his party have arrived. We cut to Hyun-wook taking the table’s orders. He returns to the kitchen with the rest of the party’s orders and notes that the Consul’s order will be forthcoming. The kitchen staff hustle on the other orders, which leads to a well-deserved food porn interlude.

As the cooks are working on the other dishes, in comes the Consul’s order. As anticipated by Yoo-kyung, it’s Vongole. The various members of Team Italy offer to make the dish, but Hyun-wook insists that Yoo-kyung will prepare it.

The members of both Team Italy and Team Korea are taken aback by his decision.

Adding to the awkwardness in the room, Hyun-wook hands Yoo-kyung his personal bottle of wine to make the pasta sauce.

We return to the Consul’s table at the close of their meal. He tells Se-young that the food at the restaurant tastes much more like authentic Italian cuisine and wonders if it’s because of the new chef. He requests to see both the head chef and the cook who prepared the Vongole. When Hyun-wook and Yoo-kyung arrive at the table, the Consul compliments her on the Vongole.

As a token of his appreciation, he presents the restaurant with some expensive Italian wine, Barolo. Judging from the uncomfortable looks on both Hyun-wook and Se-young’s faces, this wine has some deep hidden meaning (to be revealed in about five minutes).

They take a group photo, where Se-young nudges closer to Hyun-wook, who looks like he smells boiling cabbage.

The Consul leaves satisfied and Yoo-kyung returns to the kitchen buoyant. Her exuberance fades when she notices the chilly atmosphere in the kitchen and the pointed looks the other kitchen staff are giving her. Being a teacher’s pet sucks.

And at last we get to the tragic past of Hyun-wook and Se-young. Man, is it depressing.

Flashback to 2005: Hyun-wook and Se-young are living an idyllic life as culinary students. We know they’re students because she’s wearing flannel.

Se-young has been under the weather and Hyun-wook cooks her samgyetang (a traditional Korean soup with a whole chicken, ginseng, dates, and rice). She marvels that he was able to find ginseng for the soup. This leads them to the topic of their upcoming competition. Hyun-wook reveals that he is going to use ginseng in his pasta. When Se-young worries that it’s too bitter, Hyun-wook shows her the bottle of Barolo wine that will temper the bitterness.

At the competition, however, she turns out to be right as the judges disdainfully reject his yucky ginseng pasta.

Se-young is instead crowned the winner (Random aside: if I could give out an award for best bad Italian scene, this is it – the little guy in the glasses acted badly and spoke Italian badly, but he did it with gusto).

Hyun-wook wonders what could have gone wrong (maybe because you decided to use ginseng in pasta, buddy). He tastes his pasta and then the wine and realizes that Se-young sabotaged him. And then we see precisely what Se-young did – she ruined his wine by dropping it in a boiling pot of water. In a voice-over, she says that she wants to go to Rome, but no matter how hard she tries, she always comes in second to him. Apparently, trying harder wasn’t a viable option.

As she basks in the accolades and flowers (I wonder if this scene felt familiar to Honey Lee), Hyun-wook slams the bottle of wine on the counter, glares sorrowfully at her, and storms off.

Back to the present day:

Se-young: It was a mistake made in the moment, one that I’m ashamed of. It was a mistake.
Hyun-wook: A mistake? No, it was a deliberate act on your part. A deliberate act to sabotage me, not a mistake. For you, loving me was a mistake too, wasn’t it?

Hyun-wook smolders in his darkened office for a few moments for no good reason except to give me some good eye candy.

He then goes to the locker room and announces that they’re having a mandatory group dinner. As the underlying runner, Eun-soo, and Yoo-kyung are cooking up delicious looking strips of pork, the other kitchen staffers are drinking the bottles of Barolo in the dining hall. The mood is tense despite Hyun-wook trying to ply them with alcohol.

When Yoo-kyung enters Hyun-wook calls her over to sit beside him. Aware that this constant singling out is pissing off the other staffers, she’s hesitant. He makes her sit down and then stands up to rally the troops. He tells them if it’s the right thing to do, he will fire her. But, he continues, the person they’re really angry with is him. He knows that they’re upset about the changes to the restaurant. He asks that they put a little more faith in their customers as they will be the first to recognize quality. If he fails at his job, he will willingly fire himself.

Eventually everyone leaves except Hyun-wook and Yoo-kyung. She apologizes for causing him additional trouble, and offers to take him home. He belligerently tells her to go on ahead and she sulkily complies.

When Yoo-kyung returns to her apartment, she finds that Se-young has moved in. Yoo-kyung expects to move out, but Se-young tells her the landlord insisted that Yoo-kyung was to have one of the rooms. Yoo-kyung looks surprised and asks who the landlord is. Se-young realizes that Yoo-kyung doesn’t know that it’s San and plays dumb.

The next morning, Hyun-wook and San have a run-in in the apartment’s garage. They take the opportunity to have a dick-waving contest. Irritated by San’s comment a few nights before, Hyun-wook wonders if San isn’t overly nosy for a just a customer. After all, why is it any of his business if Hyun-wook works Yoo-kyung to death or not? Furthermore, as a customer, San doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of manners – asking for a delivery (when they don’t deliver), ordering during the restaurant’s break time, sending untouched plates back to the kitchen, etc. San retorts that as the chef, Hyun-wook doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of manners either and that he can’t force customers to eat crappy dishes. If the kitchen is a mess, 97% of the blame lies with the chef.

At the restaurant, President Seol’s grade reports start today. Hyun-wook is once again trying to track down Chef Totti. Yoo-kyung dejectedly makes her way up the stairs as the staff assemble for the meeting with Seol. Walking up behind her, Hyun-wook tells her to keep an eye on him during the meeting. When he gives her the signal, she should call the number written on the paper.

As President Seol’s presentation gets underway, he points out the graph that reflects the cook’s performance (blue bar) as juxtaposed against customer complaints (orange line). When Yoo-kyung asks why her orange line is the longest, President Seol thunders “PICKLE!!!! YOU are in charge of the pickles.”

And then we get to a pointless amalgam of scenes. The trio of fired female cooks show up to confront Ho-nam to know why he’s eschewing Mi-Hee’s calls. Then, the egg vendor arrives to settle things with Yoo-kyung. Right behind him, rolls in Yoo-kyung’s father. Everyone’s yelling and I’m fast-fowarding.

By this time, President Seol’s self-righteous fervor has truly gotten underway. Walking over to Hyun-wook, Seol demands to know what he plans to do about Yoo-kyung and the bribe. Hyun-wook signals to Yoo-kyung, who then dials the number, and it turns out to be . . . Hyun-wook.

Hyun-wook answers his cell phone and exclaims, “Chef Totti!” and lets loose with his Italian. Seol looks shocked as Hyun-wook “talks” to Chef Totti. Handing the phone to Seol, Hyun-wook says that Totti wants to talk him. Of course, Seol refuses the call.

Red-faced, Seol then admits before the staff that yes, it was he who accepted the 10,000,000 won from Totti. Hyun-wook drags Seol down the stairs before the flabbergasted staff and San (who’s there having lunch with his sister), pins Seol against the stairwell and yells, “YOU FIRED!!!”

That night, Hyun-wook runs into Yoo-kyung in the lobby of their apartment building. In the elevator, he tells her to make pickles as if their customers were diabetic (without sugar). She meekly agrees.

Hyun-wook shakes his head at her inadequate response and lists off all that he’s done for her: proving her innocence, allowing her to be a cook, now letting her make pickles, and that’s all she has to say?

She impulsively kisses him on the cheek, much to his shock and hers.

COMMENTS

PICKLES! I decided to invent a drinking game for every time the word pickle was mentioned during this episode. Double shot if the speaker spits out “PICK-UL!!!” with the vein bulging out in his/her forehead. Needless to say, you’d be drunk halfway through the episode. Seriously people, if the profit margin at your Italian restaurant is declining by double digits because of the lack of pickles, it’s time to open a deli.

Superfluous Characters. I know all dramas are like this, but there are too many superfluous characters in Pasta – this means I’m mostly ignoring their scenes – this includes the fired female trio, Yoo-kyung’s father, San’s sister Kang. The fired female trio are filler and not even the funny kind. We get it, you were fired, you hate Hyun-wook, how dare Ho-nam not call?! As for Yoo-kyung’s father, I don’t really understand his purpose except that he fulfils the scrappy, but loveable, Korean ajusshi quota on the show. San’s sister is also kind of pointless. I know that she’s supposed to be a cougar – looking hot, chasing after Philip, saying outrageously suggestive things, but she’s really not all that provocative. Also, note to writers, having your sister tag try and score sex for you is just creepy and wrong.

The Tragic Secret. Now that we know what went wrong between Hyun-wook and Se-young, it’s a decent explanation of why Hyun-wook has this giant chip on his shoulder when it comes to women in the kitchen. Se-young betrayed him, and in a pretty big way. She undermined not only Hyun-wook, but herself. Fair or not, Hyun-wook views women cooks as inadequate and is suspicious of their success. For the most part, the female cooks at La Sfera confirmed his suspicions – Hee-joo plonking down the live lobsters on the customer’s table or Mi-hee making out with Ho-nam in the refrigerator reinforced his perceptions of women as talentless and fickle. As the drama progresses, Hyun-wook’s attitude towards women and their ability is beginning to change. When Yoo-kyung correctly guesses that the Italian Consul will order Vongole, he lets her prepare it, and turns it into a teachable moment.

Overall, however, I do think it’s misplaced anger. Hyun-wook should be pissed at Se-young, not all womankind. She totally sucks! I don’t care how badly she wanted to go to Rome. She’s a cheater and cheaters never prosper.