Pasta

I watched 6 episodes of this before giving up on it. The female lead is easy to root for and the usual trajectory of korean romantic dramas means you have every reason to expect her character to triumph by the end of the series. But the male leading character is so objectionable that it becomes ever harder to stick with it. It is also increasingly impossible to believe that she would want to go anywhere near him.

Nevertheless the mismatched couple might have kept me watching.

However, the problems are compounded by virtually every other character offering almost nothing to draw on. Their characters are paper-thin and their behaviours beyond credibility. Korean dramas excel at characters and relationships. It's hard to understand how this one lost the plot so badly.

Very bad and confusing plot and characters writing. English translation was quite bad, making it difficult to get the humour or some conversations.

I couldn't make it past the pilot...

A kitchen assistant dreams of becoming a pasta chef, when her chance arrives a new head chef turns up and has a dramatic affect on her life. Well acted by Lee Sun Gyun playing the head chef and the ever reliable Gong Hyo-Jin playing the assistant. My main problem is the writers made the head chef a misogynist with the lame excuse of the way he was treated by an ex girlfriend and the assistant was consistently stupid and put up with his bullying behaviour. Lots of cooking action and good supporting cast but way too long at twenty episodes.

This was fun to watch, learning more about how a kitchen operates and all. I watched it a bit sped up cause it tended to be slow.

My only issue was the sound mixing, I don't know if it was because I watched it on my phone and this was clearly made for TV back in the day. But the music was unbearable at times, super loud and annoying. A couple songs were fine, but after 20 episodes of listening to the same music all the time, and at such a loud volume compared to the dialogue, I had to keep muting it at some points.

Other than that so I fill up this review, the lead actors are two of the most famous Korean actors and we can see why, they're really good.

Pasta (2010) is one of my favorite Korean dramas because it concentrates so well on profound character growth during its delectable and often amusing twenty episodes. Most American television shows today have cookie cutter, cartoonish characters: the way they are as people in the first episode is how they will still be by the last episode.

In the best Korean dramas, like this classic one Pasta, you see incredible, tremendous character growth in the main characters, especially in that of lead actor Lee Sun Kyun's Chef. He softens over time as he falls in love with endearing Gong Hyo Jin's kitchen assistant character in the luxury restaurant they both work at. I have re-watched this charmer four times since the year it premiered. I also loved the supporting cast and the excellent soundtrack. I actually cried the day I learned of Lee Sun Kyun's suicide in 2023. When I miss him I will often rewatch favorite scenes from his work in Pasta, My Mister, and Coffee Prince K-dramas. May his soul rest in peace. Saranghae!