Love in the Kitchen (2020)

Romance on the Rocks

An attempt at a natural progression in romance that didn’t work. The story didn’t make any sense and it had no depth. You do get the impression that the “Master” has feelings for his servant. He courts her by bullying and harassing her for the first 30 minutes of the show. I’m sure this will convince her of his sincerity. Finally, he drives her out of the house. You would think that would be enough for him. Not this guy, he goes out and finds her and bullies her some more. Grabbing her and taking her into her bedroom. He won't leave and ends up sleeping in her bed while she sleeps on the floor. All against her wishes. Then he insults her by saying she jumped into bed with him. We are now one hour into the show and this guy hasn’t changed. He even takes her money. Unbelievably I think she's still drawn to him.

After a little drama in the house is settled they get drunk together and fall asleep during a snowfall, all snuggled together. Where did this come from? There was no workup or prelude to the romance of any kind. They’ve never verbally expressed any feelings. He’s hasn't said a nice word to her. She wakes up back at his house and all is roses. They are now in a committed relationship. He’s talking marriage and hasn’t even said he likes her. Maybe that's how they did things back in those days, but I doubt it.

I’m not blaming the actors I thought they were decent. The story was terrible. It felt like a Covid movie. Since it was done in 2020, it probably was. Most of the scenes had very few actors. In some scenes, they were even socially distanced from each other.

The subtitles were good and the music was great.

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Poorly written story full of work-place harassment

If your idea of a good relationship is one in which there is constant bullying going on, this is the show for you. She works in the kitchen for a prominent family. The young "master" supposedly has feeling for her, but there is no way that you could tell by the way he acts. He was constantly grabbing her, shoving her around and basically his behavior was one long tantrum. In addition, he had no regard for her personal space (which if you felt like he liked her, you might be able to put up with, but since I didn't get that he liked her, I was bothered by this.) In a fit of anger he kicks her out of the house, but then tracks her down to bully her some more. I realize that during the time frame depicted and because of her station in life, she didn't have many options, but the idea of her spending her life with a bully just put me off. I hate the "getting drunk so we don't have to explain our actions" trope and that was used here as well. All of a sudden, in the sober light of day, all is forgiven and she's back in the family manner, Marriage is mentioned but never does he express feelings of love for her.
ACTING/DUBBING: I didn't feel that the actors were very good, but they certainly didn't have much to work with either! They seemed to feel that emotions were supposed to be shown through long stares and big eyes. Add to that the terrible job of dubbing - in addition to the shrill, whiny voices you get treated to the sounds of them eating, chewing and swallowing, like that was an important part of the story.
CHEMISTRY - there were a couple of places where the male lead's eyes warmed up a little, but I was unable to forgive his treatment of her the rest of the time.

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