Link: Eat, Love, Kill (2022)

Thank You For the Scary Villains

My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

It was a suspenseful story that had me hooked until the end. Although, after it was over, it didn't stick with me like other dramas I've really enjoyed. I've spent some time thinking about why that is before writing this review.

Acting/Cast: This category is going to be where my biggest issue with the drama lies. I held off watching this drama because I really dislike the actor that plays the male lead. He seems very stiff and emotionless in everything I've seen him in. I even dropped Hotel Del Luna because of him. Let's just say, after watching this drama, I still feel the same way. However, there were times in this drama where he showed a little bit of emotional range that surprised me, but that's not saying much. The female lead actress is fine, but when comparing her character with other female leads in dramas that I fell in love with, I realize she is lacking the charm that those characters have. It kept me from really connecting with her. Similarly, with the male lead, I didn't even care to try to connect with him. I think that if just the male lead was switched out, this could really have been a top tier drama. It's a shame... That being said, the rest of the cast was great. I think the highlight of the drama is Shin Jae Hwi who plays Lee Jin Geun (the stalker). I smiled every time I saw him on screen. He played an unhinged psycho so well. It's been a while since I've seen such a good villain. 6/10

Writing: Very well done, suspenseful mystery that kept me guessing. Satisfying ending as well. While watching, I did get vibes here and there of Kill Me, Heal Me -- definitely a top tier drama -- which is why I say that Link had the potential. But, in regards to the writing, my only gripe in this area would be the Noble Idiocy...which became even more annoying when they kept going back and forth with it. Oh, and now that I think about it...there were multiple times where the female lead thought, for some reason, that it was perfectly ok to walk alone at night in dark alleys when there's a stalker on the loose. That didn't make sense to me, especially since the female lead has trauma after being attacked in the recent past. 8/10

Direction/SFX/Music: My only complaint here would be a particularly severe case of "frozen-in-time staring contest". The OST is decent, too. 8/10

Entertainment Value: Once the characters were established and the main mystery with the refrigerator started playing out, I was hooked. 9.5/10

Overall, I gave this drama an 8/10 mainly due to my issue with the casting.

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I expected more

I took time to reflect on this drama and the more i thiught about it, the more i found things that i disliked.
I'm going to start with the thing i liked, the ML, i always liked him and this role was quite fitting to him. The moments he had with his girlfriend were all super cute.
The FL, looked bland to me, don't get me wrong, she is a good actor but she lacked alchemy with the ML. Although the scenes they had together were cute, the alchemy wasn't here.
Other than that, the plot was quite good but pretty much flawed:
One thing is the fantasy Link they have between them. It was badly executed, i had to make an explanation for myself because their explanation wasnt making sense. I wish they didnt explain it and jusy left it there, it could be like an ability or a super power or something.
Second thing, is the lack of motive. Its a crime solving kind of drama but there were no reason to explain that said crime. The criminal had no motive. He just killed people. They didnt say how many, if he was a serial killer, why did he do it.
Third thing, is the FL didnt even TRY to protect herself. This drama started with the first episode of her getting almost killed by her stalker but throughout the entire 16 episode she walked alone at night like people werent waiting to kill her, going to strange places by herself without saying it to anyone, reaching her stalker.... Half of the thing that happened were avoidable if she had been cautious.

I think that the romance part of the drama was more well written than the crime/thriller part beacuse it was only thrilling because she made poor choices. However despite all of this I'd say this drama was entertaining. I would recommend it.

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watched weekly as it came out

since watching this show weekly from the start i was very curious with the missing sister storyline and why eun gyehoon and dahyun were connected or “linked”. i really liked the beginning even when they “killed” the stalker but later he turned out to be alive. tho, he definitely was dragged out way too much in the plot (always showing up and saying “hinting” about gyehoons sister or the kidnapping but never saying anything). i have to say i loved the main leads but especially eun gyehoon, seeing him broken after feeling like he’s lost his whole family and growing up alone made my heart break :( and the chemistry between the leads was so great, the slowburn, everything. im very happy how this show ended and how they gave a nice closure to even the side characters without much plot. the last ending scene from ep 16 made me cry with how they showed the leads as kids with them now UGH SO SAD. even when they showed gyeyoung telling adult gyehoon that its not his fault and he shouldnt cry and when gyehoon was talking with his dad telling him he shouldnt find her and to just stay with him and his mom made me emotional. there were so many things i learned just from watching this show and it has some of the best relationships ive seen. 8.5/10

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wowwwwww

wow what a show! so many heartfelt moments mixed with heart-wrenching moments as well.

while the show has some "cliches", and plenty of plot twists it felt so incredibly refreshing because of the way it approached them in regards to how the characters felt. it was very nuanced. also like the messages that embedded throughout the story. i could go into great depth into any of them but i won't just to keep this short. especially like how certain reactions from the characters felt very realistic. the main message of community being nothing without genuine connections and empathy was such a good thing to throw in. love the way they approached all of these messages.

yeo jingoo gave a great performance as always. he never fails to amaze me with his acting. moon gayoung was very good here too i was pleasantly surprised. the show does have its hick-ups but i enjoyed watching so much that they didn't bother me much. i laughed, i giggled and i cried (SO MUCH). definitely recommend

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A pretty good mystery/romance drama

Honestly, I'm surprised at all the bad reviews this drama got. I liked it and kept waiting for the turning point where the drama takes a turn for the worst but for me, that never came. Sure, I didn't care much for the big reveal at the end but I still thought it was a good mystery that kept me engaged the entire time and had me guessing who the big bad guy was at the end. And my heart absolutely broke for Gyehoon, especially at the end. All in all, I don't think I would watch it again and I think watching it on 2x helped just cause I really can't stand being in suspense. But I liked the drama, it was entertaining and engaging and that's all I could ask for.

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A Subversion of the Genre

This drama was just a beautiful subversion of the genre. It consistently did things differently than how it would play out in other dramas that cover mystery/thriller.

The strongest point of this drama is how cohesive it is. Multiple aspects of the production are linked together through details in the same way the main characters have a link. It's a sign of their hard work and thoughtfulness. Things like similar style clothes, matching camera angles for the two leads, and symmetrical backgrounds make for great visual representation of the concept.

As I said in the beginning, this drama subverts its genre. So it's not for everyone. It's for people that want to watch a different type of mystery/thriller romance.

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Everybody is suspicious

An interesting concept. The whole neighborhood is suspicious. I liked the characters - the mother and the grandma of the FL. It was funny at times. Although, it's one of those typical stories where "the ML always seems to find the FL when she's in danger and saves her at the right moment.

What bothered me was how the ML remained silent about the dead body in the fridge. Like he thought the fridge was his and took it in. Then, why not inform the police about this? Even after it was confirmed whether the FL was his sister or not (the answer is pretty obvious to the viewers from the beginning given that she was the FL), he should not have cooperated with her.

The murderer. I wanted to know what crimes he committed over the years. What exactly he did do to the father? Why didn't he do anything to the ML? Why weren't there more victims over the years?

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Snack on Cotton Candy & Put Stalkers On Ice °6.7° °good°

Assistant chef, Jin-Hu (Lee Suk-Hyeong from Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha & Lovestruck in the City-7.3), is walking down the street in a tucked-away neighborhood. His boss's new restaurant is set to open there. He looks to the left at passersby: ‘That woman shoved a man's body in a refrigerator with the help of’ (his head moves from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock) ‘her daughter and’ (1 o'clock) ‘granddaughter’. His head turns to 3 o'clock. ‘That woman tried to stab someone last night.’ His head keeps moving right to 4:30. ‘And that man struck a pedestrian with his car and attempted to bury him alive.’ Tough neighborhood. What do you even feed a crowd like that?

Eun Gye-Hoon & No Da-Hyun: Here's 2 people living a very unhealthy lifestyle. She can't sleep (stress, bills, past due notices, unpaid rent, lying to her mother about her office job - she quit - Oh, she's got a stalker, too). He can't sleep because he has this weird synchronicity thing where he's suddenly feeling her emotions, so when stress keeps her up, it keeps him up, too. When she cries he probably won't be able to hold back the waterworks, either. He's a chef, so he cooks to settle himself down. They aren't sleeping, and they are eating in the middle of every night.

That's not the beginning, though. As Link opens, EGH is buried in grief ever since his twin sister went missing, presumed murdered, at age 10. His family died that day. The family of his friend, Ji Won-Tak (Song Duk-Ho - May I Help You, Cheer Up) also died that day because Won-Tak's father was accused of the murder. Even though he was acquitted, the stigma remained, as the phrase “insufficient evidence” is not sufficient to clear a person's name. NDH is overshadowed by a shady past - it's literally shaded from her view. She has no memories of her childhood. She's only partially present and living. They are halves of a whole.

Link is a 2022 release that is rated 87 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 60ish-minute episodes. Yeo Jin-Goo (The Crowned Clown, Hotel Del Luna) is EGH, the ML. His voice is delicious. EGH is a high level chef. ("When the cook is emotional you can taste it. I won't tolerate any personal feelings in MY kitchen.” He sounds rough, but a moment later he tears up and passes out. What is that about?) Mr. Yeo looks completely different from his Hotel Del Luna days. The shape of his face used to be triangular; now it's more round. Triangle or circle, he usually plays a square, & he's pretty uptight as Link opens. FL, NDH, is brought to life by Mun Ka-Young (Welcome to Waikiki, True Beauty).

“These aren't my tears I'm crying right now.” EGH is tearing up and cracking up all at the wrong moments. He's been through this before. He once had synchronicity with his sister. He experienced her emotions and reactions as if they were his own. Now it's happening again. His sister couldn't be aIive, could she? No, he's certain she's gone. He felt it. He could feel her terror, and then the connection broke; that was 18 years ago. Now, he must get himself together in time for the Gourmet Fair.

‘You shouldn't be too perfect or you won't be approachable,’ NDH's mom points out. Little does mom know that NDH is far from perfect. That company job that mom is so proud of? NDH quit that a long time ago. She scrambles to work part-time jobs and she is behind on all of her bills. Hopefully she'll bring in some good tips from the Gourmet Fair. Soon she's slinging too many trashbags and dirty dishes to even think. Love? Notta thought. NDH has never had a good man in her life.

Link is cotton candy, not gourmet fare. It's loosely linked together, but it will pass the time pleasantly for many. It wasn't until the later episodes that it started wearing on me. Here's yet another show that suffers from too many bread crumbs in the meatballs. They don't have enough good content for 16 episodes, but its problems go beyond a good edit. After 10 eps or so, it degenerates into decline & collapse mode, like a botched soufflé. The supposed premise of the show, his synchronicity with her and his ability to feel what she's feeling, adds very little excitement through ep11. It's almost besides the point. Perhaps it helped draw him to her, but people fall for eachother anyway. Synchronicity need not apply. They don't clearly lay out how he knows he's feeling /her/ emotions. The first couple eps are slightly haphazard. The logic behind some of the actions, reactions, and motivations is weak, unconvincing, and downright tasteless. I was stuck in Link’s terminal lukewarmness - it wasn't bad enough for me to abandon but neither was it good enough to enjoy. By the end I lost hope that it would recover and was dreading watching the 1 ep/day I forced on myself like bad leftovers. Worst of all, Link attempts to lighten the load of heartbreak, but it comes right up to the line of making light of heartbreak. The plot is sad, and what happens stings. What's most sad is that it could have been better.

It's ironic that this show features a top level chef, yet the show itself is barebones. No extras. No garnish, no special sauce, no BAM. The premise of the stalker and the refrigerator is a tad weak. Jingeun is irritating. How does NDH's family even make enough to live? Nobody is ever in the restaurant. They should have some weirdo regulars. They don't do a good job building up the tension. This is a town where everyone should be a suspect. We should get to know each one and be shocked when the true killer is revealed. The bad guys shouldn't drop from nowhere when the show is 60% done. It feels like cheating. We don’t know this person. We know this person has done bad things but we are detached. We don't hate, like, or fear this person.

Formulaic is a criticism, but there are formulas for good storytelling. If show creators want to deviate from the formula, it had better be good. Link isn't all that good. Ep15 is VG. It starts out weak because it must clear up a mess left by previous eps, but it puts the show back on track. Ep16 is also good. It's mostly a wrap-up, something sorely missing from many prior years’ Kdramas. They also had more opportunities for laughs and better romantic moments. Hong Jong-Chan also directed Her Private Life-8 and Live Up To Your Name-7.6, two shows that are rock solid with few deficiencies. Writer Kwon Ki-Young's Hello Monster & Suspicious Partner are quite popular. This is just an off project for them.

Link Is not fusion food; it will only feed romance junkies. It doesn't cross genres well and it will not attract new regulars to Korean programming. Anyone who doesn't like romantic and somewhat sentimental features might want to skip it. Still… I believe it's worth watching once. Some of the tastier selections include NDH's Oma and grandma, who seem like they have a dark side. Grandma turns out to be a profoundly good person. They manage a plot twist or two. Their first date: urgent care and a CT scan. We learn that we can't bury everyone who bothers us - the problem is there's not enough land. I like the secondary relationship with the cops.

“I don't have the courage to be happy,” EGH admits. Truth is the 1st step in healing. The average person tells three lies a day, and some psychologists say that we lie more than 200 times a day, we're told. That includes the lies we tell ourselves. The most common lie that men and women tell is: “I'm okay.“

“Some people don't look forward, they look backwards. They live with regrets, bitterness and longing.” It occurs to NDH that these people do not see her, they see someone missing from their past; NDH is just a placeholder. In ep15 they cover if, if, IF ~>> Endless self-reproach, accusations, and regret. One character had faced cruel and entirely unfair judgment and cannot forgive h/hself. There are a couple of characters who feel a weight of responsibility when they did nothing wrong. In a vat of self-absorption, they feel compelled to turn themselves in, and it is less than convincing.

The vibe is somewhere between offbeat and strange. The characters are not fully developed. Mom and grandmother are a bit inconsistent but they grew on me. They're somewhat ridiculous but charmingly ruthless (Ye Soo-Jung from Stranger and Mine(8) is always good, and she's having the time of her life in this role). This is not Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, it's more Flo's diner. However, I appreciate the good, which outweighs the bad. It does contain some of the most romantic words I've ever heard: “Do you want anything to eat? Whatever you want, I'll cook for you.” Whew. ‘Scuse me while I sit and fan myself…


〰️QUOTES〰️

Yummy food brings you joy.

Life is a comedy in the long-shot and a tragedy in close-up. ~Buster Keaton~

Questions are more important than answers ~Einstein~


✏〰 IMHO

RATINGS
Directing 6.5
Writing 6.5
Acting 7.5
Romance 5.3
Flutters 5
Art 6
Sound & music 7.3
Ending 7.7

LEVELS
Warmth 4.5
Action 5
Laughs 2
Tears 6
Fright 4.7
Tension T Anxiety 3
Gore 3
Thought provocation 4
Snores 3

?6.5 ?6.5 ?7.5 ?5.3 ?5 ?6 ?/?7.3 ?7.7 ♦ ?4.5 ⚡5 ?2 ?6 ?4.7 ?3 ?3 ?4 ?3

Age 14+ Scary and violent elements; Language: $h!+

Re-watch? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….

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Top 10 for 2022

For 2022, this is going to be in my top 10 of the year. This was an unexpected drama that took me on a rollercoaster of a ride... It started off a bit scary, then a lot of twists and turns and maybe it gets a little slow and sickening in the middle, but in the end, the ride comes to a stop and you're overwhelmed with emotion but definitely satisfied. I walked away learning that when ppl face real danger, they take it on without much logic or reasoning or much regret, I think that's the message I'm going to take away from it. This was also my first drama with Yeo Gin Goo, so I was just stunned by his stellar acting. I think that also contributed to my high marks.
Viva la fridge!

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Good Enough

Korean Drama " Link: Eat, Love, Kill " is a fantasy, romance drama with lots of food.

The drama had a bumpy start, but finds quickly its footing. And even though the romance is weak, fueled by the fantasy element that was awkward, cheesy at times, and not well explained, the friendship between the characters was enjoyable, as was the family bonds between the mother, grandmother, and daughter.

The criminal case was pretty interesting as well, very dark and twisted. It was what kept the interest high, as the romance and the rest of the story got boring and full of cliches.

The performances, in addition, were all great and the couple had chemistry.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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