3
Zogitt
Australia
Icarus meets Mozart
This review will sound a bit arse backwards because it is a back-to-front type of drama for me.
If I had to sum up the plot in a few words then it would be Icarus meets Mozart. This is a blessing and a curse.
Cooking is about as real as it can be from my perspective. You combine real ingredients into something that is totally tangible. Sure, there may be some smokes and mirrors when it comes to some high concept dishes but fundamentally taste doesn't lie. If a dish taste good then it is meant to be.
This series mystify the cooking process to the point that it is akin to magic. We are shown mostly typical preparations yet the results are S tier and to die for. I know you can play tricks with the flavours and textures but time and again, this is done by our untrained "amateur" ML. Even the show calls this out when one of the chef stated that a staff in his father's restaurant practiced filleting fish for 3 years before he is trusted with that task. Yet our young ML went from high school graduate to a Michelin star chef within a year (and still without any formal training). I get that he can see ingredients and recipes from a different angle (cue special effects) but things just don't add up. We have to just accept it. This pulls me out of immersion repeatedly as I try to see what is so special about the dish and how come he can create it and I can't (for obvious reasons). ;)
I'd have enjoyed the show more if his development is more relatable rather than just put down to him being the "chosen one". That is such an old trope. I would have similar problem wrapping my head around a plumber being promoted as the next genius physician in a hospital just because he knows how plumbing works.
The show did grow on me in the second half and that is largely because it moved more into character growth and their backstories. Honestly, the whole show finally makes sense in EP 9 and 10. All the ducklings line up and the motivations of many characters became transparent. It is still a bit of a stretch but at least I can accept the rationale within that paradigm. I also enjoyed the changes in the young ML as he decent into madness but it didn't last long and he was his old innocent self again. In one sense, the show became "normal" towards the end, if that makes sense.
I'll be the first to admit that this is not an unbiased review as I just finished Grande Maison Tokyo which is so good and well grounded that it makes this looks like a flight of fancy. However, if you like the male leads then you will swoon. If you like angsty dramas then you have hit paydirt. If you are looking for food porn then it can still work. The gorgeous dishes were created by a Michelin star chef IRL. I have to score this show based on my own POV and that's a reviewer's lot. Peace.
If I had to sum up the plot in a few words then it would be Icarus meets Mozart. This is a blessing and a curse.
Cooking is about as real as it can be from my perspective. You combine real ingredients into something that is totally tangible. Sure, there may be some smokes and mirrors when it comes to some high concept dishes but fundamentally taste doesn't lie. If a dish taste good then it is meant to be.
This series mystify the cooking process to the point that it is akin to magic. We are shown mostly typical preparations yet the results are S tier and to die for. I know you can play tricks with the flavours and textures but time and again, this is done by our untrained "amateur" ML. Even the show calls this out when one of the chef stated that a staff in his father's restaurant practiced filleting fish for 3 years before he is trusted with that task. Yet our young ML went from high school graduate to a Michelin star chef within a year (and still without any formal training). I get that he can see ingredients and recipes from a different angle (cue special effects) but things just don't add up. We have to just accept it. This pulls me out of immersion repeatedly as I try to see what is so special about the dish and how come he can create it and I can't (for obvious reasons). ;)
I'd have enjoyed the show more if his development is more relatable rather than just put down to him being the "chosen one". That is such an old trope. I would have similar problem wrapping my head around a plumber being promoted as the next genius physician in a hospital just because he knows how plumbing works.
The show did grow on me in the second half and that is largely because it moved more into character growth and their backstories. Honestly, the whole show finally makes sense in EP 9 and 10. All the ducklings line up and the motivations of many characters became transparent. It is still a bit of a stretch but at least I can accept the rationale within that paradigm. I also enjoyed the changes in the young ML as he decent into madness but it didn't last long and he was his old innocent self again. In one sense, the show became "normal" towards the end, if that makes sense.
I'll be the first to admit that this is not an unbiased review as I just finished Grande Maison Tokyo which is so good and well grounded that it makes this looks like a flight of fancy. However, if you like the male leads then you will swoon. If you like angsty dramas then you have hit paydirt. If you are looking for food porn then it can still work. The gorgeous dishes were created by a Michelin star chef IRL. I have to score this show based on my own POV and that's a reviewer's lot. Peace.
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