Still gravitating viewers with its mouthwatering food backdrop, foodie Goo Dae Young is as delightful as he can be in his third adventure in Let’s Eat 3.
But the flavorless narration of his first love story has failed to utilize a decent pace and closure.
I had high hopes for Let’s Eat 3 – especially since it established a safe route at its kickoff episodes; having the main character of the story reunites with the girl who influenced him to become a reputable gourmet.
Adding the appeal of switching past and present timelines, tvN’s rom-com easily enthuses viewers, until it fumbles on the game plan – if it will focus on the hero or the love story.
- Main Leads: Yoon Doo Joon, Baek Jin Hee, Ahn Woo Yeon, Lee Joo Woo
- Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
Related Dramas: Let’s Eat 1 | Let’s Eat 2
Let’s Eat 3 Peak Points + Drawbacks
Food trivia & Contemplative Life Lessons
The staple element of Let’s Eat franchise is the food adventures of the cast. Though overflowing and sometimes cutting in the fluidity of the time element transition, watching Goo Dae Young munch food and throwing in his extensive stock knowledge about dishes surely had drawn chuckles from the audience.
A few life lessons about friendship, family and love were spread throughout the series, and these points deserved to be highlighted.
Talking out unresolved misunderstandings no matter how late it can be, is always liberating for the parties involved. Just like how estranged sisters Ji Woo and So Yeon patched up their insecurities and angst with each other, and turned over a new leaf to live together, taking care of their mother just like they used to be.
Hesitating to confess your love for someone often leads to regret. While timing is important in love, expressing what you feel at the moment makes or breaks a chance to be in a mutual love relationship. Goo Dae Young overlooked the fact that Ji Woo liked him first, and was even oblivious that he felt the same way.
If only they had admitted to their feelings back in their college days, then the writing would have gone through additional present timeline scenes that would have spiced up the story.
It’s never too late to switch to a career that you are passionate about. In those 10 years of being an insurance agent, Goo Dae Young has juggled his food blogging activities. A chance to work on his passion presented itself just as he was slowly emancipating himself from the bittersweet memory of the last girl he loved.
Coupled with his reunion with his first love who taught him the essentials of how to rightfully enjoy eating food, the hero proved the life-affirming lesson that having a job that works well with your passion can never be traded with a high-paying job that you do to pay the bills.
Quick hilarious frames & Delightful time element switch
Engineering major F4 characters who were presented in Dae Young’s college life setting did an amazing job in throwing in the high jinks. If only their scene-stealing antics extended up to the present timeline, it would have been nicer.
Everything in the past time frame was an endearing watch. In a way, it washed out the frustrating narrative route, because the comic scenes made the viewers forget that nothing was progressing for the love scenario of the main leads.
Circling & Messy Narrative Route
Let’s Eat 3 owes viewers an apology. We patiently waited for the romance to be reciprocated for 14 episodes and hoped for the fictional odds to be in favor of Dae Young and Ji Woo to finally realize that they were each other’s, first love. But we were told to wait. Wait why? Wait how? Why make a 3rd installment if you would make the hero dwell on the unfortunate love story, he had in Let’s Eat 2?
It’s one thing to inject the narrative with lengthy frames of the cast eating food like a quarter of every episode, but it’s another for not even sending each of them to a proper closure, and letting the viewers know what has become of Byeong Sam and Jin Suk.
Engineering major F4 was the only bright side that ever happened to the series, so I was hoping for a quick food binge reunion for them since the placement of “eating scenario” frames grew rampant after crossing the middle part of the series.
The writing for Let’s Eat 3 felt like a group of people taking turns to form a big non-cohering picture. It was so disheartening because the premise had a lot of potential to explore, but the audience was left hanging somewhere – having the same question to ask if the drama was really done.
That last fade to a black scene shot blood to the top of my head simply because I really couldn’t believe that’s how it had to end.
Let’s Eat 3 Series Musings
I am usually a chirpy person, but I don’t like how Let’s Eat 3 played with my heart in making me believe that there would be a happy ending. *chuckles
Because of the rushed publicity related to Yoon Doo Joon’s urgent military service enlistment, the production team said that cutting the episodes would not affect the series.
So dear drama, help me understand why you broke my heart in such a way that I have to wait over two years for Yoon Doo Joon to possibly heal it. *giggles
We have a small number of cast, and definite descriptions of conflict and love problems, but where did we go bad along the way? I felt the excessive food scenes filling in the void of the narrative flow, and I patiently accepted it.
I have already braced myself that a rushed ending was inevitable. But the disappointingly flat and emotionless last episode was just heartless for devoted viewers like me, who just wanted a neat ending.
Let’s Eat 3 will make you smile with a few highs but you will remember more how it will break your heart.
Photos/Videos: tvN | Stone Music Entertainment
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