“As Per My Previous Email”
After setting the foundations in the previous episode, Dinner Mate returns for a much more character-driven slice of drama. The chemistry between our two main leads is really starting to shine through now and alongside some genuinely funny moments, this drama may just prove to be a really solid Monday/Tuesday entry in the Korean drama calendar. Episodes 3 and 4 of Dinner Mate begin with Hae-Kyung and Do-Hee driving up to an outdoor food cart on the cusp of shutting up for the night and re-opening just for them. Hae-Kyung worries about the hygiene though but the two men reassure him that it’s all part of the “vibe”. Despite some initial reservations, and the fact the two men have only been in business for 5 days, they’re shocked when they realize the food is a hit. After finishing their meal, they discuss turning in for the night and finding somewhere to sleep but just as they do, the two cooks arrive and entice them to stay at a nearby motel. Hilariously, the man behind the counter has an equally flamboyant outfit and believes Hae-Kyung is a local. The duo get separate rooms and turn in for the night but Do-Hee can’t sleep, too wrapped up in what happened with Young-Dong and deciding to drink instead. Hae-Kyung hears her though and heads outside to try and help her through the pain she’s feeling. In the morning, Hae-Kyung returns home after being picked up by Byeong-Jin but on the way he teases Hae-Kyung about his voice and how he thinks Do-Hee is pretty. Eventually he has enough of this and shoos him away so he can sleep. Meanwhile, Do-Hee heads home too and continues to drown her sorrow in alcohol, re-watching the video she recorded on the plane before heading to work and facing her colleagues over what happened. Ah-Young calls her into her office and discusses Do-Hee’s creativity process. She tasks Do-Hee with finding the hero and as they shake hands, an ominous laugh echoes in the background. Ah-Young happens to have books from Dr Kim and hands them over, calling him the Hakju-Hero and showing off a video from the incident in the streets. This small act, coupled with his psychiatric knowledge, cause all the girls in the immediate area to begin falling for him – except Do-Hee. Hae-Kyung receives the request from Do-Hee but when he sees the video from 2N Box involving Ma-Ya he writes them off and calls the company insane. That evening he heads out and has another date but these girls just don’t seem to click the way Do-Hee does with him. At work, he receives an email from Do-Hee about the 2N Box offer and it causes the two to start engaging in a heated email exchange as Do-Hee and Hae-Kyung trade insults and blows until they finally decide to meet up. Only, Do-Hee happens to head for the psychiatric clinic at the exact same time Hae-Kyung heads to 2N Box. Thanks to a virus getting out across the K-Pop websites, Hae-Kyung’s favourite song makes it to number 1 in the charts. The singer himself, Tae Jin-Ah accidentally hits Do-Hee’s car prompting him to hand over his contact details to her, leaving her stunned. When she notices the fish stitching on the back of his jacket however, she heads off to the fish market where she ends up locking eyes with Hae-Kyung who happens to be there too, which is where the episode ends. Featuring some wonderful humour and some lovely individual scenes, Dinner Mate starts to build up its characters during this second episode to great effect. The email exchange between the duo is easily the highlight of the series so far and the soundtrack has been consistently on-point too. The two leads have some excellent chemistry together and this really helps to look past the relatively simple and straight forward romantic drama playing out with this one. Whether the show can keep this up or not remains to be seen but for now, Dinner Mate delivers another decent episode. Published: 26 May 2020 at 10:44 pm on TheReviewGeek.com
