King the Land 킹더랜드 - EPISODE 1

Netflix calls this a "limited series" but it's got 16 episodes which, to me, it's just a regular K-drama.

The show opens with a shot of "King Hotel" and then goes to various shots of men and women at job interviews for hotel concierge.  It ends with candidate 506 burying his head in his hands and telling the interviewers he's shy and he runs away.

They show candidate 511 in a waiting area and a woman comes out and yells for 511.  The candidate gets up and walks towards the interview room.  As she's walking, the heel on one of her shoes breaks off.  She picks it up and keeps going.  The interviewers are waiting and looking at her resume.  One woman asks "What's with number 511? Don't we require a bachelor's degree?"  The man sitting next to her apologizes and says there must have been a mistake during the resume screening process.  Then 511 walks in.  She walks in confidently as if she still had her other heel.  She bows and introduces herself as Cheon Sa-rang

There is silence for a while and the woman mentions she sees her hobby is playing the piano and asks if she'll play for them.  Cheon Sa-rang says "right now?"  and she is told yes.  She looks around and says there is no piano there and the woman says "I know, right?".  They stare at each other and then Sa-rang looks at both men sitting at opposite sides of the woman.  She then starts to "play" Chopsticks on air piano.  The men look up at her.  As she is singing the notes, one of them smiles.

The woman, stone faced, says "Your hobby is playing piano yet you played Chopsticks".  Sa-rang replies, "It's my hobby, not my specialty.  I'm not that good, but I enjoy playing".  The woman says "Can you smile for us?"  So she does.  Then they cut to her in a restaurant not smiling at all as she's drinking a mug of beer.  She's sitting with her friend who is using her actual chopsticks to mimic playing chopstics on air piano.  She says "You really did that?"  Sa-rang says "Yes. What else was I supposed to do?"

Four and a half minutes in and it's funny.  I'll watch 2 of these episodes tonight!

Fermat's Cuisine フェルマーの料理 (Fermat no Ryōri) - EPISODE 2

I hadn't realized that I was up to EP 2 until I saw the opening credits.

This episode centered around Gaku trying to create a dish the rest of the staff would like.  He had failed at all his attempts until he got an idea after speaking with his friend Uomi.  He had one more chance to get a majority of the staff to like his meal.  If he failed again, he would be fired.

A decent drama so far!

Fermat's Cuisine フェルマーの料理 (Fermat no Ryōri) - EPISODE 1

Opening scene, you see someone washing their face in the bathroom.  He walks out and several people say to him "Chef..." as he walks by.  He walks through the dining area of a restaurant on his way to the kitchen.  Assistants hand the check a pot where he takes a taste of the contents.  He walks to a station, tosses a pan from out of his way and begins to season what is in the pot he was given while everyone stares at him.  He walks back to the table, plates the contents of the pot and hands it to a waitress.

Another assistant places a plate with food on it next to the chef.  He doesn't look at the plate and the camera focuses on his face.  You can see him sweating.  He calls out to the assistant and tells her to "remake it".  She says "what?"  Chef tells her "It tastes wrong.  Do it now".  The assistant fights back.  "It tastes wrong?  You didn't even taste it!"  He replies "Can't you see it?".  He looks at her.  "You can can't you?"  He lifts the plate and puts it in here face "Look...LOOK!"  She jumps back and he yells "Why can't you see it?!"  The whole kitchen is staring.  He calmly says "Why can't you see it?"

They switch to a scene of a kid in school.  It's 2023.  The student is walking in the hall and narrating.  He said he wanted to become a great mathematician. They flashback to the student's birth.  His mother telling him to do what he loves and "enjoy this life" while his father sat beside them nodding in agreement.

The student says his mother passed away when he was young so it was just him and his father.  He tells us that ever since he was a child, he loved math.  He was so passionate about it, he decided he would dedicate his life to math.  His dream was to become a globally recognized mathematician.  On the last day of high school, he participated in a contest of the top math students.  It was then that he realized he would never become a mathematician and he saw his dream crumble.

Next Up

I know I'm still on the first episode of "Death Game" but I'm going to start 2 others today and then watch all 3 during the week so I can finish them.  I work 60 hours a week (40 FT and 20 PT) and I don't get a lot of free time.  Most of my free time is spent trying to get as much sleep as I can  If I can get 4 hrs overnight and 2 in the afternoon between jobs, that's pretty good.  I think 6 hrs of sleep in 24 hrs is not too bad.  When I was only working 1 FT job that was 0900-1700, it was great but my FT job now is 4 days of 1400-0000 and my PT job is 4 days 0600-1100.  I used to be able to binge watch dramas after work, while cooking, while eating and at night until about 0100.  Now I need to find time.

Dramas have changed a lot since the Hallyu wave.  I was on board maybe 2 years before it exploded.  Only a few sites were legally streaming K-dramas and they were so so good.  Then PSY got popular (in America) when "Gangnam Style" hit the US and the whole K-drama watching experience changed.  

Everyone wanted to stream K-dramas after the Hallyu wave.  At first I thought it was great but as I started to watch some of them, they weren't the same quality as they were before.  They were dropping so many new shows, it was much harder to keep up.  There are dramas that I really wanted to watch but then 2 weeks later there were more to choose from and some of those I wanted to watch.  Then a couple of weeks later, more new dramas and there were some there that I wanted to watch too.  There were just way too many and now 10 years later, there are a bunch that I had wanted to watch but had no time to fit them in.

Anyway, I'm going to watch the Netflix K-drama King the Land.  Not sure what that title means so I'm hoping it will become clear when I watch.

"Amid a tense inheritance fight, a charming heir clashes with his hardworking employee who's known for her irresistible smile -- which he cannot stand".  This sounds funny.  

The next one I'm starting is the Netflix J-drama Fermat's Cuisine.

"Giving up hope of becoming a mathematician, Gaku feels aimless until star chef Kai brings him on at his restaurant, giving him a new world to master".  This one sounds fun AND it reminds of Bambino (2007 drama with Matsumoto Jun).