Chocolate (2019)

Quick Take: Chocolate  (2019).  Starring Yoon Kye-sang and Ha Ji-won.  9.3/10.   16 episodes of 60 min. each.

Synopsis:  Restaurant chef  Moon Cha-yeong meets Lee Kang.  He was her childhood crush, but now he is her boyfriend’s best friend.  To escape the situation, she moves to Greece.  Four years later, her ex-boyfriend is dying and his friend comes to find her.  She goes back to Korea and takes a job working in the kitchen of the hospice where her former boyfriend is staying.  Lee Kang starts working there too, as the facility’s doctor.  Besides the slow discovery and rediscovery of the central characters’ childhood connections, there are many sweet and sad stories involving the residents of the hospice.

Review:  Lots of food prep and cooking in this drama, though very little of it actually involves chocolate.  Lovely story but lots of dying — old people, young people. even the dog dies!  The ending is happy, but keep tissues handy.   There is an amusing portrayal of Americans as generally well-meaning but clueless.  Well, we’ve been called worse.   

Rewatchable - 3, Compelling - 4, Plot/ Story/Writing - 10,  Acting/Casting - 10, Production - 10,  Bonus -  6.   Bonus points for food!

Notes:

Yoon Kye-sang

began his career in 1999 with the 5-member boy band g.o.d. He began acting in 2004 and has appeared in numerous films and tv dramas. See him also in The Good Wife (2016) and Kiss Sixth Sense (2022).

Ha Ji-won

graduated from college with a degree in Film and Television, but claims she auditioned 100 times before ever getting cast. She made her tv debut in 1996 and her film debut in 2000. See her also in Secret Garden (2010) with Hyun Bin, Empress Ki (2013), Hospital Ship (2017), and Curtain Call (2022).

Jang Seung-jo

has been acting since 2014. See him also in Money Flower (2017), Familiar Wife (2018), Encounter (2018), The Good Detective (2020), and Snowdrop (2021). In Chocolate, he plays the role of Lee Kang’s cousin, also a neurologist, but who wants to be a potter.