Ron Does Stuff

I started watching this show because of the interesting trailer and wouldn’t you know it, it’s actually okay! At least based on the first episode! I did some more digging online and it looks like this is only going to be six episode, so I hope the shorter season means they’ve made a lean and mean production that manages to maintain the quality of the first episode.

Let’s go watch episode 2!

The first episode ended on a cliffhanger that doesn’t particularly look good for Maya, as the VIP guest of the hotel ended up almost choking to death on a wayward shrimp tail that ended up there because of Ha-Joon panicking. Will Maya get out of this unscathed?

We don’t immediately find out because we get a voiceover monologue from Ha-Joon which gotta admit was pretty nice. But as soon as we get into the episode proper, we learn the bad news — Chef Arif is not happy at all with what happened. And who can blame him! He immediately focuses on Ha-Joon as soon as he finds out that he was in charge of peeling the shrimp and here’s where we get a peek into his past. As per K-drama tradition, Ha-Joon may be Seoul’s Prince, but within he’s family he’s just a literal bastard child, the son of a mistress.

Arif almost goads Ha-Joon into quitting, but Maya takes responsibility for him because if she doesn’t take responsibility for her underlings now, how will she do it when she’s the head chef? I don’t know about you Ha-Joon but you should be kissing her feet right about now. But that isn’t going to be happening anytime soon because Maya does not want to talk about it.

Later that night, Ha-Joon and his butler(?) talk over a painfully obvious product placement. Everyone’s looking for Ha-Joon back in Seoul because they want him to exclude himself from the will. Ha-Joon is the main obstacle to his stepsiblings’ plans because the chairman wants him to be his successor. This could not get any more old school K-drama, so if you’re missing some of that flavor maybe you should try this out.

While Ha-Joon spent the night refusing to fight for what is probably a sizable inheritance since his family apparently owns a hotel in Jakarta, Maya is spending the next morning asking for another chance from Chef Arif. And I gotta admit that while I know very little about Nicholas Saputra, the comments from Indonesians on the Viu YouTube channel tell me he’s a big deal. Which doesn’t surprise me at all since he’s got that dignified older gentleman thing going on for him.

I also find out about the kepel fruit, which apparently is hard to find in markets in Indonesia. My quick Google search tells me that you can only really find it in Central Java which I haven’t really been to. Maya asks Arif for a chance to impress the VIPs from the previous episode with a dish made from kepel fruit. While she gets the go signal, she may not succeed after all because on top of having to search for that fruit, she also has her debtor breathing down her neck and threatening higher interest rates if she doesn’t pay up. And again, I know how that feels Maya so I am on your side on all of this!

Ha-Joon volunteers to help Maya find kepel fruit and Maya tells him what part of no doesn’t he understand and my Pavlovian response is to immediately start singing the Spice Girl’s “2 Much“. But before Ha-Joon can plead his case even further the Korean influencer Chaerin from the previous episode sees him and ends up thinking that Maya works for him. Which may not be far from the truth depending on what happens in the next four episodes? Ha-Joon calls his butler ro smooth out the Chaerin business because honestly it would be a big plot hole if Chaerin doesn’t up spreading the news in Seoul that their prince is currently in Jakarta.

Now I’ve only been to Indonesia a few times but if you’ve been staying in the country for as long as Maya has been — a few years, we learn later on — I would have wanted her to know a bit more Bahasa Indonesia. And if you knew your Bahasa isn’t up to par why would you even hazard a visit to a traditional market? BUT I’m going to give the production a pass because that market scene leads to this:

After that, we get Ha-Joon standing up for a little boy being bullied, which of course leads to them getting help from the boy in acquiring that elusive kepel fruit. There’s a kepel tree in his neighbor’s backyard! It’s guarded by a Doberman but it’s there! They magically get on the Doberman’s good side which…okay. Maybe they shouldn’t have just included that? But then they did need an excuse to get that kid out of there.

Maya and Ha-Joon get to know a bit more about each other under the kepel tree, and she opens up to him about how she’s saddled with debt because of her mother’s illness. She just has to work harder to pay those bills, but the wheels in Ha-Joon’s head are probably turning already. Especially when this K-drama staple happens on the way back to the city.

There may not be a lot of that happening for a bit, though, because we find out that Chaerin hasn’t blabbed to the media about Ha-Joon being in Jakarta, but she did tell his family. Which means even more Koreans coming on over to Jakarta.

Elsewhere in Jakarta, Maya is making her kepel fruit dish and also contemplating joining a cooking competition Ha-Joon told her about — which she doesn’t know is being sponsored by Ha-Joon’s company. It’s got a $35,000 cash prize which is A LOT of money when you convert it to Philippine pesos and Maya is going to try to enter it as a representative of the restaurant so she doesn’t have to pay the entrance fee.

The next day Maya presents her kepel fruit chutney and suggests serving it with nasi goreng and I know I’m not a gourmand by any stretch of the combination but is that a good pairing? I love nasi goreng but why add chutney to it? Of course, because this is a show, it wins the VIPs over but I want to ask any Indonesians reading if this really would be something that works together?

The scene where the VIPs are won over also shows why Arif isn’t the male lead in the show — rather than give credit to Maya for coming up with the kepel fruit chutney, he makes it look like it was all his idea. This doesn’t sit right with Ha-Joon but of course Maya keeps him in check.

Arif further digs his heels into non-male lead territory when he dissuades Maya from entering the cooking competition, saying that she still has a lot to learn. He does this after taking credit for her dish and if there was any hope of this being a love triangle that has flown out the window because it would take a lot to redeem Arif now.

Ha-Joon is having none of it and runs off to confront Arif. BUT the confrontation is cut short because the Korean regional office is looking for Ha-Joon and the hotel’s security barge into the kitchen to apprehend him!