Review of "Monet Inside" by Claude Monet (Exhibition)

While I wouldn't say I am a fan of Claude Monet or very familiar with his works, I was tempted to check out "Monet Inside" as it is positioned as an "immersive experience" to know more about the artist and his creations. This seemed to suggest that the exhibition will be somewhat different from the usual exhibition style of just walking through gallery halls filled with the works. 

Besides, it was held at Parkview Square - a very artistic-looking building with its huge Dali sculptures in the compound and an Instagram-worthy Atlas Bar on the first floor so this would be a great opportunity to check out the building for the first time. That itself could be considered as another exhibition of its own.

For those who are contemplating to visit this exhibition, do take advantage of the 50% off offer which will be valid till 18 October. You can get an adult ticket for as low as $12.50 if you are a local.

What was good

Indeed, being able to see Monet's works "come to life" through the 360 degrees large screen and the floor in the main room was a very different experience compared to seeing the paintings on a gallery wall. Through the 35-min long video which was divided into 5 sections about the key phases in Monet's life, you get an in-depth and somewhat personal peek into his life through the narration of his longtime friend. I also liked the music that accompanied the showcase of Monet's paintings as it accentuated the presentation as a whole.

The other "wow" factor was the merchandise section. Honestly speaking, most of the merchandise sections I had come across at various exhibitions either had an underwhelming range of products or they were simply too overpriced that I couldn't fathom spending that kind of money. However, despite my lack of anticipation for this section at first, there was a dizzying range of items on sale here - ranging from the usual stuff like postcards, replicas of the paintings, the exhibition catalogue and notebooks to the less common things like fabric perfume, handheld mirrors, scarfs, dolls, postal stamps, jewellery, iPhone cases, mobile phone accessories and beach towels. 

While it was tempting to buy more than needed, I settled for buying some clear photo cards of two paintings I like which were actually the right size to use as bookmarks.  I felt that most of the items were quite reasonably priced. I would have wanted to get the notebook if not for the fact that the paper was a tad too thin - not so suitable for drawing and painting, I would say.

Just one small "grouse" though - the world doesn't revolve around iPhones only. While I understand that it's not possible to have mobile phone cases for all brands, it always annoys me when such accessories and cases are only for iPhones. There is no room for consideration at all when I encounter such products for a single brand like this because I can't use them anyway.

The staff at the exhibition were very polite and friendly - probably because they could see that I was new to this venue and unsure where to start. Not to say that staff at other venues were not good but most of them tend to keep out of the way especially in the galleries so that they won't interrupt or affect the experience of the visitors. Having the staff proactively come over to offer assistance or additional information on the exhibition was not something I experienced that often - both locally and overseas. This exhibition is organised by Groundseesaw which is said to be a major exhibition platform from Korea and this is their first international project. Maybe that's why the style of the exhibition felt somewhat different from the ones I visited before in our local museums.

What was less than ideal

First of all, I have to say, your experience here might be different from mine depending on when you visit. I was there on a weekday afternoon and the fact that you needed to secure an hourly slot for your tickets would mean that there would be some form of crowd control especially during weekends. The reason for the hourly slot should be because of the fact that the main exhibition video runs for a good 35 minutes and visitors can supposedly take photos nearer to the screen in the 15 minutes when the highlights are being shown. As such, since the video doesn't get looped indefinitely at random timings, it is necessary for people to come in groups at the start of the hour rather than as and when they like because you wouldn't want to see "latecomers" spoil your viewing experience as they walk in and out of the hall. In fact, before the video is shown, there are some reminders such as switching off the sound of your phones and not moving around during the screening so as to maintain the viewing experience for all.

Despite the best of intentions, I have to say that the environment wasn't that conducive. As you can see, the seats are actually cushioned benches on a staircase. There is no backing for you to sit comfortably unless you move deep into the staircase and use the upper level as your back support. That can only be done assuming that no one is sitting behind you. I can just imagine - if there are crowds on a weekend, that might be impossible. In fact, I ended up with a bad backache and shoulder ache because of this seating arrangement for more than 30 so this physical discomfort really marred my experience. I just couldn't wait to get up and leave the hall and skipped the highlights video.

Since the screen was so wide, I also found myself have to turn my neck very often just to "get the full picture". Perhaps it might be better to sit on a higher level to reduce the need to do so but those who want pictures without having those in front of you appearing in your shots might have to consider sitting on the first level instead.

While the exhibition was positioned as one which is inclusive i.e. there is no age limit, this works against those who want to watch the video with no disruptions. Adults are told not to move around during the screening but it is understandable that young kids will find it hard to sit still for such a long time especially if they cannot understand the narration or find the video boring. If kids are so young and it is difficult to prevent them from disrupting the viewing experience of others, it might be worth reconsidering bringing them along. From the Google reviews on this exhibition so far, it seems like this issue is a big bugbear among those who gave lower ratings. 

In my case, even though I was there on a weekday, it just so happened that I had the "good luck" of  encountering kids who couldn't sit still and were moving around in front of the screen. And the kids I saw were definitely at primary school age but the parents simply let them be. I could be more understanding if they were much younger and harder to control. Imagine your viewing experience being interrupted with the presence of "moving shadows" and noises made by children - that only added to my frustration on top of my physical discomfort.

I also wonder about the cost-to-performance ratio of this exhibition. Honestly speaking, if not for the 50% off, I would have felt that the deliverables from this exhibition were too little as compared to the price to be paid. The highlight being the video in the main hall plus the smaller halls with replicas of the original paintings and some panels about Monet's life simply aren't enough to justify the price tag. As such, I would have wanted more content if I was asked to pay the full price.

Conclusion

While the concept and delivery method of the exhibition's content was somewhat new and interesting, the range of content and execution could be improved. In a bid to promote inclusivity, ensuring that the content is age-appropriate and that the factors that could affect the experience should be mitigated as much as possible are important topics to consider. Great range of exhibition merchandise here so just checking out the store took longer and was more fun than expected.

Thoughts about "Culinary Class Wars" / "흑백요리사: 요리 계급 전쟁" (Korean)

SPOILER ALERT! - Please refrain from reading this if you haven't watched the show and wish to avoid spoilers, thank you.

Finally, the dust has settled.

To put it simply, I would use the Chinese expression "虎头蛇尾" which means "a brilliant start but sloppy ending" to sum up this show. I wonder if this has become a signature trait of Netflix Korea's reality shows of late because the recent titles I watched all had this issue. While they mostly started very promisingly and were engaging for most of the run, the finales somehow turned out to be very underwhelming or came across as really half-hearted as if they wanted to wrap things up quickly. Not sure if it's the editing or the finales were that boring but it was sad to see things end in this manner. And this was disregarding whether the person I was rooting for won in the end.

Unfortunately, "Culinary Class Wars" was yet another example of this undesirable pattern.

I wasn't expecting much when I started watching the show. In fact, I waited for a number of episodes to be released before I began watching since I wasn't in a big hurry to check this out as soon as it was released. From the start, the show looked super impressive due to the scale and quality of the set, the interesting competition system of pitting well-known and established chefs (White Spoons) against those who may have skills but aren't as popular or well-known yet (Black Spoons) and the dizzying showcase of various creative and delicious-looking dishes created by the contestants. The twists and turns in each round were also good entertainment from the perspective of the viewers. I do think that there were some parts which probably were considered controversial (more on that later) but I saw that as a premeditated move by the production crew since it was essential to stir up reactions from viewers rather than for them to be indifferent to what went on in the show.

While I can't say that I know all of the White Spoons, some of them had appeared on TV shows while some were winners in past cooking contests I had watched before so there was a certain degree of familiarity to begin with. I was actually more surprised that some of these veterans would want to come on a show like this because there was the risk of being embarrassed if they were eliminated in the early stages and more so if defeated by the Black Spoons. However, some of the White Spoons who got eliminated early displayed great grace when accepting their defeats and were very encouraging towards the younger and less experienced Black Spoons. That was a great sight to behold because of the mutual respect shown for one another. On the other hand, I have to admit that I didn't know any of the Black Spoons. While it was quite easy to see that the final winner would have to be a Black Spoon for maximum dramatic effect - the underdog overcomes the more powerful senior, it was a bit dampening to see how it happened in the finale. As for the judges, while I am pretty familiar with Baek Jong-won because I had watched a number of his shows to date, I didn't know who Ahn Sung-jae was until this show. 

The earlier rounds of the competition and the semi-finals turned out to be way more engaging to watch than the final which didn't even last for an episode on its own. I am sure that I wasn't alone in feeling that the semi-finals felt more like the final. Other Korean cooking competition shows which I saw in the past would have either multiple rounds to decide the victor or at least asked for a set meal with multiple dishes but this show asked for one dish only? And what's with the theme of the dish bearing your name? Isn't that somewhat similar in style to the dish that was of great meaning in the chef's life in the first round of the semi final? And could there have been an increase in difficulty by setting out specific conditions, restricting the type of main ingredients to be used or at least a theme to adhere to? The Endless Hell challenge was actually more difficult than this final, I must say.

While I was never a supporter of Edward Lee from the start, he slowly won me over with his classy performances, out-of-the-box creativity, respect for opponents - both peers and juniors, humility and willingness to learn from others. Even in the face of a taunt right in the face which felt totally unnecessary (downright distasteful even from the viewpoint of creating a talking point or drama for the final) and disrespectful by the eventual winner Napoli Matfia i.e. Kwon Seung-joon, Lee still maintained his grace by not retorting and smiling during that exchange. I don't know what was the significance in highlighting that Lee was most likely still suffering from jet lag due to the flight from US to Korea and that he had gone through the torturous Endless Hell semi-final the day before. If you are good, you can just mention that you will put in your best effort to win and you think you can win because of your skills. By insinuating that your rival wouldn't be able to perform as well due to the conditions against him, I don't know what he was trying to achieve by saying that. So if Lee had won despite the odds, wouldn't that have reflected badly on him who watched the Endless Hell round with ease and supposedly was in a better physical and mental condition? 

There should have been a better way to show self confidence without putting people down in that manner. If this kind of behaviour was just an once-off thing, one can argue that the editing did a disservice to Kwon for the sake of creating an "antagonist" character to court controversy. If one wants to justify that he had his reasons for doing that, I can understand that he had this "underdog wants to beat the favourites" resolve from the start because of the "slight" he felt when the White Spoons were given privileges from the start as a reflection of their "superiority" over the Black Spoons. However, if his choice of words since the start was consistent in style all along, I am skeptical about the explanation that he didn't mean what he said. 

This is merely my opinion though but people who are truly good at what they do actually do not go around trumpeting their skills and strengths because others can see that for themselves. In fact, when you go searching for reviews and comments online about the show after the final, it's easy to see who won the hearts of the viewers despite the outcome. While Kwon did apologise for his behaviour in the last two episodes by saying that he was trying to cover up his nervousness and lack of confidence against a formidable opponent, I still feel that there could have been better ways to achieve the intended effect of showing confidence without being rude and offensive.

There were some interesting topics which came up during the course of this show so I'll share my thoughts on them below:

Class classification and discrimination

The idea of putting the chefs in two categories could have courted controversy if people felt that it was blatant discrimination against the Black Spoons. However, I think that it's a honest reflection of how society is like in real life, whether you agree or like it. Much as we aspire to have a world where there's no discrimination or class differences, the reality is that there is still a hierarchy in all aspects of society, be it in social or work settings. Rather than pretend that this doesn't exist, it's better to show it as it is. Just as how a Michelin 3-star chef is looked upon as the ultimate goal for chefs and epitome of greatness in the fine dining world, you can't deny that those with a 3-star are seen as more superior when compared to a 2-star, 1-star or someone with no star. Whether we agree with this order of things or how people are appraised will be a separate issue to think about. Especially when it comes to food, we all have our own standards and criteria. What works for others may not work for you.

The White Spoons were classified as such because they earned their dues thanks to years of hard work, experience, skills, popularity and name/brand awareness. On the other hand, the show didn't say or imply that the Black Spoons were inferior - it was just that they may be experts in their respective specialisations but have yet to make a name for themselves or are comparatively less experienced than the White Spoons. As such, the advantages which the White Spoons enjoyed at first were reasonable to a certain extent although it might have rubbed some Black Spoons in the wrong way. Conversely, I think that the way the competition started did strengthen the competitive streak in the Black Spoons to prove that they were as good, if not better than the White Spoons.

In case you are unaware, the word "black" actually sounds similar to "dirt" in Korean. The spoon class theory i.e. sujeo gyegeumnon (수저 계급론) is an idea that first surfaced in 2015 where "individuals in a country can be classified into different socioeconomic classes based on the assets and income level of their parents, and as a consequence, one's success in life depends entirely on being born into a wealthy family" (definition from Wikipedia). Based on this theory, the highest level would be diamond, while the lowest level is dirt. In this ranking, there is no black spoon though so it has been speculated that the colour "black" was chosen to contrast against white which is the typical colour worn by chefs and also meant to refer to dirt since they sound similar in Korean. Of course, it is obvious that the Black Spoons definitely aren't at the dirt level since they were selected to be part of the 80 to participate in the first round. That alone would be a reflection of their abilities.

Fairness - Actual vs. Perceived

I was concerned about the second round which was officially the first time when the top 20 Black Spoons faced the White Spoons - wouldn't the judges be affected and be mindful of offending these White Spoons especially those very senior ones? As such, it was a surprise to see that they were really blindfolded - effectively a blind test - since they could not see who was against who nor were they allowed to see how the contestants cooked. Seeing the judges' shock when they eliminated a few veterans in this manner unwittingly seemed to suggest that they really didn't know whose dishes they were tasting and the decisions were made truly based on taste only. Although I think that this was a pretty good control measure on the whole, there was a controversy about one contestant serving a dish which was from the judge Ahn Sung-jae's restaurant Mosu when he worked there in the past. If that was indeed true, it would have been a giveaway of his identity so there should have been a rule banning such dishes from being used in that round.

I thought that the fairness of the competition got a bit iffy towards the end because the goalposts seemed to have shifted here and there and the judging criteria was not fully made known to the contestants. In the early rounds, Baek Jong-won made it very clear that his focus was on taste while Ahn Sung-jae was concerned with the overall execution, intended message of the dish and whether the intention of the chef matched the final product. As such, while viewers couldn't taste the dishes for themselves, their comments and decisions still seemed pretty logical and believable.

However, there seemed to be some back-and-fro in the later stages when the focus was either not specified or consistent - was taste, creativity, the wow factor or adherence to the theme the most important thing for a particular round? For the Endless Hell semi-final, I felt that it was logical to think that the dish must incorporate tofu as the main ingredient so adherence to this requirement would have been a must. In that sense, Choi Hyun-seok's elimination would be understandable because tofu played a supporting role in his dish. Towards the end though, Triple Star lost because he didn't have as much variety as Edward Lee even though the judges did comment that he had the best tasting dishes. So...is taste ultimately more important than creativity or the other way round? And since contestants did not know the hierarchy of criteria which the two judges had decided between themselves, would it have been fairer if the contestants went into this round with full knowledge on what they should do? Having some ground rules and being transparent and consistent in the judging criteria would make the competition less controversial.

Likewise, for the round where the team match took place and the White Spoons' seafood team hogged the ingredients, if there was a rule stating beforehand that you could only take what you need or that you had to decide on the menu first before grabbing the ingredients, that could have prevented the situation which happened. While people may not agree fully with Choi Hyun-seok's strategy at first from a "moral" standpoint, you can't deny that he managed to for being able to find a way to seize an advantage over the other team while not breaking any pre-specified rules.

As for the round where the teams had to operate restaurants to serve the mukbang influencers, Choi's strategy may have been unrealistic in real life and a very risky gamble for that particular round but I think he was spot-on in identifying the best strategy to take advantage of the unusual circumstances. While it would have been fairer to consider net profit after taking out the cost of the ingredients, I think that it would not have made much of a difference in the final ranking considering the huge difference in total revenue between the first and second-placed teams. Perhaps if the influencers were given a smaller budget to begin with, it might have made the round go in a more unpredictable manner because they would have to make more critical and carefully considered decisions when ordering.

With regard to the twist that ended up disadvantaging the fourth team, it could have been great drama for the show if they had survived the round despite the odds. However, I found it to be a great pity that the three chefs did not capitalise on the intelligence they got while they were in their original teams, chose to stick to their signature dishes and did not jack up the prices a bit more. And since they were already one person less than the other teams, it was more difficult for them to adjust accordingly to the evolving situation and keep up the pace when serving. Given that they also did not have the benefit of time on their side, it was natural for them to do what they did but I wonder about the what ifs - if they had done some fanciful dishes, had one more member to level the playing field or the twist to the round was announced earlier, things might have turned out very differently.

Intention vs. outcome

Last but not least, as many of the contestants mentioned in their interviews, they were on this show to promote Korean cuisine to the world even though some had reservations and initially rejected the offers. If this show was indeed pitched to these contestants in this manner, shouldn't there have been a rule requiring the use of Korean local produce, signature ingredients or at least one course in a set meal to be Korean food especially in the finale? Since Edward Lee did showcase Korean ingredients in his dish for the final, should this have given him an advantage over Napoli Matfia's dish which hardly had anything Korean in it? Then again, the show's title didn't give any indication that this show was about Korean food or intended to showcase Korean cuisine unlike another cooking contest which was titled "Korean Food War" so it's hard to fault this show for not achieving what was supposedly promised or intended. Perhaps the positioning of this show should be clearer if there are going to be sequels in future.

Thoughts about "No Way Out: The Roulette" / "노 웨이 아웃: 더 룰렛" (Korean)

I had some mixed feelings towards this drama before I watched it so I was undecided on whether to give this a shot.

I came to know about this drama because of the news that Lee Sun-kyun quit before the filming started due to the drug case allegations surrounding him last year. After Lee quit, this then led to Cho Jin-woong stepping in to fill the lead role. As such, considering what happened to the late Lee due to that case, it was conflicting for me to be reminded about the what-ifs assuming Lee had taken up the lead role and I didn't want to keep comparing him and Cho despite the fact that I also like Cho as an actor.

Then, I saw the No Way Out episode on "Chattering with Nah".

It was such a fun episode to watch because of the cast especially some of them were already acquainted with PD Na or had worked with him in variety shows. What also came across very strongly was how much they loved working on this drama and praised one another for their breakthrough performances. To be honest, this promotion was very effective, at least for me because it convinced me to reconsider watching this drama. And besides, it was just 8 episodes so the hurdle to entry was significantly lesser than watching a full 16 episodes.

What was very special about this story was that none of the 8 key characters can be said to be "white" i.e. good. They are all "grey" with some being of a darker shade closer to black.  In a way, this is reflective of reality where nobody can claim to be perfect and there are always conflicting sides in everyone - just that of differing degrees and types. As such, this actually made the characters a lot more believable and realistic. The downside to this though was that their behaviours may be a lot more difficult to understand and empathise with since it can be really extreme. Plus, the violence and gore can be a bit hard to stomach towards the end.

And true to its title, some of these characters really had "no way out" (or so it seems) thus giving birth to the desperation that drove them to do what they did. For example, the stigma that stuck with being the son of a serial rapist and killer even though the son did nothing wrong - how could you ever shed that label stuck on you if the cause of that stigma was still around to create havoc? Or how can you battle that greed for a quick solution to your financial problems even though you are supposed to be righteous? When faced with having to stick to your morals vs. chucking aside your values in order to survive, what would you choose then? Seeing how these characters had to make a choice which may not be acceptable based on mainstream "correct" values, you also start thinking if you can still do the right thing when you see no way out of the situation like them.

However, the quality of the episodes was not so ideal with some moving along fast enough and being so engaging to watch that the airtime passed by so quickly but others were just passable. In particular, I felt that the ending was somewhat sloppy and the pastor's story could have been expanded a bit more. I wanted to see how he managed to execute his perfect revenge but that's probably not going to happen unless there's a sequel. In addition, the Mask Man's style and image bring back memories of "Squid Game" so I would have preferred a bit more originality in that sense in order to reduce or remove that kind of implied association (intended or not) with that Netflix series.

And regarding the ending, my take on it is that you can see it in two ways - either a sequel is coming or it reflects the fact that "no way out" situations will never go away. Even if the story seems like it had a resolution, it actually is no more than a passing point and the struggles in life will still continue.

As for the cast, Yoo and Lee's characters stood out the most with their portrayals of hardcore villains. Yoo's character was such a tough nut to crack - simply refused to die despite the multiple attempts to kill him and the craziness in his warped mind really riled me up at times. Lee on the other hand, had a very strong comedic image due to his variety shows so it was such a mind-blowing experience to see him play this mad guy which filled me with so much disgust and made me wince at the same time. On the other hand, while Cho's performance as the police officer who succumbed to a moment of greed was good as usual, his image this time kept bringing back memories of his character in "Signal" to me for some strange reason. Greg Hsu's character Mr. Smile was somewhat lacking in the charisma part for me - I think the character needs more polished sleekness to match the assassin image better. Yum Jung-ah's selfish politician role was very different from her usual image but the story did not explain properly what happened to her in the end - makes no sense that the police wouldn't do anything to her for being associated with what happened at the villa.

To sum it up, the story's concept was brilliant. The acting was really good with some of the actors delivering jaw-dropping performances. However, the execution wasn't that consistent so that was a huge pity which could have made a difference in evaluating this drama.

Thoughts about "Jinny's Kitchen 1 - Bacalar, Mexico" and "Jinny's Kitchen 2 - Reykjavik, Iceland"

At long last, I finally got to watch "Jinny's Kitchen". 

As both seasons were not shown on tvN outside of South Korea and could only be watched on Amazon Prime Video, it wasn't until I got a free trial of Prime recently that I managed to watch both seasons at one go. The programme is positioned as a spin-off of "Youn's Kitchen" with Lee Seo-jin being the boss this time and setting up shop with his employees Jung Yu-mi, Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik, Kim Tae-hyung / V from BTS (Season 1) and Go Min-si (Season 2) in far-flung locations in a bid to promote K-cuisine to the world. The way I understand it, the reason for going to places so far from South Korea and outside of Asia should be an attempt to ensure that the customers who visited the restaurants were not actually fans seeking to see the cast members but those who may not be familiar with the cast and/or Korean food in general. Otherwise, this would turn into another fan meeting rather than achieve the programme's intended purpose. 

This time, Season 1 went to Bacalar in Mexico while Season 2 went to Reykjavik in Iceland. While Bacalar was a brand new location for PD Na's team, Reykjavik was already featured in the third season of "Youth Over Flowers" close to 10 years ago in 2015. Personally, I was more thrilled about the revisit to Reykjavik since I developed a liking for Iceland after watching "Youth Over Flowers". Besides, I hardly knew nothing about Bacalar and didn't know what to expect. However, it was a tad disappointing to find out that the cast had worked so much and so hard in Season 2 due to the popularity of their restaurant that there were hardly any scenes showcasing Reykjavik beyond the sights featured before. It appeared that the cast seemed to have lesser off hours in Reykjavik compared to when they were in Bacalar. Or so it appears due to the editing of the shows. 

And from Season 2, it somehow reflects the dilemma of "you are the victim of your own success". Probably thanks to the fact that Season 1 was shown internationally through Prime rather than via tvN and TVing, a lot more people have come to know about the programme. As such, it was obvious that there were quite a lot of customers who were "in the know" in Season 2 so the raw and spontaneous reactions in Season 1 were somewhat lacking in the sequel. It certainly wasn't as fun to watch as compared to seeing how people belatedly realised that the people serving them at this pop-up restaurant were actually famous actors such as how Woo-shik was repeatedly recognised in Bacalar as the guy who appeared in "Parasite" or Tae-hyung who was identified as the guy in BTS. And because there were so many people lining up in Reykjavik, I felt bad for the cast who really looked so overworked.

Compared to the somewhat laidback and slow vibes from "Youn's Kitchen" and "Youn's Stay" (another spin-off from the series), the energy level and pace of "Jinny's Kitchen" were definitely a notch up especially since the cast members' average age has gone down quite a bit, thanks to younger staff like Kim and Go. And since there were no elderly cast members this time, it seemed like this provided the perfect excuse for the cast to be pushed to the limit in terms of the working hours and energy spent - for better or worse. While this brought about some comedic relief at times as you saw how much the cast members worked in running their restaurants, it also made me wonder if this was too punishing for them both on the physical and mental fronts. I didn't feel comfortable seeing them looking so drained especially in Season 2 when they faced large crowds from Day 1 and wondered if this deviated too much from the feel-good and relaxed vibe in the original series.

With the change in leadership in "Jinny's Kitchen", the group dynamics also underwent a significant change from "toe-ing the line" and being on their best behaviour most of the time to "taking liberties with the boss at times" which was funny to watch. I really liked watching their teamwork and interactions especially since most of the team members had worked with one another for years in the earlier installments of the series or have pre-existing friendships outside the shows. As for the newbies, they were both lively and added a lot of energy to the show in their own ways. It will be worth checking out how things change when Tae-hyung returns from military service and if he and Min-si both join the next season.

While I would say that I enjoyed both seasons albeit in varying degrees, there was something which really annoyed me. I understand that there is a need to do PPL since sponsors need their screentime and the production needs money to fund, doing a hardsell by making the cast "talk" about these products so blatantly is rather off-putting. Lingering shots on the product which shows the brand name clearly are absolutely fine and acceptable. However, doing a CM out of nowhere in the show really spoils the momentum and comes across as absolutely unconvincing. For one, I do take supplements containing lutein as well for eyecare but I certainly don't think that my eyesight will suddenly "become clear" right after popping such a supplement.

My biggest wish for the next season is that the cast will get a better worklife balance. While waiting for customers like what they did in Bacalar can be sad and painful to watch, I think that it does give the cast a brief respite from the touch schedule and some time to interact with one another. Secondly, more footage on their off hours would be fun to watch as well. And last but not least, please make the PPL not so obvious and annoying to watch because it can be so off-putting.