I had a good feeling about Korean drama Pasta before it aired, particularly about the chemistry between main leads Lee Sun Gyun and Gong Hyo Jin, and sure enough I was right. Pasta is everything that is charming; while most Korean “trendy” dramas are light-hearted, Pasta takes it one step further by being downright playful. I was particularly struck by its use of a light jazzy track and visual imagery of tomatoes swirling in a pan during a particularly poignant scene as Gong Hyo Jin’s character stays late in the kitchen rejoicing over her final ascension to chef and looking forward to the next day(sadly I couldn’t cap that scene, the motion was too fast, so have a picture of her glorying over food instead). Gong Hyo Jin, just as I suspected, is definitely one of the highlights of this drama – she has a lovely steady feel which really grounds the drama, which might be otherwise entirely too light and fluffy. Pasta is a drama which is relying on the little things – visuals, acting, music – to lift it above “average” territory, but it’s succeeding exceedingly well, and most importantly there’s an indefinable vibe about it which is very hard to pin down to any one element but which pulls the drama together and gives it that element of fizz and magic so important for a really good viewing experience. Like Triple, it’s surprisingly hard to capture what makes it so appealing – it’s one of those low-key dramas whose charm is lost between screen and words – but so worth watching.

Thinking of her dead mother. I include this shot to show off some of those visuals I was talking about – this is just beautiful colouring in a very indie-flick kind of way.

I admit I had my doubts about Lee Sun Gyun being attractive – I fully expected him to be charismatic and charming and delightfully icy in his demanding-chef role, but to my surprise the man is also sexy, and entirely convincing as a silver-tongued playboy. Look at The Smirk!

He sets Yoo Kyung(Gong Hyo Jin’s character) into a slightly befuddled but thoroughly charmed state of confusion-

Likes to lean in and smirk at her in the kitchen once she discovers that he is in fact her new boss

and provides her with a little *ahem* help, in the kitchen

Which makes this slow grin of absolute girl-delight spread over her face back at home when she’s thinking about him. Girl-crush! (I adore Gong Hyo Jin so much. She’s got such a natural presence and down-to-earth warmth and both very feminine and very mature at the same time).

You can download the RAWs of the first four episodes on LetsLook (must register to gain access) and the subs to the first two eps on WithS2.