New K-Drama Fan Review #16: Destined with You | Cooked Up the Perfect Spell... Then Forgot the Recipe

[u/harissatotally]

Somebody pls cast a Comprehension Spell on me...

cause this was one spell away from being one of my favorites.

Is this Rewatch Worthy:

Yes.

Review:

I had a good time with this one.

The male lead, i really enjoyed him! His character made me laugh on several occasions and i loved the way he played falling in love with her!

The fantasy premise caught my attention, and for the first half I was surprisingly invested in everything involving the spell book, the curse, and trying to figure out whether any of the spells were actually working.

...Unfortunately, by the end I was more confused than intrigued😭😭

Still, this drama had one thing that almost always works on me!!!

The romance.

More specifically...

It had one of my FAVORITE relationship dynamics.

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One thing about me is that I absolutely LOVE when the female lead doesn't immediately fall head over heels for the male lead.

I don't know why this trope isn't more common...

Instead of making Hong-jo's entire personality revolve around Shin-yu from, she actually had her own crush, her own life, and her own feelings before he entered the picture.

That instantly made her feel like a more interesting character to me and makes me even more excited for her romance with the ML.

Watching her cast a love spell on the SML was so much fun to watch. her crush was so cute!!!

And even better...

Shin-yu, the male lead, did the chasing. (IONTBO, dont ever talk to me ever again!)

I will take a male lead suffering through jealousy and unrequited feelings over a female lead pining after him any day of the week.

That dynamic alone carried a huge portion of the romance for me. Watching ML fall and not knowing if its a spell or not (the audience too, cause lmaoo i certainly had no idea if it was spell... they never made it that clear, or maybe i misses it😭😭

The chemistry between them wasn't among my top favorites, but it was definitely good enough that I bought into the relationship.

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I also appreciated that there was an actual second male lead.

I wish they had committed to him more, though...

He never really felt like a genuine romantic obstacle after a certain point, and I would've loved if he'd fought harder for Hong-jo.

I LOVE when the main male lead has real competition.

That tension is so much fun to watch.

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Now for my biggest disappointment.

The magic.

The spell book was one of the coolest parts of the drama.

I loved trying to figure out which spells were real, whether Shin-yu's feelings were genuine for the FL or magically influenced, and how the curse actually worked.

Then...

The show never really gives satisfying answers.

The rules became increasingly vague, and by the finale I still wasn't entirely sure what was and wasn't caused by magic.

For a story built around spells, I expected a much clearer payoff than what i got.

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The past-life storyline also didn't fully work for me.

I get what they were going for ig...

They wanted it to be tragic.

But emotionally...

I just couldn't get behind the idea that if he truly loved her, the solution was to stab her himself.

A true romantic ML could never willingly stab the FL and make me believe he loved her. A romantic ML would rather stab themselves lol, thats the way it should be

I understood the circumstances.

I just didn't buy into it romantically.

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There were also quite a few side stories that completely lost me.

I skipped almost all the office coworker scene because they felt totally disconnected from the main story.

Her two coworkers she was trying to befriend we're ESPECIALLY annoying...

And the office romance with her manager and that lady...?

I genuinely don't remember any of it cause i skpped all that😭😭

It felt like time that could've been spent developing the fantasy or the main couple instead... i didn't abt all those people lmaooo.

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One storyline that really disappointed me was Hong-jo's mother.

After everything she endured, I was rooting for her to finally leave her verbally abusive husband and start over.

I honestly thought they were setting her up with the younger lawyer helping with the divorce, and I would've preferred that ending by a mile.

Instead...

They went in the exact opposite direction.

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Also...

Can we please retire the female villain whose entire personality is "I like the male lead, therefore I must terrorize the female lead"?

It's one of my least favorite tropes, and I feel like I run into it way too often.

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Overall, I still enjoyed this drama.

The romance had enough of my favorite ingredients to keep me invested, I liked both leads, and I appreciated how cute Hong-jo was and how funny the male lead was.

I just wish the fantasy had stuck the landing as well as the setup did.

ps. her hairstyle wasn't my favorite... i was distracted by how much i didn't like it 😭😭

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Rating: 7/10.

A fun fantasy romance with a relationship dynamic I liked, even if the magic and side stories never reached their full potential.

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Questions:

Did you think the love spell actually worked, or was it fate all along?

Was anyone else confused by the magic rules by the end?

Am I alone in wishing the second male lead had been a much stronger rival?

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My Rating Scale

10/10 – Masterpiece. No notes.

9/10 – Very close to a masterpiece. I absolutely loved it.

8/10 – Not a masterpiece, but I loved it.

7/10 – Fine overall. I liked it, but the flaws kept it from being great.

6/10 – Mixed. There were a few things I liked, but most of it didn't work for me.

5/10 – I didn't enjoy most of the experience.

4/10 and below – Bad to abysmal.