... because I don't understand what is going on in Aek's brain ... The episode 8 was painful for that. Aek is totally opaque.
We can see the importance of his origins ( his hometown/region, his family, his mother and grandmother, two strong but loving women, the translation of these feelings in his cooking, ...), but for the rest, his sentimental life, his heart, it's foggier than the worst day in London ... He is mute, he does not communicate. He lives in his head, reading books and cooking. Even when he is with his close friends, he does not say anything, and the three friends are, on the other hand, pretty talkative, funny, expressive. In episode 8, there is a very good sequence to illustrate that: when, at the end of the contest, he learns he passed the first test and his buddies rush to him, congratulating him, wanting to hug him and to be hugged, he stays there, frozen, with no joy, no pride. It's terrible to have someone like that, you like. Mark, the actor playing Aek, is excellent: his face and eyes are blank and yet, Mark is very cute, his shy smile is to die for, but boy, was it painful to want to love him ... Poor Aue ... Aek's rejection of his feelings is so brutal, incomprehensible, almost mean... he even does not touch the dinner prepared lovingly by Aue. He is like a volcano: most of the time, silent, sleepy and suddenly there is an eruption that destroys everything around ...
And now, even if nothing has been resolved between Aek and Aue, Chef Viphob enters the game, obviously having a crush on Aek who called him after his fall to take him to the hospital ... What game is he playing? Is there a vicious evil behind the silent angel? The characters are piling up but nothing happens ... It's weird.
I don't care ( most of the time) about the very slow pace of the series because I like this type of cinema when not much happens not much is said but the characters generally have been well defined at the beginning of the story. Not here and it's where my dissatisfaction, my frustration lie in.