The Witch's Diner is about Jeong Jin, who loses her job and boyfriend of five years in a string of bad luck. After deciding to open a restaurant with her mother, it goes bankrupt. Jin then meets Jo Hee Ra, a witch who is capable of granting wishes, for a price. In exchange for a wish, Hee Ra wants to borrow the restaurant. It becomes a great success, but at what cost?
I started watching this K-drama because I'm a fan of Song Ji Hyo on Running Man and I always like to support the Running Man members in their other activities. Also, a supernatural themed K-drama? Sign me up. The Witch's Diner is currently streaming on Viki, if you're interested in watching it. It was adapted from a novel written by Goo Sang Hee. I googled it, I don't think there's an English translation and while I can read 한글, I don't understand 99% of it, so unfortunately, I won't be able to read the book.
(Disclaimer: I don't know if I'll be posting about each episode as it airs due to my work schedule being all over the place while our building is closed this summer. It may have to be whenever I can find some extra time.)
Episode 1 begins outside the Witch's Diner, where a sign reads the following:
- Operating Hours: Sunset to sunrise.
- Menu: Differs depending on the request.
- Price: Insanely expensive so not everyone can eat here.
- *However, all wishes are possible. The effect is certain.
We see a father who is down on his luck, inside the diner. He invested everything he owns into a bad deal that didn't work out. He lost his home and is about to be living on the streets with his children. His wish is to win the lottery so he can provide for his kids. The cost? "That look in your eyes...I like it," says Hee Ra. That sounds ominous. As promised, the father wins the lottery. Running from his house, intent on taking everything from the man who took all of his possessions, he gets into his car, where his vision blurs and he begins to scream.
Jin is an office worker, struggling with a job that requires her to work long hours and deal with an abusive boss. One night, at a company dinner, she's attacked by her boss' wife, who thinks they're having an affair for no other reason than Jin had the misfortune of being seated next to him. When Jin arrives home, drunk and stumbling (and in a much better mood than she was before), her mother tells her she is "not a person, but an alcohol bottle." The next morning, when she arrives at work, her boss fires her because if he doesn't, he claims his wife will kick him out of their house. To make matters worse, that same day, her boyfriend breaks up with her, saying they've grown apart. He really had to do it at that moment?
Hee Ra and CEO Oh (played by Ha Do Kwon, who has been a guest on Running Man several times and is incredibly funny) go to a rooftop apartment that's so beautiful and impossibly large on the inside that I had to rewind and make sure I didn't miss something while typing this. If this is how a witch lives, I want to be one, too.
The next character we're introduced to is Gil Yong, a student. (If the spelling of these names changes from episode to episode, it's because I'm basing it on the romanization of Viki's subtitles and they aren't consistent. This is why I think learning 한글 is important before learning to speak Korean, romanizations are never the same and you're likely to end up misspelling the actual words if you base it on the romanization. That's not important right now though.) He runs track, but suffered an injury. Jin's friend, Yoon Mi, is a teacher in Gil Yong's school.
One night when Gil Yong is working, he sees a friend from school, Yeong Jae, walking home with a bruised face. He asks what happened to him, but Yeong Jae tells him to leave him alone. Inside Gil Yong's job at a convenience store, Jin comes in, drunk, to buy a coffee, before going back outside and crying. Gil Yong attempts to comfort her, but she says she's okay (she clearly is not) and goes home.
The next day, Jin's mom says she knows she lost her job and tells her to take her time looking for a new one. For now, she suggests they buy a restaurant together. They put all their savings into purchasing one from a woman who is looking to sell the one she owns. At first, the restaurant is very busy and seems to be doing well, but then the chef asks for a two week vacation. How can you run a restaurant with no chef? Well...You can't. Business dies down. It turns out that the woman who sold Jin her business is a scam artist and opens a new restaurant right across the street, stealing her customers. And guess where the chef is! Not on vacation. I'm so mad. There's always one evil woman in these shows (it's usually the rich boyfriend's mother/aunt/grandmother) and it looks like she's it. Jin's restaurant was already doing poorly, this is really going to be the end for her now.
At school, Yeong Jae is being bullied. I really hate kids. Gil Yong notices he's sick. Yeong Jae tries to leave the classroom, but some brat refuses to let him out and he throws up. Gil Yong tells him to leave, that he'll clean up, and Yoon Mi runs over to help him. Afterwards, Gil Yong follows him to the bathroom and gives him a change of clothes. They go to Yeong Jae's home, where his mother is suffering from a terrible cough, reminding Gil Yong of his own mother (I'm 99% positive she passed away).
Later, after receiving an urgent voicemail from Yeong Jae, Gil Yong goes to meet him at the junkyard. It's a trap. His bullies forced him to call and lure Gil Yong there. This is hard to watch. Any time someone is being tortured (and this kid really is), it's sickening. I hope these little monsters get what's coming to them. Soon. Yeong Jae is forced to fight Gil Yong, and he punches him in the face. The cops come and break up the fight. Back at the police station, the bullies lie and say those two were going to fight and they tried to stop them, and for Yeong Jae's sake, Gil Yong goes along with this, lying and saying he instigated it. The officer in charge makes a snide remark about how it's "always like this" when people come from "that family environment." Jin (who is there after causing a disturbance at the competing restaurant) overhears this and says it's discrimination. She calls the cops out and says you can tell that Gil Yong and Yeong Jae were the victims and the others were the perpetrators. The two boys are free to leave, thanks to Jin.
After posting a "for rent" sign at her restaurant, Jin is met by Hee Ra, who says she'll take over the business and in return, grant Jin a wish. Jin asks her to leave and touches her shoulder, which does...Something. Is she transported somewhere? Seeing another dimension? Is it a vision? Either way, they're no longer in the diner, they're in front of a mansion. Hee Ra tells Jin, "There are things that you can't see, but still exist in this world." She says what Jin is seeing isn't reality, but information. If you eat her food, your wish will come true. She tells Jin to make a wish and if it comes true, leave the restaurant to her. Jin's wish is revenge on the woman who scammed her. Honestly, I think Jin's getting off easy. Sure, she'll be responsible for whatever happens to her competitor (and her customers if Hee Ra takes over), but at least she won't lose her sight like the man at the beginning of this episode. After eating the meal Hee Ra prepared for her, rats begin to invade the restaurant across the street, giving her competitor a heart attack. Once the wish is carried out, Hee Ra's face is shown transforming from wrinkled to beautiful. Do these wishes help keep her young?
This was a decent first episode. It set us up for whatever's about to come next. As much as I don't want anyone to have someone else's misfortune on their conscience, I kind of hope Gil Yong will eat there next and get even with those brats from his school. Also, as a side note, "restaurant" is a word I can never remember the spelling of, but after typing it 500 times for this post, I don't think I'll ever forget it again.
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