Singer-actor Park Ji-hoon’s latest drama is going viral for its never-before-seen blend of B-grade absurdist humor and high-quality CGI.
In episode 2 of the TVING original series The Legend of Kitchen Soldier (hereafter 'Kitchen Soldier'), released on the 12th, Kang Sung-jae (played by Park Ji-hoon) faced the biggest crisis of his life while delivering a fresh shock with his comedic acting.
During the broadcast, Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Baek Chun-ik (Jung Woong-in) suddenly collapsed while eating the carefully prepared sea urchin miyeok-guk (seaweed soup), plunging Kang into the greatest crisis of his military life. The tense situation continued as he was urgently taken away by the military police, but the twist came in the ER.
After regaining consciousness, Baek Chun-ik marveled, saying, "Would you believe me if I told you I met an angel and floated above the clouds?" The reason he collapsed wasn’t a cooking mistake or poison, but an allergic shock to perilla powder he didn’t even know he had. The lieutenant colonel instead praised Kang’s seaweed soup, comparing its taste to 'heaven.'
In Baek’s ensuing fantasy sequence, Kang, wrapped head-to-toe in seaweed, struck a pose reminiscent of Michelangelo’s masterpiece 'The Creation of Adam.' With a rapturous expression, Baek shouted, "A fantastic harmony of seaweed and sea urchin!" The audacious CGI contrasted with Park Ji-hoon’s dead-serious expression, delivering laugh-out-loud fun for viewers.
Right after the episode aired, netizens reacted explosively: "Isn’t this pushing it too far?", "It’s been ages since we saw a drama this blatantly absurd", "Park Ji-hoon’s face with the seaweed CG is infuriating yet hilarious", "It’s dumb, but the CGI quality is so good that it’s even funnier."
Meanwhile, 'Kitchen Soldier' drops every Monday and Tuesday at 8:50 p.m. on TVING and tvN.