Recap Korean Drama "Link: Eat, Love, Die" Episode 1

Link: Eat Love Kill (링크: 먹고 사랑하라 죽이게) is a fantasy-drama series directed by No Sang-hoon and starring Yeo Jin-goo and Mun Ka-young in lead roles. The series consists of 16 episodes and will be taking over tvN’s Monday and Tuesday 10.30 PM KST slot, previously occupied by Military Prosecutor Doberman. The series will air from June 06, 2022, to July 26, 2022. Eat Love Kill episode 1 has a runtime of 71 minutes.

A very magical intro sequence later, Link: Eat Love Kill episode 1 starts with Eun Gye-hoon wondering how a refrigerator does more than just store food – it tells us about the owner and how they are. Some even store dead bodies!

Gye-hoon is a chef in an upscale restaurant and whips up delicious food. He takes care of his kitchen like his own, especially because it is his own – he’s the chef and, as such, the head of the kitchen. As he’s plating a dish, he all of a sudden starts crying after getting an intense feeling that he is unable to place. He passes out from the overwhelming feeling and his boss continues to question him days after the incident, especially because he’s been crying and laughing for no reason in the most inopportune moments after that incident.

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1

 

He tries to push the blame on telepathy and whatnot but gives up after he realizes that no one will understand. He remembers how when he was little, he had a similar connection to his sister, Gye-young. He would understand when his sister was feeling some sort of intense feeling. But that was 18 years ago… so does that mean Gye-young is still alive? As soon as that thought comes to his mind, though, he stops it. However, just like the last time, he starts feeling overwhelmed in the middle of the street and his heart starts racing.

He spots a woman in front of him, panting after running through the crowd. Could this be the person to whom he’s been connected? As she runs off after sharing a stare with him, the audience gets to see that it is indeed her with whom Gye-hoon’s heart has found itself tangled. No Da-hyun, meanwhile, is in quite the mess – her rent and utilities are unpaid, along with a hundred other things, plus her home is a mess. As she feels hopeless about her situation and bad for lying to her mother, Gye-hoon too has a feeling of hopelessness wash over him.

 

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1

Anyway, later on, at a gourmet food festival, both Gye-hoon and Da-hyun are working in the same area. While he’s cooking up great things, Da-hyun is cleaning after guests. After her boss admonishes her and tells her to be more determined and do her job well, her feeling of stuffiness and claustrophobia strikes Gye-hoon as well, who walks away from his live cooking show.

That night, in order to get away from the crowd, he goes to the rooftop to find Da-hyun there. After a very awkward few minutes, the two share his food and she mentions that she has never had fancy food like this – she has always served them. Feeling bad for her, Gye-hoon offers her his food and she shares how she feels pathetic and heartbroken for not being able to be with the famous people she served today. Either way, the interaction leaves her feeling happy, which in turn makes him feel happy and he wonders whether she’s the one.

Also Read: Our Blues Episode 18 Recap: Dong-seok Agrees To Fulfil His Mother’s Last Wish

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1

As she’s about to leave, he asks her where she used to live as a child, how old she is and whether they can play rock paper scissors once. Obviously, Da-hyun is creeped out and immediately leaves but receives a whole lot of gifts from Gye-hoon including a used scarf. When they bump into each other later, he tells her that the gifts are no big deal, just some food that she seemed to enjoy. After he finds the scarf in the bag, Gye-hoon is confused as to why it’s there and Da-hyun calls him a pervert for giving her something like that.

After Gye-hoon throws the scarf away, a mysterious hand picks it up. The next day, she wakes up to find a mysterious package on her doorstep which turns out to be a pair of shoes. After that, she keeps finding things in her mailbox, office desk and everywhere else containing many odd things. Da-hyun thinks that it’s Gye-hoon and a quick Google search draws out his odd behaviours from the past few weeks.

In the meantime, Gye-hoon ages up his sister’s old photo to find out how she’d look now. He later decides to do a cooking show at Jihwa-dong as he’s just on the cusp of getting thrown out of his job. Meanwhile, Ji Won-tak joins the Jihwa Patrol Unit.

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1

Jihwa-dong, it turns out, is a rundown place and Jin-hoo is not impressed. As the residents scream at Min-jo for ignoring them and not fixing the streetlamp, Gye-hoon realises that no one has changed in his old neighbourhood. In a flashback, we see Gye-hoon leaving his sister alone and going to play when after a while, he realizes that his sister is nowhere to be found. He tries to find her, but to no avail. As the search turns up empty that night, poor Gye-hoon feels his sister’s death making him cry incosolably.

Anyway, as luck would have it, Gye-hoon bumps into Da-hyun who immediately accuses him of being a pervert and stalking her. Although he tries to save face, no one really believes him and Jin-hoo is just left feeling amused and confused. Later, Gye-hoon proposes that they open their own restaurant there. Back in the city, Da-hyun is shocked to find out Jin-geun is the one who has been stalking and spreading rumours about her.

 

Jin-geun, it turns out, is totally delusional and he is having a whole relationship with her in his head. After he tries to assault her, she decides to come back home and live with her mother. When she comes face to face with Gye-hoon again, she apologises profusely for calling him a pervert but he isn’t interested to forgive her that easily. However, he does agree to help her when she falls over. As she holds his hand to walk, Jin-geun continues to stalk her and looks quite annoyed with the situation.

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1

 

That night, as Da-hyun walks home alone through desolate streets, she spots Jin-geun. As she runs home, he follows and catches her and throws her around the restaurant to try and force her to talk. After she wakes up from losing her consciousness, she sees him lying dead in a pool of blood. Meanwhile, Gye-hoon feels what she’s feeling and wonders what is going on. As she goes to the police station to tell them the truth, she gets cold feet and walks away.

When she goes to the restaurant, she finds her family sitting around the body. She tells them that it was self-defence and that she had gone to the police to turn herself in and wonders what should they do now. Her mother, in turn, tells her to pull herself together and do exactly what she says – she will handle it. Her mother and grandmother wrap up the body and put it inside the freezer and Da-hyun wonders how her family is so good at getting rid of a dead body… almost as if they have done this before.

As if the day couldn’t get any worse, the Gye-hoon and Jin-hoo take the dead body-containing freezer inside their restaurant, much to Da-hyun’s horror.

Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1 Review

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 1

 

I am sorry, I was of the opinion that this is going to be a cute, romantic show but it just took the wildest turn that I was not expecting. I mean, I knew there was a murder mystery somewhere but I didn’t think that Da-hyun was going to murder someone! Then, to be very honest, I highly doubt Da-hyun murdered the guy. Or, maybe it’s a special power that all of these women have that comes out when they lose consciousness. Either way, I am interested to know Jin-geun died since Da-hyun was clearly passed out at the time.

Regardless, Link: Eat Love Kill episode 1 creates an honestly great atmosphere for both a romance and a murder mystery. Although I felt like parts of it dragged a bit and the first episode could’ve been cut down to be more to-the-point and sharper. Either way, I enjoyed watching Yeo Jin-goo and Mun Ka-young together – they make for a great pair and share some great chemistry.

Of course, it’s just the first episode and you literally cannot make any sort of judgement at the moment, but I’d say that the show deals with some very interesting concepts and blends them together and thus if they can pull it off, it’s going to be a very interesting watch.