What actually happens (quick, no fluff)
- The final cooking round is soups. Team Joseon uses a pressure cooker and wins with samgyetang. Team Ming loses by one point. Drama: immediate.
- Yu Kun tries to demand Ji-young as tribute. He flops after evidence shows he acted alone.
- Prince Jinmyeong gets sick after a planned lunch. Ji-young gets arrested for suspicion of poisoning.
- Heon pitches a full tantrum but is convinced to prove Ji-young’s innocence instead of going full-on murder mode.
- The investigation finds a clever method: an herb that interacts badly with ginseng. Not poison per se, but lethal in specific combos.
- Mok-ju’s people tamper, cover tracks, and things get very cold and personal. A court lady gets the Hairpin of Death for loyalty. Yikes.
- Ji-young saves Jinmyeong with a nourishing meal. Heon publicly tastes the food first — romantic stunt + power move.
- Ending: Heon accepts Ji-young’s time-slipping story, proposes she stay, and gives her a ring. Meanwhile, Prince Jesan plots to expose the grand dowager and spark a coup. So, happily ever after? Not yet.
Episode highlights (tiny scenes that slap)
1) The pressure cooker cameo.
Who knew a lid could be an MVP? Chun-saeng saves the cooking round by showing up with the one tool Joseon needed. Lesson: never underestimate small equipment.
2) Wen Li’s meltdown.
A fancy plated spread makes the guy lose his appetite. Ji-young dumps everything into one bowl and—boom—nostalgia hits. Food memory wins hearts and votes. Classic.
3) The “tribute woman” moment.
Yu Kun trying to take Ji-young as payment is peak villain energy. Then he gets dunked on by a letter proving he acted solo. Karma delivered with proper paperwork. Love it.
4) Poisoning with finesse.
Not a dagger, not a vial. Just a harmless herb that becomes dangerous with ginseng. That’s the sort of cunning I respect and also hate.
5) Heon tasting first.
Publicly tasting Ji-young’s food to show trust is both risky and peak romance. Also huge PR flex. He’s learning PR and PDA in one go.
What works
- Pacing. Fast when it needs to be. The cooking beats cut to palace scheming well.
- Tone. It balances silliness (a king swooning over soup) and darkness (murder weapons, political scheming).
- Food as plot device. Meals aren’t filler. They reveal character, history, and motive. Smart writing move.
- Emotional payoffs. Wen Li’s crying scene, Ji-young saving Jinmyeong, and the ring moment all hit.
What could be better
- Convenient rules. The competition rules shift midstream like a lazy plot convenience. It annoys.
- Heon’s blind trust. He still lets several suspicious things slide under his uncle’s watch. That felt soft for a king who can ruin people.
- Too many threads. The show juggles food, time-slip lore, romance, and politics. It mostly succeeds, but sometimes it’s a lot.
New insights (things I’m thinking about)
- Food = memory + identity. The scene where Wen Li remembers his grandmother through a messy bowl proves that comfort food is a time machine. The show uses this to humanize characters quickly.
- Poisoning that isn’t “poison.” Using interacting herbs is clever: it shows the villain is smart, not just cruel. This also raises stakes because it’s harder to detect and easier to frame.
- Public gestures matter. Heon tasting the food first is diplomacy disguised as romance. In a palace, an action like that changes gossip, loyalty, and power.
- Ji-young’s arc: agency vs escape. She keeps getting chances to leave. Each time, staying feels like a sacrifice but also a choice. That makes her more than a damsel — she’s pragmatic and strong.
- Coup setup is surgical. Prince Jesan planning to reveal a family scandal at the dowager’s birthday? That’s the trope of using emotion to trigger chaos. Expect big fallout.
My point of view (yeah, opinions incoming)
Okay, bluntly: I’m rooting hard for Ji-young. She’s clever, resilient, and actually cooks people back to life. Heon? He’s learning, which is fun. The show’s power moves make sense, mostly. The writing flirts with contrivance — particularly during the competition — but then redeems itself with emotional beats and smart reveals. The poisoning twist is one of the sharper plot devices in recent K-drama palace politics. Also, the mix of food and politics is a refreshing take. Just don’t expect everything to be explained neatly. That messy edge? I kinda like it.
Final thoughts (raw & real)
These two episodes are a wild mix of soup, scheming, and slow-burn romance. If you like K-dramas where a meal can save a life and paperwork can humble an emperor, this is your jam. It could tighten up the plot mechanics, but emotionally it lands.
Final verdict
Bon Appetit, Your Majesty — Episodes 9–10
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)
Reason: Strong emotional moments + smart twists, held back a bit by rule conveniences and a few lazy setups. Still, very watchable and satisfying.
