Wooju Bakery – Series Review & Episode Guide

Wooju is about to open his first bakery, and it's personal. Wooju Bakery is a tribute to his late father, who was a baker. Growing up, Wooju loved watching his dad make delicious pastries. Now, he finally gets to carry on that tradition. After his father passed away, Wooju was sent to live at an orphanage, where he met Woo Hyeok. The two grew up as close as brothers. Woo Hyeok is now a police officer, but he still looks out for Wooju.

One night, Wooju wakes up to the shock of his life. A UFO has crashed directly into his bakery. There's an actual spaceship outside his home! It has done serious damage to the entrance. Wooju is freaking out, especially when two mysterious men show up out of nowhere. One of them is Blablalis Romoromorian Ardi Raon. His companion is Hachi. They're from the planet Kauncilion and landed on Earth by accident. Raon communicates through a translation device, reassuring Wooju that "space travel insurance" will cover the damages within a year.

Wooju is upset. His bakery's grand opening is tomorrow. He's also confused and doesn't really believe the extraterrestrial nonsense. Wooju threatens to call the cops on the pair for wrecking his property. As things get heated, Hachi panics. The next thing you know, Wooju gets shot with a space raygun and faints. By the time the police arrive, the aliens are long gone. Wooju tries to report the incident, but it's clear the cops are skeptical of his extraordinary encounter.

Raon and Hachi come back the next day. They try to apologize and explain the situation better. Yes, they're aliens. And no, they can't return to their planet with a broken spaceship. Wooju isn't entirely convinced by the whole "we're aliens" story, but he's mostly just upset about his damaged bakery. To settle things without making a bigger scene, Raon and Hachi agree to work at the bakery. They'll pay off the damages through manual labour. And just like that, Wooju has two alien employees.

Raon and Hachi's presence on Earth brings many unexpected visitors to the bakery. First, there's Jirol, an alien stranded on Earth for 116 years with no way home. Jirol latches onto Raon because he's counting on the royal family to come rescue Raon and take him along for the ride. Then, there's Q, Raon's fiancée from an arranged marriage back on their home planet. Q is technically here to bring Raon back, but he seems way more interested in flirting with Officer Woo Hyeok.

Meanwhile, Raon and Hachi are a disaster as employees. They don't really understand human customs. They manage to upset Mina, a customer with a massive online following. Mina has such a terrible experience that she threatens to publicly bring down the whole bakery. Jirol stops Mina by kidnapping her. Q just pulls out a raygun and wipes her memory. Problem solved? Not quite. The police are starting to notice that this little bakery attracts a suspicious amount of drama. The longer Raon and Hachi stick around, the more trouble follows them at Wooju Bakery.

Wooju Bakery was not what I expected. I assumed it'd be a cozy little romance about running a bakery and making croissants. Instead, the series is actually a wacky sci-fi comedy about aliens? There are spaceships, galaxies, rayguns, and some guy who turns into a stuffed dog? WTF??? These ideas are totally out there! My first impression of Wooju Bakery is that it feels too damn weird. Even so, I wanna give them credit for taking a huge creative risk. At least this series is doing something different from the norm.

An alien stranded on Earth sounds like a fun premise, but Wooju Bakery handles it poorly. I can't get immersed in the plot. All I see are people running around in silly costumes and acting in exaggerated ways. They're surrounded by cheap props and phony special effects, which remind me of a school play. I still tried to give Wooju Bakery a chance. I endured those first few episodes, hoping it might improve over time… It never does. The storylines are nonsense. The characters are annoying. The dialogue is dumb. Even the jokes aren't funny. Instead, I'm cringing so hard from second-hand embarrassment.

Wooju Bakery is supposed to be a comedy. I say "supposed to be" because I wasn't laughing. Its idea of a joke is something like, "hehe, you're drinking alien pee!" There's just too much silliness. Too many ridiculous antics. The humour feels quite childish, almost like the showrunners think their audience is a bunch of kids. The constant goofiness also makes it impossible to care about the plot. It wants us to worry that the aliens are in danger. Uh oh, the bad guys are coming for them! But I can't take this story seriously because everything feels so dumb and absurd.

Raon's actor (Jeff) looks handsome! His performance is fine, but the role doesn't ask very much of him. His co-star (Barcode) struggles in a few scenes. At times, his reactions can come across as unnatural. As for their romance, it meets the bare minimum expectations. Wooju and Raon spend time together. They flirt a bit. There's even a quick kiss. It's not much, but at least it's something. With that said, the story wastes the couple's potential. An alien falling in love with a human is such a fascinating dynamic! Yet, this series never explores the relationship in much detail.

Wooju Bakery is a Thai-Korean collaboration. The characters speak a mix of Thai, Korean, and even English. The story tries to excuse the language barriers by pretending the aliens have cutting-edge translation technology. Yeah, it's as awkward as it sounds. For me, this isn't a deal breaker since I'm reading subtitles. However, would it make more sense to simply cast Korean actors in these roles? But then again, Jeff and Barcode are two Thai actors with devoted fan bases. Without the stunt casting, Wooju Bakery would probably receive a lot less attention from the BL fandom.

I tried, okay? I tried to follow the story and pay attention to the alien shenanigans. But oh my god, it's just SO DUMB. By halfway, I was already checked out. I had mentally left the building. I didn't care about whatever ridiculous nonsense was happening in the plot. I couldn't keep track of the pointless supporting cast. Those last few episodes, especially the finale, felt unwatchable. As awful as Wooju Bakery may be, it's not the worst BL drama ever. At least it has a fun premise and a few creative ideas. With that said, I'll never torture myself by watching this series again.