Roh Yoon-seo rates Kang You-seok's brick cooking setup 'C+'

Actress Roh Yoon-seo has created a new comedic highlight for 'Unnie's Direct from the Farm 3' with her exceptional aesthetic sense and witty repartee, befitting a Western Painting major from Ewha Womans University. While she was praised as a 'fishing prodigy' for her extraordinary manual dexterity during the grueling corbicula harvesting, upon returning home, she suddenly transformed into an art critic over a brick cooking setup made by Kang You-seok.

In the episode of tvN's 'Unnie's Direct from the Farm 3' aired on the 10th, Yum Jung Ah, Kim Sun-young, Kang You-seok, and Roh Yoon-seo traveled to Hadong, Gyeongsangnam-do, to harvest corbicula from the Seomjin River. The four members, who newly joined for Season 3, are showing chemistry akin to a real family as they harvest and cook seasonal foods directly in nature.

The first task facing the four was harvesting corbicula from the Seomjin River. After changing into fishing gear, they traveled to the middle of the river by boat, enjoyed a unique 'floating meal' consisting of corbicula bibimbap served in rubber basins, and then began their full-scale labor.

The challenge was the 15kg basket. They had to endure the strong currents to scrape the bottom with a basket and then sort the clams, but Roh showed unexpected adaptability. By applying the method she learned directly from the captain, she finished a round faster than the others, earning praise from the captain who said, "The youngest is the best."

Yum Jung Ah found the reason in her art major. She praised Roh's strength as an Ewha Womans University art graduate, saying, "She's good with her hands because she went to art school." Indeed, Roh studied art at Sunhwa Arts High School and majored in Western Painting at the Department of Fine Arts at Ewha Womans University, having once dreamed of becoming an artist during her college years.

Upon hearing this, Roh laughed and quipped, "I'm glad I went to art school. Now I think the whole nation will know I went to art school." Since she also showed exceptionally fast hand movements in previous tasks like garlic harvesting and cleaning sea squirts, her art major is being repeatedly invoked in the program not just as a background detail, but as an unexpected life skill.

The achievements of the four members that day were also significant. Despite complaining of burnout, they continued the sorting process until the end, harvesting a total of 27kg of corbicula and generating 270,000 won in profit. Later, during the process of purchasing ingredients, they engaged in more daring spending than usual, buying items like apple mangoes and Grade 1 poultry eggs, providing the fun characteristic of 'Unnie's Direct from the Farm 3' where labor and consumption intersect.

However, the real 'art class' of the day occurred during the dinner preparation. Kang, who was in charge of the cooking equipment, built a structure by standing bricks vertically, unlike conventional methods. And the comment he threw at Roh was the catalyst for the incident.

"How does it look to an art major?"

Roh's evaluation was cold. "To an art major, it looks like a C+?"

While it seemed like a playful evaluation common in variety shows, the subsequent conversation flowed in a direction that strangely resembled an art school critique class. When Kang protested, "Do you even know art?", Roh instead calmly questioned the very reason for the work's existence.

She countered, "Art is subjective, but even looking at it subjectively or objectively, I don't understand the purpose of that," adding, "Please explain the artist's intention for standing the bricks up." It was the moment Kang effectively became an 'artist.'

Kang did not back down. He presented the logic that by standing the bricks, he was protecting the heat while simultaneously adding a design element. In response, Roh then even mimicked the specific discourse used by artists when explaining their work.

"When explaining an artist's intention, you know, you have to explain it like, 'I felt the lonely emotions of modern society and wanted to express diversity.'"

It was a joke precisely targeting the phenomenon in the art world where work descriptions are sometimes wrapped in excessively abstract and pedantic language. The moment a simple brick structure was linked to 'the loneliness and diversity of modern society,' Kang's practical cooking tool was suddenly promoted to a work of contemporary art.

When Kang responded, "Because if modern society were flat and the same, it wouldn't be fun," Roh threw another question back: "Why do you have the prejudice that being flat and the same is not fun?" Ultimately, Kang ended the debate by saying, "Just quit it," drawing laughter.

The reason their bickering is entertaining lies not in simple arguments, but in the clash of perspectives. While Kang viewed the bricks through the lens of function and efficiency, Roh immediately converted them into objects of aesthetic judgment. One saw a 'cooking tool,' while the other read a 'work of art.'

Roh's sense is not unrelated to her career as an actress. Having studied art, she was trained to observe subjects and analyze form, color, and composition. After entering the entertainment industry through modeling during her college years, she began her acting career in 2022 with tvN's 'Our Blues.' She has since expanded her filmography with works such as '20th Century Girl,' 'Doctor Slump,' and 'Hear Me.'

In particular, her background as an art student serves as a unique visual asset. While acting involves expressing emotions through language and movement, painting involves observing and reconstructing a subject within a frame. Though they seem different, both share the common thread of observing and interpreting a subject.

In 'Unnie's Direct from the Farm 3,' Roh does not leave her art major in the past but constantly applies it to her daily life on the show. From her manual dexterity during garlic harvesting to her sense of makeup before a family photo, the production team actively utilizes her background as a key part of her character.

The charm of 'Unnie's Direct from the Farm 3' lies in famous actors setting aside their professional authority to engage in manual labor in nature. Within this setting, Roh combines her position as the youngest member with her unique artistic background to create an unexpected and endearing character.

Ultimately, the 'C+' grade was less a literal critique of Kang's cooking setup and more a showcase of another side of Roh. As an actress who performs before a camera and a student of art who interprets the world visually, her background is being transformed into unexpected humor and keen observation within the relaxed atmosphere of variety television.

It is rare for an actor's major to connect so naturally to their variety show persona. For Roh, being an 'Ewha Womans University art graduate' is no longer just a line on her profile; it has become a unique weapon that shapes her character—from sorting clams and harvesting garlic to questioning the 'artist's intention' behind a single brick.