This review contains spoilers!
What happens when a near-perfect secretary to narcissistic boss suddenly resigns after 9 years? The boss embarks on a journey to know why and you get ‘What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?’
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When you spend almost all day, every day with a person for 9 years they become a part of you like an arm that if detached would make life void but it’s presence isn’t something we celebrate or appreciate. This is what exactly happened with Lee Yong-joon.
The story is about Vice Chairman of a major corporation, a man of perfection, Lee Young-joon, and his highly capable secretary, Kim Mi-so. Secretary Kim informs that she wants to resign after 9 years. She wishes to leave without providing any reason which bothers the Vice Chairman. The journey of the drama is about Lee Young-joon understanding what’s wrong with Secretary Kim and why she wants to leave. In the process, he realises that his will to not let her go is actually is his love. A love, that he has held onto for years.
Talking about the characters, Lee Young-joon is so confident of himself even with dark past, it is almost admirable and borderline annoying. His repeated self praises actually make you believe he is truly great. This doesn’t mean he is completely oblivious to his surroundings. He is wary of things, you do see a sincere and serious side to him when he is with Mi-so or his family. I love how he has held onto his promise to Mi-so he made when they were just kids. And how he was always looking out for her by trying to keep her at his side. His cold outlook and seemingly mean ways combined with a soft heart. I love a drama where a woman brings positive changes to man and his character.
I love Kim Mi-so’s character. She is so resilient, dedicated but at the same time self righteous too. Even though she was the youngest, Mi-so worked relentlessly to ease her family’s financial situation. She doesn’t demand the larger things in life and love how she even turned her in-laws down for the same and was adamant on doing the wedding her way.
The rest of the office cast is a great addition too. They bring their own eccentricities.
What I like about the drama is that there are no villians, no guns pulled out to move the drama. Simple everyday office life is the backdrop. A problem I encounter with almost every office romance drama is it’s stark contrast to reality. The guy is usually the heir or CEO, and falls in love with one of his employee, it’s all romance and play, no work. In reality, office romance is very hard to maintain amid the deadlines and piles of paperwork. With this drama, however, you could see people even the chairman succumbing to the work pressure at some point and relationships taking a back seat for very brief. The drama also had some scenes which are considered bold for Kdrama world bringing a new air.
The series went in a breeze format. I began liking the drama within the first episode itself which doesn’t happen very often so points for that. His past was the only serious angle to the drama and probably the only thing making it stand apart from other office romance.
There were some fun elements to the drama such as ‘Young-joon’s Aura’, his narcissistic behaviour and how Mi-so complimented it. When Mi-so accidently chokes people because of her habit of fixing neck ties. I absolutely loved Kang Ki Young’s character, it was my favourite in the drama. I wished he had more screen time.
There are a few things I learned from this drama that were good takeaways. A new way to eat rameyeon; the cute, simple but thoughtful bottle proposal.
There are some things I did not like about the drama. Kim Mi-so’s family setting felt a bit off considering how she turned up and how different she is from rest of the members. (But again, who are we to judge?) I do like the hint of body positivity provided through her family and how they aren’t afraid of being themselves. The characters in general had a typicality which made them a bit predictable. Although there was chemistry, I could always feel that boss-secretary relation just idly being there. It wasn’t very ‘oh, now we are a couple’ kinda thing although they did try. There was always this restriction I felt from both ends. It felt like they were both holding back even when all was good.
Was it a good comedy drama? Yes, definitely! I laughed a lot. Was it ‘the best drama’ I ever watched? No. I felt the story line wasn’t very different from what is offered in market in name of office romance. But yes in terms of characters coming together to create comedy it was good. I felt it was a bit overhyped with the ratings. There are better dramas I have watched in terms of plotlines. However, I still enjoyed watching it.
The Drama Bone 