A bit of a disappointment
This show, which was highly rated by some of my favorite MDL reviewers, didn’t live up to expectations. While it did evade some of the worst K-drama tropes—like a breakup only to makeup in the final act, or overbearing in-laws for whom social status is much more important than love when it comes to marriage—the story offered nothing to replace them with. The one bit of suspense was confusing and far-fetched (memory transference?!!), and the inevitable romance plodded along, albeit pleasantly, to the end.After having seen Park Seo Joon in the lead role now in two K-dramas (Itaewon Class and this one) I have to say I’m not a fan. I find it very hard to connect with his characters. His Lee Yeong Joon is such a colossal jerk through the first 4 episodes that I found the very idea of the angelic Secretary Kim (played by Park Min Young) falling for him exasperating considering what he’d put her through for the previous 9 years. And even though Yeong Joon mellowed out in the second half, I never really recovered. His narcissism was at times self-mocking and played to comedic effect, while at other times—like when we heard his internal monologue—he appeared to be disturbingly self-absorbed. In either case, the cringeworthy “aura” humor wore thin rather quickly. I also found his transformation from complete jerk to compassionate, considerate boyfriend beyond belief.
The angelic Park Min Young played Secretary Kim (Kim Mi So) and did a good job with what she had to work with. She was absolutely lovely, but all she was asked to do was be pretty and sweet and flash her startled doe-eyed look a few times per episode. The real stars of this show were in the supporting cast. Kang Ki Young had all the best lines and absolutely nailed the part of Yeong Joon’s only friend, President Park You Shik. He was hilarious, and his interactions with and his secretary Ma Eum (Kim Ye Won) were highlights of the show. Other characters shined too, like Bong So Ra (Hwang Bo Ra) and her wacky relationship with Secretary Yang (Kang Hong Suk), and Kim Ji Ah (Pyo Ye Jin) and office heartthrob with a secret, Go Gwi Nam (Hwang Chang Sung).
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I actually loved this drama a lot, and also suggested it to many friends!
I just thought the whole thing was soo funny! - It's quite your average storyline drama, but just the way everything was executed was soo good! - and I was hooked, also made me laugh a lot!
I really like the actor Park Min-Young, and like all her outfits she wore as a secretary was soo nice!
I think the chemistry between the two actors were really good! Between Park Min-Young & Park Seo-Joon!
- I actually also found the other two side stories with Hwang Bo Ra and Kang Hong-Seok really funny, I love how some dramas don't always focus on the main characters, but have like mini side stories, that are random, yet still keeping to the story but like still keeps you watching!
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see, the thing is, that this drama was okay. fine. better than fine, even. it was almost great. but it wasn't enough, not because of the acting or anything, or how the romance was set: it was more or less the fact that i dont particularly like the overwhelming and whole romance going on. the entire genre was romance, with no action or anything on the side. it was full of romantic cliches and schmuck like that, and im not very fond of that game. at first, before i began watching, the drama was so appealing my heart wanted to explode as the set time i had scheduled to watch came nearer. at first, i absolutely loved the drama, though as it progressively reached the end, i began to lose slight interest in it and was slightly relieved when it ended. aside from the overwhelming romance, i thought i had the mystery of their intertwined pasts to stay for, but that ended quickly and i was soon left with nothing but the over-fluffy and cutesiness of the couple after they got together. but the road to romance was hilarious and entertaining until the cliches bore me, so it wasn't an entire waste of time. there wasn't much of a problem with the drama; only the dramatized cliche gestures bothered me was all. certain ones, like the fc-tripping-and-mc-catching-her-and-being-suspended-in-time-because-their-eyes-are-meeting cliches. Was this review helpful to you?
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A solid workplace romance
8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2018 South Korean Drama spanning 16 episodes (~60 minutes/episode). The female lead is played by Park Min-young. Kim Mi-so (Park Min-young) has been secretary to Lee Young-joon (Park Seo-joon) for 9 years and feels like it has consumed her life. Vice Chairman, as Secretary Kim mostly calls him is narcissistic, handsome and very capable but also very difficult to work with. Overly the 9 years they both have developed feelings for each other though neither fully realizes it. When Secretary Kim announces she is going to resign, it is a wake up call for both. There is also a mystery surrounding the childhood of both.Spoiler ? I really liked this one. The plot was relatively simple although there were the love triangles, friend groups and side romances. There was also a bit of mystery and flashbacks to childhood. The child characters were adorable and amazing at acting for children so young. It was cute to watch the romance develop. Secretary Kim would annoy me sometimes because she could be very insensitive to Vice Chairman's feelings. She was also more “chaste” than is even usual in this culture and I would feel frustrated for him. But it was really good. They looked perfect together and the male lead character evolved quickly to be super sweet.
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Chemistry between Leads made it work
The story is ordinary, nothing over the top. It's lead chemistry that made it so much popular.Loved Lee Young Jun house.
Lee Young Jun is arrogant, full of himself, narcissistic, egotistical, loves to praise himself, but he has a character development throughout the drama. There is a reason why he is like this. But he is considering a person who thinks about others, who will suffer alone but won’t let others.
Kim Mi So is Lee Young Jun's secretary who does all the work for him, from selecting his dress to his daily schedule. She is hardworking, workaholic, sharp witted, quick at work, has solutions to everything. In short, she is an all-rounder.
I laughed at Lee Young Jun expression when Kim Mi So & Go Gwi Nam were running together & everyone telling them to date & him being so jealous.
It was funny when Lee Young Jun got scared to see Kim Mi So in flash face in dark.
Loved Lee Young Jun & Kim Mi So silly arguments.
It’s sweet how Lee Young Jun sends Kim Mi So away whenever his brother comes to visit him. He is scared that his brother will take her away from him.
I laughed so much when Lee Young Jun pushed Kim Mi So chair when they were going to kiss, later on, her reaction & his scared look.
Lee Young Jun always noticed Kim Mi So & liked her. There’s a reason why he hired her. He never forgot their promise.
Loved Lee Young Jun & Kim Mi So awkwardness at the beginning of their relationship. They weren’t able to get out of their boss & secretary phase.
Laughed so hard when Kim Mi So sisters were bad-mouthing Lee Young Jun & him listening to everything with those expressions.
I appreciated it that Kim Mi So asked Lee Young Jun if it was okay for her to go & sort everything out with her brother.
Lee Young Jun helped Kim Mi So in every way without her knowledge.
Kim Mi So expression when Kim Ji Ah was bad-mouthing Lee Young Jun. I thought Kim Ji Ah character would go after Lee Young Jun. She will be creating misunderstandings between them & all, but thank god she is a positive character.
I laughed so much when Park was explaining to his ex-wife about the situation & both Lee Young Jun & Kim Mi So expressions.
Everyone’s reaction when they saw Lee Young Jun & Kim Mi So hugging each other.
It's sweet how Lee Young Jun had a nervous breakdown on his wedding day.
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All sorts of spoilers and a dark secret!
The core and motor of the series is certainly the horrific experience of the ML, potentiated by the despicable brother and the irresponsible, evil mother. The associated psychological deformation of the ML then continues to determine the plot. The FL also has a difficult fate with the family she has to feed.I can't understand the brother's sparing after this terrible deed is solved. Perhaps it is due to the authors' need for harmony. I would have wished him a few dozen strokes of the cane and eternal banishment, together with the evil mother who multiplied the misery of the poor boy Joung Yoon. Up to the forced renunciation of his own identity!
Overall, though, a successful construction of a dark mystery.
Other than that, I mainly found the series very entertaining and funny, especially the office mates and their entanglements. All very amusing, as is the love story of Mi So and Young Joon.
Ms. Park Min Young is pretty and sexy, Park Seo Joon is good looking, all nice!
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I was a little unsure if the humor was up my alley at first, but in the end I really found myself cracking up over all the sometimes subtle, often not, sound-effects and edits.
I have nothing bad to say about any of the actors. Yes - one of the co-workers was annoying (to me), but I know this was how her character was supposed to be and in acting, the actress did amazing. The male lead and female lead were both, in my view, perfect in the way they portrayed their characters.
The timeline in which this story takes place isn't long, so the fact that there weren't HUGE character developments wasn't a big deal to me. Because there were plenty of small ones, there where the couple was finding their way around one another. And it was adorable and amusing.
And I am glad that every other storyline was given a form of closure in some way! There are people saying the last episodes were getting draggy/boring. Yes, it was less exciting in a way, but not so much that they weren't enjoyable. I've seen drama's lose all sense of plot but at least here the plot allowed for side stories to wrap up too. I rather see that than a lousy end, honestly.
The OST was, although nothing that stuck with me, very enjoyable for setting the moods and I really liked it.
Oh! And I absolutely loved the cinematics and colors. It was a non-stop pleasure just watching how things had been recorded.
The only thing that I would critisize is what I noticed only /after/ reading other people's comments. The bromance between the male lead and his best friend. It was a lot of one-way and people complained about a missed chance for bromance. To me, the fact they are friends despite the cold demeanor the male lead tends to show, tells me how close their friendship has had to be. And.. honestly - I just didn't take things too seriously. Why overanalyze when it's clear that their complete oppositeness was the humor they intended to bring. I just wish I would have seen a bit more about how they became so befriended. But it's not that big of a deal I guess.
All in all - this drama was very enjoyable. Park Seo Joon's and Park Min Young's acting was superb and I enjoyed them together a lot. It's a perfect drama for some romance and humor, with a bit of mystery when it comes to the past. No evil family-in-law or big-ass drama to try spark things up. Just some basics.
A drama to watch when you want fluff and cute without things being too serious. Nice and light-hearted.
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What's Wrong With Vice Chairman Lee?
The series has a strong start. We have two beautiful, talented leads with one of the best chemistries I've ever seen! It's so well cast. It is the quintessential romcom!Each supporting cast member is well-drawn. They each have their own distinct personalities and story lines. Shout out to to Mr Yang & Ms Bong for being so cute & hilarious. Now, what sets this apart from your usual romcom, is that instead of seeing two strangers get together, we have a couple that have known each other for 9 years, so we experience their realisation of their love. This wouldn't work in a western society as other partners & kids would be involved and then this would interfere with the pure love storyline. The beginning strongly reminds me of 40's screwball comedies, what with the jazz instrumentals, snappy dialogue & impeccable dress sense. However, after the secret has been revealed & they do the deed, the story looses steam. There is a reversal of gender roles at the end, where Park Seo-joon is counting down the days towards the wedding..like seriously, he looses his masculinity and Park Min-young just wants to work..more that him...and she's he's secretary. Also, who knew that all you need to do to get married was have a long, passionate kiss in front of an audience of your friends & family!
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Even excess cheese can sometimes be good.
This is a romcom that wants to take itself seriously and there are moments when it succeeds in doing that and moments when it seriously doesn’t. I suppose I’m just a bit too old and a bit too relationship-wise to hack this type of cinderella-who-pretends-to-be-in-need-of-protection-meets-prince-charming-primed-to-give-it drama. And I must admit to being a tad confused about how our prince humble-charming could also be such a prince narcissus and switch between the two with such apparent ease. I was waiting for a good reason for it, but in vain… However, to the drama’s credit, I got through all sixteen episodes of it. Mostly I don’t.So in its favour, it’s a good example of the genre. The performances are quality, the comedy isn’t too embarrassing, and the script (if you accept the premises in the first place) stands up to scrutiny. There’s a bucket-load of kissing and touchy-feely and enough chemistry between the leads to be convincing.
Things do get pretty unbearable in the cheesy nausea stakes, aided and abetted by an excruciating glut of long, lingering looking into eyes (bad choices in the editing suite). Then by Episodes 10 & 11 the product placement is off the wall and the false smiles and general niceness is at imminently-about-to-throw-up stage. The scripted sexual interactions are often painfully naive and delayed to the point of ridiculousness, but that’s par for the course in k-drama romances. In fact, at times the relationship dynamics (and I’m not talking about the sexual ones) were pretty off between the lead roles and there were a few occasions where I was just screaming at the screen, “Back off! Get off her case, mate. That’s way over the line you’re stepping!”
The core plot is pretty much over by Episode 12, so the last 4 episodes meander along fossicking around with emotional trajectories and sort of trying to tie up loose ends in a long-winded but amiable way. Unless you’re really into sugary fluff the last episode is a total bore.
However, despite the dodgy predilections of the writer for uncomfortable relationship dynamics, Park Seo Joon carried the role with aplomb and has to be congratulated for doing the best (most believable) totally wasted (Episode 15) that I’ve seen in any K-drama. That’s not something you learn by getting very pissed yourself, it’s something you know by hanging around sober whilst those around you descend into mumbling wrecks. He’s an actor, like Ji Chang Wook, who is capable of so much more than these romcom scripts demand. “Itaewon Class” was a step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned and I’m looking forward to “K Project”. I think Park Min Young also hides her light. She plays pretty much the same person in every drama, but occasionally, she can bring it with just a look. Which is more than can be said for Lee Tae Hwan, who was unconvincingly lightweight. However, the day was totally saved by Hwang Bo Ra (playing Bong Se Ra) whose luscious, mobile lips have a comedic life and excellence all of their own. She made me lol on numerous occasions and her time on screen was a total joy.
What my rating means: 7+ A watchable drama, but nothing exceptional. Good enough to qualify for the race, but finished with the pack. The sort of thing that promises more than it delivers.
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