Reel Tastes & Travels – a light dose of entertainment to wake you up

Recently, I’ve been dipping my toe into the vast pool of K-dramas. A bit late to the party I know, considering how popular they’ve become, especially during the pandemic. But with 2 young kids at home and limited free time, my TV watching has been skewed towards storylines with a finite end (which means a definite no to shows like Grey’s Anatomy which seem to have a never-ending well of stories to tell) and which can be consumed in easily digestible bites spread out over a longer period of time (i.e. whenever I can find a half hour to spare when neither the kids, home, any work nor sleep is calling, which at times can feel a rarity in itself!). And while a lot of K-dramas ticked the first box, the typical 1 hour (at times 1 hour plus) run time per episode scared me off for quite a while. Now with a little more time on my hands, I decided to take the plunge.

Having watched 2-3 Korean shows now, ‘What’s wrong with Secretary Kim’ has been popping up for a while on my Netflix recommendations and I decided to try it out. Full disclosure – I am neither Korean nor do I speak Korean, so if there are some cultural or language nuances that I miss out on, don’t judge me too harshly and do let me know for the future.

The show’s synopsis talks about an egotistical executive who must deal with the devastating news that his personal assistant is quitting. And the first episode spends most of the runtime setting that up with a few intriguing nuggets sprinkled through that (hopefully) lay the seeds for future storylines.

What the episode does well

We also meet Secretary Kim (Mi-so), an uber-efficient epitome of a personal assistant who calmly and cheerfully ensures her boss’ life proceeds with nary a wrinkle or bump to slow him down. Just under 15 minutes in, she gives notice resulting in a personal crisis for the Vice Chairman, who spends the rest of the episode alternating between stewing at her audacity to leave and coming up with increasingly bigger incentives to get her to stay.

• Development of Secretary Kim: When the episode started, I was a bit hesitant that Mi-so would be a bit of a doormat for Young-joon, quietly jumping to fulfil his every ask. And while her life has very much had to revolve around her boss’ whims for the 9 years that she has worked for him, it is also clear that he places a great deal of trust in her. She puts up with his self-praise but is unafraid to stand up to him about her own feelings and decisions. This makes her big speech at the episode’s conclusion about the effect that the job has had on her life and why she wants to feel like a carefully thought-out decision rather than simply an explosion of frustration at a demanding boss.  
• Portraying Young-joon’s self-absorption: I’m a bit divided on this since I did find some of the scenes a bit too much – for instance when he just stands and basks in his aura, or when he gazes lovingly at his reflection in the middle of a party. But the episode also did a good job of showing how his blinkered world-view and idealized self-image has distorted his thought process till the only logical explanation (to him) for his secretary quitting was that she must be overcome with love for him. In his mind, he is perfect – hence, working for him and having her life revolve around his needs is a dream job that no one would want to give up.

Top 3 moments of Episode 1:

1. Mi-so’s speech at the end to her boss
2. The way she first calms the distraught executive at the beginning, gets him out of the building, and then fires him. Cold as ice! And also a sign of how much the Vice Chairman relies on her.
3. The bank scene where she’s paying off a loan and initially writes her name as Secretary Kim. Just a throwaway scene but it does a great job of showing how much of her identity and time is wrapped up in her job. Where does Secretary Kim end and Mi-so begin? The lines have become increasingly blurred, all the more reason for her to quit now that her debts have been paid and her family is in a stable situation.

Overall first impressions

What I look for in a romcom is something light and feel-good, with lots of swoon-worthy moments between the leads. Some angst is ok, provided it doesn’t get drawn out too long and there’s a happy ending finally. The first episode ticks a couple of buckets – it is breezy and I didn’t feel that the episode dragged despite not too much happening to move the story forward beyond the key resignation. It’s too early for big romantic moments, but I liked the chemistry between the leads so I hold out hope of seeing some of those later in the series when the interactions will feel more earned.

However, some of the supporting characters feel a bit too caricaturized at the moment – the clingy girlfriend, Young-joon’s dramatic parents who are focused on how soon they can get grandkids, and  his best friend who seems to be the comic relief rather than playing any meaningful role in the story. Hopefully, we will see some of them develop into more rounded characters as the series progresses.

Final verdict – the series does seem a bit on the cheesy side, but I enjoyed the first episode enough to keep watching and see if they are able to strike a balance between the more over-the-top elements of the show and the central relationship.