And it’s a wrap! What a brilliant eight weeks of sheer fun in a workplace full of love lines and fuzzy romance! What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim was one of the best romances ever. The actors in the show made it even better but nevertheless, the script stands as a solid work of art all on its own. I have never felt more fulfilled and delighted waiting on any other show to give me more as weeks progress. Without further ado, this is What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?
Primarily a workplace drama, it focuses on the life of its CEO, Lee Young Joon (played by the dashing Park Seo Joon), who is a workaholic young man, who possesses great skills in leading his father’s company. He is a polyglot and a very intelligent person, working diligently day and night in and outside the company. Due to such perfectionism and excellence in all that he does, he is also somewhat of a proud and conceited man, who lauds himself on his every achievement and expects all of those who work for him to do the same. He calls himself ‘handsome’ and ‘intelligent’, even a ‘genius’ many a times and his workers all must agree to all of these compliments. He works his office workers to a devastating degree where they can fizzle out both emotionally and physically, but somehow they never leave. This is because he continues to carry out very small gestures to relieve them of all the inconveniences he causes them while making them work. His two distinct personalities often contradict each other and so CEO Lee remains a mystery to a great many people except for one person, his secretary, Secretary Kim Mi So.
Kim Mi So (played by Park Min Young) is a young woman who joined the company nine years ago, and rose in ranks to become CEO Lee’s secretary. Without any particular expertise or merit, she continues to wonder why and how she was permitted to be such a close confidante of the CEO. He works her to her very core, however, making her learn language upon language and forcing her to stay with him for 24 hours and work weekends as well. Mi So continues to do all of this for the sake of her family, since her mother has passed away, her father is in debt and she must get her eldest sister through her medical degree. Since this job pays her well, she persists despite all the inconveniences it causes her. However, in her ninth year, Mi So wants to quit this job because the debts have ended and her sister has finished college and she herself is absolutely exhausted. When she breaks it to CEO Lee that she wishes to quit, all hell breaks lose. He can’t seem to imagine his life without her, in the workplace or otherwise and so he wonders, ‘what’s wrong with Secretary Kim?’. The only thing wrong with her is that she wants to explore her life now, and maybe settle down and marry as well. She is also planning on looking for a certain oppa she knew in her childhood because there are vague memories of a past that she does not seem to recall properly. She knows she has forgotten certain parts of her childhood because of her fear of spiders which have her convinced that she was likely kidnapped as a child. And she recalls the oppa with reference to her love for caramel candies, which he gave her when she was sad.
With such clearly defined and strong characters, What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim? was quite a fun ride. The aspects of terror and childhood trauma were very well balanced with the comedy and romance. I looked forward to every episode and watching Park Seo Joon is always a treat. I believe it wouldn’t be wrong to call him a king of romance because he has never failed us. He always manages to have amazing chemistry with his leading ladies and most of his on-screen romances seem so genuine that he is often shipped with many of these actresses in real life. There was a lot of gratification of the audience as far as the romance went, however, it never fell short on showing emotional sensitivity and keeping the individuality of each character intact. It was quite a treat really and this drama has definitely been added to some of the best Korean romance dramas ever. Here’s to more spicy romances from Park Seo Joon.
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