"My Mister" -- A dark ode to life's struggles
"My Mister" is a warm and melancholic story that centers around Dong-hoon Park, a structural engineer at Saman E&C, and Lee Ji-an, a temp worker Dong-hoon hires. What follows is a mix of vicious office politics and extended looks at the challenging life circumstances of its large cast. Most of the cast is well fleshed out, even minor characters that are not readily implicated in the corporate drama involving Dong-hoon that serves as the drama's anchor.
Where this show thrives the most is in its atmosphere. Unlike many modern K-dramas, this is a more somber affair. Many of my favorite moments in the series are ones in which the cameraman decides to let the audience sit with these characters as they process their emotions. This stillness is expressive of the ways in which they reckon with their difficult circumstances. While these characters all face their own challenges, the writers are careful to include moments of warmth throughout through moments of kindness and joyous gatherings among friends. The show is dark, but it's not depressing.
With that said, I do have some gripes about the series. I have mixed feelings about the editing, which I think can be too busy for its own good. This was most problematic in dialogue scenes, in which there are several cuts placed in rapid succession and split screens are employed with little discernible purpose.
Perhaps my biggest complaints, however, are related to the writing. My first writing complaint likely has more to do with the structure the writers were asked to work within, but I found the episodes to be much too long. Each episode is between 70 to 90 minutes in runtime, which felt like a lot for the kind of story presented here. If the writing remained focused on the central dynamic, that of the office politics that implicate Dong-hoon and Ji-an, I might have appreciated it more. The series might've ended much earlier as well.
As is, I feel that the show includes too many subplots that don't strengthen the show and add bloat to the runtime. The subplot I enjoyed the least involved Dong-hoon's brother Gi-hoon as he reconnects with the actress the brother blames for ruining his film career. As the series reached its end and I was looking forward to the resolution of the Saman E&C office politics, a lot of the Gi-hoon scenes felt like a distractions from what I was really invested in. While that storyline comes to a satisfying conclusion in the final episode, the road there feels arduous. I tended to prefer the subplots that had a more direct impact on the office politics. While the loanshark, Jang Ki-young, who harasses Ji-an is sometimes too comically evil for my taste, the way he becomes entwined with the corporate politics toward the end of the series redeems that arc a little bit. Even then, I wished for better character development for him outside of his tragic backstory.
Even though I have a few gripes, I still am grateful for this show's unusual take on melodrama. It feels grounded even as the seemingly absurd happens (Ji-an listening to Dong-hoon through a wiretap at seemingly all times) and it finds moments of genuine pathos in all its storylines regardless of how much I feel they contribute to the show.
I started this show on March 27, 2024 and I completed it on June 30, 2025.
Top 3 Episodes:
1. Ji. An. (Episode 16)
2. The Envelope (Episode 9)
3. Out of All, Why? (Episode 11)
Favorite Characters:
1. Park Dong-hoon
2. Lee Ji-an
3. Director Park Dong-woon
4. Jeong-hee
5. Director Yoon Sang Tae (His mugging at literally every major revelation he's allowed to witness is deeply funny to me. He was always going to be a favorite.)
Where this show thrives the most is in its atmosphere. Unlike many modern K-dramas, this is a more somber affair. Many of my favorite moments in the series are ones in which the cameraman decides to let the audience sit with these characters as they process their emotions. This stillness is expressive of the ways in which they reckon with their difficult circumstances. While these characters all face their own challenges, the writers are careful to include moments of warmth throughout through moments of kindness and joyous gatherings among friends. The show is dark, but it's not depressing.
With that said, I do have some gripes about the series. I have mixed feelings about the editing, which I think can be too busy for its own good. This was most problematic in dialogue scenes, in which there are several cuts placed in rapid succession and split screens are employed with little discernible purpose.
Perhaps my biggest complaints, however, are related to the writing. My first writing complaint likely has more to do with the structure the writers were asked to work within, but I found the episodes to be much too long. Each episode is between 70 to 90 minutes in runtime, which felt like a lot for the kind of story presented here. If the writing remained focused on the central dynamic, that of the office politics that implicate Dong-hoon and Ji-an, I might have appreciated it more. The series might've ended much earlier as well.
As is, I feel that the show includes too many subplots that don't strengthen the show and add bloat to the runtime. The subplot I enjoyed the least involved Dong-hoon's brother Gi-hoon as he reconnects with the actress the brother blames for ruining his film career. As the series reached its end and I was looking forward to the resolution of the Saman E&C office politics, a lot of the Gi-hoon scenes felt like a distractions from what I was really invested in. While that storyline comes to a satisfying conclusion in the final episode, the road there feels arduous. I tended to prefer the subplots that had a more direct impact on the office politics. While the loanshark, Jang Ki-young, who harasses Ji-an is sometimes too comically evil for my taste, the way he becomes entwined with the corporate politics toward the end of the series redeems that arc a little bit. Even then, I wished for better character development for him outside of his tragic backstory.
Even though I have a few gripes, I still am grateful for this show's unusual take on melodrama. It feels grounded even as the seemingly absurd happens (Ji-an listening to Dong-hoon through a wiretap at seemingly all times) and it finds moments of genuine pathos in all its storylines regardless of how much I feel they contribute to the show.
I started this show on March 27, 2024 and I completed it on June 30, 2025.
Top 3 Episodes:
1. Ji. An. (Episode 16)
2. The Envelope (Episode 9)
3. Out of All, Why? (Episode 11)
Favorite Characters:
1. Park Dong-hoon
2. Lee Ji-an
3. Director Park Dong-woon
4. Jeong-hee
5. Director Yoon Sang Tae (His mugging at literally every major revelation he's allowed to witness is deeply funny to me. He was always going to be a favorite.)
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