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What's Wrong with Secretary Kim korean drama review
Completed
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim
5 people found this review helpful
by Ambix
Jul 26, 2018
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.5
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
Before I start getting into the depths of my review, I want to address a common misconception I am picking up on when people are criticising this drama.

Any sort of drama, of course, requires some sort of 'drama' in order for anyone to continue watching, which indeed it had, with the confusing past between Mi So and Young Joon, along with the brother. However, that wasn't the main focus of this drama and what it was trying to show its audience. If you are looking for a drama which you can properly immerse yourself in and has a heavy plotline, this is not for you. What's Wrong With Secretary Kim i is a drama which is light and fluffy, something to look forward to on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, where you can sit back from a hard day of work and lose yourself in the romance between these characters - something I like to call 'vegging time' (which is necessary for all of us - don't pull a Go Gwi Nam and overwork yourself).

I can wholeheartedly say that this was exactly me. Since I usually juggle watching multiple dramas at once, I like to watch one airing drama, along with a series that has already been fully released. Since this drama is so light and easy to watch, I could delve into other dramas with, indeed, heavy plotlines, and whenever a break was necessary I could sit back and watch some Secretary Kim.

With wonderful side characters, which were NOT annoying AT ALL for once (thank you so much Secretary Kim team <3), I actually found myself enjoying this drama 24/7, and not having to skip any parts of an episode. We had three side romances going on, and I enjoyed every single couple immensely. Besides that annoying brother, which I began to forgive in the last episode, I can say that I enjoyed every single character and their involvement in the series.

But who am I deciding to pick out specifically as the one who made the series for me? Without a shadow of a doubt, I'd say my man Kang Ki Young playing Park Yoo Shik. Each of his scenes was a blessing to watch, in which I found myself crying with laughter thanks to his failed attempts to get back with his wife, his absolute EXPECTATION for his secretary to mess SOMETHING up every single day , his tolerance of Young Joon despite his narcissism and willingness to listen to his problems with Mi So, regardless of his own problems. Once he got back with his wife at the end, I found myself literally leaping with joy (and getting weird looks from my parents at the same time).

The only flaws of the series I came to pick up on, which explained the 9.5 is how the drama dealt with Young Joon's narcissism. Besides the fact that Young Joon did NOTHING the entire series to help my precious baby Park Yoo Shik with his wife problems (which really got me annoyed, especially considering I had waited for the entire series to see Young Joon return the favour and help him out for a change), was never really 'finished' to my taste. One of the main themes of this drama was the narcissism of Young Joon, one of the main reasons that Mi So had decided to quit her job, but instead of really battling with this aspect of him, it was put aside for the audience as well as Mi So to simply just accept. Now, I can understand the argument against this which first comes to mind, that it was about Mi So learning to love him in spite of his narcissism, but I think there was just so much more they could do with that quality of him, more comedy and indeed some more emotional chemistry between the main couple as Kim Mi So helps him overcome it.

But why am I so hung up over it? For me, the narcissism of Young Joon was actually due to the fact that he was incredibly insecure. With family issues left and right, having that sort of 'disconnect' from his colleagues and friends, it was obvious that he wasn't the kind of person to get love or befriend others, because he couldn't do the same with himself. Instead of Mi So helping him learn to love himself first, we were just thrown the choice to 'accept it or leave'. As a key theme (even being in the description of this drama), I feel quite disappointed that from the main theme at the beginning towards the middle, it became an underlying one at the end.

Then again, I suppose you can say that I am always quite stingy with rating dramas a 10 and look for any sort of flaws with a drama in order to not rate it a 10. Although it is important to notice that I believe that if a drama can make up for its flaws in other ways, it can one hundred per cent deserve a ten.

Thank you very much, What's Wrong With Secretary Kim Team, for a wonderful drama that enjoyed immensely, and thank you for taking the time to read my review.

~ Ambi x
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