What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018)

It's a generic kdrama, if you're looking for something that's different, it's not for you

I decided to pick up this drama because of the hype going around it and I briefly read the webtoon however I personally found it difficult to engage with.
Personally, I'm a viewer that enjoys dramas that stray away from the 'narcisstic guy fell for the kind female lead' because at some point I feel that it gets dragged on for too long (maybe that's just me though because I've seen a lot from that trope). I found it difficult to engage in after seeing a 'Business Proposal' because the romance aspect of the show was dragged on for too long and there wasn't any power-duo that kept me wanting to watch more.
For the viewers, if you're looking for a drama that's different from the generic kinds of romance plots or has seen a LOT of romance kdramas, I wouldn't recommend this drama for you.
However if you're a newbie in the kdrama world, this drama is a good one to get you going.

Happy Binging!!

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A story of trauma, healing, and the journey between

I've seen a lot of bad reviews saying this series is lacking on story since there was no diabolical other woman/man, death threats, evil Mother in law, etc. but honestly it was refreshing to see the main characters growing and healing together.

From first impressions Young Joon seems to be cold and pompous but you see as the story goes why he became that way. He felt as a kid that he had to hide his trauma from not only a kidnapping but the preceding bullying that was inflicted by his brother that caused him to be kidnapped. It was implied that he was ostracized for being intellectually gifted, so instead of letting others mock him for it, he shrouds himself in a protective façade of being overly pompous. When he starts to relax around Mi So, he becomes more open and protective of her but then when he becomes nervous he will slip back behind the self protective wall of being overly pretentious. I really loved seeing him grow as a partner to her, going from "wont it be great to marry me, an amazing intelligent handsome man" to "I want to marry you, the most amazing beautiful intelligent woman, can I have that honor?"

Also seeing how the brothers guilt over what he did and how it caused him to repress the real memories and how it caused so much animosity between them. Them learning to forgive each other and regain their brotherly love was so nice to see.

Also the side couples, are the cutest. I love the awkwardness and sweet love between them.

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It’s the 21st century, let’s write better male leads

At the beginning, this drama left you questioning what was real and what was not, and kept you engaged in the story. After we find the real story of what happened in the childhood though.. the drama takes a sharp turn, the CEO was finally turning into the courageous, righteous person he was when he was younger.. until he wasn’t, and they bring back the arrogant, narcissistic speeches which become less and less funnier as the story progresses.

However, the most devastating part about the ending scenes are the female lead apologizing for things she absolutely shouldn’t be apologizing for.. first for not being sure about wanting to sleep with him, and then for taking him to the same place as the man she went on a date with ONCE.. It’s like the writers wanted us to hate this man after they wrote younger him as mature and caring, who made choices those older than him couldn’t even make (one point in case being his older brother), and giving us 1/3rd of a glimpse of what a proper male lead with that personality looked like for like a half of a second. What a shame.

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Funny drama, but loses any driving force towards the end

This had a strong start for me. I loved the characters and how funny it was at times. The plot was pretty simple and straightforward; it definitely had elements that pulled my interest and kept me watching, but around episode 12 after pretty much everything had been solved I got SO BORED. Not even my love for Seo Joon could stop my from skipping massive parts of the last few episodes, and based on what I saw during my skipping, I wasn't missing much. There's basically no plot after episode 12. Barely any conflict, which means there's nothing driving the story anymore. Anyway, a good time for a little while, but I'll likely forget about this one quickly.

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Like a romance sampler - a little bit of every type of romance all in the one drama.

Just a simple romance show. Nothing special about it, but you can lose yourself in it for a few hours.

Another user mentioned that an "enjoyment" rating would be a good addition to this site. I agree. This show wasn't really good, but I enjoyed it and don't exactly regret spending 16hrs of my life on it. (Although the music became really repetitive and grating.)

The show is all over the place. Manipulation, mental health issues, trauma and phobias, hot-and-cold lovers, poor-meets-rich, first loves, exes that aren't over each other yet, secret pasts, workaholics, poor life choices... the writers sort of just grabbed a bit of everything they had in their cupboard and threw it in a pot. But every individual element was done pretty well. I especially liked the realistic portrayels of phobias and traumatic flashbacks, and the on-going effects they have on a person.

However, I wish this wasn't is a romance. It would be a hilarious show, where the rich egomaniac keeps trying to win a girls heart in order to get her to take back her job, while she just continues on with her life and shuts him down each time - without falling for his persistent harassment.

Can someone make this show, but leave out the weak willed romance?

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Story
It is a light and heart-warming drama. It is a rom-com. There is almost no plot twist in this drama and you won't have any roaller coaster mood because this drama almost never has that "sad" and "heartbreaking" moments. If you love plot twist, this drama is certainly not for you. And as a drama goes on, we will see mostly romantic scene. The story isn't what the author focus on. Sometimes this becomes a huge problem, because it made the drama boring to watch

Acting/Cast
This drama is led by superstar actor and actress, whom they are Park Seo Joon and Park Min Young. They definetely did a great job of potraying their character. Their chemistry is certainly great, looking by the fact, there are rumors that they already "date". But, I would like to say, Park Min Young did some unnatural gestures. Park Seo Joon really did a great job I would say, but sometimes, I felt weird watching him as the character.

Music
The osts were good, I love one of them, but that's it. The music mainly didn't affect our (or mine?) emotion of watching the drama.

Rewatch value
I mostly rewatch the drama for its sweet moment, but not only for it. The story is a bit boring, so I might hesitate to rewatch it.

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I waited until I completed watching What's Wrong with Secretary Kim before giving my final thoughts in this review.
First and foremost I should mention that I overall enjoyed watching this drama and never once considered dropping it. The story itself is nothing new, but that's okay! I personally love a lot of the cliche genre's used in this drama including rich man "poor" woman, office romance, male lead falls in love first, arrogant male lead, and etc. The biggest reason from the story that really stopped me from considering this as one of "the greatest" rom-coms was how useless the character of the big brother (AKA the 2nd ML?) was, and I blame that entirely on the writing. He was for sure the most confusing nonsensical character period! Having said that though the saving grace of this entire drama for me was Mr. Yang and Ms. Bong's romance it was not only funny beyond words, but it was also incredibly cute to watch go down, this is one pairing I would not have minded getting more screen time.
The acting was incredible both Park Seo Joon and Park Min Young delivered in making me root for this final pairing. As well as all of the supporting cast, not a single actor comes to mind as the "weak link" everyone's performance truly made the cheesy lines (thanks again writers!) appealing and interesting to watch!
Music was always perfectly timed and the song "It's You" was perfect for romantic scenes.
Now as for the rewatch value personally a drama would have to completely blow me away for me to ever consider rewatching it, which this one didn't. I might look up specific clips that made me smile when I saw them, but no this drama is not one that I'd rewatch.

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Too boring to watch

I have no idea why this show has so many good reviews and a high rating. It is such a boring, plain and exhaustingly simple "helpless girl" x "strong dominant boy". Why not make a show where the CEO is a woman and the man is her assistant? I'm not complaining because it is "misogynistic" or "misandrist", but I am complaining because it's exhausting to watch... We are already used to seeing small, tiny and frail women and strong men everywhere. We watch TV to escape daily life and reality. It is your job to give us a fun escape like "Princess, you have 5 husbands" kind of funny. We want to see something like that. A secretary and her boss are male fantasy, which you can find on certain websites dedicated to male fantasy and other disgusting videos.

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In a quick summary, this drama is now my favorite rom-com of all time (topped i am not a robot, and weightlifting fairy). It's filled with clichés but it didn't make me love it any less. It had cringy moments, it had forced interactions between the characters (especially with the psycho brother), but it isn't even close to the fluff, the laughs, and the feel-good moments this show brought me.


Story 8/10
This is the weakest part of the drama. It started out really strong; it showed us a female lead who isn't a pushover and made lots of sacrifices by taking the burden of her family. It also showed us a seemingly rude looking boss, but it actually turned out to be a really naive, and cute boy inside (albeit narcissistic). Their relationship was super natural and the development to romance was perfect; burning chemistry. The issue for me started when they expounded more and more of the flashbacks. They just had to insert that cliché that every couple in a drama is star-crossed lovers hahaha. They could've made the story without any flashbacks, and this would have been rated higher. All those flashbacks were cringy. I liked the concept of a psycho brother fighting with Young Joon, but his interactions with Mi So were just not right. It seemed off. Every bit of it. Apart from that, the story was good again. It showed different supporting characters' interactions within the office, Mi So's sisters, and they honestly all made me laugh and smile every time. I do agree with the criticism that the overall story regressed as it went on; it started out scorching hot but it became stagnant after episode 11 and it didn't improve form there, they just maintained it and that's why it felt dragging to some and bad to others.

Acting 9.5/10
This would have a 10 if only everyone fitted nicely. Everyone in this drama was on fire in terms of acting except Lee Tae Hwan. He's definitely the odd man out in is great cast. He's good in acting, but just doesn't have any chemistry with the rest. Even the guest stars had better chemistry with the cast than him. All had good interactions among each other. If I were to choose a character relationship that isn't PMY and PSJ that is overflowing with CHEMISTRY, it's PSJ and Kang Ki Young. Every time they have scenes together, I make sure I don't eat cause I'm pretty sure I will be choking when I laugh out loud while eating. Every supporting character was awesome in this drama, especially Pyo Ye Jin (give her some lead roles now) and Kang Ki Young (and him too)

And to state the obvious, pmy and psj were super in-sync. They acted so naturally; good when they are a couple, but on fire when they play vice-chairman and secretary. I disagree with the comments that they didn't look natural with the romance. They absolutely did and I wish they did date in real life. The chemistry between them is on par with Lee Jong Suk-Han Hyo Joo or Park Bo Young-Park Hyun Sik. Definitely a must watch for that reason alone

Music 9/10
The music was avtually really average. They a lot of good songs, but no great somgs at all. Great for me is when a song makes you listen to it outside of the show, without any knowledge or reference to the drama. Howeverm I'm giving this a 9 because of the special effects/sounds that they use that adds so much more laughter to the conversations. I loved the Cow sounds when hardworking cow is showed, or the sound that flashes when PMY glares at PSJ, or the hysterical music that plays when the driver rescues Bong Se Ra from embarassment. Those were unique, and awesome at the same time funny.

Rewatch value 10/10
I like legal dramas. I'm starting to like melodramas. But i'm not some saddistic fucker who only watches heart wrenching dramas or intense dramas. I need feel-good shows too and this show is the best representation for it. Even with the cliches and the cringy flashbacks, I would still rewatch this any day.

Overall
This is a drama that didn't have a special story or kick to it, but was rescued by a really good cast, with two awesome leads, and really unique sound effects. I understand where the criticism from this drama is coming from, however, I don't think it's enough for this show to be labeled average or bad. This is one of the best dramas of 2018, posisbly the best rom-com. If you haven't watched it, give it a try. If I took a shot of soju for every time this show made me laugh, I would be puking for a month.

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Best kdrama I’ve ever seen !!!

First things first this is my first review so sorry if it’s not exactly the best .
Now here goes .
It was the best kdrama I have ever seen in my Entire life !!
Ik some people say this drama isnt worth it But I would say it definitely is (maybe my word isn’t all though because unlike some of you who are reading this just to find out whether you should watch it or not )I had already read the webtoon before watching it so the plot wasn’t exactly a huge surprise to me at all .
I will say the drama is slow paced but it’s definitely worth it ,you just have to wait until episode 11 and then after that the drama gets a bit more fast paced since everything has been explained by then .
Since I read the webtoon (yes there’s a webtoon by the same name )which this was based off )
I had been wanting to watch this drama for such a long time like six months that Some of the things in the webtoon left my mind (but most things didn’t ) However tbh not everything that happens in the webtoon even matches up to the tv show so you don’t need to read the webtoon before watching the drama since it’s just based on the webtoon .
Some things that happen in the drama don’t happen In the webtoon like in the webtoon
Lee young joons dad is a huge fan of Kim mi so’s dad (who’s in a band a rockstar well in a rock band at least but in the drama that doesn’t happen )

Anyway this drama is so amazing it made me fan girl so hard .❤️❤️❤️
There was so much romance in it and I’m a huge romance fan in kdramas I’m a sucker for it and this really made me love this .
It isn’t just the main leads romance that is adorable its the Side character romance that is so cute and adorable and sweet I just loved it
Just look at my feeds and your see exactly how much I loved it !!
So If you love rom coms or office romance please watch it your love it!!
The acting was also amazing I loved it so much
And the OST’s were pretty good too .
This drama got a 10/10 from me and to get that a drama has to have a certain WOW FACTOR and this drama gave it to me it made me literally fan girl
Over the main leads : Kim mi so and lee young joon and the side characters Kim ji ah and go gwi nams romances I just loved it so much !!
I kept me smiling so much from how much romance there was I loved it!!
Some people say this drama is misogynistic but tbh it’s not really misogynistic (she chooses to be a secretary and even loves it (she also hits him often at times so idk how it’s misogynistic really is it
Idk what some people expect she can’t get any higher of a position than she has in fact she’s the vice chairman’s secretary the bosses secretary the highest position she can have and also well tbh some people say he fell in love with her Because she did everything for him that’s not true (I think he liked her from when she was little or something like that he actually hired her because well he liked her .tbh some people said he made her do things like work /over worked her but he didn’t she chose to (in episode 11 he tells her that she could have said no to anything and it would’ve been okay with him .
Also tbh this is like many other kdramas so if your gonna say this kdrama is misogynistic you are basically saying half of the kdramas well
The office romance ones are .
Also some things like this happen in real life sometimes
If you have a problem with what I’m saying about the misogynistic things like tbh don’t say idk about what I means because I’m pretty sure I do .
Also don’t mention those messed up adult books that have Boss and secretary in it they Have nothing to do with this drama .So don’t talk about it .someone in the comments mentioned it which is why im adding this in my review to
Stop the comments from being talked about misogynism and stuff (it’s what someone in the comments below writ so I just wanted to make it clear to anyone who was reading the comments that this drama isn’t misogynistic at all (at least not by my standards anyway )
Also just want to say this (This world is mainly male dominated and tbh don’t call me a feminist here but I’m not a big fan of that actually tbh I want to make it to the top and run my own business and be a CEO so it might be why I love office kdramas .
(I’m a female btw )
I love this drama because of how amazing it is
I definitely recommend it btw .
Sorry about the stuff above and how bad this review is but the point is I love this kdrama so much and you should definitely watch it .
Either for the acting ,the ml or the storyline or the romance you should watch it
I loved this drama so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️In fact it was so obsessed with it I was fangirling so
Hard and this is the first drama that made me do that !!
I just loved it.

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I never expected a romcom about a narcissist and and a control freak to make me swoon and laugh so much, but "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?" unexpectedly ranks high on my favorites list! I knew nothing about the novel or web toon before watching, so I can't compare, but from the beginning to the end I think this is a solid drama on it's own.

Park Min Young and Park Seo Joon are a romantic dream team! Their chemistry, their comedic banter, and emotional moments are flawless. A narcissist male lead is nothing new, but Yeong Joon takes this trope to a whole new level. He is unapologetically egotistical, but early on we start to see that he may be much more considerate than he appears. Secretary Kim Mi So is his perfect work match, but it soon becomes clear that they compliment each other in other ways as well. I never got tired of watching these two together. It doesn't hurt that they look amazing together (with an amazing wardrobe too). Whether their scenes were ridiculously comedic, tragically melodramatic, or beautifully romantic, I loved every moment of watching them together. Their characters were so well played that even their smallest comedic nuances were on point. I also want to give a shout out to Kim Mi So's epic ponytail! I swear it was it's own character. Another shout out to Yeong Joon's house, which is my dream home from Secret Garden (my all time favorite drama, which probably explains why I like this one so much)

The rest of the cast is just as good, and well played. Sure, many of them are comedic, even silly, but every single character is strong on their own, even if they are just for comic relief. I am not always a fan of Korean humor, and sometimes it can be a little to corny for me. In this drama, some of the silliest characters that I thought were annoying initially, became some of my favorites. This is especially true of the work staff, who were such a great ensemble. The mvp being Hwang Bo Ra, who I thought I would hate, but often made me unexpectedly laugh the most. I even liked the cheesy graphics and sound effects. The only character I could think of with any weak acting moments was Lee Tae Hwan as Yeong Joon's brother. Since he had one of the most melodramatic parts in a cast full of comedic ones, I'll give him some extra credit for that.

At some point in the middle there is a major departure from comedy that goes into melodrama, and even the thriller genre a little bit. The reason why I think this worked was because it all helps to better understand the characters. They also were even able to still find some humor related to that storyline, so that it didn't seem completely out of place to me. It's hard to say too much about the story without giving it away.

It was very surprising to me just how much I liked the story. I definitely started out not wanting to see these two together, which I think is the vibe the show purposely gives you. The rest of the show reveals that there's so much more to the story than what it seemed like initially. Some of the story is admittedly unrealistic, and super "convenient", but I can't think of a single hole or flaw. Even the supporting characters had stories that I loved, and there were a few random early moments that I forgot about, but when reintroduced they made perfect sense. Maybe it helped that they had something to adapt from, because even though the plot had some very cheesy moments, the storytelling remained impressive.

I can only give the soundtrack a 9 because none of the songs were amazing to me, but the music in the episodes, especially during the comedic moments, always complimented the scenes perfectly. Also, minor spoiler, Park Seo Joon does sing, which is hard to be mad at.

My rewatch score is a 10 because I'm already starting over from episode 1. What I already notice is that the show is even more entertaining knowing that there's more to certain scenes that I missed the first time. So nothing is lost by knowing what will happen, in fact, it makes the story a little better. I also wasn't ready to say goodbye to this cast yet.

Overall this is exactly what I love in a romcom drama... a romance I can root for, and episodes that entertain me from beginning to end. Kim Mi So and Yeong Joon are now among my favorite Kdrama couples. I loved both actors in dramas previously, but for me this is them both at their best. "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?" is the most charming romance I've seen in a while. I think it's proof that a seemingly simple drama can make a strong impact.

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