History of the Salaryman (2012)

Now this definitely was enjoyable to watch, finished this in 3 days...
however I felt some parts were rushed and had to really think, "what the heck just happened?" I won't give examples of what I mean but it would have been nice if they summarised some sections more clearly.

That aside, great story, with lies, betrayal, manipulation, romance, revenge, murder and humour... awesome combination!

I love watching dramas where you can really see drastic changes in a persons' attitude... watch as greediness consumes a person to the point of destruction and insanity... :D Hehe

Music was so-so, not that great or memorable and not something I would watch again anytime soon.

My rating is 8.5, if some improvements were made here and there, and wrapped up the ending more nicely, then it would be a outstanding drama. :)

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this movie first and foremost is a laugh out loud comedy then melodrama. i seriously dint expect it reading from the reviews. to start with, the music was daebak key (shinee) and leeteuk (suju). second is lee bum soo needs to get an award for best male actor. his character was excellent and he dint disappoint. jung ryeo won was also perfect since this is the first drama/movie i have seen such cursing from start to finish. her english is very good too she must have lived in the US. third is the love triangles dint reveal the pairing all the way to like episode 15. the whole time it was unclear who would end up with who. the story was well written but the last two episodes were abit too much of unreal and cheesy, i dint like how they just ended the verdict, it dint seem fair for the punishment. finally, if i hear one more chinese saying......lets just say each episode had one. in the beginning it was interesting but when they use it one after another it becomes repetitive. and why why why is there no kiss scene with yoo bang....very disappointed.

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This drama is a gem!!! Definitely worthwhile watching this!!!
A great mix of comedy and a bit of melodrama - just perfect to satisfy your needs!!

Actors/actresses did a splendid job of bringing out their characters - that if you watched them in something else - you would assume that that was the person's real personality!

Music was really well played in this - the main theme song is honestly the best - along with the other songs that play an important part of the drama.

Definitely something I would rewatch in the future - funny cuts and a whole rerun!!
Worth investing 22+ hours into watching :)

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Updated Review 2021:

Wow. What a difference a few years (or more) of drama viewing make. I originally watched this drama back when I was still a little baby drama newbie, and it definitely shows in my first review (which I've kept at the bottom of this updated review for you to compare the two with each other). I did not understand this drama or what it was trying to do. At all, lol. After a re-watch (only the second drama I've ever attempted to re-watch and the only drama I've Succeeded in fully re-watching), my feelings have fundamentally altered.

This drama is literally genius. Uproariously funny, office politics intrigue that's actually...intriguing, Yoo Bang and Yeo Chi are Damn. Good. Characters., side characters who feel like family, consistent plot, a side character who Really surprises you with their character progression, extremely well-used aspects of the drama's real-life source material, chock-full of traditional Korean sayings. This is basically a Kdrama classic and required viewing for all Kdrama lovers.

And now that I've given it such glowing praise, let me talk about my complaints, lol.

While I love Yoo Bang and Yeo Chi to pieces, Hang Woo and Woo Hee are definitely the most inconsistent characters out of our main four, and my major complaints about the drama are all related to them.

1) Hang Woo has a deep-seeded desire for revenge that plays an important part in the main plotline of the drama but at some point, said revenge disappears and isn’t mentioned or alluded to or plays any part in the story again until about 3 eps out from the end. It fades from the story in a way that feels natural and realistic, but the writers never give an explanation as to Why Hang Woo doesn’t seem to care about exacting his revenge anymore. He just effectively stops trying to get revenge.

2) Once Hang Woo and Woo Hee start down the path of truly falling for each other (not just flirting/driving each other nuts at every turn/Hang Woo being manipulative), there's very little focus on them actually getting to know each other as people. I found myself wanting to actually See them falling in love with each other, not just be told that that's what happened, and I was disappointed that their entire relationship added up to 'they (adorably) (hilariously) drove each other nuts for ages and now they're in love.'

3) The last three to four eps are not as tightly plotted as the rest of the drama and can be a bit draggy in places. This is mostly to do with Hang Woo's character (and tangentially Woo Hee) because of the aforementioned problem with his plans of revenge disappearing with no explanation then suddenly popping back up to become an important part of the plot again.

I'm not going to say this is one of my favorite dramas, but man do I respect it a lot more than I used to. Contrary to what ignorant, naive, little baby drama newbie me thought, this is a very good drama.

I do not recommend Korean drama newbie's watch this drama as their first, second, third, fourth, or even fifth drama though as there's a lot going on here that you probably won't be able to fully appreciate until you've got a few other dramas under your belt, but you should definitely watch it once you know enough about Korean dramas to really appreciate all of the magnificent things Salaryman did with it's story.


Original Review:
Great at humor. Terrible at drama.

And Hang Woo. Make up your damn mind, son!!!

I've contemplated going back and watching that last episode so many times.

Maybe I will someday.

Then again, maybe I'll just get some ice cream instead.

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