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The acting saves the story!
The Secret Life of My Secretary is a fluffy office rom-com and while it touches upon the theme of discrimination of contract employees, that is not the essence of the story, at least for me. I recently re-watched the story and liked it better than my recollection of the first watch. What I liked about the show most was all the actors bringing their best to embibe the characters that could otherwise have come off as cookie cutter - chaebols, secretary, childhood bestie VP etc - with unique quirks, personalities and vulnerabilities that did not feel forced while watching.The leads - Do Min Ik and Jung Gal Hee have a typical boss-employee relationship like is expected of this genre with exploitation of the power dynamic by the hero. However, despite everything on paper that would have made Do Min Ik a very annoying character to watch, Kim Youngkwang's portrayal puts an emotional strain to even his more cold behaviour making him stand apart in the crowd of other such drama characters.
Similarly, Jung Gal Hee portrayed by Jin Ki Joo is the typical hard working - providing for her family - poor - female lead, but her inner world of thoughts on why she makes the decisions she does including her betrayal of her boss makes you pity her naivety as well as root for her. She feels like a fleshed out person despite all the cliches enthrusted onto her.
As for the second lead couple, the stand out star of the drama - Kim Jaekyung as Veronica Park made it memorable. Everyone who has seen the show will agree that the character of Veronica is what makes the show stand apart and fun to watch. She is a rare gem in the world of 2FL roles. Jaekyung manages to make an outlandish chaebol not annoying with her heartfelt portrayal of a confident, ridiculous but also mature Veronica.
Koo Ja Sung as Ki Dae Joo served as a source of warmth for Do Min Ik and was a good supporting character who had his own storyline which was more involved in the contract employee plotline. Admittedly, he did not stand out as much as the other three leads though.
Amongst the other supporting casts, Choi Tae Hwan as the Driver caught my attention the most. A more of a throwaway role with limited screentime, he still convinced me of his pathos as well as loyalty and brought the emotions into the otherwise obligatory social commentary plotline that most rom coms try to do.
Another limited role that had me intrigued was the role of Jung Ae Ri as Do Min Ik's mother. Even though their relationship was dysfunctional and bordered on abusive, it was interesting to watch as usually these roles are either white or black, but she remained gray till the very end. And that made me understand why Min Ik still stuck to her and wanted her validation so badly, as even though they had a fake mother-son relationship, there was a subtle strength built over the years of association for both of them.
When I rewatched the series and paid attention to the characters and their individual arcs, the show was much more fun to watch as a whole than just trying to follow the plot. The smaller beats and the sum of its parts are bigger than the whole show at a glance, and made me upmark my initial rating. The actual plotline of the secretary disguising as a chaebol and the prospognasia were more cliche, however the fallout was handled much better than other dramas - the guilt, the betrayal, the forgiveness, made these cliches still feel like a real part of these people that might exist in some fictional drama land.
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For The Non-Ambitious Watchers
This drama came across young and for the young at heart, fluffy, amusing at times and can be quite enjoyable if you are not an ambitious viewer looking for depth and every episode to make sense.I personally disliked it for the following reasons :
- Jin Ki Joo playing Gal Hee did a mediocre job acting in this role as one expected more as her role was key in leading the entire drama. The make-up department also did not help by giving her such heavy make-up and over dyed red curly bunch of hair which was quite glaring that it was hard to focus on her character. Poor thing, for such a pretty girl.
- Gal Hee's character was too meek and being able to share words of wisdom to her boss at times did not do much to hype up her character.
- Story line could have been better if the boss Min Ik (Kim Young Kwang) was not drawn to or liked the fake Veronica Park (Gal Hee) in the beginning, then it would have flowed a lot better. I understand that the story is trying to show that the boss is actually liking the same and one person, but for us who watch it was irritating, not required. Instead, if it was the fake Veronica chasing the boss and he in turn is more attracted to Gal Hee, the secretary....then the drama will make more sense.
- there were also many plots that did not make sense.
However, I scored slightly above average at 6.5 for overall viewing as I agree with a lot of other reviewers, Veronica Park (played by Kim Jae Kyung) truly SAVED the show. Her character was written out well and she also acted it out to perfection. Veronica Park is naturally beautiful. Loved her loud, irritating, arrogant and animated personality which actually have a great sense of maturity and a heart of gold. Her second couple role with Dae Joo (Koo Ja Sung) did a good job to keep us interested. His firm stance and not allowing Veronica Park to always get her way stood well and helped him to get and keep the girl!
As for the main lead couple, there was no need to make their relationship appear childish and innocent in demeanor. Hard to watch. Thank goodness we know Kim Young Kwang (the boss Min Ik) is a good actor and have been seen in a lot of other very good dramas.
Anyway, the drama can be entertaining to watch. Like I said, IF you are not taking the show seriously. Cheers!
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A charming romantic comedy, but which will not go down in history.
A cute comedy, where a CEO does not recognize faces (oh, the overused plot !!! ), following an assault (from business & family competitors), except that of his secretary. The FL, on occasion, also poses as an eccentric heiress, who refuses to date with the ML, Veronica Park,. This results in a lot of misunderstandings! With the help of his secretary, the ML will search for the culprits, fall in love (love triangle) and accept his disability.PROS:
+ Very classic storyline, but well done and excellent actors (Kim Young Kwan, particulary).
+ Lots of humor, notably thanks to an excellent and colorful Veronica Park.
+ Production without downtime.
+ OST in the cute genre, but not memorable.
CONS:
- the trio of secretaries is ridiculous.
- the secret organization of secretaries is not credible. The storyline should have found something else to explain the successive twists...
- the character of the blind brother, very dependent and even comical, does not honor disabled people. It's ableist !
=> a charming romantic comedy, but which will not go down in history.
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Une comédie mignonne, où 1 CEO ne reconnait pas les visages,sauf celui de sa secrétaire, à la suite d'1 agression (business & family competitors). La FL se fait aussi, à l'occasion, passer pour une héritière excentrique, Véronica Park, qui refuse un date avec le ML. En découlent bcp de malentendus ! Avec l'aide de sa secrétaire, le ML va rechercher les coupables, tomber amoureux (love triangle) et accepter de son handicap.
PROS:
+ Storyline très classique, mais bien faite et excellents acteurs (Kim Young Kwan, particulary).
+ Bcp d'humour, notamment grâce à une Veronica Park excellente et haute en couleurs.
+ Réalisation sans temps mort.
+ OST dans le genre mignon, mais pas mémorables.
CONS:
- le trio de secrétaires est ridicule.
- l'organisation des secrétaires n'est pas crédible. La storyline aurait du trouver autre chose pour expliquer les twists successifs...
- le personnage du frère aveugle, très dépendant voire comique, ne fait pas honneur aux personnes handicapées.
=> une charmante comédie romantique, mais qui ne restera pas dans les annales.
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We won this is a someway Rob review here. I am not extremely picky but I am a little picky when it comes to commonsense and integrity. I want you all this writing is coming from a person that really does not like movies that have foundation or plots built on lies. For me it’s like watching a fairy tale knowing the wolf or bad thing will arrive any moment. Well somebody see this as a pleasant drama I found it frustrating because just as in reality a liar always get caught in the person that hurt by the lie it is left to be hateful or except you in your life. That change the genre for me from comedy to drama.Normally I’d loved a show with this type of atmosphere however I really couldn’t enjoy it. Hey, maybe I’m just in my feelings but it was just something about the plot that I found not entertaining, “oh yeah, the parts that had our female lead take advantage of someone who couldn’t recognize her face for 19 out of 30 episodes.
An example of this would be pretending to be somebody else and going on a date with a blind person, Then going to work pretending like nothing happened. Something about that it did not sit right with me even though they have funny music playing or sentimental music going, even though she had such a youthful, innocent face.
in those situation, the lie was just too long for me.
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N/A
IMO this is a past time drama. A show where you only watch to lose time. The story is a bit predictable and I in the first episodes I had predicted a possible ending.“You weren’t accustomed to being treated nicely, so when he gave you the bare minimum you fell in love with him”.
They romanticized the boss’s biggest red flag.
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Sweet, but flawed and sometimes irritating
As you can see by the review's title, I'm conflicted about this drama. I, like many others, am tired of the prosopagnosia trope; but this show at least had an original twist on it. It also went a little deeper into the medical aspects of it (causes, symptoms, etc.) than I've seen elsewhere.The disease, however, set the show up for one of the most annoying plotlines I've ever seen. Almost everything contrived to prolong the secretary's deception, even if characters had to make ridiculous, illogical decisions in order for that to happen. The deception itself was pretty despicable, no matter how much justification the show tried to provide. I found myself unable to enjoy some of the cute/romantic moments because I couldn't stop thinking about what the FL was doing to the ML simply because she was, well, selfish.
I found the overall wrap-up interesting and more satisfying than many dramas I've seen. In the end I was ok with the way the relationship between the ML and FL resolved itself, but along the way there were many times when I considered not watching the rest of the show because the deception just wouldn't end. I'm glad I did finish because both the main and secondary romances were ultimately very nice.
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I actually really enjoyed it, a really like lighthearted romance of like a secretary and like a boss. The actor Jin Ki-joo who played the character Jung Gal-hee, I really liked this character - I think she played the secretary so well, with her outfits and her red top! And just being like such a strong women who provided a lot for her family, and worked soo hard! I actually think she was such a pretty actor when she dressed up as well!
I think Veronica Park, was my favourite character too, I thought she was soo funny- just how they she portrayed the like rich CEO women, who just was so unique in different ways - and her Veronica Park phrase! A line to remember when I think of this drama
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One moment of patience may ward off a great disaster
How the plot came to be, seems a bit tepid for my taste. I was looking for that climax to build up anytime soon but somehow never seems to exist and entice for the past 12 episodes. If not for Kim Young Kwang, who plays Do Min Ik, this would still be on my "plan to watch" list. I saw him on "I Live Alone" recent episode so I become curious. Plus, I saw that the other female role, the original Veronica Park was played by Kim Jae Kyung. She was Sung Hoon's female partner in the drama Noble, My Love.Fortunately, I didn't give up on this drama as there were some interesting moments. So better watch out for those. For one, I didn’t realize that hand washing couldn't get any sexier than episode 23. Thank you for Episode 8 too where it suddenly became funny.
On the downside, I didn't like that the story focused more on their love story. I didn't get to experience the intriguing life of a media director, as was Young Kwang's role is in this drama. For a media director of a mobile company, apart from the stockholder’s meeting and preparation, I don’t seem to see actual work from him. I guess the writer placed much emphasis on his disease, prosopagnosia, and the complications that go with it in daily life. I would have loved to see a man in action. As the saying goes, no matter what profession a man is, a working man tends to be sexier.
At the very beginning, I began to be skeptical about the whole red cardigan thing. So I would just assume that she washes it every day and placed in the dryer right?
Although a lot of their conversation lacks humor and wit thus redeeming to be a bit boring and dragging, there were a couple of statements that catch my attention. Don’t neglect what you have hanging up on something you have lost. — wow! its as if something just hit me with a hammer. Another one would be: "Loving someone shouldn't mean having to give up on something or someone. Be it a dream or a person."
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Saved by Veronica
The main story is nonsense that requires not only a suspension of belief (which is fine) but a complete disregard for consistency and logic anywhere. I mean there's an attempted murder, the driver is nosing around in the office with a lame excuse (which the FL defying all logic piles on in support), FL finds a mysterious file on her computer, then there's a break-in. You'd think there would be some suspense and tension or least like trying to put this all together - but no - the main characters bump along largely oblivious to anything. These crimes play into a secondary robninhoodish plot that rather than being revealed slowly will just kind of be dumped into a later episode. Oh yeah, the sometimes floating apparently sentient moss balls would be stupid in 99% of dramas but somehow fit in here. Don't get me wrong they're still stupid, but they fit in.Despite all that it manages to be entertaining if you don't pay close attention unless Kim JaeKyung is on screen as Veronica Park completely stealing every scene she's in. The Veronica Park character seems whack in the beginning but as the show progresses it's obvious she's everything that everyone else is not. Smart, communicates succinctly and honestly and actually helps those that make up the clown show around her progress with there lives.
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The most frustrating drama I swear! I actually knew that it’s getting boring around episode 12 but I stayed because of Veronica Park. But I’ve never been mad at the main lead before in a drama. This is so frustrating. I really love young kwang and ki joo but their character is just so keep making me disappointed. I don’t know if the characters are just slow witter or just really dumb. When the time that main lead attacked the driver and the driver was obviously holding a knife or a cutter and he found out it’s the driver he didn’t even suspect him AT ALL. Like wtf? And when the female lead came she didn’t even question what the hell the driver was doing in the guy’s office. AND THE WAY SHE KEEP PRETENDING TO BE VERONICA PARK IS MAKING ME MAD. She’s being selfish like she know that the guy has been betrayed by the people around me.
I just wish that they could give something more justice about this because I really waited for this. I really want to continue because of Veronica Park and her partner because they’re so cute. But I just can’t watch it anymore, skipping the lead and not even knowing what is happening every minute is just so frustrating. Anyways. It’s funny story I love how sassy is the female lead around other people and funny is the male lead. But I’m done.
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Just adorable!
So basically I have finished this in 3 days with 3 sleepiness nights (do not try this at home, thanks Netflix) and I really enjoyed watching the two leads. I just thought they were absolutely adorable together like their interactions were just wholesome and natural. Ki-joo Jin and Young-kwang Kim did such a adorable job for playing the characters, especially holding out for a steamy kiss at the end there ;)I even loved the Veronica Park character ,like you hardly see confident and laid back flirty girls in any romance show I've seen. She made me laugh y'all with her nonsense that she comes out with, including the other secretaries and the mother xD
However I will say that there were quite a few downfalls in this like when two people died in different scenes, they didn't add enough emotion to them.. I mean I nearly dropped this kromcom because the way they treated the tragic death scenes in this, weren't taken seriously and were quickly forgotten about. Also I didn't think that broken elevator scene in the end was really that necessary to end a story, I mean the guy got help and lived happily ever after!
Regardless of those complaints, this is such a very cute kdrama. It's very animated in some parts but it's very entertaining to watch at just 16 episodes. Give it a try if you want your heart to bloom!v
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This was a lot of fun to watch. Yes the story makes no sense and it's cheesy to the point that it's embarrassing to watch at times, but I was properly entertained. I wanted to watch a romcom that doesn't frustrate me with it's triangle shenanigans and this one really delivered. However even if I ignore the overused prosopagnosia plot, the entire secret secretary organisation feels super stupid. Luckily they quickly shifted the focus away from them (unlike in Strongest Deliveryman.), so I wasn't annoyed too much. If you like sweetness & borderline embarrassing humor you will certainly like this show. Over the course of the 16(32?) episodes nothing too frustrating or unexpected happened, not even the chaebol family issues were pronounced. The pacing could have been a bit better, he found out her secret identity like 2 episodes too late, not that it's that big of a problem, since I think we've gotten enough fluff before the closing credits anyway.
This was airing at the same time with Abyss, this one is like 32278347823432423 times better.
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