K-Drama Rewind, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim: A frothy, flawed romcom with Park Seo-joon and Park Min-Young

An arrogant CEO's world is suddenly flipped, when his very smart, suave secretary decides that she needs to move on after a decade. Mind you, the secretary, till now, waits on him hand and foot, gets rid of his unwanted dates, helps him with his tie, while also arranging his meetings.

Obviously, our CEO, played by Park Seo-joon who appears almost built for this role, doesn't want to let that happen. As it turns out, the twist isn't that her leaving has made him realise his feelings for her. He has just loved her all along from afar, owing to a very shared, painful childhood memory.

It's a breezy, silly romance, quite enjoyable and nothing too cerebral. Two dashing leads, a K-Drama worthy romance, and, just to raise the stakes, a touch of childhood trauma and a hint of kidnapping. Not too much, just enough to bind the couple together. Both Park Seo-joon and Park Min-Young look so good together, you might just watch 16 hours of nauseating cuteness, for them.

And so, the wafer-thin storyline: After the shattering announcement, a love story begins to blossom between the two of them, with Kim Mi-so trying to piece together a traumatic childhood episode, which might, or might not, involve Young-joon’s brother. Momentarily, there's almost a love triangle in the middle, but don't worry, the brother doesn't cause much of hue and cry. What is actually interesting, in fact, is the brother, Lee Sung-heon (played by Lee Taehwan) has a stark trauma of his own from the same childhood: He was so overwhelmed by the guilt that his brother's kidnapping happened because of him, he would rather choose to absolve it all by pretending to be his brother, and rewrite his own memories. This was actually the most compelling part of the show: How guilt can split your personality into two, and fracture your relationships forever.

Nevertheless, as this is a breezy romcom, this plotline is wrapped up quickly, and we're back to cuteness, as the leads put the childhood trauma behind them for good.

And then, the story doesn’t really know what to do, so we just watch Seo-joon and Min-young in dashing outfits and treating South Korea like a runway. It’s fun at points, and a little too sugary at others.

You have the stock cliches: Chatty, gossipy friends, the sisters from the countryside, rich and concerned mother, and a rather shady male friend. Cue, quintessential K-Drama office romance.

However, in all the sweetness and fluff, there is actually a few glaring problems in Secretary Kim. At the end of the show, instead of pursuing her own dreams as she had once planned, Kim Mi-so decides to stay on a secretary and ‘always be by his side’. This feels particularly jarring, and we lose some of the brightness of Kim Mi-so that we have grown to love. She had just proved that she is infinitely more than just filing deskwork and helping Young-joon with his ties.

Her personality is diminished, compared to towering Young-Joon, who, throughout is so systematically redeemed, as if the writers are desperate to say, "No, he wasn't arrogant all along, he's a good, selfless person." Yes, well, we get it. There's a sudden switch in the last few episodes to show Young-joon as the man who selflessly loved from far, and indulged in nobly sacrificing his happiness for everyone, to the point that even a weak Kim Mi-so says, "Why are you being so considerate, this isn't like you?"

But well. So, if you're looking for a Sunday watch to park your brain, enjoy some fluff, and watch gorgeous leads, Secretary Kim is your jam. If you're looking for a romance with more substance, then it's not.