K-Drama Rewind, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim: Park Seo-joon is stellar, Park Min-young gets a raw deal

When I watch Secretary Kim, I like to imagine the writers’ room seriously debating what to do with stunning leads like Park Seo-joon and Park Min-young. There’s an office romance—but what exactly do you do with it?

 Maybe, nothing.

 And that’s the best you can do.

Let it be the definition of a Sunday watch: nothing cerebral. Two charming leads, a fluffy 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.

Sorted. Let’s  do this.

And what’s what Secretary Kim is all about. Nothing, really, but you, the diehard romantic who is not yet cynical or doesn’t wish to be too reasonable, will watch it. The wafer-thin storyline: Young-joon is a handsome CEO with gorgeous suits, and he has a very effective, smart and dedicated secretary, Kim Mi-so. One day, his world is flipped like a pancake when she gently tells him that she would like to quit. Thank you very much.

 And so begins, his realisations that he cannot do without her. Of course, if you thought that this was a new revelation, please hold on to your Ramyeon, because he knew this all along, as we learn later. She didn’t know, of course.

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, he is involved in the love triangle too, by the way, but don’t worry, he’s shipped off quickly before you can say Shincha.

After this little knot is untangled, 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’. Suddenly, her feisty, sparky personality feels particularly diminished with this tangent, more so, because she had just proved that she is infinitely more than just filing deskwork and helping Young-joon with his ties.

 If you want a Sunday watch to park your brain, enjoy some fluff, and watch gorgeous leads, Secretary Kim is your jam.