What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?

I have just finished watching What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. To be honest, I thought I’d powered through this drama, but actually, I’ve certainly watched a series quicker. I think it was just in comparison to the behemoth that was Six Flying Dragons, that watching this seemed to fly by.

Not going to lie, I had high expectations, and I’m not sure I can honestly say they were totally met. It was good fun but predictable; easy to watch but not addictive. Let’s just stay it doesn’t knock off any of my top 5. I’d very much rank it alongside the likes of  Strong Woman Do Bong Soon and Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo as a lighthearted romantic drama that I enjoyed but wasn’t anything particularly special. 

It’s the classic rich man falls for penniless girl plot, with some memory loss, family strife and copious  amounts of very obvious product placement thrown in. Just like The Heirs. Just like Boys Over Flowers. Just like Shopping King Louis ... I could go on. There were a fair few side stories, a rather disappointing second male lead*, and literally everyone had a very predictably happy ending. I do enjoy watching Park Seo Joon, and I thought Park Min Young was beautiful (I’ve only just realised that she was the lead in Healer and City Hunter - did not recognise her at all). It’s basically just crowd pleasing fluff with big names and pretty faces. So just like 98% of Asian drama. 

* they could have done so much with his character, but no, they basically wrote him off. He is listed as main cast, had a solo title card in the opening credits, the set up for a love triangle even past the big reveal - but no, I think the SA who played an intern had more screen time than him. And we all know how much I love a second male lead (it’s the Rui Effect). 

It is really highly rated on Viki at a 9.8, which puts it on a level with DotS, Bong Soon, Weightlifting Fairy and Healer, but I get the impression more and more that these ratings can’t be trusted to truly represent what they are supposed to mean as opposed to popularity scores. You see series that have yet to start airing with high scores because people start rating it based on the casting. They do tend to drop down quickly, but it’s a lesson to learn, to only pay attention to ratings on older shows. 

Edit: I feel like this post has come across as much more negative than I meant it to. I think I just missed the action and significance of Six Flying Dragons. This series was a classic kdrama - nothing new. I enjoyed it a lot, I really did, and it would probably be up there in my top 20 or so. 

Tl;Dr

It was enjoyable.

I recommend it to girls with unrealistic expectations of men. 

I probably won’t watch it again.