What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim Review

This is a romantic comedy K-drama that will leave you hot and steamy for a couple of scenes. Other parts of the drama will make your heart flutter with a kind of sweetness that feels awfully good. The after effects of watching the show still lingers as I write up this What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim review. In fact, I’m not a big fan of Korean dramas but the light-heartedness and romantic theme of this series are easy to digest and thereafter, the story just automatically worm their way into my heart.

Number of episodes: 16
Aired: June 2018
Images Credit: tvN

The Cast

• Park Seo Joon as Lee Young Joon
• Park Min Young as Kim Mi So
• Lee Tae Hwan as Lee Sung Yeon – Young Joon’s older brother
• Kim Byeong Ok as Chairman Lee – Young Joon and Sung Yeon’s father
• Kim Hye Ok as Madame Choi – Young Joon and Sung Yeon’s mother
• Kang Ki Young as Park Yoo Sik – Young Joon’s best friend and director of his corporation
• Pyo Ye Jin as Kim Ji Ah – a probationary secretary hired to replace Mi So
• Baek Eun Hye as Kim Pil Nam – Mi So’s eldest sister
• Jo Deok Hyun as Kim Young Man – Mi So’s father

Main Characters

Lee Young Joon

Lee Young Joon comes from a rich family. He is the vice chairman of the family’s conglomerate. When he found out that Kim Mi So is working in his company, he made her his secretary despite her lack of experience and qualifications. You can check out the spoiler if you want to know why as this is revealed later in the drama. As it is, Young Joon is a workaholic and a very demanding boss. He is self-absorbed and egotistical but also very smart and hence, thinks very highly of himself. His subordinates both respect and fear him while women tend to fall for him for his good looks.

However, beneath the perfect image that he portrays to the outside world, he is battling a psychological scar carried over from childhood due to a kidnapping incident in the family. He suffers from nightmares and sometimes when he closes his eyes, he gets scary flashbacks which get in the way when he tries to be intimate. The childhood incident also strained his relationship with his elder brother, Lee Sung Yeon, who blamed him for what happened in the past.

Kim Mi So

Kim Mi So, on the other hand, comes from a poor family. Her mother died when she was very young due to illness. One night, she woke up and went looking for her mom outside her home only to be kidnapped by a suicidal woman. The woman brought her to an abandoned house where she met a boy who has also been kidnapped. Because she was very young then, all she remembered from that incident is that the boy gave her a caramel to console her and did his best to protect her from the ugly sights of death as the woman hanged herself. She also could only recall part of his name.

Later on, when it was time for her to go to college, her dad got scammed by a friend and ended up with debts. In order to repay the family debt, she started working instead of furthering her studies. Thus, when she ended up as secretary for Young Joon, she had a hard time coping with her lack of qualifications. Because Young Joon wanted her to succeed, he drove her hard. She couldn’t quit despite having such a difficult boss because she needed the money. So, she willed herself to do her job well and over time, she became a very competent secretary.

For 9 years, Mi So did everything for her boss from the usual corporate duties to handling jealous girlfriends to even tying his necktie. She has no life apart from work because of the long hours. So, when she finally paid off the last of her family debts, she decides to quit to have more time to herself. She wants to do things she has missed out on such go on dates and find a life partner – things that she couldn’t do for the last 9 years.

The Plot

This story is actually based on a novel which later on was serialized into a comic. The background of the main characters above helps to explain the story that is to unfold. The main plot in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim revolves around Young Joon trying hard to make Mi So change her mind about resigning from her position. The drama starts off from this point but it does provide flashbacks to a past incident when they were kids in later episodes to create a bit of mystery and a family struggle as part of the sub-plot.

Therefore, the initial part of this drama will see Young Joon trying to figure out why Mi So wants to quit. When he realized that he couldn’t lose her, the wooing starts and this is when it gets more interesting and romantic. The story then continues to how they overcome family objections, burying the harrowing past, resolving arguments, and managing the complexities of dating the boss among others.

Most of the scenes in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim are light-hearted with a funny and feel good vibe at times. Only Young Joon’s childhood experience and relationship with this brother have a darker undertone. This sub-plot is weaved in to tie it to Mi So as she seeks to find out whether it was Young Joon or his brother who got kidnapped together with her when she was young since Young Joon is unwilling to tell her the truth.

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim Spoilers

This drama has a happily ever after ending. The last episode concludes with a wedding scene with both Young Joon and Mi So sharing a kiss. As it turns out, Young Joon is the boy who consoled and shielded her during the kidnapping incident when they were kids. After they made their escape and he walked her home, the 5-year-old Mi So actually asked Young Joon to marry her one day. He promised to do so and with a wedding as the ending, the whole story ties up very sweetly indeed.

When Young Joon met Mi So 9 years earlier, he actually recognized that she is the girl that got kidnapped together with him. That is why he requested for her to be his secretary. However, Mi So has no idea that Young Joon is the boy whom she has a shared history with. While he was disappointed that she couldn’t remember him, at the same time he was also happy that the incident had not traumatized her the way it did to him. So, for 9 years, Young Joon suppressed the truth and vowing never to let the horrible memories come to the surface to haunt Mi So.

Furthermore, Young Joon is hiding a secret by pretending that he has forgotten about that day. Due to sibling rivalry, Young Joon and his brother have never got along. Sung Yeon was the one who left him near the abandoned house that resulted in the kidnapping. Due to severe guilt, Sung Yeon’s mind became twisted and he started to believe that he was the one who has been victimized and kidnapped. Young Joon allowed his brother to play the victim by pretending not to remember as everyone in the family was suffering emotionally back then.

Of course, Mi So also has her doubts that Sung Yeon is the boy from her past due to various clues. After a few twists and turns, Young Joon’s well-kept secret did come out in the open. Finally, Mi So has the full story to her vague recollection of the traumatic event and Young Joon’s motivations for hiding it is also much clearer to the viewer. The brothers also did patch up eventually with Sung Yeon planning to go abroad again to lead his life.

Is WWWSK Worth Watching?

Acting

I cannot comment if Park Seo Joon and Park Min Young managed to carry out their roles well as per the characters in the novel and comic since I have not read them. But they definitely have great chemistry between them as a couple and it shows in the drama. Being a romantic comedy, their expressions are funny at times to fit those light-hearted scenes. They don’t seem overdone and can elicit a laugh from me at the right moments.

For those loving and tender scenes, the love that they want to portray shines through naturally. I can feel it as I watch it as the acting makes it seems very real. A lot of kissing and bed scenes in dramas tend to look forced or stilted but you don’t get that feeling in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. In fact, the kisses may be what everybody is looking forward to watching because they just did them so well that one could feel their love and passion through the screen! I think the only other drama that manages to equal, if not surpass, their chemistry is Her Private Life in recent times.

Storyline

If you are looking for exciting plots and unexpected endings, then this drama is not for you. There is nothing creative or new in the plot construction. It is just a simple fairy tale romance kind of story with a wealthy and handsome boss falling in love with his pretty secretary.

Instead of the plot, what should interest you is the way their relationship develops. It is the courtship process that makes the whole drama incredibly sweet and romantic and this is the main selling point of What’s Wong With Secretary Kim.

My Verdict

For this What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim review, I would say that it is definitely worth watching, especially if you are a romance drama fan. It only has 16 episodes which is just about right for a romantic journey that feels neither too rushed or too dragged out. Not many romantic comedy dramas can pull you along for the ride like this one does. Because the acting is so natural and the love between Young Joon and Mi So feels so real on screen, it will leave you feeling warm with all that sweetness.

So, watch it for the on-screen chemistry between Park Seo Joon and Park Min Young that will make your heart flutter. Listen to the dialogue too because some of the things that they say to each other during those tender moments will just melt your heart. And of course, the kissing scenes that take the drama to a whole new level. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to miss that!

The Kissing Scenes In WWWSK

Young Joon and Mi So shared quite a few kisses in the drama. But the ones listed below are definitely the hotter and steamier ones. While some may see them as too steamy for prime time dramas, somehow they don’t come across as “dirty” because as the story progresses, you can overwhelmingly feel the love that they have for one another. Hence, the kissing and bed scenes ended up being more about love than just merely physical acts. The intimacy is off the charts and it might even feel as though you are intruding on their private moments while watching those scenes!

These are the episodes with hot kissing scenes in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim:

• The first kiss in Episode 8. This is the scene when Mi So confessed her feelings to Young Joon. It’s a very tender moment for viewers to savor.
• The closet kiss in Episode 9. Young Joon was made to hide in the closet when Mi So’s sisters came visiting. He was naturally angry, but the make-up kiss after the sisters left will leave you feeling sweet.
• The couch kiss in Episode 12. This kiss happened when Young Joon said to Mi So that he wanted to be honest with his feelings. You can expect an intimate kiss here with deep emotions invested. But be prepared to be disappointed because they got interrupted half-way through by a phone call.
• The bed scene in Episode 13. This is the hottest and steamiest scene in the whole drama. Mi So, who has been holding back, decided it’s time to spend the night with Young Joon. I can only say watch this alone and blush all the way through! And don’t forget to check out the morning after in episode 14. The sight of Mi So in Young Joon’s white dress shirt is a sight not to be missed!

There is also a kiss in episode 15 when Young Joon proposed to Mi So and a wedding kiss in episode 16. These scenes have a touch of tenderness to make your heart melt and craving for more!

So, go and watch What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim now and then feel free to come back here to drop your comments about this romantic drama.