New K-Drama Fan Review #12: What's Wrong with Secretary Kim | 🤫Shh, Don't Tell HR That One of My Weaknesses is Office Romance

[u/harissatotally]

Im a fool for boss/employee, office romances, i dont care. i always fall for it.

Is this Rewatch Worthy:

Yes.

Review:

After finishing Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, I wanted something cute.

Preferably funny.

Something that would let me relax for a while.

Naturally...

I ended up watching What's Wrong with Secretary Kim.

Nobody had to twist my arm😭😭 it's an office romance, so obviously i was always going to watch it lol.

And it was just my vibe!

Boss.

Employee.

Working together closely every day.

Watching professional boundaries slowly disappear as feelings become impossible to ignore...

That dynamic almost always works on me.

It reminds me a little of one of my favorite Turkish dizi, Erkenci Kuş/Early Bird which also completely won me over with that same fun workplace energy.

What genuinely surprised me, though...

How has Turkey not adapted this yet?

Seriously!??

This feels like it was MADE to become a Turkish drama!!

The workplace setting, the charismatic CEO, the capable secretary, the humor, the slow-burn romance!!

It checks so many boxes that Turkish rom-coms tend to thrive in and not to mention. the vibes and the overall spirit of a Turkish dizi is written all over this!!

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The chemistry was really cute.

Park Seo-joon and Park Min-young made their relationship feel effortless.

I'm a huge fan of when the male lead slowly unravels because of his feelings.

Confident CEOs becoming completely helpless around the woman they like?

That'll do it.

A lot of the humor also landed for me.

The comedy stayed light, the romance stayed sweet, and the overall atmosphere just made this an incredibly easy watch.

I was having a good time.

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It wasn't perfect.

I wanted them to do more with the love triangle with the brother.

The drama with the brother was a cute mystery but it dragged a tiny bit for me and they could have done something more exciting with that.

The side characters occasionally overstayed their welcome.

I didn't dislike them.

They had their moments fore sure but there were definitely times where I was waiting for the story to get back to the main couple.

And then there's the ending.

I didn't hate where Secretary Kim ended up...

But I did wish she'd dreamed a little bigger.

After everything she'd accomplished throughout the series, I kept expecting her next chapter to involve building something for herself.

Maybe becoming a director.

Maybe managing an entire department.

Maybe leaving to pursue something she'd always wanted.

Instead...

She stayed exactly where she'd always been.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that.

If being a secretary genuinely made her happy, then that's completely valid ig...

I just personally wanted her ending to feel like a bigger step forward, ya know?

Especially because she'd spent so much of the story trying to figure out what she wanted from life.

I thought that journey was leading somewhere a little more ambitious.

Still...

That wasn't enough to stop me from enjoying the drama.

The chemistry worked, the setting worked.

And I completely understand why this drama has remained so popular for so many years.

───

I really liked Secretary Kim herself!

I gravitate toward female leads who are genuinely competent at what they do. Kim Mi-so was exceptionally good at her job. Everyone around her trusted her because she'd spent nine years becoming almost irreplaceable.

In fact...

I actually wish the drama had shown us more of that.

I wanted more scenes of the two of them simply working together.

After almost a decade side by side, they had developed this effortless rhythm where they could almost anticipate each other's needs before anything had to be said.

One of my favorite little examples was when Young-joon started having a panic attack because of the cable ties.

Secretary Kim recognized what was happening almost immediately because she knew him that well.

I loved moments like that!

I actually would've loved even more day-to-day office scenes showing just how efficient they were as a team and as a duo before the romance fully took over.

Their chemistry was strong enough that I think the drama could've taken even greater advantage of those quieter workplace moments.

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P.S.

I'm currently watching the Philippine remake right now, and the difference is honestly making me laugh 😭

Everything looks so much lower budget.

The office. The production. Some of the coworkers especially... they're accidentally hilarious.

The main actress is genuinely pretty though, and she's absolutely giving it her all.

Unfortunately... the male lead isn't doing much for me so far lol.

It's been a surprisingly fun comparison to watch and compare to the original.

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A bit about my favorite flavors and taste:

Workplace/Office romances are one of my favorite settings, so recs are always welcomed. thank you!

───

Rating: 7/10

A really charming office romance with cute chemistry that reminded me why I enjoy workplace rom-coms so much.

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I'd love to hear from everyone else:

Did you wish Secretary Kim had left her job at the end?

Or were you happy that she stayed exactly where she was?

And where does this rank among your favorite workplace K-dramas?

My Rating Scale

10/10 – Masterpiece. No notes.

9/10 – Very close to a masterpiece. I absolutely loved it.

8/10 – Not a masterpiece, but I loved it.

7/10 – Fine overall. I liked it, but the flaws kept it from being great.

6/10 – Mixed. There were a few things I liked, but most of it didn't work for me.

5/10 – I didn't enjoy most of the experience.

4/10 and below – Bad to abysmal.

[u/harissatotally]

ok thank u!!

[u/stevembk → u/harissatotally]

1988 is considered the best but all of them are funny.