Letter #74: What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?

Good morning, Erin.

So, good news—Netflix lied to me: 19th Life is absolutely on twice a week. And thank heavens for that. 

Also: I have alleviated some of the stress of waiting for the new episode of Heart Signal 4 by waiting for the new episode of Rent-a-Girlfriend and stressing over that.

Also also: before allocating some of my stress-waiting to Rent-a-Girlfriend, I fought off the desire to rewatch the previous episodes of Heart Signal 4 as a means of alleviating some of my stress-waiting for the next new episode, which means, instead, I finished watching What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?

…which I want to take a moment to appreciate as a wonderful moment of synchronicity between the two of us—because I totally planned on doing a surprise Park Min-young trilogy for Phase III, and you beat me to it!

Though, really, at this point, I don’t know why I should be surprised that you know me better than I do. 

So…shall we find out What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?

1. The first substantial line of spoken dialogue in this show is just the title of the show, which I quite enjoyed. 

2. You know I’m always going on about translation decisions, but this series had one of the most confusing inconsistencies I’ve ever seen in a (presumably) fansubbed show: Secretary Kim has a notebook from her childhood with drawings and essentially diary entries she wanted to share with the boy she had been kidnapped with, and the notebook has a title on the front that says, “For Oppa”—but it’s translated first as “for my brother,” then as “for my sweetheart,” and then as “for my dear friend.” As I think I have mentioned before, I would have preferred that it be left as “for oppa” because we don’t have an exact-enough translation of the term in English—especially since, as this inconsistent translation demonstrates, this particular one (and terms like it) has this wonderful ambiguity to it that is lost when you have to choose one of the much more definitive terms in English.

2A. We get another case of dumped being used when the context would clearly indicate someone was rejected, as well. But this seems to be a translation across all subtitles (even in Japanese), so I’m starting to wonder if there may be subtext to the translation that I don’t understand. 

3. I’m 90% sure this show was produced as an excuse to get Park Min-young in her secretary outfits. Because…wow. All the guys were gaga over her on Busted!, and I never quite understood why. But I have to assume that—charming and cool though she totally was on that show—the distinction is that she simply wasn’t ever in a pencil skirt and chiffon blouse on that show. Or else I would have understood.

4. …which I think is a good time to bring up that, though she is very attractive (in this show, at least), Park Min-young is, as you have always said, not a great actress. She’s just really unnatural, here. I think you described her as stiff, and I can see why (insofar as her performance in this show, anyway): she plays the facade she uses while in “secretary mode” in literally every emotional scenario she’s in. The only real difference from one to the next is how dead her eyes are when she smiles. There was so much nuance missing from her performance. It was tolerable, most of the time, but there were a few moments where I found it really frustrating. 

4A. Seriously—tell me it doesn’t seem like she’s constantly filming an old coffee commercial. 

4B. It didn’t take me long to see what I didn’t like about Park Min-young’s performance, and I immediately made a short list of who I think would have been a better fit. My top pick was EL (who would have rocked it), then Kim Se-jeong (and, yes, I was thinking about A Business Proposal the whole time), then Jung So-min (who, of course, I want to see in everything—and who, of course, I did ultimately see).  

4C. And, just to say, we spend an awful lot of time watching the male lead shower, but we’re never given the same treatment with Min-young, which sounds unfair, to me. 

5. Just for the record: Mr. Lee, our main dude, wasn’t much better—though he was better. 

6. I really liked the supporting cast, though. They were all very funny. 

7. Speaking of the cast…did you know that I recognized:

• Park Min-young from Busted! as Secretary Kim

• Woo Young-woo’s boss from Attorney Woo as Mr. Lee’s only friend

• the red-haired mom from Crash Course in Romance as Ms. Bong

• the grim reaper from Hotel Del Luna as Mr. Yang

• the chef-boyfriend from Thirty-Nine as Morpheus (Mr. Lee’s brother)

• CEO Ma from Because This is My First Life as Secretary Kim’s blind date

• the jerk ex-fiance from Bo Ra! Deborah as Mr. One Suit

• Prosecuter from Touch Your Heart as the woman who kidnapped them

• the goblin queen from Kiss Goblin as the Nameless Girl from the office

• my girl Jung So-min from …First Life as Secretary Kim’s mom

• the main guy from …First Life as Secretary Kim’s dad

• the magician from Busted! as…well, himself, I guess

• the crazy ex-girlfriend from That Winter, the Wind Blows as Young-woo’s boss’s ex-wife

7A. Y’know, the woman playing Ms. Bong was also on Busted!, as were a few other people on the show, apparently (none of whom I recognized from there). I guess everything flows through Min-young, hmm?

7B. I was watching some behind-the-scenes videos on YouTube for Vincenzo, and it seems Mr. One Suit was on that, as well—presumably because he and the villain are both from 2PM. So…there’s that, as well. (Also: one of the office workers makes a joke about something Mr. One Suit says by referencing 2PM, and I was able to laugh because I knew why they were making that specific joke. So…I’m pretty much a K-wave expert, at this point.)

8. Speaking of CEO Ma, though…what an absolutely useless character his blind date guy was. I mean, integral to the plot, of course, because it contrives a way for Secretary Kim to learn that Morpheus was the one who was kidnapped with her (even though he wasn’t), but…there had to be a more elegant way to get her that information. I mean, I liked that Mr. Lee flipped out when he saw her fix the guy’s tie, but to combine the info dump and the jealousy beats into the one guy—WHO THEN DISAPPEARS FROM THE STORY—seemed a clunky choice, to me. (And I say this as someone who really liked this actor and is predisposed to wanting an excuse for him to be around.)

9. There’s some great product placement in the early part of the show: Mr. Lee pretty much forces some bottled cold-brew coffee on Secretary Kim, and so he expects her to make a big show of how much she likes it. Which she does. Which is 100% the kind of thing they’d want in a promo. Very clever. 

10. The team-building retreat is probably the best arc of the show, allowing the supporting cast to have some very amusing time in the sun, with the standout probably being Mr. One Suit. He really got to flex his comedy muscles in that scene. 

11. Speaking of being funny, though…I think we need to take a moment to recognize how very, very funny Mr. Yang is. I knew I liked him as the grim reaper in Hotel Del Luna, but I didn’t expect him to be adept at silly comedy, as well. He’s the kind of guy who needs to be in more stuff but is probably being held back by his stature and looks. (Or maybe he’s not. What do I know.) Regardless, I’d like to see him in a role with more substance, whether it be comedic or dramatic. 

12. They repeatedly show the pinky-swear promise made between Mr. Lee and Secretary Kim as little kids, and it would bug me every single time—because the kids screw it up: first, she puts out her right hand and he puts out his left…but then the shot becomes a closeup and it’s her right hand and his right hand as well. As if I am not the world’s greatest detective and, as such, would not notice this editing trick. Well, I did. And boy-howdy did it bug me. 

13. When they show the kids while being kept by the kidnapper lady, they blur out the bindings at their ankles and wrists. Because it’s too hot for TV. I guess. 

14. When Mr. Lee first feels a romantic heart-skip for Secretary Kim, he doesn’t know what it is and reacts as though he’s been stabbed. Which is hilarious.

15. …of course, it’s also a story conceit that gets severely undercut by later events: once we’ve learned that the two of them were kidnapped together, we start to get flashbacks to how he hired her because he knew she was the girl from his past he’d been longing for and how he’d done a million little things to show his affection for her over the years. As in, this is all done knowingly—and yet he spends the first several episodes needing to learn that what he feels for her is love (rather than, say, a selfish desire to keep a good employee). So, which is it? Has he been in love with her this whole time? Or did he love her and not have any idea about it until it seemed like he would lose her?

15A. Similarly, I feel like the character dynamic between the two isn’t quite right, at the beginning. He’s kind of doing the jealous “I like her but I don’t realize it” stuff, but I don’t have any idea what she’s supposed to be getting across to us. 

16. I mentioned already that I frequently thought of A Business Proposal, as I watched this series, but…c’mon, tell me Mr. Lee’s growling wolf sound cue wasn’t EXACTLY like the archaeopteryx screech from the other show! 

17. “How dare a grown woman let a man into her home!” Hilarious line from Secretary Kim’s eldest sister. I really liked her. In fact, she was in the running for best girl. 

17A. Speaking of the amusing line mentioned above: I really like the talk she has with Secretary Kim that follows this outburst, as she tries to warn her little sister away from Mr. Lee because she thinks it’s dangerous (for her) if they date. It’s equal parts overreaction and deeply loving—which I like as a piece of writing—and it is met with an assertion from Secretary Kim that the social class gap is her problem to deal with, which is great. Because it’s not inherently harmful (to her) if they get together, so who cares if there’s a possibility that it might not work out? Is it not worth trying?

18. I’ve talked about how good Park Min-young looks in her secretary outfits, but I do want to acknowledge how incredible it is that she can actually run in those skirts and heels. Impressive. 

19. When Secretary Kim regains all her memories of what happened when she was kidnapped, she faints. Morpheus runs over to her and very melodramatically drops down next to her, shouting her name—until he is shoved aside by Mr. Lee, who then very melodramatically drops down next to her and starts shouting her name. Which is just…so very funny. (To me, anyway.)

20. While we’re on the subject: I’m pretty sure we didn’t need that kidnapping subplot. Like, I get what role it had in the story, but…it’s a little too much, no?

21. They do a jump-scare in Episode 12 when Secretary Kim is going to sleep in the guest room at Mr. Lee’s house: she turns on the light, and he’s just…there, staring at her. And it totally got me. I hopped up in my seat and let out an involuntary “F***!”

22. Mr. Lee suggests they get married in Las Vegas because it’s a romantic city. I…don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that. 

22A. That said, I am a very big fan of the song “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” by Brandon Flowers (of The Killers), which is…not expressly romantic, but I do find it emotionally rousing, which is kind of similar. So, maybe Mr. Lee’s not totally wrong. 

23. Speaking of songs: I love your abridged cover of “Breathless,” and I immediately added the MP3 rip of it to my “Erin Does Singing” playlist. And I looped it for about an hour at work, the other day, when I heard you weren’t coming in. 

24. Young-woo’s boss doesn’t once say “whoa, whoa,” and I still haven’t forgiven the show. 

25. After the shopping spree with Mr. Lee’s mother, Secretary Kim refers to herself as the “Paris Hilton of Korea,” leaving me stunned yet again that Paris Hilton is somehow a cultural figure of referential significance roughly 20 years after she faded from pop-relevance in America. 

26. I was impressed with the young actor they hired to be the child version of Mr. Lee because he had the same expressions as the older actor…but I was shocked to find out that the young actor hired to play the child version of Morpheus was, y’know, an actor and not just a picture of the older actor when he was a child. By which I mean that we first see the younger Morpheus is a picture at the parents’ house, so I just assumed they got a picture of the actor as a child and were using that, because the photo look so much like him. But no: they found a child actor who looked very much like him. (Giving Glitch a run for its money.)

27. Speaking of pictures: I can’t believe they photoshopped Mr. Lee and Secretary Kim into a picture of the after-party in the Rose Garden after Barack Obama gave the Medal of Freedom to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011. (That’s right, I did the grunt work to find where the original photo was taken. Because I am the world’s greatest detective!) They just superimposed his head on someone’s body and added her in the space behind him. It’s really good, except for the shadows on Secretary Kim, which don’t quite match up with the light in the photo—but it is pretty close. 

28. I love how increasingly labored Mr. One Suit’s “work is all I need!” assertions get over the course of the series. 

29. Y’know who else was great? Other Secretary Kim. She was fun and adorable, and I quite enjoyed her subplot with Mr. One Suit. She was almost best girl, but…not quite. (Because she wore a Coldplay shirt in one scene? Who’s to say…)

30. There wasn’t nearly enough of Young-woo’s boss’s terrible secretary. She was a riot. And, yes, almost best girl.

31. Speaking of the terrible secretary: I loooooove that she and the Nameless Girl on the team end up being besties by the end. It’s such a fun sub-subplot. 

32. …and, yes, Nameless Girl is #bestgirl. Obviously. 

32A. No, seriously, she was my favorite. I thought she was super-fun in how much life she put into how little she had to do. She was always around, and she did a great job being the “and she was there, too” character. (I don’t think anyone mentioned her by name, which is why I call her “Nameless Girl.”)

32B. Plus, overall, each of the supporting cast in the office team slowly got a defining character trait or two (such as the manager who was a big gossip and always wanted an excuse to go out drinking)—and Nameless Girl’s trait was that she liked food, eventually leading to the best line of the series, which comes as the team thinks they’re all about to be fired: “I’m doomed—there’s still so much food I want to eat!”

33. Relatedly: they added an intern to the team, at some point, and I didn’t notice—and neither, it seems, did the team manager who had to look at the intern’s ID badge to address him by name. And it was just nice to know I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know who he was. 

34. I’m pretty sure the “library” they visit in this show is the same one that’s used in A Korean Odyssey—and, perhaps to no surprise, Busted! (Unless, of course, I’m library racist.)

35. I gave the fansubs flack, earlier, about not knowing how to deal with translating oppa, but I want to thank the fansubbers for subtitling all of Min-young’s English dialogue. You know I have a thing about that. 

36. And I know I gave the leads flack for their acting (...because they deserve it), but they do step it up quite a bit once the romance ramps up in the middle of the show. They don’t quite keep it up for the whole run of the series, but…credit where it’s due.

37. The “two-second eye contact vision statement” gag at the retreat was really, really funny. Everyone got a moment to make us laugh with whatever facial expression they could come up with (...except for Nameless Girl, who sort of got lumped into the background of Secretary Kim’s shot, which of course devastated me beyond all repair). 

37A.Semi-relatedly: according to the love doctor host on Heart Signal 4—WHICH IS AMAZING AND YOU SHOULD WATCH—two seconds is the exact right amount of time for eye contact with someone for it to be (romantically) meaningful. Less indicates lack of interest, and more can get too intense. So…fun fact. 

38. Speaking of the retreat…absolutely F*** walking across that bridge over the gigantic chasm that Mr. Lee and Secretary Kim do as they have their chat about their feelings or whatever. If a director told me I’d have to do a scene on that, I’d threaten to quit the show. (“No, just deepfake my head on a stuntman’s body. I’m not doing it. No no no, don’t lie to me—I saw what you did in the Obama photo! You have the technology!”)

39. I know it’s supposed to be a comedic disaster that Mr. Lee burned the steak he bought to barbecue for Secretary Kim, but…I hate steak, and the only way I’ll tolerate it is if it’s burned to a crisp. So, really, if he were trying to woo me, I’d find this very sweet of him. I mean, granted, I’d still question why he’d try to woo me with steak when he knows I hate it, but…still. 

40. I’m not usually as keen on the Domino's Pizza product placement as I am the Subway stuff, but…man, they crammed the Domino’s stuff in so blatantly, here, that I came around to love it. I mean, they deliver to a random bench in the park in the middle of the night. That’s absurd. And wonderful.

41. Mr. One Suit and Mr. Yang both wear t-shirts under their suit jackets TO THE WEDDING. Who in the hell thinks that’s appropriate attire? Like, you could have made a joke about Mr. One Suit choosing the wrong time to show up in new clothes (apart from its character significance, of course), but…I mean, it’s not even a beach wedding! What were they thinking?!

42. It was kind of amusing that neither of our leads had been in a relationship before but both turned out to be amazing at sex on their first try. Or maybe they’re not, but because neither has anything to compare it to, they didn’t notice. 

42A. Meanwhile, the show’s like, “Quick—distract them with Park Min-young walking around in a big shirt!” Which…no complaints…but it’s such a bizarre choice, since she just wanders into the scene and then out of it for no reason other than to be looked at. 

43. Relatedly: in their first attempt, the show spends quite a lot of time watching Mr. Lee sensually pull at the ribbon on Secretary Kim’s shirt, but that also means we can clearly see the actor try very, very hard not to accidentally touch her bosom, which is always hilarious in these kinds of scenes. 

44. The last three or four episodes are mostly killing time because the plot is already over, but it took me forever to get through the finale because it was sooooo boring. 

44A. …until Young-woo’s boss’s terrible secretary re-entered the story after several episodes away and amused me greatly. (I literally have in my notes: “we haven’t seen Ms. Seul in ages, and I’m very upset.”) She even meets up with Nameless Girl outside the wedding reception and they go in together. 

44B. I’m not claiming that my headcanon is that these two end up as a couple, but…they do get shown together as a pair while they’re doing the “and then these two became a couple” shots of the other characters, sooooooo…

44C. “But Daryl, didn’t the dudes in the office get a similar kind of—” THERE’S NO TIME, ERIN!

45. At the wedding, Mr. Yang gives Ms. Bong a flower from the table, and she giggles and sniffs it and it’s all romantic…unless you remember that they made a big deal about making sure all the flowers were fake because Secretary Kim has such a strong pollen allergy. 

46. After they fight about how they should treat each other while at work, Mr. Lee goes to Young-woo’s boss to talk about it, and the scene plays out the way every other talk between the two of them does. BUT…this is the first time Young-woo’s boss would have been told that these two were dating, right? Shouldn’t this be shocking news, to him? 

47. I ragged on the final episode, but Mr. Lee enthusiastically dragging Secretary Kim to the department store so they can buy the newlywed dining set she wouldn’t let him purchase several episodes ago was genuinely cute.

48. More than anything else, I am glad this show avoided all of the variants of the stupid “now that we’re together, we have to break up!” cliche plots that shows like to do to fill time. I mean, it still chose to fill time with fluff, at the end, but at least it wasn’t that fluff. 

And…I think that’s it. Hooray!

Not a bad time, I have to say. I mean, it doesn’t bode well for my decision to do a Park Min-young trilogy, but other than the at times poor acting, this was fun, especially in the middle part of the series. 

Dunno where I’m headed next. I’m in the middle of a bunch of things that are currently airing. Which probably means 19th Life will be the first of those to make the list. But that’s done in two weeks, so…what will I do until then?

Well, I guess we’ll see soon enough.

—Daryl

P.S. - For the record, I meant to have this up sooner, but I was sick over the weekend. Now, I’m not claiming this was a direct result of not having had a chance to chat with you in a couple of weeks, but it is quite the coincidence.