What's Wrong With Secretary Kim?

      So I decided to bingewatch another Park Seo Joon k-drama while waiting for It's Okay Not To Be Okay to finish releasing its episode so I could bingewatch it... Ended up watching What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? Or my preferred title which is actually What's Wrong With Vice President Lee? Coz I lost count of the number of times I asked "What's wrong with that guy?" I have to say though that this Rom Com had me laughing in stitches thanks to the obnoxiously narcissistic character of the male lead Lee Young Jun...

     I almost gave up watching it after the 1st episode coz I couldn't stand Lee Young Jun... Secretary Kim aka Kim Mi So is a saint for being able to put up with her boss for 9 years... Having dated a narcissist, I really do have a strong aversion towards such character... But I suppose this is the magic of K-drama: I went from "Ugh! I can't stand this obnoxious narcissistic guy!" in the first 8 episodes to "😍😍😍 I so want to marry this guy!" in the last 8 episodes... The heart is such a fickle creature! But of course, in reality, a narcissist never changes its stripes...

     If there's a persistent theme in all these idol series, it is this: the male lead and the female lead have always met when they were younger... Either in their preteen / teen years...And somehow they were separated and met again as destiny intended a decade or 2 later... In this drama, young Lee Young Jun (or Lee Sung Hyeon), age 9 and Kim Mi So, age 5 were kidnapped by a mentally disturbed woman who ended up hanging herself in front of the 2 kids... Sung Hyeon managed to free both of them and brought Mi So home... she then proposed to him saying that they should get married when they grow up... Sung Hyeon agreed and even made a pinky promise with her... However, by the time Sung Hyeon emerged from the traumatic experience and went back to look for Mi So, the neighbourhood no longer existed as it was being turned into an amusement park by Sung Hyeon's father's company...

     So here's the thing, I've had the same experience of proposing to a guy at a tender age of 5 while we were lying under the seats of our school bus on our way back from kindergarten almost on a daily basis (that poor boy, he must have been so traumatized)... of course he never said yes and there was no pinky promise... and by the time I met him again in high school, I didn't think I wanted to marry him at all... And he, having had to go through such trauma probably avoided me at all cost... But yeah, that's real life for you...

     I guess my opinion of Lee Young Jun changed a little after I realized that he was the guy Mi So was looking for and he recognized her when she first started working in his company... But Mi So didn't recognize him coz she forgot his name and the whole traumatic experience... She only remembered there was an oppa who showed her kindness and comforted her when she was scared and alone... He didn't tell her back then because he thought it was good that she didn't remember because he grew up remembering the traumatic experience and being haunted by nightmares of the dead woman every day of his life while having to pretend that he didn't remember anything about it... Coz his useless elder brother developed false memory that he was the one being kidnapped and caused so much havoc for the family... Oh, and that's another persistent theme in k-dramas: the chaebol always has a traumatic childhood experience that leaves him scarred for life and can only be cured by the love of the female lead

     I suppose Young Jun's character was his defense mechanism... He kept young women at bay because he was traumatized by a young woman... He had to live a life of perfection and keep telling himself how great and awesome he was to keep his psyche from falling apart... He thought by making Mi So his secretary, he would be able to keep her by his side always... until the day she told him she was going to quit her job and find her own life... I guess that's when his facade of Mr Perfect fell apart...

     If I thought his excessive self-confidence and self-love was funny, I found his attempts to romance Mi So even funnier... Watching Park Seo Joon's goofy crinkly-eyed grin whenever he's pleased with himself and thinking of Mi So just gets to me every time... Yes, I have a weakness for men with crinkly-eyed smiles... 

     I learned a new term in the drama... The curse of the blockbuster... Apparently this is where a guy brings a girl on a blockbuster date (meaning an extravagant and elaborate date that requires a lot of money) and the girl will find all dates with other ordinary men less desirable... Pretty accurate I suppose...

     Of course there was a happy ending for this couple... A guy like Lee Young Jun will always get his girl... But I especially love the proposal part (and also the funny scenes when he's trying to think of ways to propose)... Of course the chaebol always knows how to play the piano... And so Young Jun was playing the piano and singing his heart out for Mi So... And as he was proposing, he said he will sing for her for the rest of their lives (coz Mi So said his lullaby calms her down and helps her fall asleep)... I thought that was the most romantic thing, ever... 

     Okay, it's time to watch It's Okay Not To Be Okay now...