The Secret Life Of My Secretary

A romance story between Do Min Ik (Kim Young Kwang) and Jung Gal Hee (Jin Ki Joo).

Do Min Ik is an intelligent man and the executive of a leading telecommunications company who always relies on his secretary, the loyal Jung Gal Hee. When Jung Gal Hee gets fired from her job she winds up assuming a double life as a famous movie industry figure, Veronica Park, after Do Min Ik gets into an accident that leaves him with face blindness (prosopagnosia).

source: mydramalist.

Naturally it was expected that I would check this drama out because I enjoy seeing Kim Young Kwang in fluffy roles. I was, as usual, a bit iffy about whether it was something I was going to fully turn my attention to because the cast was a little green. I knew of Jin Ki Joo from Come And Hug Me, but I never watched it so I didn’t know what to expect from her. The other two leads had less than impressive resumes as well and when we pair that with another secretary romance drama.. I wasn’t quite sold. So what changed my mind? The teasers.

For myself personally, when it comes to romcoms I have to be sold on chemistry immediately. While I admit that some chemistry takes time to develop (Strongest Deliveryman) there must be something feasible for me to see and think mmm maybe they would make a good pairing. The first teaser that I saw was the one where they’re on the trampoline and it kept switching between Gal Hee and Veronica Park then I saw the trailer where they talked about love at first sight. I thought to myself that they look really good together. From that point on ward I had to research to see what The Secret Life of My Secretary was actually about. Each major news site that was reporting on this drama had conflicting synopsis and made me very confused. Then I saw a behind the scenes of our two leads and knew that I got it. Thus I found myself on the first episode to see if my theory was right.

For the record, I was right 100% right. Hehehe. The first eight (four) episodes of this drama set it up perfectly in that I am pretty sure straight down to the episode where everything will happen in this gigantic mix of cliches. However, that doesn’t mean that I am not enjoying this drama. Quite the contrary actually, I am thoroughly enjoying it for what it is and it’s because of what I had mentioned earlier, chemistry. Ki Joo is absolutely endearing and divine in her role as the push over yet strong and vibrant Secretary. In all honesty, she’s literally the highlight so far. Her comedic timing is absolutely delicious! Her and Young Kwang are playing off each other so well that it allows me to overlook the glaring plot holes and I just really find myself anticipating their scenes.

The plot is cliched predictable and likely to evolve into a thorough mess of misunderstandings. The one thing I do want to highlight is how different this drama is showcasing prosopagnosia. We know it’s been a kdrama cliche these last two years where one of the leads has this disorder, however, this drama is making it entirely believable and making me think of it in a completely different way. Young Kwang is doing well in how his character is handling this situation.

So… am I continuing this? Yessir. I may actually continue to watch it weekly too and not just binge at the end.

First Impression Score: 7/10