The Man We Need These Days: ‘My Perfect Secretary’
In this day and age, the ideal boyfriend needed by a career woman.
Episode 1 started with a viewership rating of 5.2%. Its popularity rose sharply each week, culminating in a huge success with 12% for the final 12th episode!
You can probably guess what the drama is about the moment you see the title, right? You can practically picture it, can’t you?
Yes, yes, it’s exactly that kind of drama. But… even though it’s something you’ve seen before… that… is what makes it so good… It’s so….much….entertaining you need.
Isn’t a mature, efficient, handsome male lead who’s also perfect at housework, cooking, and childcare a more desirable ideal man for us than a wealthy chaebol prince?
This story depicts the relationship between Ji-yoon, the CEO of a headhunting firm who can’t do anything on her own besides work, and Eun-ho, her secretary who perfectly supports her. It portrays their journey of mutual influence and growth.
Office romance dramas featuring smart, career-driven women are a K-drama bestseller. However, it’s rare to find an attractive male actor who can romantically portray a mature and modern male character who keeps pace with the female lead’s charisma in this genre.
It’s enjoyable to see a well-structured office drama after a long time, and the chemistry between Han Ji-min and Lee Jun-hyuk, the leads in this romance, is also good.
Above all, the male lead looks great in a suit… really good…
Overview
Genre: Family, Romantic comedy, Office romance
Episodes: 12
Broadcast Channel: SBS
Cast: Han Ji-min, Lee Jun-hyuk
Best viewership Rating: 12%
Recommend for who
* Tired career women
* People who love classical romance comedy
* Men who want to date career women
* Single dads
Synopsis
A full-fledged care romance drama between Yoo Eun-ho, a secretary singularly focused on childcare (figuratively), and Kang Ji-yoon, a CEO singularly self-absorbed.
The story of how Eun-ho, armed with perfection, appears as a secretary in front of Ji-yoon, a successful headhunter CEO who can’t do anything on her own except work, and how they grow together.
Characters
Kang Ji-yoon (Han Ji-min)
She lost her mother and father early in life due to a house fire and spent a difficult childhood moving between relatives’ homes. As a result, she is fiercely driven by an excessive sense of responsibility and stubbornness.
Ji-yoon is the CEO of People’s, a headhunting firm. In just five years since its founding, she has propelled her company to become the second-largest in the headhunting industry. She is a young, ambitious, and highly sought-after female CEO.
Her job is to recommend the perfect candidates that companies desire and to help candidates looking to change jobs find places where their value is recognized and their careers can be expanded.
In contrast to her tenacious survival skills in the cutthroat industry, her personal life is a complete mess. Her office is perpetually a garbage island overflowing with documents, and she often can’t even find her own car.
Constantly plagued by insomnia, she is the epitome of sensitivity. Living only for her work, she never attends company dinners with her employees and is a lonely person who cannot confide her true feelings to anyone.
The heroine isn’t the typical passive or Cinderella-type female found in typical Korean dramas. Instead, she’s a woman in a leadership position who proactively guides and resolves situations, which feels fresh. Han Ji-min showcases a variety of career woman fashion with a flawless beauty that belies her age. She’s a unique actress in Korea who receives praise as being like an angel, with hardly any anti-fans, and in this drama, she shows a different acting style than before, with her transformation being considered a success.
Yu Eun-ho (Lee Joon-hyuk)
He had a daughter, Yoo-byeol, with his girlfriend from university, but eventually divorced and became a single dad. He’s always impeccably dressed in a suit and takes care of his child with such tenderness that he’s the object of envy for all the women in the neighborhood.
He was recognized for his abilities while working in the HR department at Hansu Electronics, a large corporation, but was unfairly and unilaterally fired, suddenly becoming unemployed.
As a 7-year single dad, he possesses perfect organizational skills, meticulous time management, a knack for cooking, and even emergency response skills, leading to his special recruitment as Kang Ji-yoon’s secretary .
Ji-yoon, already a prickly and sensitive boss, doesn’t readily open her heart to him, as she knows that Eun-ho views headhunters’ work negatively, making his company life difficult from the start.
He’s tall, handsome, and even caring, but he’s a working-class (commoner) version of the perfect man, not a chaebol (conglomerate heir).
Lee Jun-hyuk, the male lead, has undergone such a transformation that it’s surprising to realize how attractive he is, especially since he’s mostly played supporting roles until now. His acting is good, his voice is good, and his suit fit is so….amazing.
It features quite a few clichés commonly found in traditional romantic comedies. The ending is predictable, and the overall plot seems obvious.
It’s safe to say the setting, development, and ending are exactly as the title suggests. However, the story moves quickly and is clean and uncluttered, which is a plus.
In particular, the direction in each scene is sensual and stylish, making it a drama you want to watch, even though the content is familiar, rather than boring. More than anything, the visual appeal and chemistry of the male and female leads are overwhelmingly good, making it a drama with the charm to keep you watching for vicarious satisfaction.
A thoughtful and kind man who prepares a sweet drink with plenty of whipped cream for his girlfriend when she’s tired from work… I worry that this drama will further raise the expectations that women have for their boyfriends or partners.
We love Korean Dramas! Thank you for enjoying!
XOXO
