Introverted Boss

Introverted Boss

6.5/10

Introverted Boss

Genre:                                Episodes: 16                          Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Eun Hwan Ki is the CEO of a highly successful public relations company. He suffers from extreme shyness, and due to his inability to interact well with his staff he has earned a reputation as a cold, uncaring boss. A bright, energetic girl, Chae Ro Woon, enters Hwan Ki’s company in order to uncover the truth and get revenge for a secretary that committed suicide at the company three years ago.

Cast:

Yeon Woo Jin (Eun Hwan Ki)

Park Hye Soo (Chae Ro Woon)

Yoon Park (Kang Woo Il)

Gong Seung Yeon (Eun Yi Soo)

Han Chae Ah (Chae Ji Hye)

Ye Ji Won (Dang Yoo Hee)

Jun Hyo Seong (Kim Kyo Ri)

Heo Jeong Min (Eom Sun Bong)

Han Jae Suk (Jang Se Jong)

General Thoughts:

Sadly, the extreme amount of cute from our leading man couldn’t quite cover up the extreme lack of plot in our story. I adored Yeon Woon Jin as Hwan Ki and the Silent Monster team, but a lack of sense and a lack of consistency meant that the plot felt mishandled and discordant.

I adore how awkward he is with everything

For the plot, I think the re-write is where a lot went wrong. I really commend the writers for listening to their audience and trying to adjust their drama to the viewer’s tastes (because what use is a drama with characters no one likes?) but unfortunately this meant that the plot ran into some obstacles further down the road. Perhaps it’s because I watch Western TV as well as Korean, but I’m used to pushy, outspoken, mildly annoying female characters, so I don’t think I was quite as averse to the original Ro Woon as the Korean audience was.

I mean, at least she's not a Candy girl

Sure, I definitely found her annoying and could not comprehend for a moment how she was not being fired what with her blatant lack of respect, so I really didn’t mind her being toned down at all. Until we started nearing the end of the drama. It was then that I started to suspect that not only was Ro Woon’s character toned down, but due to her being toned down, parts of the plot had to be changed- most notably being that the revenge story was basically discarded. Which didn’t matter at all until the last two or three episodes when suddenly nothing was happening and there was a huge inconsistency in Ro Woon’s reactions. The writer did a brilliant job at first adjusting the script so that you wouldn’t notice the re-write unless you’d heard the news, but by the end there was certainly something not quite adding up. Our story opens with Ro Woon wanting to completely destroy the man she thought pushed her sister to suicide even though she had no evidence to support that Hwan Ki had anything to do with her sister’s death. Then at the end, she’s flat-out told that Woo Il is the one who put Ro Woon’s sister in an awkward situation that most likely contributed to her suicidal thoughts and…nothing. Ro Woon cries and…moves on? Yeah, it wasn’t smooth at all.

⇧This is the big emotional payoff for the major plot-line. Yeah. ⇧

I didn’t really have a problem with Park Hye Soo’s acting, it was more the way the character was written that confused me. For sure, I think that Park Hye Soo is more suited for cute comedy over obnoxious, revenge-driven characters, but at the end of the day it was the way Ro Woon was written that made her character seem strange and amiss. However, the story was really quite enjoyable while it focused on Hwan Ki and him learning how to communicate with those around him. Before the show entered its final stages, the re-write seemed to be going quite smoothly.

I'm a total sucker for cute couple stuff

By softening Ro Woon’s character, we got to see lots of cute couple moments sprinkled throughout the series rather than only getting them at the end. As well as Ro Woon, it was fantastic to see our main man start to develop his relationships with the other employees that were a part of Silent Monster. It was wonderful to see how uniquely he thought of each of them, and how he could assign projects to the one most suited to it. As Hwan Ki learned how to interact with his employees, they also learned how to understand Hwan Ki’s intentions, and it was fun watching each of them connect to their strange boss in a different way. I wish that we’d got to see a bit more of the other members of the team, as it was with them that I found a lot of the heart of the show. Including the team members showed how Hwan Ki was learning to socialise with everyone- not just the girl he was interested in. The middle portion of this drama was highly enjoyable, but the start and the end were pretty shaky. 

What Was Great:

The Introverted Boss:

By far the greatest thing about this drama was its hero. Hwan Ki was just all kinds of delightful. Being a total introvert myself, I was definitely drawn to Hwan Ki and his struggles. Though personally I would’ve labelled Hwan Ki as psychologically scarred, I guess ‘Severely Socially Anxious Boss’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I want to snuggle all his sadness away

Hwan Ki was able to be nervous and scared without ever coming across as weak, which is quite an achievement character-wise. Yeon Woo Jin really acted him to perfection so that every effort Hwan Ki made seemed like a courageous step forward rather that something he should have been able to do anyway- like tell someone he liked his coffee sweet.

As a chronic over-thinker, I identify with Hwan Ki on so many levels

The comedy was always pretty present around our hero which kept the tone light and didn't let him wander too far into the realm of emotionally damaged. Yeon Woo Jin was so good at being able to present Hwan Ki’s introverted nature in different ways. In some scenes his individual monologue and internal freak-outs were hilarious, and in others it was heart-wrenching. Yeon Woo Jin's facial expressions (his eyes in particular) were so on point that it made it easy to connect with and understand Hwan Ki, yet it still remained believable that those around him couldn’t decipher what he was thinking. The little cartoons that often accompanied Hwan Ki’s thought processes were also cute as. One of the things that really made Hwan Ki such a wonderful character and a hero that was easy to root for was just that he tried so hard. There were no points in the drama where Hwan Ki gave up- he was constantly battling his insecurities to try and better himself, better the company, or protect someone he loved. You really just wanted to reach through the screen and give him a big hug.

An Abundance of Cute:

The 6 to 8 episodes in the middle there when Ro Woon wasn’t a snoopy b*tch and before the plot started doling out unearned redemption arcs, the relationship between Ro Woon and Hwan Ki was actually pretty sweet.

I don't know where the introvert learned how to kiss so well, but I'm sure glad he figured it out

I liked watching Ro Woon slowly start to draw Hwan Ki out of his shell, and how she started helping him interact with the other members of the team. Watching Hwan Ki awkwardly interacting with those around him was probably the best part of the show, so adding a dose of romance in as well was really nice. The interactions between all the members of Silent Monster were really fun, and showed that the the series could have been a really cute rom-com had it not tried too hard with the mystery-suicide storyline. 

I wouldn't have minded waaaaaay more team shenanigans

What Wasn’t:

I Still Don’t Know What Unnie’s Suicide was About:

I’m not sure if this plot-line was something that got lost in the re-write or if it was always this all over the place- but what the hell? The story arc of Ro Woon’s sister’s suicide just really made no sense. The writer amped up the mystery element so much that it made it super disappointing that it was just a straight-up suicide and didn’t actually have a murder-twist or at least an accident-twist.

I thought there was more to it but there really kinda wasn't

Because the fact is, there’s not a lot of story to work with if it’s a suicide. Okay, I’m sure Ro Woon gained some closure on finding out the reasoning behind her sister choice, but the fact is that we all went into this drama looking for someone to blame. And you kind of can’t blame anyone for a suicide, particularly in Ji Hye’s case, because none of the scenarios that were explored were really adequate reasons why a seemingly mentally sound person would throw herself out a window (because we were shown nothing that would lead us to the conclusion that she was depressed or psychologically unstable). At least when the plot seemed like it was leaning towards Woo Il as the cause (because the plot apparently really needed to blame someone for Ji Hye’s own decision to jump) it made a bit of sense. Young, innocent girl gets mass amounts of attention from her crush, sleeps with him, then finds out he’s engaged and telling everyone she came onto him and it was a mistake and she means nothing. Sure, I can see why that maybe would have lead Ji Hye to the window ledge.

I can roll with Woo Il being the bad guy cuz he's super gross and super sleazy

But then they tried pushing the blame back onto Hwan Ki. No, nope, never. It made no sense, and Hwan Ki is precious and gorgeous so don’t you dare make him feel guilty about this. Because it is in no way Hwan Ki’s fault that he didn’t show romantic interest in a girl that never confessed and was actually actively helping him woo another girl.

I don't even know

Especially when you consider that she slept with his best friend. The show seemed super unwilling to label Woo Il as a rapist (because how would they redeem him then?), yet is seemed weird that Ji Hye was so into Hwan Ki to the point that she would kill herself for not being able to confess to him and then slept with someone else. No show, just no. I’m sure situations like this actually do happen, but in a series that is so clear-cut like this one, I need obvious reasons why the characters acted the way they did. And we did not get that with Ji Hye at all. Right until the end there were viewers debating why Ji Hye did what she did, and it’s really not okay to have your main plot-point be so convoluted and confusing- especially when it plays into whether our leading couple will be together or not. And look, I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty seriously against movies and shows assigning blame to someone else over a suicide- because harsh as it seems, no one except the one who died can really be attributed as the cause. And this was so not the drama to explore those dark, uncomfortable themes of who's at fault for a suicide.

Woo Il’s Not a Bad Guy?: 

So Woo Il’s a total toxic asshat but he gets a redemption arc anyway. Super lame, and super uncomfortable. He’s been characterised as a chronic cheater who destroys most of his relationships, both with women and with Hwan Ki. I loathed the way the bromance was forced down our throats. I’m always a fan of bromance, but this was so not okay. While Woo Il never really actively worked against Hwan Ki in the company, he also didn’t go out of his way to help him either.

I never thought I'd say this- but get that bromance away from me

He was happy to use all Hwan Ki’s ideas and stand in the limelight taking all the credit, and made no effort to dispel the rumours about Hwan Ki being a cruel, cold boss who mistreated and overworked his employees. Woo Il also actively put Hwan Ki down when he was trying to muster up the courage to speak in public, which is super not an okay thing to do to your best friend. Then Woo Il cheats on Hwan Ki’s sister once, and almost twice.

Ew x2

He’s so uncaring towards Yi Soo that she actually starts harming herself to get his attention. While I can’t outright blame Woo Il for Yi Soo’s self-harm, the way he treated her was still far from okay, and definitely did her more harm than good. Then apparently everyone forgets these things. Yeah. What. Woo Il gets virtually no consequences for his actions. He volunteers at an orphanage for a while before being invited back to the company by Hwan Ki, who still treats him like a friend (ew). And that’s not all. The writers actually go as far as to try and make me believe that Woo Il has fallen in love with Yi Soo (who still isn’t getting professional help for her self-harm I might add) for realsies, and that they make a cute, happy couple. They don’t make a cute happy couple at all! He’s the biggest coward on the planet and she has enough psychological distress to fill a small ocean! The show clearly wanted to have an edgy dark undertone, but didn’t quite have the balls to go all the way, so we ended up with a drama that wasn’t satisfying in a cute, fluffy way or a solved mystery way. 

Suddenly Not an Introvert:

Along with Woo Il suddenly becoming repentant and not being a giant jerkface anymore, Hwan Ki apparently lost all his anxiety. At the beginning of the series he couldn’t even look his own assistant in the eye, but by the end he was doing a dancing serenade in front of his whole company.

I don't know how we got here

It would have been more believable had the entire series focused on reducing Hwan Ki’s anxiety, however instead the writers chose to focus on Ro Woon’s sister’s suicide, which left Hwan Ki’s sudden transformation confusing and inexplicable. I mean, the only other time Hwan Ki did something in front of people was when he gave a presentation he’d meticulously prepared for, and he still fainted and became extremely sick just from that.

I kinda miss him being awkward and misunderstood 

I dearly wish that Hwan Ki’s quiet, introverted nature had been explained more than Unnie’s suicide. Because no matter how sad a death is (and this one wasn’t even that sad because it was just far too confusing), I’m always much more engaged by current issues- not issues rooted solely in the past. I found the small glimpse we got of Ro Woon and Hwan Ki’s clashing personalities in that final episode deeply interesting, and wish we’d got way more of it. I’d much rather watch two people who love each other battle to understand and compromise rather than watching an issue that can only really be resolved by time- like the revelation of Ji Hye’s feelings for Hwan Ki. It would have been nice if the show focused more on Hwan Ki’s social anxiety and how he overcame it rather than just brushing over it completely.

Recommend?

Look, probably not. While the drama had some really cute moments and I totally adore our leading man and his character, I can’t deny that the plot’s just not very good. There are definitely worse dramas out there, but ‘Introverted Boss’ sadly doesn’t flow all that smoothly.

Not flawless, but I adore Yeon Woo Jin as Hwan Ki

Wanted

Wanted

7.5/10

Wanted

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                      Year: 2016

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

On the verge of her retirement, top actress Jung Hye In’s son is kidnapped. The kidnapper demands that she carry out a live TV show, completing various missions. He gives her 10 episodes to air if she wants her son returned safely.

Cast:

Kim Ah Joong (Jung Hye In)

Ji Hyun Woo (Cha Seung In)

Uhm Tae Woong (Shin Dong Wook)

Lee Moon Shik (Choi Joon Goo)

Park Hyo Joo (Yeon Woo Shin)

Jun Hyo Seong (Park Bo Yeon)

Shin Jae Ha (Lee Young Gwan)

Lee Jae Kyoon (Na Soo Hyun)

Kim Sun Young (Oh Mi Ok)

Park Min Soo (Song Hyun Woo)

General Thoughts:

I enjoyed this show far more than I initially thought I would. It’s one of those rare dramas where the plot is more developed than it’s characters. You’d think that would make for a boring drama (I certainly did), but surprisingly I found myself drawn in more and more, curious about the end result.

Waahhh! Ji Hyun Woo, you're so cool!

There were a few characters that were given depth and that were likeable enough that I was invested in the outcome of the kidnapping. Sadly, our heroine was not one of these characters. But Cha Seung In, the most loveable policeman ever, certainly was.

Best characters in the show

I don’t know what it is about Ji Hyun Woo, but he has this ability that makes his characters so insanely loveable. He flies pretty low under the radar, but when he’s in a drama he commands the screen and has so much charisma. His adamant endeavour for justice made Seung In admirable and his blatant disregard for rules in order to get the job done gave him a nice edge of badass-ness. His heart was in all the right places- not just for the kidnapped Hyun Woo, but for all the kids and adults who ended up being hurt by SG. It was impossible not to root for him and his little rag-tag team of cops, out to fight the underdog battle against the Chaebols. The team behind the show-in-the-show were interesting in their own way, as each had a different reason for wanting to take part in the kidnapper’s demands. However, I do feel as though a lot of characterisation opportunities were passed by in order to keep us wondering if anyone on the team was involved in Hyun Woo’s kidnapping. The writers chose not to show us too much about these characters in order to keep the mystery element high, but this also meant that as a viewer, I was confused about the motivations of these characters and had difficulty connecting with them.

You people confuse me

Writer Yeon and Bo Yeon got some development before the others and became likeable enough, but the two men always came across a bit murky and unclear, as was Hye In herself. The villains of the story were set up wonderfully- both the kidnappers and the chaebols. The gradual unveiling of how everyone was connected played out well, and it was a plot line that was hard to predict- which is always welcome in K-Dramaland were things often tend to follow a predictable, set progression.

PLEASE DON'T KILL OFF THE PUPPY POLICE

The writing kept me on my toes, particularly as our loveable policemen started to become more and more personally involved. As the show clearly didn’t mind killing off characters, I did worry abut the lives of our characters- particularly the police. I honestly thought that puppy Young Gwan had a pretty big risk of getting killed off part-way through, and even our hero Seung In didn’t come across as 100% safe. I always enjoy a drama that can actually get you concerned about the lives of their characters, because so often a lot of dramatic tension is sucked out of a scene purely because you know the drama won’t kill of such a likeable character. But in ‘Wanted’, none of our characters felt safe (except weirdly Hyun Woo), so even though all our ‘hero’ characters made it out in the end,  it would have been understandable and fit into the story well even if one or two had been killed off in the big final show-down. I also enjoyed how the drama showed the power of the media. Our police always felt more in danger than our TV crew, purely because of the lack of cameras. The thugs and paid-off-policemen always backed down in front of a camera, because no one wants to be outed on television- wether the footage is manipulated or not.

And people say TV is useless...

It was interesting (and a little unsettling) to consider how easily the truth could be distorted by those in power, and how solid facts can become ‘simple speculation’ in front of a man who controls the media and the police. The writers did an excellent job at showing just how much of an underdog fight this was. The innocent regular people who were impacted could do nothing against this great power, and only had a voice once someone famous like Hye In gave them one. It was an excellent portrayal of the brutality of the world and how truly untouchable the rich and powerful really are.

They always manage to weasel their way out somehow

I wonder if this drama was inspired by, or even written to point fingers at, Reckitt Benckiser- a company that sold dangerous humidifier disinfectant in South Korea for around 10 years. Many pregnant women and children died (just like in our drama), and it’s only this year, five years after the discovery, that victims and family members received an apology. I’d like to think that the drama was written as a bit of a f*ck you to Reckitt Benckiser, but you never know.

What Was Great:

Ji Hyun Woo Of Course:

Obviously Seung In was my favourite character and obviously Ji Hyun Woo smashed the role. He’s just such a brilliant actor and now I want to go and watch every drama he’s ever been in. Particularly if it’s one where he gets some romance- because his adorable, justice-driven characters always seem to lack the lady-love.

How can he be so cute and so badass all at once?

Mystery:

For the longest time I didn’t know the direction the drama was going. Which is awesome. I love not being able to predict the story. It’s rare that my emotions get swayed the exact way the writer wants them to, but I was taking every path the writer was leading me to.

Unlike some characters, the plot was confusing in a good way

There were a few things I figured out before they were revealed- Hyun Woo being a son from the first marriage, brother-in-law being a bad dude- but these were relatively small discoveries in light of the big-picture, and the large mysteries always remained hidden until the writer chose to unveil them. We were right there with the police team, trying to build a whole story with only tiny scraps of information, and with each new piece, the story could change into something completely different. It was wonderful how by the end of the drama everything fit nicely into place. There was nothing shown in any episode that was unnecessary to the story’s development- it all had some connection to the SG mystery being unravelled. Sad as it was, I really enjoyed the way the show wrapped up it’s story. While the big-bad was exposed for what it was and our mystery was all solved, it still seemed unlikely that any form of justice would result. The general public would gradually forget once ‘Wanted’ was no longer airing, and only the victims and their families would be left to remember. While it’s not exactly a happy ending, it’s still satisfying, and much more realistic than a huge company being brought down by a single actress and her policeman friend. So while not being a happy conclusion, it’s still a satisfying and deeply thought-provoking conclusion. 

Because we all know he won't stay arrested

Victimisation of Villains:

One of the best, and most conflicting, aspects of tis drama was the way the kidnappers were victimised. Because as the story continues, we see their struggles and the injustice in their lives, and to be honest- was there really any other way?

How can he be so loveable when he kidnapped a kid?

Na Soo Hyun was a delightful antagonist because his methods were just so wrong. You’d surely think that nothing could justify the kidnapping of a young child, but even so you can’t help but pity this kid who’s had his life torn apart by men living in comfort and luxury who don’t even care about their wrong-doings. The reveal of Soo Hyun’s truth is handled so delicately, that it doesn’t feel like we’re being hit in the face with the pity card (the way it felt a bit with Joon Goo). He gradually goes from despicable kidnapper to heart-wrenching victim, so much so that his death was actually quite saddening. Soo Hyun’s death made sense in the plot, and was probably the best outcome for his character as his life was completely over anyway after he kidnapped Hyun Woo, but it really drove home the senselessness of the whole conflict. So many innocent people were getting hurt by one corporation’s cover-up and unwillingness to admit fault. It just seems even more nonsensical come the end of the series when it’s apparent that even after their crimes are exposed, the large company and those that run it will be able to make it away mostly unscathed. 

What Wasn’t:

Heroine:

Jung Hye In was just a boring character. I knew the facts about her life, but got no real sense of her as a person. Sure, I knew that she was deeply distressed about the disappearance of her son- but what mother wouldn’t be?

I like the three dead kids in the photo waaaay more than I like her

Not only did she seem super boring, but she didn’t come across as particularly likeable either. She was civil to some of the policemen working on her son’s case- but that was it. She had a rather sour relationship with her husband (who admittedly she’d only married as a business deal), and was snappy and uncommunicative with those on the ‘Wanted’ TV team.

She was weirdly disconnected from every other character

Even though she was well aware that the program was one of the kidnapper’s demands and that Hyun Woo would be hurt if it was stopped or scored low ratings, she seemed to get angry at anyone who put effort into the show. While I understand the crew themselves having moral dilemmas and internal conflicts, this shouldn't have been something Hye In was a part of. She even stated several times that she would do anything to save Hyun Woo- so I was confused when she got angry at Director Shin for focusing on ratings. Sure, his primary goal may not appear to be rescuing Hyun Woo, but when one of the conditions is that if the show scores below 20% ratings Hyun Woo would be hurt you’d think she’d be pretty darn pleased that someone’s worrying about the ratings. Because she also didn’t seem to care what kind of show she was airing until the last two episodes. Kim Ah Joong didn’t really sell the character for me, and while she did an acceptable job, her character never really jumped out, and it didn’t seem like Kim Ah Joong was taking a deep look into her character past what was written in the script.

And any sort of action scene involving Hye In...it wasn't good...

I also don’t know why they kept the face of Hye In’s first husband a mystery for so long. Axing out this huge portion of her life (where she actually seemed like a likeable person no less) made me feel like there was a huge chunk of this character that was purposely being hidden from me- and at the end of the day it really made no difference whether Husband No. 1’s face was revealed in episode 15 or episode 2.

Oops, totally forgot that one time I made my husband choose between me and an investigation

I also wasn’t keen how they spun Hye In’s involvement in the cover-up of SG Chemical’s wrongdoings. I loved it when they seemed to be going for the indifference approach- these two young men both tried reaching out to Hye In, but oblivious to the situation she shut them down and kept her distance. Logically this direction would have made the most sense- it gave Hye In a very, very tiny role in contributing to the cover-up, but also allowed for her ignorance of the situation as a whole. As it was, Hye In knew something was wrong, and purposely intervened to prevent her husband from participating. While this does place more responsibility on Hye In and made it more understandable as to how Joon Goo thought she deserved punishment, it doesn’t logically make sense in the present story-line. If Hye In felt as though her husband was in danger, so much so that she would give him the ultimatum of choosing her and the baby or investigating the case, it makes no sense that she would have thought her husband’s accident was actually an accident.

These flashbacks were withheld because of...what reasons?

It also didn’t make sense at how clueless Hye In was to her involvement all through the kidnapping. She is constantly wondering what it was she could have done to deserve such a punishment- yet she somehow fails to remember the huge argument she had with her husband before he died, the young kid she tried to prevent him from meeting, and the soldier who crashed her husband's funeral screaming that it wasn’t an accident? Yeah, I dunno about everyone else, but those memories would probably stand out in my mind just a bit. 

Characterisation in General:

The writers were just not good at characters. The only characters that were written to a satisfactory level were Seung In and Soo Hyun.

All our mastermind's story came in the last 3 episodes

While the other cops were likeable, we knew absolutely nothing about them, and the same could be said of the TV crew. Hye In was pretty flat and lifeless, and even Hyun Woo was reduced to simply being the kidnapped kid that was the catalyst for the discovery of SG’s corruption. Frankly, I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t focus a bit more on Hyun Woo as a character. As more was unveiled about Soo Hyun, there was no real sense of danger for Hyun Woo- because I honesty didn't believe Soo Hyun would have hurt him. It was interesting to see the after-effects of the kidnapping, and seeing how Hyun Woo was the only innocent that the kidnappers were hurting, it would have made an interesting plot-point. As it is, the mystery and development of the plot definitely took precedence over character development.

Re-watch?

Probably not. The mystery is what kept me really engaged in this series, and now I know how that plays out. It’s wonderfully endearing characters that leave you wanting more of a series, and this drama just didn’t nail that aspect.

Great plot, average characters