Holy Noona Romance!!!! Okay, this show actually has way more than romance. It is giving us a Misty vibe with the strong women it has at its helm. The drama gods also heard our plea to give Jang Ki Yong a happier character. He is making me swoon SO HARD in this drama, and he isn’t even on the screen that much. Join The Fangirls as we discuss powerful women and the men just hoping to spend some time with them.
Here are several reasons why you really need to check this drama out ASAP!
Im Soo Jung as Bae Ta Mi
We start the drama with Bae Ta Mi giving testimony at a hearing. The search engine company she works for is being accused of manipulating the search words after a presidential debate where one of the candidates is accused of having an affair. The top 10 searches were all about him, then they all suddenly disappeared. We find out after we go back in time that Bae Ta Mi is the lamb the company sent to be slaughtered. She is very proud of her company and all the work she’s done to get them to number one and keep them there. But they are obviously not as affectionate toward her.
Drama Geek: This woman has chemistry with everyone on this show. Heck, I’m not ever sure who I’m shipping her with or who her love triangle is. There is a beautiful pianist she meets pretty early that is probably just being used as a friend line, but maybe not…. She also has loads of chemistry with her ex-friend and traitor boss. What I love about her character is that even though they show she is a strict boss, she is kind, and has a lot of integrity. She didn’t get to where she is by stepping on others.
Kdrama Jen: I think Im Soo Jung is a very versatile actress. She was fantastic in Chicago Typewriter and now she is really killing it in this role. Speaking of “Kill It,” I am already liking Jang Ki Yong in this role way more than his last, but I will talk about that later. I love the girl power vibe of this drama!
Clkytta: Bring on the sismance and Girl Power! I am loving how all the relationships are presented. I’m not normally a fan of this type of drama, but I’m in on this one.
Kmuse: They could actually take out the romance and have the story just be about her work struggle and I would still watch. The character has so many layers and depth that I am compelled to root for her to succeed.
The Rival Cha Hyun
Lee Da Hee is so much fun in this. She works for the #2 search engine company which feels a little like Google. They are very casual and free thinking. Cha Hyun is obsessed with becoming #1 but seems to be a similar type of person as Ta Mi in integrity and fairness.
Drama Geek: Her meet cute with Ta Mi was so funny. After the hearing Ta Mi accidentally gets into Cha Hyun’s car and uses her to escape the press. We can see the type of person Cha Hyun is when she doesn’t kick her out. She isn’t all sweetness though. Later after a debate with Ta Mi, she goes to a room called the Damn Angry Room where she proceeds to smash everything to bits. She also does judo and they hint that she could have had a career in it. I can’t wait for these women to work together and take down the world.
Kdrama Jen: I think these two will make a formidable team. I also loved how Ta Mi got into the car. I seriously adore everything about these two women on a mission. I can’t wait until they are on the SAME mission!
Clkytta: I’m already on board for these frenemies. I think they will offset each other well. I need one of those Damn Angry Rooms!
Kmuse: They have tons of chemistry and I can already hear the fun snarky fights that are in our future.
Puppy’s Nose Crinkle!!!
Park Morgan shows up and plays a video game, right into Ta Mi’s uh…. heart? Like any good noona romance, our male lead is young and struggling to become successful, but still a respectable person. He creams her at Street Fighter and then they spend the night talking and drinking and… well… waking up the next morning.
Drama Geek: This boy is all cheeky confidence. I’m pretty sure he fell for her pretty hard that first night, and each time they meet afterwards he does everything he can to keep a playfulness to it, but you can see hearts in his eyes. His character is still a little bit of a mystery, but I find him totally delightful and swoony!
Kdrama Jen: OK. This is the role I have wanted Jang Ki Yong to have! He gets to SMILE! I love
Clkytta: I adore a good noona romance and this one has all the signs of being super fun and sexy. I love that Jang Ki Yong is smiling and mischevious, yet a total professional at his job. I also appreciate the grown-up aspects of this drama. It’s not all sweet looks and holding hands (which has it’s place and I’m not knocking it) but they have some sizzling hot chemistry and I appreciate that.
Side Characters
The world is full of characters that already have a lot of depth, and ones that we can’t wait to keep pulling back those layers.
Drama Geek: Song Ga Gyung was Ta Mi’s boss and friend, but she’s also the one who sold her out. You can tell she’s being manipulated by her mother-in-law (who draws nudes!) and their money. I’m banking on the fact that they have something on her family or something. Bae Ta Mi takes two people with her when she moves to her competitor and one of them is the coffee shop girl, who always helped analyze the sites with a perception people inside the company didn’t have. I also love the eccentric boss, who will serve to be the glue that brings everyone together.
Kdrama Jen: I love the conflict this outwardly strong woman brings to the show. I cringed when she treated the young guy in her private drinking lounge like we see all the leering executives treat the girls in every other drama. It really didn’t sit well with me when tables were turned either. It added to this image she wants to show the world of a strong and hardened executive, yet we also know she is fairly helpless in some ways behind the scenes. This makes for great storytelling!
Clkytta: I’ve mentioned several times on the blog that I love when characters make me feel conflicted and Song Ga Gyung does just that. I don’t think she’s a bad person. So while I don’t like her, I think she may end up being a secret weapon later. Also, I love the coffee shop girl, she’s a real go-getter and I’m excited to see what she’s capable of.
OST and Directing
Drama Geek: Okay, so the directing is a little hit or miss. The opening shots were breathtaking and set the drama up so well. And they’ve done a great job at giving the drama a certain feel that I love. They could use a few less light flares, and stop blurring out the bottom of peoples faces, but those are my two complaints. With the music, I am dying for this OST to come out. Just like the directing, the opening song set the tone and I really like it. Then because our leading man composes, and we have a piano player friend too, the episodes were full of instrumental music that I really liked.
Kdrama Jen: I never really notice the directing, as long as it is not completely distracting. I know there were some really pretty shots of Jang Ki Yong looking all rumpled and adorable wrapped up in his white blankets. I also loved how stunning Ta Mi was during the hearing. That might be more kudos to cinematography than directing, though. I also totally agree with Drama Geek about the OST! I love the music!
Clkytta: I’m clueless about directing. The music is really working for me though. I love when a show has good background music and an amazing OST.
Kmuse: I second the light flares 100%. And why do they always seem to happen when Jang Ki Yong comes on screen? The blurring of the bottom of people’s faces to make the focus be on the eyes of the characters is an interesting choice. I understand what they are doing but I don’t necessarily like it since I get distracted. When it comes to the music I am 100% on board. Loved the symphony section for the leading man’s game. Very effective.
Final Thoughts:
Drama Geek: YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS DRAMA. For real though, if you like strong female led dramas, then you really have to check this one out. Twitter is full of screenshots with dialogue in them because everyone wants the world to know how kickass and wonderful the ladies are, and how swoony Ki Yong is with his sweet smiles.
Kdrama Jen: It has been a while since we had a drama (from Korea) with such strong female characters. I love the set up, I love the team that is going to take on Unicon (I still want to call it Unicorn), and I want to watch Jang Ki Yong smile and cuddle and melt his noona’s heart. I am not-so-patiently waiting for the next episodes on this one!!
Clkytta: At first, I was afraid this would be too political. Unlike some of the other fangirls, I don’t do politics. Too much office politics and I start nodding off. Instead, they set the scene and then jumped straight into a riveting story with characters I want to know more about. Toss in Jang Ki Yong with delicious smirks and smiles and mega charm? I’m sticking with this drama.
Kmuse: Between this and Angel’s Last Mission I am in drama heaven right now. Let the drama watching begin!
What about you? Will you be watching? If so, please comment and share your thoughts!
The Fangirls
Dramas With a Side of Kimchi
You know how they say that if someone experiences great good fortune that they must have saved the nation in their previous life? Well, I’m convinced Im Soo-jung saved the universe when it comes to her works and her leading men!
Hmm, I think the men are the ones who saved the nation. I’d kill to work with Im Soo Jung, she amazing. 😉
I like the way you think! I can picture each of her previous leading men (Gong Yoo, So Ji-sub, et al) getting a proposal with her name attached and racing for the pen to sign the contract!
I’m so glad you guys did a first impressions! I was waffling on this one; I love noona romances and strong female leads, but I also live in a tech centre, so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch a thing about tech companies (they irritate me so).
Anyway, it sounds great. I lurv frienimies done well. I’ll definitely be checking it out!
I think you’ll be able to look past the tech company aspect because the rest of it is just so good.
I am really liking it!
I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction/cinematography because of having read this post before starting it, and I’m thinking that it’s done in such a way that we always feel this distance between people. When we see two people in a shot together, it’s usually from a weird angle and often through objects or at a large distance.
The OTP is often standing far apart when they talk, although the distance between them is often unclear because we’re either getting individual shots or weird-angle shots. Then the camera will pull back and we see they’re 4 or 5 feet apart.
In the single shots, there’s almost always a lot of empty space around the person in the shot, they’re never very centred, and the space is usually positioned so that it is sort of “between” the two in conversation, if that makes sense. So there’s always this distance between people, this talking across space rather than intimacy and connection.
I think that the lens flares and weird lighting in the early episodes was used to create that sense of disconnection and distance even in the scenes that would normally be treated as intimate. We get with the OTP a sense of attraction, but not a closeness. It’s like it’s already a memory to her even when it’s happening… she’s disconnected with her life.
I think that goes really well with where the main female characters are at with their careers and lives. I especially like Ta Mi. Her character is so complex, and well rounded. It’s not like a checkbox of “strengths and weaknesses”… her reactions and confusions and abilities seem to flow together really well.
I’m curious to see if the shots will start to change as the characters break down their walls and start to make some connections and/or get back in touch with some of the things that used to be important to them but that they’ve sacrificed along the way.
This is a brilliant take!! And with recent episodes I can see it more and more. It will be very interesting to see if the director changes that to go with their character arcs.
Ooh! I love this perspective. I will now be watching for the way the directing helps really tell the story. Cool!
What a great drama! I especially enjoyed how the women were the main focus of the story and the romances were so well done. Highly recommended!
Loved them all together!