A good feel-good rom-com

Production Quality:
I liked the choices made by the production team in terms of how the scenes transitioned, colour palette used, sound effects and use of musical scores. The sound effects stood out in adding to the comic scenes such as the slap sound, opera BGM, and transitions in sounds as events unfolded. The OST is soft and soothing and coupled together well with the romance scenes, and did not feel overused even as I binge watched. The colour palette was easy on the eyes with an overall warm tone, and scene transitions such as asking a question by one character to being answered by another made it easy to follow.

Coherent Storytelling:
The plot was not ingenious, rarely are any plots, but it was executed well with attention to details. However, it demands a suspension of disbelief from viewers, once that is achieved rest if a smooth ride with few annoying scenes or characters. A well written feel good script for days when you are feeling low. What I liked most was when it made some easter egg references to popular tropes and almost broke the fourth wall, for example saying that the ridiculous reason for body switch is because the scriptwriter wanted so, lightening all the disbelief elements to parody. Though I still have issues with the episode count but it was not as draggy as other C-dramas.

Ability of actors to emote:
This category is where the drama stood out the most with wonderful characterization by not just the leads (who were incredibly hilarious) but also all the support roles. The acting was natural and not over-exaggerated to hype up the comedy. Thankfully no loud shouting or poker face with no emotions just to portray a cold ML or feisty FL. In less capable hands, the same story would have been very dull and repetitive. I actually liked Liang Jie here more than her famous role in The Eternal Love, and had no idea that Zhang Xincheng is such a good comic. All the actors helped me get emotionally invested into the characters and care about their past and future.

Memorability:
The most important criteria for me when it comes to a drama is the lingering effect it has on me, and how often do I recall it later. The Day of Becoming You made me search up the OSTs, work profile of all the actors, screenwriters and directors involved, and even write a review for it. It is safe to say I really enjoyed my time spent with it even if might not be the best drama ever made.

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The acting saves the story!

The Secret Life of My Secretary is a fluffy office rom-com and while it touches upon the theme of discrimination of contract employees, that is not the essence of the story, at least for me. I recently re-watched the story and liked it better than my recollection of the first watch. What I liked about the show most was all the actors bringing their best to embibe the characters that could otherwise have come off as cookie cutter - chaebols, secretary, childhood bestie VP etc - with unique quirks, personalities and vulnerabilities that did not feel forced while watching.
The leads - Do Min Ik and Jung Gal Hee have a typical boss-employee relationship like is expected of this genre with exploitation of the power dynamic by the hero. However, despite everything on paper that would have made Do Min Ik a very annoying character to watch, Kim Youngkwang's portrayal puts an emotional strain to even his more cold behaviour making him stand apart in the crowd of other such drama characters.
Similarly, Jung Gal Hee portrayed by Jin Ki Joo is the typical hard working - providing for her family - poor - female lead, but her inner world of thoughts on why she makes the decisions she does including her betrayal of her boss makes you pity her naivety as well as root for her. She feels like a fleshed out person despite all the cliches enthrusted onto her.
As for the second lead couple, the stand out star of the drama - Kim Jaekyung as Veronica Park made it memorable. Everyone who has seen the show will agree that the character of Veronica is what makes the show stand apart and fun to watch. She is a rare gem in the world of 2FL roles. Jaekyung manages to make an outlandish chaebol not annoying with her heartfelt portrayal of a confident, ridiculous but also mature Veronica.
Koo Ja Sung as Ki Dae Joo served as a source of warmth for Do Min Ik and was a good supporting character who had his own storyline which was more involved in the contract employee plotline. Admittedly, he did not stand out as much as the other three leads though.
Amongst the other supporting casts, Choi Tae Hwan as the Driver caught my attention the most. A more of a throwaway role with limited screentime, he still convinced me of his pathos as well as loyalty and brought the emotions into the otherwise obligatory social commentary plotline that most rom coms try to do.
Another limited role that had me intrigued was the role of Jung Ae Ri as Do Min Ik's mother. Even though their relationship was dysfunctional and bordered on abusive, it was interesting to watch as usually these roles are either white or black, but she remained gray till the very end. And that made me understand why Min Ik still stuck to her and wanted her validation so badly, as even though they had a fake mother-son relationship, there was a subtle strength built over the years of association for both of them.
When I rewatched the series and paid attention to the characters and their individual arcs, the show was much more fun to watch as a whole than just trying to follow the plot. The smaller beats and the sum of its parts are bigger than the whole show at a glance, and made me upmark my initial rating. The actual plotline of the secretary disguising as a chaebol and the prospognasia were more cliche, however the fallout was handled much better than other dramas - the guilt, the betrayal, the forgiveness, made these cliches still feel like a real part of these people that might exist in some fictional drama land.

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A Re-watch Analysis

Production Quality:
What stood out to me the most was the OST for the drama, 3 years later, they are still a recurrent play on my playlist. Anyone who understands the lyrics will appreciate that they were not just random love songs but accurately portrayed the thoughts of the characters under the situation when it is played as bgm. Also, as a feel-good but slice of life drama, the choices made in selecting the wardrobe, house set, pet etc were well-done, being reasonable for the characters and not there just to be pretty, for example, Se Hee's house was pretty and big, but made sense given his cleanliness and bank financed debt, while Wonseok's rooftop house showed their financial condition and personality. The monologue narrations by Jiho were also a nice touch and many a time while I find them a little too in the face or bland in other dramas, here it was done well with it being used to extend the plot and introduce new details rather than just being a summary.

Emotional Investment into the Characters:
A rewatch binge helps in finding points that were missed while waiting for an on-air drama to finish. I was emotionally invested in the girl's friendship and the relation between Jiho and her mom the most. This is for me the decisive charm of the show and has been executed brilliantly. Jiho's thoughts in particular were always explained in detail and I felt for her and related to her, until the finale arc happened. On the first watch, I thought the breakup to be unnecessary, but on rewatch was more digestible and made more sense given that maybe Jiho felt too tired to sort out the misunderstanding and Se-hee sensed it. However, the drama did not do a good job explaining their thoughts and the reunion arc was handled even worse with both of them behaving out of character. It was so good before that though. Another caveat was Ma Sang Goo and Se Hee's friendship which though was really funny could have been explore more and I actually liked Won Seok's relation with both of them more, finding it more natural. Ho Rang though could get whiny at times but was realistic and I liked the actress' portrayal of her. Soo Ji and San Goo's relationship was done well and in general I related to Soo Ji's character the most. Also, thank god for Se-hee's ex not being a bitch (thank you drama gods, finally!)

Ability of Actors to Emote:
The entire cast did a fantastic job with the roles they were given. Each of them felt real, believable and yet had quirks of their own. Lee Min Ki's micro-expressions were amazing to observe and Jung So Min was so believable as a smart but downtrodden writer. Park Byung Eun, Kim Ga Eun and Kim Min Seok are comedy gold-mines. Special shout outs to Esom and Kim Sung Young as Soo Ji and Jiho's mom (both of them stole the show for me). Also, a special mention to Lee Chung Ah's guest appearance as Se Hee's ex, I felt what Jiho felt when she saw her, she exuded charisma and demanded my attention.

Memorability:
Given the fact that I actually rewatched all 16 episodes again and not just bits and scenes, it is a highly memorable drama for me. Maybe because it hit the right notes such as rethinking about career, marriage, family - I'm at that age lol. I love this drama despite its flaws, and absolutely addicted to the OST.

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