I mostly watch rom-coms and period dramas so Misaeng was at first not a drama that I had too high expectations of and I was just going to check it out because I liked some of the younger actors there and I read that the person who wrote Arang and the Magistrate was writing it or adapting it to the small screen and I liked Arang so I thought I could at least check it out. Misaeng really surprised me. The story itself doesn’t sound like my cup of tea or that exciting and rather “ordinary” and ordinary isn’t always what I am looking for in the tv programs that I am watching but it pretty much just won me over at the first episode. It was fresh, it was sort of fun and sort of heart-warming and I think one of the charms of Misaeng is how ordinary it feels. This is just a drama about everyday life almost. There is no over-dramatic plot, there is no romance in it or anything like that. It is sort of just very heartfelt, heart-warming story about this ordinary dude that is just trying his best to get his feet on the ground in this new environment that he is in. It is done very well, it is written and acted very well as well as directed and it manages to speak to people and connect to them since it is so easy to see yourself in these characters, even if you haven’t experienced what they have or are experiencing. I really feel like applauding the writers and the director and everyone involved with this drama, as well as the manhwa author for thinking up this story since it really was just wonderfully done from the beginning and until the end. It really is the best drama that came out in 2014 and it is one of the dramas that I have enjoyed the most while watching it and I was never expecting that when I first started to watch it tbh. I have mentioned that I thought Misaeng was fun to watch but it also sort of wasn’t, since it was quite heavy and I don’t think many people are just watching it for some entertainment because some of the scenes and themes in this drama are so heavy and make you feel quite sad while watching it but in a good way. There weren’t that big dramatic scenes but it is quite intense at times and so heartfelt in its delivery and the characters are amazing that is becomes sort of amazing and you are willing to watch these heavy scenes. The main plot is almost just seeing these people interact and seeing the newbies trying to find their place in the workspace and seeing them fail and succeed at it. It has bosses that aren’t so good and bosses that are so nice and it talks about stress and tension in the workplace as well as misogyny and the question whatever you will become a permanent worker there or not and that maybe doesn’t sound that dramatic for a drama but it is very interesting, intense and realistic and we really didn’t need to have a bigger plot than that. Like I said, that can be a bit heavy but there are some lighter scenes in between these heavy scenes and while they don’t really hurt as much in a good way but they make you feel a bit better and make the tension go away fro a little while. Some of my favorite scenes in this drama are these more lighter scenes, where we see the characters growing closer and working together. The friendship that bosomed between the newbies and the sales team nr. 3 was one of the best things about this drama and it both broke my heart and glued it back together at one point or another in this drama. I just want these people to be friends forever and the thought of that not happening was sometimes unbearable. Mr. Oh and Geu Rae are the most popular ship or relationship in this drama, which is completely understandable and they are so sweet together, as well as the friendship that slowly grows between the newbies at the workplace. I also really really liked how there were no love-lines and there is no second lead or anything like that. There don’t need to be a love-line in every single drama and this story just isn’t about that so it wouldn’t really fit. Shows like Misaeng don’t tend to get me in the heart like I wanted but man this show owned my heart. I also sort of knew that I could be very good but that did not mean that I would have to like it since you don’t always end up liking shows or movies that are really good simply because they didn’t get you in the heart. You didn’t feel anything while watching it. That is not the case with Misaeng and that makes me super happy. Sometimes it was hard to watch and some of the character arcs didn’t really do it for me but I liked how every character got their own time to be explored and we got some time to know them, at least the major characters. I almost have nothing but praises for this show except my somewhat usual complaint with TvN dramas and that is that sometimes their episodes can be rather long but other than that they are doing a great job. I may have gotten more entertainment out of other dramas this year but Misaeng is one of those dramas that I really cherish and I am pretty sure that I am going to remember it after few years while I might not do that with some of the more entertaining dramas that aired this year. It is also so original and well done that it is almost impossible to just forget it. It just really spoke to me, even if I have never been in most of these situations before and it is very well done and I am not surprised over how popular it got. I just hope this review is doing it justice.