Introverted Boss; My Shy Boss
TW/CW: Self-harm, suicide, social anxiety.
This was an opposites attract/complicated past/angst trip that had me literally rolling my eyes a few times. It was cute, but didn't stand out strongly compared to other dramas. Explaining the plot to my wife felt like I was telling her about angsty fanfic. Some dramas are fairly disjointed, and you just have to go with it, but this one felt fractured like they were making it up as they went, and it takes a while for the story to really start to come together. The main premise of the show was so outlandish I didn't quite know how to process. The ending did pull it out of its hole and sort of made up for the bumbling the rest of the show made me sit through. I don't regret watching the series, and it's not like I disliked it, it just definitely was a slow warm up.
Let me just get into the basic plot, then I'll mention a few things I liked and didn't like about the show.
Chae Ro-Woon (Park Hye-Soo) does musical theater and three years ago, her sister Ji-Hye (Han Chae-Ah) killed herself while working for this supposedly horrible boss, Eun Hwan-Ki (Yeon Woo-Jin). It turns out the boss isn't a horrible person, he's just suffering from severe social anxiety so he is often misunderstood. He works alone in this gorgeous penthouse at the company, while his best friend and future bro-in-law Kang Woo-Il (Yoon Park) is the face of the business. They do PR, so get ready to sit through a bunch of PR presentations.
Ever since Ji-Hye died, Hwan-Ki has been keeping an eye on Ro-Woon, sending flowers to each of her performances. One day, Ro-Woon ends up getting into the company with the intention of sabotaging Hwan-Ki and getting revenge, which he is completely aware of.
Long story short, they start to fall for each other, but these roadblocks from the past keep popping up, like how before she died, Ji-Hye had an affair with Woo-Il, who is engaged to Eun Yi-Soo (Gong Seung-Yeon). Once the affair is found out, Yi-Soo self-harms in front of Ji-Hye, who then jumps out Hwan-Ki's office window while he is in the hospital with his sister. Each person feels guilt about the death, but it ultimately comes back to the fact that before this whole crazy mess, Ji-Hye had feelings for Hwan-Ki, which he was completely unaware of. Yadda, yadda, Hwan-Ki and Ro-Woon work through their issues.
One thing that I really enjoyed was the fact that this was one of the very few "realistic" portrayals of a couple starting out in a drama I have seen. What I mean by that is at the end they decide to be together, but it isn't just rainbows and sunshine. He is kind of a petty person, which he admits to after he finally tells her he can't stand her laying around eating chips in their bed. She gets frustrated with him because they are still very different people and she needs him to communicate his feelings a little clearer. The entire really does revolve around misunderstandings, but I like how it highlighted that those don't go away so easily and you really have to communicate your feelings to the other person. It felt very realistic and relatable. Hwan-Ki is totally a sweetheart also, and he may be one of my faves as far as romance leads. He does really treasure her and puts a lot of effort into their relationship, even though he makes mistakes. He tries his best to work at making her feel loved and seen, and I appreciate that.
Now, there were a few things I definitely appreciated about this drama, compared to others. There are not too many dramas that I know of that tackle mental health issues in a way that isn't too problematic (although this seems to be changing). Hwan-Ki's anxiety disorder is portrayed in a way that very realistic and visceral for the viewer. He is so stressed about hurting other people that he takes too long to process and react, so everyone thinks he hates them. Poor baby, I felt for him. I liked how Ro-Woon goes from trying to "fix" his disorder, to trying to find a different way to communicate with him. She realizes that he is a lovely person, as is, and she just needs to give him space to process when he needs it. It's actually really nice and sweet. I liked how over time, he does begin to change as a person, because he works harder and making sure he is being understood the way he wants to be. Most of the drama is about how misunderstandings hurt both parties involved, and they can often be easily solved by being a little more direct.
Likewise, the portrayal of Hwan-Ki's sister Yi-Soo's mental health issues are very relatable and understandable. As a child, she would harm herself to take the attention off of her overwhelmed brother, who was always getting scolded by their father and hurt by him. Over time, her harming worsened and it became the only way she knew to deal with stress. You get to see her grow over the series and resolve some issues she has around her relationship with Woo-Il.
Speaking of Woo-Il, omg I felt for this dude. He made some mistakes, for sure, but he was in an impossibly difficult situation and felt he had few options and none that would make him happy. He has some growth and I really liked his character by the end. He wasn't a bad person, he just had a lot less privilege than others, so it was hard for him to cope.
Another character I enjoyed was Seo Yun-Jung (Jang Hee-Jin), who was Hwan-Ki's first love. Her moments with him and her weird frenemy moments with Ro-Woon were pretty funny I guess, except when Hwan-Ki was drunkenly insisting that they kiss each other, that just got weird. Yun-Jung was nice humor at needed moments, and the way she slammed Hwan-Ki's dad was epic.
A last thing I'll mention is the little crew that end up working for Hwan-Ki. They all learn to understand their strange boss over time, and he begins to show each of them the strengths they didn't know they had. One is a working mother, and she doesn't think she contributes enough. Always watching the employees, Hwan-Ki had hand-picked his team for a reason. He shows her that she is a very caring and social person, and that is one of her strengths.
The show is slow to start, but there are some beautiful moments in this series.
That being said, the whole premise of Ro-Woon's sister killing herself just really baffled me. It's always hard to pinpoint why a person would take their life, but within the series, I didn't feel like it was explained in a way that made sense. There were a few plot points that felt like someone was throwing wrenches just to throw them, and it grew kinda old. The series was more of a miss than a hit for me personally, but there were moments, like I mentioned, that I really appreciated. (And I did enjoy the last episode a lot).
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