Jeogeulleoseu

A very bland and uninspiring office romance drama. Absolutely nothing stands out about it, not even the chemistry. The backstories were boring as well. They sprinkled a few side stories at the beginning but only gave attention to the main one while the rest ended up being neglected. Even the main couple's story ended up being underdeveloped. On a side note, it's another drama where they draw parallels with Kim Tae Hee for being the beauty standard. For the past 20-something years, Korean writers are still placing Kim Tae Hee as the benchmark of beauty and I still don't know why. Anyway, it's alright.

At first glance, Jugglers appears to follow the pretty standard setup of an office drama-elite boss, underdog secretary, quirky group of employees for comic relief. I expect that it will follow the familiar formula where the leads hate each other at first, are forced to work together despite their personal feelings, and over time learn to respect each other and eventually fall in love. That's not to say that it can't still be a lot of fun; I mean, formulas are formulas because they work. What I like most about this drama at first glance is the casting, and the way all of the characters seem to be people who know who they are and don't try to be what they're not. Yoon-yi puts on the stereotypical competent, loyal secretary mask while at work, but in her personal life she's messy, foul-mouthed, and slightly annoying even to her friends. Chi-won is, of course, her polar opposite: judgmental, overly cautious, rigid, and resistant to any social responsibilities. It's going to be entertaining to watch them clash, mostly because I think that Baek Jin-hee and Daniel Choi are nailing their roles so far, fully committing themselves to their characters' wide extremes. Yoon-yi, who is a fun mix of organized and hot mess. I understand the need to be super organized in your work persona, leaving nothing left when it's time to go home. She seems like the kind of person who is good at her job because she's dedicated and driven, but she's also prone to bursts of inadvisable emotion, where she lets her feelings get the best of her and acts out in ways that could be harmful to herself and others. Kicking someone who's showing concern for you, even if you're in a terrible hurry, is pretty awful, and I don't blame Chi-won for being disgusted when he witnesses her being insincere at the funeral, then turning around and demanding sincerity from him. Yoon-yi may be a competent secretary, but she's driven by her instincts instead of what's right, which is something she's going to need to fix. Chi-won seems to have a very centered (if overly rigid) moral compass, making his lackadaisical attitude towards his job feel very out of character. There's definitely some nepotism going on in this company, though I'm unsure yet exactly where everyone stands. Vice President Do's treatment of Chi-won seemed very fatherly, and Yul is obviously not a managing director because he earned the position. Why they're both working for YB Group, and why Chi-won in particular doesn't seem happy about it.

With all these fantasy dramas out there, Jugglers was kind of refreshing. At least, at first. The first episodes were funny and had some interesting scenes and events. The story seemed promising as well. However, and that probably should have been expected, the rest of the drama was kind of a disappointment, concidaring that there was no new element in it. Plus, I couldn't find the chemistry between the two leads that good, but at least it was good enough. The ending, finally, was so so, so all in all, 3 out of 10.