Rewatch

I've been rewatching She Would Never Know, a k-drama I've previously seen but didn't review here on the blog (not sure why; I liked it enough to rewatch it.) It's one of the more dramatic, slightly over-the-top Korean office older woman/younger man romance series -- a popular trope in Asian countries -- and it's quite well-written.

I think the first time I watched it I wasn't convinced that people would do these things in a setting where they'd almost certainly get caught right away. Then again, at one of my workplaces two of my married (not to each other) co-workers got, ah, busy every day in the office and I'm pretty sure no one but me knew. Also, if you're planning to do that at work, please lock the door so someone like me doesn't walk in on you.

Anyway, the premise sounds a bit messy: the series follows a brother and two sisters, the brother's crush at work, the crush's secret office romance with her senior, the senior's tragic and messed up relationship with the wealthy but psycho granddaughter of the company owner, the brother's married sister and her oddball husband, and finally the company owner's granddaughter's brother, who has a crush on the brother's second sister.

I'm not kidding. They pack a lot into sixteen episodes.

At first the story focuses on the brother finding out his crush's secret boyfriend is not only cheating on her, but intends to marry the psycho granddaughter and keep the crush as his honey on the side. This is the busiest secondary cast I've ever seen in a series, too; there's even a slightly psycho mother, grandfather, and an adorable kid who has a background romance of her own.

Aside from all the convoluted connections, there are a lot of extremely convenient aspects to the storyline, such as the second sister making the psycho granddaughter's wedding dress, so she's able to expose secret boyfriend's two-timing (in a very elegant manner, no less.) The female lead (the older woman senior/crush) is obviously head over heels with her secret boyfriend, but after they break up she takes only a few episodes to fall in love with the male lead (the brother/younger man.) Then just as they're settling into a lovely romance she makes a life-changing decision that made me furious with her. The series ends with all the ends tied up neatly, but I never forgave the female lead for being so callous.

I was a bit less judgy this time around, and enjoyed the series more. Despite the overload of plots and relationships it's actually pretty easy to follow, thanks to the superb script writing and the very good acting. I was more interested in the character of the bad guy this time (the two-timing senior) and picked up some nuances I missed the first time around. You might need a scorecard to keep up with who's who, however. Available on Netflix.