“Misaeng” (미생)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
September 8, 2020

☆☆☆☆
Jang Geu-Rae (played by Im Si-Wan))
Oh Sang-Shik (played by Lee Sung-Min)
Ahn Young-Mi (played by Kang So-Ra)
Han Seok-Yool (played by Byun Yo-Han)
Jang Baek-Gi (played by Kang Ha-Neul)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

Pay attention to the first episode of “Misaeng,” because when you watch the finale, you will see how the two episodes are tied together for an extremely satisfying ending.

Jang Geu-Rae is an exceptionally smart young man and former baduk player, who couldn’t pursue his dreams. His father’s death meant he had to work from a young age to help support his mother. He didn’t have the luxury of attending university. While a diligent worker doing odd jobs to make ends meet, it’s clear he gave up on attempting to rise up any higher than where he is.

A different kind of K-Drama would’ve shown Geu-Rae working full-time and attending college at night to earn his diploma, get a job at a conglomerate and rise up to have a seat with all the big wigs. Oh, and marry the chaebol’s daughter as a bonus. And that could’ve been very entertaining.

What “Misaeng” does so very well is that it depicts how difficult life can be when everything is stacked against you, and you begin to believe that you don’t deserve more than the scraps people are willing to throw at you.

In that first episode, we see Geu-Rae in Jordan, looking for an international colleague. He speaks confidently in English. When push comes to shove, he refuses to take no for an answer. He gets things done.

The following 18 and one-half episodes will show a less confident Geu-Rae: an intern who the other interns dismiss as having been hired through connections, rather than any ability. Never mind that he works harder than the majority of them. And that even though he has no college degree and can’t speak a foreign language like his colleagues, he is bright, analytical and not afraid of getting his hands dirty (literally) when the job calls for it.

In some ways, I viewed this series as a parable for not putting all your eggs in one basket. Yes, if he had become a pro baduk player, he surely would have done well and would’ve had the money to attend college, even if his degree wasn’t a necessity for his career. But without that degree (and baduk career), he is viewed as a contemptible leech.

The office politics is insane at times and made me feel as if I’d get an ulcer viewing all the workplace inequities. The interns were treated as lesser beings — almost as a sick fraternity hazing. What the male interns encountered was bad enough. But Young-Mi — the lone female intern — was treated like dirt by everyone except her fellow interns and the lone woman in upper management. I wish Kang So-Ra had a meatier part. She spent most of her time asking, “네”? In this context, it meant, “Excuse me?” I realize this series wasn’t based around her, but as one of two female characters, it would’ve been nice if the writers had given her more to do.

Anyhow, Young-Mi’s manager, Ha Sung-Jun (played by Jeon Seok-Ho), was particularly despicable to her. The writers at times tried to inject a bit of humanity into the character, but it was too little, too late. I wanted to shove him off a cliff. Pronto.

In the above gif, you can see Seok-Yool (played by Byun Yo-Han, who was superb in “Mr. Sunshine“) adding some comic relief. I loved his busybody character, but felt that the writers dropped the ball on a plot point with him. Initially, Seok-Yool was presented as a pervert. He was shown touching a woman inappropriately at the workplace under the guise of wanting to feel the fabric of her clothing. Then his character morphed into the intern who knew everything that was going on and showed up whenever there was anything interesting happening, which was great. But were we to excuse his behavior because he was charming?

Kang Ha-Neul played the impatient Baek-Gi to perfection, showing his jealousy of Geu-Rae’s abilities while also internally acknowledging his colleague’s work. But as he said to Geu-Rae, the latter shouldn’t think their friendship meant they were in the same league. His academic pedigree put him several rungs higher, in his (and society’s) opinion.

As for Lee Sung-Min, who played Geu-Rae’s manager with a conscience, he was a scene stealer, regardless of what he was doing. His (often red) eyes told an entire story without words needing to be said. Riddled with guilt because he couldn’t prevent a previous temporary worker from dying by suicide, his goal is to hire Geu-Rae full-time, even though company policy says that is impossible (again, because he doesn’t have a college degree).

And as the lead character, Im Si-Wan beautifully portrayed the conflicted feelings of a young man who knows he has more in him than people are giving him credit for, but is also fearful that he will be proven wrong.

The scene that really drove home the office politics was a short vignette. All the employees are leaving work with their Christmas packages from their bosses. The full-timers received big boxes of SPAM, while the temporary workers took home a large container of vegetable oil. I can’t be the only person who’d much prefer the latter, amirite?

Airdates:

Twenty episodes — most about an hour each — aired from October 17 to December 20, 2014 on tvN.

Spoiler Alert:

There is a glorious scene in the finale where one of the particularly repugnant employees gets his comeuppance. Caught having an affair with a CEO’s wife, he is beaten senseless. The CEO is played by Oh Jung-Se, who was so good in “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” and “When the Camellia Blooms,”

Also, this is one of the few K-Dramas where there is no romance. While both Geu-Rae and Baek-Gi had mild crushes on Young-Mi, it never progressed to more than friends who truly cared about each other.

© 2020 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved