“Chief of Staff” (보좌관): Season 1 & 2

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
November 11, 2021

☆☆☆☆
Jang Tae-Joon (played by Lee Jung-Jae)
Kang Seon-Yeong (played by Shin Min-A)
Yoon Hye-Won (played by Lee Elijah)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

Gucci announced today that Lee Jung-Jae and Shin Min-A have been selected as the fashion house’s new global ambassadors. Which reminded me that the pair had starred in “Chief of Staff,” the political thriller that they filmed in 2019. That was 10 years after Lee’s last K-drama, but two years before he’d star in “Squid Game,” Netflix’s No. 1 all-time series.

To be honest, I started the first episode when it premiered and stopped watching, because there were so many sleazy politicians to keep track of that I lost interest. But when I returned to it recently, I bingewatched both seasons in a couple days.

Lee and Shin star as a dream team working for opposing candidates. He is a former police officer, whose goal it is to become an assemblyman. She was an attorney and on-air journalist before becoming an assemblywoman. They work with their staffs in the same building. Plans are hatched, but none of them remain secret. Honest to goodness, even without the mole subplot that takes place in the second season, everyone is in each other’s business. There is no surprise attack because they all are aware of what everyone is doing.

It’s no surprise to find out that none of the politicians can be trusted. Even the good ones are a little dirty. And when Lee’s Tae-Joon knowingly does something sleazy for the ultimate goal of achieving something great, Shin’s Seon-Yeong challenges him. It’s a moral dilemma, because without power, few can make lasting societal changes. But as presented in “Chief of Staff,” power can’t be achieved without aligning yourself with the unctuous power players and emboldened moneymen, none of whom are giving away their support without conditions.

The second season starts off with a disturbing vignette that will fool no one about the outcome of the series.

The lead actors are both superb with their grounded, mature performances. By mature, I don’t mean elderly. Rather, Shin and Lee played capable adults who had their own separate lives together. (The actors were in their mid 30s and 40s during production.) There was no tee hee hee worrying about sleeping together at this stage of their lives.

But my eyes were riveted to Kim Kap-Soo — third from the right in the above photo — who is a scene stealer as Song Hee-seop, a politician with his eye on the Blue House (South Korea’s equivalent of our White House). A user, charmer and manipulator, he is the human equivalent of a cockroach. He survives everything.

Kim is so good at playing horrible characters that I recoiled when I first saw him pop up on “Hospital Playlist,” before falling in love with his sweet portrayal of a hospital bigwig (who shares a warm friendship/burgeoning romance with Yoo Yeon-Seok’s mother). (He was also wonderfully badass in “Sweet Home.”)

Lee Elijah also turns in another stellar performance as Tae-Joon’s right-hand woman, who anticipates problems before they happen and gets the job done.

Airdates: Ten 60-minute episodes aired on JTBC from June 14 through July 13, 2019. A second season (also 10 episodes) aired from November 11 to December 10, 2019.

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