Almost perfect
Right up until episode 10, this Drama was heading for a score of 10. Every episode was taut, tight, and ruthless. It was edge of the seat stuff and utterly compelling. Unfortunately it wobbled a bit in the final third by trying to inject human interest, in the mistaken belief that it needed to. The utterly outstanding Forest of Secrets (1 &2) both avoided that trap. Their chief protagonist never changed, and that was a smart move. This show went slightly soggy by turning the Eun Jung character into comic relief, distracting from the previously unbroken focus on the workplace battlefield. And the "mother and child reunion" sequence was eye-rollingly nauseating. Utterly out of character and utterly unnecessary.Despite those failings though, this remains an outstanding show. The key player are all VERY smart, and the action is entirely cerebral. Le Bo Young smashed it out of the park with her portrayal of Go Ah In, and both the badeuk playing CEO Jo and the Machiavellian patriarch Kang were perfect. It is such a rare and blessed treat to watch a Drama that doesn't insult viewer's intelligence but respects it, and celebrates the success of strong females who triumph on merit and by strength of character.
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Great show.... but somehow incompleted!
Sooo, this drama was nice, i mean the first half of this drama was excellent, the second half was less impressive....by trying to do too many things , the drama kind of lost his main purpose...i really much liked the chairman's daughter and director Park couple, they added the spiciness to this drama, i'm always for kisses and whatever in a couple, but in this case i really much appreciated the quiet and playful type of love, the chemistry was there.
I hope the writer had given us more inside in the main character life, there were so many unfinished things, like what about her "love interest"? how did she deal with her personal issues (health and family)?
Some plot line were also very unecessary (the prosecutor line or whatever could have easily been cut out, it wouldn't have changed anything in this drama).
Overall i liked this drama and i recommend it. It is always nice to see a well done drama centered on working women thriving for power and doing it the right way, i give this drama an 8.5/10.
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This review may contain spoilers
Super satisfying office drama done right!
I hestitated watching this when it came out, but after seeing several TikToks with Naeun, I had to give it a go. Was hooked from the first episode and immediately rooting for the main lead as she goes about putting mysoganists in their place.I main character Go A-In comes from a very poor background and has made her way up to the top, being the best advertising agency person (I don't know the roles name!). She's well respected in the industry but is royally stitched up by her then boss, who promoted her - for PR purposes.
What follows is her fight against them as well as dealing with her own demons. It's fast paced with a great supporting cast. Spoiler alert, there is no real romance although you're routing for two people in particular.
The main antagonist (Jo Sung Ha from K2) is truly annoying and as much as you want Go A-In to succeed, you equally want his demise.
It's not perfect, some plotlines are not fully explored, but all in all it's a great and very satisfying drama.
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Glimpse into Corporate Nastiness but Make it Professional
If you're looking for a corporate drama with a strong female lead, character development and a decent plotline, then this is for you!You get your usual rivalry stories, tons of "i want to strangle this person" moments and bits of what the advertising world is like. It dabbles on mental health and a different character dynamics, but overall the focus is your female lead, Go Ah In and her journey in such a cut-throat realm.
Personally, I enjoyed the drama. Looking back on it, there's a chunk of plotholes that never get addressed or feel thrown in, but its not as jarring an effect on the drama. Perhaps its to emphasize how certain things come and go in the flurry of an ever-changing corporate world. I definitely recommend it if you're just looking for something new, dramatic but still up your alley for strong female lead.
Its an 8.5 from me ^^
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Barely Advertisable
At the surface it may seems it's the type of show that goes through workplace cases one after another, while that was slightly true initially, but it was just a drama themed around an advertising agency, or so I thought, initially. After the introduction, the drama began with an advertising assignment then followed by a bigger one with more tension, stakes and clever plays, however, this all happened in the first half while the second half became a regular melodrama/power struggle in a corporate setting, no more advertising assignments. This was unfortunate because the second half couldn't carry the same impact, especially the last 4 episodes. Ah In & Han Na & Young Woo had a great dynamic between each other and those around them. On the other hand, Han Byung Soo was the worst character, his character didn't fit any scene, he lacked a good dynamic and story given that he was close to the female lead, even the actor himself was out of place and a big mismatch to his task. The personal stories were a hit or miss, take for example the female lead story, the writer put little to no effort into her childhood/trauma, everything started and ended with a few scenes which led to a weak resolution to her trauma. It was really disappointing in this specific case after building up her trauma and problems for so long. Han Na and her secretary might be a highlight for some but Eun Jung and her child were a highlight for me. The final wrap up felt a bit strange after just 1 year time skip, an obvious uncalculated afterthought for the sake of it. The drama offered a decent package with a lot more potentials on the table but it also left a lot more to be desired.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Very underrated drama
Honestly i loved almost every minute of this show.But before getting into it i feel like i have to talk about Misaeng which is what i consider to be one of the greatest kdrama ever and basically a blueprint for all Work/office based dramas. Misaeng had a very realistic portrayal of life and i ended up being emotionally attached to most of the characters in it, this also happens to be why i've never rewatched the show, i consider watching it again as emotional abuse because it has loads of depressing and sad scenes.
Agency almost feels like the opposite of Misaeng, it doesn't feel as realistic, you'll like the characters and understand their actions but you won't end up being as attached to the characters as you do in Misaeng for example though you understand the female lead, her actions and why she is the way she is you'll not be as attached to her due to her toxic relationship with work, unless of course you suffer from any of the issues she has. Even with my favourite characters of the show Han-na, Mr Park and Eun Jung, its more of a feeling of wanting them to have more screen time rather than any attachment to the characters.
What made me like the show is how it managed to balance all the typically boring work scenes with light comedy & melodrama most work based dramas tend to over do the comedy with wacky crazy scenes you don't really get that apart from some scenes with Han-na, like sometimes you want to watch something serious/mature but not overly sad/depressing or have too many silly comedy scenes, due to this I will definitely be rewatching this multiple times in the future.
My only grip with the show is that the FL's relationship with her mother & pills could've been fleshed out more, it felt like they either forget about character development and decided to add subplots for this at the last minute or they planned for character development and just gave up half-way.
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