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The 2018 Korean drama, starring Kin Jun-Myeon as Lee Yoo-Chan, Ha Yeon-Soo as Kim Bo-Ra, Oh Chang-Suk as Min Tae-Joo, and Kim Ye-Won as Min Tae-Ra. Also known as “Rich Man.”
Brief summary: Lee Yoo-Chan is a hot-shot CEO with prosopagnosia and Kim Bo-Ra is a college senior just trying to get a job. When she applies at Yoo-Chan’s company, they don’t exactly get along. Although Yoo-Chan would love to get rid of her as soon as possible, a college senior with exceptional memorization skills may be exactly what the company needs right now.
This drama wasn’t too bad, bit it’s probably not going to be a personal favorite. The plot seemed a bit repetitive and slow, giving 16 episodes to what seemed like it would only need three hours for, at most. Character development wasn’t that impressive either— none of the characters underwent enough transformation that you wouldn’t recognize them if you compared episode 1 and episode 16.
Although Lee Yoo-Chan, our handsome protagonist, was able to overcome his plot obstacles of the drama, his character didn’t change or improve much throughout all 16 episodes. Yoo-Chan sounded boastful in the first episode when he said that the key to Next In’s success was himself, but he wasn’t lying, He really was extraordinarily talented yet I was hoping for him to become a better person through his obstacles instead of just realizing his feelings for the female lead. We want to say that his biggest character flaw is pride or stubbornness, but Yoo-Chan never really gets that personal a-ha moment so it must not be a significant part of the drama. I think that if it was, the drama would have had much more depth. Since he doesn’t overcome any sort of personal flaw (I don’t think his prosopagnosia was a flaw— a difficult disorder to deal with doesn’t always influence your personality), I started feeling a little bored by his antics by episode 15. Although his character consistency is admirable, I think I would have liked to see him struggle to overcome a deeper personal limitation. The prosopagnosia and getting fired didn’t quite cut it for me.
Kim Bo-Ra wasn’t much different, but the drama felt like it was much more about Lee Yoo-Chan than her. There wasn’t any particular role for her to fill other than being a little ray of sunshine for Yoo-Chan.
The plot may seem to jump around a little, but don’t worry— eventually you get the full picture as you keep watching.
I couldn't help but notice that Yoo-Chan's house in the drama was Shin Joon-Young's house from "Uncontrollably Fond," which I only saw for the first time recently. Makes me wonder how much money the real house-owner gets from renting it out to filming crews. I could also tell that the drama on TV in episode 5 was totally "While You Were Sleeping" (Lee Jong-Suk and Suzy Bae).
I think this drama was also the first time I've ever heard "Utah" in a kdrama. It's part of Steve Jo's character, an explanation for his bad Korean that we love so much. It definitely surprised me because in the United States alone Utah isn't well-known for its multiethnic population (let alone more than one airport). But I guess what was meant by picking such an unexpected location for a character's background was that Steve was a talented to contribute to his team. What I mean by this is that we know the team members all had different backgrounds and things that they could contribute, but in working together they achieved what each couldn't do on their own. These days, that's how you know a team is truly effective.
My favorite line: "Beautiful days follow after not so beautiful days," by Min Tae-Ra, episode 11. Yes, Tae-Ra has issues all on her own, but she wasn't wrong. That line contained a lot of hope and positivity that I couldn't help but admire.
Cha Do-Jin and Park Mi-So didn't make the greates couple in my book, and I didn't expect them to last, but I guess they figured things out between them. It was a bit funny that in the drama no character ever actually mentioned "abortion," but it was obvious that is was being considered. I appreciate the amount of respect that the writers showed through the characters and dialogue. No matter what your stand or your opinion is on abortion, it's not a decision to take lightly.
The main couple, Yoo-Chan and Bo-Ra, was okay, but they're definitely what others would call a "slow-burning romance." These guys itook baby steps, but I'm glad they also figured things out!
In conclusion, I liked watching and especially admired Kim Jun-Myeon's acting talent although this drama likely isn't going to be a personal favorite. 4/5 stars!
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