A first look at Misaeng (Incomplete Life): A story that everyone can relate to

Misaeng (Incomplete Life) premiered this past weekend on tvN in their Friday-Saturday slot. And I'm obsessed. I'm excited. I'm in love. I wasn't even going to blog about this until the end, but here I am. This contemplative but compelling look at office life and just the realities of modern day struggles is hitting all the right notes with me, from the writing and directing to the music, cinematography, and of course acting.

Misaeng is based on the wildly popular webtoon of the same name, which already spawned a movie that is a prequel to this drama series. I'm guessing the movie focuses on how JANG GEU-RAE (played by Im Siwan in both the movie and the drama) failed at becoming a professional baduk player and thus descended into his "incomplete" or lifeless life, since that's where the drama picks up.

I'm not going to recap this series, because it doesn't sound like a smart idea to try my first recapping gig going into residency interview season, and it seems that the girls over at Dramabeans are picking up the series anyway. However, I'm probably not going to be able to refrain from talking/obsessing about this drama, so I'll probably pop in and out with highlights and analysis preceded by a brief summary.

EPISODE 1-2 SUMMARY
The opening scene is a gripping albeit random chase through a city in Jordan. Having not seen the prequel movie, the only thing I can think of that relates this scene to the rest of the story is Jang Geu-rae and his voice-over that gets repeated throughout the rest of episode 1:

A path is not just where you're walking, but where you're walking in order to move forward. A path, on which you can't move forward, is not a path. 

A path is opened to everyone, but not everyone can have that path.

We then move to Seoul, South Korea, where we find our 26 year old protagonist working multiple part-time jobs post-baduk life many years now with only a GED to his name. His mom tells him he should probably quit his part-time jobs now and go into work tomorrow...which turns out to be an internship at a generic international consulting company, One International. The assistant manager on his team, Dong-shik, acquaints him briefly and sends him off on his first task - copying. Yup, copying. Thus begins his morning fumbling, looking lost, and constantly asking for help from very capable fellow intern, AHN YOUNG-YI (Kang Sora). Lunch is no better when he gets invited to sit with all the other interns minus Young-yi - who, by the way, is the only female intern at this company - where the word has already gotten around that Geu-rae is a nakkasan/"parachute" (nepotistic) intern.

On day 2, we're finally introduced to OH SANG-SHIK (Lee Sung-min), or simply Manager Oh from here on out. Despite Geu-rae's success at buying enough time for Manager Oh to make it to a meeting with a foreign important client, Manager Oh is not impressed, especially after hearing he's a nakkasan. But Geu-rae is, if nothing else, persistent, which he says as much to Manager Oh to try to win him over, who finally relents and gives him a project to sort files stored on a USB. Manager Oh checks up on his progress later, and is again, not impressed, asking him pointedly if he has any friends, because going through his file sorting system feels like reading a diary written by someone who's used to being alone.

After being left by himself to finish the scut work of finding a contaminating octopus in a squid shipment, Geu-rae goes back to the office and pulls an all-nighter finishing his file sorting assignment. The next day, Manager Oh hears about a speculation from a colleague that Geu-rae was probably intentionally placed on his team, not randomly, by the executive director. This does not sit well with Manager Oh, who cockblocks all of Geu-rae's efforts to do anything useful. Meanwhile, in the intern world, everyone is trying to decide who to be partners with in their first presentation. Surprisingly and suspiciously, many of them approach Geu-rae, even bribing him with treats and favors. Geu-rae maintains a degree of suspicion, but a little bit of hope that maybe he is somehow liked peeps through--only to be dashed by a concerned Dong-shik, who tells him point-blank that they want to use him as a "bomb." Meaning, they want to look exceptionally good by partnering with someone who's exceptionally bad. Geu-rae is blown, thinking to himself that he will always be alone.

Witnessing this from his corner, Manager Oh softens a little, and Geu-rae is finally allowed the simple task of organizing receipts by gluing them to a sheet of paper...long story short, this somehow descends into a confidential scrap paper from Geu-rae's team being dropped in the lobby by another intern. The executive director picks it up and personally marches it back to Manager Oh. Little is said, but with the whole floor watching, it's clearly assumed by everyone that Manager Oh got called out on behalf of Geu-rae's mistake, even though it was another intern's doing. Manager Oh and Dong-shik chews Geu-rae out, who is ordered to do physical punishment on the roof top (Geu-rae is sure spending a lot of time up on that roof top). Manager Oh eventually figures out that it was the other intern's fault, is moved, and takes Dong-shik and Geu-rae out to eat only to get stuporously drunk...In this stupor, he cutely compliments Geu-rae, and in a happen chance encounter with the manager on the other team, also spills the beans that it was in fact the other intern's fault. In the process, Manager Oh calls Geu-rae, "my kid," which is the only thing Geu-rae hears/remembers from all of this, and goes to sleep that night all smiles.

Okay, this "summary" was super long. Future ones will be much shorter. Promise.


WHAT I'M LOVING AND WHY
Where do I start?

I love the directing and the overall feel of the show. To call it "moody" and "atmospheric" is accurate but inadequate, because it's so much more. The writing is unapologetic and biting, a social commentary on survival in the 21st century. The music is unobtrusive, only there to enhance the scene, never there to take over and turn a scene into a MV. The directing pays attention to details with many long sweeping almost cinematographic shots of office life from behind Geu-rae's head. Simple scenes like making copies on the copy machine and the elevator conversation between Manager Oh and Geu-rae are played out with such nuanced true-to-life performances and tight direction that you feel you are Geu-rae. When I step back and think about what's happened in these episodes, I realize it's not much, but oh, why does it feel like my heart burst into a million pieces every second? It's genius to turn the simple and potentially boring into something gripping and heartbreaking...What I'm trying to say is that, this show is blowing me away because it feels like a movie, so polished, so much attention to detail, with such tight well thought out directing, but you get it in the long format of a drama series where there's plenty of room to develop themes and narratives.

Another thing I love about this show is its relevance, how it resonates with so many people. At one point or another, we have all be there. Feeling like your life is going nowhere, no path to be seen. Feeling alone. Feeling like the hardships will never end. Feeling like life sucks so bad that it's easier to just blame it on a lack of effort, because at least you can change that - you can't change your luck.

I love the dynamic between Manager Oh and Geu-rae. So far, the focus has been on these two, and I hope it stays this way. I love me some romantic comedies, but the strength of this show will not be in Geu-rae's relationship with Young-yi, but in his coming-of-age with Manager Oh begrudgingly at his side. I love their relationship because I get both their viewpoints. Manager Oh gives him doses of the truth straight, no sugar coating - no qualifications at this age? No chance. Anyone who's grown up a little will acknowledge that's true. But since Geu-rae is someone we've all been at some point and we're privy to how much he wants to do well, we feel for him and want him to succeed. Their interactions are so charged. Take this one, in the elevator ride in episode 2:

GR: Because I'm alone, there's nothing I can do.
MO: What are you talking about?
GR: You said work can't be done alone. I mean company tasks. You asked if I had any friends, right? Because it looked like a diary written by someone who's alone. You were right. Yes, I had to do it all alone. I had to fight alone and accept the outcome alone--
MO: --What are you--
GR: --So I only know how to work alone. Since that's all I know... You can teach me. You can give me opportunities.
MO: Even opportunities require qualifications.
GR: What qualifications?
MO: You really don't know?
GR: Let me ask you. If it's because I didn't study long enough--
MO: Do you know how many times people climbed up and down the stairs just to be able to step into this building's lobby? Do you know how much sweat and tears they shed, just to keep from being kicked out? A world where a kid, with no skills, can ride the escalator just because he has good connections...Well, I guess the world we live in is more like that now. But, I don't support that kind of world yet.
GR: Sweat...tears...despair...
(The elevator arrives at the lobby floor, and Manager Oh gets out.)
...how much more do I have to shed?

It's a narrative I'm invested in, because I feel like we're all living it everyday on some level: you vs. world, your effort vs. luck. I think we all know deep down that because this is a Korean drama, Geu-rae will come out winning somehow, but I don't think this show was ever about the end-result, but about that somehow, how Geu-rae struggles and finds a way to overcome the struggles.

Geu-rae's character could easily be annoying since on the surface, he's mopey and truly does lack experience at 26 years old. But he easily gains my respect and admiration in his unapologetic way of holding himself. When he is teased as a nakkasan at lunch by the other interns, he immediately sets them straight, disclosing that his highest level of education is a GED. When asked by Dong-shik at the beginning, he quickly admits that he has no qualifications...it's interesting that he lets everyone misunderstand him to a point, never telling anyone the real reason he never got a college education. He even purposely misrepresents how much baduk he knows when he explains to Manger Oh how he was able to stall the foreign client. It seems as if Geu-rae is re-inventing his own story, leaving out the baduk and other painful parts of his past, as if he is too hurt to confront the possibility that he did try really hard, but it just didn't work out.

That my talents were lacking, or that I had bad luck to lose the game by 0.5 points - I reject [that perspective]. It wasn't because I held a part-time job at the same time that I played baduk. It wasn't because my parents couldn't give me an allowance. It wasn't because my mother gave up after my father died. Because that would be too painful. That's why it had to be that I was just a person who didn't work hard. It really isn't that I didn't work hard...but I'll just think of it that way:

"I came out into the world because I didn't work hard. Since I didn't work hard, that's simply why I was abandoned."

It's interesting to note that Geu-rae is looking for his revival in the most unlikely of places--in office life. Contrast that to the exciting chase seen in another country that started the series. Most people think of that when they think of "finding yourself." Geu-rae's story is backwards though. He tried to path less traveled, failed, and is coming back, willingly diving into the boring life, wanting the mundane accomplishments and relationships that everyone else takes for granted. Geu-rae is full of contradictions. As a nakkasan, everyone thinks he must take his opportunities for granted the most, but he wants it more than anyone else. He keeps saying that he lacks effort, but he tries harder than anyone else. I'm looking forward to how this character develops...and how Im Siwan will bring that out.

I have to give props to Im Siwan's acting. I've never seen him in his other works (Triangle, The Attorney), but I hear he's been steadily improving. Even Micky Yoochun (Rooftop Prince, Haemoo) has recently cited him as his main idol-actor rival (Siwan is part of idol group ZE:A), and it's no wonder. If Siwan continues to improve upon his performance throughout this series, this could be his breakout role - maybe not in terms of ratings, but definitely in terms of talent recognition in the industry. A majority of the show focuses on Jang Geu-rae's emotions, reactions, inner monologues, so there are a lot of times when the camera lingers on his face even after the moment has passed, and Siwan plays it out the whole way through, not breaking character. I almost feel like those scenes were more about those lingering moments, and the action or dialogue that led up to them was only the set up. It takes talent to deliver moments like those. Plus, Geu-rae is not a simple character to play. He's never just happy, or just angry. Just like any other human being, he feels multiple things at once, often in contradiction to one another, all the while striving to maintain composure on the surface - and Siwan has delivered that convincingly, in a layered, nuanced performance so far.

Sources: Allkpop (re: Micky Yoochun's remarks)