The one thing people should know before watching Ms. Temper & Nam Jung-gi is that even though it labels itself as a romcom, romance really takes a backseat to everything else. There are two main underlying themes in this drama, the first being the superior-subordinate relationship (or as it is called in the drama, the gab-eul relationship) and the second being feminism. Every two episodes acts as a story arc which tackles one of the issues pertaining to these themes.
The drama is special in the sense that the gab is our heroine and the eul is our hero, which is refreshing in the kdrama world. Naturally, the main draw of the drama is the female lead Ok Da-jung. Ok Da-jung is a fast-rising employee at Gold Chemicals and this led to her being the subject of many malicious rumours. In reality, she's a righteous person who does not stand for things such as the abuse of power. She's extremely principled, and believes in having pride in her own work. On the flip-side, our hero Nam Jung-gi, who is a timid employee at a small company, avoids responsibility like it's the plague. The contrast between their characters makes for a very interesting (and comedic) watch.
Ok Da-jung is such a great character that it's impossible to not love her. Lee Yo-won is perfect as the immaculately dressed heroine. It's almost as if the role was tailor made for her! She was spectacular in all of her scenes (the stoic ones, the emotional ones, and even the downright ridiculous ones). Yoon Sang-hyun turned in an incredible performance with his spot-on comedic timing as Nam Jung-gi. In fact, all of the cast delivered splendid performances. The only exception is Hwang Bora, whose crying scenes appear forced and unnatural at times.
Ok Da-jung's relationship with Nam Woojoo (Nam Jung-gi's son) is also something to look out for. Cute would be a serious understatement. Their chemistry is off the charts. Some may even argue that they are the OTP in the series.
The directing and writing of Ms. Temper are all good. The key point being that the drama maintained a consistent pace throughout the 16 episodes, meaning that it does not suffer from the same problems most kdramas do - waning after the mid-point. This is really impressive for a rookie writer. The use of CGI and various sound effects in the drama also adds to its hilarity.
On the other hand, the drama is not flawless. One criticism would be that there are some overly simplistic plot points. Ok Da-jung seems omnipotent in the series, always coming to the rescue when there is trouble. And the Lovely employees always manage to get into trouble. Some may also be bothered about how unrealistic it is that she's had three husbands, and all of them want a reconciliation. That being said, we can hardly complain since that put Lee Jung-jin and Yeon Jung-hoon on our screens.
Overall, this is an enjoyable drama which should appeal to anyone who's looking for dramas centered around a strong female character. However, if you're looking for a drama with more realism with respect to the business side of things, this is not it. In fact, most dramas don't do business correctly. The good thing about this drama, to quote a knetz, is that there is a right blend of realism (the issues that they tackle) and fantasy elements (how everything gets resolved, albeit a little too easily). Also, the bribery and cajoling may not be something that happens in your society, but it is something more relatable to the Korean viewers. So do take that into account when complaining about how unrealistic this drama is.
DISCLAIMER: My unusually high ratings for this drama is because I rate dramas base on the rating given by MDL. In the sense that if I think a drama is underrated, I'm going to give higher ratings for it. A more objective rating would be an 8. But there are tons of shitty dramas getting 8 here and I don't think that gives enough credit to Ms. Temper.
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