Ron Does Stuff

So, during the height of the pandemic when all of us were stuck in our homes, I started watching What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim and immediately fell in love with it. During a time when the people in government looked so incompetent doing their jobs, seeing the characters be so good at their jobs was so reassuring for me. I even looked past the traumatic childhood incident part of the drama that I felt was completely unnecessary or could have been handled better!

Anyway, when I head that there was going to be a local adaptation of the show, I approached it with mixed parts curiosity and trepidation. There have been successful adaptations made by local companies, but there have also been…stinkers, to say the least.

So will this version live up to the original, or at least bring a distinctly Filipino flavor to the show? Let’s see!

Okay, first off I really liked how the show immediately included what has got to be one of the biggest problems of any business in the Philippines — dealing with the infernal traffic. And you know what, them acknowledging how inhuman Secretary Kim would have to be to outdo the GPS is a great touch. I can’t think of a better way to show you competence than by managing to get out of Metro Manila traffic effortlessly.

I also like the equivalent that they put in for the incompetent VP from the Korean version. Let’s be real here, bribery is practically the only way one gets through the tangle of Philippine government bureaucracy. Now do I necessarily believe a government official would refuse a bribe? No, but this is fiction! I do wish that they also had a scene where the…briber?… gets eviscerated like in the Korean one? That gave me so much satisfaction during the pandemic.

Right off the bat, Kim Chiu really is so charming in the role. I haven’t watched Linlang at all but her character here really plays to her strengths, at least from all the previous work of hers that I’ve seen. And I’ve seen my share because I was already a working person when she went inside the Pinoy Big Brother House.

Okay so they’re doing the freaking traumatic childhood storyline and okay I get it, it’s part of the story but it was one of the things I did not like from the original and I don’t know if that’s going to change now. I did laugh at the blatant product placement though!

Okay these episodes are pretty short so I’m doing two episodes in one post. We get to see more of the cast right off the bat in episode two, with Kim’s sisters being introduced and Romnick Sarmienta playing Kim’s dad. Full disclosure, as a young homosexual I had such a crush on Romnick growing up, so that should give you an idea of how old I am.

Pepe Herrera is also a great foil to Paolo Avelino’s BMC, always ready with a quip and ready to cut down BMC’s ego when needed. It’s not quite the character from the original, but equally entertaining to watch as well. Especially when BMC’s narcissism makes him oblivious to obvious jabs.

And would you look at that they put in the firing scene after all! I do wish it was more vicious and cathartic like in the Korean one but okay this will do.

Janice de Belen is also a hoot as BMC’s mother but really that’s nothing to be surprised about. Am not as enthusiastic about the dad in this but I also see why they would write him that way, so let’s let that pass for now.

Now, it’s been some time since I’ve watched the Korean series, so I don’t know how similar the marry me scenes are, but Kim really does so well in roles like this that it was so entertaining to watch her banter with Paolo. And that Bini song is perfectly placed!