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Jugglers: Episode 1

KBS’s new office rom-com Jugglers starts out strong, with interesting characters and a simple premise that promises to be cute, if familiar. There’s nothing new in the basic plot, but the appeal lies in the execution, owing largely to Baek Jin-hee’s charming portrayal of the secretary who can do anything. But it’s too soon to say where the show may take us, and with a new writer at the helm, we may very well end up pleasantly surprised.

 
EPISODE 1: “Wherever the boss is, whatever happens… the jugglers appear”

In an art gallery, a well-dressed young woman stands in front of a painting of a juggling woman. The man next to her says that the artist, Georges Rouault, was known for his fascination with the circus. He continues that the juggler’s expression looks relaxed and joyful, but the woman disagrees.

She says that to her, the woman seems as if she’s suffering from great pain, having to juggle so many balls with only two hands. She gives the man a triumphant smile, and thinks to herself that she won’t have to spend her twenty-ninth birthday alone.

This is our heroine, JWA YOON-YI (Baek Jin-hee), and she and the man (cameo by Sung Hoon) begin an adorable romance. They seem happy and in love, but for one small problem—Yoon-yi’s boss, who calls her constantly and at all hours of the day and night. She always takes his calls (he’s saved in her phone as “Dimwit”), no matter what she and her boyfriend are doing, and over time he grows increasingly annoyed.

On her birthday, her boyfriend takes Yoon-yi to a hotel for an intimate getaway. He struggles to undo her blouse and accidentally rips off a button. It flies through the air, and they both cringe when it lands on her phone just as it rings with another call from the demanding boss.

Begging Yoon-yi to ignore it just this once, he tries to finish removing her top, but it has about a zillion microscopic buttons. He keeps at it, but the (literally) screaming phone finally gets to Yoon-yi and she shoves him to the floor to answer it.

It’s the final straw for her boyfriend, who breaks up with Yoon-yi three minutes before her birthday ends. He drives away, leaving her to take a taxi home. Yoon-yi curses when she sees the fare, then snarls when her phone rings with a call from someone saved as “Misery.”

The taxi hits a bump, causing her phone to fly through the air, where Yoon-yi juggles it for a few long seconds before accidentally knocking it out of the window to shatter on the pavement. Worst birthday ever.

The next morning, Yoon-yi is a mess as she rushes to work, half undressed and with wet hair. All over the city, women race around madly as Yoon-yi narrates that for some women, 7 A.M. is their busiest time of day.

She and an army of women walk into a fancy office building, YP Group’s main office, as she continues that they do countless jobs for their bosses: “We are the skilled jugglers, the front line that runs into battle before anyone else in the business world. If anything happens to our bosses, anywhere, at any time, we appear. We are the office heroines. We are the jugglers.”

We finally meet Yoon-yi’s boss, DIRECTOR BONG, who’s shown up to work with lipstick on his collar and smelling like perfume. He frantically calls Yoon-yi to bring him a new shirt, which she does while simultaneously alerting the building’s front desk that Director Bong’s wife is on her way, and forbidding them to let her in until she arrives.

Nearby, a man drives to work while correcting the grammar of the radio news announcer. He’s NAM CHI-WON (Daniel Choi), managing director at an advertising company under YB Group. He stops at a red light and answers a call from someone who chides him for running late, reminding him that the chairman delayed a flight just to see him.

It begins to rain, and Chi-won discovers that his windshield wipers are broken. He accelerates when the light turns green, but slams on the brakes again when he sees a woman fall in front of his car.

 

Watch the scene

A meet-not-so-cute in the rain

 
He gets out to find Yoon-yi on the pavement, soaking wet with a scraped and bruised knee. Chi-won wants to take her to the hospital, but she’s got bigger concerns and refuses his help. He keeps insisting, worried that she’ll cause trouble for him later, so Yoon-yi kicks him in the shin, declares them even, then runs off.

She gets to the office and, despite her injured knee, manages to make herself presentable in time to meet Director Bong’s wife, aka “Misery,” who’s been calling her nonstop. Misery is angrily demanding to be let in to see her husband, and she turns her fury on Yoon-yi as she accuses her of ignoring her calls.

Yoon-yi is all professional conciliatory regret as she holds her smashed phone up to prove that it’s really not working. Somewhat mollified, Misery asks where her rat husband is, and Yoon-yi tells her that he was in a meeting all night long.

Demanding to see for herself, Misery heads up to confront her husband, with Yoon-yi following in her wake. She stares, incredulous, to see her husband is indeed in a messy meeting room with some frazzled colleagues, looking like they’ve been up all night. What she can’t hear is that they’re discussing a new escort service, ha.

Misery wonders why Director Bong’s phone GPS located him at a motel this morning, and Yoon-yi thinks quick, then says apologetically that she accidentally took the boss’s phone home by mistake, and went to a rendezvous with her boyfriend. She says she owed her boyfriend some alone time because she’s been so busy lately, and Misery wonders why, since nothing could be easier than being an assistant.

Misery falls for Yoon-yi’s cover-up, and she even says that when her husband is promoted, Yoon-yi should be going with him to the executive floor. She gives Yoon-yi a VIP pass to her aesthetician, telling her to take care of herself. Once she leaves, Yoon-yi heaves a huge sigh of relief.

When Yoon-yi texts Director Bong that the coast is clear, he and his cronies leave work to visit a sauna. Staying behind to clean his office, Yoon-yi narrates that no boss can be a hero in front of his secretary. She says that when you look closely, a boss is really just a middle-aged cheater, and that a secretary always sees the boss’s true face, the one she doesn’t want to see.

In a different office, another secretary named MA BO-NA (Cha Joo-young) briefs her boss, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JO, on his schedule for the day as he heads to his office. He completely ignores her until she’s finished, then tells her to cancel the whole day because he feels like resting.

Bo-na is Yoon-yi’s friend, and they get together that night at Yoon-yi’s messy home to complain about their bosses, with their other friend PARK KYUNG-RYE (Jung Hye-in). Bo-na has the opposite problem as Yoon-yi—while Yoon-yi’s boss expects her to do everything, Bo-na’s boss thinks that her only job is to make tea.

Yoon-yi goes off on a rant about how Misery grows more annoying by the day, then shows her friends her injured knee. It looks pretty bad, but she says she doesn’t have time for treatment, and Kyung-rye complains about her getting hurt while covering for her cheating boss.

She calls Yoon-yi an accomplice, but Yoon-yi argues that if he gets caught, the fallout will be worse than just a broken family. He won’t get the promotion, which means that she won’t get her own chance at the executive secretary’s office.

She and Kyung-rye toast to that, but Bo-na is busy with her phone and says that she doesn’t want to celebrate something that won’t happen. She gets up to leave, and Kyung-rye decides to go too, refusing when Yoon-yi begs them to spend the night.

On their way out, they joke that Yoon-yi’s house is haunted and laugh at her reciting the Lord’s Prayer when she’s the daughter of a shaman. But the idea of ghosts keeps her awake late into the night. She logs onto a website called Jugglers, which uses the Rouault painting as its logo. It’s an advice website and forum for secretaries with work problems, and Yoon-yi busies herself answering questions as the site administrator.

Chi-won bikes to work the following morning, and as he’s crossing a busy intersection, he sees a news story on a building’s jumbo screen about an explosion in a chemical waste disposal factory that killed nine people. He stands, stunned, until a car honks and startles him back to reality.

He arrives at his office at YB Ad, where an employee attempts to talk to him about some work matters. Chi-won cuts the man off and tells him to email him instead, then goes into his office, slamming the door in the poor guy’s face.

The employee, Gong Yoo (yes, really), looks to his coworkers for support in dealing with the taciturn boss, and they give him credit for at least trying to have some sort of friendly relationship with him. Locked in his office, Chi-won takes his time dressing in a snazzy three-piece suit and expensive shoes, only to spend his morning leafing through the classifieds, ha.

Elsewhere, loan sharks gather at the door of a beautiful large home, yelling for the occupant to come out. Inside, the house is immaculate but for a pot of water boiling over on the stove.

The homeowner, WANG JUNG-AE (Kang Hye-jung) cowers in an upstairs closet. She calls Yoon-yi, who notes that her voice sounds strange. Struggling to sound fine, Jung-ae asks Yoon-yi to visit her this weekend, and Yoon-yi agrees.

While Yoon-yi is out running errands for her boss, someone takes several photos of her. She takes a call from her boss, who sends her lingerie shopping for his mistress, where more surreptitious photos are taken of her.

Back at the office, Director Bong is satisfied with the jeweled cuff links Yoon-yi picked up for him to give as a birthday gift for a colleague, and he grows disgustingly gleeful at the lingerie she purchased for his mistress. The cell phone she bought is also for him, and he reminds her that only the two of them and his mistress are to have the number.

On his way out of the office, Director Bong notices that Yoon-yi is wearing pants, so she explains that she has a bruised knee. He disapproves, complaining that secretaries should always wear skirts. (Seriously?)

Chi-won spends his afternoon at a comic book store, periodically stopping to write something down. He’s not happy when he looks up to see his boss, VICE PRESIDENT DO, and he asks if the vice president is having him tailed.

Vice President Do says that he just wants to understand where Chi-won disappears to, and that he heard he comes here every day at lunch. He grabs Chi-won’s notes and reads them out loud, and HAHA, they’re lines from the comics that Chi-won thought sounded cool.

Annoyed at having his personal time ruined, Chi-won snatches his notes back and snaps at Vice President Do to mind his own business. Growing serious, Vice President Do says that people are complaining that he’s worked at YB Ad for two months and they’ve never even had a conversation with him.

Chi-won asks who told him that, so Vice President Do names his assistant, Secretary Yoo. He says that secretaries know everything, but Chi-won retorts that he doesn’t need a mole like that.

The “mole” in question drives them back to the office, and an amused Vice President Do tells him that Chi-won thinks he’s a spy. He instructs Secretary Yoo to teach Chi-won what personal assistants do.

He asks why Chi-won doesn’t have his car today, and he says he’s taking a break from driving after almost getting into an accident. Vice President Do grumbles that preventing things before they even happen is Chi-won’s specialty.

He asks Chi-won to come live at his house since he hasn’t found a home yet, lamenting the fact that Chi-won lost his entire estate in his divorce and is living in a hotel. He even offers to lend him some money, but Chi-won vehemently refuses both offers and insists on being let out of the car.

As they drive away, Secretary Yoo notes that Vice President Do seems to have a special fondness for Chi-won. Vice President Do says, a bit sadly, that it’s not good if it’s obvious because Chi-won will only run away.

Word goes out across YB Group that a senior executive director’s mother-in-law has passed away. Everyone who’s anyone shows up for the funeral, all with their secretaries in tow, and Yoon-yi narrates that this is the sort of event where secretaries can showcase their support for their bosses.

She arrives and joins Director Bong, and from across the room, Chi-won spots her and stares. Everyone lines up to pay their respects to the deceased, and when it’s Executive Director Jo’s turn, he bites his tongue to induce tears while Bo-na resorts to eye drops.

They make a good show of sorrow, and Director Bong is up next. He makes his bows while Yoon-yi stands somberly behind him, and he shoots her a disapproving look for her lack of emotion. She thinks to herself that a single tear is more appreciated than a million words of consolation, and just at the perfect time, she releases that one tear.

But she’s keeping her boss’s and her own future salaries in mind, so she decides that a brief waste of emotion is worth it. She bursts into loud, dramatic sobs, hanging on the executive director’s wife and wailing at the top of her lungs.

Chi-won happens by just in time to witness Yoon-yi’s theatrical display, and her obviously fake sobs have him rolling his eyes in disgust.

Yoon-yi helps serve the guests later along with all of the other secretaries, which allows her to feed information to Director Bong as he greets his business colleagues. When he goes to talk to one too soon and nearly mentions his new hairdo, Yoon-yi leaps over to delicately slip in the fact that the man is undergoing chemotherapy, narrowly avoiding a grave insult.

At another table, Vice President Do introduces Chi-won to his colleagues, who are impressed by Chi-won’s reputation. All except Executive Director Jo, who throws a tiny grumpy tantrum.

Yoon-yi points out Vice President Do to Director Bong, and suddenly recognizes Chi-won from their accident. She doesn’t know who he is, so Director Bong assumes he’s Vice President Do’s assistant.

She sees Chi-won step out to the hall, so she follows to ask if he’s the vice president’s assistant. Chi-won only sighs and starts to walk away, but Yoon-yi grabs his arm and asks if he remembers her. Chi-won pops open his soda and drinks it in one gulp, maintaining defiant eye contact the whole time. Weird.

When he finishes, he asks if she’s interested in him, saying that it’s the only logical explanation for why she’d be nagging him to talk to her. He tells her she’s not his type, making Yoon-yi huff indignantly and retort that he’s not her type either.

She chastises him for not asking how her injury is or whether she went to the hospital. Chi-won reminds her that she kicked him, and that she herself declared them even.

She repeats that she just wants him to show some concern, so he asks in this hilariously disinterested voice, “How’s your injury? Did you go to the hospital? Happy now?” Incredulous, Yoon-yi angrily accepts that that’s all she’s going to get from him, and says that words that lack sincerity aren’t very consoling.

Chi-won suddenly swings his arm back as if to hit her, and Yoon-yi cowers against the vending machine. But he just slams his empty drink can into the trash and walks away, turning back to give her one last glare.

He mocks her performance from when she pretended to cry over the deceased, and repeats her words in that same emotionless voice, “Words that lack sincerity aren’t consoling to anyone.” He’s got a point and Yoon-yi knows it, and she’s left seething impotently.

Chi-won goes to his car, where he listens to a radio DJ talk about how difficult it is to find silence in our modern society. She plays Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence, and Chi-won leans his seat back and sighs heavily.

At the YB Ad lobby cafe where Yoon-yi’s friend Kyung-rye works, a man begs a secretary not to quit her job. But she’s a nervous wreck, saying that she’s losing hair and even has to wear a diaper because of her stress-induced irritable bowel syndrome. Ha, gross.

She refuses his offer of worker’s comp and insists that he process her resignation. Her coworker pleads with her to just ignore the director, but she says he makes impossible requests, like demanding the sneakers that Kobe Bryant wore at his retirement game, or getting Park Ji-sung to coach his chaebol soccer team for free.

She says she can’t stand it anymore and storms out. Kyung-rye sighs and tells her coworker that the boss they’re talking about is a psycho who only shows up at work to eat.

Said psycho, HWANGBO YUL (Lee Won-geun), rides a fancy motorcycle to the YB Ad building and saunters confidently towards Chi-won’s office. The man from the cafe confronts him about his secretary quitting, but Yul just tells him to hire someone new like usual.

When the man informs him that there’s nobody left, Yul brings up the fact that his daughter bombed the college entrance exam again. The man stammers that she’s too busy studying to work for him, but Yul tells him to find someone persistent like his daughter.

Yul lets himself into Chi-won’s office to invite him to lunch. Chi-won says he already has plans, but Yul calls that a lie, since everyone knows he has no friends. He wheedles for Chi-won to cave, saying that they’ve been family for two months now but haven’t shared one meal, but Chi-won just chides him to come to work on time in the future.

He informs Yul in no uncertain terms that he won’t be eating with him, now or in the future. He also objects to Yul’s clinginess, calling it gross, and walks out.

Yoon-yi enters Director Bong’s office as he’s pleading with his mistress to lay low for a few days and be patient while he stays home with his wife to avoid suspicion. She puts a note in front of him saying that someone named Henry has arrived at his hotel, but Director Bong tells her to handle Henry herself. She balks, since today’s meeting is to finalize a contract, but he tells her to stall the guy.

As it turns out, Chi-won does have lunch plans—with his ex-wife. She takes in his pinched expression and quips that he looks like he’s here to sell his body against his will, and he retorts that it’s the same thing.

He’s grumpy that she insisted on eating at this hotel, but she says it’s because this is where they got married, and he grumbles that it’s also where they signed the divorce papers. She admonishes him to play nice, since it’s the last time they’ll see each other before she leaves the country for three years.

Yoon-yi is also at that hotel, having lunch with Henry in Director Bong’s place. She charms him with her thoughtful gift, and he jokingly tries to woo her to work for him.

Suddenly, Yoon-yi looks up to see Misery, her boss’s wife, storming towards her looking like a woman on a mission. Misery grabs an ice bucket from a waiter without missing a beat, and flings the icy water into Yoon-yi’s face. She announces that this must be what it feels like to throw water on the witch who’s having an affair with her husband.

Misery accuses Yoon-yi of stabbing her in the back after she’s been so nice to her, and she refuses to listen to Yoon-yi’s explanations. Instead she decides to take Yoon-yi outside to settle this with their fists, so she grabs Yoon-yi’s jacket collar and starts dragging her out of the restaurant.

Chi-won’s lunch is interrupted by Yoon-yi’s loud screeches, and he looks over to see her being forcibly hauled to the door by Misery. Yoon-yi loses a shoe on the way, and Chi-won stares at it for a moment before turning back to his food.

In the lobby, Yoon-yi manages to slide out of her jacket and free herself from Misery’s death grip. She tries to tell Misery that this is all a misunderstanding, but Misery just screams that she stole her husband and shakes her violently by the hair.

 

Watch the scene

Misery goes full-on Misery and attacks Yoon-yi

 
Epilogue.

Chi-won exits the hotel and looks around, holding Yoon-yi’s shoe in his hand. When he doesn’t see her, he starts to toss her shoe in the trash, but something stops him. He sighs that this is annoying and goes back inside, taking the shoe with him.

 
COMMENTS

At first glance, Jugglers appears to follow the pretty standard setup of an office drama—elite boss, underdog secretary, quirky group of employees for comic relief. I expect that it will follow the familiar formula where the leads hate each other at first, are forced to work together despite their personal feelings, and over time learn to respect each other and eventually fall in love.

That’s not to say that it can’t still be a lot of fun; I mean, formulas are formulas because they work. What I like most about this drama at first glance is the casting, and the way all of the characters seem to be people who know who they are and don’t try to be what they’re not. Yoon-yi puts on the stereotypical competent, loyal secretary mask while at work, but in her personal life she’s messy, foul-mouthed, and slightly annoying even to her friends. Chi-won is, of course, her polar opposite: judgmental, overly cautious, rigid, and resistant to any social responsibilities. It’s going to be entertaining to watch them clash, mostly because I think that Baek Jin-hee and Daniel Choi are nailing their roles so far, fully committing themselves to their characters’ wide extremes.

I particularly relate to Yoon-yi, who is a fun mix of organized and hot mess. I understand the need to be super organized in your work persona, leaving nothing left when it’s time to go home. She seems like the kind of person who is good at her job because she’s dedicated and driven, but she’s also prone to bursts of inadvisable emotion, where she lets her feelings get the best of her and acts out in ways that could be harmful to herself and others. Kicking someone who’s showing concern for you, even if you’re in a terrible hurry, is pretty awful, and I don’t blame Chi-won for being disgusted when he witnesses her being insincere at the funeral, then turning around and demanding sincerity from him. Yoon-yi may be a competent secretary, but she’s driven by her instincts instead of what’s right, which is something she’s going to need to fix.

I liked the little Cinderella reference there at the end with Yoon-yi’s lost shoe, and Chi-won playing the prince by picking it up. Naturally he’s a very reluctant prince, and he didn’t even go to her rescue when she was being attacked, but just the fact that he didn’t throw her shoe away proves that something about Yoon-yi has gotten to him already. And despite his seeming rudeness on the outside, he’s really not that rude exactly, he just doesn’t have any patience for things he considers a waste of time. Chi-won seems to have a very centered (if overly rigid) moral compass, making his lackadaisical attitude towards his job feel very out of character, from what little we know of him so far.

He’s obviously hit a hard patch, what with his divorce and losing everything to his ex-wife, and I’m guessing that he only took this job because he had to. There’s definitely some nepotism going on in this company, though I’m unsure yet exactly where everyone stands. Vice President Do’s treatment of Chi-won seemed very fatherly, and Yul is obviously not a managing director because he earned the position. I’m eager to learn exactly why they’re both working for YB Group, and why Chi-won in particular doesn’t seem happy about it.

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This episode was good enough to make me want to see more and I'm really thankful they made the female lead actually good at her job. I can't say I like Chi Won yet, but I very much identified with him withdrawing to some quiet place to read manga or listen to music. And how cute is that he writes down the quotes he likes from mangas! I'd do the same if only I weren't so lazy.

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What I enjoyed the most:
- The opening, it was refreshing to see a female lead that has dated before and is actually confident in that area
- the funeral scene. I have to recognize Yoon Yi crying like that actually made me find her somewhat endearing but it was sad seeing how fake people can be about such a tragic event and I have to agree with Chi Won on this one
- again, Chi Won retreating to his car. I do this too when I feel like I need some silence to gather myself but everyone found it very weird at first, so I was glad to see a scene like this coming up

UGH moments:
-her boss telling her to wear a skirt even though her leg is injured
-having to cover for your cheating boss (I know it's somewhat her job but... doesn't she feel it's a bit wrong to do that? It felt somewhat morally grey to me)
-basically anything about her boss
-Lee Won Geun was one of the reasons I started this but seeing how so many secretaries went through a lot of trouble, I can't quite like his character yet (even though he's so cute!!!)
-Chi Won's opinion about secretaries, but we all know that will change

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having to cover for your cheating boss (I know it's somewhat her job but... doesn't she feel it's a bit wrong to do that? It felt somewhat morally grey to me)

I think she must somehow feels wrong to do that. But she is an assistant, and she's not at the place to question his actions and care that much I guess, because she treated it as her job. I found her character is interesting, and her ways of thinking might be different and arguable. She seems to think her survival comes first before anything else which is not entirely wrong, because it's realistic.

Lee Won-geun is so cute, but I don't really like his character yet. He is immature and loved to play around, hope we can see his development later

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I don't like LWG character as well he's a rich irresponsible brat, his character is boring for now, I hope it will become interesting later.

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I think the idea is that she needs this job; if she wants to earn a living, she has to do what she has to do. It's also the atmosphere in the workplace where covering for your boss is a given; if you don't, you'll be replaced, no problem. But I do see that she was beginning to let her work life override her outside life, so hopefully the change of work place (and boss) will show her how badly she was treated, and how covering for her boss was wrong. I'd love to see a scene where she talks to the wife and they set up the ex-boss to be caught.

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I'd love to see a scene where she talks to the wife and they set up the ex-boss to be caught.

Oh yess. This is going to be so good.

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Keeping my fingers crossed that we'll get to see sleazy boss getting his comeuppance!

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I feel bad for her as it looks like she's framed by her boss as he was about to get caught with his actual girlfriend.

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I am not so sure. I mean, lying in order to cover up the boss, and lying again and being hypocrite in order to "eventually" gain position, due to her boss promotion, I am not sure if I would or could call this works ethics being "good" at one's work

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This is not meant to be censure in the slightest (just an observation), but it feels like LollyPip and Odilletante are the only ones recapping dramas nowadays. Not that I'm complaining.

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Baek Jin-hee is my favourite Ms Juggler ❤ I love how both main leads are all out in their performance, and perfectly embodied their character.

Agree that this drama is set up as something familiar and it's all up to execution, which is so far pretty good. New writer can surprise us with good works, so hopefully it's the same for this drama.

I love that everyone is good at their job in this drama and I'm also curious about Kang Hye-jung's character when she starts working later. Hope this drama stays good until the end, and the rating increase for for epi 2 hopefully means it is well-received.

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I got attracted by this drama, but they need to lower the cliches so I can enjoy it.
The last part was so cringeworthy though 😑😑

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Ever since Missing 9, I've become a fan of Baek Jin Hee and thus she's the reason why I'm watching this drama. Of course, watching just for the actors/actresses doesn't always work out so well (looking at Nothing to Lose and Revolutionary Love), which is why I am pleasantly surprised I'm enjoying this drama so far. No comments on Choi Daniel yet (this is my first time watching him on screen), but I'm optimistic about this drama.

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I was first disappointed, because I expected something else (as I usually avoid teasers and promos to be more surprised). I was looking forward to a secret Jogglers organisation with super(wo)man skills and saving critical situations in a company... and I got some cliche cheating boss, cliche dandy boss and cliche tsundere boss... cliche handling of secretaries... cliche debt situation... cliche misunderstandings... and probably cliche cohabitation...

However, I really like the actors, especially Daniel Choi... thus I will try to adjust my expectations and give the show still chance. Plus... I like the epilogues 🙂

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Your list of clichés are perfect! Cliché dandy boss and cliché tsundere boss 😂😂👏👏 yeah I find the whole setting of this drama kind of sad... because at the end even if these male bosses come to appreciate their female secretaries and start treating them better, the system stays the same. Other (female) secretaries will still get treated the same way by their (male) bosses because this drama isn't about challenging stereotypes or exposing the problems with this misogynistic setup. That's why I won't watch this show cuz I'll just feel depressed...

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Agree with you. I was hoping for the same. An organization of super-secretaries who secretly keep their bosses afloat.

I'll be patient to see how ep 2 goes. But it is hard to believe this drama is going anywhere with such an unimaginative beginning.

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I never knew that all my life I wanted a couchy manga coffee shop as my sanctuary....oh how I wish that I live in a bigger city!

What a good and satisfying exposition episode! So happy to have the glib Lee Won-geun back on the screen. I welcome Yeol puppy’s smily crinkles to kill me softly all over again. Daniel Choi’s grump is a nice contrast and he monotonously saying “keke” is just weirdly funny to me.

Cannot wait to see the dynamics among the main characters and the resulting hijinks when they are all in one place!

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Oops, I meant “huhu” not “keke” (which would be a weirder thing to say at a funeral.)

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lee won geun is so adorable tho his character is a jerk. looking forward to his character growth and his bromance with choi Daniel's character.

these days I'm all for bromance!

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The ironic thing is he doesn't know he is being a (sadistic) jerk 😂

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ikr

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This is an entertaining show I've watched the 2 episodes this week and enjoyed them despite the plot being kind of predictable, Beak Jin Hee is doing a great job in this role, Choi Daniel looks like a walking model he's so charismatic and good looking in a manly way.

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I saw him in Big Man but I feel like he is definitely more attractive in Jugglers despite not being a rather expressive character. In both shows, he wears suits yet Chi-won is the one who has more "suit fit"? 😆

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I've seen him in Big Man too, he's more manly in Jugglers. I've always liked his looks since Baby Faced Beauty, but this is his best look.

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Am liking this show much. Have weakness for all those secretary sidekicks and it feels refreshing to have a drama where the secretaries are the ones in the spotlight.
Yoon-yi's boss is seriously despicable, ugh! Am also curious about Chi-won's divorce, was it a marriage of convenience? Was expecting a bitchy ex, but their interaction was bland like ex-colleagues instead of ex-husband & wife.

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This week was a breathe of fresh air which first makes you inhale and then it gets hard to exhale because the air is too fresh to let out 😂😂😂 What i mean is there were way too many good dramas after a loooong time, dramas which aren't depressing, sad or slow which work as therapeutic in this hectic, cold and a little stressful december. I just can't choose which to watch or which to drop because i don't have much time but i want to watch every show !

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Apparently, this drama changed their original setting. Baek Jin-hee was the last one to be casted for this drama among the four main leads yet she is the male female lead, not that I'm complaning because original setting seems to be uninteresting.

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Didnt watch it but read the recap. Not sure if I like this pairing, and not sure if I like the setting... so... I am not very inclined to watch it.

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I wasn't sure what to expect when I watched this episode, but I was surprisingly satisfied. I totally understood the running errands, dealing with schedules, and even handling significant others (been there, done that, wasn't paid nearly enough), and though I found some of it was a bit exaggerated, I found it more true than not. Really enjoying the characters, and especially the way the actors are bringing them to life. I agree with you about the plot, it's not exactly groundbreaking, though there are enough twists (exes being friends? What?!) to make it intriguing. Fingers crossed it keeps going along the enjoyable path.

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I watched the first two episodes, mostly RAW and I’m still waiting for Viki to finish the subs so I can understand the intricacies of the drama although I get the general idea. So the recaps are quite helpful.

I was an administrative assistant for over 10 years so I have a lot of sympathy for Yoon yi and I can empathize with what she’s going through . However, I’ll be the first to say that Yoon yi has boundary issues which she needs to take care of before she can be a valuable employee to anyone.

Booking a hotel or a lunch appointment for your boss is part of one’s job description. Fixing your boss’ tie, wiping his chin or lying to your boss’s wife about the location of his alleged affair isn’t, and makes her look as guilty as hell. No wonder the wife misunderstood and went bonkers.

Working remotely is acceptable, especially during work hours, however, taking your boss’ call when out on a date or about to get busy with one’s boyfriend is a definite NO. She could simply turn off her phone when she was busy with her personal life. Her unethical boss took full advantage of her inability to say no to get her fully involved in hiding his extramarital affairs.

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I think it depends on the country and the work ethics people follow there. S.Korea seems to have one of the longest working hours in a day with inadequate pay, fierce competetive world adds to it, the show also pictured how on losing one job she sat at home for few months, she was really afraid of being jobless and went out of the line.

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I watched this episode and it was interesting enough for me to watch the 2nd one. I think i'll probably pick up this show but i'm a little scared that it might get so boring like Temperature of Love did towards the end.

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Yoonyi's character seemed okay to me because despite her self-sacrificing work ethic, at least she is aware she is playing with fire in order to succeeed. And though Chi-won screams tsundere, I find myself symphasizing with his cold attitude because I don't feel like doing something and socializing when I don't want to. And while I understand why the boss's wife felt so betrayed by Yoonyi, I had to roll my eyes at her saying that she was so “nice” to Yoonyi - she practically treats her like her own husband does, but she is only far “nicer” in comparison since she rewards her. Ugh, I also did not like how the wife violently embarrassed her in public. I mean hair-pulling and water-splashing seem so uncivil and they are considered physical assault.
I haven’t been in a secretary position yet, but I could see how bosses expect that their secretaries to be in par with their demands to a point they don’t have to give in their confirmation. There was an experience when I did a one-day job to greet the participants of a company conference and there was a man who seemed to be in higher position compared to most employees. And when I asked him if he wanted to take a bus or a taxi (like the coordinator asked me to), he asked me in turn what he should take, as in I have to decide for him 🙄 Furthermore, he expected there would be a prepared separate transport for him, so he wasn’t pleased that he had to get to the conference like everyone else (and because one of his co-workers left before him).

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It's a slow start, but at least we've already met all the important characters. It just surprised me a bit that our hero is a widower. Though looking from their very amicable divorce,  I think their relationship is a very interesting one if the drama decided to explore it further.

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If i am not mistaken he's a divorcée, didn't he say that his ex took his home as alimony when he was in the car with the chairman!

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Ah yes, I mean divorcee. English being my third language, sometimes I mixed up the words.

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I loveeeeeeeeeeee. It's been years since I've felt this happy while watching a romcom. Everything feels so realistic and i laughed so much. It kind of reminds me of oldschool kdramas and it helps that the actors are doing a solid job. I really hope that they will show male secretaries!! As great as Baek Jin Hee is, I hope they spend more time on the other characters

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yeaaaayyyy!!! it's here!!!

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yeaaaayyyy!!! it's here!!!
and it hooked me right on the bat!

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"Chi-won lost his entire estate in his divorce and is living in a hotel."
when i read this line/sentence i am like WHYYYYYYYYYY ARE YOU MARRIED DANIEL CHOI IN THE STORY T_T

also i would like to say I have a fondness for Daniel Choi which is one of the reasons i am watching this drama series. Ever since i watched his KBS Drama Special & Ghost kdrama (where the main lead is So Ji-Sub and their characters were best friends in there)

I have a feeling Nam Chi-Won (daniel choi) has a backstory why he is like avoiding people even secretaries/assistants...i don't know if there was an accident or incident that happened to his character when he was younger or as a kid. Especially the LIGHTER in episode 2 i saw.

I do hope when his character improves onwards...he will be open to people and his group-of-officemates + A GOD DAMN LOVING RELATIONSHIP with Yoon-Yi!
uhmmmm i want more kisses please!!!!
(just fan girling here much 99999999999%)

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I'll take all the clichés ...
as long as the characters
have chemistry ...
& the direction + musical cues make sense.

Basically, I'm hooked ...
Jugglers might not have the Slovania scenery,
weird mystery, or coffee/wine commercials of
Black Knight ... yet it has
everything else that, in my book, matters more.

I guess it's Mon/Tues for the win! :)

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she holds her smashed phone up to prove that it’s really not working.

So now every overworked office slave needs to carry a dead alibi phone !?

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This drama is pretty much about the most cliched bunch of characters to begin with (and we're all hoping that it develops beyond it). Wasting an entire episode (or two) to get through the character setups seems like a big waste of time. They could pretty much have started with the affair accusation scene at the restaurant and not made the viewers any less aware of the story. Just get on and introduce the main story already! The characters can be developed at the same time as the story. Frankly speaking, anyone who has watched more than 2 rom-com dramas does not need the same old tsundere, playboy, bad-boss, jealous wife, overworked and underappreciated candy/secretary introduction.

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Baek Jin Hee slays.!
And I like that KBS recent drama are all with badass female lead.
Can't wait for the next episode. 😊👏👠

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Yoon-yi seems to act according to what the immediate situation calls for, right or wrong, because she's constantly in survival mode. Her job is on the line each and every moment she has to make a decision or act. She's aware of this, but even if a situation is questionable she doesn't have the luxury of contemplating not following through. ..... The funeral situation was an example of this. All the secretaries know they are there to put on a show. Witness one resorting to eyedrops while Yoon-yi did the dramatic sobbing. But in her voiceover, Yoon-yi tells us that gaining professional points were the reason for the tears.

We need more story on Chi-won and I hope we get an interesting one. It seems he's not really on board with keeping up appearances for professional sake and he's certainly guarded. I'm wondering if his divorce, which seems to have been amicable, is the reason. Let's see what happens.

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Haha after watching this and few other. I was stressed why kdrama character cant look around first and think before crossing the road...haha but this time she was rushing so I can understand a bit. Butt please next time..just look to yr left and right. Hehe

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I'm liking this show so far, light and fun. I might be biased by Daniel Choi, but what's a girl with an oppa crush to do???

By the way, does anyone know the actress playing Yul's quitting secretary?? I know I've seen her somewhere but I remember where. I know it's silly but it's driving me nuts...

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She kinda reminds me of Having Seung-eon.

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Hwang Seung-on*

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I find this drama very interesting and promising. I hope it will be able to sustain the good start. Likewise the lead stars, Choi Daniel and baek jin hee are very good with their roles, excellent actors. However the Actor playing hwangbo yul is amateurish and very contrived in acting. I hope in succeeding episodes he would show more acting abilities. More power to this drama a.m looking forward to this

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test

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Hello

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Hello

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Heehee... I found some of your comments caught in the spam folder. :3 I removed them for you.

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Do you want to learn to use bold, italics and strickthrough in your posts?

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<blockquote>
There's blockquote too :)
</blockquote>

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I was saving quote & blockquote as a second lesson. Did not want to present too much at once.

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You were nice enough to say Hello! so the least I could do was pass on some useful information. I browsed some of your posts and did not see any HTML tags so I ASSUMED it was new to you.

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WOW! I had no idea you were the famous IT Bean. I feel kind of stupid now.

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Just in case you were wondering what I was doing, I was testing whether I could REPLY to my own post. I am waiting for the Eulachacha Waikiki Episode 12 recap. Because users can not edit their posts, using an older drama to test things seems the only option. I tried to cleanup with what was available.

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No, it's okay! :) It's fun seeing beanies trying out something. It used to be you could hide in an old post but since there's a most recent comments thing now everyone can see heehee~ But it's probably better to practice on an old Open Thread. Lollypip might wake up and find comment notifs on her old recap. *waves Hi to Lollypip in case she's reading*

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*waves back*

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Waah sunbae @lollypip noticed XD

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