Officially done with Protect The Boss (??? ???). I feel like I should do a thought-entry about it since it’s one of the most refreshing K-dramas I’ve seen that had every element a sane viewer would want.

First thing’s first of course, I will address the ever-famous Jaejoong:

• This is the very first Jaejoong thing I’ve seen. I’ve never really followed DBSK at all, and I’ve always been known as a Jeje-hater because I NEVER UNDERSTOOD the guy’s appeal and why so many millions of girls would die in his arms.. but now I understand. His acting wasn’t great, but it was good enough to make you want to love his character.
• I felt like he was more comfortable acting with Ji Sung than the ladies. You could see him let go of his doubts when he was with the men rather than the women (of course that included his mom in the drama).
• The voice, how can you have that look and have that singing voice? Definitely one of the many physicall gifted, talented, charismatic fortunate people in this world.
• There were times when I was extremely bothered with his physical features. I know he’s a heavy smoker so they really tried to cover that and the usage of BB Cream on men in this drama is quite apparent. Also his eyebags, my goodness. Don’t tire yourself out.. aren’t you supposed to have more free time now that you’re away from SME? Still fighting battles, I see.

THE DRAMA:

• There was NOT a time where I complained about the drama. The protagonist wasn’t a whiner, she didn’t give herself up for other people, she acted on her own feelings, she said what she needed to say, she explained herself even when nobody wanted to hear her out and her fighting spirit wasn’t annoying whatsoever.
• Having said that, sometimes in the drama you’d feel like, “So umm what exactly is the issue here?” because conflicts were timely resolved and characters had a chance to explain their problems to each other.
• I like how they took a proper approach to the whole panic disorder thing. It was more realistic than Kim Joo Won’s issue in Secret Garden and they methods they used to deal with it weren’t that far off from actual circumstances. Having first hand experience with it I could definitely relate to everything Ji Heon experienced, but I get how some viewers would find it overreacting.
• But I was confused as to why driving wasn’t part of his fears. I got that in the beginning he always had a chauffer but later on he’d be driving by himself and I’d think, “Hey that’s not supposed to happen! He’d probably freak out in the middle of the road by himself!” (like me, lol).
• The real antagonist here was society, which I thought was really really on point. Everyone was too bothered with what the society thought of them and that’s what forced them to do bad things and get involved in messy situations. Then here comes No Eun Sol who does not have a care in the world and everyone just sorts of fall in love with her spirit. I loved that.

THE CHARACTERS:

• Ji Sung (Cha Ji Heon) took a while getting used to. Maybe because he looks quite mature playing an extremely immature character (and he doesn’t exactly have the most conventional charm) but I got used to it and gradually liked him.
• I really like Wang Ji Hye (Seo Na Yoon). I feel like her character was the most I could relate to in terms of being overly/openly emotional. She was in the antagonist in Personal Taste and she was SUPER annoying there, but she’s just too endearing here.
• I had no issues with Choi Kang Hee (No Eun Sol) but sometimes I felt like her portrayal of the character was too strong and her voice got to me sometimes. There’s something about her voice!
• Jaejoong (Cha Mu Won), of course you’d only have to look up and see all my thoughts about him haha.
  The woman who played Myeong Ran, No Eun Sol’s best friend was such a trip.. she is definitely one of the good highlights of this drama.

RELATIONSHIPS:

• Can I just say that my favorite part of the drama are the relationships? BEST. EVER.
• The bff relationship between No Eun Sol, Na Yoon and Myeong Ran was the best! Na Yoon started out as a potential antagonist only to become a pitiful friend that they sympathized with and took in. It proved that three’s a crowd but doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing and brought us good laughs, lots of it.
• Ji Heon and Mu Won wasted no time in pursuing No Eun Sol but I loved how it brought their relationship closer as cousins. There were a lot of adorkable Ji Heon and Mu Won moments in this drama.
• Definitely a fair share of bromance and romance, which you can never complain about.
• The skinship wasn’t awkward or vomit-inducing!! Mostly K-dramas tend to really over-dramatize physical interaction THEN ROB US OF IT but this wasn’t the case. You just have to watch to know what I mean before I go on about it for like 50 pages more.
  I was glad Mu Won and No Eun Sol had no chemistry as lovers because it made me appreciate his relationships with Ji Heon and Na Yoon more.
• If you complain about lack of Mu Won and Na Yoon, it is greatly reciprocated towards the end.

CONCLUSION:

Of course you should watch it, or else I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this long-ass thought post dissecting the whole drama. This is the first time in all the dramas I’ve watched that I’m doing this, save for that small blog post I did about City Hunter, which coincidentally was the predecessor of this drama in terms of time-slot.