Korean drama "The Secret Life of My Secretary": Recaps for episode's 31 and 32

 Air Dates: May 6th to June 25, 2019 on SBS, two episodes Monday and Tuesdays at 10:00 pm
Ratings, episode 31 3.9%, episode 32 4.6%

Main Cast:

Jin Ki-Joo as Jung Gal-Hee.... 27 year old secretary to Min-Ik, she's the only person he can see

Kim Young-Kwang as Do Min-Ik.... President of TnT Media, has mysterious vision problem

Koo Ja-Sung as Ki Dae-Joo.... Min-Ik's best friend and a director at TnT

Kim Jae-Kyung as Veronica Park.... major character but hasn't been seen in four episodes

Jang So-Yeon as Yi Yul-Wang.... executive secretary to Dae-Joo

Kim Min-Sang as Sim Hae-Yung.... Min-Ik's uncle who wants the role of president back

Jung Ae-Ri as Sim Hae-Ra.... Min-Ik's mother though not his biological one

Seo Dong-Won as Jung Joong-Hee.... Gal-Hee's younger blind brother

Kim Ji-Min as Jung Nam-Hee.... Gal-Hee's younger sister who wants to attend college 

Kim Byung-Choon as Dr. Gu.... Min-Ik's long time doctor

Han Ji-Sun as Mo Ha-Ni.... part of the 'temp secretary group'

Son San as Koo Myung-Jung.... part of the 'temp secretary group'

Choi Yoon-Ra as Boo Se-Young.... part of the 'temp secretary group'

Kwon So-Hyun as Ha Ri-Ra.... part of the 'temp secretary group'
Choi Tae-Hwan as Eun Jung-Soo.... Min-Ik's new driver

 Whew, finally made it to the end of this fine drama and while not a must watch was one of the more pleasant surprises I've had viewing a series in a while. No other person has recapped the entire show but some of the reviews that looked at the whole series thought it was mainly a so-so drama so didn't have high hopes coming in.
 But this turned out to be such a fun, quirky, intense and interesting series, one that will be one of my top shows of the year. You can usually tell when I really enjoy a Korean series as I've written up recaps for all 32 episodes and only do that for my top dramas. Ratings were a bit low for this show but the ones for these final two episodes were the two highest back to back ratings, SBS shows in this time slot don't often get ratings much higher than this show got. Plus it was so fabulous to see more of Ki-Joo who was such a delight in this series and may be my current #1 Korean woman, let's get on with the final recap.

 We ended off the previous recap with Min-Ik buying Dae-Joo a sparkling new suit which confused his friend, you'll soon see why Min-Ik did that. The hunger strike is now over after lasting not quite four days. Things seem to be back to normal in Min-Ik's office and he's pampering Gal-Hee more than ever, the two have really fallen so hard for each other. But that doesn't mean they can't have fits of anger and that's what happened early on with Gal-Hee. She didn't know what strings Min-Ik pulled to get her fellow secretaries rehired as he was keeping mum on it. But his uncle Hae-Yung arrived early the following morning in Min-Ik's office as he was feeding(!) Gal-Hee.
 That's when she learned the details of what took place in their private meeting.... Min-Ik had withdrawn his candidacy to become the next president of TnT Mobile if Hae-Yung would hire back the ousted secretaries. Upon hearing that Gal-Hee was a mix of emotions, how could Min-Ik do such a thing just to be with her? Before he could respond to the question Gal-Hee stormed out of the office and confronted his uncle in a hallway, she screamed there's no way Min-Ik isn't going to become the next president of the company!
 There wasn't much Min-Ik could say at the time as he didn't want to reveal his secret. And what a secret it was for the next day at the company his bombshell was discovered and had a slight inkling something along those lines could be taking place. Hae-Yung felt the election was in the bag and why not as no director was running against him. That's what he thought but just before the deadline to register for the presidential election someone did and who should it be but Dae-Joo! Min-Ik buying his friend a suit was just the tip of the iceberg, shortly after that the pair had a pow-wow where
Min-Ik explained his plan to Dae-Joo.
 Dae-Joo still hates Min-Ik's deceased father for being  apart of his mother's death, he wanted nothing to do with the family but also realized Min-Ik had zero to do with the events of fifteen years prior. So he's agreed to run against Hae-Yung, the way Min-Ik sees it the voting will end up in a tie like his did the first time around. Min-Ik's mother doesn't care for Dae-Joo so she won't vote for him but she also won't go to Hae-Yung's side which means she'll abstain from the voting. What Dae-Joo needs to do is to convince one of Hae-Yung's followers to vote for him. Once Dae-Joo shows the directors the lucrative contract to run Cinepark that he got signed at least one should of those followers will switch sides and to Min-Ik the election should be in the bag.

 Gal-Hee's sister Nam-Hee is still hanging around Veronica most of the day hoping to become a star actress. She had been appearing in one of her small plays but by the time the series concludes her quest for stardom is still a long ways off. But Nam-Hee was able to convince Veronica to lend her one of her expensive wedding gowns and a pair of shoes that matched. Nam-Hee is a bit of a conniving young woman and she wanted those for a reason which was to give them to her sister. She's realized how close Gal-Hee and Min-Ik are these days, perhaps seeing a wedding gown will make their eventual union happen even quicker.
 One of the highlights of the show was seeing Gal-Hee in that wedding gown as she looked simply gorgeous. Wish the scene was a bit longer but it was long enough for Min-Ik to make an appearance, when he saw Gal-Hee in the gown he too was in awe and this may have been the moment when he said to himself there's no way he could let Gal-Hee go. But you have to remember that Min-Ik still can't see faces clearly as they're just a blur. Even Gal-Hee's is when she doesn't wear her red cardigan outfit but her beauty during that scene was so bright there's no way Min-Ik could miss it.
 After that short scene it's one month later and the location is at the TnT Mobile's main hall. There Dae-Joo was giving a speech as he's just been elected the next president of the company. Min-Ik was right as two directors switched their votes to him and to me he may be better suited to be a top notch president then Min-Ik. After the ceremony it was revealed that Dae-Joo would be holding the position for three years and then handing the reins over to Min-Ik. No idea how that will play out or even if it does as the show ends just a few days after that ceremony.
 The two couples then were about to have a mini celebration for Dae-Joo, Gal-Hee still wasn't pleased that Min-Ik wasn't the new president but seeing him so happy was good enough for her. However a minor yet major tragedy struck while they were having their mini party. Veronica had bumped into Gal-Hee by accident and it pushed her into the candles on their celebration cake. Her red cardigan caught fire but luckily there wasn't too much damage but that red cardigan is such an important object. When Gal-Hee wears it Min-Ik can see her clearly, without it on her face is just a blur just like everyone else's.

 Gal-Hee was able to repair the cardigan to where the damage wasn't too noticeable, with a bit more time it should look good as new. But Min-Ik's was just so frustrated that he needed to rely on the cardigan to see the love of his life, he snatched it from Gal-Hee and threw it in the trash. She had tears streaming when she saw it lying in the trash bin but don't think she ever retrieved it. One major reason that Min-Ik was able to recognize Gal-Hee as Veronica many episodes ago was because of the earrings she was wearing, he had replaced her fake ones with the expensive originals.
 After that cardigan tossing the pair had gone to a store to try to find a new cardigan for Gal-Hee to wear, one that would allow Min-Ik to see her clearly. None were successful which is when Gal-Hee had blurted out that she had thrown those fake earrings away. 'They weren't fake!' Min-Ik countered, he had switched her $10 fakes with a pair that were worth $5,000! To him that money was like a drop in the pocket but Gal-Hee insisted they hunt for them as she had just thrown them out that morning. The hunt through the garbage was a failure as they somehow weren't there, how could they have disappeared? They really didn't as Nam-Hee had picked them up and we saw her wearing them as she was about to audition for a role, last time we saw her in the series.
 Above is Min-Ik talking to his doctor Gu and pressed him harder than ever about his vision condition. There is a surgery that's very rare and the success rate is very low. Gu told Min-Ik that an operation would probably be of no use and may hurt as it's a very dangerous one. The doctor had told Min-Ik that it's usually just by accident that a patient can regain his correct vision as it's happened in the past. Once again he told Min-Ik that raising his blood pressure to a high level just may work. Twice it's happened to Min-Ik but his seeing clearly didn't last for too long, perhaps if it's high enough the condition would change back to normal permanently which may be Min-Ik's only hope.
 Most of the attention has been on Min-Ik and Gal-Hee which makes perfect sense but there are a few other characters to discuss to wrap up their loose ends. In the previous recap Jung-Soo had turned himself into the police for the attack on Min-Ik and for twice breaking into Gal-Hee's house. He's now in prison but for how long is unknown but he does seem like a decent guy who held no grudges. He had been visited by Lee who was the head of the Euldoguk group and was one of the reasons that Jung-Soo was in prison. Seems she's been canned from TnT Mobile and it was the only time we saw either in the pair of shows. When Lee askedd should she put some cash into Jung-Soo's prison account he said it was already full as Min-Ik had given him a lot of money!

 Finally have hit the last segment for this drama and one other group of characters we saw often were the three secretaries. They were a fun bunch and with the help of Min-Ik had been rehired to their previous positions. But their one year contracts are ending but all were eligible to go through the application process of being full time employees, once again with the help of Min-Ik. Even Gal-Hee had to go through a round of interviews but don't know why as her contract was with Min-Ik.
 There was a very short scene after Min-Ik had met his doctor where he had visited Gal-Hee at her house. His 'puberty level' was at an all time high and even he had mentioned he's a late bloomer. There was no one else at home and it seems the pair finally consummated their relationship though of course we just had to guess at that. The following day at work Min-Ik was cleaning out his office as he was going to give it to Dae-Joo as he was now TnT Mobile's new president. He had been tossing things to Gal-Hee who was quite upset at his actions, that is until she caught a small box.
 What should be inside that box save for an engagement ring as Min-Ik had finally come to his senses and realized he couldn't live without Gal-Hee. Of course we assumed Gal-Hee would say yes immediately but that wasn't the case as she asked for a bit of time to decide. She told Min-Ik if her answer was yes then he would see her wearing the ring which was acceptable to him. But after two days Gal-Hee still hadn't put the ring on which was sending Min-Ik into a panic, was she just playing hard to get or would she do the unthinkable which was to turn down his proposal?
 Gal-Hee was playing hard to get as the next day she had set up a dinner date with Min-Ik, she had arranged up a nice array of gifts, cakes and party items, at that dinner was when the was going to put on the ring. However Min-Ik was late arriving to see her as he had been in a meeting with Dae-Joo which had run overtime. Min-Ik rushed out to return to the office to get an item for Gal-Hee, there a mini tragedy occurred as when he was on an elevator it suddenly stopped and he was trapped. Workers were there trying to free him but he couldn't contact Gal-Hee and he was already so late. She was naturally so worried about him, Dae-Joo had shown up at the dinner and explained about the late meeting plus how Min-Ik had rushed back to the office.
 Which is where Gal-Hee headed off to but without the ring. She had no clue about him being trapped in an elevator but Min-Ik was soon free thanks to the rapid response of the maintenance team. But a major miracle took place while he was trapped, his blood pressure went up so high Min-Ik was able to see again. However it's happened twice before and both times his vision soon turned blurry again. But not this time as after about ten minutes Min-Ik could still see clearly, was it just in time for his wedding with Gal-Hee?
 She arrived at the office and after a few miscommunications the pair were finally able to meet on the building's roof for this drama's final scene. Min-Ik joyfully burst out that he was able to see clearly again and to him there was no more perfect face in the world than Gal-Hee's! She was certainly overjoyed too and there was very little said during the final two minutes as the lovebirds just held on to each other which ended with them kissing. On that note this series and recap has finally come to it's conclusion, thought the ending could have been much better but the two minutes at the end didn't take away from how much I enjoyed this show.

 There's not much more I can add in about this series which I haven't said in the previous fifteen recaps. It was such an enjoyable drama with a little bit of everything, didn't go in with high hopes for it and didn't even think I would finish it. But of course I did and lately have been enjoying these kinds of dramas so much more than I used to, there's so many in this genre out there but have lucked out with my last few choices. For a final rating will give this show an 9.3/10, even with a bit of a less than stellar ending it was still such a fun watch and that's one of the highest ratings I've given in a long time.
 Know up next will be the second season of "Kakeguiri" but that series only had five episodes. Should finish that up in a few days so the question is what's up after that? The problem is there's too many series I want to view and am currently baffled on which one should be coming up. It'll probably be a Korean drama and another question is should it be a new or old show? Have a few days to think it over but you'll soon see what's up next.