My Mister

Synopsis

My Mister follows a young woman, Lee Ji-an (Lee Ji-eun), burdened by debt and hardship as she struggles to support her ailing grandmother while working a temporary job. She crosses paths with Park Dong-hoon (Lee Sun-kyun), a man carrying deep personal wounds and grappling with betrayal, workplace mistreatment, and the heavy responsibility of his family. As they navigate their struggles, they form a bond that offers solace, understanding, and the possibility of healing.

Cast

Main

Lee Sun-kyun as Park Dong-hoon

A man in his 40s, Dong-hoon is the second oldest and the most successful of the three brothers. He works as a structural engineer and always has a safety-first approach to life. He is quiet and stoic, but goes all in for the people he loves.

Lee Ji-eun (IU) as Lee Ji-an

Kim Gyu-ri as child Ji-an

Ji-an is a woman in her 20s who is enduring many hardships in life, drowning in debt and taking care of her deaf grandmother. During her middle school years, Ji-an was sentenced to two years' jail for the murder of a loan shark (Lee Kwang-il's father) in self defense, while trying to protect her grandmother. She has found a temporary job at the same company as Park Dong-hoon.

Supporting

Go Doo-shim as Byun Yo-soon

A loving mother with three sons who worries about her eldest living apart from his family, and her youngest, who has yet to get married despite being over 40.

Park Ho-san as Park Sang-hoon

Dong-hoon's eldest brother. He is a middle-aged man who lost his job and then tried to start two business that failed, and was chased out of his own home. Though he has to live under his mother's roof, he's a romanticist at heart who always thinks about ways to find happiness.

Song Sae-byeok as Park Ki-hoon

Dong-hoon's younger brother. He was once seen as a genius director because of an independent film he shot when he was twenty. However, 20 years have passed since his glory days and he has yet to successfully launch his career as a movie director.

Lee Ji-ah as Kang Yoon-hee, Park Dong-hoon's wife, who is having an affair with Do Joon-young, her husband's boss.

Jung Young-joo as Jo Ae-ryun, Park Sang-hoon's estranged wife.

Son Sook as Lee Bong-ae: Lee Ji-an's deaf grandmother.

Jang Ki-yong as Lee Kwang-il

A loan shark Ji-an owes money to, who liked Ji-an when he was young. His father was killed by Ji-an in self defense, while she was trying to protect her grandmother. He torments and brutalizes Ji-an.

Ahn Seung-gyun as Song Ki-bum

Ji-an's best friend who is obsessed with computer games.

Lee Young-seok as Seo Choon-dae: An elderly man and cleaner who is caring towards Ji-an.

Production

On November 8, 2017, news outlets reported that Lee Sun-kyun and IU would play the leads in My Mister, directed by Kim Won-seok of Misaeng and Signal, and written by Park Hae-young of Another Miss Oh. Both tvN and IU's agency commented that nothing had been finalized; the main cast was confirmed on November 13 with the addition of Oh Dal-su and Song Sae-byeok as Lee Sun-kyun's character's brothers, and Na Moon-hee as the mother of the three. IU accepted the part of Lee Ji-an because she was interested in working with director Kim Won-seok and because the silent, tense role differed from the cheerful and cute characters she had previously portrayed.

In December, Jang Ki-yong, Lee Ji-ah, Kim Young-min, Jung Young-joo and Kwon Na-ra joined the series. On February 19, 2018, Na Moon-hee was replaced by Go Doo-shim due to schedule conflicts. At the end of the month, Oh Dal-su left the series following allegations of sexual abuse and Park Ho-san took over.

The cast gathered for the first script reading on December 18, 2017. Filming was scheduled to partly pre-produce the drama, but ended up protracted, having to reshoot Oh Dal-su's scenes and due to the setting predominantly nocturnal: episodes 13 and 14, scheduled for May 2 and 3, 2018, were postponed for a week to let the cast and staff rest, and filming ended on May 15, one day before the airing of the last two episodes.

Reception

After the first episode aired, My Mister was accused of glorifying dating violence due to a scene where loan shark Kwang-il assaults Ji-an, who replies "Do you like me?", and because Kwang-il's official description said he bothered Ji-an as it was the only way to make her see him. The Korea Communications Standards Commission commented that a number of complaints had been received and that it was checking them, while the production team replied that the complicated relationship between the two characters would be resolved gradually and to be patient. The director and the actors pointed out that violence and crime were only narrative tools. IU herself intervened, saying, "Kwang-il and Ji-an have the most conflictual relationship. How could you love someone so violent?"

Real News instead observed that the first two episodes had managed to demonstrate the intention of depicting the process of mutual understanding between characters of different generations and genders who were at odds with each other, while pop culture critic Jung Deok-hyun called My Mister "a survival thriller." He later added that the intent of the series was to depict the pursuit of happiness in hell.

Overcoming the controversies, My Mister ended with the support of the public and the critics, who called it "a life drama" centered on people and one of the best series of the year. Ji-an was praised by the press for not being a poor and helpless heroine, but able to grasp the whole situation and create an advantageous situation for herself, taking matters into her own hands. The directing and the actors' performances were praised, and IU was complimented for effortlessly digesting a character tired of living a harsh life.

Seo Byung-gi of the Korea Herald Business commented that the series made him think about life, family and society, and noted that Dong-hoon and Ji-an were "wonderfully connected" by their wounds. Huffington Post Korea and Sports Hankook wrote that it talked about the meeting of broken people of different ages and genders, blurring the lines between the many barriers of today's society and showing how human solidarity led to demolishing one's walls and discovering that the world was a warmer place than expected.

The Chosun Ilbo and The Korea Herald identified the depiction of a life no different from that experienced by ordinary people as the reason for the success of My Mister, and that the characters facing "real wars" such as unemployment, job insecurity, job hunting, divorce and extramarital affairs had touched the hearts of the viewers "with a painfully bleak but warm impression," celebrating a world in which it was difficult to live, but which could be made bearable and happy if you had someone by your side. Lee Do-yeon of Yonhap News added that it had demonstrated that people separated like islands could build a bridge-like bond through compassion and understanding, and that the show's message was that people could comfort and understand each other because everyone harbored pain in their hearts.

Viewership

This series airs on tvN, a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS). The drama was a critical and commercial success, consistently topping the cable television viewership ratings in its time slot. While it began with ratings of 3-4%, deemed below expectations due to, according to Yonhap News, the too heavy atmosphere, it reached 6% with episode 12. Its final episode recorded a with 7.352% nationwide audience share according to Nielsen paid platform making the episode one of the highest rated in Korean cable television history at the time. My Mister drew a solid average viewership rating of 5% for a cable TV show and topped the Contents Power Index (CPI) rankings, as well as the TV popularity ranking, six times during its nine-week run.