Undercover Miss Hong: Episodes 1-2
by quirkycase
The first week of Undercover Miss Hong sets up a wacky premise wherein Park Shin-hye portrays a careerwoman in her 30s who goes undercover at a corrupt trading company to find evidence of their crimes. The catch? She has to pass herself off as a 20-year-old new hire and keep everyone at her old and new jobs from discovering the ruse. It’s ridiculous fun that promises zany shenanigans and a touch of financial mystery topped off with a ’90s backdrop.
EPISODES 1-2
I’m a sucker for some ’90s nostalgia, so combine that with an underdog taking down a chaebol conglomerate from the inside through forensic accounting and ridiculous shenanigans, and I’m in. The mystery aspect is fairly straightforward – the drama feels more like a workplace comedy at the moment – but there’s room for the financial crimes angle to get more intricate or twisty as we go. For now, I’m enjoying the silliness (that stays just this side of going overboard for me) and the cheeky tone as our determined 35-year-old heroine works to root out corruption while pretending to be a fresh-faced 20-year-old.
There’s a whole host of characters we’re introduced to in these first episodes, but we start off with the most important: the tough and fearless HONG GEUM-BO (Park Shin-hye), known as “The Witch of Yeouido” at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). She’s made a name for herself through her competency and refusal to be intimidated by her all-male colleagues. But she struggles to gain the respect of the finance bros who all threaten to resign when she’s made team leader by her boss and only supporter YOON JAE-BEOM (Kim Won-hae).
So when she gets a huge break in her first case as team lead, Geum-bo goes all in. Hanmin Investment & Securities, led by CHAIRMAN KANG PIL-BEOM (Lee Deok-hwa), has gotten away with lining the chaebol family’s pockets through stock manipulation for years. All the FSS needs is hard evidence to prove it. To Geum-bo’s shock, KANG MYUNG-HWI (Choi Won-young), Chairman Kang’s heir and Hanmin’s current president, approaches her as an informant. He provides evidence of an illegal funds transfer to his family and promises to slip them the full accounting ledger during the search and seizure.
Then, it all goes to hell. Myung-hwi is killed in a car “accident” (likely orchestrated by Chairman Kang who discovered his son’s betrayal), and the tides swiftly turn. Not only does Geum-bo lose her key whistleblower, but the entire investigation is halted since they don’t have the ledger serving as evidence to indict. Geum-bo is demoted and put on 3-month probation. Hanmin even sends some goons to scare her into dropping the case entirely.
On the chaebol side, the claws are out now that inheritance is back in play. The two factions are Chairman Kang’s unambitious daughter KANG NO-RA (Choi Ji-soo) who is in her 20s and wants nothing to do with this mess, and profoundly unserious grandson ALBERT OH (Jo Han-gyeol) who gets an amazingly ridiculous entrance complete with slow R&B jam while he rides his motorbike in his white tank and jean jacket. These kids are way less interested in the company politics than their opportunistic parents who are using their children as proxies for power.
Geum-bo is prepared to accept defeat, but Jae-beom isn’t ready to give up just yet. His genius plan: what if Geum-bo applies as a regular entry-level employee at Hanmin and spies from the inside? At first, Geum-bo refuses to entertain his crazy scheme, but we see hints of a personal grudge against Chairman Kang, and when she sees him once again acting the victim in a press conference, she’s back in the game. She’ll find whoever was helping Myung-hwi on the inside and get that ledger before her 3-month disciplinary period is over. All they have to do is make everyone believe she’s 20 years old, sneak around without getting caught by Hanmin, and ensure the FFS doesn’t find out about their unsanctioned mission. Easy-peasy.
First up is a makeover. Geum-bo enlists the help of her trendy little sister HONG JANG-MI (ITZY’s Yuna) to pass as a fresh-faced youth full of ’90s charm and style. She gets a questionable haircut, dons as much pink as she can manage, and pitches her voice with girlish enthusiasm. When she gets carded at the video store (lol), she’s truly passed the test.
Next up is the entrance exam, which of course Geum-bo aces. In fact, she manages to catch an error on the test that earns her the respect of the interviewers and gets her hired. Let the spying begin!
One of my favorite aspects of the show so far are the girls living in the company’s female dorms. Geum-bo has decided living at the dorms will give her more access, so she bunks with three other young women, one of whom is No-ra on her own secret mission. She’s also assuming a fake identity, pretending to be a regular new recruit rather than the chaebol princess she is. And the poor girl is struggling. She only passed the interview thanks to an accidental assist from Geum-bo and is now glued to her side. No one has high hopes for her, but Chairman Kang has promised a chunk of shares if she passes the probationary period as an employee.
No-ra may not be the brightest bulb in the pack but she’s endearing and, unless she’s putting on a stellar act, guileless. Sweet, clueless No-ra with her stuffed animal collection named after Friends characters poses no real threat to Geum-bo. Neither does the quiet, mature KIM MI-SOOK (Kang Chae-young). Their fourth roommate, the formidable executive assistant GO BOK-HEE (Ha Yoon-kyung), is another story.
Bok-hee is sharp and has long served as the chief of staff’s spy; she’s the key to what goes on around Hanmin, but befriending the prickly woman is no easy feat. However, Geum-bo gets a chance for an alliance with Bok-hee when an unexpected problem arises in the form of the new CEO, who happens to be Geum-bo’s ex-boyfriend SHIN JUNG-WOO (Go Kyung-pyo).
Geum-bo is horrified to learn that she’s going to be assigned as his executive assistant and throws all her efforts into making sure Bok-hee secures the role instead. Geum-bo’s know-how of both finance and Jung-woo, along with Bok-hee’s company knowledge, helps them ensure Bok-hee makes the right impression on Jung-woo. Despite some close calls, their antics work, and Bok-hee is officially made Jung-woo’s assistant while Geum-bo stays in the Risk Management division overseen by the easy-going Albert.
Not only has Geum-bo averted the crisis, but now she’s earned Bok-hee’s trust which is already paying off through her intel into Myung-hwi’s trusted advisers (one of whom could be the accomplice whistleblower). But in a fun twist, Jae-beom’s investigation into Bok-hee finds that she’s a con artist who has a history of embezzlement. In fact, unbeknownst to them, Bok-hee is the one who swiped the ledger and is holding it in hopes of a payout.
In our final scene, Geum-bo snoops around Bok-hee’s desk for more information after hours, banking on no one being around. So of course, she hears Jung-woo on the phone nearby, heading her way. Geum-bo panics and flees the building, waiting until she’s a couple blocks away to catch her breath … only to come face-to-face with Jung-woo who calls her name in shock.
It’s hard to say if Jung-woo spotted her on the street or if he saw her run out of the building, so maybe Geum-bo can play it off without giving herself away. She’s using her sister’s name, so I guess she could pretend they have an extremely strong resemblance, but it’ll be a hard sell to deceive someone she dated for years, even if it has been a decade or so since they’ve seen each other. Since we only got a few scenes with Jung-woo this week, it’s hard to anticipate how he’ll react. All we know so far is that he’s a workaholic who’s good at his job in that typical stoic, young CEO way. Right now, he’s very stereotypical, but hopefully his character will set itself apart more as we see him thrown off his game by Geum-bo.
Because if there’s something Geum-bo is good at, it’s throwing a wrench in things. So far, she’s scared the queen bees of administration into shape – after a crew fight in the breakroom – made sure Bok-hee doesn’t get fired, and convinced Jung-woo (letting Bok-hee pretend it was her idea) to digitize everything. She’s barely been there a few days and is already making waves, which might not be the best move while on a top-secret mission. Subtlety isn’t exactly her forte, but given the unique cast of characters she’s found herself surrounded by, maybe that won’t be a problem.
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