"The Man In My House" Episode 1

Na-ri (played bySoo-ae) is a senior flight attendant for whom life appears to be decent. Sure there's always the occasional jerk on the plane who needs to be dealt with, but Na-ri is a real trooper for her co-workers, even the somewhat ethically dubious Yeo-joo (played byJo Bo-ah). Na-ri's boyfriend Dong-jin (played byKim Ji-hoon-I) is clearly committed to her, and Na-ri has a good relationship with her family. Until the timeskip anyway.

As of yet"The Man In My House"hasn't reached the premise yet, so here the production team focuses on setting the tone- light comedy. Na-ri is the kind of woman who rolls with the punches and doesn't get too hung up about the disappointments in life. It's especially telling how one angry conversation with Dong-jin ultimately leads Na-ri far more cranky than she is actually upset. Na-ri's coping mechanism in general is to get mad at other people- not herself.

This goes a long way to making her genuinely sympathetic. The evolving circumstances of Na-ri's life could easily make for melodrama given a different use of tone. DirectorKim Jeong-min-IIIdoes good work maintaining a breezy atmosphere. The music selection is great, and really sells the idea of Na-ri being a modern woman in the modern world with modern problems, who interprets superficially flirty situations in a sinister light, which oddly enough makes those minor humiliations all the more bearable.

So far Yeo-joo and Dong-jin are mere archetypes by comparison. Both of them make fairly stupid mistakes with Na-ri, and curiously enough, both of them are actually frightened of Na-ri to a certain extent. This is not because Na-ri is an especially scary woman, but rather owes to Na-ri's sense of stage presence. Being a senior flight attendant has given Na-ri the power to control a room, even if she still has a sentimental side.

The evolving situation in"The Man In My House"indicates that Na-ri's challenge going forward will be dealing with men who are not intimidated by her. This is a welcome reversal of the usual trope of the man being impressed by a feisty woman. Here it's the men who are feisty, because they're wandering on to Na-ri's turf and not explaining themselves as they should. While"The Man In My House"is, to date, not an exceptionally complicated narrative, it is fairly done and intrigues me enough to want to see where the story's going.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Man In My House"is directed byKim Jeong-min-III, written byKim Eun-jeongand featuresSoo-ae,Kim Yeong-kwang,Lee Soo-hyeok,Jo Bo-ah,Kim Ji-hoon-IandKim Mi-Sook.

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