Stream it or skip it?

Mr. Kim kept his nose to the grindstone and did everything he was supposed to do. So why is money always tight and his job never secure? in Mr. Kim’s lifelong dreama South Korean series created for Netflix by Jo Hyun Tak (Atypical family), Kim Hong-ki, Yoon Hae-sung, and Ryu Seung-ryong play Kim Nak-su, a dedicated middle manager at a large telecommunications company who wants the best for this college-age wife and son. But as we soon learn, Kim’s office culture resembles a large basket of snakes, his family resists his authority, and his inner life is full of turmoil. Mr. Kim’s lifelong dream Stars Se Bin, Kang Eun Mok.

Opening shot: In one of the periodic flashbacks Dream life In the film, Kim Nak-soo (Ryu) remembers his childhood, when his brother belittled him for losing in the primary school election. Years later, as he dresses for work, Nak-soo still thinks about the simple matter. “I’m moving to general manager,” he says to a photo of his brother. “I’m going to be a CEO soon.”

Essence: We already sense that Kim’s promotion isn’t as certain as he thinks, and when he does get to work, we learn very quickly that it’s an environment full of petty hierarchies and personal grievances. Nak Soo feels he deserves a promotion to general manager. But he also covets the expensive leather briefcase of current director Baek Jeong-tae (Yoo Seung-mook) to increasingly obsessive levels, and feels increasingly concerned about his professional standing. A younger colleague may be favored for promotion, and Heo Tae-hwan (Lee Seo-hwan), a member of Kim’s team, is forced out due to lack of performance. Nak Soo and Tae Hwan started at the same time. Kim tries to distance himself from his friend. They don’t want their fates to be intertwined.

Despite all the pressures of work that he constantly thinks about, Nak Soo tries to present a united front to his wife Ha Jin (Myung) and his son So Geum (Cha Kang Yoon). At home, he wants to take credit for his role as the family’s breadwinner, but this is also a demand that diminishes Ha-jin’s contributions. While Nak-su pressures Su-gyeom to apply for his company’s internship program, Su-gyeom doesn’t want to become just another employee with a mid-level salary like his father. When he met his childhood sweetheart Han Na (Lee Jin Yi) at university, she introduced him to Lee Jeong Hwan (Kim So Geum). The kid is arrogant, with a fast-moving haircut, and is probably vying for Hannah’s affections. But he drives a Porsche and embodies the kind of start-up that So Geum admires.

Survive for two decades under corporate conditions, secure comfortable housing, and send a child to college. “This is great,” Nak-soo says to So-geum. But when his professional and personal worlds begin to shake and blend together — the pressures of one informing the other so that Mr. Kim spends more time muttering to himself than noticing his wife or cajoling his immediate boss — Dream life It begins to distort what this phrase could mean. Success in life may not depend on a big promotion or using your hard-earned college money. It can mean a new definition of fulfillment on a completely personal level.

What shows will it remind you of? Ryu hits Seung Ryung Dream life After starring in the wonderful South Korean series Low lifewhere his thief is as careful as he is miserly. And Ryu plays well with Yoo Seung-mok when Kim deals with Baek Jeong-tae, his direct boss. Both actors were also in Chicken nuggetsa completely ridiculous Korean series in which a woman turns into a breaded version of a small fast food meal. truly!

Take us: In this series, we can think in two ways about the “dream life” in the title. First, there is what Kim Nak-soo has accomplished once and for all. His wife, his son, a comfortable apartment in Seoul, and 27 years of excellent corporate service. It’s a dream life, representing what you’re supposed to do in society. But as his circumstances change, we also become witnesses to Nak Su’s personal, more fraught dream life. His uncensored inner monologue, where he’s always comparing himself to the bank accounts of his co-workers and friends, is also our way into how Ryu Seung-ryong plays this guy. His mysterious punches at himself are funny, and they get even funnier when his employees catch him doing it. These moments are not portrayed as completely fictional, but they point to Kim’s existential crisis as she begins to transcend his reality. By the end of the first episode of Mr. Kim’s lifelong dreamWe felt like we understood the main character inside and out. The image of success he presents to the world, and the conflicted inner life that becomes increasingly difficult to remain calm.

We’re not giving anything away by saying that Kim is facing a big change in his life. As his supposed dream life begins to falter, we begin to compare the lecherous faces he makes, his obsessive behavior, and his bouts of inner mania with another recent entry in the middle-manager-meets-personal-hell genre, Tim Robinson‘s Al-Kursi Company. How far will Nak Soo go with his obsessions before they threaten his position at work? How much of his inner life will he turn upside down, revealing to his wife and family in ways he never thought possible? We root for Mr. Kim – he’s not exactly likable, but we feel like we know him. The question becomes which one of his dreams has the best chance of sustaining himself.

Sex and skin: no one.

Parting shot: “I’m going to be a CEO next year, I’m 99% sure!” In scenes from upcoming episodes of Mr. Kim’s lifelong dreamWe noticed that Nak-soo is very confident. But he does not know what institutional forces might be working against him.

Sleeping star: We really liked Myung Si Bin Dr. ChaAnd it’s great at Dream life Like Ha Jin, a woman who wants to support her husband and their life together, but also feels an independent streak emerging.

Most experimental fonts: Kim Nak-soo struggles to explain what he values ​​to his disgruntled son. “I seem pretty ordinary to you, don’t I? But do you have any idea how hard it is to live an average life? You won’t understand that until you step into the real world.”

Our call: Stream it. Mr. Kim’s lifelong dream It combines flashbacks, some really effective comedic writing, and a lot of first-person existential pressure while tracking big changes in the lives of its main character and his family.

johnny loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a writer based in Chicago. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.