(대행사; aired from January 7 to February 26, 2023; 16 episodes)
Agency might be the best K-Drama this year so far, and the other shows are not even close. And mind you, we have had a pretty good year for K-Dramas so far. This show is witty, clever, thoughtful, and exciting. A great start of the year.
Agency is a sort of workplace or business drama, however it plays similarly to a thriller, as everything lines up to the climax in the final episodes.
The show is focused on Go Ah-in (in this role a phenomenal Lee Bo-young), who becomes a Chief Creative Officer of the advertising agency VC Planning she is working for (which itself is a subsidiary of a large chaebol VC Group). Unbeknownst to her, there is a catch: she gets a position only for a year, as her promotion is a sort of PR stunt.
The main antagonist of the show is Choi Chang-su (Jo Sung-ha), Go Ah-in’s rival, another high-level executive, who is behind the whole plan. His ultimate goal is to become VC Planning CEO, and he starts an elaborate plot to get there.
Son Na-eun is second female lead of the show as Kang Han-na, chaebol princess, who is yet another executive at VC Planning. She becomes involved in the conflict between Go Ah-in and Choi Chang-su. At the same time, she has an ambition to become a vice-chairman of the company, and she competes for that position with her brother (Jo Bok-rae as Kang Han-soo). She enlists Go Ah-in’s help in her plan to achieve this.
Inevitably, the series has to be compared to Reborn Rich, another recent show based on chaebol intrigue. Reborn Rich has a darker and more realistic tone, but Agency is much cleverer. The antagonists in Agency actually pose a challenge, are not only smart, but have connections and outside help which Go Ah-in is lacking. So, Go Ah-in struggles to overcome those obstacles and her wins feel more rewarding. Jin Do-jun (Song Joong-ki) in Reborn Rich is a literal time traveler, so nobody can compete with him.
While the overall chaebol structure is similar, fortunately Agency makes it much simpler and easier to understand. The ultimate puppet master is Kang Geun-cheol (Jeon Gook-hwan), a grand chairman, a retired chairman of VC Group, who actually controls everything behind the scenes and serves as an ultimate arbiter (again, a very similar trope to what we have in Reborn Rich). He pits Kang Ha-na and Kang Han-soo against each other. VC Planning itself is headed by Jo Moon-ho (Park Ji-il), an “uncle” to Ha-na, and occasional ally and mentor to both Ha-na and Ah-in. Another important person is Ha-na’s secretary, Park Young-woo (Han Joon-woo), who will become one of the crucial characters in the show.
However, the relationship and alliance between Ah-in and Ha-na serves as the main axis of the show. I love a dynamic between these two characters, some even call it a “womance.” They play off each other and complement each other: Ah-in is more strategic and calculating, Ha-na is more spontaneous and impulsive. This is one of the best female duos in recent K-dramas.
Lee Bo-young delivers a great performance as Go Ah-in, adding much depth to the character. Ah-in is struggling with anxiety and depression. She gets some help from her friend and psychiatrist Oh Soo-jin (Shin Soo-jung), but Ah-in rarely follows her advice. The show reminds us of the heavy toll which chaebols take from their employees. This is yet another emphasis on mental health so important in recent K-Dramas.
The whole show is organized around several challenges Go Ah-in has to overcome to defeat Choi Chang-su. In the course of those challenges, we get to know the members of her team, we become informed about the inner workings of VC Group, and learn about multiple intrigues led by various executives of the chaebol. Those challenges usually are various projects or commissions for the agency she oversees, and each of them has the power of make-or-break her position at the agency.
Besides that, we have several side arcs. One focuses on Go Ah-in estranged mom (an interesting variation on the family trope so important for K-dramas). Yet another is focused on Jo Eun-jung (Jeon Hye-jin), a copywriter under Go Ah-in, who has to navigate between a demanding workplace and the needs of her family. We also learn about Ha-na’s private life, her friends, and rivalries, in connection with the main plot focused on her conflict with her brother. We have also an arc focused on Go Ah-in’s friend, a CEO of a competing agency, who struggles to keep her company afloat.
The show has one weakness though, and I think it’s epilogue. Without spoiling the show, the epilogue invalidates much of what Go Ah-in achieved, and even contradicts some conclusions from the previous episodes. It feels a bit out of place in the show.
In sum, Agency is an excellent show, a workplace drama with wits and cleverness rarely seen in K-Dramas.
Agency on Wikipedia and MyDramaList
