My Mister

My Mister tells the story of an impoverished and debt-laden young woman (IU) struggling to stay afloat as she nurses her deaf, sick grandmother and working a temporary job. She develops an unlikely bond with one of her equally miserable supervisors (Lee Sun-kyun), who is subjected to scrutiny and manipulation by his colleagues, friends, and dysfunctional family. Enduring the weight of their respective lives, they come together, forming new relationships, keeping parts of themselves secret — but ultimately healing one another's past scars.

• Lee Sun-kyun as Park Dong-hoon^[1]

At 45 years old, 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^[1]
  • Kim Gyu-ri as child Ji-an

Ji-an is a 21-year-old woman who is enduring many hardships in life, including the need to discharge her mother's huge debts and take care of her deaf grandmother. She was convicted of murdering a loan shark (Lee Kwang-il's father) during her middle school years, and has found a temporary job at the same company as Park Dong-hoon.

• Go Doo-shim as Byun Yo-soon^[6]

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^[7]

Dong-hoon's eldest brother. He is a middle-aged man who was fired from his job and then ran two failing businesses, which ended up in him being 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^[1]

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^[8] as Kang Yoon-hee,^[9] Park Dong-hoon's wife, who is having an affair with Do Joon-young, her husband's boss who is younger than him.
• Jung Young-joo [ko] as Jo Ae-ryun.^[10]

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

• Jang Ki-yong as Lee Kwang-il^[11]

A loan shark, who liked Ji-an when he was young. As his father was murdered by Ji-an (who was jailed two years for this crime) while chasing her for debts, he hates Ji-an for this and torments her greatly over her debts.

• Ahn Seung-gyun as Song Ki-bum^[12]

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

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

• Kim Young-min as Do Joon-young^[13]

Dong-hoon's college junior and Ji-an's boss, currently working as a CEO. He has an affair with Yoon-hee and seeks to fire Dong-hoon.

• Shin Goo as Chairman Jang Hoe-jang
• Jung Jae-sung [ko] as Executive Director Yoon Sang-tae
• Seo Hyun-woo as Head of Section Seo
• Chae Dong-hyun [ko] as Kim Dae-ri
• Kim Min-seok [ko] as Yeo Hyung-kyu
• Ryu Sun-young [ko] as Jung Chae-ryung^[14]

Dong-hoon and Ji-an's co-worker.

• Kwon Nara as Choi Yoo-ra^[15]

A movie actress, and Park Ki-hoon's love interest.

• Park Hae-joon as Gyum-duk

A Buddhist monk who is Dong-hoon's friend and Jung-hee’s ex-boyfriend. His real name is Yoon Sang-won before he ordained as a monk and changed his name to Gyum-duk

• Oh Na-ra as Jung-hee

Owner of Jung-hee's Bar, friends with Dong-hoon.

• Shin Dam-soo [ko] as Director Jung Chang-mo
• Park Soo-young as Je-cheol
• Seo Sang-won as Go Jin-beom, friends with Dong-hoon.

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.^[16] Both tvN and IU's agency commented that nothing had been finalized;^[17][18] 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.^[19] 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.^[20]

In December, Jang Ki-yong, Lee Ji-ah, Kim Young-min, Jung Young-joo and Kwon Na-ra joined the series.^{[21][22][23][24][25]} On February 19, 2018, Na Moon-hee was replaced by Go Doo-shim due to schedule conflicts.^[6] At the end of the month, Oh Dal-su left the series following allegations of sexual abuse and Park Ho-san took over.^[26][27]

The cast gathered for the first script reading on December 18, 2017.^[19][28] 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:^[29][30] episodes 13 and 14, scheduled for May 2 and 3, 2018, were postponed for a week to let the cast and staff rest,^[31] and filming ended on May 15, one day before the airing of the last two episodes.^[32]

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,^[33][34] while the production team replied that the complicated relationship between the two characters would be resolved gradually and to be patient.^[35] 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?"^[36]

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,^[37] while pop culture critic Jung Deok-hyun called My Mister "a survival thriller."^[38] He later added that the intent of the series was to depict the pursuit of happiness in hell.^[39]

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.^{[40][41][42][43]} 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.^[44] The directing and the actors' performances were praised, and IU was complimented for effortlessly digesting a character tired of living a harsh life.^[45][46][47]

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.^[48] 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.^[49][50]

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.^[42][51] 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.^[52]

The script of the series, which went on sale in 2022, registered more than 10,000 pre-orders, ranking fourth on Kyobo Book's best-sellers list and becoming the second best-selling drama script of the year.^[53] Ultimately, the drama received critical acclaim for its screenplay and direction. The cast similarly received praise for their performances, which viewers called "life work" for all of the actors.^[54]

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,^[45] it reached 6% with episode 12.^[55] 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.^[41][56] My Mister drew a solid average viewership rating of 5% for a cable TV show and topped the Contents Power Index (CPI) rankings,^[57] as well as the TV popularity ranking, six times during its nine week run.^[58]

• Loving Strangers.^[69]

• Official website (in Korean)
• My Mister at IMDb
• My Mister at Studio Dragon (in Korean)
• My Mister at Chorokbaem Media (in Korean)