It’s almost Christmas, aka holiday season which means slightly more time for drama watching and fan-girling (hopefully!) This post, the spotlight is going to be on ENA drama Ms. Incognito / Good Woman Bu Se-mi (the drama title literally translated from Korean) starring Jeon Yeo-bin as the titular character Bu Se-mi, Seo Hyun-woo, Jung Jin-young (of B1A4), Jang Yoon-ju, veteran actor Moon Sung-geun and Joo Hyun-young. I would also be touching on some of the supporting cast as we go along. I liked how mad crazy the show was, yet still coming through with some laughs and a heart at its core; which explains writing this to tell you all about it! Jeon Yeo-bin has had a stellar year with the release of three (3) projects this 2025 (the earlier ones include the movie Dark Nuns alongside Song Hye-kyo and drama Our Movie with Namgoong Min). It’s great that she took up this project playing such a crucial role (happy for her!) as it’s pretty certain that she joined the filming for this when the final filming for Our Movie hadn’t wrapped yet (so she did it almost concurrently!) Both characters, Lee Da-eum and Bu Se-mi go through a rollercoaster of emotions in their respective story worlds, so kudos to the actress for doing so well. I’m also thankful that I only started watching the drama after it finished airing as I doubt I would be able to withstand those cliffhanger endings and the weekly wait for the episodes’ release… that would be torture😩

My recommendation or perhaps advice for going into this show would be to watch it blind – because in my opinion it wouldn’t be as fun if you have been spoiled with regards to several plot points and story developments. That was the watching experience for me, so I feel that it is the way to derive maximum satisfaction from the full ride. In view of that, I will try to keep my analysis as spoiler-lite as possible. Alternatively, you could come back to read after you’ve finished the drama 😉 The surprise for me was the tone that the production team took on in terms of execution – it was quite unique actually given the darkness in premise and the fact that it was marketed as a revenge thriller. However, it was an easier watch than I had initially expected and in hindsight, this style played out better (as opposed to going full-on dark). Granted, one could argue that the comedy angle is a very kdrama thing; you’d know what I mean if you have been a kdrama fan for a while. The issue is that it doesn’t always work out and can seem jarring or OTT at times, but I thought it was pretty well blended into here. I was also pleased to read that the drama very was well-received in Korea, garnering the highest ever viewership rating for an ENA drama in the same timeslot this year. Let me move on to highlight the various characters in Ms Incognito’s world.

As I mentioned earlier, Jeon Yeo-bin’s appearance rate has been pretty high this year (yay for us?) – she takes on the role of Bu Se-mi in Ms Incognito. Much of Bu Se-mi’s background is shrouded in mystery, because she’s actually just an ordinary young lady by the name of Kim Young-ran. It’s not difficult to empathise with Young-ran’s circumstances and plight – financially strapped and working all sorts of jobs to cover her own living expenses. Despite being a hard worker, her situation doesn’t improve thanks to her money grubber mom. That is until she attends an interview for a security detail job at conglomerate Gaseong Group, where Chairman Ga Seong-ho (played by veteran actor Moon Sung-geun) decides to hire her. Since it’s the same actress and having watch both dramas within the span of a few months, I couldn’t help but do a comparison in terms of character portrayal. Da-eum in Our Movie was more outgoing and optimistic, while Young-ran is more subdued and introverted – Jeon Yeo-bin portrayed both personalities sufficiently according to the problems and issues faced by each character. Nonetheless, both individuals have common qualities that also shone through: they are kind-hearted and resilient people.

Given what Young-ran had gone through all her life, the amount of sacrifices she’s made and risks she has had to take, I felt like I had naturally rooted for her every step of the way even after she took on the identity of Bu Se-mi. Each advance forward only presented more obstacles coming from all directions; the more I watched, the more I felt that she just had to succeed. I lost count of the number of times I had my heart in my mouth, reeling from the anxiety and nerves caused by the tight plot. At different stages, we got to see Young-ran’s desperation, being pushed to breaking point and also her mental fortitude to continue with the secret quest. As for Bu Se-mi, it would be the internal mind conflict on not being able to fully open up to the townspeople of Muchang after experiencing first-hand how nice and genuine everyone treated her. While having to keep up the ruse, it was evident that the ice in Young-ran’s heart was slowly but surely melting thanks to the warmth she felt from the townspeople’s sincerity. It may have taken a while, but the realisation that she wasn’t alone and there are actual people who had been supportive of her must have been comforting. All in all, it was a role that I enjoyed seeing Jeon Yeo-bin in; there was a good amount of action (lots of running!), intensely charged moments as well as heartfelt ones. Super glad that Ms Incognito did well overall too.

Jin-young stars as single dad Jeon Dong-min who works at the strawberry farm in Muchang. Muchang is the town where Young-ran goes to hide under the name Bu Se-mi. It is also the town where the strawberries delivered to Chairman Ga’s home are from, which Dong-min personally delivers to Seoul rather regularly. I have to admit that I am ambivalent towards Jin-young as an actor, and it also didn’t help that several of the supporting cast pretty much nailed their roles, regardless how small their characters were in the context of our drama’s world. Nonetheless, for an ordinary guy-next-door personality it was a fairly decent performance – I liked how Dong-min quietly entered Young-ran’s lonely world and touched her heart, without overtly trying to gain attention. The show’s execution in making Dong-min Young-ran’s pillar of support and love interest was natural and not overdone, which was a plus point for me. Dong-min’s relationship with his adorable son Jeon Ju-won (Yang Woo-hyuk) was also a highlight – Dong-min raised Ju-won on his own so they are very close. I will not say more but they are some surprising and heartwarming moments between the two. The friendship that Dong-min shared with Seo Tae-min (Kang Ki-doong) was unique in the sense they were different from other young people their age group but above it all they understood each other more than anyone else. Ultimately, I believe these heart-to-heart moments together with the highly tense scenes with Young-ran helped me to overlook the neutral feelings I had about seeing just Dong-min on screen.

Seo Hyun-woo is truly, really a joy to watch on screen; I don’t think I can emphasise that enough. I just wish that more great scripts and roles continue going his way. He breathes life into all his characters, and this time his role as lawyer Lee Don was no exception. Personally, I found the wordplay on his name pretty funny and the writer used it in some of the lines as well – so Don돈 in Korean/hangul literally means money and his boss happens to be uber rich, but I shall not spoil it too much for those who have not watched the show. If you do happen to check out the actor’s social media, he literally captions his character as “Money Lee”, so you get the drift. There is also a tidbit from the Ms Incognito press conference that I’d like to share with you guys – Seo Hyun-woo shared that this was the fourth time that he has met Jeon Yeo-bin in the same project (two older movies After My Death and Secret Zoo, followed by two dramas that aired this year including Incognito) but in the last three they did not have much scenes together and he said that part of the reason he accepted the offer was because Jeon Yeo-bin was starring and this time they have multiple scenes together, heh. Like the actor is, I am happy that his wish was granted in the form of Ms Incognito. He also appears more frequently in this drama than in Our Movie, which is fantastic news for me! 😆 He used some trademark gestures e.g. adjusting his glasses and mannerisms for his character throughout the drama which I found quite entertaining. Although I am not sure whether it was planned or ad-libs, but it had the desired effect on me as it didn’t feel forced. This is one of the examples of the very kdrama style comedy which might not work for all because everyone’s range of acceptance differs. Nevertheless, my point here is that it was well-executed and incorporated a unique twist to Lee Don’s persona.

Back to Lee Don, I think through the several years of working under Chairman Ga he has established a friendship with his boss built on both trust and capability. It’s interesting because I can feel that their interactions go beyond a superior-and-subordinate relationship, yet Don is still respectful and uses the honourifics. I believe that the bond they share goes both ways – partly due to Don’s job as the lawyer for Gaseong Group (which means that he is privy to a lot of confidential information about the company) that says a lot about the amount of trust that the chairman has in Don. And happily for the chairman, Don is somewhat like a confidant because he has been so alone and lonely especially after losing his wife and daughter. Don’s hometown also happens to be Muchang, where the strawberries are farmed. It is also where his cousin Dong-min and older sister lives. This is an important point in the later part of the story, because Bu Se-mi’s workplace is located in Muchang and it kinda serves as the place for Young-ran to hide in the shadows, figuratively speaking. The other thing about Don is that he is loyal not only to Chairman Ga but also eventually to Young-ran when she later marries the chairman and embarks on the revenge full-blown – it is a rarity in our drama world here because everyone who is money-faced just seem to be traitors. Thank you Lawyer Lee Don, you’ve worked hard 😊

Now I’ll touch on the dynamic between Chairman Ga and Young-ran – in my opinion what made it compelling was because there’s A LOT of tension and the stakes are high; so, on the surface it appears that they are just using each other for their own gains (which is also true) however there is actually so much more left unsaid and it’s also thanks to remarkable acting deliveries by both Moon Sung-geun and Jeon Yeo-bin. I could see why Chairman Ga picked Young-ran for the bodyguard job – she’s blunt and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. To further explain it, it’s not that easy for the chairman to interact with someone like her in his huge home or his company because of his position. Normally, most people would either be more indirect, maybe even walking on eggshells (his housekeeping staff, chauffeur, company’s board of directors etc) or have hidden intentions like eyeing his money (in this case it would be the two siblings Ga Seon-young and Ga Seon-woo). To the chairman, he probably saw an ally in Young-ran for someone who dares to speak openly to him and yet is sincere. With the danger and gravity of the grand plan he planned to set in motion, it was understandable he would need someone as desperate and lowkey fearless as Young-ran to go through it (with Don’s assistance, of course).

Alright, I am just going to put it out here that I have mixed feelings about the OTP connection. However, since it was never meant to be something major, it only affected my watch to a small extent. To elaborate on the whys: number one is that romance was intended to be a subplot in the grand scheme of things anyway, it mostly felt like it was there to add some love story to a drama with otherwise no romance and while there was good reason to back it up, I guess the ship didn’t sail for me regardless. It was also very kdrama-like to have feelings complicate and at the same time justify the various characters’ course of actions and behaviours, which was what Ms Incognito had a lot of in my opinion. And given Jin Young’s average acting skills, it didn’t help that there were a few times I’d felt that Dong-min wasn’t able to match Young-ran at a similar level for me to feel strongly enough about them. The number two thing is that the drama’s genre is ultimately mystery right? Hence it does make sense that Ms Incognito wasn’t going to be romance-forward and I ended up feeling that perhaps we could have done without it too because for the amount that we got, I found it to be lacking in chemistry and overall feels.

Please correct me if I am wrong – I believe that during the drama press conference actress Jang Yoon-ju briefly talked about how the kdrama and kmovie industry was struggling as of late and hoped that many people would watch and support Ms Incognito. Yay, because it did so well at home I’m pretty sure more people would recognise her now for her turn as the resident antagonist Ga Seon-young. Everyone’s style of acting a villain’s role is different, and notwithstanding that this style is not my favourite kind of portrayal, the actress did well and more than enough for me to hate her guts and angered me several times to the point I felt like flipping tables. Of course I reminded myself that it was just a drama, but it goes to show how good she was in her role.

The relations Seon-young had with the people around her always felt tense and largely transactional, which was honestly quite sad. Even the relationship with her only sibling Seon-woo (Lee Chang-min) was mostly built on their monetary aims. They both have contrasting personalities as well – Seon-woo is impulsive, whereas Seon-young is more calculated which is the top cause of them always being at loggerheads. For the longest time, Seon-woo has been wanting to prove his worth in front of his sister so that she not only sees him as the troublemaker that she has to clean up after. For all the things Seon-young had done, it’s clear that she was evil beyond redemption but I did like that we got a glimpse of her childhood. Rather than aiming to get audiences to sympathise with her, I think that the drama’s intention was to help us understand her triggers and unresolved traumas growing up (i.e. what makes her tick) and at the same time also bring home the message that an unfortunate childhood does not condone the choices and decisions one makes as an adult – which to me is quite powerful in this context, being a mirror image of Young-ran.

Frankly speaking, Baek Hye-ji (starring Joo Hyun-young) was a character I’d initially found to be quite annoying and easily getting on my nerves. She was the classic example of Little Miss Nosy, literally butting into everybody’s business without knowing any better. But I’d like to think that this was attributed to the way she was written, and thankfully I grew to like her as I went deeper into my watch. Hye-ji is an employee of the chairman, and Young-ran became her roommate when after joining Gaseong Group as bodyguard.

When we were introduced to Hye-ji, she seemed to crave social connection and friendship. A little suspension of disbelief is required here, but isn’t it hard imagining someone at her young age having no same age or similar age friends to hang out with, doing things that normal people would meet up to do together? Due to Hye-ji’s strong desire for closeness, she keeps trying to get involved with Young-ran’s business unaware of the potential risks and dangers. At first, I wondered why the show made it a point to emphasise Hye-ji’s dream of becoming a ballet dancer but it all gradually made sense. Things changed for Hye-ji after she found herself in Muchang, especially since she started to be of actual help rather that just purely being a busybody. Her budding relationship with Tae-min was so adorable I thought this secondary loveline was better. The best thing for her was probably the fact that she developed true friendship with Young-ran that wasn’t just written off. In my view, this role really suited Joo Hyun-young – I thought the casting was perfect and the overall image in terms of the clothing and the actress’s expressions made Hye-ji a believable character.

This section of the post is to give shoutouts to some supporting cast as I had mentioned in the introduction. First we have Dong-min’s adorable son Ju-won (starring child actor Yang Woo-hyuk), who was one of those really sensible kiddos a parent could ever have. Ju-won knew that his dad had a hard time raising him in a single-parent family, so he was very considerate for a young child. And they have a really close relationship since they only have each other. Amidst all the mystery stuff going on, Ju-won was like a source of comfort for both Dong-min and Bu Se-mi.

Next up we have Don’s sister, Lee Mi-sun (starring actress Seo Jae-hee) who is the principal of Muchang Kindergarten. Mi-sun has somewhat of an eccentric personality with her own quirks. She was also the one who rallied all the Muchang townspeople to warmly welcome Bu Se-mi to their town, considering that most of them were skeptical about Bu Se-mi’s sudden appearance. I liked that the show did not spend too much time on the angst on other characters being deceived for a fake identity – Mi-sun was one of them. As more time passed, the Muchang people could tell that Bu Se-mi wasn’t a bad person after all. I thought Seo Jae-hee’s portrayal of Mi-sun was able to make the character extra lively with an interesting twist, which made Mi-sun memorable for me as a character.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Just to share a little on how I wound up watching the show – I would say the casting of Jeon Yeo-bin and Seo Hyun-woo played a significant part. Also, Ms Incognito is directed by Park Yoo-young, who did Kingdom Season 1 and A Model Family (both of which I remember liking). The premise was intriguing and I was keen to see how everything would pan out. Ms Incognito was not without its flaws in terms of some logic stretches, but I liked how everyone in Muchang, plus Young-ran, Don and Hye-ji were able to lead new lives after the whole revenge thing got out of the way. I guess it was extra satisfying because they could finally live a life doing what they wanted for themselves. Plot movement wise, it wasn’t as fast-paced as I had expected (presumably due to the comedy and romance bits), but the story progressed along at a good pace which was enough to keep me watching. From my perspective, the drama started out and ended with a bang. Although it might have faltered midway here and there, it wasn’t a waste of time as they were able to amp it up towards the conclusion. It was also rather unique for a thriller drama to give off whimsical vibes so I thought that it’s quite well done from a production point of view. That’d be all from me, do share with me what you guys think as well! 😊