K-Drama Premiere: “Search: WWW” Surfs To An Engrossing Workplace Drama Navigated By Strong-Willed Career Women

Displaying a fresh setting for an office drama, Search: WWW introduces women who are set to explore an Internet-based career.

Bannering Search: WWW, a new drama production from Studio Dragon and Hwa&Dam Pictures, are talented actresses Im Soo Jung, Lee Da Hee and Jeon Hye Jin. Adding the romance tweak as the female lead’s love interest is rising actor Jang Ki Yong.

Image credit: tvN Asia

Premiere Week Rating:

Doing a great job in gifting inventive office-set dramas, tvN brings its audience to the thriving industry of search engine portal. People have relied so much to keep up with their daily lives through the Internet. In this new series, three equally beautiful women will move to their roles as brilliant minds behind Internet web portals.

Premiere Week Recap

A smart and efficient director of Unicon, a top web portal company, Bae Ta Mi’s life changes after exposing a politician’s secret sexual solicitation.

Respected for her intellect, Bae Ta Mi has given almost all her life for the company. Keeping its reputation as the best web portal, she has continuously pushed her team to make sure that competitor businesses will not overtake them.

In her free time, she enjoys her time well and even meets strangers who later become her friends. But one day, in the arcade where she frequently goes to, she experienced her first lost. Later, the charming man who did not let her win in the game, sits with him for a drink – eventually leading to a one night affair.

Unicon’s sacrifice

In the heat of the country’s on-going election, the senior managers at Unicon manipulate the search result of a presidential candidate, who was revealed to be engaging in an extra-marital affair. With that, the company was summoned to explain their side and Bae Tae Mi was tasked to handle the interview. Expressing discontent to the mess her bosses left for her to clean up, she devises a way to revert the limelight focusing on Unicon. She unveils the lewd online adventures of the same politician attacking the company.

Successful in cleaning Unicon’s name, Bae Ta Mi is unaware of the repercussions of her action as her mentor-boss Song Ga Kyung, who used to be her good friend, is being pressured by her mother-in-law. Inevitably, Bae Ta Mi faces a disciplinary action meeting and is dismissed in the company.

Switching camp

Bae Ta Mi later bumps again with Park Morgan, the man she recently had a one-night stand with, who is a CEO of a company vying to get the contract for a game soon to be launched by Unicon. When Morgan learns of her dismissal, he calls her and gets led to a resto-bar where she wallows in liquor. He drives her home and witnesses her being slapped by her old boss. Handing her a yellow bag, he relays his intention that their fated meeting is not just a one-night encounter.

Refusing to mope, Bae Ta Mi decides to join Unicon’s competitor company Barro, and leaves the founding vision of Unicon on the forum page before walking out of the building. Together with a small minion she assembled, they head to Barro with a goal to defeat Unicon.

Image credit: tvN Asia

Premiere Week Afterthoughts

Fast-paced and smartly-written, the main drawing point of Search: WWW for me so far is its interesting workplace setting. I love how K-Dramas broadens its workplace drama landscape by going beyond careers that are not common. This time, fans will have a trip to an IT industry business that is fast growing and also utilized widely.

In a way, this feels like Doctor Prisoner for me, but in a lighter and non-crime involvement kind of narrative. More so, it is refreshing to see independent women characters who are at the top of their career game, than the usual struggling K-Drama heroines juggling gazillions of part-time jobs.

Additionally, the love line taking a modern approach also amuses with Im Soo Jung and Jang Ki Yong already creating their romance on the series’ first outing.

Search: WWW airs on tvN and tvNAsia.

ABOUT THE WRITER

abbyinhallyuland reads and sleeps a lot when she is not traveling. Her calendar reminders are mostly K-Drama broadcast schedules and birthdays of her favorite Korean actors. Promoting K-Drama watching as stress therapy is her life advocacy. She is fond of Spencer Reid, Gregory House, Kenshin Himura, Starwars saga, Haruki Murakami and Hunter x Hunter.

Recommended Korean Dramas: Reply 1988, Nine, Misaeng, Gaksital, Discovery of Love, Because This is My First Life, Descendants of the Sun, My Love from the Star, Healer, Punch, You’re Beautiful, Coffee Prince, Princess Hours, The Greatest Love, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, City Hunter, and The Smile Has Left Your Eyes.

E: abby@hellokpop.com