K-drama Cold Blooded Intern: Ra Mi-ran, Uhm Ji-won tussle over maternity leave in workplace comedy with social message

Lead cast: Ra Mi-ran, Uhm Ji-won Workplaces in South Korea aren’t known for being friendly towards women. While on the surface some progress has been made with regards to maternity leave, companies still find ways to bend the rules and keep women down. Workplace comedy Cold Blooded Intern, starring Ra Mi-ran (The Good Bad Mother) and Uhm Ji-won (Little Women), explores the stubborn hold the patriarchy still wields over contemporary office culture, while showing how it can force women to turn against each other. Ra plays Go Hae-ra, a mother and wife who has been out of the workforce for seven years but suddenly decides she wants her own life again now that her daughter is older. She shows grit and determination in her search for employment but, despite her sterling qualifications, keeps hitting the same brick wall in job interviews – they all think she’s too old and out of practice. Hae-ra is a strong woman who doesn’t back away from a challenge but, although she puts on a brave face for her family, she begins to recognise that her prospects are bleak – until she interviews at the Market House firm, where one of her interview panellists is her former colleague Choi Ji-won (Uhm Ji-won). 9 of the best new Korean drama series to look out for in August 2023 Ji-won is the director of the product planning team, a position in which she excels. She is recognised for her abilities but is still under the thumb of her male superiors, including Joo Gwang-soo (Kim Won-hae), who absent-mindedly barks orders at her while he watches sports games on his phone. When Market House’s more successful competitor comes under fire for forcing its female employees to sign “no-pregnancy contracts”, Ji-won’s superiors see this as an opportunity for their company to pull ahead. During Hae-ra’s interview, Ji-won asks the interviewees what they would do if asked by a boss to do something illegal. Another job-hunter answers that she would report them, but not Hae-ra – she is clear that she will do anything for her superiors. Hae-ra fails to land the entry-level position she is applying for thanks to discrimination on the part of Ji-won’s colleagues, so Ji-won offers her an internship. A proud Hae-ra initially refuses, but when it becomes clear she has no other viable path back to the workplace, she takes the gig. Though more competent and experienced than most of her new superiors, Hae-ra accepts her role on the bottom rung of the career ladder. She even has to browbeat her boss So Jae-seob (Kim In-kwon), who used to work under her, to treat her like a subordinate. Hae-ra quickly identifies her two new colleagues Geum So-jin (Kim Hye-hwa) and Lee Moon-jung (Lee Chae-eun) as potential allies. Since So-jin’s child is about to start primary school and Moon-jung is in the third trimester of pregnancy, Hae-ra views them as vulnerable and easy prey. Little does she know how right she is. Ji-won pulls Hae-ra aside and reveals the real reason she hired her. Ji-won can give her a managerial position, but only if she convinces So-jin and Moon-jung to resign or, failing that, creates a situation that gets them fired. Why? Because they’ve applied for maternity leave and Ji-won wants them out to sneakily cut costs and gain an advantage on their competitor. As a mother herself, this throws Hae-ra into a moral pickle. The irony of the situation is that she worked with Ji-won before their roles were reversed. Hae-ra was a workaholic who rose up to a management position through her ability, but also thanks to her willingness to trample on others and ignore the needs of her family. In flashback, Jae-seob interrupts an important meeting to inform her that her daughter has been taken to hospital, but she opts to continue the meeting. On another occasion, she sides with a male boss who reprimands a colleague for being late owing to her child, just after Ji-won, who appears far less cold and calculating in the past, attempted to console the woman. Hae-ra and Ji-won are both strong characters whose lives have taken different paths and we can expect some fireworks between them now their paths have crossed again. The contrast and tension between these formidable women is Cold Blooded Intern’s chief draw, but the show around them has its ups and downs. Supporting characters aren’t very memorable and the workplace jokes land about as often as they don’t. Cold Blooded Intern is driven by a compelling moral conundrum, but will it be enough to sustain the series? Cold Blooded Intern is streaming on Viu.