What a viewChief of Staff: The West Wing goes east on new Korean political drama on Netflix
- The 10-part debut series explores the daily politicking that goes on behind the scenes at South Korea’s National Assembly
- Starring Lee Jung-jae and Shin Min-a, the show navigates the labyrinthine corridors of authority
The West Wing goes east, with help from Niccolò Machiavelli, in political thriller Chief of Staff, on Netflix.
The National Assembly, Seoul, is the battleground for armies of aides who do the heavy lifting on behalf of their party bosses, drafting their policy proposals, writing their speeches and throwing the scandal-hungry press off the stink of the day.
Keeping abreast of real-life global politics, this first series (all 10 episodes of which are now available, with series two arriving in November) guarantees credibility in current international terms by featuring a boorish buffoon, who believes politicians must possess no sense of shame, in charge. The real smarts, obviously, belong to others, notably leading aides Jang Tae-joon (Lee Jung-jae) and Kang Sun-young (Shin Min-a): implacable opponents across the assembly chamber, partners in bed and secret practitioners of the art of sleeping with the enemy.
Although disparaged by a spiteful peer, ex-police officer Tae-joon, while incubating career ambitions of personal preferment, seems insipid next to former current affairs television-show host Sun-young, who knows her way around the labyrinthine corridors of authority.
Knives soon start to protrude from unguarded backs, and assembly-floor fisticuffs make it onto the news. But somehow, faith in democracy seems to survive. As one anxious mother tells her son as an exam approaches: “There is no better job than a civil servant in this day and age.”