The first episodes of 'Misaeng' are pretty miserable. It's not miserable because it's badly acted or badly written. On the contrary, both the excellent writing and the acting very expertly convey a painful situation. It's that the main character played by ZE:A's Im Si Wan is so miserable, that it's difficult to watch.

His earnest character Jang Grae seems so lost, so ill equipped to function in an office setting, and so without friends, that it's heartbreaking. He wears a secondhand suit that he swims in and he's trying to do a job he has no training in.

Im Si Wan played a chaebol with a cool exterior and shaky inner life in "Triangle" but his character in "Misaeng" has no cool exterior to protect him. He's so clearly at a loss that others see him as an easy target for bullying. And they treat him badly.

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