Chief Kim vs. the Hot Stove League

Did you love the 2017 drama Chief Kim? Are you wondering how Nam Goong Min‘s new drama Hot Stove League stacks up against Chief Kim? I’ve recently started rewatching one while checking out the other and I’ve noticed some similarities between them. Warning, minor spoilers for the first couple episodes of each drama.

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Same, same

For starters, while the subject matter may appear very different, at the heart both of these dramas are office/workplace dramas. In both Nam Goong Min plays an outsider hired for nefarious reasons (we’ll look at that later) to come into a close-knit office full of different characters. In both his character is put in some form of authority over the majority of the office staff, and in both he is somewhat unfamiliar with some aspects of the job.

In Hot Stove League, Nam Goong Min plays Baek Seung Soo a very successful general manager of several now-defunct sports teams. He has led teams to win national championships in wrestling, ice hockey, and handball. Now he’s been hired to turn around a baseball team that has come in last in the league for several years running. He knows nothing about the sport of baseball, but he knows a lot about running a sport’s team.

In Chief Kim, Nam Goong Min’s character was hired into a major corporation to work in an accounting department. He is replacing a man who supposedly used his position to steal from the company before guilt caused him to try and commit suicide. Here again, his character is very good at what he does, the problem is that what he does is cook books for mob businesses while skimming money off the top for himself. Not exactly the person you’d think a company would hire to fix a corruption issue.

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Another similarity appears to be (and don’t quote me here, we’re in early days on Stove League still) that the female lead is not a romantic interest for the male lead. While it’s possible that Hot Stove League will build up a romantic relationship for the two characters, as of the first 4 episodes there was no real indication of it. Both female leads are characters who work hard at their jobs and are trying to do the best they can for their companies. While they start out with animosity towards their new boss, in both dramas the women begin to warm up to the newcomer as the man makes clear his worth in the workplace.

In Chief Kim, the friendship between the male and female lead as they worked together for the betterment of the employees was lovely to watch. I am sincerely hoping for a similar story in Hot Stove League. Not every drama needs a romance and I really enjoy a well-written male/female friendship that never becomes anything else. If they do write in a romance line for Hot Stove League, I hope that it is a subtle side plot and never overtakes the main story of corruption and righting wrongs.

But different

The most major difference between these two dramas is evident right off the bat. You can probably see it in the posters alone. Where as Chief Kim covered serious issues with a super silly facade, Hot Stove League covers (so far) much less serious issues with a more serious face. I would describe Chief Kim as an office dramedy and Hot Stove League as a straight office drama. Hot Stove League has light-hearted moments within its drama, while Chief Kim goes all out for the goofy, over-the-top silliness.

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Remember when I said earlier that in both dramas the male lead has been hired with a nefarious plot in mind? This is another area where the two dramas differ. In both stories the main character takes the job in good faith, believing that they are offered the jobs based on their merits alone. In Chief Kim, it doesn’t take long for him to be told that he has in fact been hired precisely because his shady background will make him easier for the company to control and discard when necessary.

In Hot Stove League, it is revealed to the lead that he has not really been hired to turn the league around so much as because of the curse his teams have all suffered in the past. He’s known for leading a team to victory right before the team goes bankrupt or gets disbanded for some reason. Nam Goong Min’s character is told after being hired, that they are counting on his curse to help them to sell off the team or it’s facilities after it disbands. Despite knowing this, he continues to work hard to create the very best baseball team he can.

In conclusion

The two dramas are very, very different and yet have a similar feel to them somehow. If you liked the office politics and stories of corruption getting fixed in Chief Kim, you might enjoy the similar stories in Hot Stove League. If you were only watching Chief Kim for its over-the-top hilarity, HSL might not be for you. If you haven’t checked out Hot Stove League because you don’t generally like sports dramas (why? how? why? I’ll try not to judge 😜,) I recommend giving it a try anyway. The sports are almost incidental to this drama the way the actual business is in many office dramas. (Quick, tell me what business TQ Group was doing in Chief Kim).

Oh! While the sport itself isn’t exactly a focus in Hot Stove League, baseball is one of the things that the two dramas have in common. In both dramas the female leads wield a mean baseball bat and a lot of important conversations happen in the batting cages.

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What do you think? Did I convince you to give Hot Stove League a shot? So far I am really enjoying this new drama and I think more people should check it out. And if you haven’t watched Chief Kim yet, what are you waiting for? Go now!

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