K-Drama First Look: “May I Help You” Offers Healing Notes While Exploring Uniquely Admirable Careers

Multiple encounters will lead to remarkable acts of humanity in MBC’s newest midweek series, May I Help You?!

To escape her mysterious fate of fulfilling dead people’s wishes, a funeral director meets and collaborate with an errand service worker who can do any request from clients.

Opening Week Rating:

abbyinhallyuland watched May I Help You on Prime Video

Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05| 06| 07 | 08| 9 & 10 | 11 & 12 | 13 & 14 | Finale Week Quick Recap + Series Review |

May I Help You Opening Week Story

Working as a funeral director, Baek Dong-joo (Lee Hyeri) gets the unfortunate stigma of the bad luck her career is associated with.

On top of that, she has a strange ability to see ghosts. Thus, most “dead” clients request extra service for their peaceful sendoff.

Before working at the funeral house, she does not have any reservations about what career to take on.

She used to be a table tennis player, but an injury led her to pursue a new career. On the day she was interviewed for the position, she gave sensible reasons that the job provides stability and tenure. With that, she successfully landed the job.

In a twist of fate, she gets tangled in a mission of granting the deceased wishes or she suffers incessant haunting from them.

Initially, deciding to leave the work, she ends up staying in the hopes that her mission will really free her of being a cryptic ghost magnet. Thus, her father is not aware that she’s not studying for the civil service exam.

“I don’t find any other job to be as prideful as this one.”

Sometimes her job is rewarding, sometimes it is also disheartening. That is because there are people who can be bluntly discriminating against her job.

After satisfying another ghost who asked her to slap her husband and her friend who is having an affair; Dong-joo gets a real-life “relationship ghosting” experience.

What’s annoying is her lame boyfriend asked a newly-established errand service to break up with her. The errand service worker is Kim Tae-hee/Butler Kim (Lee Jun Young).

Perfectly delivering the message of the client down to the reason for the breakup, he exits the place after relaying the message.

But Dong-joo chases after him to kick his leg and requests to return the message to her ex-boyfriend that she’s the one ending the relationship.

Calling her attention, Butler Kim explains their errand service does not offer violence. But he was silenced by her firm and emotional outburst of how insulted she was that her ex-boyfriend treated her job like she’s some kind of a curse.

“Working is not at all tiring. And we can make our 24 hours so worth it!”

Unfortunately, Butler Kim and his uncle Vincent are not aware of the implied insult to Dong-joo’s hand being the reason for the breakup. Together with the police officer helping with the deduction, they arrive at the wrong conclusion.

Butler Kim chances upon Dong-joo when his latest errand involves acting as a chief mourner to a taxi driver who died in an accident. He has long been looking for his son and requests Dong-joo to help.

Unknown to him, his last passenger was in fact his son. Harboring hatred for feeling abandoned, he belatedly learned that his father did not stop searching for him. Unfortunately, his father meets his demise, and he failed to realize that he has reunited with his son.

Mistaking Butler Kim as the son of the deceased, Butler Kim clarified with Dong-joo that he was not. She is convinced because he initially declines to finish the chief mourner duties down to the columbarium send-off, but he ends up staying.

It turns out that he has a connection to the dead driver. The latter once paid for his meal when he forgot his wallet as Butler Kim reminded him of his son. Hence, explaining his strange desire to stay and help sendoff the dead taxi driver.

Later, Dong-joo meets Butler Kim again while taking over the job of organizing the pedestrian lane. Waking up to her birthday who is also her mother’s death anniversary, Dong-joo felt somber.

Pushed by mischievous children trying to cross the street, Dong-joo’s things get splattered. They end up bickering in the middle of the street which resulted in canceled requests to Butler Kim’s uncle’s errand service.

Hoping to turn things around, Butler Kim asked Dong-joo to meet but was still unable to relay the message. Then, in another errand task, he has to organize a deceased person’s belonging. Coincidentally, he meets Dong-joo again.

May I Help You Opening Week Musings

Chance and fated encounters that hold meaning to someone’s future left a strong impression in the premiere week of May I Help You. We can already foresee the entwined lives of Dong-joo and Butler Kim based on how many times the two accidentally found themselves brought into the same situation.

To feature a variety of heartening stories, the opening week presented the message of forgiveness. Subsequently, we can expect stories that would evoke healing lessons especially since the premise of the story involve death and life.

Early on, May I Help You intends to spread the message of how people working in the funeral house experience discrimination which is sadly warranted by closed-minded people. Likewise, the introduction of an errand service company brings zest to the narrative.

We’re already anticipating the odd requests to be tackled by Butler Kim that can either be from the living or the dead. Moreover, explicit elaboration of Dong-joo’s ambiguous ability is set to be uncovered.

Join Butler Kim and Dong-joo in their journey of granting wishes to departed ones in May I Help You. International fans can watch on Prime Video.

Photos: MBC Drama

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