Love Scout (literal title: "My Perfect Secretary") ended its successful run on Valentine’s Day with an all-time high nationwide rating of 12.0% The workplace romcom and its leads Han Ji-min and Lee Jun-hyuk also dominated Good Data’s Buzzworthy rankings and drew praise for their chemistry and mature portrayal of adult romance. Here's our (somewhat) spoiler-free review with thoughts on why this totally deserves a binge.
The Story
Kang Ji-yun (Han Ji-min) is the workaholic CEO of top headhunting firm Peoplez. She is successful, driven, and takes excellent care of her clients, but can also be a clumsy hot mess who neglects herself and needs someone to clean up after her. Desperate to bring order to Ji-yun's chaotic life, her best friend and Chief Finance Officer Seo Mi-ae (Lee Sang-hee) sets out to find her the perfect secretary.
Enter Yu Eun-ho (Lee Jun-hyuk), a highly competent and organized HR manager with exactly the skill set suited to meet Ji-yun’s needs. A single dad who was pushed out of his company for taking paternal leave, Eun-ho has a daughter to support and nowhere else to go. After getting off on the wrong foot with his new boss, he is determined to prove himself to her and to serve out the duration of his six-month contract at Peoplez.
While romance is the last thing on either of their minds—Ji-yun being focused entirely on her company and Eun-ho on his daughter, Byeol—their professional relationship slowly and naturally evolves into something more.
The Review
Romcoms are a dime a dozen in k-dramaland, and if you’ve been around long enough, you’ll inevitably come to anticipate, even dread, the use of their most common tropes and learn to reluctantly accept them. So when that rare k-drama romcom comes along that manages to eschew most cliches while smartly putting a fresh spin on the ones it chooses to employ comes along, we can’t help but celebrate it.
And celebrating is what we’ve done since January, as Love Scout consistently delivered week after week of some of the best k-drama episodes we’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing. While the premise of this workplace romance may sound simple, its storytelling, direction, acting, and pacing make it compelling from start to finish.
One of the most refreshing aspects of Love Scout is its smart gender role reversals, with Kang Ji-yun taking on many traditionally male-coded actions. Kang Ji-yun is easily one of the best-written k-drama leads—male or female— in recent memory. Like the true boss lady that she is, she is straightforward and no-nonsense, openly expressing and acting on her feelings and desire for Eun-ho.
As the CEO of Peoplez, she starts out as a rather harsh, cold, and uncaring boss hardened by difficulties she's had to overcome since her youth. Watching her character develop and heal from her resentment, with the influence of Eun-ho's warmth and kindness, feels so emotionally rewarding. Ever the reliable leading lady, Han Ji-min delivers another stellar performance, capturing every nuance of Ji-yun’s complex personality with ease.
On the other hand, Yu Eun-ho is the kind of character who seems almost too good to be true—tall, impossibly handsome, smart, kind, super organized, a great cook, and a devoted father. While he might seem unrealistic on paper, Lee Jun-hyuk’s performance makes him feel grounded and believable. After 18 years of taking mostly supporting roles (he was so brilliant as a villian in both seasons of Stranger that he got his own spin-off series, Dong-jae the Good or the Bastard), Love Scout has finally solidified his status as a romantic leading man. We can't wait to see him do more romances in the future.
Together, the leads' chemistry is so electric that it has inspired erotic fanfic, with every longing look and hand gesture feeling meaningful and natural. Their romance is a slow burn, but it never feels frustrating or dragged out. Instead, it unfolds at a pace that feels organic and deeply satisfying.
Unlike many romcoms where miscommunication is a source of conflict, Love Scout gives us the candid, honest conversations that realistically happen between mature grownups. It’s a breath of fresh air in a genre where frustrating misunderstandings and noble idiocy are dragged out for drama's sake. And as longtime k-drama fans, we instinctively dreaded the appearance of at least one toxic ex or a white truck of doom, only to breathe a collective sigh of relief when they never show up.
I personally love that instead of Ji-yun and Byeol's relationship being mined for drama, they're given their own little enemies-to-friends story, with the most precious interactions independent of Eun-ho. And even when Love Scout does lean into the k-drama childhood connection trope, it is wrapped up efficiently and adds depth to Ji-yun and Eun-ho's' relationship in a way that makes sense.
Love Scout also convincingly delivers the goods as a workplace series, with the headhunting/HR cases tackled feeling grounded and relevant, exploring issues like credentials versus competence, and office romance with nuance and care. The show also challenges the stigma surrounding single parents, portraying single parenthood not as a flaw but as something to be admired.
One of the biggest highlights of the series is episode seven, which might just be one of the best k-drama episodes ever made, as it deftly balances comedy, angst, and yearning, building up to a satisfying, cathartic end. It was a masterclass in storytelling and acting, followed perfectly by the warm fuzzies of episode eight.
Aside from the leads, Love Scout is populated with a cast of colorful and endearing characters. Kim Do-hoon and Kim Yoon-hye, as the second leads, are delightful as they navigate their own love story as “unrequited love comrades.” Seo Mi-ae's relationship with her with her bookshop-owner husband Kang-seok, as well as the emotional support and guidance they provide Ji-yun and Eun-ho as their best friends, is heartwarming to watch. And the camaraderie within the Peoplez team, who is each given their chance to shine as an individual, adds warmth to the workplace setting.
I could keep going on about the many things I love about Love Scout (That OST! Her outfits!
Those guest stars!) and why it's made it to my Top 5 k-dramas of all time, but I should wrap this up. My only complaint is that it’s too short. While I appreciate that the 12-episode format kept the storytelling tight and engaging, I really just need more of them!
Kang Ji-yun, Yu Eun-ho, Byeol-i, and the gang will stay with me for a while, and I know this will be a drama I'll be revisiting whenever I need a comfort rewatch.
