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Pierce Conran

This article contains mild spoilers.
Lead cast: Han Ji-min, Lee Joon-hyuk
Latest Nielsen rating: 10.9 per cent
Appearances can be deceiving. Corporate headhunters employ a variety of techniques to match people and positions, but the main document they rely on is a résumé. However, a résumé can only ever be a summary – it never tells the full story.


Unfortunately, the headhunting romcom Love Scout has fallen foul of this very adage.
Following a thoroughly engaging opening brace of episodes, which introduced us to workaholic headhunter Kang Ji-yoon (Han Ji-min, Our Blues) and her perfect new secretary Yu Eun-ho (Lee Joon-hyuk, Dongjae, the Good or the Bastard), the series has shifted to a very low gear and is now crawling along at snail’s pace.
There are several elements at play, but most of them are progressing slowly and few are in harmony with one another.
The main one is of course the contentious relationship between the leads, in the course of which the perfect Eun-ho slowly grinds down the stubborn Ji-yoon’s defences. This component of a K-drama romcom is always supposed to be a slow burn, and it’s no different here.

More perplexing are the slow-moving parts around it, which are supposed to distract us until the romantic sparks begin to fly.
There is the secondary romance between characters who initially pine after the leads. Jung Su-hyeon (Kim Yoon-hye, Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born) lives next to Eun-ho and, as working single parents who each have a child of the same age, they pool parenting duties as neighbours.
Woo Jeong-hoon (Kim Do-hoon, Moving) is a flamboyant worker at Peoplez, Ji-yoon’s company, and also the son of tycoon Woo Chyul-yong (Jo Seung-yeon), the main backer of Peoplez.
As they first need to have their romantic aspirations to be with Eun-ho and Ji-yoon thoroughly dashed, it takes ages for the seeds of their relationship to take root. But the crucial problem is that neither character comes across as a remotely serious romantic option for the leads.

They spend half the series casting the occasional longing glance at each other but otherwise not doing much of anything on screen. By the time they turn their attention to each other, we have long since stopped caring about them.
Love Scout also presents itself as an episodic drama, with Peoplez tackling various complicated headhunting cases. These cases involve scouting talent and trying to convince them to join a company or solve their personal problems before placing them in a new job.
There were three compelling examples of this in the opening week’s episodes, including the case that got Eun-ho fired from his previous company, but in the subsequent six episodes we have only been given four new cases, which have largely been lacklustre.
The best one has involved a fashion design company looking for a luxury brand appraiser. The client is initially frustrated when Peoplez fails to snag an ideal candidate, who is deliberately swiped away by their rival Career Way.

However, they eventually come up with an interesting replacement – Cho Young-sook (Kim Jung-young, The Glory), an apparel repairer working in a dark workshop in a traditional market. The client is not impressed with the recommendation but when they experience a crisis, Young-sook steps in to save the day.
The Peoplez and Career Way rivalry is another ingredient meant to spice things up, but again, it is so lightly sprinkled throughout that Ji-yoon’s arch-rival never comes across as a threat, even when the ice-cold Career Way chief executive Kim Hye-jin (Park Bo-kyung, Queen Woo) conspires to turn Chul-yong against Ji-yoon.
All in all, this puts a lot on Han and Lee’s shoulders. While they make for an engaging pair, their chemistry isn’t quite enough to keep the whole show afloat.
Han and particularly Lee are both charismatic and parts of their dynamic are fun to watch, but the show overindulges in clichés, as there simply isn’t enough for them to do.

How many times does Ji-yoon have to get in the wrong car? How many times does Eun-ho have to clean her messy office? By the time we reach the obligatory secret office dating phase, we start to wonder, what exactly is Eun-ho getting out of this?
We’re not done yet though, as Career Way is angling to take over Peoplez and there is still some personal trauma to work through. Both of the leads experienced childhood traumas, hinting all too obviously that Ji-yoon and Eun-ho’s connection predates their headhunting days by a few decades.
Will the emotional catharsis of the climax outweigh its inevitability? Will the many slowly moving parts click as we rush to the conclusion? Let’s tune in and see if Love Scout can once again reach its early highs.
Love Scout is streaming on Netflix.


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Han Ji-min (left) as headhunter Kang Ji-yoon and Lee Joon-hyuk as her personal secretary Yu Eun-ho in a still from Netflix K-drama romcom Love Scout.

Han Ji-min as headhunter Kang Ji-yoon in a still from Love Scout. 

Han Ji-min (left) Ji-yoon and Lee Joon-hyuk as Eun-ho in a still from Love Scout.

Lee Joon-hyuk in a still from Love Scout.

Han Ji-min (left) as Ji-yoon and Lee Joon-hyuk in a still from Love Scout.

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Lee Min-ho in a still from When the Stars Gossip, one of our seven Korean drama picks to watch in January 2025. Photo: Netflix

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Lim Ji-yeon in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok, in which she plays a slave-turned-noblewoman who almost loses it all.

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Lim in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Choo in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

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Hwang Min-hyun as reluctant fighter Yoon Ga-min in a still from Study Group.

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Hwang Min-hyun as Ga-min in a still from Study Group.

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Gong Myung (left) and Kim Min-ha in a still from Way Back Love. Photo: TVing

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Romantic comedy series on Netflix starring Han ji-min and Lee Joon-hyuk as a headhunter and her secretary seems to have lost all momentum


Romantic comedy series on Netflix starring Han ji-min and Lee Joon-hyuk as a headhunter and her secretary seems to have lost all momentum.
