Love Scout – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Love Scout begins with an introduction to Kang Ji-yoon, an ace head-hunter and CEO of a headhunting company. She successfully convinces a star talent to change career paths, making headlines a few months later. Ji-yoon is clearly competent but notoriously high-maintenance, with a string of secretaries quitting their jobs after just a few months of working for her.

Her next project involves stealing Mr. Yang, a chief smartphone developer at Hansu Electronics. Meanwhile, at Hansu Electronics, the executives decide to task HR team manager Yoo Eun-ho with retaining Mr. Yang. The move is clearly intended to force Eun-ho out of his position, but he rises to the challenge and gives his best effort to stop Mr. Yang from leaving the company.

Eun-ho crashes Ji-yoon’s meeting with Mr. Yang and successfully prevents her from closing the deal. He then organizes a team dinner to showcase how much the company values Mr. Yang. Later, he takes it a step further by treating Mr. Yang’s son’s soccer team, which ultimately convinces Mr. Yang to stay at Hansu, foiling Ji-yoon’s plan.

While the HR team celebrates their victory, we learn about Eun-ho’s personal sacrifices. He had previously applied for a year-long paternity leave at a critical point in his career to focus on his daughter, who had been struggling with mental health issues. Eun-ho had married young and divorced shortly after his daughter turned one, becoming her primary caregiver.

This decision to prioritize his daughter ultimately strained his relationship with a senior colleague, who missed out on a promotion and is now exacting revenge on Eun-ho.

Throughout the episode, Eun-ho leans on his friend, Jung Soo-hyeon, a single mother who secretly harbors feelings for him.

Meanwhile, Ji-yoon fires an employee for faking his resume. However, after losing Mr. Yang, her company starts falling behind on its monthly targets. On a fateful day, Eun-ho’s senior reprimands him after learning that Mr. Yang has turned in his resignation and plans to move to China to work for a Chinese company. They suspect information-sharing risks, and Eun-ho is told he’ll be held accountable if he can’t stop Mr. Yang.

Desperate, Eun-ho searches everywhere for Mr. Yang and eventually confronts Ji-yoon, accusing her of deliberately ruining Mr. Yang’s career. He argues that once Mr. Yang starts working for a Chinese company, his reputation will be tarnished, and he’ll never be able to return to Korea. Ji-yoon denies the allegations, but Eun-ho storms off before hearing her explanation and rushes to the airport. It’s revealed that someone else has been influencing Mr. Yang’s decision.

At the airport, Eun-ho manages to speak with Mr. Yang, who reveals that Hansu Electronics no longer wanted him and had side-lined him from projects. Mr. Yang also shares that he genuinely wishes to work in China and that his decision has nothing to do with intelligence sharing, as the company feared. Following this, Eun-ho is terminated from his position.

Elsewhere, Ji-yoon’s overworked director, Seo Mi-ae, struggles to balance her duties as Ji-yoon’s stand-in secretary. Late one night, she encounters Ji-yoon returning to the office, only for Ji-yoon to collapse and be rushed to the emergency ward. There, it’s revealed that Ji-yoon is experiencing memory issues due to overwork, and the doctor advises her to reduce her workload. Seo Mi-ae confides Ji-yoon’s condition to her husband, who runs a bookstore.

The next day, Ji-yoon arrives at work and is shocked to find Eun-ho as her new secretary!

The Episode Review

After a long time, Love Scout delivers a refreshing workplace romcom with strong characters, solid performances, an engaging industry setting, and immersive cinematography.

The show thoughtfully addresses themes like loneliness, mental health, and workplace harassment, going beyond gendered perspectives, as seen in Eun-ho’s experiences.

It also offers a fresh spin on the tired workplace boss-secretary romance trope, with Ji-yoon, played by Ji-min, holding the position of power while Eun-ho, portrayed by Joon-hyuk, becomes her reluctant and much-hated secretary.

Overall, the first episode sets a promising tone for the series, offering an engaging and refreshing plot, well-developed characters, and great chemistry between the leads.