Filing for Love

a surprising office rom-com that won me over

The first episode was pretty boring—I almost dropped it right there. But luckily, I stuck with it, and it got much better. I ended up really enjoying this drama.

It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's perfect if you want something light and relaxing to unwind with. I was genuinely hooked. The story follows Joo In-ah (Shin Hye-sun), the head of the audit department at Haemu Group, and Noh Ki-jun (Gong Myung), a star auditor who gets demoted to handling workplace misconduct. I loved their enemies-to-lovers journey and how their team dynamics played out.

The acting is really good, and Shin Hye-sun is amazing as always. That said, I don't think Kim Jae-wook's character suited him—I just didn't like his role.

Overall, it's a nice and easy watch that will keep you entertained. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Filing Fizzled Strangely as the "Love" Started to Blossom

I really enjoyed this show to start. Loved all the actors in this. Liked that the FL was all business and didn't take crap from anyone. Though I did have to laugh at the ridiculousness of her starting a physical altercation with the HR Director and still keeping her job and in management no less. Lol. Only on "tv." SMH. Both would've likely been fired if this show was more realistic. Still I liked that she wasn't the nicest person in the room, but she would fight for what was right.

I liked her interactions with the ML. Loved that she countered his arrogance and childishness with professionalism and maturity. But I also liked the potential that was between them. So when they finally kissed I felt the fire. However...things started to go down hill from there. After that kiss the ML was suddenly smitten with the FL and became insistent that they pursue a relationship, even though he knew doing such a thing would cause real problems for them, especially for her.

Also, it seemed like he had this savior complex, as evidenced by his past relationship with his ex-girlfriend. So I found myself questioning whether he truly liked the FL or did he see her as someone who needed to be saved and was confusing empathy with love. I think that's when their potential romance started to cool for me. Then the SML is thrown in the mix along with his history with the FL and I couldn't help but start shipping them.

Yes. He was problematic but their history was interesting and they were evenly matched emotionally unlike the ML, who could be extremely immature. I got more than halfway through this series and lost interest because I just could not ship the OTP anymore. Plus the story had some contrived plot twists and started to get boring. I took a break from the show and attempted to pick it back up, but it could no longer hold my interest, so I dropped it.

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subrang ganda

episode 1 palang nakakatawa na subrang ganda ...🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🤣🤣🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

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Filing for Contradictions.

I’m only on ep 4, but honestly, I’m struggling to understand why this drama is being praised as “well written.” My biggest issue is how incoherent its workplace logic feels.

Going into it, I expected something lighthearted like " What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim " the kind of romcom where you can switch your brain off, enjoy the chemistry, and don’t think too deeply about realism. I hadn’t even read the synopsis, so I genuinely didn’t know what kind of drama this would be. But the moment the story started taking its audit/workplace angle seriously, the contradictions became impossible for me to ignore.

The drama revolves around audits, ethics, workplace misconduct, and conflicts of interest, yet both main couples are built on clear superior/subordinate dynamics. In real workplaces, those relationships are considered sensitive because of the power imbalance and the potential for favoritism, conflicts of interest, unfair evaluations, or pressure tied to hierarchy. In many companies, these relationships must be disclosed to HR, and sometimes they’re not even allowed.

As a result, the premise ends up feeling contradictory. The story wants me to take its professional and ethical themes seriously while casually brushing past the exact kinds of workplace dynamics that would realistically raise concerns. A secretary openly pursuing her superior or a department head developing feelings for a subordinate should logically be treated as ethically complicated within the context of this story, but the drama barely acknowledges it.

What makes it even more frustrating is that the actors are genuinely doing a great job. The performances are solid, and you can tell they’re trying to make the material work. But despite that, I personally don’t feel any real chemistry between the main couple. They come across more like coworkers or friends, so the romance feels forced instead of natural. The progression of the relationship also feels awkwardly written , rushed , and poorly executed, which makes it difficult to get emotionally invested.

That’s why the whole thing feels like wasted potential to me. The cast is capable, but the writing undermines what the drama is trying to accomplish. If the series had fully embraced being a simple unrealistic romcom, I probably could’ve overlooked all of this. But once you build your story around audits, ethics, and professional accountability, it becomes hard to ignore when the main relationships directly contradict the themes the drama itself is pushing.

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promising start, lackluster writing

I went into this with basically no expectations and yet I was still kind of let down. It's not all bad, and the beginning definitely had potential to turn into something unique and entertaining, but the drama declines very quickly after the characters are fully introduced.

For some positives... the acting is good. Shin Hae Sun & Gong Myoung fit their roles well, and Kim Jae Uck & Hong Hwa Yeon do a good job with what they were given as well. The ML wasn't your typical lifeless & emotionless ML like so many other dramas, so that was fun. Shin Hae Sun is a great actress, although I feel like I've seen her in this type of aggressive/unapologetic role before so it didn't really feel like anything new. The 2FL was surprisingly a breath of fresh air when it comes to 2FLs for the first part of the series, up until they completely ruin her character in the later part. The 2ML was tolerable for a little bit until the love triangle started and quickly went downhill from there. The side characters were relatively entertaining despite being the cliche office team surrounding the leads that you'll see in so many of these dramas.

When it comes to the story, I wasn't really that invested in the workplace drama going on with the audit team, which is unfortunate considering it takes up quite a bit of the screentime (as expected since it's the main concept). The segmented audit storylines following different employees and their affairs was interesting at times, but got tiring pretty quickly and honestly was frustrating to watch sometimes as someone who despises cheating and misunderstandings. The FL is the typical capable headstrong leader who comes across as cold and arrogant at the start, but slowly opens up throughout the story. I do feel like she didn't really change as much as I expected up until I stopped watching, and really stayed pretty stagnant in terms of attitude and bluntness, except for when she was with the ML. But even the more lighthearted "romantic" scenes with the ML didn't feel as genuine or real to me, most likely because the FL was so unrealistically headstrong for the majority of the show that it was hard to convince myself that she was actually in love. The ML's character was kind of fun, although very frustrating in the first few episodes. I feel like they kind of sidelined him near the end and gave way too much screentime/story to the 2ML & FL, but maybe it would have turned around if I kept watching to the end.

The 2ML started off okay, but as soon as the love triangle started it all went downhill. I was hoping they wouldn't go the love triangle route with him, but of course they had to. A very talented and good looking actor, but his character became progressively more annoying and frustrating to watch as the series progressed. His one-sided love for the FL was overbearing at times, and completely ruined the vibe and caused so much unnecessary drama that could have instead been used to further the relationship between the two leads and create a more convincing love story. I also couldn't really care less about the relationship between the 2ML & 2FL, even though I did like the 2FL for a bit at the start of the series. They didn't get nearly enough meaningful screentime for me to feel invested at all, and often times the two together just brought down the mood.

As for the 2FL, I admit she had a very promising start. She wasn't your typical 2FL, and the unconventional role and ML/2FL dynamic was interesting. Then they completely ruin her character in the later part of the series by turning her into the cliche revenge-focused 2FL who crosses way too many lines for a guy who is so unlikeable for the majority of the story. What happened to the fun, unconventional, friend dynamic at the start? They manage to forcefully "redeem" the 2ML near the end, and yet the writers completely throw the 2FL under the bus and turn her into a villain. I don't know if her character gets better in the last episode since I stopped watching part-way through episode 11, but incredibly disappointing nonetheless.

I just feel like overall the series had so much potential, but the story started to feel more and more cliche as it progressed, and as soon as the love triangle kicked in and the messy corporate plot started to take up more screentime, it just became such a drag to keep watching. So many of the interactions between characters and the dialogue started to feel forced, the comedy bits weren't really landing, and the corporate drama involving the FL & 2ML was frustrating to watch to say the least. Near the end, it felt like the writers were trying so hard to bring a climactic drama-filled final push, but it mostly centered around the FL & 2ML, and at this point the 2ML was so annoying for most of the series I just couldn't bring myself to care about what happened to him. On top of that, switching up the 2FL into a jealous revengeful villain felt like too much of a dramatic transition that wasn't really hinted at enough or developed enough throughout the series.

Maybe some of my frustrations with this drama would have been resolved in the final episode, but I unfortunately couldn't make it that far. Definitely not a terrible show, despite my lengthy essay of complaints! Just very disappointed considering the promising start.

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It's a very middling corporate romance carried by Shin Hye Sun..

The corporate plot is pretty weak, but the 12 episode format makes the usual fare tolerable. I have certainly witnessed far far worse corporate plots in my kdrama history. Also think the basic concept of the show is ridiculous, more specifically the audit team's various investigations feel like they are the virtue police & then the drama romance is about a boss-subordinate relationship in that setting & then everyone is just okay with it, I mean come on. While focusing on the romance itself ignoring all the weird crap, I can say it's decently fun at times, however the chemistry between the leads is really not great. The triangle is not too bad, it's more tolerable than average, though not having one would've been vastly preferred of course.

Also the supporting cast is really on the boring side. The only interesting character is -the technically second FL- vice president's secretary. I somewhat understand what the production team wanted with her character, sort of using her as a mood setter, but it was just too weird. Normally I'd say her character has gotten sacrificed on the altar of live filming, but this is a pre-produced show, maybe they forgot to tell the writer. Maybe the script had been written alongside the filming, completely negating any benefit of filming a show before airing it.

So why is it a 6.5 instead of 3? Well SHS even on a bad day is still one of the best kdrama actresses there are & oh boy she sure is carrying very hard. (though not as hard as in Angel's Last Mission if I want to be entirely honest)

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Decent rom com, Wickedly funny satire/parody/office rom com, great acting, camera, music

THIS DRAMA IS INCREDIBLY WICKEDLY FUNNY, such a satire and parody on so many things!!!! I was laughing in ep 1
It is a decent rom-com, not a masterpiece, but it is still worth a watch. ML actor is a fantastic actor and comedian and he gives a great performance here. FL actress is ... hm.. not my favorite.... to cold. She has some moments where she acts deeper but by ep 6, not enough for me to actually enjoy her acting

==== WRITTEN AFTER EP 6 ========
The cliches are there - FL has a past, is cold and reserved to ML, who is chasing her, i.e. he is trying a lot harder than she is - the classic trope.
Still there are some refreshing takes - FL is a competent professional and his boss.. ML is a green flag, speaks his mind directly, and is a rather realistic male

===WRITTEN AFTER EP 1 =====
There are zillion enthusiastic comments in the Discussion yet 166 ppl gave 7.6 rating, and online 25 ppl gave 6 and 3.5 stars for ep 1 and 2 - CLEARLY THERE ARE ORGANIZED TROLL GROUPS, FAKE ACCOUNTS, WHO DOWNGRADE SUCCESSFUL KDRAMAS
So i wrote this review after just ep 1. the drama is too good to pass :) Dont Believe MDL rating!!!!

yeah there are many issues in the drama, e.g. FL is the only female on her team, etc etc - and I am not sure if HRs really investigate this kind of stuff for real LMAO
but you don't have time to think of that bc it is just so wickedly funny

And the acting, camera and music is amazing! ML actor is such a great actor and a phenomenal comedian. FL actress provides comedic effect in contrast with him. Her character would not be funny at all on its own.
And then there are other great actors in there, like Once Again bro.

I think FL denoted ML bc she/someone saw the staircase kiss, and I suspect she is already hitting on him. He is definitely a catch :)

And... last but not least... isnt it nice to see a real man as ML and a man who CAN ACT a wide range... an not a porcelain doll with plasticized glazed androgenous triangular face and super skinny body AND ONE FACIAL EXPRESSION - gloomy serious. Pursuit of Jade kind that will be replaced by AI bc they all look alike and cannot act. I am so glad we dont have to watch plasticized ppl in this drama. FL kinda smells of it but her acting luckily is ok for her tsundere role.

The reversal of gender roles is hilarious

=====================================
The drama is built on amazing surprises, it is like a roller coaster...

I understand why Koreans are concerned that the end of ep3 can start a new wave of dramas trying to up each other and going the lewd way of Hwood... We already have lots of scenes of guys in a shower, Dynamite Kiss pushed the envelope into bed, now FL almost doing a striptease,.... so what's next... I understand why Koreans are worried we are standing too close to the cliff edge of turning into Hwood cheap.....

I personally think that end of ep 3 was on the edge of acceptable, and it was cheesy, and to me it was made hilariously funny by the comments of the audience, who totally nailed it. Omg the comments are better than the drama in those scenes LMAO

I analyzed why the scene at the end of ep 3 was funny - bc it was so unexpected, bc the drama baited us to believe something else.. yet trained us to trust the drama :) So being so swindled was funny.... See https://mydramalist.com/793102-secret-gratitude#comment-25998698
(Hm why is the comment labeled as "secret gratitude"??? )

Also, notice the SOPHISTICATION of this wickedly funny humor and also very compassionate and revealing. The last scene in ep 3 is effective precisely bc we see only their faces. Hwood would destroy that scene by showing everything. Then all the mystery and the fun of seeing their faces very closely and for a long time and feeling compassion and comraderie with the characters would have been GONE.

This sophisticated humor is the trademark of kdramas, it is a certain elegance and intelligence, parody, satire, jestering, exposing difficult heavy serious issues with tact and compassion, that only kdramas have.

In any case, whoever thought of this script, is a mastermind manipulator and jester :) sooo familiar with people and how to play them and in that contrast, make it super funny and also super educational. A master storyteller :) And the director and camera and production and the actors are the same kind, on the same page, they totally understand the concept. VERY VERY VERY SKILLED TEAM.

RESPECT!!!!!

And the audience here in their comments showed they understand the concept too. Very impressive. This is one of the best chat rooms. Respect!!!

On its own, the end scene in ep 3 to me is on the edge of acceptable and also very cheesy, one more step and it would have been gone off the deep end cliff of Hwood
To me, that last scene became funny bc of the comments of the audience - so incredibly funny.

I hope that other dramas will not start a competition to updo this drama... We already have plenty dramas with scenes of guys in the shower, etc... I would stay on this side of the cliff, not go any further, would rather use the time for quality content.

FYI I find it very funny, my review has 11 likes and yet was listed last. Why was that so? I reviewed 1 ep out of 12 and the others reviewed 2 or mistakenly 12.

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Mix of explosive chemistry and comedy

Safe to say, I’m having the best time with this drama right now.

I had seen the trailer when it first dropped, so it was already on my radar, but I was originally saving it until at least the halfway mark, however thanks to a very boring Friday night, I unconsciously hit play and I'm officially obsessed.

Now I have to say, I'm a sucker for office romance. The more secretive the better, like the tension alone is too delicious to watch, so I already knew this would be right up my alley. There is also the added flavour of Shin Hae Sun's character Ju In-a being the work superior and Gong Myung's character Gi Jun being the younger, ambitious and fiery junior. It was really nice seeing a decent switchup of a usually pretty overdone cliche in dramaland.

This show also had a great twist for me; it is HILARIOUS. I honestly laughed out loud so many times in the episodes that even I was surprised by the sheer volume of my laughter. Crazy...

I’m obsessed with Ju In-a. She’s such a layered character and I’m genuinely so excited to see where they take her. I’m also slightly nervous because if they ruin her badass character, I will take it personally. Women who are brutal and exceptional at their jobs will always do it for me, and she really is all that. It's the perfect role for someone as talented as Shin Hae Sun.

Gong Myoung is also surprising me in the best way possible. He’s so well cast here and he's definitely on my radar now. I loved how Ju In-a absolutely crashed into his perfect life and turned everything upside down. The way he handles the whole thing is hilarious to watch, and his comedic timing is genuinely great. I love that the show is not holding back on the humor. If anything, it’s fully leaning into it, which makes everything feel more fun. I really hope they keep that energy going.

And the chemistry is already OFF THE CHARTS. We barely started and I’ve caught myself holding my breath during a lot of their scenes (cough..the art room..cough). It’s the kind of buzzy tension where you can feel it building constantly. Their dynamic is just so enjoyable and I’m already excited thinking about where it's going to go. With a premise like this...the possibilities are endless. Also, I'm so ready to see them team up properly and do some badass auditing together which we're already getting a taste of.

Speaking of which, I’m really enjoying the audit team as a whole. There’s a lot of personality, and the team dynamics feel pretty good for now, I'm excited to see where that goes as well. The cases are also looking interesting and serve as a nice layout for the main storyline and keep each episode very entertaining. It has a detective vibe to it, which I enjoy so so much. I'm glad that the auditing parts are just as entertaining and engaging as the main leads dynamic.

I’ve always enjoyed corporate politics in dramas. The messy relationships, the quiet power plays, people being shady in suits… it just works for me. Add in the detective vibes of the audit team, and the comedy and I'm left with no choice but to be obsessed. They've just hit all the marks for me, so I have no way of resisting this show.

The only part I’m not fully connecting with right now is Kim Jae uck’s character, and his secretary. I love love love LOVE him as an actor, but something about that storyline isn’t landing for me yet. It's just falling a bit flat compared to the rest of the dynamic feel of the show. That said, it’s still early, so I’m keeping an open mind.

I'll update my review as the show goes on, and again PLEASE DON'T CRASH AND BURN.

Post Finale Update:

I think my thoughts remain the same, I adore Gi-jun and I-na's dynamic, they were so good until the very end. My only criticism would be that they kind of did let go a bit of the humor after the halfway mark, which was a fear of mine. I also really wanted to see more audits, especially more in depth ones, laced throughout the episodes to keep the fun tone alive. However, because I enjoyed the characters a lot, I CAN look past this.

The VP and his secretary remained kind of forgettable characters for me, as I predicted. They just didn't carry any impact for me and I genuinely did not care what happened to them. I think those 2 characters were the missed opportunity and the biggest weak link of this drama as a whole. I think the actors did a good job, it just came down to the characters themselves and the script in my opinion.

Overall, this was extremely fun and I loved waiting all week for Saturday to come.

(A bit of a side tangent but am I the only one who thinks Audit Team 3's Chief, kind of looks a bit like Ji Chang Wook? I think he could definitely play his dad in a future project. Or maybe it's the hair styling? Idk)

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A fresh romcom that sucks you in!

Initial Review at the Halfway Point (Will Post Concluding thoughts after Finale):

I don’t really know what I expected from this, but it’s been a blast so far. I’m really optimistic heading into the second half.

Pros:
• A fresh dynamic of the leads — We’ve got a role reversal drama here that took me by surprise. Our ML is NOT the normal K-Drama male lead, and, frankly, I’m here for it. Our FL? She is not our normal female lead, and, again, I’m here for it. The female is a domineering boss with secrets to spare and plenty of hurts while our ML is a cocky employee who has a thing for strong women (not that he’d admit it) and is more in touch with his feelings because he was raised by and around strong women.
• Chemistry — Oh my goodness. The chemistry is there. It is so there, and do NOT get me started on the kiss scene in episode 4. Good grief. These two are dynamite together. I can’t wait to see their dating era.
• Subplots — To my surprise, this show has kept me engaged so far in basically all its subplots. That is no easy feat.
• Production — Just wanted to shout out the overall production of this. The acting, directing, music, cinematography, etc. is very very good.

Cons:
• Slow start — This wasn’t a huge dea, but the pilot is a bit slow for a romcom. In fact, it isn’t until episode 4 that we really get to know the FL’s character (this begins as a male centric narrative and part of the story is the mystery around her). If it would have dragged out longer, I would have been annoyed.
• A potentially very messy love square — Already I find it weird as heck that the ML allowed his ex girlfriend to move into his apartment in episode 1. For the fist five episodes though, it didn’t seem like a big deal. Now it looks like we are about to dive into a very messy love square that has not been introduced very well so I have fear that it could do some damage in the last half. Here’s to hoping not.

Anyway, I am PUMPED for the second half.


Final Review:

This show was a gem, a literal gem. They handled the dynamics of all the shifting relationships with incredible finesse, and the writers/cast truly delivered a stellar second half. The ex-GF drove me crazy, but I actually have to admit they handled her downfall and eventual subtle redemption very well.

Our couple’s dating era was PEAK. And NO messy breakup!! The scene where Ki Jun is defending Inah in the police station had me in tears, and the finale had me cheesy grinning over and over. We got an awesome ending—starting in a similar way it began—with our two leads now a bickering couple. It was adorable and so wholesome. Well worth the watch. It’s my fave K-Drama of the year so far.

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