New K-Drama Gains Attention For Fresh Takes On Popular Clichés
Spoiler Alert
K-Dramas tend to be formulaic, an aspect that some viewers like, as they know what to expect from them. Many K-Dramas contain popular tropes, such as the wealthy CEO with a tortured past who falls in love with their colleague, enemies to lovers, and even an umbrella scene, which for many signals the start of growing romantic feelings.
Chaebol Male Lead Common Tropes:
byu/ILoveParrots111 inKDRAMA
One new K-Drama contains all such tropes but with fresh twists.
SBS‘s new K-Drama, Love Scout (also known as My Perfect Secretary), premiered last week with its first two episodes. Rather than a man portraying the coldhearted and arrogant CEO with a tragic backstory, it is actually actress Han Ji Min (Our Blues and Behind Your Touch). In this story, actor Lee Joon Hyuk (Our Beloved Summer and Vigilante) portrays her friendly secretary, whom she ultimately falls for despite initially hating him.
A successful and confident woman (Han Ji-Min) is the CEO of a head-hunting company. To survive in the fiercely competitive headhunting field, she puts everything she has into her work. Outside of her job, she doesn’t know how to do anything. She has a secretary (Lee Joon-Hyuk) who takes care of pretty much everything for her. Unlike his boss, the secretary is friendly, well-mannered, and considerate of other people. He is a single father, who is also good at parenting and housework.
— AsianWiki
With just the premiere, viewers praised the show for gender swapping a trope that has become cliché.
#lovescout first ep was literally a breath of fresh air, be it the gender reversed roles or the unique profession of head-hunting i absolutely enjoyed it! lonely arrogant girl-boss CEO & calm collected single girl dad off to a rocky start….INJECT IT pic.twitter.com/ZBp1kG9PEo
— 𓍯 (@damibeen) January 4, 2025
female ceo with a painful past and a sunshine male single dad secretary who will heal her wounds? They really did a reverse of this cliche trope and I’m here for it #lovescout pic.twitter.com/R0FHNkUJSo
— 𝑑. (@lunamoon104) January 7, 2025
everytime i'd watch a show with a "lonely workholic male ceo with no colour in his life, no food in his fridge until he meets a female lead who brings colour in his life" plot, i always wanted to see a show where the roles are reversed and #LoveScout is just THAT show for me !! https://t.co/Vxm2PQOo3W
— yeobeen fans mumbai (@hiraikyung) January 5, 2025
Love Scout did not stop with just the gender-reversed roles in providing a fresh take on K-Drama tropes. In Episode 3, the leads also share a cute moment under an umbrella, which has become quite overused in K-Dramas. Yet, in Love Scout, the umbrella used belonged to the male lead’s daughter, as he is also a single father.
other kdrama couples VS #LoveScout couple pic.twitter.com/oEL7meO4BS
— daisy han (@kdramadaisy) January 10, 2025
the pinkfong umbrella !! 🤣😂 #LoveScout pic.twitter.com/nlhrI28jad
— daisy han (@kdramadaisy) January 10, 2025
THE ICONIC PINKFONG UMBRELLA!!! 🩷#LoveScout #LoveScoutEp3 pic.twitter.com/Rltic1jmMf
— daisy han (@kdramadaisy) January 10, 2025
Many found this scene endearing and hilarious. It was also enough to melt the female lead’s frozen heart!
And with that, jiyoon’s frozen heart is finally starting to melt for yoon eunho🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠 they looks so beautiful smiling together like this HUAAA#LoveScout #LoveScoutEp3 pic.twitter.com/I8rpee2OwG
— 🍑 (@peachyblume) January 10, 2025
THANK YOU pinkfong for being the reason why jiyun and eunho laughed together 😭🫶🏻 this scene is everything to meee #lovescout pic.twitter.com/AHnTm2iWxA
— ocha (@segyuis) January 10, 2025
them catching feelings under the pinkfog umbrella 😭😭😭 the production team need a raise salary this is so funny 😭😭😭#LoveScout #LoveScoutEp3 pic.twitter.com/FF4U312FTB
— love scout brainrot (@sprinkleflakes) January 10, 2025
Everyone thanks Pinkfong (the company known for Baby Shark) for contributing to this iconic scene.
ice queen kang jiyun starting to mellow down and show a big smile thanks to eunho’s genuine care and pinkfong umbrella 🫶🏻 #LoveScoutEp3 #LoveScout pic.twitter.com/fozoXVW3JA
— 🌳 (@sonyeoljin) January 10, 2025
What makes this scene even more cute & endearing, is the fact that Eunho didn't feel ashamed of using the pinkfong umbrella 🩷. He was even low-key flexing his daughter Byeol’s umbrella in front of Jiyoon 😂. Zero toxic masculinity detected!#LoveScout #LeeJoonHyuk #HanJiMin https://t.co/m2y0yGEzUy
— just ayiena 💛🩵🌸 (@EpilogueQueen98) January 10, 2025
The K-Drama continues to surprise viewers with twisting cliches.
thought it'd be a cliche scene and a classic ‘i can open the door myself’ lines turned out kang jiyoon came to the wrong car (again) so he just had to stop her from getting in😭#LoveScoutEp3#LoveScout
pic.twitter.com/dbl599DwPO— anna. (@kdramacokr) January 10, 2025
Love Scout airs every Friday and Saturday at 22:00 and is available for international streaming via Rakuten Viki.