Filing for Love Review
This is just one of those dramas where performance is great, but you end up wanting more from the story. For example, they could have used Kim Jae Uck more...
But what are your thoughts on "Filing for Love"?
The director has worked on a lot of romance dramas, but it's always hit or miss for me. Her directing is not bad, and "Find Me in Your Memory" shows that perfectly with its amazing scenography; however, something is still missing in some of her other dramas.
And it was the same with this drama...
The screenwriter and original creator worked on"Crash Course in Romance", which did not leave me with the greatest impression, and I remember finding some parts a bit slow. So I wondered how this drama would go.
"Filing for Love" has a quicker pace, with some moments slowing down while others flew by without much thought. From both the viewer's and the writer's perspectives.
It did not have much balance, and it threw me off at moments, which you'll see more as I write about the storyline.
Directed: 7/10
Synopsis:
Gi Jun, once the ace of the internal audit team, is now stuck handling petty office scandals—all thanks to his manager, In A. One day, he receives an anonymous tip: In A is involved in an inappropriate relationship at work. Digging into her secret for revenge, Gi Jun instead finds himself drawn to her. And as In A shares her secret with him, she begins to wonder whether Gi Jun might be the one person who can help her overcome her dark past and finally find happiness. An office romance quietly blossoms within the very duty meant to chase down office affairs and corruption. (MyDramaList)
Shin Hae Sun's performance is the biggest reason why I kept watching the drama.
She was fun to watch as Ju In A, and had great chemistry with Gong Myung. It was visible that they had fun filming together.
Their romance scenes and kisses were definitely top-notch.
While the episodes had a case-by-case scenario, the drama was quite amusing to watch. This was a great choice for us to get to know the leads and see how they get closer (from disliking to loving each other).
However, after that, we got more into company politics, and it just wasn't good.
This aspect of the drama wasn't much developed and wasn't interesting to follow, as the leads were more like background characters for this part.
So while In A and Gi Jun were developing, we get this annoying side quest that suddenly became main.
It would have been nice to see more scenes with Ju In A and her father. She doesn't need to forgive him or anything, but it could have gone somewhere, as his introduction was a bit dramatic.
The other side characters weren't that strong of a suit here either. Team 3 was barely shown when they all have such distinctive and nice personalities. Even the second male lead is not that interesting, and we're supposed to feel some kind of thing for him.
"Filing for Love" has potential to be a great drama, but some of the parts were disappointing to say the least.
Time to get into the spoilers part of the review...
Overall 7.5/10
The drama starts out quite simply, introducing us to characters and the reason why No Gi Jun hates Ju In A, as she comes to work in this office. This was quite fun to watch as we had a chance to see how Team 3 works, and this was a great way to get the mains to get to know each other.
A good way for No Gi Jun to get a chance to see a more vulnerable side of In A, and it helps him to realise that she's just a human.
We also get some entertaining side stories of people cheating and taking the company's money in different ways. However, as soon as that stopped, the drama took a political turn.
Jeon Jae Yeol's brother is back and is trying to get the company.
Note that this has nothing to do with the leads, and is mostly a plot device to have some growth for the second lead. It wouldn't have been that bad if the main leads were more involved or if they made us care more about Jeon Jae Yeol, but nothing like that happened.
The ending of this plotline was also very rushed. We see everything going down, people finally fighting back, all three of our main characters come back to the office to sort out this mess, for everything to end in like 3 minutes.
There was no climax or interesting conclusion.
First of all, this is a romance drama, not company politics, so it's understandable that they wouldn't give it as much time, but it would have been way better if we had stuck with episodic cases.
Again, this was very possible as Ju In A and No Gi Jun barely had anything to do with it all.
The romance is the biggest plot of "Filing for Love", and they did quite well with this. The kiss scene happened really quickly, so it got me scared for a second about what we are planning to do for the rest of the series, but it was nice overall.
It slows down at all correct moments while maintaining their personalities well.
Storyline: 7.5/10
Ju In A is definitely the most interesting character out of all of them. She has an interesting backstory, and the way her personality formed was amazing to see. The way she also knows when to admit that she's wrong and show her vulnerable parts was the greatest part of the drama.
No Gi Jun was also good with his 3 older sisters looking out for him.
He could be very clingy at times, but I liked that he still stood up for himself whenever it really mattered. For example, the logs from an audit that Ju In A deleted or a more simple time when they were talking about marriage. It was refreshing to see a male lead who is straightforward with his feelings and good.
Usually, when we have such a strong female personality, the man becomes very bland, and I cannot say this about Gi Jun.
It was scary to see Kim Jae Uck listed as a second male lead, but I had no feelings towards him. His character was always just there, and even their backstory did not really do anything for me. As sexy as Kim Jae Uck is, I couldn't see him as anything more than just a pathetic character.
He had his happy ending, but even if he was not there, I wouldn't care.
Team 3 had some funny moments, especially when they tried to cover up In A and Gi Jun's relationship. Even their team dinners were fun to watch.
But apart from this comedic relief, there was nothing going on for the characters. There was no office romance, there were no background stories of the characters, and even when we got to know more about the team lead, after the scandal he and his family were forgotten.
Other characters also did not leave me with a lasting impression.
Characters: 5/10
Acting:
The only reason why I kept watching this drama after the first episode was Shin Hae Sun and her performance. She was great as Ju In A to the point where it's hard to see anyone else playing this character.
Gong Myoung had great chemistry with Shin Hae Sun, and amazing timing with comedy and more emotional scenes. I really enjoyed watching him on screen.
The other actors also did a great job; however, I feel like for some of the actors this drama was a bit of a waste of time. Their characters were not developed properly, and they did not have their time to shine.
But my favourites were definitely Audit Team 3, and it was nice to see upcoming faces in the drama like Sim Su Bin and Lee Kwang Hee.
Acting: 9/10
This has some really nice songs, even if I wouldn't associate some songs with this drama, like "Home" by Alexander Stewart.
It was also really nice to see Gong Myoung's brother Doyoung making an OST for the drama. As always, his voice is really beautiful, but I wouldn't say that it was very memorable for me.
Kim Jae Min's "Clue" is definitely that one song that would remind me of this drama. However, my favourites are Andrew Choi ft Microdot "Royal Flush" and Sole "Lucid Dream". They fit well in the drama and had such a nice vibe to them.
Music: 8/10
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