REVIEW: ‘Love Scout’ Episode 12

Love Scout Episode 12 takes its time wrapping up loose ends, with some storylines landing stronger than others. While most storylines found their end, the questions that followed had me wondering whether or not storylines should have been presented at all. At the heart of the series, though, is Kang Ji-yun (Han Ji-min) and Yu Eun-ho (Lee Joon-hyuk), and their romance is all that could be dreamed of.

Love Scout Episode 12 begins shortly after Ji-yun’s decision to step down as CEO of Peoplez. The news comes as a surprise to literally everyone, with the exception of Eun-ho. Manager Kim Young-soo (Heo Dong-won) looks to Eun-ho for answers, with Lee Kwang-hee (Ko Gun-han) pointing out that they had all the evidence to go after Kim Hye-jin (Park Bo-kyung). It isn’t until Eun-ho explains Ji-yun’s thoughts to the staff that it really sinks in the sacrifice she’s making and how far she’s come as a boss.

From beginning to end, Ji-yun has undergone a journey that’s impacted her personally and professionally. In Love Scout Episodes 1-2, she was not the greatest boss. Ji-yun frequently forgot the names of employees, viewing that information as unimportant in pursuit of her job. It could be argued that she viewed them as expendable. Through her time with Eun-ho, she’s become more empathetic. She’s gone to bat for her employees and has slowly lost the guard she’s often kept up around them.

That makes the employees’ final actions post-acquisition so much more powerful. As Ji-yun signs away the company and packs up the office, she fully expects Hye-jin to take care of her employees. Hye-jin’s smugness is annoyingly snotty, making her discovery of the now-empty Peoplez office all the more satisfying. When she’s greeted with several resignation letters waiting for her on the CEO’s desk, it proves how wrong Hye-jin is. Peoplez is only as good as its CEO; without Ji-yun, the employees don’t want anything to do it.

Love Scout Episode 12 is a culmination of Eun-ho’s influence on Ji-yun.

Those who’ve been dying to see Hye-jin face ramifications will be pleased to see she gets them in Love Scout Episode 12. It all happens so fast, and after spending a lot of time on the build-up, it arguably ends too quickly. But that may be the point. In the final confrontation between Hye-jin and Ji-yun at the police station, when all the evidence comes back to incriminate Hye-jin, the difference between the women is night and day. Hye-jin lashes out, her hatred ruling her. But Ji-yun is just ready to move on. She’s done letting hate and resentment guide her. And move on, she does.

As Ji-yun moves on, so does the rest story, as the end of Hye-jin’s story arc means the action is winding down. Post-resignation, Ji-yun finally allows herself to relax with hilarious results. A particularly cute moment is when Eun-ho comes over to wake her up and she refuses to get out of bed. With no work to be done, she’d much rather be a lump. It’s highly relatable. Fortunately, Eun-ho has other plans, and they involve cute date moments.

While Eun-ho and Ji-yun are taking their time to relax,  Jung Su-hyeon (Kim Yoon-hye) spends the bulk of Love Scout Episode 12 finding his place in life. First, by trying to leverage his importance to his father,  Oh Chul-young (Jo Seung-yeon), in order to save Peoplez, but the company is beyond saving. From there, he’s trying to figure out the next steps in his career and his love life. An adorably spooky date in a haunted house between him and Woo Jeong-hoon (Kim Do-hoon) is a huge step forward, but the will they/won’t they of it all still lingers.

It isn’t until they are bullied by a fortune teller in a park that they come to terms with their feelings. It’s well-earned, and while there are other parts of Su-hyeon’s life still up in the air, it’s nice to see one component of his life making sense. His relationship with his father is one of those tenuous areas, with his father only serving an olive branch between the two when he hears some much-needed wisdom from his daughter-in-law. It’s a shame we didn’t get to spend more time exploring Chul-young. There are still some questions that linger, but what we get is fine.

Where do things stand by the end of Love Episode 12? New beginnings emerge!

Returning to Ji-yun and Eun-ho, there’s the next phase of their life to figure out. Much like any workaholic, it’s not long before Ji-yun starts investing in a new business, one that doesn’t tie her to any investors. Her first candidate? Eun-ho. It’s another adorable moment when she informally fires him and immediately links him up to a job at another company. While it shakes Eun-ho, he knows that it is the highest compliment from her that he’s the only candidate for the job offer.

Upon being confirmed for the job, Ji-yun teams up with Byeol (Ki So-yu) to surprise Eun-ho with a party. Byeol becoming Ji-yun’s partner-in-crime turns out to be the cutest development of Love Scout Episode 12. This partnership goes even further when Byeol proposes a new name for Ji-yun’s company – ‘We.’ As the camera pans around to all of Ji-yun’s former employees, it’s a moment that further cements what she’s learned. There’s no I in team. Thus, We Company is born.

Jumping forward in time, Love Scout Episode 12 shows us where all of our characters, except Hye-jin, are now. We Company is thriving, with familiar faces keeping things afloat. Ji-yun is no longer separated from her employees. Her desk is right alongside them, further equalizing the dynamic between boss and employees. Eun-ho is also thriving at his job and likes to make things difficult for Ji-yun if only to engage in professional flirting.

Most surprising is the revisitation of the child conversation between Lee Kang-suk (Lee Jae-woo) and Seo Mi-ae (Lee Sang-hee). It harks back to a conversation Kang-suk had with Eun-ho in a previous episode and was never really touched upon again. It’s clear in Love Scout Episode 12 that it was important enough to address, but it does bring up the question of whether or not it was worth revisiting in the first place. Either way, it was a surprise to see pop up.

Love Scout Episode 12 wraps things up nicely, with Ji-yun happily running over to Eun-ho in the episode’s final moments. Seeing how far the two have come, particularly Ji-yun in her journey, is the biggest reward the finale episode could give. By allowing ourselves to let people in, so many good things can happen. But it is a process that requires the right partner by your side. Love Scout proves that, and the rewards are so worth it. Outside of a couple of plot bits that raise questions, it’s a fitting end.

Love Scout Episode 12 and the rest of Love Scout are streaming on Netflix in select regions and on Viki.