K-Drama rewind, Touch Your Heart: Lee Dong-wook and Yoo In-na's hidden gem in the office romance genre
A K-drama office romance is like ordering comfort food—you know exactly what you're getting, with perhaps a dash of unexpected spice, like the sudden return of an estranged mother who disapproves of the lead’s new love. You settle in, savour the familiar beats, the enemies-to-lovers tropes and love confessions in the rain, and maybe even top it off with a warm cup of coffee, which in K-Drama terms, is usually the wedding. The shows deliver most of the time, and even if you don’t remember the rest of the story, you’ll probably say, “I just remember it for the leads chemistry…”, well, as it was intended.
And so in a sea of office romances, from the fluffy What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, sassy Business Proposal, to the latest fresh addition, Love Scout, there’s one underrated gem that follows all the tropes, but is wholesome and heartwarming. Touch Your Heart stars Lee Dong-wook and Yoo In-na, who compensated fans for their bittersweet ending in Guardian: Lonely and Great God.
Peppered with Roman Holiday references, Touch Your Heart follows Kwon Jung-rok (Dong-wook), a reserved, taciturn lawyer, whose world is upended by the arrival of Yoo In-na’s bubbly Oh Jin-Shim, an actress. To rebuild her tarnished reputation after a scandal, she lands an opportunity to star in a legal drama—but first, she needs firsthand experience working at a law firm, placing her under Jung-rok’s reluctant mentorship.
So, does it check the essential romance drama boxes? Boss and employee slow-burn romance? Absolutely. Heroics and a damsel needing saving? Naturally—what’s a comfort show without it? A dramatic 'Stay away from my girl' moment? Of course. Need an amusement park scene where the lead wins his lover a giant stuffed hedgehog? Oh, bring it on. And keep bringing it, thank you very much. Cue the heartbreak at the usual episode 14, when our hero, channeling Roman Holiday’s bittersweet ethos, tries to set her free. Nevertheless, she marches right back, armed with a lunchbox. Even the high-stakes legal drama gets neatly wrapped up. No damage done, just a little extra seasoning on the romance.
There’s a gentle sweetness around the show generally, be it the characters, storytelling and music. It earnestly wants to tell a love story without grand fanfare, drama or excessive childhood background trauma to keep it running, a form of narrative that many K-Dramas tend to follow. And it works. Perhaps the magic comes from Lee Dong-wook and Yoo In-na, who write a love story through sticky notes, packed lunches, stolen glances, and quiet mornings spent cooking for each other.
The emotionally charged moments are poignant in their subtlety, such as Jung-rok breaking down at the bus stop after a day of determinedly holding it together. Dong-wook’s heartbreak shows in his pallid expressions, the slight shaking of his hands, and a form of expressionlessness that explicitly conveys a man who is just existing. To match this, Yoo In-na’s red eyes and stifled sobs add to the melancholy atmosphere too.
Touch Your Heart follows its title resolutely: It does move your heart with its love, silliness, seriousness and just a lot of wholesomeness.
