We Are All Trying Here (2026) is an intense, cerebral Korean drama that doesn't sell flashy fun, but chooses instead to dig deep into characters' feelings of envy and inferiority in a busy corporate creative film world where everyone seems to be walking faster than normal, in a hurry to cut everyone else off ... so they can come in first place!

Compelling actor Koo Kyo Hwan (DP Seasons 1 and 2, One Day Off, Extraordinary Attorney Woo) and lovely actress Go Yoon Jung (Moving, Light Shop, Law School) play their roles so brilliantly that they make these two warm characters feel so realistic that you want to reach out and give them hugs of comfort through your television screen!

For those viewers who are ready for an experience similar to the masterpiece My Mister from 2018, this series will give you deja vu into a similar corporate world of rough competition and cut-throat rivalry among employees, even extending to their friends and families. It's not very surprising that this phenomena occurs here in this drama since the screenwriter Park Hae Young also wrote My Mister. In some strange ways, as I watched the leading man's incredible performance here in this drama, I kept being reminded of the late actor Lee Sun Kyun's brilliant performance in My Mister all over again, even though in the script one was more outwardly emotional than the other. (RIP, dear actor Lee Sun Kyun, you are still so missed today). At the same time, in some fascinating ways, the lead actress' contemplative character here reminded me of I.U.'s quiet, emotionally complicated character in My Mister.

The Story:

Hwang Dong Man (Koo Kyo Hwan) is an aspiring film director who is the only person in the famous film industry group dubbed "The Eight" who hasn't been successful in his desired field yet. He does have a film project with a script he's been working on for a long time but no film production company seems interested in the script. Hence he is feeling hopeless about ever experiencing success like the other seven people in "The Eight", including his former friend and chief rival Park Gyeong Se (Oh Jung Se, When The Camellia Blooms, Jirisan) who has experienced successful film hits and rather cruelly lords that fact over the struggling Dong Man. When "The Eight" meet to socialize and chat about their film work it's Dong Man who sometimes acts out childishly about his lack of success, trying to obtain sympathy; however few in the group have patience with him. There's certainly creativity there in Dong Man but he is suppressing it by not trusting himself to the extent that he should.

Top to Bottom: Koo Kyo Hwan, Oh Jung Se, Park Hae Joon

Dong Man lives in a run down apartment with his older clinically depressed poet brother Hwang Jin Man (Park Hae Joon, When Life Gives You Tangerines, Tempest, My Mister) and while the two of them love each other they obviously both require plenty of mental therapy to be able to succeed in life. Dong Man is smart enough to try and obtain this therapy and is given a strange digital "emotions watch" by his therapist which, when he wears it, can mysteriously detail his inner feelings to him in fine print on the watch! Could this kind of mystical watch actually help him heal from emotional wounds and assist him to succeed in life and work by identifying his true suppressed emotions?

Then one day Dong Man meets beautiful Byeon Eun A (Go Youn Jung) who works as a producer and script editor for the Choi Film Company, headed by mercurial CEO Choi Dong Hyeon (Choi Won Young, Mystic Pop Up Bar). Eun A is nicknamed The Axe because of her amazing editing skills on screenplays which makes them much more successful when produced.

Go Youn Jung Looks So Much Like Han Hyo Joo Here!
They Should Cast Them As Sisters In A Drama :)

She is an extremely quiet person who keeps a lot of her emotions hidden inside, but as we get to know her we learn she became traumatized as a child by a mother named Oh Jeong Hui (Bae Jong Ok, That Winter The Wind Blows) who abandoned her, and she has held a grudge against the woman even into adulthood.

"Mom" - Bae Jong Ok & "CEO Choi Dong Hyeon" - Choi Won Young

Coincidentally "Mom" works in the film world too, as a producer. When overwhelmed by bitter feelings against "Mom" Eun A starts having nosebleeds with no advanced warning! Could she be yet another person who might benefit from that "emotions watch"? "Mom" seems to have a closer relationship to her other daughter, Jang Mi Ran (Han Sun Hwa), who also works in the film industry, but it is very controlling.

As they keep running into each other, Dong Man and Eun A grow closer and engage in deep conversations about their past hurts and disappointing family histories. These honest conversations inexplicably help them to start falling in love. Then Eun A helps Dong Man out by going over his long held film screenplay and fixing up all its flaws. Soon enough, as some film producers are tempted to read it, simply because Eun A has seen fit to work on it, that script starts developing interest in competing film companies for the first time. Could Dong Man actually finally have his first success in the film world due to Eun A?

Then after rival Park Gyeong Se's newest movie bombs at the box office Dong Man has a chance to lord it over him for a change, letting him know he isn't infallible in the film business after all, and that now he's becoming equalized to him in the industry. Will this new predicament actually make the two former friends become motivated enough to help each other out to succeed, to let forgiveness play a calming effect on their lives?

We also meet Ko Hye Jin (Kang Mal Geum) who is the CEO of Gobak Film and who is married to Park Gyeong Se. She obviously cares for him but it's obvious too that the physical passion is lacking in their marriage. Somewhat in opposition to her husband, she tries to help Dong Man succeed in the film business, and even listens patiently to his occasional rants about his failures. Her husband becomes jealous of the attention she is paying to Dong Man. She gives him the option of divorce -- will he take her up on it?

Because of all the profound character growth we witness in this series it's obvious that the more positive English title We Are All Trying Here is more appropriate than the full literal Korean title Everyone Is Fighting Against Their Own Worthlessness. In the drama there is particularly a very sharp contrast in what the two main characters were like before they found each other, and what they became once they found each other. The transition was very sweet and pleasant to watch.

Probably the only improvement I think the series would have benefited from is if its very slow pace, particularly in the beginning of the story, had been made smoother and quicker. I became impatient at first at how choppy the scenes seemed to be, gravitating from one character to another in a way that caused me to have some trouble understanding where they were coming from emotionally and morally. As the drama progressed, however, that slower style did improve and my understanding of the characters also improved. To be fair that was part of its overall theme: how many emotions the characters were hiding, from themselves and others. That's where the oddball digital watch that told us their true feelings came in handy ... and definitely made me smile. I wondered how I would fare with such a digital watch: "Jill, you're feeling IMPATIENT!" was what I would no doubt have the watch say to me if I was wearing it at the beginning of this drama! LOL! :)

Definitely check out the unique We Are All Trying Here on Netflix and see if it's your cuppa tea. It ended up being mine. I am still missing the characters after finishing it. Enjoy!

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