Yes I am back, after a long break due to not being that intrigued by any Korean dramas that were on the docket. So that in and of itself should give an indication of how much I enjoyed Business Proposal!
9/10 – Sometimes you just need a hilarious light-hearted comedy, adorable and whacky romance, and sweet and sincere #friendshipgoals. This story hit all these notes quite perfectly, and basically had me in a grin with “heart-eyes” throughout. No toxicity, no hair-pulling drama, no heart-break. Just good vibes, y’all. And extremely delicious-looking food.
[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]
The plot follows a hard-working and bubbly cog in the corporate wheel of Korea’s packaged food and restaurant industry, Shin Ha-ri. She is a commercial food researcher (which, side-note, it makes total sense that such a career exists, but I just never thought about it?? But yeah, I guess people need to develop recipes and formulas that taste good and are also profitable lol), and basically loves her job. Her best friend in the world is the daughter of a big conglomerate, the Marine Group, Jin Young-seo, who I also loved sooo much (more on that later). Young-seo convinces Ha-ri to be her stand-in for a blind date, where she is tasked with being a crazy and “undesirable” as possible to scare away unwanted suitors. But as it is with Korean dramas, you guessed it. Her boss, the president and heir of her company, is the blind date. LOLOL.
A lot of what made this show stand out had to do with a well-written story combined with likable characters. The story itself was nothing I hadn’t seen before. There’s a male lead who’s a chaebol, rich, somewhat arrogant, successful, and good at everything. There’s a down-to-earth female lead who is sweetly innocent and finds herself somehow entangled with the male lead. We go into the drama pretty knowing how it will end. But the journey was so enjoyable because I loved the characters so much!
Shin Ha-ri was definitely my highlight in this drama, which is really rare because I tend to find the male lead much more interesting (and also more swoon-worthy lol). She really won the audience over just as she won over our male lead. Kim Se-jeong was honestly cast perfectly!! Her smiley bright-eyed demeanor fit the character flawlessly. Ha-ri was just so tenacious and sincere, and genuine! Yes she was sweet, clumsy, and quirky, as our female leads often are, but I think what made her stand apart was that her responses to the crazy and dramatic events of the story were always so…realistic? She was definitely dramatic (in the most hilarious and heartfelt way), but the type of drama she brought to the story was never unnecessary or negative, and never created animosity between characters. Another thing I really enjoyed about Shin Ha-ri was that even though she was portrayed as a lowly office worker from a humble background, she had healthy amounts of self-confidence balanced with realistic insecurities. She was proud of her work and contributions to her company, she knew her worth, and she was bold enough to stand up for herself when needed. She had hints of the quintessential “damsel in distress” qualities, but she was never pushed around or became a doormat for others to stomp on. She exhibited a lot of meekness, which is different from weakness. She often CHOSE not to retaliate, or take vengeance, not because she couldn’t, or felt that she didn’t deserve justice, but rather because she just was not vindictive and was able to forgive and move on like the unproblematic queen she is.
Now let’s talk about our king, the president of Go Food corporation, the tall, immaculate, borderline perfect Kang Tae-moo. I grew to love his character more and more as the series progressed. While he was portrayed as being cocky and somewhat spoiled, the show did a really good job of having those characteristics simply complement his stronger traits, so that he never comes off as being snooty and unlikable. Ahn Hyo-seop gave an amazing performance that I’m sure captured the hearts of many, heh heh. He’s one of those actors I’ve never given a second thought to, but the more I watched this drama, the more I grew to appreciate his looks and level of acting. First and foremost, Kang Tae-moo is portrayed as being incredibly hard-working, task-oriented, focused, and passionate about food and bringing high-quality products to the consumer. He’s not a playboy, he doesn’t abuse his position or power, and he seems fair and responsible. Because he works so hard and is so smart, he succeeds, and as a result, is somewhat arrogant and confident. But he’s not overly-confident, if you know what I mean. Like, the man has many reasons to flex, can we really blame him? His pure focus on his work is actually what sets the story into full motion, because he decides that instead of going on the countless blind dates his grandfather sets up, he will just marry the first girl he meets, to save time and energy. And lo and behold, who could that be I wonder, lol.
The drama progresses fairly typically in the style of Korean rom-com “fake relationship turns into real relationship when both parties catches feelings”, and I loved it, lol. Like I said, nothing super unique or surprising, but the characters were just so darn cute and lovable!! I adored Tae-moo’s earnest pursuit of Ha-ri. It seemed so uncharacteristic of him, because he is shown to be a very pragmatic workaholic, but then you realize it actually fits his character perfectly. Whatever he wants to achieve in life, that goal becomes his focus and fixation, and he works his ass off with full commitment, with almost the eagerness of a child. It was honestly ridiculously wholesome, I was uwu-ing so much lol. When that man smiles at Ha-ri with such joy and appreciation, I melt. And omg the humour. Ha-ri is so whacky and Tae-moo is more stoic, but because he loves her so much, he is willing to give up his dignity, endure a lot of unceremonious second-hand embarrassment, and deal with the stresses of hiding a workplace relationship all for the sake of winning Ha-ri over. And it’s amazing, lol. I don’t know what it is about watching a very polished respectable man be put into derpy situations, but it’s just too funny to me, ahha.
I also was really relieved that there was no “guy/girl decides to be a heroic idiot and initiate a break-up for the other person’s ‘good'” troupe. I know sometimes it works, but honestly, a lot of times it feels contrived, or just there to increase the feels and drama. There was none of that here. Once the main couple was official, they committed. Family disapproval, workplace hardships, rumours, personal insecurities, they all reared their ugly heads, but none of them could make Ha-ri or Tae-moo give up on each other, which was great to see. Never once was a break-up on the table for them, and I was there for it.
I also loved the strong female-female bond between Ha-ri and her bestie, Jin Young-seo, and thank God it was not tainted by “liking the same guy” or some other kind of catty competition or misunderstanding. They stood by each other unwaveringly, were so funny together, and were total FRIENDSHIP GOALS.
Ultimately, the story itself was light-hearted and charming, if a bit predictable and having a decent number of troupes. But the characters were super lovable and charismatic, and it really strengthened the experience for me. My only regret is that I watched this before I started Twenty-five Twenty-one…THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE PERFECT REMEDY FOR THE PAIN.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and happy watching!!
Thought Bubbles 