Business Proposal (Review)
Business Proposal was one of the most popular K-Dramas on Netflix in 2022 (next to Extraordinary Attorney Woo). It is mostly a typical romcom, so I am not entirely sure what’s behind its success on that streaming platform. Like many K-Drama romcoms, it’s lighthearted and heartwarming, so it is definitely a good show to watch, although it doesn’t stand out among other dramas in that genre.
The premise of Business Proposal is that Kang Tae-moo (Ahn Hyo-seop), a handsome but extremely busy CEO of Go Food, has a number of blind dates set up by his grandfather, chairman Kang Da-goo (Lee Deok-hwa), with ladies of good families. His grandfather wants him to marry as soon as possible, preferably in a marriage which would also benefit their company. After the first date though, Kang Tae-moo decides he’ll marry the woman he met on his first date, since it will save him a lot of time.
His first date is Jin Young-seo (Seol In-ah), a daughter of a chairman from another chaebol. However, Jin Young-seo didn’t want to go for a date set up by his father, with whom she has a rocky relationship. She sent her closest friend instead to pretend to be her: Shin Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong). The task of Shin Ha-ri (pretending to be Jin Young-seo) is to do everything to discourage Kang Tae-moo from marrying Young-seo. In fact, Shin Ha-ri is a researcher working for Go Food company, so unbeknownst to Kang Tae-moo, she is his employee.
That first date spurs the avalanche of events which eventually leads to the romance between Ha-ri and Tae-moo. Frankly, the first date is the most interesting event in the series. Ha-ri pretending to be Young-seo is completely transformed for that date. She poses as an independent and daring woman, wears designer and revealing clothes, as well as heavy make-up; she is aware of her femininity and good looks, and even behaves as a promiscuous woman. During their date she virtually takes the agency from Tae-moo, inverting the stereotypical date scheme from K-Dramas and breaking the typical Korean society norms. As I mentioned above, all that effort doesn’t matter for Kang Tae-moo: he still intends to continue dating Ha-ri (who he thinks to be Young-seo), and eventually marry her. While he justifies that by claiming that he doesn’t want to waste time on other dates, it is clear that he is infatuated with Shin Ha-ri (or at least the transformed version of her).
The secondary arc revolves around the romance of Jin Young-seo (real Young-seo this time) with Cha Sung-hoon (Kim Min-kyu), Tae-moo’s secretary and close friend. This arc is much more stereotypical, but full of funny moments. (Interestingly enough, in 2023 Kim Min-kyu will lead his own, highly awaited show, The Heavenly Idol).
(Light spoilers ahead)
From there a typical comedy of errors ensues with the usual trope of multiple/false identities found in K-Dramas. After some time, Tae-moo learns that his date is not a real Young-seo, so Shin Ha-ri makes up yet another false identity. Eventually Tae-moo discovers that too, learning that his date is Shin Ha-ri, his employee. Since, obviously, dating an employee is improper, and (perhaps more important for his grandfather) Ha-ri doesn’t belong to a wealthy family, this causes a big crisis in their relationship. Ha-ri sets up to overcome these obstacles though. The ending of the show is obviously easy to predict.
To be honest I was uncomfortable with several choices made by the show. This might have resulted from the difference between Western and Korean cultures. Yet, the controversial portrayal of women in K-Dramas is often discussed by YouTube channels and other media. The problem is apparent from the first date: the underlying assumption is that men prefer submissive and modest women, while independent and daring women are not preferable. Despite that, as I already mentioned, the inverted date situation was one of the most interesting things in the show. Sadly, in the course of the series Shin Ha-ri slowly abandons all pretense, returning to her “typical” look and regular behavior (meaning, modest and unassuming), and the show becomes a usual romcom.
The romance at the workplace is yet another problem. The show arranges everything in this way so it seems the blame is on Shin Ha-ri: she was hiding her real identity, so Kang Tae-moo couldn’t have known that she was his employee. However, when he learns about that, instead of clearing the situation or breaking up the relationship, he takes advantage of his position and burdens Ha-ri with overwhelming work in a sort of retaliation scheme. This is dangerously close to something what Western audiences would describe as harassing or bullying at work. To be clear, Tae-moo holds the position of power in this relationship, regardless of Ha-ri previously being dishonest or not, he is her employer and makes use of this inequal status. While the show clearly intended for the whole retaliation sequence to be funny or comedic, it does not come off this way for the Western audiences.
In general, Business Proposal is an amusing and lighthearted romantic comedy, as well as fun to watch. Apart from the initial setup it doesn’t rise beyond typical tropes of the genre though. Also, it’s not free of some problems.
Business Proposal on Wikipedia and MyDramaList
