Kdrama Review: A Business Proposal

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Main Genre: Comedy, Romance

This kdrama got tons of hype and for good reason. I’m also in my rom-com era and this kdrama really hit the spot. It was witty, funny, and sweet. 

Continue reading for more details.

Synopsis:

A romantic comedy about a single woman who goes on a blind date with the CEO of her company while hiding her identity. Kang Tae Moo (Ahn Hyo Seop) is a third-generation chaebol who has good looks, a genius mind, and impressive business skills. He is a workaholic who loves work more than himself and hates lies more than anything.

Review:

Shin Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong) found herself on a blind date with the president of her company, Kang Tae-moo as a favor to help her friend. Worst part, he wants to marry her even after she tries to act like the type of woman men hate. Kang Tae-moo wasn’t interested in dating or marriage, but his grandfather insists he goes on blind dates with elite, single women to find love and get married quickly. Kang Tae-moo, amongst other things, hates wasting his time, so he decides he’ll marry the first woman he goes on the blind date with, which is his undercover employee Shin Ha-ri. 

Kang Tae-moo is quite the workaholic, but he develops nicely throughout the show, becoming more caring towards Shin Ha-ri and actually choosing her and spending time with her over work. He would even start to go out of his way to change his schedule for her, which was so sweet because he was shown to be so against doing those things. He also seemed colder on the outside but caring on the inside, especially towards his family.

Shin Ha-ri was so frustrating at times when she was being so oblivious! She was two COMPLETELY different people between Shin Guem-hui (her undercover self) and Shin Ha-ri. Though it’s fair because Kang Tae-moo is the rich and handsome president of her multi-millionaire (billionaire maybe?) company, being in denial that he’s talking to her for any reason other than work seems like the relevant emotion to feel. Though, one thing I really loved about her was how she stood up for herself because she knew what she deserved and herself worth. Most heroines aren’t shown to do that, or if they do, they’re unsuccessful in getting through to the other person. In general, her character was caring and hardworking and a wonderful character that was fun to watch.

Shin Ha-ri’s friend, Jin Young-seo (Seol In-ah), doesn’t want an arranged marriage but, rather, she wants to find love. She falls in love at first sight with Cha Sung-hoon (Kim Min-gue), the secretary of Kang Tae-moo (the person she was supposed to go on the blind date with). Obviously, this makes things awkward because Cha Sung-hoon is really loyal and caring towards Kang Tae-moo. 

I loved both of the couples in this show, they were both cute and funny. They also both had great chemistry. Kang Tae-moo and Shin Ha-ri were so enjoyable to watch. Ahn Hyo-seop played the role SO WELL! The emotion in his eyes were clearly seen and his little actions while trying to hide his feelings for Shin Ha-ri were so perfect. Just watching these two was fun as Kang Tae-moo was trying so hard and Shin Ha-ri was completely denying it and rejecting his very obvious feelings. 

Jin Young-seo was more on the emotional side. She was super friendly and also really petty. Cha Sung-hoon was very straightforward and logical and that ended up causing Jin Young-seo to get offended at times. They had the type of relationship where she would get mad quite easily and Cha Sung-hoon would try to make it up to her and say sorry to her for things that honestly wasn’t his fault. Though, at the same time, there were times where Jin Young-seo was right about some things that Cha Sung-hoon didn’t realize. They were the more adorable couple from the two, that’s for sure. 

Also, Shin Ha-ri and Jin Young-seo’s friendship was seriously the best thing ever. They were so comfortable with each other and had each other’s back. The way Jin Young-seo was like a second daughter in Shin Ha-ri’s family was so sweet. Her parents loved Jin Young-seo so much, it was adorable! Even though Shin Ha-ri got into this whole mess and had a tough situation for a while after going on that blind date for her friend, Jin Young-seo had her back and helped her keep her identity a secret as best as she could. And in the end, it worked out for the both of them. 

The plot of the show was at a pretty good pace for most of the show. It did get a bit repetitive and a little boring (also frustrating) towards the middle after some major events happened, but it wasn’t super slow. Kang Tae-moo kept me going (lol). The last episode, especially, did seem quite cramped and just felt as if they were trying to wrap the show up as easily as possible. I did like the ending, but I wish they expanded on it a bit more. I would've loved to see more details for the things that occurred in the episode, but the ending was still great. The way they incorporated the tv show, “Be Strong, Geum-Hui”, was a fabulous touch. The way the show paralleled the undercover Shin Geum-Hui’s life was entertaining and ironic due to Kang Tae-moo’s grandfather's reaction to the show. This really added more to the show, and it was a great idea!

Overall, this was an enjoyable romcom which had a good mixture of romance and comedy. It was delightful and will surely give you a good laugh multiple times throughout the show. I think that this show is worth all the hype it got and if you haven’t watched it already, you should definitely try it out!

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