A Business Proposal (2022)

Solid romantic comedy to watch for relationship vibes

TLDR: Fun romcom with some good chemistry and hilarious moments. If you read the manhwa and liked it this is definitely worth giving a watch

Disclaimer: average for me is a 5 so anything above that is pretty good to excellent and everything below that is pretty bad to horrendous. I am not into film making so I can name a total of 0 techniques that go into making a good TV show. I can only comment on how much I enjoyed certain aspects of a show relative to ones I've watched in the past

Overall: I did not think I would like this as much as I did. I read the manhwa and loved it so my expectations were already pretty high. I didn't pick it up initially because I saw the initial date scene in a trailer a few years ago and thought it was kinda cringe, but dang the characters grew on me. They serve as a solid backbone to an otherwise simplistic story that made me enjoy almost every moment of screen time.

Story: Nothing super special about the story. Pretty much your run of the mill CEO/employee contract relationship with misunderstandings thrown in. However, it does everything well with good pacing and very little excess fluff. It kept me interested all the way through despite already knowing what happens.

This is kind of a big thing but you do have to buy into the plot in order to enjoy the show otherwise you're just gonna be thinking wtf most of the time. Light spoilers but you just have to accept that the FL looks completely different to every other character in the show when she is in her Geum Hi persona (in the manhwa she had a pink wig so it made more sense). She just stops hiding her face at some point and it didn't make a difference so they kind of just gave up on the concept but its something I was willing to overlook.

I think it did suffer from the random breakup 2/3 slump thing that a lot of dramas have (right after the leads get together there is always some random BS that pops up that forces them to break up again even though they both know they like each other so we can get the dramatic climax 2 episodes before the show ends). It wasn't super bad in this show but it was still there for both couples and kind of nonsensical. For the main couple it was the classic parents don't approve/class thing and for the second couple it was the classic miscommunication so pretty standard cliches that I wish would go away. Some of the cuts are also funny/disjointed af depending on if you're a glass half full or glass half empty kinda person, slight spoiler but how does she end up in the car while running on the cross walk... I still cannot figure that out.

Characters/acting: Solid performances across the board. I liked the FL a lot more than I thought I would seeing some of her scenes out of context. She really grew on me and gave a charm to the role that made me like the drama more than the manhwa by the end. She could shift fluidly between the silly over the top drunk girl and heartwarming serious business girl all while still being the same character. The character was portrayed well and I liked the adaptation they chose to go with. The ML was good in the role and I was a huge fan of the character. Most CEOs in these kinds of dramas are objectively not good people but viewers can turn a blind eye because they're hot af and are given enough emotional/backstory scenes to stay invested. But I'm happy to say the ML here is actually a decent human being. He makes mistakes but apologizes and has a solid moral compass that he sticks to throughout the show. Their chemistry is really good and I loved their dynamic throughout the show even when they weren't a couple.

The second couple was probably my favorite relationship wise. They sort of serve as the proxy to give the audience some bf/gf screen time while the main couple is still working things out and I was all for it. Aside from their aforementioned random misunderstanding they were solid throughout the show and had fantastic chemistry. I loved the second FL both in her relationship and in her friendship with Ha Ri. Their back and forth was amazing to watch and the drunk scene is something to behold. The second ML was super charming and bounced off well with the other 3 main characters.

Side characters: All were pretty solid. Standout for me was drunk Ms. Kim. I low key wish they made her an alcoholic because for whatever reason that actress made every line hilarious when her character was wasted. I'm actually laughing just thinking about it lol. The rest of the development team was great. They all played their roles well as the comedic peanut gallery watching everything unfold alongside the viewers.

I'm sort of conflicted on Min Woo because he was way more ick than I remember him being in the manhwa and pretty much never gave off any impression of being a viable number 2 to the love triangle that may or may not have existed. He was just not a good person and I'm not sure if that's how it was in the manhwa or if they just wanted to take the character in that direction but I do wish the character was a little more likeable. (Nothing against the actor or anything as I'm sure the decision wasn't his and he did a good job of bringing the character to life seeing how much he turned me off, just wish he was given a more likeable character to channel his talent through)

The grandfather had a tough role to play as the over the top supportive yet stern father figure and I thought the actor did well. He was less comedic than in the manhwa but overall his character worked fine. I thought the mom was a little over the top at times but other than that not too much to say about the rest of the side characters.

Music: Not much to say, I watch at 1.5x speed mostly so can't really comment.

Rewatch: I can see myself revisiting this but wouldn't be at the top of the list. I will be rewatching drunk Ms. Kim tho lol

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