Pretendente Surpresa (2022)

My enlightenment on plain old romcom

I started off this series because of the promising cast and the random cuts of them on youtube. The story had the usual contract dating troupe which I usually find entertaining, so I decided to give it a go. If you’re looking for a light hearted, kind of a no-brainer drama to binge, I think you would have found a pretty decent piece.

However, it was this particular series that made me realised, I don’t only want to pursue that feel-good moment you get from watching drama but also seek the possible moral stories that could be behind it. Everyone has their own cup of tea, in my case, it was this particular cup that made me more aware of what exactly I looked for in mine.

This drama is loaded with a great cast, praised for their acting in many other series, which increased the anticipation for this show. Up till episode 9, which I left off, I was following it weekly. Initially, I found the story pretty easy-going, and it was really quite comedic honestly. The grandpa was my favourite character, being relatable in how he gets so invested in the dramas he watch and just being a great source of comedic relief. The acting was great, not much to be said with this group of renown actors, they carried out their roles well. Retrospectively, it was the story itself that felt rather lacklustre that led to the dropping of the series.

It was when the relationships for both couple started blooming, I begin to question and reflect on how I felt about the story-telling thus far. These are my thoughts and feelings looking back after watching the series some time ago. I will be listing some points of the show that bugged and rubbed me in the wrong way, which could also just be me over-analysing but let’s dive in.

To begin with, this one genuinely didn’t sit well with me, the gathering with people they didn’t seem to like enough to be honest about their current romantic status and the weird meeting at the hotel. Was it simply a plot device to move the story forward, allowing Hari the opportunity to flaunt her rich fake boyfriend? So that Taemoo can show-off on behalf Hari, letting those “friends” be so utterly impressed and envious? Those people weren’t even being kind/nice towards Hari! It can be argued that he was standing up for his girl, to make sure she doesn’t get embarrassed. But what sort of message is the writer enforcing? One, she didn’t need another person to prove what she’s worth, especially not to those insignificant AND mean people. Two, the idea of what a “good” partner is being portrayed seems to be rather shallow; be rich, handsome and showy in front of others.

Next, I mainly stayed on till ep9 because I was looking forward as to how the second couple will develop. But once they got together I was like, wait a minute, what exactly did they do to suddenly be together again? From my memory, Youngseo had been the one actively trying to initiate interactions, and each time, Sunghoon very clearly drew the line. Though they have been having good feelings for each other since the first meeting, the get together felt rather abrupt and awkward. BECAUSE Sunghoon didn’t even seem to be emotionally invested right up till the kiss. We can justify the arc when he chased down the creepy neighbour as him showing concern, otherwise it had been feeling quite one-sided on Youngseo’s end to me. I was happy for our girl to finally get the guy she’s been wanting but again, it wasn’t very satisfying. Maybe I was the one who didn’t have enough connection with Sunghoon’s character to feel that their union was well deserved.

Also, going back to the plot of the spy cam/hidden camera, the handling of that particular conflict, again, did not sit well with me. When we were shown the imaginary eyes staring down on Youngseo in the toilet after the incident, I actually thought they were trying to address the prevalence of such issues and the effects. Plot twist, it was just a mode to create another “significant” moment for the second leads. Instead of at least trying to addressing the possible trauma that people can get from such acts, it was used as a means to create connection between Youngseo and Sunghoon? While I wasn’t expecting a deep dive into the effects of being a victim to such crimes, it was brush off like a any other day accident.

Lastly, while the main actors did a great job, Sejong’s endless comedic facial expressions and antics as Hari was hilarious. But again, it’s the story itself that made me feel cringe. A supposed genius businessman took a pretty darn long time to put the pieces together. He even met Hari and saw videos of her, straight on, multiples times, on multiple occasions……. Taemoo was written in a way where spending money on the person he love is his love language, but his character itself didn’t resonate with me. Which made it hard for me to feel engage with the main leads’ stories. Personally I enjoy slow burn romances but this series felt like a whole rollercoaster of unspoken feelings showed in the form of throwing cash around instead of a slow built up in the relationship.

All in all, these are offhandedly the reasons why I couldn’t truly enjoy this series despite many praises from others. As I mentioned, we all look for different things in what we consider to be an enjoyable drama, this just wasn’t the one for me. The story left a lot to be desired and wasn’t able to adequately touch on plots/topics that was brought up.

Once more, if you’re just looking for a good laugh after a long and tiring day, this series probably can put a smile on your face. However, if you appreciate dramas that lingers on, making you ponder and reflect, this isn’t the go-to.

Leia Mais

Loving it❤️❤️

I just love this drama i never watch ongoing dramas but this make me do that, I don't like to wait for episodes and i really don't know how i will wait for a whole week to watch it.

Their are many things I love about this drama like it's pace, you will neither feel it's lengthy or boring nor too fast and yeh it's pace give something which is unexpected, specially Romantic scenes they are really unexpected for me, it's not like i don't expect them but they were way to early or happened on unexpected scenarios or something happened which i never expected to happen in the drama, it's not like i'm complaining, it's romantic and hilarious at the same time specially FL she is hard working, cute & kind and ofcourse i loved the way she styles herself and hilarious at the same time and specially that Samantha and Rachel scene oh god first i can't understand it and then i laughed so hard. When I first watch it's trailer i thought it like what's wrong with secretary Kim? because of ML his looks and behaviour vise but he has his own charisma, i love his confidence, jealousy & cuteness and don't get me started on SML, he make feels like two different person the way he is cold & calm with tae moo with his glasses on and on the other hand with SFL he is soo cute & sexy without glasses, i feel like he behave so differently with glasses on &off and last but not the least SFL i loved her character because she is independent working women with strong personality and at the same time cute & do stupidity sometimes.

I love the way the script is they adapted it really well with the webtoon and actors pull the roles really well, i loved all of their acting, i think their can't be a better choice then them in the dramas casting is on the point, i fell like they they straight came out of webtoon. I will strongly suggest to watch it, it's a must watch drama and think a non k-drama fan can even fall for k-drama if they start it with this.❤️❤️

Leia Mais

WORTH WATCHING

Love this drama one of the best dramas... I love all the characters' acting skills is soooo good .....I have watched till ep 6 and it was soo good full of entertainment. waiting for the new episode hope the further episodes will be the same (fun ) . Love it soo much everyone should watch it . If you have not watched the drama yet please go and watch.....

Only this doesn't make any sense

That a person becomes unrecognisable just by putting on a wig and makeup on her face and her wig doesn't even look different from her real hair she looks same with or without makeup and she also behaves the same... and her attitude, voice all are same... I know it is a drama but they should have done better

Apart from this, I love this drama ......worth watching ⌚

Leia Mais

i have shamelessly watched this series a full four times

cliche tropes left and right, typical poor girl and rich ceo, the fried chicken shop, contract relationship, steamy kisses (like hello??? the glasses scene ???), two pairs of amazing best friends?? literally have never enjoyed best friends in any drama more than this one super realistic the way they act with each other i love them so much! and the OST is great i listen to it all the time! is this super dramatic cliche sometimes borderline red flag-y and frustrating from misunderstandings? occasionally, but i feel like it was all done really well so that the show is still enjoyable despite all of that. it’s honestly pretty funny as well and i absolutely ADORE kim sejong’s acting, she absolutely kills her character! i really hope they come out with a season 2!!!

Leia Mais

Tropey af but hilarious

Having just finished twenty one twenty five this exactly what I needed. There's nothing particularly original about the premise but the execution is spot on. As a romantic comedy it is light, breezy and very watchable.

The good
An easy, feel-good show after a busy week. Standout for me is the humour which only gets better as the episodes go on. Plenty of laugh out loud moments, particularly from the supporting cast. The dynamite drink scene and archaeopteryx are comedy gold.
The SFL and SML have a romance which is just as good, if not better than the two leads. In fact, all the cast clearly have good off-screen chemistry. Waiting for a K-drama with Seol In-ah and Kim Min-kyu as leads now!
Ha-ri is so likeable because she is determined and pragmatic. Her and Young-seo are the ultimate chaotic duo.
While I found Hyo-seop as Tae-mu a bit wooden at times, he succeeds in being the lovable dork who takes himself too seriously.
The Grandpa spends a lot of time huffing and scheming but I'm all for it.

The bad
Literally every K-drama trope. Not gonna win any awards but that's not why we're all watching it.
The first few episodes didn't exactly wow me but it's almost like the writers listened and cranked up the humour. At first I thought 12 episodes would be the right length but the ending did feel rushed. Personally not a fan of the long distance/time skips when they are shoved into one episode. Would have been nice to see more of them as a fully fledged couple and Grandpa giving them his blessing.

Leia Mais

First half - great. Second half - just ok.

The rating was 8.7 and I thought it’d be awesome possum.

The first half of this drama was full of cute shenanigans and was really pretty funny. I laughed quite a bit and enjoyed myself a lot. The drama was very cute when the two leads first got to know each other and before they became a couple. The misunderstandings were not agonizing. Rather, their misunderstandings were kind of cute and engaging. I really had a fun ride for the first half of this drama.

The second half of this drama was not quite as enjoyable and funny as the first half though. There were parts that were rather ‘meh’ and ‘hmm’. The love between the couple was sweet and sincere but it wasn’t sizzling hot and ‘wow-whee’. After the leads got together, they were rather ‘meh’ as a couple.

Overall, this drama is watchable. I just do not think that it’s worth 8.7 / 10. I’d think that it’s more 7.5 / 10 :)

Leia Mais

I tend to go through periods where I binge watch a lot of dramas and then periods where I read a lot of webtoons. Business Proposal is one of the webtoons that I really liked but that fell off my radar while I was waiting for updates. When I heard that it was becoming a drama though, I had to revisit the webtoon!

Style-wise, this drama is very over the top but it's addictive and easy to watch and beyond the comedy there are also heartwarming moments between the characters. In the webtoon, I don't think the author specifies what kind of company Tae-moo and Hari work for, but I feel like they made a really good choice in making it into a food company in the drama. It really worked with the plot and made for some genius advertising as well. Another nice touch was what felt like the production team making fun of themselves / breaking the fourth wall by having the grandpa watch a show that sort of mirrored what was happening in the drama.

Drama fans will find lots of familiar faces in this show, and it's nice to see the same actors/actresses working together from previous shows. I first discovered Ahn Hyo-Seop in My Father Is Strange, which I think was his breakout role, and found the romance line he had in that show super cute. But in this drama, I found his character a bit too exaggerated, especially moments like when he would use his hand to brush back his hair. I still liked the main couple and think they look good together but I feel like the second couple actually had more chemistry.

I was a bit surprised at how they chose to end the show, since the actual webtoon is over as well so I feel like they could have ended it the same way as the webtoon. I also feel like the webtoon did a better job of delving into the relationship between Hari and Lee Min Woo, whereas in the drama you can't really tell how Min Woo felt about Hari.

The drama is only 12 episodes, but I definitely could have watched 16 episodes. I feel like there isn't really the potential for a second season unless they go off of the plot of the webtoon, but if there was then I would watch it!

Leia Mais

Repetitive!

It started off very strong, funny, whatever in the first few episodes. Eventually, it became so repetitive it was hard to watch. They constantly got into hair-brained situations where they had to tell convoluted lies or dramatically hide themselves. When the FL kept putting her hair over her face in front of the chairman for the first half of the show it pissed me off! When she refused to come out of the bathroom and pushed him down with the door... so frustrating to watch. Just chill out!!! The writers just kept reusing the same plot events over and over, it was so boring by the end.

The ML had two moods: immature/defensive and smug. He delivers all of his lines with the same cadence... and the fact that he kept taking her on dates but coming up with a work excuse, like 5 times. He gave me the ick.

I did like the grandpa/chairman, and the meta motif of the chairman's drama he was watching (and how it was the same stupid plot of the actual drama).

So many things going on... fake identity to fake dating... too much happening.

Leia Mais

The worst adaptation I’ve ever seen, but still a fun drama

The title of my review really sums up this show. Like it is SO hard to not try and compare the drama to the original Webtoon.

Going into it I had such high expectations and was hoping that so many of the little details from the Webtoon would be carried over. Boy, how I was wrong!

Once we get past the sadness of it not really staying true to the original story, we can enjoy it for the very light-hearted and fun drama that it is.

Don’t get me wrong, the main couple are bomb, but I really REALLY liked the second couple, Sung-hoon and Yeong-suh. My loves. I was so pleased that Yeong-suh’s character had the same energy as that of the Webtoon, and Sung-hoon also remained the sweet adorable lil man that he is!

I saw someone say something along the lines of ‘Tae-mu’s demeanour changes very much throughout the show,’ and I think this is actually very true. We started off with him being a lot like Park Seo-Joon in ‘What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?’ But unlike that drama, Tae-mu’s character softened a lot and didn’t really remain the same as he did in the beginning. I guess that could just be put down to character development? But if we’re ‘basing’ it off of the Webtoon, I feel like the Tae-mu in that was more or less the same throughout the whole thing.

There were so many things that were missed out that I THOUGHT should have been included, but if we were to talk about that, we’d be here forever so I won’t. The most major bugbear I have is this…

I HATED the ending. My live reaction: What’s the bet amidst all of this scandal business, and not responding to Ha-ri, that Tae-mu’s on the first plane back to Korea - tell me I’m not wrong! We’ve got 5 minutes left and it is literally just going to be a ‘hug and kiss at the airport’ scene. I’m disappointed. Or he just shows up in the taxi she was about to get in to take HER to the airport to go see HIM in New York. God, she literally said ‘hug me’ - this is actually the airport scene just without the airport. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!? I get that it’s called Business ‘Proposal’ but like, you had one job! One job! ? Finish it off with their wedding! Come ON! I’m tearing up literally because it didn’t end how I wanted it to.

Basically I was just very frustrated by that ending, like it just seemed poor.

I also didn’t like the unnecessary angst towards the end with Tae-mu’s Grandpa and Yeong-suh’s dad.

The amount of scenes that were CHANGED got me: How Ha-ri got her eye injury, how Tae-mu realises ‘Geum-hi’ is ‘Ha-ri,’ how Yeong-suh and Sung-hoon met, switching the car accident for Tae-mu rather than Sung-hoon, the prize for the sports competition, again, the ENDING! The list goes on… the emphasis on 'MARRIAGE? - That completely lost course - it was more about Ha-ri and Tae-mu dating than getting married, which might seem more realistic, but that was the major plot point for the original story.

Despite all of that, I still gave it a high rating because as it stands in a drama form, I really enjoyed it and would definitely watch again someday. The music was great, the actors were great, it’s just the adaptation that irked me.

-E

Leia Mais

Loving it so far

Pretty funny adorable and the male leads both are awesome and so handsome! That alone is why I am watching this.
I was pretty surprised by how Lavel love funny it really is there’s some points I was incredulous and still it just made me chuckle. I haven’t enjoyed a romantic comedy like this in quite a while and was pretty happy to have this on Netflix.
I have to say at this time the second couple I am more engaged in than the first even though the male lead in the first is quite handsome it’s been along time since I’ve been engaged in almost a whole show and not just fast forward it to watch the main leads.

Leia Mais