Pretendente Surpresa (2022)

The leaning tower of pisa of kdramas

I told my friend just after finishing episode 11 that Business Proposal was much like the leaning tower of pisa. It looks good, it's competently shot, well acted, the music is utilised decently well, but the foundation on which it rests on is extremely shaky.

To take from Folding Ideas video on 50 shades, the story is written much like a fanfiction. It follows the structure where plot A connects to B, B connects to C and so on, where you need all of them for the story to make sense, but A and C aren only tangentially related. The amount of times that plotpoints are picked up then dropped is very annoying, it makes the pacing pacing of the show much faster, which is extremely good for the "light, airy" feel it has, but definitely does detract from the story's quality as a whole.

After the reveal early on in the show, the quality of the show seems to dip considerably. The tightness of the first few episodes is very prevalent, minus some scenes that set up something later. It's later on in the show where emotional moments are brought up just for the sake of the story needing emotional beats. The story could have easily been "light and airy" all throughout, but it brings in a very poorly shoved in third act conflict.

If there is one thing that is good about this show it is the acting. The chemistry between the actors is very obvious, and the leads make one of the most natural lead couples I have ever seen. They all play off of each other very well, and with more time I think they could have also done more with other under utilised characters.

It's very difficult thinking about whether or not this show needed more episodes. There is a lot that could have been explored still, Hamin's relationship to the family, more about the grandfather, more with youngseo and yujeong's relationship, but I don't know if that would make the show more bloated than necessary. For the story to work, I think they should've cut the whole Yoora plotline completely. At the beginning of the show I really liked Minwoo compared to his webtoon counterpart who is somehow worse than the show version, but the contrived drama they create for him is so lacklustre, it's actually embarrassing.

Overall, the show is good. It isn't great, and it stems from structural problems that can only really be fixed by rewriting most of the script. If you want a quick laugh or a convincing romance, it is enjoyable enough.

Leia Mais

Same-same then product placement… Repeat.

I’m a rookie reviewer for this genre of fluffy romcom. This one seemed standard to me even though it’s the first time I’ve go through to the end of one. Standard plot of misunderstandings, standard character types of rich and ordinary, standard production values, standard slapstick humour. There wasn’t anything that struck me as original about it.

I understand that this production was not aimed at me, however, that does not excuse lack of quality. To keep up quick fire momentum takes more than just energy—which for the first half was at a good level—it also requires imagination and inventiveness and I’m afraid this didn’t cut it. About two thirds through I began to find the TV drama everyone was watching more entertaining. Ultimately keeping a flow of fresh ideas is the responsibility of the writer and director and here the treatment was repetitive and unsophisticated.

It made a good start but quite quickly the script and plot became predictable. The acting tended to follow suit, with a lot of stock, same-same expressions and reactions to the manufactured situations. The first couple of times it’s funny, but very quickly becomes irritating. For example, the constant hiding begins to pall during Episode 3, but is still going in Episode 4, and then gets dragged out into Episode 5 by which time it is long past its use-by date. Ditto the pretending to be someone else theme.

There is a heavy emphasis on wealth with a lot of ostentatious display, along with the assumption that popularity and acceptance can be easily bought with a credit card. This message is backed up by the wall-to-wall product placement. Seo Hye Won’s part in the early episodes seemed to exist solely as a product placement vehicle. By Episode 10, scene after scene was built around it, reducing the dialogue to meaningless rubbish, destroying character integrity and disrupting the momentum.

On the plus side… there is plenty of fun with a load of eye candy. The couples have reasonable chemistry but lacked any sort of pizzazz. Kim Se Jeong and Ahn Hyo Seop were most believable in the tender scenes rather than the passionate ones. Seol In Ah and Kim Min Gue were more unevenly matched. I liked Seol In Ah’s performance, it had life and energy, whereas Kim Min Gue struggled to give depth to his more reserved character.

Shin Ha Ri’s family added the warmth and acceptance missing from the others. It’s a common theme that the wealth that is deemed so desirable comes at the cost of dysfunctional family relationships. But here the obligatory overbearing rich parents/family were not too forceful, just enough to provide a reason for our male and female leads to flex their muscles and prove their credentials.

The serious emotional interactions, which happened towards the end of the drama, were convincing. Kim Se Jeong especially made a good job of the hospital scene with Ahn Hyo Seop. But the ending was weak and unsatisfying, it just fizzled out without any real impact and needed to be much stronger to justify the build up given earlier in the episode.

The cinematography is okay, but nothing special. The colour palette was pleasing, with bright, engaging colours and an endless parade of cool clothes.

One of the things I really liked about the subs in this one was what I think is the literal translation of Korean sayings, which totally cracked me up. Thank you Choi Su In! Absolutely loved, “A face like a company perk” and “Like putting lipstick on a pig”.

What my rating means: 6+ Some aspects of it were OK but it had serious flaws. It will pass the time but you can find something better.

Leia Mais

LOVED IT but the ending :(

The fact that I actually stayed up each week to watch the live broadcast/no subs (2AM) brought me back to my high school days!

What I liked:
1. Casting, everyone did so well esp the 2nd lead casting was *chefs kiss*!
2. Cliche romcom tropes executed well apart from the rushed end.
3. Changed up a few scenes from webtoon.
4. SPOILER* how they still continued their relationship online despite TM going overseas.
5. Did not drag.
6. Solved most issues quickly.
7. TM and HR hugs!!
8. No romance between HR bro and YS.

What I did not like:
1. Rushed end.
2. I'm all for closures but eh was not feeling the MW closure XD
3. They did not continue where they left off on ep 11 HAHA
4. I prefer the way grandpa approved of HR in the webtoon more, this grandpa was being difficult LOL.
5. Lying/hiding took way too long.

Overall 8.5, was going to be a 9 but the rushed ending was not it. cute but not it. :b Time to re-read the webtoon for the 100th time HAHAHA. I hope for more well-executed romcom soon and not rush the end pls <3

Leia Mais

It was a mediocre drama where FL character is annoying.

A Business Proposal is a Kdrama about Shin Ha Ri, a single woman who works for a company where she goes on a blind date to help out her best friend, Jin Young Seo, and meets a workaholic CEO, Kang Tae Moo.

Through many misunderstandings and mishaps, they both eventually fall in love with each other. I did not like the FL character and the actress (Kim Se Jeong) who played her. The actress was not attractive; I think the 2nd FL looks better than the FL.

The FL character is annoying, and the ML character is neither great. The onscreen chemistry between FL and ML (Ahn Hyo Seop) was neither great. The 2nd ML is better; I like the 2nd CP in this drama.

It was a mediocre drama, and I give it a 6.0 rating.

Leia Mais

Heading off to a good start but failed to delivered as the show progresses.

Throughout this entire series, it was filled with cringeworthy moments as well as odd and questionable decisions made by the characters in this drama.

The only notable part of this show is the chemistry between the second two leads, which honestly made me not dropped the show.

The story was very bland and uninteresting, nothing really excited comes about in terms of the progress of the story. The two leads spend the entire series hiding their love from one another and the people around them. Shin Hari, the main female protagonist, seems to be a repulsive liar throughout the 12 episodes, doing her utmost best in avoiding the relationship between her and the main male protagonist, but digging a bigger hole for herself as the show progresses. Although sort of justified to do so, her character traits should not be meant for the main character of a show. Moreover, overreaction to everything makes any scene involving her cringeworthy and hard to watch.

Not worth even putting into your watchlist, best to skip the show.

Leia Mais

Common storyline

Drama name is "business proposal"... But where is business??? I was really expecting some business issues?? But in whole drama the chizzy lovely dovly ... I am quite dissatisfied with the name of the drama...😵
Common storyline... rich male lead poor female lead, facing trauma due to accident.. male lead good at everything... Clumsy female lead... There is nothing new...
All I love about this drama super casting and comedy part. The actors made it super. They nailed the drama. The comedy parts are really lovable. This make it worth to watch either I may rate this 2 star

Leia Mais

I don't have any words left to describe how beautiful this drama is.
Hats off to the story writer and the amazing production crew. Also a big round of applause to the actors who portrayed their roles perfectly. While watching the drama you can see and feel that the actors really became one with their respective characters.

Wonderful. Absolutely Intriguing. Perfect romantic-comedy. This show is so so much better than any other overrated shows. Storyline is perfect with perfect ending. Loved every part of this show from cast to chemistry from dialogues to filming locations and cinematography too. This drama is so hilarously funny! Watch it for a nice time of laughter with the really good looking young cast. Main actor Ahn HS is so handsome (in a Park SJ kinda way) ? did they have the same stylist? ?

Leia Mais

Almost, but not quite there

This was so close to being a perfect drama: the comedy was funny, the acting was good, and the story moved at a really good pace. The relationship between the leads may have begun as contrived, but the development was genuine with the chemistry being off the walls good. The same goes for the second couple too. Where things fell flat, however, is after episode 7. The conflict was annoying and made the story stagnate. The grandfather behaved too out of character, and I felt the focus on his disapproval of the relationship took away from more development from the two couples. I would have liked to have seen some weddings and a happy-ever-after, instead of watching several episodes of the Grandpa's meddling. Overall, it was a good drama, and the writers did manage to stick the landing despite their meandering near the third act.

Leia Mais

Love It But Don't Be Fooled...

Okay, first off, I didn't read the webtoon so I can't compare. I do say that this is a refreshing show but it does have its drawbacks. You may fall in love with all the fluff but there are some negatives to point out. BTW, I originally gave this a 9.0 rating from EP 10 and by EP 12, I changed it to a 7.5

So, briefly explaining the plot, the FL, Ha-Ri, decides to go on a blind date in place of her best friend. Apparently, they do this switch-a-roo because Ha-Ri is good at acting and making all the blind dates fail. However, of course, that one blind date goes awry because as you already know, the blind date is with the ML, Tae-M.oo who is the CEO of her company.

Now from the get-go, while Ha-Ri's antics to get him to dislike her is funny and hilarious, you don't get to know what his first impression was of her. You do get to hear the inner monologue of the FL and the first impression she has of him but you don't know what he thinks of her. So despite all her silly antics, he decides that he wants to marry her anyway. Of course, she refuses him flat out. He finds out later that she wasn't the original person he was supposed to meet and using that, he binds the FL into a contractual fake relationship so that his grandfather will stop arranging blind dates for him.

Ha-Ri still doesn't tell him that she works for his company, so she constantly tries to hide from him at work and of course, later he finds out.

There's the second FL, Young Seo who is Ha-Ri's best friend and has a crush on the second ML, Sung Hoon, who just happens to be Tae-Moo's secretary and best friend.

So as of this writing, I've watched up to EP6 of 12 episodes.

So here are some drawbacks:

-There's a part where a voyeur secretly films the SFL and later gets caught. The SFL is actually a rich heiress. When she's on the way to the police station with evidence that she was videotaped, the voyeur stops her and of course, she gets pushed down and now the second ML, Sung Hoon comes running to her rescue. Then later, the ML, Tae-Moo sweeps in and finishes off the bad guy at the police station using his connections and money. IMO, this is something that the rich SFL could've done herself. But falling for the "damsel in distress" trope, they make the SFL into more of a victim rather than a woman who could've dealt with the bad guy just like the ML did. Instead, it could've been written that the SFL decides NOT to be a victim of this voyeur or at least make the bad guy very regretful he ever crossed her. She's a rich heiress and a powerful businesswoman too.

-There's a dress montage where the ML picks out dresses for the FL and she tries them all on and he picks which one HE likes because of course, it's a fake anniversary gift to HER. They turn this moment of him looking at her like she looks gorgeous in this dress so it's all so lovey-dovey... but don't be fooled. From another vantage point, the FL agrees that she likes the dress too even though the dress is too small and she can hardly breathe, let alone eat in it but who is she to say anything? After all, he's buying. The dress later rips and he's a "hero" for covering her backside, and later they "laugh" about it but does he apologize for kinda forcing that dress on her or ask her why she didn't say something earlier? Why not write it like he's sorry for making her wear it and she says, "I should've said something and now I know better." Something where they both learn and grow together?

-At one point, Ha-Ri tries to hide out in the bathroom when the CEO's grandfather has to use it and she refuses to open the door. She's afraid he'll find out who she is so she tries to keep the door closed even though the grandfather badly needs to use the bathroom. The door finally bursts open and the grandfather falls and hurts himself and Ha-Ri doesn't reach out to grab him because she wants to just hide her face. Not a cool scene at all. There was a lot of fuss over this about disrespecting the elderly and I agree. I mean, she could've just dashed out but whatever.

-There's the ML's reaction when he finds out Ha-Ri works for him and that she lied and hid her real identity from him. He abuses his authority as a boss making her overworked and stressed emotionally. Not the best writing. Same ol' cliché of the rich boss being bad while the female employee puts up with it. She even begs him to keep her job because of course she lied to him so it's ALL her fault. Would've been better if she had quit and he begs her to come back.

-The FL's drunken confession of telling the ML who she really is, (btw, Netflix gave away this spoiler and put it in the details as the episode was released so I read it first and was disappointed finding out how the ML finds out the truth before I watched it). Anyway, of course, the FL admits who she really is to the ML but she's drunk and she thinks she's dreaming and she forgets the next day. It would've been better had she been sober.

-The SFL has an embarrassing moment where she really needs to go to the bathroom and the bathroom is locked. Of course, the SML "saves" her again in the nick of time. Oh btw, he also "saved" the SFL from a CGI cockroach in her apartment. So in total, he saved the SFL from the cockroach, the voyeur, and from the bathroom fiasco and if we include him catching up to her while she's walking home drunk, that would be 4 times. Also, as for the FL, when Ha-Ri's friends run into her, they ask her about her "rich boyfriend" which was actually a lie that the SFL made up for her bestie, but luckily the ML steps in front of Ha-Ri's friends and pretends to be her boyfriend. So basically all the women get the embarrassing and humiliating moments but none of the guys really. They just fall into the "heroes" tropes all the time.

-The SFL kisses the SML while she's drunk now you have a love connection between the two. I'm not liking the fact that the second ML reciprocated the drunken kiss. Would've been better if he was a "gentleman" and didn't give in to a drunk woman. Like WTF is with the women having to be drunk in pivotal moments?

-You hear all about the SFL's feelings about the SML but you don't hear much about him and how he feels about her really. Everything is focused on the second female lead's feelings.

Okay, so don't get me wrong, I do love this rom-com but I'm being unbiased in some moments where it could've been better. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the writers of the show or because it's following the webtoon. As previously mentioned, I've never seen the webtoon so I can't say. Also, I'm not a fan of the OST... it just isn't as memorable or catchy. I still can't remember it even now.

Btw, I'm a huge fan of Paul Anh (Anh Hyo Seop) and I think Kim Se Jeong is perfect for this role!

Update:
I just finished watching this and I found the last two episodes lacking. It wasn't rushed but I felt like it was unsatisfying to watch at the end. Something was just missing. The whole grandfather's disapproval was dumb, dumb, dumb... Can someone tell me what was the point of showing us scenes where the grandfather is watching his fave kdrama if it really didn't contribute to the main story? I thought maybe the grandfather would've approved of Ha-ri after seeing how Shin Geum-hi was treated on that show. Pointless scenes if you ask me.

Anyways, all in all, it was funny and cute but I do have to say that the last two episodes were just so-so and missing something. The OST was barely memorable as well.

Leia Mais

This is an easy to watch drama there’s not much of major plots and twists but not like the other dramas they are light and have simple plots but boring… BUT not with this drama this drama is on another level you’ll have so much FUN with every episode of it and make you interested of what’s going to happen next even without having the major plots.

There we’re two couples in this drama one main lead couple and another secondary couple.. both couples are really adorable, funny, cute and sweet to watch, though others were comparing them and saying negative things but as for me no one is above and no one is below all of them did a really good job… both male lead are looking so hot and handsome with there characters that makes you really envy their female leads hahaha…

As for the re-watch value I’m giving it as a perfect score cause I really enjoyed the whole drama, as a matter of fact I already downloaded this and going to watch it over and over.. I’m pretty sure that you are going to love and you’ll have fun with this drama, you will not regret giving your time on this.

As a closing statement, I would say that I’m so sad that this drama come to its end.. probably going to take a very long time before I could get over with this… another drama hangover hahaha..

Leia Mais

A fluffy rom- com drama to blow off your stress

So there are dramas that pulls you in and leaves you craving for more. A Business Proposal is one of those drama. It is a cliche rom - com drama you might have seen before but that doesn't makes the drama any less mesmerizing. Maybe it is the cliche scenes in the drama that binds you to your seats. The cast of this drama was spot on to the characters they had to portray.

The characters in this drama are the types of character one would expect in rom - com drama. A perfectionist ML(Male Lead) and a bubbly but hardworking FL(Female Lead) and there brother/sister like best-friend SML(Second Male Lead) and SFL(Second Female Lead). So you might be like why should I watch this drama then. Let me give you the reasons why you should watch this drama.

First, the chemistry between the ML (Kang Tae Mu) and FL (Shin Ha Ri) is off the charts. They lit up the scene just by being in it together. Their first encounter had me rolling down with laughter. They have very well acted their parts and the visuals were insanely good too. Kang Tae Mu's jealousy was also a thing to watch.

Secondly was probably the chemistry between the SFL(Jin Young Seo) and the SML(Cha Sung Hoon). Jin Young Seo's aegyo( cuteness) just melted my heart. I never would have thought that Seol In Ah could pull such scenes off. As I have never seen her acting cute in other dramas. She definitely stole my heart with her aegyo. She was definitely a scene stealer in this drama.

Third is the brotherhood between Kang Tae Mu & Cha Sung Hoon and the sisterhood between Shin Ha Ri & Jin Young Seo. Their bond was quite special as they were always there for their friend.

Also the supporting actors in this drama. They were fun to watch. Be it the ML's grandfather or the FL's family members or coworkers. They all were a joy to watch on the screen. Especially the women of this drama were just too cute. A special shout out to Seo Hye Won and Im Ki Hong's characters. They both were just too good.

There are many other reasons to watch the drama which you would only know if you start this drama. So don't give a second thought and start this drama. As I assure you won't be wasting your time.

Leia Mais