First Impression: Business Proposal

Drama Profile

Title: Business Proposal (English title) / The Office Blind Date (literal title)
Main Cast: Ahn Hyo-seop, Kim Se-jeong, Kim Min-kyu, and Seol In-ah
Writer: Han Sul-hee (Ugly Young-A) / Hong Bo-hee (High Kick 3)
PD: Park Sun-ho
Timeslot: Monday and Tuesday 22:00H
Network: SBS, Netflix
Episodes: 12
Genre: Romantic Comedy

Plot Synopsis:

In disguise as her friend, Ha-ri shows up to a blind date to scare him away. But plans go awry when he turns out to be her CEO — and makes a proposal. (sourced from Netflix)

Major Tropes: Contract Relationship / Candy and Alpha Hero

Grumpy’s First Impression

SBS is on a roll this year! Business Proposal exceeded my expectations. The webtoon-turned-drama may be full of tried-and-tested tropes but it’s not boring at all! It’s fun watching the characters’ misadventures, and their journey towards love. The editing also cleverly reminds the audience about its manhwa roots. It’s giving me The Secret Life of My Secretary x Hello, Me vibes!

Shin Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong) is the perfect Candy, funny and desirable! Ha-ri is also not the typical poor girl character – she is a researcher, an ace of her company’s R&D team to be exact. Out of sheer necessity, she agreed to her best friend Jin Young-seo’s (Seol In-ah) plea to act as a stand-in for her blind date. Unbeknownst to her, she is set to meet with her company’s CEO Kang Tae-moo (Ahn Hyo-seop) in a dinner set up by their respective families. At first, I thought Tae-moo seems uninterested in this date, but after their encounter, he suddenly revealed that he’ll marry Ha-ri (disguised as Young-seo).

I like that Ha-ri only has enough motive to grab the opportunity to take Young-seo’s request in that quirky blind date. But despite her efforts to make an impression as a foxy woman, Tae-moo is still adamant to pursue marriage. LOL. The first two episodes were purely chaotic on both Ha-ri and Young-seo as they exhaust all efforts to stop this nonsense. Can’t wait for more banters between these silly besties!

The workaholic duo Tae-moo and his equally good-looking secretary Cha Sung-hoon (Kim Min-kyu) could be the new pairing to add to our endless list of K-drama bromances. They seem close enough for Tae-moo to clean Sung-hoon’s house and cook for him as a form of stress relief! They are partners-in-crime, and now they are in it together in the Tae-moo’s latest “business proposal” – convince Ha-ri as a pretend girlfriend in front of his grandfather.