Boyfriend on Demand: Episodes 1-10 (Series Review)
by SailorJumun
In the world of Boyfriend on Demand, where you could have the ultimate romantic experience — a perfectly crafted partner and a guaranteed happy ending — all at the press of a button, why bother with reality? Our heroine sees no reason to, not when it puts her heart on the line. But a certain co-worker hits her with an unexpected but very real charm, and it just might change her mind.
NOTE: This review contains major spoilers, so proceed with caution.
SERIES REVIEW
If you need a fairly low-stakes comfort show to escape into, this is it. The drama made a solid first impression, introducing us to webtoon producer SEO MI-RAE (Jisoo) as she did a test run of the virtual dating simulation Boyfriend on Demand. She initially used the program out of pure curiosity… and as we go on, it quickly snowballs into a euphoric need.
Mi-rae gets attached to one boyfriend character named SEO EUN-HO (cameo by Seo Kang-joon, a popular college athlete who plays hard-to-get. It takes some overt flirting, and a cliche rain scene, but Mi-rae has Eun-ho falling for her in no time. The problem is, this particular storyline is triggering memories of her ex boyfriend KIM SE-JOON (Kim Sung-chul). They also had a sweet campus romance, but they both changed over the years. And unfortunately, Se-joon didn’t want to be with the person Mi-rae had become.
Playing out the storyline gives Mi-rae the chance to re-live her past and move on from her ex. She wishes Se-joon well, feeling like she can finally be happy with her new (fake) life. But then her free trial with BoD ends, bursting her perfect little bubble. So she caves and subscribes to the program, despite it costing her 500,000 won a month — she figures it’s cheaper than dating in real life. To her disappointment, she can’t jump back to Eun-ho, as the plan she signed up for assigns boyfriends randomly.
That’s where all the fun comes in. Mi-rae explores various boyfriends and storylines, jumping from action romance to medical romance… We even get a Single’s Inferno reality TV showmance. The cameos here are the best thing ever, since they’re all hamming it up. Just to name a few, we have Ong Sung-wu, Lee Jae-wook, Kim Young-dae, and Jay Park. (There’s also an end credit scene with Lee Sang-yi that you don’t wanna miss.)
I love everything about this, and Mi-rae is so real for loving it too. But I’m sad that the majority of the cameos are contained in one single montage; it goes pretty quickly. And then to Mi-rae’s surprise, she’s reunited with Eun-ho in a ten-years-later continuation. She still feels like Eun-ho is her perfect match, so she sticks with him for a while. The program allows the character to actually call and text her in the real world, making it feel like a legit relationship.
But, of course, the illusion has to break sometime. Mi-rae finds an article talking about the BoD characters, and she’s hilariously horrified to see that Eun-ho has been doing all the same gestures and one-liners to other subscribers. It feels too artificial to her now, so she ends things with Eun-ho. I kind of feel bad for him… but he does have 12,000 other girlfriends, so… *shrugs*
Back in reality, Mi-rae is paired with her co-worker PARK KYUNG-NAM (Seo In-guk) for a project, forcing them to spend more time together. And it’s at this point, at the halfway mark, that I remember, Oh yeah, they’re supposed to have a romance. Because Kyung-nam has been in the background all this time, only popping up to say a few lines or steal a few glances.
There’s a major shift when, one day, while Kyung-nam is driving Mi-rae home, he bluntly confesses that he likes her. It seems like it’s out of nowhere, but when we get into Kyung-nam’s perspective, we learn that he’s actually been crushing on Mi-rae for a long time. There were so many instances where he wanted to speak up and make a move, but he always chickened out and acted aloof.
Though Mi-rae is flattered by Kyung-nam’s confession, she lies that she already has a boyfriend. Which I guess is somewhat true, since she’s committed herself to the BoD program. She’s no longer interested in Eun-ho and the other “taken” boyfriends, but she does opt for making her own custom character. Only, her character GU YEONG-IL ends up looking exactly like Kyung-nam.
Mi-rae is in denial that Kyung-nam could be her ideal type (no matter how handsome he is, lol). She gives the custom character a go anyway, convincing herself that Yeong-il and Kyung-nam are two different people. But as time goes on, the lines begin to blur. Her story with Yeong-il is nice, and yet, she’s drawn to Kyung-nam and his subtle flirting at the office.
Mi-rae wonders if maybe, just maybe, she’s found her perfect match in real life. She visits Yeong-il, wanting to quit him and the program… But she tells Yeong-il that she’s scared of Kyung-nam changing, just as her ex Se-joon changed. She thinks it’s too much of a risk. So when she returns to the office, she asks Kyung-nam to stop pursuing her. Oh, girl…
Kyung-nam is heartbroken, especially as their interactions become tense and awkward. They avoid each other, but there comes a point where he can’t help going after her. She gets emotional, and he asks why she won’t give them a chance. She admits her fear of change, and to that, he counters that he’s already changed because of his feelings for her. It’s a bit too dramatic, because I don’t think they’ve earned this big declaration yet. I think they needed another episode or two of build-up.
The couple confirm their mutual feelings with a kiss. Then we’re whisked away to a full-on montage, with them going on movie dates, reading dates, and secret lunch dates during work. It all feels way too fast, but it is satisfying to watch Mi-rae enjoy something real. And they are very cute together.
But there’s still Mi-rae’s secret about her BoD subscription. Eventually, when Kyung-nam is at her apartment, he finds the program equipment and logs in — stunned to meet his virtual twin Yeong-il. When he reveals this to Mi-rae, he tells her that he needs some time to sort out his feelings.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take Kyung-nam too long. He asks a client how they’d feel if the person they liked recreated them in BoD, and the client says they’d honestly be flattered. And at the end of the day, they’re the one who can provide genuine love, not the recreation. This gives Kyung-nam the push to let go of any doubt and reconcile with Mi-rae.
In turn, Mi-rae logs in to BoD to officially say goodbye to Yeong-il and the program itself. She hits “yes” on the Are you sure you want to quit? pop-up and returns to the real world and her real boyfriend. She narrates that she won’t be afraid of the future anymore and that she’s ready to live in the now.
It’s a solid way to wrap a solid rom-com. The drama didn’t take a deep dive into its themes (it could’ve taken a darker turn and gotten more emotional), but it didn’t necessarily have to. It set out to be a fun, bubbly romance, and I’d say it succeeded. I had lots and lots of fun.
Do I wish we got more Seo In-guk? Oh yeah, definitely. The second half made up for the lack of the Kyung-nam character, but even then, we didn’t learn much about him, his history, or anything. Just that he was sweet and refreshingly plain-spoken. He was just there in Mi-rae’s story. Because this was very much Mi-rae’s story and Jisoo’s show. And, you know what, Jisoo nailed this role. She made it easy to feel like we were right there with her, enjoying Boyfriend on Demand. And most importantly, she had me rooting for her to log out and log back into life.
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