Summary
The deceptions finally give way to authenticity in an episode that solidifies the central pairing.
This recap of Business Proposal season 1, episode 8 contains spoilers.
Yesterday’s episode of Business Proposal felt a bit run of the mill, built as it was on a series of well-worn, predictable scenarios revolving around the same theme. It was about, really, Ha-ri and Tae-moo realizing that beyond all their deceptions and manipulations they have a genuine romantic connection, and this episode is about solidifying that. And in so doing, it finds a note of authenticity that really benefits it.
Business Proposal season 1, episode 8 recap
It’s still a bit frustrating, but the will-they/won’t-they dynamic is supposed to work like that. The cliffhanger kiss immediately becomes something else to pretend never happened, another mistake. There’s a bit of blame in that, too. Ha-ri is adamant it was a mistake, which Tae-moo thinks isn’t fair on him, so she has to make it up to him with a dinner. He ends up paying since she’s worried about not being able to.
This isn’t the end of the favours Tae-moo calls in. The next is for her to spend a day at the fair with him, which goes in all the cliched ways you’d expect. You can feel the connection continuing to develop, in a light-hearted sort of way, even if there’s a bit of a seedy feeling knowing Tae-moo essentially strong-armed her into this in the first place. And that feeling is only exacerbated later when Tae-moo hears about Ha-ri slagging him off and uses that to prompt her for an apology kiss.
As it happens, though, Min-woo overhears this, after having found the fake dating contract in Ha-ri’s house, and so he punches Tae-moo. I like this! It can be read as just a spat between jealous men, but it’s also, in a roundabout way, the show acknowledging Tae-moo’s slightly creepy, entitled attitude. Of course, Min-woo is adamant that things won’t work out between them, and he might well be right, but I can’t grumble about the inclusion of this. I think it serves the drama pretty well.
That drama is also complicated by Chairman Kang setting Tae-moo up on a date with Young-seo’s cousin Jo Yu-jeong, the daughter of the powerful director of an art museum. At around the same time, Ha-ri wins a dinner with him through a work dodgeball competition that he can’t attend because of the date; suddenly, both halves of the central pairing realize that what they really want is one another, and so they meet up and kiss again, this time with what one assumes is more sincerity.
You can stream Business Proposal season 1, episode 8 exclusively on Netflix.
