Netflix has put a lot of promotional energy behind Boyfriend On Demand because of its star: Jisoo, who is in the popular K-pop group BLACKPINK. It does help that Jisoo is an experienced actor as well as a charming lead.
Opening Shot: A woman is shown putting on makeup, and then she walks down a grand staircase in a flowing gown. A man in a uniform comes up the stairs and takes her hand. Then a prompt comes up: “Would you like to meet your next boyfriend?”
The Gist: Seo Mi-rae (Jisoo) is a producer for a webtoon publishing company in Seoul, and she likes having her evenings to herself. “Netflix and chill” to her means watching shows on her tablet while sipping wine in the bathtub.
At work, Mi-rae tends to be exhausted, and she has a rivalry brewing with another producer, Park Kyeong-nam (Seo In-guk). She still has nightmares about dealing with the publisher’s most popular author, Yun Song (Gong Min-jeung), who was super demanding, read and internalized all of the negative comments on the installments of her webtoons, and basically kept Mi-rae on the phone all day long. It got so bad that it ended her relationship with her previous boyfriend, Kim Se-june (Kim Sung-cheol).
It’s for this reason that Mi-rae loves work-life balance. She turns down after-work dinners with her boss and team, and she drunkenly tells her best friend Lee Ji-Yeon (Ha Young) that she is fine being alone when she gets the chance.
After a producer quits in a huff, Mi-rae’s boss has to select between Mi-rae and Kyeong-nam to take on Yun Song again. They both try to push her off on the other person, but Mi-rae gets the not-so-plum assignment.
During her first meetings with Yun Song, Mi-rae tries to get the author to change some of her cliched characters up, but meets resistance. The boss brings in a rep for a gaming company that is testing a new virtual reality app called Boyfriend On Demand, because they want to incorporate some of Yun Song’s characters into it.
The rep takes Mi-rae aside and proposes that she be a compensated beta tester. The device and app creates what they hope are realistic-seeming dating situations, and they are really in need of feedback. Mi-rae agrees, and is surprised to see who the device chooses to be her first virtual boyfriend.
Photo: Netflix
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Despite the “virtual boyfriend” theme, Boyfriend On Demand is similar to other Korean romcoms, like Love To Hate You.
Our Take: It’s not a stretch to say that Boyfriend On Demand is a showcase for Jisoo, who has become extremely popular in South Korea and beyond as a member of the K-pop group BLACKPINK, as well as her solo ventures. Having her character, Mi-rae, go through all of these virtual dating situations, which are all based on personal information the app gathers from her phone, is an opportunity for her to wear different costumes and be glamorous in different situations.
But we like the Mi-rae that dresses in smart casual outfits and likes her alone time. The series pretty obviously sets up the idea that Mi-rae “hates” Kyeong-nam because she secretly likes his no-nonsense personality, and that the two of them will eventually connect in the real world. What we hope is that we see more of the non-lonely (according to her) IRL Mi-rae as she tries to balance a demanding job with the pure desire to just be left alone. If there was a scene where she’s relieved when someone cancels plans, we’d be on board for it.
We’re not counting on that, though, because that’s not how Korean romcoms work. Thankfully, this one has no meet-cute moment, because Mi-raw and Kyeong-nam already know each other. The slow burn of the two of them realizing they actually like each other should be a fun through-line as Mi-rae experiences her virtual relationships.
Photo: Kim Jeong-won/Netflix
Performance Worth Watching: As we mentioned, Jisoo is the center of this show, and she’s pretty charming, especially when Mi-rae is in “leave me alone” mode.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Mi-rae discovers her first virtual boyfriend is one of the main characters of Yun Song’s webtoons.
Sleeper Star: Gong Min-jeung is funny as the slightly unhinged Yoo Song, who has never learned to ignore the comments next to her work.
Most Pilot-y Line: There’s a very relaxing looking overstuffed chair in the breakroom at Mi-rae’s office that we wouldn’t mind seeing in our office (i.e. at home).
Our Call: STREAM IT. Jisoo’s charm and the different dating scenarios her character will experience is what’s going to set Boyfriend On Demand apart from other K-romcoms, even if the show still has a lot of the genre’s tropes in the plot.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.