Great Premise, Terrible Execution
Boyfriend on Demand has a great premise but it fails to develop a comprehensive plot that explores all the themes and plot points it introduces. The drama does not know if it wishes to be an exploration of the effect of advancements in AI technology on romance or simply a romcom drama with the Boyfriend on Demand as a tool to further the plot.
It spends far too much time showing the dates Jisoo’s character, Seo Mirae, has with her virtual boyfriends. The supposed male lead, Seo In-guk’s character is given very little screen time while the drama spends so much time either showing or building up Seo Kang-jun’s character. Although most of her dates with these AI boyfriends serve a purpose in her character development, the story lingers too long on these dates, making it a rather monotonous and dull watch at times.
All in all, the relationship between the ML and FL is mostly limited to montages of happy moments together, and the final conflict. She has more conversations with her virtual reality boyfriends than with the ML, and their relationship is not explored at all.
The drama has many interesting side characters but it rarely gives enough focus to them. The webtoon writer's role played by Gong Min Jung and the role of Mirae's friend played by Lee Ji Yeon both had intriguing character developments but they were mostly resolved off screen, and what we got were mere glimpses of their conflicts. Developments in both these characters could have added to the conversation on the Virtual Reality Dating concept but the drama just hops over them as if it is not interested in discussing the consequences of AI Dating platforms although it spent the first half of the show building up on the same.
The highlight of the drama were the cameos by many heartthrobs of kdrama world, which were hilarious at times and entertaining overall.
Boyfriend on Demand had the potential to be a drama that explores romance in a time where virtual reality has taken over the real world, but it fails to find the balance between real life romance and virtual life romance to create an impactful drama.
It spends far too much time showing the dates Jisoo’s character, Seo Mirae, has with her virtual boyfriends. The supposed male lead, Seo In-guk’s character is given very little screen time while the drama spends so much time either showing or building up Seo Kang-jun’s character. Although most of her dates with these AI boyfriends serve a purpose in her character development, the story lingers too long on these dates, making it a rather monotonous and dull watch at times.
All in all, the relationship between the ML and FL is mostly limited to montages of happy moments together, and the final conflict. She has more conversations with her virtual reality boyfriends than with the ML, and their relationship is not explored at all.
The drama has many interesting side characters but it rarely gives enough focus to them. The webtoon writer's role played by Gong Min Jung and the role of Mirae's friend played by Lee Ji Yeon both had intriguing character developments but they were mostly resolved off screen, and what we got were mere glimpses of their conflicts. Developments in both these characters could have added to the conversation on the Virtual Reality Dating concept but the drama just hops over them as if it is not interested in discussing the consequences of AI Dating platforms although it spent the first half of the show building up on the same.
The highlight of the drama were the cameos by many heartthrobs of kdrama world, which were hilarious at times and entertaining overall.
Boyfriend on Demand had the potential to be a drama that explores romance in a time where virtual reality has taken over the real world, but it fails to find the balance between real life romance and virtual life romance to create an impactful drama.
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