8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2022 South Korean romantic comedy drama with 12, 60 minute episodes. It is known by the alternate title "The Office Blind Date."

Shin Ha-ri (Kim Se-jeong) often does odd jobs for her friend and heiress Jin Young-seo (Seol In-ah). This one is even a bit much for her but she still agrees to pretend to be her friend and go on a blind date, playing a vixen, in a deliberate attempt to "botch" it. Little does Ha-ri know but the blind date is none other than Kang Tae-mu (Ahn Hyo-seop), the new CEO of Ha-ri's company. Tired of the whole blind date circus, Tae-mu vowed to just get it over with and marry his next blind date. Tae-mu did not realize that the next blind date would be a deception and that he was not going out with an heiress, Young-seo, but an employee at his company. It is not long before he discovers that Ha-ri is not Young-seo but he is not sure who she is and when he asks for her real name she gives him another psuedonym she often uses with her friend's friends and not her real name which would have revealed she was actually his employee. Tae-mu still does not know Ha-ri works for him and hilariaty ensues as she hides the fact from him. Tae-mu's grandfather, Kang Da-goo (Lee Deok-hwa) has been pressuring his grandsone to find a suitable marriage partner as he is the heir to the conglomerate. Tae-mu bullies and bribes Ha-ri into pretending to be his fiancée in exchange for 800,000 won per date. While Ha-ri is not keen on this level of deception she agrees as she is constantly looking for money to cover her families' financial woes. Young-seo takes another route to escape the constant pressure of finding a marriage partner, she moves out of her father's house and finds herself next door to none other than Tae-mu's, Chief of Staff/like a brother, Kim Min-kyu (Cha Sung-hoon) who finds the heiress very alluring yet is angry at the way she deceived his boss/like a brother. The set up is ripe for laughter inducing moments and a multitude of misunderstandings. Can the four young people navigate the expectations placed on them and be able to find their own path to love?

I loved this and would definitely recommend others watch it and I would rewatch it. That being said, there are some flaws that exist when compared to the web toon it is based on. The web toon was more flawless in my opinion as it stayed away from some tropes that can be tiring where this returned to them and deviated. Spoilers* In the web toon the grandfather liked Ha-ri throughout and would chastise the Tae-Mu anytime grandfather felt Tae-Mu was not treating her right. In the drama rendition the grandfather was more of a stereotypical Korean wealthy parental figure and disapproved of the relationship. In the end, there was a very short piece about him not coming back until she accepted the ring which indicated she finally won his approval but it was way too short relative to the length of time he had disapproved. There was also the separation trope in the drama rendition that did not exist in the web toon. I am not a fan of the separations that are usually a year or more. In real life it rarely makes the heart grow fonder and more often just causes people to grow apart. It was not necessary and they could have stuck with the way it was in the web toon. The chemistry between the actors was really good. Kim Seo-jong reminds me of Emma Stone in both her looks and her voice. It is said we all have "twins" running around in people that have similar features and I see that in international stars. I think Kim Seo-jong was well cast in the Ha-ri role as she was a pro at carrying out the comedic aspects of hiding like she did whenever her secret was about to be discovered. As many have observed, 12 episodes did not feel like enough. There was still room to carry out aspects that were reflective of the web toon. In the web toon Ha-ri did not give in to marriage right away and he was insistent on marrying her because he vowed to marry the next person he went on a blind date with and carried that through despite the deception. There was a lot of comedy associated with that in the web toon. There is also the concern that Netflix is setting a standard of a shorter number of episodes and one thing many like about South Korean dramas is the depth of story and character development that can only be achieved in at least 16 episodes. In this case, 12 episodes meant they rushed certain aspects of the story and did not fully tell others. I loved the relationship of Ha-ri and Young-seo and it made sense how she came to do the blind date as they would do practically anything for the other. Tae-mu and Min-kyu's brother like relationship was also very enjoyable and heart warming. It went a bit more risque in the bedroom scene than was necessary and I felt it deviated from the way South Korean dramas typically portray intimacy. All of the characters were well cast and it was enjoyable watching the character and relationship developments. I thoroughly enjoyed this drama but hope that Neflix will not continue to deviate from a formula that works so well for South Korea drama. As a huge South Korean drama fan I do not want to see South Korean dramas "Americanized." I rarely watch American dramas for many of the reasons that make me love South Korean dramas. American dramas are typically too short, too risque, don't have a lot of character or plot development and unnecessarily introduce sad elements.