Reel Tastes & Travels – a light dose of entertainment to wake you up

‘The Dashing [Insert Profession of Choice]‘

Just as things were getting interesting with Eun-ho, Boyfriend on Demand yanks the rug out from under Mi-rae’s feet and informs her that her free trial has ended. Contrary to my expectations and despite the tantalizing cliffhanger it left her on, she doesn’t immediately jump to becoming a paid subscriber. Instead she returns to her regular routine and for a while it seems like she’s learnt from her experiences with virtual dating and is ready to be open again in her personal life. 

Unlike before she didnt immediately shut down the idea of getting set up by her co-worker, at least until Kyoung-nam butted in to inform everyone that she’s already seeing someone (remember the excuse she used to duck out early from a previous team event?). Honestly even if that were true, it’s none of his business. It feels like they’re trying to hint at his interest in Mi-rae – being hyper aware of the conversations around her, checking on what she’s doing, trying to find some common ground after they’re asked to co-judge the romantasy section of the webtoon competition at work. But his expressions so far are so one-note and his personality non-existent, that he comes across as irksome instead of a strong, silent, yearning type. I can’t even fault Mi-rae for feeling awkward and irritated around him, even in spite of her unwarranted hostility towards him. 

But when one door closes, another one opens; in this case a blind date set up by her friends. While they kind of roped her into it without fully giving her a chance to agree, it seems to go well. She is charming, he is attentive and they appear to hit it off. Yet, when he wants to meet her again, she seems uncomfortable with the idea. And when he presses her to be honest with him to avoid wasting time, she uses that as an excuse to nip things in the bud. Here we see how deep the scars of her past relationship run. Yes, her experiences with Boyfriend on Demand have helped her start healing, but she is far from ready to let herself be that vulnerable with someone in real life. Which makes it all the more believable when she turns back to Boyfriend on Demand to stave off her loneliness. She doesn’t want to be alone, but she doesn’t want to risk getting hurt again. A virtual boyfriend seems like the perfect solution!

Naturally she’s hoping to pick up where she left off with Eun-ho but unfortunately getting to pick your boyfriend isn’t a feature of the basic package. Instead her guide encourages her to stop worrying about committing to one persona, and instead enjoy the multitude of dating experiences available. Unlike the real world, where dating around casually can often get one branded negatively (particularly as a woman), here there is no one to judge and no one that she has to explain herself to. 

What follows is a montage of various romance tropes, from an action romance on a plane (who cares if ‘relationships that start under intense circumstances never last’), to a medical drama setting (shout-out to Grey’s Anatomy fans), to a historical Joseon-era romance and many others in between. Unlike previous avatars, we don’t get to spend much time with any particular leading man and that’s sort of the point. This particular phase of Mi-rae’s experience isn’t about any particular boyfriend, but rather about rediscovering the fun in dating and in living in the moment, without worrying about any expectations of longer term commitments that she is not ready for. 

Stray Musings

• Mi-rae’s failure to spot a whopper of a typo in her webtoon before it goes live is an uncharacteristic miss on her part. Was it really just down to her haste to not leave office much after Kyoung-nam, or is her time in VR causing her to lose some focus at work?
• At the end of the episode when Mi-rae is at a personal + professional low, the guide nudges her to a new date and who should pop up again but Eun-ho. This should be interesting.
• It’s funny that just when Mi-rae seems ok to cancel her subscription once it’s done, that’s when they bring back the boyfriend she was desperate to reunite with. Nothing like the threat of losing a customer to get a company to pull out all the stops!