Recap "Business Proposal" Episode 11

Episode 11 of Business Proposal begins with Ha-ri telling Chairman Kang everything, starting with her fake relationship with Tae-moo. He cuts her off before she can finish. Thinking their relationship has always been a sham, he orders her to stop seeing him.

When he gets a call about Tae-moo’s accident, he leaves. Ha-ri shows up at the hospital too, where Chairman Kang yells at her. Tae-moo walks in–fine except for a broken arm–and Ha-ri says she’ll be on her way. But Tae-moo stops her and tells his grandfather that he loves her.

Chairman Kang insists Tae-moo ends things with Ha-ri, but Tae-moo counters by threatening to never give him grandchildren. The chairman is upset that everything about Ha-ri has been a lie, but Tae-moo takes all of the blame. 

Ha-ri leaves but later returns, concerned about Tae-moo because it has started to rain. They stand at a window, staring at the rain outside while Tae-moo reminisces about his childhood. He thanks Ha-ri for being concerned about him.

He says his parents’ accident happened because of him. On his birthday, they were hurrying back home so they could go to an amusement park with their son. He still worries his parents resent him for causing their accident. Ha-ri then asks if he resents her for causing his accident–he doesn’t–and she insists that his parents love him, just as he loves her.

That night, Ha-ri falls asleep in Tae-moo’s bed. Her mom catches her sneaking back home, but thinks she’s heading out to work and ushers her out the door.

Young-seo later shows Ha-ri the comments on Ha-ri’s promotional video with Min-woo for GOFood. Yoo-ra commented on it to lambast Ha-ri, telling everyone that she has been crushing on Min-woo for years and yet is dating the president of her company.

Chairman Kang sees the comments and has the video taken down. At work, Ms. Yeo says the higher-ups have told their development team to stop their current project. They say it’s a bad idea to continue work with Ha-ri’s name on it, as she is getting bad publicity.

People talk about Ha-ri behind her back at work, but her own team stands up for her. Ha-ri sees this and sobs, going up to hug them.

Young-seo goes to Ha-ri’s family restaurant to try and keep her parents from finding out about the scandal. All the while, Tae-moo is oblivious to what’s going on.

He calls Ha-ri to say he feels relieved to have his grandfather know their secret. He now wants everyone to know. Just as he is about to suggest they get married, the call disconnects.

Tae-moo overhears his grandfather talking about sending him somewhere. He wants to send him to work in America for two years so he can take time to think about the consequences of being with Ha-ri. Tae-moo insists that he wants to marry her.

But Chairman Kang doesn’t give up. He tells Ha-ri he wants her to work in the Daejeon factory until things calm down. If this makes her unhappy, he suggests she resign. She refuses, listing off all of her achievements for his company. She then goes on a walk to process everything that’s happened.

Tae-moo finally learns of the scandal and worries that Ha-ri has been suffering alone. He learns from his grandfather about the plan to get Ha-ri to move or resign. The chairman says the board could demand Tae-moo’s resignation if he protests.

In a frenzy, Tae-moo searches for Ha-ri. He even shows up at the restaurant to ask her parents where she is. When he addresses them as “Mother” and “Father,” they demand to know why. They still think he is Ha-ri’s colleague, Mr. Gye. Ha-min corrects them, spilling that he is President Kang and is dating Ha-ri.

Meanwhile, Young-seo’s father shows up to ask her and Seong-hoon to dinner. At dinner, he says he approves of them dating and suggests that Seong-hoon could potentially inherit his company. He wants to make amends with Young-seo. She agrees, though she needs time to process everything.

On their drive back to the flat, Young-seo finds a diamond ring in Seong-hoon’s glove box. This leads him to stop the car, get out, and propose to her.

Ha-ri finally calls Tae-moo back, and they meet at the Seoul Tower, where he asks her to never disappear again. The episode ends with them getting a room. They kiss and start to undress each other.

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The Episode Review

If there is one villainous presence in Business Proposal, it’s–surprise!–Chairman Kang Da-goo. He’s gone from the romantic and pleasant-but-interfering grandfather to an intimidating obstacle to our favorite couple’s happiness in two seconds flat, it seems. It’s a lazy cop out to create conflict in the show, but it does at least instigate some confident action on the part of both protagonists.

This episode has a lot of sweet moments for Ha-ri and Tae-moo that culminate in some risky commitments between them. This makes for a nice change from so many misunderstandings and secrets. Going into the season finale, it’s time for them to step into the spotlight.

Overall, this episode has a sweet, wholesome feel to it–from Ha-ri’s team standing up for her, to Young-seo’s and Seong-hoon’s moment, and then Ha-ri’s and Tae-moo’s standing up for each other.

How do you feel about Tae-moo’s impending proposal and Chairman Kang’s interference? Are you ready for the finale?