[Fix That Ending] Bring on the great grandbabies!

by Guest Beanie

The last two episodes of Business Proposal were flat and unsatisfying — not horrible, but not a fitting end to an otherwise great rom-com.

It was only when I started to read the webtoon that I realized what may have happened here: several new episodes of the webtoon have posted since Business Proposal ended its broadcast. The screenwriters were forced with a conundrum: how do you end a story that has not ended yet? Faced with that question, they panicked. What they should have done is simply reviewed the logic of the show up to that point and then written what fit. To be fair, they did not get everything wrong, but simply failed to follow the full logic of the story they had built through the previous ten episodes.

The following is how I would fix the Business Proposal ending, picking up at the beginning of Episode 11. Tae-mu still has the accident, and Grandpa is still angry at Hari – and wants her dumped pronto. Tae-mu gives Grandpa the same choice: Hari or no great grandbabies. You pick, Grandpa!

Because of Yoo-ra’s tell-all, Grandpa still decides to gamble on getting rid of Hari and calls her into his office to try to force her out of the company — only partly because of damage to the company’s image, but also fearing that Hari is just a gold-digger. This standard trope was subverted when Hari refuses to resign in one of the best scenes from the last episodes.

Here’s where I would start changing things: I would eliminate the scene where Sung-hoon helps Tae-mu put on his sweater and instead move up the scene where Young-seo takes Sung-hoon to have dinner with Dear Old Dad. Here I’d keep Daddy’s insincere “acceptance” of Sung-hoon as a prospective son-in-law, including the apparent offer to have Sung-hoon eventually take over his company. As we shall see, Grandpa has a different plan anyway, so it was just as well that he did not mean it.

The immediate proposal of marriage by Young-seo on the drive back is actually quite logical. She knows her Daddy, and she knows what is coming next, so she has to strike while the iron is hot — although Sung-hoon thinks that Daddy’s acceptance is real and therefore it’s okay to go ahead and marry. I would also keep the scene where he presents Young-seo with the ring that he had already bought – that scene was a classic.

As Young-seo expected, her Daddy soon calls Sung-hoon to get him to drop Young-seo — but by now it is too late. We get to see her handing her Daddy her resignation, which is one of the best scenes in the final episodes.

It is at this point that Grandpa talks to Tae-mu again, and Tae-mu tells him he will marry Hari no matter what, after which Grandpa fakes his illness. Sure enough, he does have a life-threatening medical situation… and has to go to America. But — sorry screenwriters — if the Chairman has to go aboard for treatment, the one individual who absolutely cannot go with him is the CEO: he has to stay and steer the ship from headquarters. No sentimental exceptions are allowed. In turn, it is this dire health situation that changes everything for Grandpa, because he may be out of time.

Grandpa does the most logical thing for a person in this situation: he issues his own ultimatum. He announces he will accept Hari, but only on the condition that they marry immediately. He throws a double wedding because Young-seo is already pregnant (perhaps even from the first night that she and Sung-hoon slept together). At the wedding, he presents Sung-hoon and Young-seo with the present of a house — one suitable to lodge the future CEO of GoFood.

We learn that all along it has been Grandpa’s plan to have Sung-hoon become CEO when Tae-mu became chairman, thus solving his succession problem. (Officially Sung-hoon may be Tae-mu’s secretary, but he’s really more like Tae-mu’s understudy. And how better to teach him the job than having him right there with Tae-mu every day? Those cash gifts which made it possible for Sung-hoon to bankroll Young-seo’s new business were simply Grandpa’s way of making up for a lower salary).

Sung-hoon is promoted to Senior Executive Vice President as the first step towards CEO, which is also good because they will be able to hire a nanny to help care for the baby, allowing Young-seo to start her business as well. Sung-hoon persuades Young-seo to allow her dad to attend the wedding, if only not to embarrass Grandpa. Dear Old Dad looks bewildered, apparently realizing that his daughter has married very well indeed.

Epilogue – One year later.

Sung-hoon and Young-seo arrive at Grandpa’s house, with Young-seo on the phone firmly telling Daddy that he can see his grandson, but she will handle raising and educating him. Sung-hoon is carrying their cute little baby boy. Tae-mu and Hari come through the door — they’re just back from the hospital with their new little girl. Grandpa finally gets to hold his great granddaughter, and Project Great Grandbabies is now firmly on track.

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[Fix That Ending] Bring on the great grandbabies!