Boyfriend on Demand: Spoiler-Free Mini Review
- Aug 3
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Title: | Boyfriend on Demand (2026) |
Platform: | Netflix |
MDL & MDL Rating: | |
Genre: | Contemporary Rom Com/ Sci Fi |
Episode Count: | 10 |
Parental Guidance Rating: | MA: MA lite-- no intimate scenes, just Language (F words included). |
Starring: | Ji Soo (Snowdrop.. and Blackpink obvs) Seo In Guk (Doom At Your Service) Gong Min Jung (Hometown Cha Cha Cha) Ha Young (Our Sticky Love) |
RBTS Rating:  | 3/5 Stars (An inoffensive nothing burger that should have been a movie, but relies on Jisoo's star power and cameos to make up the difference. It's a fine watch if you're bored, but it might make you more bored).  |
Cast From Left to Right: #JiSoo, #SeoInGuk, #GongMinJung, #HaYoung
Synopsis:
The story follows exhausted webtoon producer Seo Mi Rae as she escapes reality through a subscription-based virtual dating simulation program, where she meets the boyfriends of her dreams. Seo Mi Rae is someone who longs for a second chance at love in virtual reality. Accustomed to a nonexistent dating life due to her hectic schedule, Mi Rae receives a ‘Monthly Boyfriend’ device by chance, allowing her to enter a virtual world. Entering this virtual reality, she encounters unrealistically perfect boyfriends, awakening her dormant desires for romance. Park Gyeong Nam is Mi Rae’s colleague and rival webtoon producer. Although he is capable and competent at work, Mi Rae feels uneasy around him. To Mi Rae, he’s the last person she wants to see, yet in the office, he’s known as one of the best. Despite his indifferent and cold demeanor, he is someone with surprising secrets, sure to stir emotions in Mi Rae. @MDL
Spoiler-Free Mini Review:
Boyfriend on Demand is an inoffensive nothing burger that should have been a movie, but managed to drag out a wafer thin plot for 10 episodes of what felt like AI brain rot (ironically). That being said, I didn't hate this, and I will take that as a win. My biggest gripe is that the story spent WAY too much time on the AI boyfriends, and since I couldn't invest in them emotionally, because: 1) They weren't the Male Lead and 2) They aren't even real, it felt like filler. Because if it's not real, what is the point? Narratively, the AI romance took away from the real life romance, but it didn't even feel intentional, it felt like the result of bad script writing. Sure, I get spending time with one specific virtual boyfriend to make the comparison between AI dating and real life dating, but we hardly spent time with the ML because we were so busy with the Cameos. They were fun, but it just goes to show that the drama was about cameos, dressing up, and Jisoo, and not about an actual story.
The Excessive Amount of Boyfriends In Question
Because what was the actual point of the story? Boyfriend on Demand wasn't trying to make grandiose statements about AI and human relationships, which is fine; it's a rom com. But throughout the drama the AI helps the FL move on from her past relationship, so is the AI supposed to have merit? It was a good thing after all? I think society is headed in a similar direction with AI and dating (I'm already crashing out over the bumble AI assistant picking matches), so I wish it had explored the repercussions of this. While I'm not the biggest fan of AI, I do think it is useful in computer science and the medical field, but it needs to keep its machine learning hands of people work. And dating is people work. The show isn't obligated to hate AI and to it's credit it had the FL pick a real life boyfriend, but it never condemned virtual dating, which isn't a crime, but does make the future feel grim.
Another issue is that he FL and ML were 2D characters who were as unreal as the virtual world. We know almost nothing about them. The FL is career driven and not over her breakup, and the ML randomly likes her. Those are their main characteristics. Was this written with AI? Am I in the great beyond? The two didn't have great chemistry and Jisoo still has a long way to go as an actress (rooting for you girl), but I was still interested in the outcome of their relationship and found the two likable.
Boyfriend on Demand committed the crime of wasting potential and being pretty bland, but the cameos were fun and the ML did a good job with the little material he was given. If you are down for a mindless Rom Com with little investment demanded, you've come to the right place.
Story=3 (Got better after ep 5 and then went down after ep 8), Acting=2.5 (I don't support Jisoo slander so I'll just say she has a great voice), Production Quality=3 (AI world looked AI), Ending=2.75 (That poor shelf), Enjoyability= 3.5 (ehh, fine)
Trailer:
Director: #KimJungShik (No Gain, No Love)
Screenwriter: #NamgungDoYeong
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