Romance is a Bonus Book (2019)
Quick Take: Romance is a Bonus Book, starring Lee Jong-suk and Lee Na-Young. 8.6/10. 16 one-hour episodes.
Synopsis: Romance is a Bonus Book tells the story of Kang Dani-i and Cha Eun-ho, best friends since childhood. Newly divorced and broke, Dani-i can’t get hired after seven years staying home with her daughter, even though she was previously successful at an advertising firm. Desperate and homeless, she turns to Eun-ho. The remainder of the film concerns office politics in a small book-publishing firm, the fate of a famous writer who has disappeared from public view, and Eun-ho’s campaign to get Dan-i to see him as a romantic partner, even though she is five years older and has always regarded him as her little brother.
Review: The travails of professional women are an ongoing theme in Korean dramas. We have Dan-i, age 37, forced to start over in a menial position to get hired at all. Also in the company are a married woman who has endured years of being ignored by her husband, and finally divorces him; the company’s Witch #1, who jilted her fiance` years ago to focus on her career, only to find herself successful but lonely and unfulfilled; Witch #2, a mid-level manager who has an unrequited crush on Eun-ho, and drinks; and the silly new-hire who eventually embraces career and company — the first step on the same road as the older women who have gone this way before.
The story and characters are engaging, but the casting is problematic. The actors playing the main characters were actually 10 years apart in age at the time; he was 30 and she was 40. The characters Dan-i and Eun-ho are supposedly 5 years apart in age; he’s 32 and she’s 37. The problem is that Lee Jong-suk looks about 18.
The lighting choice may have been intended to flatter the 40-year-old Lee Na-Young, so she looks like a better match for her younger co-star. The founders of the publishing firm, all of whom have important supporting roles, are also middle-aged. Taking ten years off of their looks makes sense, especially since they all had romantic subplots of their own. However, taking ten years off of Lee Jong-suk makes him look like a kid. A cute kid, but still.
Rewatchable - 3, Compelling - 3, Plot/ Story/Writing - 7, Acting/Casting - 8, Production - 10, Bonus - 5. Not enough plot to fill time allotted; lead actress miscast; bonus points for working women subplots and Lee Jong-suk.
Notes:
Lee Jong-suk
was the youngest male model to participate in Seoul Fashion Week, at age 16. He started acting soon thereafter, gaining notice in Secret Garden (2010). His breakout role was in School 2013 (2012). See him also in Pinocchio (2014), W: Two Worlds (2016), While You Were Sleeping (2017), Hymn of Death (2018), and Big Mouth (2022).
Lee Na-young
has worked steadily as an actress since 1999. She has often chosen challenging roles, such as a suicidal rape victim (Our Happy Time, movie 2006) and a tormented sleepwalker (Dream, movie 2008), as well as comedy roles such as this one in Bonus Book.
Wi Ha-joon
achieved international fame with Squid Game (2022), but he has been acting since 2012. See him also in Something in the Rain (2018), 18 Again (2021), and Little Women (2022).
Park Gyu-young
had only a supporting role in Bonus Book; she played the young office intern. What’s remarkable about her is that you won’t recognize her from one drama to the next — she inhabits her characters so well. See her in It’s Okay Not to be Okay (2020) and Dali and the Cocky Prince (2021)