A Boss and a Babe (2023)

A boss, a babe, and a lot of bad writing

I really wanted to like this, and in certain moments I did. But only if I turned my brain off enough in order to enjoy the fluff. This is gonna be a long one, so strap yourselves in.

To start this off, let’s talk about Force and Book. When I first saw them in Enchanté, I liked them as a pairing, and I still do. But I think that’s only because I’ve seen plenty of behind the scenes clips of them, and thusly know that they love working together, and enjoy each other’s company. They’ve been great friends for a really long time, then got cast in a BL together, which is a very heartwarming story. If I didn’t know all that, I probably wouldn’t enjoy them together as much as I do. Objectively speaking, I don’t think they have much romantic chemistry. They do have chemistry, don’t get me wrong. But whenever I see them together, it mostly feels like two best friends - which granted, they are, but you shouldn’t be able to tell that while watching the show. It becomes especially apparent when physical intimacy is involved. They’re solid with hugs, but anything that goes beyond hugging just feels slightly off. I don’t feel any sexual tension between them, which makes scenes of that sort very awkward to watch. It feels more like someone dared them to make out in a game of truth or dare, and they are awkwardly being peer-pressured into it.
When it comes to their acting ability in general, I don’t think they’re the greatest actors, but I think they suit the roles of Gun and Cher really well. Since the show doesn’t ask for many moments of intense emotion from them, they’re doing a pretty decent job. The acting gets rough during supposedly sad and moving scenes. Clearly, they just need a bit more practice. And I feel like maybe it would be good to try pairing them with different acting partners in the future. I feel like there might be more romantic chemistry there, and they could thusly unfold their potential better. They’d probably be great at playing brothers who love to annoy each other tough. And by that I mean playing actual brothers, not step-brothers who get romantically involved or something like that (Yes, I’m looking at you HIStory 4 Close to You).

The acting or the lack of romantic chemistry, however, isn’t my main issue. In regular, light-hearted scenes with a bit of humour, they’re doing well enough to make me smile at their oftentimes cute interactions. My main issue with the series is the writing. And it started to show from the very beginning.

Gun is supposed to be this tough, cold, unapproachable guy who is feared by his employees. That in itself isn’t the problem. The problem is that the Gun which characters tell us about does NOT exist. We’re being told one thing, but shown a completely different thing. Gun took an instant liking to Cher, opened up to him incredibly fast, and Cher basically had him wrapped around his finger by episode two. This completely clashes with the image of the stern, unapproachable, antisocial boss we were sold. Judging by what we were told, Gun should’ve taken a long time to warm up to Cher. He should’ve treated him very roughly at the start. But instead, he basically turned into a love drunk puppy whenever Cher was around. At no time did I believe in the image of Gun that was sold to us. If you wanted me to believe that he was this hard-to-please, bitter boss, you would’ve had to show me that for more than maybe one or two scenes. And now you may say "Well, he had a reason to open up to Cher so easily! After all, he’s been listening to his ASMR videos for a while!“ While that is true, it is no excuse to me. After all, it’s not like he really knew Cher from his videos, he only knew his voice. I do believe that this may be a factor, why he could’ve taken a quicker liking to Cher. But quicker doesn’t mean basically melting whenever Cher’s around from like day two. Or even in the last episode, Cher said that Gun apparently doesn’t say what’s on his mind, when that’s entirely untrue from what we’ve seen. The thing is, all this could’ve been easily avoided. Just don’t have characters talk about how scary and hard to approach the boss is. Have him be a regular boss. Then it would’ve been way more believable that he’d take a liking to Cher that quickly. If you don’t want to show a period of time where he’s being cold towards Cher in the beginning, don’t write it into your story. Simple as that. Then again "regular boss easily falls in love with his new intern“ doesn’t sound like quite as intriguing of a story.

The next issue, in my opinion, is the way this show writes conflict. We have a few different conflicts, such as Cher taking the blame for that one employee who gave the evidence to the boss of that other company, or the whole "I’m just an intern, you’re a company owner“ conflict. Both of those were handled very poorly. For example, when Cher takes the blame for his co-worker in the first scenario, Gun (who doesn’t know Cher is innocent yet) is obviously very upset. They end up having a fight in Cher’s condo during which Cher suddenly bursts out saying "My life has been a big mess ever since I met you! It’s freaking exhausting! We should’ve never met!“ This made no sense to me at all. It was never really shown that meeting Gun really messed with Cher’s life at all. Sure, he had to face his own feelings, but what else happened? Gun was being nothing but welcoming and nice to him up to that point, so this came so out of the blue. It seemed like the writers just wanted to have some dramatic lines in there, so they threw in that dialogue, even if it made no sense given the context.

The whole intern dating the boss conflict was handled poorly too. First, I have to give credit where credit is due though. I usually really dislike boss-employee (especially intern) relationships, because of the imbalance in the power dynamic. And I still think it’s problematic, but in this show, it didn’t really irk me all that much. That’s because despite Cher being the intern, it never felt like there was a power imbalance in their relationship. Sure, Cher is more child-like and immature than Gun, but he has a lot of moments in which he’s serious. So I never felt like this was something to be concerned about. Nor did Gun ever use his position as the boss, to take out his mood on Cher in the office after a fight or something (for example by making him do silly tasks or such). So I was positively surprised by that.
However, the conflict that came from the whole boss-intern-dynamic could’ve so easily been avoided. Cher was only working at the office for a very limited amount of time. By the time the two got really close, he had like a month or two left, I think. First of all, Gun should’ve just waited to make any romantic move on Cher until his internship was over. Just because that’s what’s objectively the right thing to do. But even if he didn’t, at least when it very obviously became an issue for Cher, they should’ve just paused their relationship. If it is such a big deal for Cher that people are talking, then why not just wait to actually be together until your internship is over? You only had like a month to go. Couldn’t you have kept it in your pants for that long?? I just don’t get it. Since this conflict could’ve been so easily avoided or solved, it just felt silly to me.

Then we have the conflict of Gun’s mother not wanting Cher to be with Gun. And this is the part of the show that made me really furious, because it turned the character of Cher into an inconsiderate asshole. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Cher altogether, simply because he’s pretty annoying in my opinion. But he had his moments. I was fine with him, until this conflict turned him into an absolute idiot with no regard for Gun’s feelings. So, the issue at hand is that Gun’s mother tells Cher that she doesn’t think he’s worthy of being with her son. That’s an interesting conflict! If you were in that position, what would you do? Talk to your significant other about what their mother told you? Tell them that you feel unworthy without mentioning their mother? Tell them that you need a bit of time to become someone you’re proud of, to then be the best version of you in your relationship? Well, not our boy Cher! Instead, he leaves a note on the pillow, saying that they aren’t suitable to be together after all, at least for now, and to please not come looking for him. At this point, I was screaming at my computer screen because WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, CHER???????? Gun has at multiple times voiced his fear of losing his happiness, aka Cher. Cher kept telling him that he needn’t fear, because he’d always stay with him. Even when Cher already knew that he was going to leave, he still told Gun that. Clearly, Gun was very insecure about this, and had a fear of abandonment that he was very open about with Cher. So you’d assume that Cher wouldn’t just leave him like a fucking asshole. I understand that Cher was in a difficult position. And I’m not saying he should’ve stayed with Gun if he didn’t feel comfortable (yet). But what he should’ve done is be considerate, and tell Gun that he has to do certain things before they can be together. That he doesn’t have to worry, because he’ll be back. That maybe in the meantime, they can just be friends or something. But nope, he just left a note and walked right out. It is justified later by Cher saying, that Gun wouldn't have let him go if he told him the truth. But I don't buy it.
This whole thing actually would’ve been a super intriguing plot to explore! Having Gun revert to his old grumpy and closed-off self (which we didn’t see much of, as mentioned before, but you get what I mean) would’ve been very interesting. Seeing Cher struggle to keep away from Gun as he tries to find out what he needs to become, in order to feel worthy of being with Gun. If this had happened half-way through the series, and was then explored, it would’ve made for an interesting plot line. But of course that didn’t happen. This happened in episode 11, leaving no room for exploration. The conflict basically didn’t even last a whole episode, because by the end of it, thanks to the power of montage and time-skip, Cher was back at Gun’s office, asking him to be his boyfriend. Sigh.
I would rate this series much higher, if Gun had just been like "I’m definitely not getting back together with you“ and slammed the door in Cher’s face. Which would’ve been the logical thing for him to do. He let Cher in (which apparently was hard for him, because of his fear of people leaving, which wasn’t portrayed properly but oh well), just for him to hurt him like this. It would make sense for him to revert back into his shell, not wanting to let anyone close ever again. But of course this is episode 12, so we need to resolve this quickly and get to a happy end. And thusly, Gun immediately takes Cher back, proving once again that Cher has him wrapped around his finger and that there’s nothing of a tough, hard to warm up to boss anywhere in sight. Of course Gun's mom is now suddenly on board with Cher too. I'm not saying she couldn't have changed her mind, but I just don't think winning an e-sports competition would really impress this woman.

I think part of the problem is, that the writers weren’t interested in exploring conflict in a meaningful way. They wanted to make a cute, light-hearted show, but figured they needed conflict of some kind, to keep it interesting. I honestly would’ve preferred if they just fed us fluff for 12 episodes straight (or well, gay), instead of shoehorning in these stupid conflicts and then not doing anything with them. Or even better, they should’ve turned this into 8 (or at most 10) episodes, because it felt very repetitive and it was just dragging by the end.

There were more issues, that I’ll not dive into as much, because this review is already way too long. But some of those issues are:
- Why the hell was there one random scene of Jack and his mom, and then we never got a scene from Jack’s perspective again? That should’ve just been cut and told to us through dialogue.
- The whole storyline of Tian having been sexually abused by her stepfather had no point being there. It wasn’t explored at all, but just served as some shocking twist that wasn’t needed. If you’re going to throw in such a serious issue, do it properly or not at all.
- Similarly, I struggled with the inclusion of Jack suffering from depression. I’m all for including mental illnesses in BLs, even if they aren’t at the forefront of the story. It’s important to do so, even. But the way they went about it in this show felt off to me. It didn’t feel like a sincere portrayal, but rather like someone in the writer’s room was like "Imagine how much praise we’ll get if we include some sort of mental illness!“, so they threw this in to fill some woke quota, rather than being genuinely interested in depicting it in a sincere way. Maybe that’s just my subjective feeling though, I can’t quite put into words why I’m feeling iffy about it in this case specifically.
- Also, the whole Thoop storyline just came to an abrupt and unexplained end. What happened to his drug case? What happened to the step-father? It felt like it resolved itself magically because well, this is episode 12, and everyone needs a happy ending now! Similarly, we never got an end to the whole storyline with Gun's former friend, Time. That plot thread just vanished into thin air.
- The last episode was filled with excessive cringe. I love some amount of cringe and a lot of fluff, but this was A LOT to handle. When Jack spit his drink in Cher’s face, saying he’s choking on his public love declarations, I heavily related. He’s now officially my favorite character in this mess.

I’m aware that my review sounds rather negative. But there definitely were really cute moments in this show that I was able to enjoy. So despite getting angry at the writing, I still found myself smiling quite a lot. Still, I cannot rate this any higher than a 5 due to the mentioned issues. I feel like we need to hold BLs to a higher standard if we want to get more out of them than just mindless entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, when you got nothing better to do. The show is cute, but if you pay attention to the writing, it’ll lose its charm pretty quickly. If you like Force and Book, you’ll probably enjoy this despite all the glaring issues. If you aren’t a fan of them, I’d recommend skipping this entirely. Or at least just fast-forwarding through it. If you’re interested in office romances, you’ll probably find a better one, after all there’s plenty of those out there.

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unexpectedly dark for a lighthearted romcom

Overall: I was okay with this as a 'turn your brain off' romcom, but then there was an extremely dark plot line (also zero consequences for a trash character?!?) and the plot ran around in circles (definitely could have been 8 episodes instead of 12). I'm rating this more harshly because GMMTV has the money and experience to make an excellent series. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed with this one. Aired on GMMTV's YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: past rape for 3 years involving a child/step parent, past suicide, mental health struggles, non con/dub con touching, homophobia, fight/beaten up, non con picture taking/posting, unwanted public outing

What I Liked
- good friendship dynamics (and that they raised the difficulty of the boss/employee romantic dynamic)
- Yacht with his blue hair
- the established couple is adorable (but they didn't get enough screen time nor a plot)
- addressing mental health struggles (except that Cher should not have talked about Jack without Jack's prior approval and they also made it seem like everyone was happy that Jack stopped taking medication when in reality as I understand it medication is something to be taken as a management strategy, it's not a long term cure)
- a supportive ex
- neutral, comedy sound effects

Room For Improvement
- this was oddly very dark, I think they still could have had some serious parts (focusing on the mental health struggles as an example), but it almost felt disrespectful to have the rest be a light romcom, I'm not sure how to explain this but I didn't like the combo of extremely serious plot with silly plot
- lack of consequences for a trash character and instant forgiveness for the mom
- Thup, there are things that even if your loved one says you should keep secret that you don't keep secret and tell the authorities/school personnel and what was going on was one of those things. Thup wasn't a young child, he should have been around 12 to 15 when this was happening and then afterwards to let rumors circulate about Cher, he did not seek justice for his sibling and he had the gall to blame Cher....ugh
- paper thin plot that went around in circles
- cliche poor communication with fully grown adults, Cher's totally stupid "plan" in episode 11
- consent problems: there were some things they did really well but there was also poor consent including Cher ignoring Gun's physical boundaries in the beginning, Gun locking Cher in his car, "if you don't let me touch you I'll kiss you instead"
- I realize they were going for comedy, but many jokes didn't make me laugh
- Gun letting Cher be jealous for his own entertainment instead of clearing up the miscommunication
- nonsense things (we won't get into the hr headache this would be in reality), Cher is never shown to be doing anything with his ASMR channel, we barely see him gaming
- the cringey title

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It was so-so, except it had Force in it which is better than so-so.

This was much better than the disastrous Enchante, but it's still subpar in all but one regard which I'll return to.

The first half or so of the series was quite good - the characters were interesting, complex, and consistent, and there were several promising plot threads set up...

... all of which were left totally unresolved. Not one single plot point went anywhere. Tian's death, Thoop's conviction, Gun's problems with Time, none of it. Time never even showed up in the story again after the first few episodes, which is a pity because Drake was rather good in a darker role. Even Gun's mother instantly dropped her resistance for no apparent reason.

Instead, the story, such as it was, devolved into the usual GMM ridiculous and implausible drama, wherin Cher's best friend gives Cher completely, astonishingly stupid advice and Cher inexplicably follows it, even thought it's wildly out of his character.

Then the writers did the laziest thing imaginable and gave us a one-year time skip. If someone left you without explanation and then showed up a year later and got on his knee and asked you to be his boyfriend would you a) be overjoyed and immediately accept, or b) Tell him to go jump off a cliff? Can you imagine the emotional suffering and grieving Gun must have gone through? No normal human being would be OK with that. Think about how long a year is and how much changes in that time. Force would have to move on, probably need counseling, and would have had his trust shattered. For years after he'd had PTSD and fear Cher had left him if he was ever late or his phone battery died.

On the positive side, Force is so hot that it hurts a little to look at him. Besides being beautiful, with ridiculous eyelashes and a sexy voice, he has possibly the best body of any BL actor. He does a great job as Gun, playing him consistently and making him enthralling. He plays a quiet and introverted person, and yet he outshines the bubbly Cher by a mile. Book is not bad by any means, but his acting doesn't have a lot of depth. He can be cute and quirky quite well, but I never believed he had romantic feelings for Gun. Whenever they were touching, Book was always leaning away, as if a bit repelled by the proximity. Compare that to Fourth & Gemini in My School President where there's almost no actual sexual intimacy but they portrayed people totally into each other just by looks, leaning into each other, and touching each other almost illicitly. It's really not that hard. To be fair, that might be the directing - it's a well-worn trope that the uke only reluctantly gives in to the unnatural lusts of the seme in exchange for being taken care of.

Maybe being friends in real life is a negative - if you grew up with someone, it would have that sibling-esque quality that makes the thought of being with them kind of icky.

Anyway, Force has so much charisma and is so compelling that he really should be in something much better than this series - if he were paired with someone as good as he is it would be explosive. Imagine Force and Fourth, or Force and Gawin (actually, that might be TOO hot and kill off the audience).

This series was a bit of a guilty pleasure, just because I couldn't get enough of Force, and Book was cute. But it's not good, and it was carried solely by one person.

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This Boss Has Been Dismissed

This is one of those dramas that is so dominated by attractive characters and sweet moments that you can almost be okay with all that it lacks. Almost, but not quite. This drama is lacking in a lot of areas, but that being said, I enjoyed parts of it. If you don't look too far below the surface, it's an okay drama. Not amazing, but certainly not the worst one out there. But when you begin to look deeper, you start to realize that the cute fluff was probably just a ploy to cover up the gaping holes. Based on the ratings, I was hoping for more from this drama despite the ridiculous title and I think it could have gone there, but it just didn't. It's like the writers lost their way part way through and decided the best way to finish it was with the typical dose of unnecessary drama. Still, if you don't think too hard, it's entertaining enough.

I have to admit that I'm getting really tired of BLs that almost completely lack a plot. I truly do not understand how it is so hard to write one. This one started out okay with the team developing their game and the drama of their idea being stolen and utilized by a former employee working for another company. But then it just floundered. That plot ended up not really going anywhere and just fizzled out and we were left with nonsensical drama between our two leads to take us to the finish line. Gun and Time's past relationship was never really developed or well explained. And Gun never explains that it wasn't actually him who gave up Time which, I sort of understood, but also didn't. Then there's Thup's story serving as kind of a second plot line and it also fizzled out. It didn't help that there was so little background on him. We know he's Thian's little brother and Cher's honorary brother, but that's about it. He's constantly asking Cher for money, supposedly for school, but it's not clear if that's actually the case. It's hinted that he's actually using it to place bets. And he has so much anger inside, and that's not really expanded on. It's obviously linked to his sister's death and what happened to her, but it's something that could have been explored a lot more to make him a more interesting and relevant character. His subsequent arrest on drug charges is made into a big deal and then we never hear about it again. He's seen once in the final episode and it's assumed he was cleared of charges, but how that all came about is left in the wind. We additionally have the very dark story with Thian which is absolutely heartbreaking, but was not treated with the respect or attention it deserved. If you are going to involve a story of a young woman being raped and impregnated by her stepfather and then committing suicide, you need to commit to that story. It is not something you throw in for added drama and then ghost which is exactly what happened here. Thup throws out that revelation, Cher briefly questions if the step-father can be arrested and then it's never mentioned again aside from at the end when Thup and his mother appear together and it's implied the step-father is no longer in the picture. I was not okay with that at all.

The constant push and pull there at the end between Cher and Gun got old very quickly. A lot of BLs resort to this and it's so overdone and tired. And I'm not blaming Gun here. He was consistent with his love for Cher and damned the consequences. And I can also to an extent understand Cher's wavering at least initially with one of his best friends saying that a CEO and an intern getting together wasn't appropriate. But I also think he blew it way out of proportion. The primary issue was their PDA at work, which I personally found valid. You're there to work, not flirt with your boss and slack off. So why he didn't click to that and just tell Gun that they needed to cool it at work and instead overreacted is beyond me. And not once, but several times. Listen to your man, sir, he's telling you he loves you and you can get through this. Communicate! The whole trope too of I'm going to go off and do my own thing and just leave you but then I'll come back has also been used a lot recently and is equally old. What would be a great twist is if the other person actually didn't wait for them and moved on with their life. Not that I expect that will ever happen, but it would be more interesting than, yes, I've waited for you for five years or whatever. If you've waited that long, please go get therapy, that's not healthy.

Speaking on that note, one of the things I was impressed with was the inclusion of Jack's mental health, specifically his depressive disorder. A lot of dramas skirt mental health issues, so I appreciated that it was actually discussed. What I was NOT impressed with was Cher flippantly discussing it with other members of the team without Jack's permission. That is a huge no no. You do not speak about somebody else's mental health issues with other people. It is a huge breach of privacy and trust. Another issue I took was the celebration that Jack could go off his meds. I have depression, I will be on medication for the rest of my life probably, so to have it portrayed like a depressive order is something that can be cured didn't sit real well with me. The one thing I will say though, is that it seemed like his depressive order was caused by a specific event, namely something that happened between him and a former lover, so that could translate to a different kind of treatment. I'm not a medical professional though so I don't know. Generally speaking, however, like I said, depression isn't something that's cured. Your dose of meds may be adjusted, but your doctor doesn't typically take you off of them.

In terms of characters, I was disappointed by the lack of character development and background. This was not one of those dramas that had a huge cast where it was impossible to have any detail because they were juggling so many characters. This just seemed like more of a case of laziness or disinterest more than anything else. Gun, I think, had the most character development but I didn't feel it was consistent. He came across as cold and aloof at the beginning but that attitude pretty quickly changed after he met Cher. Too quickly, in my opinion. I wanted to see a gradual softening of his attitude towards Cher and then that also translating to those around him. But while his attitude towards Cher obviously changed, there wasn't as much of a change in how he treated others. The exception would be those close to Cher. With them, he was pretty open and friendly, but anyone else outside that circle pretty much seemed to still get the cold shoulder. Cher was pretty stagnant frankly. He had some minor changes, he became slightly more serious, but overall, his character remained relatively unchanged which was disappointing. It was clear that his character started wearing off on Gun, but not vice versa. As for their relationship, the pacing was terrible. It was like they rushed into it to begin with, I mean there first kiss is in Episode 2, I think, before remaining static for a while, then there would be some progression followed by another static period and so on and so forth. It didn't have a good, consistent flow and I think it would have been better if they had developed it more at the beginning before just jumping in.

And while I loved the friendship between Cher, Jack, Zo, Three, and Tubtab, they were also very neglected in terms of character development and background. In fact, I don't think any background was given on them regarding how any of them met and formed their gaming team, how long Zo and Three had been together, nothing but the barest of hints regarding Jack's background and former love interest, nothing about Tubtab's café, etc. Having that kind of information enriches the characters, makes them seem more real and less one dimensional. Zo and Three in particular were treated as a unit rather than given identities as individuals. Basically every scene revolved around them as a pair which isn't fair to the characters. Time was another character that had a huge disservice done to him. There was so much there that could have been delved into with his past friendship with Gun, his transfer to another company, and the leaking that he had been accessing his former employers emails to gain knowledge of their game. Instead, he's given almost no screen time, he makes an idle threat that at first I thought was going to add some juice to the drama but led nowhere, and ends up getting fired and having one last fight with Gun in which Gun does nothing. I still don't understand why he didn't tell him that he wasn't the one to send the evidence. And last but not least, we have Porsche who is Gun's ex, but again, no other information is really given about him. He's basically there as a sounding board for Gun/interpreter of Cher's actions to some degree and nothing more which again was disappointing because I think he couldn't have been a really interesting character. Gun's mother was another pretty weak character. I don't think it helped that everything with her was thrown in at the end, but she came across as very no nonsense women and pretty determined that Cher was not suitable for her son. But he graduates and wins a gaming competition and suddenly she's okay with them? I'm guessing there just wasn't enough time left to really develop her character, but it felt sloppy.

This was another drama where the acting was hit or miss. Force and Book have been friends for a really long time, some sixteen years if memory serves, and unfortunately, that's what comes through. Their romantic chemistry is nil, in fact as soon as a scene turned romantic, moving from just hugs to kissing, it was a like switch flipped and all the heat left the room. I felt absolutely nothing. Their buddy chemistry on the other hand was great. I know a number of the popular BL couples these days are made up of actors who have been friends for years and some of them work really well together and can bring that romantic chemistry to the table, I'm looking at First and Khaotung. Force and Book are just two who can't. I think they'd be great together in a drama where they're just friends and one or both of them have different love interests. They're acting is nothing spectacular. I wasn't overly impressed with them in Enchante and that just continued here. Book is just kind of boring to watch. They both lack depth, but it's especially noticeable with Book. He's adorable, don't get me wrong, and plucky, but that's about it. It starts to get repetitive after a while. He can make sad faces all day, but I just don't generally feel it. He had a few instances where he did connect, so I think he has potential. Force is slightly better. His emotions at least reached his eyes sometimes and there were moments where I could feel his pain. But he's not consistent and that's a problem. And while I understand the character he played was cold, he often came off as robotic. The other actors did serviceable jobs. I don't think any of them were spectacular, but I blame most of that on the fact that their characters were so incredibly shallow.

I know this is nitpicking, but the synopsis talks about Cher's gaming and ASMR channel. Gun is interested in him from the get go because of his voice from his ASMR channel which I didn't get because while Book's voice is fine, it's not like there's anything unique about it. I mean absolutely offense, but I didn't discern any kind of special quality to it that could make me understand where Gun was coming from. Cher's ASMR channel is never featured except in one maybe fifteen second clip and is barely mentioned after Gun's initial recognition of him as the owner of that channel and his gaming also doesn't play into the story much either except as a source of conflict with his friends and as a way to show off Gun.

There were a few things that I did like. The whole husband/wife trope was nowhere to be seen here. They refer to each other as boyfriends once they reach that point and nothing else. The fact that Gun was gay and a CEO was never an issue. Aside from comments that his mother had tried to "fix" him, no one batted an eye about the two of them being together other aside from feeling it was inappropriate for the CEO of the company to be together with an intern. And while it wasn't explicitly mentioned, it is implied that Cher is bisexual. I appreciated that the fact he had liked a girl previously and was now with a guy was never questioned or even commented on.

Production was okay. There were a couple of scenes that had some really choppy editing done which was distracting. The music wasn't anything spectacular, but I always take it as a bonus if it's not overly loud and distracting.

If you can turn your brain off and just enjoy the cute moments and fluff, you'll probably enjoy this drama. If you're someone though who wants a fully developed plot and characters, I would steer clear as you won't find that here. It's one of those dramas that had the potential to be something if it had an actual plot and better writing, but lacking both, it's mediocre at best.

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Had So Much Potential

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

For the positive side, the series had some cute moments and can be enjoyable at times. I also like the supportive dynamic of Cher’s friend group. Now for the negative side. The story concept was nothing new which is not a bad thing if it was well executed. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The whole script came across as a ruff first draft that someone forgot to proofread. It also had some very poor/weird director choices. The pacing with the main leads’ relationship was too quick. Everything felt rushed from the very beginning of episode 1. All the storylines were haphazardly introduced and incomplete. Most of them received half-baked resolutions or were completely forgotten. This also had a weird mixture of comedy and drama. The comedy sections fell flat and the drama sections turned very dark at times. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. The actors were good considering what they had to work with. I admit this was hard to gage because of the poorly developed script and bad director choices.

Random Note:

There is a big disconnect between the marketing and the content of this series. The official trailer, description, and opening credits suggests this is a light and fluffy romcom. It’s not uncommon for a comedy to have a little drama, but not the type they introduced. I also think the series poster makes no sense.

It had cute opening credits.

I see a lot of acting potential with Force and Book. They just need better managers to fight for them. Unfortunately, this is the second BL series they were in that had a poorly developed script.

******Potential Spoiler Alert******

There was no lead up to how the main leads formed their relationship which happened in a matter of minutes in episode one.

I appreciated they tried to introduce some important subject matters, but it did not do it tactfully. The subject matters were mostly treated as a story gimmick or after thought.

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ForceBook is NOT a main couple material

Zero expectations and yet, they didn’t come up with any sense of excitement during the whole duration of the show. This drama serves as for me to give another chance for the on-screen chemistry of Force and Book since their first main role was truly a devastating one (pertaining to Enchante.) Yet, they failed me again; no chemistry, bland acting, cliche storylines; overall, a boring one.

I already came to the point that I don’t care what will happen to the story. Even the supporting characters aren’t saving the show. Enchante, despite being a below-average show, is way better than this one. A Boss and a Babe is a total mess since Day 1. I said what I said.

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Surface Level Emotions and Inconsistencies Abound

Are Gun and Cher cute? Yes. Do we have friendship shenanigans that make for an enjoyable time? Sure. The show tries to tackle important and serious topics? Absolutely.

HOWEVER, the relationships in the show always felt skin deep. We had moments that felt deep, but they were immediately followed by whole episodes that ignored or otherwise disregarded those moments. The deep moments felt like they had no effect on the rest of the show. Characters randomly fall ill but then get better with no hidden meanings or consequences. Characters declared bold and intense intentions that are seldom followed through. Grave consequences are threatened but never enforced because of some very minor possible solutions Cher or Gun come up with? Gun and Cher regularly discuss how they will stay together forever, and yet they almost break up (or do break up) just about every episode after they officially start dating.

Depression is brought up but then waved aside like it's an illness you can simply get over. Child abuse and rape begin like a major plot point but are settled off screen and with no payoff for the viewer. Social class divisions are a problem but it never feels serious. Homophobia is treated like a simple office gossip problem. Loss of dreams/innocence rage amongst our game players but everything is always solved with basic apologies.

Overall the show gets points for being cute and having some fun characters, but it loses points all over for an ill executed plot with a lackluster script riddled with inconsistencies and base level emotional depth.

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its so so romcom

acting's okay but storyline makes everything look so bad. in the beginning loved it thought its gonna be good but its goes to nowhere at some point i got so bored that i start fast forwarding it and gave up in between. Everything happens so fast which doesn't feel real at all. if u r watching this don't expect much. i wish thia bl series give more thought on story. everytime storyline makes it hard to like the series. and continuation of scene are poor some scene doesn’t feel related.
i wish maker focus more on story and scene time.
just my opinion don't mind if u dont agree

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Will miss Gun and Cher !!

Warning ⚠️ if you want solid plot with no loopholes and logical explanations for events dont watch the series.
But if you want some great chemistry between the leads, non problematic relationship, fluffiest fluff this is the one for you. It made my Friday's stress free, gonna miss GunCher for sure :((
Book and Force have improved tremendously and had chemistry from the EP1, which is pretty rare. Book's Cher may seem annoying at first, but later you realise why he acts this way you can understand where he is coming from. Force though younger irl is believable as the serious boss who is searching for love and who found it in intern Cher. This isnt by far the perfect series, but it made me feel warm and happy to see their chemistry and relationship.
Goodbye GunCher, lets go ForceBook looking forward to more of the crackling chemistry in upcoming works.. <3 <3

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A babe with another babe

From the title I thought this might be an office romance kinda drama
But, ya there is office, there is romance but put together I felt there was no office romance as per my expectations of it.

An intern and a boss seemed a little interesting but I did not find the scary, overpowering, strong minded BOSS character here as portrayed by Cher’s colleagues in the earlier episodes. So, as my headline I just saw romance of two babes here
I found Cher very very annoying because of him being talkative and non sensible in the beginning but he slowing grew on me after they showing his vulnerable and mature side. Coming to Gun, I still wonder what made him fall for Cher the romance line nor the chemistry was well built and I couldn’t really make myself fall for CherGun as a couple
A lot of scenes were shot in the office, but when in the world do people work there. I always see them gossiping, giggling, blaming, taking people away, drinking coffee. Like if they are in office at least be realistic give them some work be a little professional

But anyway, overall this is a mediocre series where I had no aftereffects. No reminiscing the leads romance nor fantasizing about any character being real. No surprise if I forget watching something like this after few months
Do I recommend it to anyone? Yes , maybe you’ll find it fun if binge watched with a whole lot of skipping

Thank you.
Yours sincerely ,
Someone whose tired after having a LONGGG day at work

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This series is for people who likes More Comedy, More Fluff and Less Drama.

[ I added more in the end after I finished the series ]
What I love about this series are
1. Force and Book’s chemistry
2. Cher’s character
3. Comedic Romance
4. Conversations about LGBT


1. Force and Book’s chemistry
I watched A Boss and A Babe accidentally without knowing what story I was watching.
Just after I finished Episode 1, Force and Book’s chemistry interests me. I don’t know what is the definition of good or bad chemistry. I felt like “ Oh, their chemistry is really something, Very interesting. “ Now, I know how to describe it in words. Their chemistry feels natural and comfortable which is my favorite type of on-screen chemistry. Though I like watching Rom-Coms, I never liked unrealistic and cringey romantic atmosphere.

Their romantic scenes never feel cringey. As someone who likes to break the romantic atmosphere with jokes, I can relate to Cher a lot.

After that, I searched and searched, and found out that Force and Book knew each other since kindergarten?!!! They are friends for years. That’s why their chemistry is so good and goes with the flow.


2. Cher’s character
I saw a lot of comments about Cher being annoying. He’s indeed talkative and foul-mouthed ( as he said it himself ), but he’s not annoying.
He’s the kind of person who would turn a stressful workplace into full of laughter.

The main reason why I love Cher’s character is that from the first episode to the latest episode ( Ep 7 ), I never felt power struggle or power imbalance between Cher and Gun.
I don’t usually like to watch age gap romance or office romance because I can feel the power imbalance between the main leads. In many straight dramas, the male lead is in the superior position most of the time and the female lead is so clumsy and shy for no reason, which I hate.

For Cher, he always treated Gun equally.
He never hesitates to speak his mind.
He doesn’t give a shit whether someone is an authority or not. He says what he wants to say. No filter.
Like
Gun : I don’t like skinship.
Cher : But you touched my face first.

Aoi : Oh, your mother’s name is Phon? Haha!!
Cher : Hey, We stopped making fun of other people’s parents’ names long ago. Do people still do it these days?
Oh, I forgot.
You’re from the old days.

Cher : Boss, why are you late for work today?
*His colleagues panicking*

Some people says Cher is clueless.
But I don’t think so.
I think he’s aware of the authority and hierarchy. He doesn’t care and he wants to say what he wants, that’s all.
As someone who doesn’t like the authority figures or hierarchy, Cher’s character entertains me a lot.

Also I love about the character depth.
Cher looks like talkative, easy going, honest and friendly type but he hides his negative emotions with his cheerfulness. He defends others so well but rarely defends himself, and it might be because of his guilt and blaming himself for Tian’s death.

Gun looks like strict, cold and mean boss but he has moral values that he doesn’t want to be a bad person. He’s not arrogant like most bosses you watch on screen.
He has to be strict because he’s the CEO. Jack says Gun was friendlier before. His coldness is just a wall to hide his feelings, his insecurities about being gay and feeling like a freak in this society, and the wall broke down when Cher treats him like a normal human being.

3. Comedic Romance
It says Romantic Comedy but I see more Comedy here, which I love so much.
As someone who’s not romantic but still likes to watch Rom-Com, this is so good for me.
A lot of Rom-Coms that the majority enjoys are just not my taste.

I love the way Cher ruins Gun’s romantic lines with jokes because I can relate to him a lot. ( I want Cher to joke more in the later episodes )


4. Conversations about LGBT
I love that they talked about the topic “ People wants to know who’s the top, who’s the bottom when someone comes out. “
This is so true and toxic that it became normalized.
IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
Why do people push heteronormativity into gay relationships?? It doesn’t make any sense.
Like what are you gonna do with that Top or Bottom information?!! Write a fanfic or Daydream??
Why do they do like
“ Oh, he’s shorter and cuter, he’s the bottom.
He’s taller, calm and collected, he’s the top. “
Tell that to the real gays and they will laugh their ass off because it doesn’t work that way.
Their personalities and how they act in bed are not related.

As far as I see, the episodes get cuter and cuter.
I’ve been stressing out a lot in this year so this series is a comfort show for me.
Force and Book are giving us the healthy and fluffy relationship in March, and they gonna give the toxic and messy relationship in Only Friends at the end of this year.
I’m preparing my mental health for the train wreck.

Overall, I freaking love this series and I’m looking forward to watch the sequel in Our Skyy 2 as well.

—————

Now, this is after I finished the series.

I don’t know what’s the deal with some people. They said that the series got boring without conflict or drama, and then when the drama is going on, they don’t like it anymore. Like, what do you want??

Yes, I admit that there are some plot holes. They should add more scenes of Tian’s stepfather being put into jail, the friendship between Thyme and Gun, the wealth of Gun and his family, etc.
But it’s good that they didn’t drag on Tian’s case for long. Because the show is not about Tian or just Cher only. It’s about the relationship between Cher and Gun.

To people who said Cher is selfish or senseless, you should judge someone after you checked where they came from and learned to see from their perspective.

Cher lost someone he loved and he was blamed for it. Her reputation was ruined because she was pregnant. ( Cases like being pregnant as a teenager is heavily criticized by society, especially in conservative Asian countries )
So, he’s afraid that this will repeat. He’s willing to do anything in order to save Gun’s reputation as he’s an heir to a major hotel group.

Gun would do anything to be by Cher’s side. But what Cher said after Gun’s mom found out about their relationship is sensible.
“ If one day, you fall out of love with me or I fall out of love with you, you will have nothing left. “
Cher can just let Gun cut off his family or money. But he didn’t.
There are other things as important as love and you shouldn’t just ignore them just to be with someone. Life is not all about love life.

Also, even when Cher is improving himself to be good enough for Gun, he’s fine if Gun found someone suitable for him.
Some people might think Cher doesn’t love Gun as much as Gun does, but it’s not.
His thoughts here are not romantic, but they’re realistic and sensible that he won’t force Gun to fall in love with him again.
This is what a Mature Relationship should look like, i.e. I’m fine by my own but I want to be with you, so I choose to be with you.

Honestly, I think Cher should have told Gun that he would come back.
But the stubborn Gun wouldn’t let him. If he told him to stay apart for a few months and Gun didn’t accept it, they would fight and it would lead to an actual breakup.
Cher is like the representation of those children who learned to sneak because of their strict parents, Haha.

Sure, Cher is cruel for leaving Gun for a year and just left a note.
But in relationships, Compatibility is all that matters.
Gun is willing to wait for Cher and Cher is willing to improve himself for Gun. If they’re fine with each other, nothing else matters, Period!

Lastly,
What’s flawless are Force and Book’s acting ( especially, drama scenes ), their chemistry and Cher’s sense of humor.
The plot is not perfect but I give overall 8.5 for Cher’s sense of humor which I can relate a lot.
Characters like Cher who would crack jokes in romantic moments are rare to find in romance genre so I’m glad that he exists.
I hope Cher and Gun are happy and live their lives best in their universe.

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