This review may contain spoilers
My Bias, My Boss: Everyone Has the Wrong Idea, and It’s Wonderful
I am on episode 4, so this review is based mostly on where I am at now in my watch: The car apology scene.
The reason this rom-com is landing for me so well: it has nearly all the machinery that can make a rom-com irritating, but so far it keeps using that machinery for comedy rather than suffering.
The misunderstandings are the clearest example. There are *so many* of them, but they're generally plausible, funny, and allowed to resolve once they've served their purpose. The spy plot could easily have produced three episodes of Ha-gi treating Da-reum horribly. Instead, he figures out he's wrong, feels awful, tries repeatedly to apologize, and finally tells her exactly what he thought. She laughs until she can barely breathe and volunteers to catch the real mole. Done.
And the big misunderstanding, Da-reum believing Ha-gi is secretly in love with Chan, is almost functioning as an anti-angst device. She isn't jealous or threatened by Ha-gi and Chan because she thinks she's observing their tragic secret romance. Ha-gi doesn't yet understand why Chan and Da-reum bother him. Chan seems sufficiently decent that even if he does like her, I'm increasingly doubtful he'll turn it into some grim competition with his best friend. So the triangle exists, but everybody is standing on the wrong side of it. That's much more fun than two men glaring at each other for twelve episodes.
Even the antagonism is currently at manageable rom-com scale. SE is unscrupulous, and there's apparently a mole; the jealous coworker is nasty and probably sabotaged Da-reum's report; But nobody has yet emerged from a limousine announcing plans to destroy Appello, disinherit Ha-gi and have Da-reum deported. 😂
And the leads are simply very easy to spend time with. Da-reum is cheerful without being incompetent, and we're now discovering she's also a bit of a tease. Ha-gi is serious and socially stiff without being cold or cruel. Most importantly, they're already having fun together. That car scene wasn't some grand romantic set piece. It was an apology that turned into her laughing at him, declaring loyalty to his company, volunteering to become a counterspy and imagining herself in a television drama while he unsuccessfully tried not to smile at her.
That's exactly the sort of small interaction that makes me buy a romance.
So yes: cute people, increasingly cute together; lots of comedy; low-stakes obstacles; misunderstandings that actually *generate* jokes instead of making you scream JUST SAY THE SENTENCE; and enough plot to keep the fluff moving.
And Giant Chan is apparently riding in the back seat until further notice. 😂
The reason this rom-com is landing for me so well: it has nearly all the machinery that can make a rom-com irritating, but so far it keeps using that machinery for comedy rather than suffering.
The misunderstandings are the clearest example. There are *so many* of them, but they're generally plausible, funny, and allowed to resolve once they've served their purpose. The spy plot could easily have produced three episodes of Ha-gi treating Da-reum horribly. Instead, he figures out he's wrong, feels awful, tries repeatedly to apologize, and finally tells her exactly what he thought. She laughs until she can barely breathe and volunteers to catch the real mole. Done.
And the big misunderstanding, Da-reum believing Ha-gi is secretly in love with Chan, is almost functioning as an anti-angst device. She isn't jealous or threatened by Ha-gi and Chan because she thinks she's observing their tragic secret romance. Ha-gi doesn't yet understand why Chan and Da-reum bother him. Chan seems sufficiently decent that even if he does like her, I'm increasingly doubtful he'll turn it into some grim competition with his best friend. So the triangle exists, but everybody is standing on the wrong side of it. That's much more fun than two men glaring at each other for twelve episodes.
Even the antagonism is currently at manageable rom-com scale. SE is unscrupulous, and there's apparently a mole; the jealous coworker is nasty and probably sabotaged Da-reum's report; But nobody has yet emerged from a limousine announcing plans to destroy Appello, disinherit Ha-gi and have Da-reum deported. 😂
And the leads are simply very easy to spend time with. Da-reum is cheerful without being incompetent, and we're now discovering she's also a bit of a tease. Ha-gi is serious and socially stiff without being cold or cruel. Most importantly, they're already having fun together. That car scene wasn't some grand romantic set piece. It was an apology that turned into her laughing at him, declaring loyalty to his company, volunteering to become a counterspy and imagining herself in a television drama while he unsuccessfully tried not to smile at her.
That's exactly the sort of small interaction that makes me buy a romance.
So yes: cute people, increasingly cute together; lots of comedy; low-stakes obstacles; misunderstandings that actually *generate* jokes instead of making you scream JUST SAY THE SENTENCE; and enough plot to keep the fluff moving.
And Giant Chan is apparently riding in the back seat until further notice. 😂
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