Force and Book are back on our screen after the disastrous Enchante that graced our screen in 2022. I'd like to start off with the fact that I saw growth, and that's the most important thing. But I would also like to state that for whatever reason, Force and Book still don't do it for me. It's like they would give me an inch, and then 10 minutes later, we fell five steps back. I'll explain that one more later, but for now, A Boss and A Babe was the somewhat redeeming series that this up-and-coming GMMTV couple needed.

Let's Dive In.

So A Boss and A Babe is a story about a CEO and an intern falling in love with a few more, low-key not important details. This series really is just a cutesy, no-real-problems-are-happening series. We get a little bit of back-stabbing, poor communication, and the very little stakes of them being together, but nothing in the story gives, "Oh wow, this is getting good." Which is why I said I loved it in the beginning since the set up of the characters was nice, but it all comes tumbling down after maybe the 5-6th episode and things get boring.

But I do want to talk about some of the conflicts we see in the series, with one of the main ones being the situation with Drake's character and Boss. The stakes are there, but overall, it's a simple resolution and nothing serious happens besides a silly little punch. Then moving onto Tian's storyline and the troubles Cher had with his brother Troop, which is not given enough space to flourish. they delve into it a little, but it's so little that it doesn't feel fleshed out enough. They scraped the surface and that was it. I wish we had a whole episode dedicated to this storyline and dedicated to the story that they gave Tian. The same goes for Boss' mother popping up at the end to complain that Cher was a terrible choice for him. Felt like very cheap writing to throw in a last-minute problem that's given no real resolution, just Cher shows up to Boss' office and asks him to be his boyfriend and then it's all better. Okay.

Again with Book and Force's connection. Them being friends shows through their acting, and it's a good and a bad thing. In some scenes, it's perfect. They look comfortable, their dialogue feels organic, and their chemistry feels great. and then in other scenes, I feel that tenseness again, with the slither of awkwardness, and it gets even worse for some of the intimate scenes they have. Again, I judge harder on GMMTV series because I know they have the funds and means to do better, so I expect better, and that's why I'm going to go on a limb here and say that the kisses and intimate moment in this series gets a big ole thumbs down. Some weren't as bad as others, but boy oh boy, let them have a scene where they have to kiss just once, and I'm cringing. The dead fish kiss, the standing ten feet apart, Cher's eyes open doing their last kiss, all of it, just..bad.

Like I stated earlier, I see the growth in their acting which is why this series kind of worked for me. I see that they've tried their best with these new roles they've received, and yes, a lot of it could've used more work, but overall, it's good. The only thing unbelievable is Boss having the label as being mean and super demanding with his employees, when throughout the series he just felt like he didn't care about his job are the things his employees did other than getting him his coffee. But with Book, I think he did a fantastic job. Loved loved loved his character and the choice he made for him. came off as believable, and we see that immaturity mixed with his extroverted energy and his slight shyness around Boss. He did a really excellent job.

Onto the side characters, Mike is back and he was looking better than ever. He's always given the funny best friend roles, and just like in the other series, he did a great job. I would like to see Mike playing a character outside of the norms he's given because I really believe he has more to show. The side couple was very lackluster. Some random fainting, and a bunch of sweet nothings, but those two characters felt like a really odd pairing, and that never changed for me even by the end. Their skinship felt a bit forced, but at least Thi would be labeled the best boyfriend ever. The other characters, Tubtab, Porsche, and the office workers drove the story in a good direction but didn't really add anything (other than the fact that Thor's eye had me in a chokehold). What I really loved though was when their friend group was all together. It added in some great comedy moments and that was probably one of my favorite parts of the series.

Ratings:

Story: 7.5/10 - None of the stakes felt very stake-y, and this really was just some cutesy moments given to both Book and Force to execute which they kind of did. I'll give most of the stars to the Tian storyline that I was most interested in but wasn't given enough of. I also loved the friend group which felt very natural and organic on screen.

Acting: 8.5/10 - I saw so much growth in Book, and he did an excellent job. Force did well too, but I still see the parts in which he can work on those improvements. Maybe it wasn't him and more of the director's choice for his character, but I feel like he could've given us more. All side characters were good too, but the side couple felt way too forced.

Music: 6/10 - It wasn't distracting so good.

Recommendation Value: 6.5/10 - I would recommend this series over the other series they had, but I still wouldn't recommend this if someone wanted to watch a GMMTV series (that spot is still given to ATOTS, which is still GMMTV's best BL series). But Book and Force are two very beautiful humans to look at, so this series is at least not on the bottom of shows to recommend, I'll just say that.