A Boss and a Babe (2023)

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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