This review may contain spoilers
The first 9 episodes of this are just a depiction of textbook workplace sexual harassment. The finale and special episode were better.
The boss in this is domineering, controlling, and repeatedly sexually harasses the employee despite continued verbal and non-verbal rejections and visible discomfort on the employee’s part.
There are many times that the boss watches and touches the employee when he is sleeping, even once almost kissing him. He brings his face really close to the employee’s and repeatedly violates his personal space while he is both awake and asleep. He’s constantly non-consensually touching the employee. He asks the employee to do unprofessional tasks, such as giving him massages and cooking for him, and gets offended when the employee complains about the unprofessional duties. He asks the employee if he’s a virgin or has ever been in love before. He proposes that the employee move in with him to help him sleep in exchange for food, accommodation, and transportation, essentially trying to be his sugar daddy. Not once did the employee look at all comfortable in any of these situations.
After the employee gets kidnapped, the boss takes him to his home and essentially forces him to stay there and sleep in the same bed. He says that it’s too late and he’d be causing trouble if he called for the driver now. He insists on sleeping in his own bed and won’t let the employee sleep in the living room when he wants to. He hugs the employee while the employee is sleeping, and the employee wakes up with his lips essentially touching the boss’.
From there on outwards, the sexual harassment got so egregious that I really struggled to not drop the show. There were times that it made me feel a bit sick.
The employee tells the boss that he thinks he’s acting too close and cites rumors as one potential issue. It’s clear that rumors are not his only concern, and that he’s not personally comfortable with the closeness either, but can’t say that due to the power dynamic in play. The boss says he’s fine with rumors and goes in for a kiss, while the employee is leaning away in discomfort, but doesn’t stop until the employee jerks away. But it doesn’t even end here. The employee hides in the bathroom, and when he opens the door, the boss backs him into the wall and kisses his ear. The employee is wide-eyed, looks completely grossed out, and pushes the boss away, telling him that just because he’s an employee, that doesn’t give the boss to right to demand just anything.
The boss had invited himself to the employee’s home, and even after all that, he doesn’t leave. Instead, he just thinks he needs to take it slower. He grabs the employee’s hand (once again noncon touching him) and apologizes. The employee shakes off his hand and tells him to eat quickly and leave, still trying to appease him due to the power dynamic. And the boss? He straight up lies and guilt trips, saying the driver had to leave, and, “You wouldn’t make me take a cab, right? What if I get kidnapped again?” And so he forces the employee to let him spend another night sleeping in the same bed. The next morning, he demands that the employee wash his shirt for when he comes over the next time. Both treating him like some kind of maid, but also presuming that there will be a next time when the employee wasn’t even comfortable with the first time.
During their company trip - the boss reserves the seat next to the employee’s on the bus, then blocks him in and doesn’t let him sit with his coworkers when he wants to. He leans in until the employee is backed against the window and buckles his seatbelt. He tells the employee that he’s not “allowed” to date anyone. He also changes the rooming arrangements so that they share a room, again not giving him a choice. When the boss asks if he’s reluctant to room together, he says no (despite saying yes to coworkers previously), because he can’t possibly say yes due to the power dynamic.
The boss wants to show him what it means to be “cherished”, so he's booked a honeymoon suite with rose petals and one bed. He noncon hugs the employee, backs him up while in just a towel, then drops the towel and goes into the hot spring and wants the employee to join him. The employee is extremely uncomfortable during all this. He manages to escape and join his coworkers in the public pool, where he actually looks happy and comfortable for once. When the boss notices this, instead of realizing that he’s making the employee uncomfortable and that he needs to back off, he says to give him time to be better.
When the employee gets drunk, the boss picks him up over his shoulders, refusing to let him down even when he bites him in protest, and instead smacks the employee in retaliation. While drunk, the employee pins the boss down and collapses on top of him, and the boss starts groping at him on top of and under his shirt. The employee wakes up and stops him, and then the boss pins him down and kisses him while the employee is struggling the whole time. It was completely non-consensual, even if the employee hadn’t been drunk.
They have a conversation where the employee asks if the boss is trying to have fun with him or if he genuinely likes him. The employee essentially says that he has no experience, that the boss is the boss, and that he can just do whatever because he no choice anyways. He comes to the misunderstood conclusion that the boss is just playing with him and then passes out. In the morning, he’s naked in bed (went into the hot springs the night before), being cuddled by the boss. The boss says he has to “take responsibility” for what he did last night, and won’t let him get up. He tells the employee that he’s not “allowed” to drink anymore, and to wait and he’ll “deal with him properly” in a minute. The employee finally does the smart thing and runs while the boss is in the bathroom.
From here on out, the conflict is made out to be that the boss wants a genuine relationship while the employee thinks he’s just playing around. No one is acknowledging that there have been zero interactions between them that haven’t been complete and utter sexual harassment / assault. I was shocked when the employee admitted he had feelings for the boss because he was not welcoming or comfortable in a single interaction with him.
The boss goes real “nice guy”, like a Tinder date after you reject them. When the employee is ignoring the boss, he starts getting all insulting: “What do you think you’re doing disappearing? You think you’re that important? Answer the phone. Don’t take this too far.” Then backtracks and begs: “I’m sorry for my bad attitude. Can we talk in person? Just text me back.” Followed by guilt tripping: “Don’t make me worry. I miss you.” He sends a million texts and when he gets no response and the employee resigns, he shows up at his house. He yanks his arm a million times during the conversation, forcibly preventing him from entering his own house. Still non-consensually touching the employee as the employee repeatedly pushes him away. The employee says, “I know you want me but I don’t necessarily want you. You’re the general manager and this is really not okay.” So what does the boss do? Forces the employee to come back based on a 1-year minimum term stipulation in the contract that he forged. His reasoning is that this is the only way to make him give him the chance to earn his forgiveness.
So the employee comes back, but the boss continues to sexually harass him. The employee says that if the boss is going to ask for things beyond his secretarial duties (like massages), that he needs to pay extra. So the boss forcibly grabs the employee’s arms, hugs him, runs his nose along his face, and asks him how much this would cost, while the employee is standing there stiff and almost crying. And after that, the employee is for some reason defending this despicable behavior, saying that he made the boss upset and not the other way around.
The boss realizes that even though he’s forced the employee to come back, it’s never going to be the same, so he accepts the resignation. Meanwhile, the employee finds out that the contract was forged. And instead of recognizing this as the manipulative, malicious act that it was, he takes it as a revelation that the boss has real feelings for him, so he goes running after him and they finally get together.
Throughout all of this, there’s a very strict power dynamic. The boss is the boss and the employee is the employee. The employee calls the boss “general manager”. The boss expects the employee to follow his orders and the employee does. The employee has to act subservient and appeasing to prevent upsetting the boss. He is not in a position where he can comfortably say no to anything the boss demands he do, or where he can express his own desires and opinions. And the boss exclusively demands — never asks.
None of the things the boss does to show he cares are ever presented as an option. They’re all forced upon the employee. When the employee gets hurt, the boss insists on giving him a piggy back ride, even when he prefers to walk. When the employee is limping while making tea, he commands (not asks) him to “go sit down”. When the boss has extra food, the employee wants to share with the other workers, but the boss commands that he sit and eat with him instead. When the employee is kidnapped, he ignores his wishes to let the kidnapper go. He later lets him go as a kind of demonstration to win the employee over…but the point is, it was never the employee’s choice. It was always ultimately up to the boss.
A workplace relationship between a boss and an employee is pretty much exclusively in the realm of sexual harassment in the real world. But in a fictional world, it CAN be depicted as consensual. The power dynamics have to be toppled early on. They have to be equals where both have the power to say “no” and it will be listened to. There can’t be one ordering the other around, and both have to be comfortably able to express their desires and opinions without fear. There can’t be sexual harassment, dub con, or non con that would be recognized as such even without the power dynamics in play. A Boss and a Babe, for example, while having some consent / boundary issues of its own, did an infinitively better job of not making the entire boss / employee relationship seem predatory and disgusting.
There’s sexism worked into the script too, for no good reason. Things like, “I know he doesn’t mean any harm but you know us women are more sensitive,” and “We should hire a man. Boys are tougher.” And in the special episode, “I’m not a girl. Why would I want a wedding?” in reference to grand romantic gestures.
The only reason I’m giving this 2.5 stars instead of 1 is because of the finale and special episode. They were cheesy as all hell, but very sweet and cute and fluffy if you suspend logic for a minute.
The employee stands up to the boss’ mom, saying he won’t leave for any amount of money, that he’ll take care of the boss if she disowns him. They’re not even properly together yet, but they both just quit right there on the spot. Does it make any logical sense that they’d both blow up their lives with zero backup plan after being together for negative 5 minutes? Absolutely not, but it was the kind of “give up everything for love” that I like, and they were finally equals, with the employee and boss both supporting each other financially. They move in together in the employee’s cheaper place. There’s mutual love and affection - no shying away, no consent issues, no power dynamics. Many good, proper kisses. They go on a vacation to an island despite being unemployed for a month and with no job prospects in sight. They get engaged in the special episode. And everything magically fixes itself, of course. The mom realizes the company needs her son and tries to get him to come back. It’s sweet and cheesy and doesn’t make any logical sense, but it gave me some happy, loving moments after 9 episodes of pure discomfort.
The boss in this is domineering, controlling, and repeatedly sexually harasses the employee despite continued verbal and non-verbal rejections and visible discomfort on the employee’s part.
There are many times that the boss watches and touches the employee when he is sleeping, even once almost kissing him. He brings his face really close to the employee’s and repeatedly violates his personal space while he is both awake and asleep. He’s constantly non-consensually touching the employee. He asks the employee to do unprofessional tasks, such as giving him massages and cooking for him, and gets offended when the employee complains about the unprofessional duties. He asks the employee if he’s a virgin or has ever been in love before. He proposes that the employee move in with him to help him sleep in exchange for food, accommodation, and transportation, essentially trying to be his sugar daddy. Not once did the employee look at all comfortable in any of these situations.
After the employee gets kidnapped, the boss takes him to his home and essentially forces him to stay there and sleep in the same bed. He says that it’s too late and he’d be causing trouble if he called for the driver now. He insists on sleeping in his own bed and won’t let the employee sleep in the living room when he wants to. He hugs the employee while the employee is sleeping, and the employee wakes up with his lips essentially touching the boss’.
From there on outwards, the sexual harassment got so egregious that I really struggled to not drop the show. There were times that it made me feel a bit sick.
The employee tells the boss that he thinks he’s acting too close and cites rumors as one potential issue. It’s clear that rumors are not his only concern, and that he’s not personally comfortable with the closeness either, but can’t say that due to the power dynamic in play. The boss says he’s fine with rumors and goes in for a kiss, while the employee is leaning away in discomfort, but doesn’t stop until the employee jerks away. But it doesn’t even end here. The employee hides in the bathroom, and when he opens the door, the boss backs him into the wall and kisses his ear. The employee is wide-eyed, looks completely grossed out, and pushes the boss away, telling him that just because he’s an employee, that doesn’t give the boss to right to demand just anything.
The boss had invited himself to the employee’s home, and even after all that, he doesn’t leave. Instead, he just thinks he needs to take it slower. He grabs the employee’s hand (once again noncon touching him) and apologizes. The employee shakes off his hand and tells him to eat quickly and leave, still trying to appease him due to the power dynamic. And the boss? He straight up lies and guilt trips, saying the driver had to leave, and, “You wouldn’t make me take a cab, right? What if I get kidnapped again?” And so he forces the employee to let him spend another night sleeping in the same bed. The next morning, he demands that the employee wash his shirt for when he comes over the next time. Both treating him like some kind of maid, but also presuming that there will be a next time when the employee wasn’t even comfortable with the first time.
During their company trip - the boss reserves the seat next to the employee’s on the bus, then blocks him in and doesn’t let him sit with his coworkers when he wants to. He leans in until the employee is backed against the window and buckles his seatbelt. He tells the employee that he’s not “allowed” to date anyone. He also changes the rooming arrangements so that they share a room, again not giving him a choice. When the boss asks if he’s reluctant to room together, he says no (despite saying yes to coworkers previously), because he can’t possibly say yes due to the power dynamic.
The boss wants to show him what it means to be “cherished”, so he's booked a honeymoon suite with rose petals and one bed. He noncon hugs the employee, backs him up while in just a towel, then drops the towel and goes into the hot spring and wants the employee to join him. The employee is extremely uncomfortable during all this. He manages to escape and join his coworkers in the public pool, where he actually looks happy and comfortable for once. When the boss notices this, instead of realizing that he’s making the employee uncomfortable and that he needs to back off, he says to give him time to be better.
When the employee gets drunk, the boss picks him up over his shoulders, refusing to let him down even when he bites him in protest, and instead smacks the employee in retaliation. While drunk, the employee pins the boss down and collapses on top of him, and the boss starts groping at him on top of and under his shirt. The employee wakes up and stops him, and then the boss pins him down and kisses him while the employee is struggling the whole time. It was completely non-consensual, even if the employee hadn’t been drunk.
They have a conversation where the employee asks if the boss is trying to have fun with him or if he genuinely likes him. The employee essentially says that he has no experience, that the boss is the boss, and that he can just do whatever because he no choice anyways. He comes to the misunderstood conclusion that the boss is just playing with him and then passes out. In the morning, he’s naked in bed (went into the hot springs the night before), being cuddled by the boss. The boss says he has to “take responsibility” for what he did last night, and won’t let him get up. He tells the employee that he’s not “allowed” to drink anymore, and to wait and he’ll “deal with him properly” in a minute. The employee finally does the smart thing and runs while the boss is in the bathroom.
From here on out, the conflict is made out to be that the boss wants a genuine relationship while the employee thinks he’s just playing around. No one is acknowledging that there have been zero interactions between them that haven’t been complete and utter sexual harassment / assault. I was shocked when the employee admitted he had feelings for the boss because he was not welcoming or comfortable in a single interaction with him.
The boss goes real “nice guy”, like a Tinder date after you reject them. When the employee is ignoring the boss, he starts getting all insulting: “What do you think you’re doing disappearing? You think you’re that important? Answer the phone. Don’t take this too far.” Then backtracks and begs: “I’m sorry for my bad attitude. Can we talk in person? Just text me back.” Followed by guilt tripping: “Don’t make me worry. I miss you.” He sends a million texts and when he gets no response and the employee resigns, he shows up at his house. He yanks his arm a million times during the conversation, forcibly preventing him from entering his own house. Still non-consensually touching the employee as the employee repeatedly pushes him away. The employee says, “I know you want me but I don’t necessarily want you. You’re the general manager and this is really not okay.” So what does the boss do? Forces the employee to come back based on a 1-year minimum term stipulation in the contract that he forged. His reasoning is that this is the only way to make him give him the chance to earn his forgiveness.
So the employee comes back, but the boss continues to sexually harass him. The employee says that if the boss is going to ask for things beyond his secretarial duties (like massages), that he needs to pay extra. So the boss forcibly grabs the employee’s arms, hugs him, runs his nose along his face, and asks him how much this would cost, while the employee is standing there stiff and almost crying. And after that, the employee is for some reason defending this despicable behavior, saying that he made the boss upset and not the other way around.
The boss realizes that even though he’s forced the employee to come back, it’s never going to be the same, so he accepts the resignation. Meanwhile, the employee finds out that the contract was forged. And instead of recognizing this as the manipulative, malicious act that it was, he takes it as a revelation that the boss has real feelings for him, so he goes running after him and they finally get together.
Throughout all of this, there’s a very strict power dynamic. The boss is the boss and the employee is the employee. The employee calls the boss “general manager”. The boss expects the employee to follow his orders and the employee does. The employee has to act subservient and appeasing to prevent upsetting the boss. He is not in a position where he can comfortably say no to anything the boss demands he do, or where he can express his own desires and opinions. And the boss exclusively demands — never asks.
None of the things the boss does to show he cares are ever presented as an option. They’re all forced upon the employee. When the employee gets hurt, the boss insists on giving him a piggy back ride, even when he prefers to walk. When the employee is limping while making tea, he commands (not asks) him to “go sit down”. When the boss has extra food, the employee wants to share with the other workers, but the boss commands that he sit and eat with him instead. When the employee is kidnapped, he ignores his wishes to let the kidnapper go. He later lets him go as a kind of demonstration to win the employee over…but the point is, it was never the employee’s choice. It was always ultimately up to the boss.
A workplace relationship between a boss and an employee is pretty much exclusively in the realm of sexual harassment in the real world. But in a fictional world, it CAN be depicted as consensual. The power dynamics have to be toppled early on. They have to be equals where both have the power to say “no” and it will be listened to. There can’t be one ordering the other around, and both have to be comfortably able to express their desires and opinions without fear. There can’t be sexual harassment, dub con, or non con that would be recognized as such even without the power dynamics in play. A Boss and a Babe, for example, while having some consent / boundary issues of its own, did an infinitively better job of not making the entire boss / employee relationship seem predatory and disgusting.
There’s sexism worked into the script too, for no good reason. Things like, “I know he doesn’t mean any harm but you know us women are more sensitive,” and “We should hire a man. Boys are tougher.” And in the special episode, “I’m not a girl. Why would I want a wedding?” in reference to grand romantic gestures.
The only reason I’m giving this 2.5 stars instead of 1 is because of the finale and special episode. They were cheesy as all hell, but very sweet and cute and fluffy if you suspend logic for a minute.
The employee stands up to the boss’ mom, saying he won’t leave for any amount of money, that he’ll take care of the boss if she disowns him. They’re not even properly together yet, but they both just quit right there on the spot. Does it make any logical sense that they’d both blow up their lives with zero backup plan after being together for negative 5 minutes? Absolutely not, but it was the kind of “give up everything for love” that I like, and they were finally equals, with the employee and boss both supporting each other financially. They move in together in the employee’s cheaper place. There’s mutual love and affection - no shying away, no consent issues, no power dynamics. Many good, proper kisses. They go on a vacation to an island despite being unemployed for a month and with no job prospects in sight. They get engaged in the special episode. And everything magically fixes itself, of course. The mom realizes the company needs her son and tries to get him to come back. It’s sweet and cheesy and doesn’t make any logical sense, but it gave me some happy, loving moments after 9 episodes of pure discomfort.
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