Review: Boss & Me

This Review of Boss & Me Contains Some Spoilers in the Form of Fangirl Squees

After fell in love with Love O2O I found translations of the Gu Man novel it was based on.  Which is when I discovered, to my ultimate joy, that there were other dramas based on Gu Man’s novels!  So, after giving myself a day to relish in the Love O2O feels I hit play on Boss & Me.  Oh boy, I am so glad that I did!  I think that I must really love Gu Man’s writing because I adored Boss & Me just as much as I loved Love O2O!!!

What I Wanted:

1. Something as addictive and cracktastic as Love O2O
2. A sweet and fluffy romance
3. Really amazing OTP moments
4. Low amount of drama

What I Discovered:

Was this addictive?  I watched all 33 episodes in a week.  Along with all the other real life things that demand my time; family, friends, and work.  A week for 33 episodes is pretty crazy.  It was totally cracky and I stayed up way too late again to watch.  I feel like I haven’t slept in a month because of this and Love O2O.  So yeah, it was so good and I would highly recommend it!  It was pretty easy and fun to watch, with not a whole lot of drama.  I noticed a lot of similarities to Love O2O.  Haughty, rich CEO and poor goodhearted woman.  Video games also play a part in Boss & Me, she plays a game to let off steam when Feng Teng frustrates her.  Both leads have friends that support them and love them, the bromance and sisterhood was strong with this one.

This was so fluffy and sweet and adorable and the love story was so wonderful.  Feng Teng was cold and calculating and closed off from love.  Shan Shan was silly and not quite the smartest girl in the room, but she always saw the positives.  Together they were cute and so freaking sweet and watching Feng Teng melt and fall in love was so much fun.  Honestly, I think that was one of the highlights.  The way he slowly melted and fell deeply in love with Shan Shan was so much fun to watch.  I couldn’t have asked for a more fluffy and bubbly romance.  It was exactly what I wanted!

Every moment that the OTP shared was beautiful.  From their first encounter all the way through to the finale episode.  I felt like the actors had the most amazing chemistry and that chemistry enhanced the on screen performance in the best way.  It wasn’t just the lead couple that had excellent rapport, it was the entire cast.  Feng Teng and his best friend Handsome Qi had great interactions.  Shan Shan, her cousin Liu Liu, and their friend Shuang Yi had such a great on screen bond that it added an extra layer of fun and enjoyment to the show for me.  The OTP moments were amazing, even when Feng Teng was watching Shan Shan through the window in his office there was a wonderful tension and attraction there.  This OTP is definitely in my top five!

As with Love O2O, there was very little drama in the story for Boss & Me.  Every story has to have some conflict in order for there to be some substance.  However, when it becomes so overwhelming that the story drags and nothing can move forward that’s what I have a hard time getting through.  There was very little unnecessary drama in this show which was great.  The obstacles and issues that the OTP and group faced were within the realm of reason and added to the story instead of halting all forward momentum.

Additional Observations:

Tidbits I Could Live Without:

Just a friendly neighborhood reminder that the rest of this review will contain spoilers!!!

In all honesty the things that I did not like were few and far between.  I’m totally ok with that!  Really, really alright with that.  And, these few things could be labeled as more nitpicking than anything else.  None of these were negative enough to make my watch of the show drag or unpleasant, so I count that as a huge win!

So first let’s just get this out of the way.  Shan Shan hides away on the balcony outside of the CEO Feng Teng’s office to eat her lunch.  An office that has an entire wall of windows… transparent windows… So either Shan Shan is so extremely oblivious (to the point of being mentally deficient) or her eyesight is really bad.  She has no idea that the windows look into Feng Teng’s office.  I mean seriously girl, the dude on the other side of the glass no more then five feet from you is invisible?  That bothered me a little.  I wished that the production crew had either made the glass very dark or have a reflective treatment so that Shan Shan couldn’t seen through into Feng Teng’s office.  It sort of broke the illusion of the show for me.  Staying on the Shan Shan train, I have one more complaint in regard to her.  Throughout the entirety of the show she does not communicate with Feng Teng, like never once.  There are plenty of scenes in which she talks about her desires, fears, wishes, needs with her friends and even Handsome Qi, but not with the one person that actually matters.  This was the number one cause for about 90% of the drama in the show.  If she had only talked to Feng Teng so many things could have been avoided and their relationship would have been so much stronger.

Lastly, the second female lead frustrated me as a character.  I dislike this type of character the most.  She was in love with Feng Teng since forever, but never said anything to him or did anything to build a romantic relationship with him.  Throughout their lives he saw her as nothing more than his little sister and loved her fiercely as such.  However, Liu Shu, wants more but won’t do anything to make this happen.  Somehow she expects Feng Teng to suddenly see her as a romantic partner instead of a little sister.  When Feng Teng begins to develop feelings for Shan Shan.  Liu Shu cannot handle that and makes some really bad (unintelligent) choices to try and break them up, win him back, manipulate people to get what she wants, and drive away Shan Shan.  However, Liu Shu did grow eventually and that was her saving grace.  I think because this character type is one that I have a hard time with anyway I disliked her more.

Tidbits I Loved to Pieces:

Now on to the good stuff!  There was a lot of good stuff that I absolutely loved!  First, let’s start with Shan Shan.  Even though there were a few things that I did not care for, there were many more things that I did love about her as a lead character.  When we meet Shan Shan she is a young and innocent young woman who has left her tiny hometown to live in the big city.  Despite being somewhat naive and oblivious she is a well rounded person I think.  Shan Shan understands her limitations, accepts herself, and likes her life.  I love her as a character, despite her flaws.  Also, I adore her internal dialogue.  I have had internal conversations like that and her internal thoughts are so accurate and made me laugh!  More characters should have internal dialogue I loved this story telling technique!  I think that the thing that I love the most is that Shan Shan doesn’t just float on the laurels of Feng Teng’s reputation and money.  She has a desire to become a better person, to be better, and to grow.  Despite her shortcomings and trouble with navigating life’s obstacles.  Shan Shan goes to school again to get a certificate that allows her to get promoted on her own merits and skills.  I think her evolution is one of my favorites from drama world.  Shan Shan grows into a really cool person and remains grounded without letting her lover’s wealth and affluence affect her.

Now that we’ve gushed about Shan Shan, I want to talk about Feng Teng.  I loved him as much as I loved Shan Shan.  He was the perfect cold, rich, hair type of character that has a warm heart of gold.  When he smiles at Shan Shan I’m pretty sure its the most amazing thing ever.  His smile is full of warmth and adoration and evolves into love.  Feng Teng also has this serious need to touch her all the time which is fantastic, he just needs to hold her and link hands and be near to her.  I love so many things about him.  Like when he rushes through his meetings and important things just to run to his office and watch Shan Shan eat her lunch on his private balcony.  It’s so cute.  From the moment they started to flirt and date he never once looked down on her, he treats her like he treats everyone and doesn’t make her feel that she doesn’t belong in his world.  As Shan Shan begins to go to night classes to earn her certificate she doesn’t have as much time to spend with Feng Teng and he pouts that she is so happy to go to school and not be with him.  I love seeing him miss her so much.  He was such a great leading man and he was such an amazing boyfriend to Shan Shan.  Watching their love blossom and grow was just so much fun.

A few more things that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Shan Shan’s friend Shuang Yi is so much fun.  I would love to have a dear friend like her!  I know I have already mentioned the friendships, but they deserve another mention.  Feng Teng and Qi are great together.  Qi helps Feng Teng understand his emotions and become a better human.  While Feng Teng encourages Qi to grow creatively and in business.  Shan Shan, her cousin and friend are just fun together.  They help Shan Shan to see the obvious and grow up while she helps them to see the joy in life.  Feng Yue and her husband Yan Qing are so obviously in love and I truly enjoyed seeing them on the screen.  They were a healthy and happy example of a functional couple throughout the drama that was happening to get the rest of the couples together.

Final Thoughts:

Judging Gu Man on these two adaptations I love her work.  Drama friends have given me some links to her translated novels and I do plan on reading them because in my experience even if the movie/show is good the book is always better!  Normally I avoid shows that are over twenty episodes, I just can’t hang for that long.  Because it always feels that the drama needed to keep a show going for that long gets ridiculous and makes the show drag.  However, that wasn’t the case with this show, it helped that each episode was forty-five minutes instead of a full hour or more.  I devoured this show in one week and man it was a fun and delicious ride!  If you are looking for a story that has good characters, fun story telling, and just enough drama to make it interesting but not drag the story though the mud then I totally believe that this show is for you!

Noona’s Rating