The Trainee 1×06 Review: “Trainees, Cookies, Mentors”

You know, even while I was watching the Olympics as I waited for this week’s episode of The Trainee to go up, it never even occurred to me that the delay might be due to the Olympics. So apparently Sunday morning is too early for my brain to properly brain.

Nonetheless, I consider “Trainees, Cookies, Mentors” to be well worth the wait. This episode was phenomenal – the parallels, the editing, the cinematography. The Trainee may well be one of the best series GMMTV has ever produced, and it is fast climbing up the ladder of my all-time favorites. It may even usurp Not Me as my favorite OffGun series, which I honestly never thought would happen.

Let’s examine this episode based on the two potential couples presented to us (both flagrant HR violations waiting to happen, by the way, but this is a romcom, so we excuse that). I love how they parallel the developing relationships between mentor/intern pairs Jane/Ryan and Judy/Ba-Mhee. One of these will probably grow into something tender and amazing, while the other will likely fizzle.

We’ll start with Jane and Ryan. The episode is framed around Ryan examining his feelings for Jane, and whether or not they’re becoming romantic. (Spoiler alert: THEY ARE.) I found this really interesting because my friend and I literally just had a conversation last night about whether or not we thought Ryan has been consciously flirting with Jane. Ryan does tend to be a very clueless individual in general, but the looks he has been giving Jane seemed to indicate that he was at least partially aware of what he was saying, and how it would be taken in context.

However, “Trainees, Cookies, Mentors” shows that Ryan has been completely unaware of any potential flirting. In fact, he isn’t even sure if what he feels for Jane is a crush or not. Enter Pie, who despite claiming there are no rules to love has a list of them ready to go to determine if what Ryan is feeling is romantic. The list is, naturally, full of some traditional romcom tropes – some of which, like intense jealousy, are problematic and should be dismissed. But as the episode progresses, Ryan ticks all of them off.

I love the way this show is handling these two. Their relationship is developing naturally, slowly, as they spend time together and learn about each other. I mentioned in last week’s review that I think a major part of the appeal to both of them is that the other is able to see them in a way that others are not. Jane can see Ryan’s good qualities and his potential, and Ryan sees past Jane’s work persona to the kind and caring individual he is underneath.

They both are now aware that something is happening between them (even if Ryan still remains stubbornly obtuse about it), and their moments in this episode show that they are trying to express this while still maintaining an appropriate distance. (Granted, Ryan accidentally staying over at Jane’s last week isn’t exactly above board, but whatever.) Ryan channels his feelings into trying to be a good assistant – plugging in Jane’s laptop, making sure he has water, getting him snacks. Jane is becoming more aware of Ryan and his moods, and urging him to communicate more.

That charged moment in the rain, though? That was everything. That was the scene from the trailer I was most looking forward to seeing, and it did not disappoint. Actually, that entire scene was fantastic, from start to finish. Jane recognized that Ryan was mad at him and they had an open, honest discussion about it. And Ryan asking Jane to refer to himself as “phi” was just too adorable.

(I’m glad they didn’t try to translate that. There are a lot of cultural things that don’t translate to English that I wish they would just leave, sometimes. I know how to look things up on the internet.)

Now, when you contrast their interactions with Judy and Ba-Mhee’s, the differences are staggering. Don’t get me wrong – I am seriously digging this side pairing. But very little about their interactions in this episode could be considered professional. Judy calling Ba-Mhee at 2am, allowing Ba-Mhee to massage her, cuddling close to her in the office (fear of ghosts or not). I don’t think that Judy intends anything untoward – I don’t think she’s actively hitting on Ba-Mhee – but these are definitely crossing a line.

I mentioned last week that I think what Ba-Mhee is experiencing is more hero worship than anything romantic. (Though I did love her trying to figure out what was going on by just staring at Pie for an extended period of time.) I thought at the time that it was supposed to be compared to Ba-Mhee’s relationship with Tae, but now I think it’s also meant to be compared to everything going on with Jane and Ryan. Ba-Mhee’s crush came out of nowhere and hit her like a ton of bricks, but also, she doesn’t really know that much about Judy that isn’t work-related. Other than that she’s scared of ghosts.

Part of this is, I think, because it’s clear that she and Tae are drifting apart. It’s no fault of their own; they clearly try to maintain connection but the natural consequences of getting older and having adult responsibilities is that sometimes you have to rearrange your priorities. (Though, really, having interns stay late and work overtime seems a bit much.) Ba-Mhee is spending less time with Tae and more time with the cool, pretty, older woman. I think Ba-Mhee is one of those people who is in love with being in love, someone who really cannot be single.

And while I do think that Judy and Ba-Mhee would eventually work as a pair, I don’t know that I believe Judy is on the same wavelength as Ba-Mhee. I think Judy sees a lot of herself in Ba-Mhee and is allowing the professional lines to blur because of that. But I don’t think she’d be receptive to Ba-Mhee’s advances – at least not right now. This might be Ba-Mhee’s bisexual awakening, but I don’t think it’s her epic love story.

With all the romantic drama out of the way, this episode was also overflowing with comedic gold. I loved Ryan’s guilt over “stealing” the cookies from the little girl, even though he paid for them. And the client openly flirting with Jane at the meeting while Baimon died laughing beside him; ma’am, this is a BL, you have no chance. I loved that Pie was observant enough to realize that Ryan had a crush on someone, but completely misread the situation. I loved Pie telling Ba-Mhee and Pah that Ryan’s crush was close by and the two of them taking it literally.

I’m not usually one who notices cinematography and editing, but “Trainees, Cookies, Mentors” had a lot of moments that caught my eye. I got a kick out of Ba-Mhee’s eyes being framed by the o’s in the Good Pick logo on the door to the editing room, which made it look like she was wearing glasses. Focusing on Ba-Mhee’s phone – the image of her and Tae going dark – as she’s realizing that she might like Judy was super well done.

And, of course, that shot in the rain, with Jane and Ryan standing closely under an umbrella – everyone else having disappeared around them.

Naturally, I can’t sign off without my obligatory timeline mention. Finally, in episode 6, we have encompassed multiple days. It still obviously hasn’t been that long, but judging by the number of outfit changes in that “does Ryan have feelings for Jane” montage, it’s been at least three or four days. Which means that it’s been about two weeks since the interns started. We’re still going to need a time skip to make any of these relationships make sense, but this is a start.

The Trainee just gets better every week. I honestly cannot hype it up enough. I’m anxious for next week’s episode – what ripples Ba-Mhee’s actions might have on everyone else, and the potential setback Ryan’s mistake will give him.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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