The Trainee 1×10 Review: “Intern’s Magical Powers”

We are approaching the home stretch, y’all. “Intern’s Magical Powers” is the beginning of the end, and it’s time to start wrapping things up. There were some plot swirls (not calling them twists) that were definitely unexpected. And Jane and Ryan are creeping ever closer to a relationship. I love a good slow burn, but this is starting to feel glacial.

I’m going to start this review with the unexpected developments from “Intern’s Magical Powers”. Namely, Ba-Mhee and Tae got back together, which I believe was predicted by precisely no one (except, apparently, this person on Tumblr), and reactions are mixed. While I can get behind a lot of Ba-Mhee’s thought processes in this episode, it absolutely does feel like they undermined a decent wlw ship for a bland het ship.

Last week I mentioned that I got weird vibes from Judy in regards to Ba-Mhee. This was largely because I could never get a read on her and how she felt. Until she kissed Ba-Mhee, I couldn’t tell if she was interested romantically or if she just didn’t have a lot of female friends and didn’t understand boundaries. This episode was the first time where I thought Judy might actually return Ba-Mhee’s feelings, and the first time she said anything directly. But I still got weird vibes.

It was in the way Judy seemed to steamroll over Ba-Mhee – making lunch reservations and then just informing her that’s what they were doing (even though Ba-Mhee already had plans), saying that she’s going to throw out her mostly full juice and buy her a new one (the nutrients go bad?? seriously??), sending her pillow to be laundered without informing her. Luckily, Ba-Mhee noticed those, too. And when she was talking to Pie, she mentioned that she still didn’t know if she liked girls or guys or what was going on. Confusion is completely understandable, and I am glad she didn’t rush into a relationship with Judy immediately after her break-up with Tae.

Ba-Mhee was still viewing her relationship with Judy through the lens of her relationship with Tae. Judy was attentive and taking care of her, even if she was doing things Ba-Mhee didn’t seem to like. But when Pie found Ba-Mhee, the first thing Ba-Mhee said was, “Tae knows I don’t like vegetables.” Tae has known you for three years and Judy has known you two months. But it seems to just highlight for Ba-Mhee that what she liked about Judy was what was lacking in her relationship with Tae.

But let’s be honest – getting back together with Tae is not it. She told Judy that she was still in love with Tae; of course, she is, it’s only been a week. They were together for three years. It’s not going to be instantaneous. And yes, Tae’s grand gesture was sweet but about a year too late. Ba-Mhee told him, when they broke up, that she felt unappreciated. If he truly wanted to “win her back”, he should have shown that he could be there to support her with little gestures. The juice at the beginning was a nice touch, but then that was it. There’s no evidence that he even knows what he has to do to change.

I think what Ba-Mhee needs is to be alone for a while. She liked Judy because she was attentive, but apparently she was too attentive. She thought that’s what she wanted and she was wrong. I’m glad she figured that out. But she needs to learn to stand up for herself, how to communicate her wants and needs. Also, she needs to acknowledge the mistakes she made in her relationship with Tae.

And Tae… Oh, child. He spent all of “Intern’s Magical Powers” moping, even though he was the one who suggested the breakup in the first place. I think he probably thought that’s what Ba-Mhee wanted, but if he didn’t want to break up, he should have tried then to reconcile. He admits that he was not a good boyfriend; he could have told her right then that he would change. But he didn’t, because some part of him knew that they weren’t right for each other.

Also, after last week’s episode, where we discovered that he doesn’t seem to know how to take care of himself at all without Ba-Mhee there to do it, I question if he’s even trying to get back together for the right reasons. I suspect the answer is no. He also needs to be on his own for a bit, and learn to be his own person who can take care of his own needs without relying on his girlfriend to do it for him. Has he even truly forgiven Ba-Mhee for kissing someone else on their anniversary?

On the plus side, at least this means that we’ve at last reached the end of this storyline, and can go back to the focus on Jane and Ryan. …Please?

OK, Jane and Ryan. I cannot with these two. As I said, I love a good slow burn, and things are definitely burning. But after treading water for what seems like the entire series, things need to be bigger. Inching toward the goal is fine; as I’ve said before, I don’t expect anything serious to happen until the last episode. I think Jane is too aware of his position to make any huge moves while Ryan is still his intern. But holy cow, in the trailer for next week’s episode, Ryan is still questioning whether or not Jane likes him. We already had that scene!

But they’re so cute. We’ve all been patient, so we can have a little bit of flirting as a treat. The fact that Jane came to pick Ryan up for work feels enormous but seemed to be glossed over. Jane walks to work. That’s how close he is to the office. And he went extremely far out of his way to pick up Ryan and take him into work. (Does he even have a vehicle? Or did he take a cab? I need to know how down bad this man is, because of reasons.)

I love that he just allows himself to go along with whatever Ryan’s father said; he could very easily have just admitted that he was there to pick Ryan up for whatever reason. Jane smiling in his photos because of Ryan. Y’all, I died.

There has been some criticism that people have been unfairly maligning the wlw ship for doing the same things as the mlm ship, and it’s not necessarily unwarranted. I think the difference between Jane and Ryan’s interactions and Judy and Ba-Mhee’s is the appearance. “Intern’s Magical Powers” highlights that a lot of Jane and Ryan’s interactions, while flirty and potentially over the line, have still held the appearance of professionalism.

In this episode, Ryan has to fix Jane’s clothing for his photo. (This isn’t even at work! But it is in front of his father, so they keep the same distance.) They have to stand close to each other for blocking purposes and use the opportunity for some playful – but not inappropriate – touching. The only thing that could be inappropriate would be the flirting via the office printer (in this economy?), and even that was pretty tame by most standards.

Jane is also still very supportive of Ryan. When Ryan admits that he’s a bit jealous of Pie, who has a group of friends who all know what they want to do, and that he wishes he was talented like that, Jane proves that even “talented” adults can still be terrible in some areas. For example, Pie is a talented AD, but she’s also clumsy. Baimon doesn’t know the difference between left and right. Just because someone is talented doesn’t mean they know everything or have it all together. I think this is an important thing for Ryan to hear; he’s learned a lot on this internship, but he doesn’t need to be perfect at the job.

Then there’s the final scene, where Jane takes Ryan home (again, even though he can walk to work). Jane compares Ryan’s family business to a production house – something fans have done since the beginning – as a way to show Ryan that he fits into his position better than he realizes. I love that Ryan was so excited to show Jane his pitch for Baimon’s music video, which I had honestly completely forgotten about.

Ryan was such a blank slate at the beginning of this series. He didn’t seem to have any favorites of his own, and even in this episode we found out that Taohu is basically his only friend. But he’s slowly learning more and more, coming up with his own ideas and able to form his own pitches. He’s figuring out what kind of person he is and what he likes and wants to do. And he’s also branching out socially and opening up more.

But I also relate so much to Jane in this episode. He admits that at one time, he wanted to be a director. But he ended up in his current role and he just sort of stayed there. (I, too, once had dreams, but I’ve been at the job I have now for so long that at this point I’m not sure what I would do or what even I’m qualified for that isn’t this specific job at this specific place.) I wonder if this means Jane is thinking about his ex’s offer from last week, or if he’ll realize that he does really like what he’s doing and wants to stay.

And the shallow bit of me loves the height difference – the fact that Jane is leaning against the counter and Ryan is sitting on it makes my stomach go wobbly. Plus, Jane leaning in to look at Ryan’s computer, and his closeness affecting Ryan and making him just stop and stare. These two are so cute, I can’t handle it.

I think what makes these two so compatible is that they bring out the best in each other. Jane didn’t think he would make a good mentor, but he seems to be doing very well with Ryan. He’s complimentary when warranted, he’s encouraging when needed. He needs to reign in his temper and not overreact, though. And I think also that Ryan discovering what he’s good at will inspire Jane to rediscover his dreams as well. Meanwhile, Ryan is coming out of his shell, he’s developing his own interests and opinions. And he’s gone from never speaking up to asking the questions that he needs to ask.

The trailer for next week’s episode is entirely Jane and Ryan-centric, which is fantastic. Because lately, I’ve been feeling like this is a het show with a side BL couple instead of a BL show with a possible GL side couple. But now that we only have two episodes left, we can finally crank up the heat on this slow burn. I can’t wait!

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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