The Trainee 1×11 Review: “Time Bomb”

As we roll into the home stretch of The Trainee, we are getting some serious movement in Jane and Ryan’s relationship. The interns have only a month left at the company, and things are finally starting to happen. The slow burn is burning, y’all. But that could cause some serious problems, as we find out in “Time Bomb”.

“Time Bomb” opens with the interns eating together, lamenting the end of their internship period and talking about how much they’ve learned. However, Ryan is not participating in the conversation, because he’s upset that Jane isn’t texting him back. As he sits there, quietly moping and unable to talk about it, the others conclude that he hasn’t changed at all, because he still isn’t talking.

That was the moment I realized that all of Ryan’s growth has been happening outside of his interactions with the other interns. Everything happening with the others has been something discussed and often even assisted among the group. But all of Ryan’s big moments of development happened with Jane as the sole witness. He speaks up more, but primarily with Jane. He asks the right questions, but only with Jane. With everyone else, he’s still quiet; they don’t even notice the changes in him, how he knows what he’s doing now and has more confidence.

Where Ryan still does not have confidence is in his relationship with Jane. Despite how overt Jane’s feelings have seemed – what with him buying Ryan brownies and shoes and going out of his way to pick up him up for work despite the fact that he can walk – Ryan is still confused. And with Jane out for the day and not responding to texts, Ryan is back to doubting himself. 

Jane is also doubting himself, but professionally. It turns out that he accepted his ex’s offer to do a bit of side work, and that’s where Jane is. He does his best to maintain distance between the two of them, though. He won’t go to Nine’s office, insisting that they stay in a public space. And despite Nine hounding him about accepting a position at his company, he leaves as soon as he’s finished. I don’t know why he couldn’t respond to Ryan’s texts at all, but my theory is that he knew he’d get distracted and wanted to be finished as soon as possible.

“Time Bomb” does a lot to clear up both of their doubts. When Jane asks Ryan why he didn’t answer his call, Ryan tells him why he’s upset. He’s been clear about his feelings, but he still doesn’t know how Jane feels. Jane admits that he wants to see him and talk to him every day. Just like his earlier, “Does it look like I don’t like you?”, it’s a very sweet confession but it’s not very direct. It works for Ryan, though, who tells Jane that he should make Ryan his boyfriend already.

Meanwhile, Jane flashes back to his time as an intern (or at least, when he started at the company). We can see that he was very different back then. He was not very confident in himself, and when his ideas didn’t get chosen, he lost even more confidence. It’s quite sad, how he basically taught himself to be in the shadows. He keeps that place running, but everyone talks trash about him behind his back. Jo doesn’t do anything to curb the gossip. 

The flashbacks show how very different the mentorship Jane received was versus the mentorship he provides Pie and Ryan. Jo was not encouraging, and it seemed like he was eager to keep Jane as his assistant rather than let him grow as a director. Jane, on the other hand, has done a lot to gently guide his two interns, giving them constructive criticism when necessary, acknowledging their ideas and their effort, emphasizing the importance of communication. He doesn’t want anyone to lose hope in themselves the way that he did.

One thing I love about The Trainee is that it emphasizes that it’s absolutely OK not to have lofty career goals. So much of the media we consume is about people following their dreams or climbing the corporate ladder or achieving something important. But for many people, their job is just their job. Ryan started the series not knowing what he wanted to do, and not really having a dream. I thought that, throughout the show, he would realize that this was his dream. Instead, what he discovered was that he very much likes being a member of a team; he enjoys what he’s doing, and he’s good at it, and that’s all that matters.

On the flip side, it also is giving the message that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams, if that’s something that you want for yourself. Jane had, for so long, given up on doing what he wanted because no one thought he could do it. He was good at what he did, and for a while he was able to live with that. But now he wants more for himself. He’s not even 30 yet; he still has plenty of time. And now he has the fire that he never seemed to have before.

I think that is why we finally got movement in this slow-burn romance. Jane was keeping his distance from Ryan to maintain professionalism. Even when he finds Ryan waiting outside of his apartment, and tells him about how he gave up on his dreams, they are sitting like two feet apart on his balcony. It seems like only after Jane has decided that he’s done with his job that he decides to actively pursue his relationship with Ryan. He says that they should date. He’s the one who initiates the first kiss. Jane has made up his mind; he wants to be a director, and he wants to be with Ryan.

The benefit of a slow-burn relationship is how earned it feels when it finally happens. We’ve been watching Jane and Ryan move towards this from the beginning. Their communication has been improving with every episode. They’re bringing out the best in each other. That first kiss is the culmination of all of the little moments that we’ve been witnessing, and it’s so satisfying that it has finally happened.

And oh, that little moment on the balcony was so cute! I got too much of a Cooking Crush vibe from the kiss (at least this isn’t a complete freeze frame), but I love the little details about Ryan’s hands, and him going up on tiptoe to ask for another kiss. The little pecks! The smiles! These two absolutely know how to be adorable. The scene the next morning, where Ryan jumps on Jane’s back, is also super cute. I love that he was encouraging Jane to stand up for himself, a parallel to Jane doing that for Ryan earlier in the series.

After 11 episodes of being walking HR violations, “Time Bomb” finally acknowledges this. Now that they’re officially together, Ryan gets more affectionate around Jane, but Jane reminds him that they need to stay professional at work. He tells Ryan that it doesn’t matter who acted on their feelings first; it will absolutely look like Jane is taking advantage of someone younger than he is. With his already crappy reputation at the office, no one will give him the benefit of the doubt.

This conversation makes the whole Judy and Ba-Mhee thing even weirder. Judy and Ba-Mhee are totally back to normal in this episode. There is no mention of the fact that Judy kissed her, or that there was a possibility that they could end up dating. I feel like it does a disservice to Judy as a character. Was she only there so that Ba-Mhee could have her bisexual awakening?

While I’m still not happy about Tae and Ba-Mhee getting back together, I do appreciate that “Time Bomb” shows that they both have learned from what happened. Ba-Mhee is making decisions about her future before even talking to Tae; she wants to work at this company after graduation, and it doesn’t matter to her if Tae is there or not. Tae is also shown to be making time for Ba-Mhee. He answers her phone call and gets excited about her news; then he becomes the one trying to track her down for once.

Also, while it turns out the theory about Nine having stolen an idea of Jane’s is wrong, Nine is an idea-stealing jerk. He’s just stealing Ryan’s ideas. That is super unethical and potentially even illegal. If that’s indicative of the way that he runs his company, I hope Jane does not take him up on his offer to work for him.

There’s only one episode left, and I’m not quite ready to let go of these characters. But I’m very excited to see how everything turns out.

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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