Under the Boss: the London-office Candy Shorts series, reviewed

Under the Boss Candy Shorts is an office romance with a London accent, a jealous assistant and the most awkward first day on Candy. Harriet is 20 on her profile and has just started as a temp at a polished firm where everyone seems prettier and more composed than she feels. The boss, who is you, notices her within seconds, and cancels his assistant’s plans to show her around personally. Meanwhile the PA, who has been trying to engineer a Thursday client dinner for two, watches the new hire walk off with her boss. By the end of episode 2 he has shown Harriet the supply cupboard, handed her company T-shirts and suggested that swearing at the boss suits her. Candy’s synopsis says the attraction turns into an obsession and the PA will do anything to wreck it. The series carries the Taboo tag, everyone is a fictional adult, and the free part stays suggestive.

This is the best-written series in the batch, and the reason is Harriet. She’s nervous, funny and self-aware in a way that makes the flirtation feel earned rather than staged, and the British office slang gives the dialogue a rhythm Candy’s other series don’t have. The PA’s panic works as a second comic voice, and the free episodes run 87 seconds each, longer than most of this batch’s free samples. (I have said “the company’s work” out loud to a real boss. It went worse than hers.) The weak point is the boss himself, who’s a little blank, but that’s partly because you’re playing him. For 36 tokens it’s a solid pick.

Episode 1 (87 seconds) is Harriet’s arrival: the PA fussing over a Thursday dinner, Harriet fretting that everyone else is more polished, and the boss clearing his schedule to show her around himself. Episode 2 (87 seconds) is the supply cupboard and a T-shirt fitting, with colleagues gossiping outside, and it ends on a swearing-at-the-boss confession and a flirtatious reply. Both are suggestive but never explicit, and the hook is the PA’s jealousy.

Episodes 3, 4 and 5 are locked: three episodes at 12 tokens each, 36 tokens to finish. You need Premium, which includes 100 tokens a month, so the series fits in one month with 64 tokens left over. Unlocked episodes are yours forever, no ads. Under the Boss has dubs in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, and it ends in a chat with Harriet.

The most charming of this batch, thanks to a lead who’s allowed to be flustered and a PA who’s allowed to be furious. Finishing costs 36 tokens, comfortably inside a month of Premium, and the free pair gives you nearly three minutes to decide. Start with episode 1, and watch for the part where Harriet swears at her boss.