This was a TV Show in the 1980s. The premise of the show was that Laura Holt was a highly qualified female detective but found that no one would hire a woman in her own name, so she made up a fictitious male boss for her agency and then some random guy steps in to play that role under circumstances where she tolerates that from him to cover her own butt.
I barely remember any of the detective work or subplots from the series. I watched it primarily for the struggle to sort out the romantic attraction between Laura Holt and Remington Steele.
One of my big complaints about TV shows is that a lot of the romance on them is completely ridiculous. You see a lot of romance between characters who work together and I assume that happens because it works for the audience.
In other words, the audience already knows these characters. Introducing romance between characters already getting screentime helps the audience relate to it whereas following reality and having each character meet and fall in love with people outside of work would add complications to writing the show and would probably not go over so well with the audience.
I liked this show in part because the romantic tension was fairly realistic, so I felt it had something I could learn from.
People do get involved with other people they work with at times, it's just that if they work for the federal goverment or some big company, a lot of the supervisor-supervisee pair ups seen on TV would be Verboten and have consequences.
But it's fairly plausible for Laura Holt and Remington Steele to get involved as the two primary people at this small detective agency. Furthermore, they basically spend the entire series NOT consummating the relationship and -- if I recall correctly -- they finally wed to resolve his immigration issues and sleep together on their wedding night in the last "special" made following the end of the actual series.
And by "sleep together" I mean they go home, turn out the lights and sort of fade to black and imply to the audience "We are totes doing it at long last and butt out of our bedroom." which struck me as a nice touch to close the show on. (Again: IIRC.)
So a lot of the stuff in the episodes revolves around them wanting each other and hesitating to actually hook up for various reasons and I think that's actually a lot more realistic than, say, NCIS, where everyone has slept with like EVERYONE they work with in a Federal office where I imagine that would get many people fired and some thrown in actual jail.
So, anyway, my recollection is that much of the show has Remington Steele trying to get Laura Holt into bed while she repeatedly turns him down even though she likes him, which is stereotypical normal stuff since men typically are the initiators and pursuers and makes perfect sense since she is trying to be taken seriously as a career woman and not flush her career down the toilet by sleeping with her boss.
In one episode, Laura Holt has some kind of crisis -- I forget the details -- and is very vulnerable and needy because of it, so she is finally willing to say "yes" to her boss. But he like takes her home, tucks her into bed, kisses her forehead and goes home without having sex with her.
I was young and this scene made no sense to me at the time, in part because I think it's pretty much the norm in most of the actual world -- and thus the norm in much fiction -- for people to finally break down and get laid under those types of circumstances, sort of how a lot of "first time" (for this couple) sex is helped along with alcohol. A lot of people seem to default to "That's a NO from me" if they are stone cold sober, not having an emotional crisis, etc and it takes something to make it possible for them to agree to first time sex.
These two people were both clearly attracted to each other and something was stopping them from consummating it. To me, an emotional crisis as an excuse to finally do so would have made sense.
I'm a lot older these days and suffice it to say this scene stuck in my mind and has been food for thought for a lot of years. And I've concluded it was the right call for him to make and I am so glad I was exposed to it in my youth, to give me an idea to chew on.
Had Remington Steele slept with her at that time, he would have been taking advantage of her and disrespecting the many good reasons she had to tell him no most of the time, like her concerns about not knowing him well, her concerns about her career ambitions and so on.
Taking advantage of someone while they are vulnerable to push your agenda is not a loving, caring thing to do. It's bad behavior and if it does manage to be the start of a sexual relationship, it won't be the start of a beautiful future and may well be the start of an essentially abusive relationship.
I think if you are the vulnerable person in the scenario and you take comfort where you can during a crisis when such is offered, it's okay to do that -- assuming you are merely saying yes to an offer and not trying to fast talk someone into something on the justification that you are especially needy at the moment -- and it's not always an outright bad thing for, say, an ex to sleep with you one last time during a crisis.
But don't mistake that for evidence you can and should get back together. Feel okay about telling them the morning after "Thanks for being there for me. No, I don't want you back. I don't think we can do this dance and my reasons for leaving are still there and none of that has been fixed."
I barely remember any of the detective work or subplots from the series. I watched it primarily for the struggle to sort out the romantic attraction between Laura Holt and Remington Steele.
One of my big complaints about TV shows is that a lot of the romance on them is completely ridiculous. You see a lot of romance between characters who work together and I assume that happens because it works for the audience.
In other words, the audience already knows these characters. Introducing romance between characters already getting screentime helps the audience relate to it whereas following reality and having each character meet and fall in love with people outside of work would add complications to writing the show and would probably not go over so well with the audience.
I liked this show in part because the romantic tension was fairly realistic, so I felt it had something I could learn from.
People do get involved with other people they work with at times, it's just that if they work for the federal goverment or some big company, a lot of the supervisor-supervisee pair ups seen on TV would be Verboten and have consequences.
But it's fairly plausible for Laura Holt and Remington Steele to get involved as the two primary people at this small detective agency. Furthermore, they basically spend the entire series NOT consummating the relationship and -- if I recall correctly -- they finally wed to resolve his immigration issues and sleep together on their wedding night in the last "special" made following the end of the actual series.
And by "sleep together" I mean they go home, turn out the lights and sort of fade to black and imply to the audience "We are totes doing it at long last and butt out of our bedroom." which struck me as a nice touch to close the show on. (Again: IIRC.)
So a lot of the stuff in the episodes revolves around them wanting each other and hesitating to actually hook up for various reasons and I think that's actually a lot more realistic than, say, NCIS, where everyone has slept with like EVERYONE they work with in a Federal office where I imagine that would get many people fired and some thrown in actual jail.
So, anyway, my recollection is that much of the show has Remington Steele trying to get Laura Holt into bed while she repeatedly turns him down even though she likes him, which is stereotypical normal stuff since men typically are the initiators and pursuers and makes perfect sense since she is trying to be taken seriously as a career woman and not flush her career down the toilet by sleeping with her boss.
In one episode, Laura Holt has some kind of crisis -- I forget the details -- and is very vulnerable and needy because of it, so she is finally willing to say "yes" to her boss. But he like takes her home, tucks her into bed, kisses her forehead and goes home without having sex with her.
I was young and this scene made no sense to me at the time, in part because I think it's pretty much the norm in most of the actual world -- and thus the norm in much fiction -- for people to finally break down and get laid under those types of circumstances, sort of how a lot of "first time" (for this couple) sex is helped along with alcohol. A lot of people seem to default to "That's a NO from me" if they are stone cold sober, not having an emotional crisis, etc and it takes something to make it possible for them to agree to first time sex.
These two people were both clearly attracted to each other and something was stopping them from consummating it. To me, an emotional crisis as an excuse to finally do so would have made sense.
I'm a lot older these days and suffice it to say this scene stuck in my mind and has been food for thought for a lot of years. And I've concluded it was the right call for him to make and I am so glad I was exposed to it in my youth, to give me an idea to chew on.
Had Remington Steele slept with her at that time, he would have been taking advantage of her and disrespecting the many good reasons she had to tell him no most of the time, like her concerns about not knowing him well, her concerns about her career ambitions and so on.
Taking advantage of someone while they are vulnerable to push your agenda is not a loving, caring thing to do. It's bad behavior and if it does manage to be the start of a sexual relationship, it won't be the start of a beautiful future and may well be the start of an essentially abusive relationship.
I think if you are the vulnerable person in the scenario and you take comfort where you can during a crisis when such is offered, it's okay to do that -- assuming you are merely saying yes to an offer and not trying to fast talk someone into something on the justification that you are especially needy at the moment -- and it's not always an outright bad thing for, say, an ex to sleep with you one last time during a crisis.
But don't mistake that for evidence you can and should get back together. Feel okay about telling them the morning after "Thanks for being there for me. No, I don't want you back. I don't think we can do this dance and my reasons for leaving are still there and none of that has been fixed."