When it comes to mafia verticals, there is no one who does mafia Don better than Nick Puya. There is something about the strength and innocence of every character that Don that he plays that draws you in and makes you think, I want a man like that.
His characters tow the line of scary and loving, protective and wild. He makes you stop dead in your tracks and drool. Nick Puya is a star and with that being said he’s a vertical star that I love. His latest vertical drama, Owned By The Mafia Boss, is another drama of his that I am putting on our favorite mafia dramas.
Ashlynn Judy plays the love interest, Collette, in this age gap mafia romance. She’s a virgin (and as you know don’t get me started on how I am over this being a bad thing) and decides to give her boyfriend it. This is always a bad sign in a vertical – because drama will ensue and that man will be cheating.
And he’s definitely cheating – she catches him in bed with her bestie. They both are juvenile and tease Collette, but what they should be doing is hanging their head in shame. It sends her running out and shocker, she’s hit by a car. That car belongs to the head of the mob, Luca Falcone.
He does the right thing – takes her home and gets her medical care. When she wakes up she tries to have sex with him, but he’s not interested when he finds out she’s a virgin. He wants that to be special for her.
Look, there will be regrets over things in life, but I don’t really feel like that is something that he has the right to dictate. Just tell her that you don’t wanna sleep with her — man up that you don’t think that you can live up to the ideas that she has in her mind. But it just felt kinda shameful.
She doesn’t know anything about his world – or even his name – at first. But when she does find out, she’s scared because Luca Falcone is the most dangerous man in the city. It just so happens though that when you are meant to be, or you want someone you’ll definitely fight to look past things and be there for them.
Luca’s trashy nephew is Collette’s ex. Neither one of them really know that though – until they come face to face with him at Lucas bar and he basically looses his mind over them being together. But Luca, he doesn’t care what anyone thinks.
Luca just knows that as far as he’s concerned he would burn the whole world down rather than loose Collette.
And sometimes he has to practically do just that.
What makes this story work is that it’s more of a love story than a mafia story. The age gap doesn’t feel like too much all of the time, but sometimes it does cause dang, she looks young. But I do think that it works because Puya can literally carry anything and make you believe that it’s normal, it’s okay, and that it’s not taboo – even when it is.
Now, I would like to be there first to tell you that there is no kidnapping or slapping here, but we don’t lie to eachother. I would wist that stories like this stop to think about finding different plot points. Regardless of the fact that verticals follow a formula, sometimes formulas are meant to be retooled.
Because that whole kidnapping and violence thing isn’t always the answer. I do get that this is a mafia story, but more than that it is a love story.
The thing that I did love was that the ending wasn’t formulaic. The man was willing to dismantle his enterprise in order to keep her and his son safe.
Nick Puya and Ashlynn Judy do have a bit of chemistry, but it’s not one that we were sold on. And before you come for me – I really don’t care about an age gap. That’s fine. But what I do care about is that it doesn’t feel icky.
And sometimes in this vertical, it did just that.
Sex scenes were spicy, but not overwhelming. Confessions of love felt genuine. At the end of the day, Owned By The Mafia Boss was fun, addictive and fast paced.
The kind of thing that we can get behind.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- The nephew is creepy
- Why does everyone think that slapping is ok?
- Never trust a vertical lawyer
- I was honestly surprised there wasn’t more mafia around
- Someone needs to talk to all these vertical actors about their tattoos
- Seriously the chest tattoos are too much sexy sometimes
- Nothing wrong with working at a diner
- Why do best friends always betray
- Playing on DramaTV
