Vertical dramas are having a moment right now, and Taming My Bullies 2 completely understands the assignment. The ReelShort series somehow manages to be wildly chaotic, emotionally messy, occasionally ridiculous, and still deeply addictive. Honestly, it’s giving “I’ll just watch one episode” and suddenly it’s 2AM and you’re emotionally invested in rich teenagers making terrible decisions.
Or is it just me?
What makes Taming My Bullies stand out from a lot of vertical dramas is that it actually tries to evolve beyond the usual copy-and-paste billionaire romance formula. Yes, there’s still wealth inequality, bullying, manipulative parents and kids, and enough family trauma to fuel three seasons of Gossip Girl (the original, not the reboot). Why watch? The show works because of the chemistry between its leads, Meg Bush and Cameron Porras. The performances carry emotional weight that sucker punches you right in the feels.
MEG IS MEG-ING
Meg Bush absolutely shines as Emma. Emma has every reason to become bitter after losing her father and basically becoming the punching bag for rich kids with too much free time and not enough therapy. Don’t judge – that’s me being nice. The great thing is that Emma never loses her sense of self. Meg plays her with this grounded vulnerability that makes Emma impossible not to root for. She’s hardworking, stubborn, emotionally intelligent, and somehow still patient. This all despite being surrounded by people who would absolutely get cancelled on TikTok.
And then there’s Cameron Porras as Rowan Calloway — aka rich boy disaster with a good smile. He’s a king (figuratively, no royalty in this show).
Rowan is charismatic, spoiled, impulsive, and genuinely exhausting at times, but Cameron somehow makes him lovable anyway. That’s honestly impressive because Rowan spends half the series making emotional declarations and the other half making the worst possible decisions imaginable. He loves Emma deeply and is willing to sacrifice everything for her, but he also has the emotional impulse control of a black lab who drank an espresso.
ELITIST CRAP
Still, Cameron gives Rowan real growth in this sequel. In the first series, Rowan cared way too much about status and appearances, but now he’s finally prioritizing Emma over the family name and elitist crap. Watching him stand up to his elitist mother? Extremely satisfying. Give that man a medal and maybe also a therapist. Ok, lets prioritize the therapist over the medal.
Luke Dodge’s August is unfortunately missing for a lot of the story, and honestly? You feel it. August isn’t just there to create a generic love triangle and making him go away doesn’t mean the love triangle disappears. He understands Emma in a completely different way than Rowan does, which makes his connection with her meaningful. He may have needed to run away, but we needed him to stay. Taming My Bullies 2 definitely feels his loss.
As for Karl and Liam, played by Grant Lowell Garcia and Travis Owens, they’re likable enough, though the series doesn’t really give them much to do besides stand around looking rich and emotionally unavailable. Which, to be fair, is kind of the entire aesthetic of a lot of billionaire type stories, so I am thinking that they’re thinking if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
THE STRUGGLE
One thing the series still struggles with is the obsession with money and class differences. Every conflict somehow circles back to wealth, status, or whether someone owns a mansion with enough marble surfaces that you’re never going to be able to clean. The billionaire trope is beyond overdone at this point, but oddly enough, it works better here because the money technically belongs to the parents. The kids are just benefiting from generational wealth while acting like they personally built the family empire from scratch. Humbling experience needed immediately and if there is a is any place that they can get it, it is definitely here.
Take Chelsea for example. Chelsea especially feels designed in a lab to raise your blood pressure. She’s basically Regina George with the volume turned up to 100. Every time she appeared onscreen I could feel my patience leaving my body and hate entering my soul.
But where the show truly works is Emma and Rowan. Their relationship feels emotional even when the plot goes completely off the rails. Rowan wanting to publicly claim Emma while she wants privacy creates genuine tension, and for a while, the show handles that balance really well.
Then the drama starts drama-ing.
The Mondays start Mondaying.
And quite frankly – I get annoyed.
ARRANGEMENT
The arranged fiancée storyline with Natalie actually had potential, especially once it’s revealed she and Rowan are secretly trying to reunite him with Emma. Unfortunately, their plan is so unnecessarily manipulative that it crosses into “what are we even doing here?” territory. The whole fake-drugging misunderstanding plotline was especially uncomfortable and honestly felt like the series pushing things too far for shock value. There’s messy drama, and then there’s “maybe the writers need to be educated on what doesn’t fly” part of life.
I can’t get emotional payoff in life, but well turns out these characters are gonna deliver what real life is lacking. The emotional payoff lands because Cameron and Meg sell every single scene together. Even when the plot becomes absolutely unhinged, they keep the relationship believable. That’s not easy in a series where people are constantly getting emotionally blackmailed, rushed to hospitals, or dramatically leaving for Europe.
NO PEACE
And of course, because this show refuses to let anyone experience peace for longer than seven seconds – Emma and Rowan finally decide to elope… only for Rowan to get into an accident before he can return with his passport. Peak vertical drama behavior, and honestly they need to give me something else besides that formula. If these two ever get a calm afternoon together, I might spontaneously combust. But I am willing to risk it if the writer will write it.
Taming My Bullies 2 is messy, dramatic, frustrating, addictive, and surprisingly heartfelt. The show definitely has flaws, especially when it leans too hard into manipulation and repetitive class conflict, but Cameron Porras and Meg Bush elevate the material at every turn. Their chemistry is what makes this vertical work, even when the plot (at times) feels like it was generated by throwing darts at a board.
And yes, I’ll absolutely still watch Taming My Bullies 3.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Emma wearing the maid costume to school and then Rowan switching clothes and making a public declaration felt wrong for the characters
- Natalie could have been a better friend to Emma and been honest with her
- Emmas apartment is cute
- I feel for the friends trying to bring Emma and Rowan back together but sometimes one needs to mind business
- Emma is adorable
- I hate it when a vertical turns into a Shein advertisement
