I don't find her to be ill-intentioned at all. I think she's socially awkward and sometimes has a hard time reading the room.

Her assertiveness is no more assertive than I'd expect for someone who runs a hotel of that scale. She isn't quite as mollifying and slick as Armond when it comes to dealing with customers, but her behavior is realistic given that she needs to run a tight ship.

Yes, she misreads the need for her crush Isabella to be "saved" from Rocco, but her intentions are like an excited schoolgirl. After all, she didn't pursue Isabella. She only perked up and started to show explicit interest when Isabella expressed admiration for Valentina.

I also feel that the situation with Mia is being misread. I can't imagine that Valentina actually plans to take Mia up on the offer to engage sexually. Instead, I felt that Mia softened her a bit when she asked if she was gay. The look in Valentina's eye showed that she felt seen.

Mia saw Valentina for who she is - and so did Isabella. And when they expressed it, they melted her professional, somewhat icy, and total badass boss babe exterior.

Valentina is not motivated by sex, money, or a power trip. She's a hard working woman whose no-nonsense demeanor earns her a bad rap. Yes, she may be a bit hard on the men around her, but that's nothing that can't be accounted for by the inevitability of a lifetime of needing to push back - given her age and her profession.

Many have already established that her sensitive and kind nature was revealed in the scene with the cats.

I think she wants to connect with someone, and doesn't quite know how.