Thumping Spike - Episode 4 (A Squeecap)

Trotwood: I like Se Ra. I like her a lot. I wish I was her manager or coach. She needs some real support. I think she should play again, but I also think she has the makings of a great coach like I said before. I'd send her to a camp to recover and practice in the mornings and to take coaching courses in the afternoon. They have these all over the US; I’m sure they have them in Korea, too.
kakashi: I vote Trot for President of all the sports clubs, of all the universities and of the United States.
JoAnne: I'm cool with that.

Episode 4: Disband

We open with a replay of end of last ep and the jumping up and down and both Han Sol and Woo Jin complimenting Se Ra on her Spike. Woo Jin even points to the #2 on his jersey. Oh. So. Cute. He’s #2 because she is always #2. Such a fan. Once again we see Rae Woong show up all cold staring at her while the they eye him suspiciously. He kneels, looking at her foot. Then he reaches out and squeezes it only to have her jerk back. He asks her if it hurts, and she denies it, claiming that she pulled back because of his squeezing. He isn’t buying it, telling her that she cringes every time she lands on her feet, so she should go to the hospital. He just walks away with her snarling inwardly at him.
Awwwww, so he cares! Not about her (yet), but he cares for people, generally, and isn't a dick at all. I'm glad. I feel far more mellow today.
It's because you had time with a preacher.
Next we see her walking out of school in impossibly high heels (especially considering her ankle injury- this has to stop! Stop torturing women with heels like that!!!) followed by a running Woo Jin who bows repeatedly saying breathlessly how good she was today, asking her to rest tonight, and telling her he’ll see her in the morning while stuffing some papers in her hand. He runs off, hair flapping, with the biggest cutest puppy grin ever. Let us all stop for a moment to appreciate the cuteness. Gif please.
With pleasure. By the way, why is she dolled up like this?
She has nice clothes and good hair. This is rare, so let's not examine it too closely. Also, I thought Trot said he ran up and handed her a bunch of peppers and I was all, 'Wow, how did I miss THAT? Is that a thing?Is that new? Is that the latest cool kid way to say that they think someone is hot? Am I finally actually an old person? Slang is beyond m...oh, wait. Papers. Okay. Never mind.'
Turns out that the papers are a training plan, address, a map to training camp, and a list of key players. She notes that the training is too hard core and wonders if he expects her to go. She is interrupted by a call from her manager who has received a call from the principal about today’s disruptive match. He is surprised she played and warns her that she better not start liking the coaching job. [Too late, representative Gi-joon. Too late.] He also asks her what she wants for dinner and offers wine (which makes me give him the side-eye—not the alcohol but the fact that he is now nice to her like he likes her), but she says she has to go check something.
Oh GOD, I hate him. Look at those horrible lips!!!! And who thought this shade was a good idea?! Sack him!
I told you. I have always found him unattractive. NOT THAT IT MATTERS I'M SURE HE'S A DECENT HUMAN. But yes, his behavior is...worthy of attention, I guess you can say. Noticeably odd at times.
Cue cringe-worthy embarrassment. She is checking the surveillance videos to see what really happened the night before. I literally screamed out, “Don’t do it Se Ra! You don’t want to know!!”
It's a truth universally acknowledged.
Does she just randomly have an orange and a really big onion on her little table there?
Of course, she didn’t listen to me and went ahead. Now she sees herself telling Rae Woong her passcode, throwing up on him, and beating him up first with one high heel and then the other. Ironically, the one thing that seems to get to him is when she keeps reminding him that they are last place in the country. This is also where we find out officially (rather than getting spoiler from a squeecapper) (you're still cute though, I think I'll keep you) that he really didn’t know who she was because he doesn’t follow women’s volleyball. She jumps away from the computer like it’s covered with bugs since it reveals how horrible she really was and her embarrassing behavior.
I love Rim, but his acting was baaaad in this scene. 
He should have just pretended she was Go Eun and they were on WGM.  *mutters bitterly that he fooled us all there*
We cut to the volleyball house/training place/camp? Who knows? All the volleyball guys live there together apparently. Han Sol comes out of bathroom in only a towel singing but then doing typical guy teenager thing by looking in the dirty clothes bin for something to wear. But perhaps this is not typical because Yong Young looks as disgusted as I feel watching him put dirty/smelly clothes on a just washed body. He’s looking for his bandage and ignores Han Sol. Jin Ah doesn’t know where it is, and when Han Sol goes on the attack for being ignored, Sang Gyun calmly comes in, removes his hands from Yong Young and tells Yong Young that Rae Woong has it. I think this is Sang Gyun's role—to be the calm analyst of the group.
Oooooookay, hang on a minute. Time out, time out! Before my mind goes places, what is this?! Aren't these supposed to be high school students? Or what, is this a boarding house? A reality TV show? Why else would the live together?! I need help! Look at how low the towel is hanging!! How much of a minor are they, in truth and/or fiction?
It says high school but this is a team house, as if they were in team housing at a college. Is it a private school or a public school? And let's not forget that 'high school' goes a year or two past US high school, for the most part. Seems like most kids graduate at 19 or 20, while in the states it's generally 17 or 18.
They were probably thinking, "Why waste abs. High school girls like abs, too." Often in private schools in the US, team members live together, especially if they went to the school specifically to play a particular sport.
Yong Young goes into Rae Woong’s room to get his bandage and finds Se Ra’s girly phone. He thinks it’s Rae Woong's and maybe it’s some sort of hobby of his (can’t see the back clearly enough to wonder why he thinks this). He sees that the phone's wallpaper is Se Ra, but before he can do anything else Rae Woong comes; he assures Rae Woong that he’ll keep the secret, but Rae Woong doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about until he sees phone and calls out that it isn’t his. Too late, my friend. Yong Young doesn't hear him. But this begs the question. Why hasn’t he given the phone back yet? It’s not like he doesn’t know where to find her now. He even goes so far to see if the passcode to her phone is the same as her house. It is. To me this reveals a lot about Se Ra. She really isn’t that complicated despite being a “star".
She is so human. And she appears so vulnerable, my mother instinct towards her is very strong. I'm guessing this is how female lions feel.
Yes, she makes me feel that way too. Or maybe I'm just rationalizing why I feel the need to nibble on a couple young volleyball players.
You and the nibbling and the licking.
The next day they are outside training while Se Ra sits to the side. She is reviewing the training list and is dismayed by the schedule. She thinks it's too intense, but she doesn’t want to get too involved. She keeps looking, and she keeps telling herself that this has nothing to do with her. She tells herself that she just didn’t want puppy to wait. (okay, she doesn’t actually call him puppy, but we know that’s what she’s thinking). She tries to act nonchalant.
So.... why are they last if they train like that? Must be really, really, really untalented.
Over training can be just as bad as under training; they're focusing on the wrong things; they're using ineffective methods; this is a reaction to their last place designation: pick any one!
One of my favorite sayings is "Don't confuse activity with progress." They may be working hard but not working smart. She's there for what two days, and she already sees that they need a different line up and that their practice schedule is all wrong. Makes me wonder what that other coach has been doing all this time.
The team looks at her doing nothing and wonders. Of course Woo Jin defends her, saying that she has her own ideas. Han Sol thinks she’s more of an idol than a coach and that she’s really good at that. Yong Young asks Rae Woong if he would’ve kicked her out if he had won (still don’t understand how he could have that power), and he says of course. But Yong Young presses. “Why would he when her picture is his phone’s wallpaper!” Rae Woong throws a ball at him while Sang Gyun covers his mouth. But this has just puts suspicion in people’s minds. Hyung Sung and Jin Ah want to know if he purposefully lost to her. Of course Rae Woong is outraged at the thought. He starts blustering about how they lost because of them and how the other team cheated. Se Ra walks up at this moment wondering about how usually people who lose are quiet, but he sure is making a lot of noise.
Date already.
Date at least two of them, possibly three or even four. *melts at the sight of Giant Puppy*
She really cannot stay out of this training session. She tells them all that they can go. They are really happy, but over eager Woo Jin complains that there are more reps to do. She tells them that they have to take precautions and not do too much on such a hard surface because their knees will wear out. She’s even cancelled some of their other practices. She is about to say that they need to take care of themselves even if they are in last place, but she looks at Rae Woong and stops herself before all the words get out.
Okay, he's bringing on the cute. I think he remembered WTFParis by now and how he made us blubber over him.
*melts at the sight of Rim* *melts at the sight of Se Ra**thinks she should get a puppy* *yes, a real one*
The next thing we know, she is hard at work at her desk developing a new line-up. Our giant puppy walks in and looks over her shoulder and asks about it. She is shy and just says that she was bored. He likes the new line up and is amazed that she has been able to figure them all out so quickly. He smiles and gives her a thumbs up.
OMG HE's CUTE.
HELLO.  DO YOU NOT LISTEN TO ME EVER?
Let’s all pause once again to praise the cuteness. (He’s like a walking giant stuffed animal in this show. He should wear a “snuggle now” sign or something)
They're all so incredibly cute!!! 
I think my squee has gotten so long that it's at that level only dogs can hear at this point.  Which I guess is good because, hey, puppies.

Next scene is an indoor practice with Woo Jin passing out the new lineup. Everyone is gathered around him. Everyone except Rae Woong that is. When Se Ra comes in, she walks over to him to sheepishly apologize for the other night. She actually says ‘that day”, so he ungraciously wonders if she is talking about the day they fought over the bear or the night she beat him up with her shoes. She says she wasn’t in her right mind that day, but he just rolls his eyes. She then asks him about her cell phone, but instead of responding to this he just asks her if she looks down on them because they are in last place. He wonders why she is still here when he gave her an opportunity to leave. He doesn’t understand why, when she had the opportunity, she didn’t take it but instead played her best to win. She tries to bluster her way through her response and say she didn’t care but then . . . we get the voice in her head that admits she didn’t like the look in his eyes, which was she thinks the same look her teammates had blaming her. She didn’t want to lose again even if it meant breaking her ankle.
Ohhhhh, she cares about him. She cares about him! Okay, about his opinion, but still!
Have you seen him?  He's clearly someone with well-thought out opinions and a solid base of knowledge supporting his ideas regarding training practices and ...uh...anatomy.
However, they are not friends, so she can’t tell him that. Instead, she says she did it for Woo Jin. She says to him that Woo Jin tries his best even if no one is looking that the only person qualified to be on the team is Woo Jin. Of course this fires him up and he yells out that Baek Woo Jin is NOT qualified. Exactly then, Eul Young yells and spikes ball in their direction. He grabs Se Ra and blocks her with his body. That’s got to hurt. Ok. It does hurt. I’ve been hit with a volleyball so I know. The ep ends with them in an embrace. Is this going to be a pattern?
Oh yes, it hurts a lot - volleyballs are very vicious! But if Rim is there to embrace you, who wouldn't mind a little pain?
Okay but here's what you said 'He grabs Se Ra and blocks her with his body.  That's got to hurt.'  and I'm thinking no, that's got to feel pretty damn good are you CRAZY? and then I realized you meant HIM. So yeah, then.  It would hurt.

Comments

We get to know more of the other players in this episode and to confirm that Woo Jin is the king of giant puppies (getting out my climbing gear, Jo) and that Se Ra has lots of inner conflicts. We know that she has kept the extent of her injury and its impact on her emotionally as well as physically to herself pretty much, but she seems to also have other issues. She strikes me as someone who is just a regular person with a talent who has been forced to be a diva star. She has to cover her growing interest in this team. On the surface, her interest doesn’t make any sense, but that is really because no one seems to know her. Really, her interest makes perfect sense and is what someone should’ve suggested a long time ago.
I totally agree. She's the perfect coach (knows the game and has a knack for people).
She's adorable and nice and I totally love her and want her to be happy. Who could not love her?  WHO? *stares suspiciously at everyone*

The title of this ep doesn’t seem to fit like they had a longer ep and then cut the disbanding part but didn’t change title.
Are they disbanding in the next episode? 
There are titles?