The Problematic of the Unproblematic

kakashi: Dear squeeglets, you have waited long and have been overly-overall patient, but poor JoAnne has not been feeling well for many days and still isn't her true snarky self, so I am taking over the task of delivering the final (and real) squeecap to you so she doesn't have to carry that burden in addition to all the other burdens. Get well unni!!!!!!! It's an order!!!!! And let's get closure on this one. I quickly need to check what happened in episode 23, because that damn FAKEcap is messing with my head - I can't remember what really happened in the drama and what was mary's crazy version. Oh wait ... they were kinda similar, were they not?! So Ok-ryeon is (finally!) dead, Princess Seul is batshit crazy (but still alive), Jae-hwa is back (why did he leave again? Does it matter? No? Good), Aoki, the hot piece of a$$, is out of prison (why was he in there again? Does it matter? No? Good), and MoSo is not happening (which I consider NOT good). Also: every...

By now, you have probably all seen our 'April Fool's' version of the ending of this series . Here's what you don't know: We've recently been collaborating with (we thought) a young woman named Mary. (You may have noticed the proliferation of posts which focus on Song Jae Rim. She's a bit ( that's "a bit") obsessed, our Mary.) This young friend had described herself as a shy (and small) , protective older sister, living a reclusive life on a densely populated tropical island. She 'made up' the joke Final Cap, which we declared genius and posted as quickly as possible, never thinking for one moment that our beloved show would be anything like it in anyway. We all patted ourselves on the back for a good joke, but little known to us, SOME were patting a bit harder, laughing a bit louder. If you've seen Episode 23, well, you know: there are some startling similarities between what we posted and what was actually aired. What you may no...

Again, a warning that this probably won't make sense if you haven't seen the episode. Episode 24 What IS it with arming people with axes?  You don't carry an axe unless you're chopping wood or a serial murderer. It's not exactly the weapon of choice, you HwangBangers! Cars go BOOM These people are clearly OVER IT.  We watch the cars blow up, we watch Baek San march into Seul's room, we watch as Seul says 'What? Shin Jung Tae blew up the cars?', and then we watch as Baek San helpfully replies, 'Yes, that is what happened.'  Meanwhile Do Ggoo is in the background grimacing in pain. Me too, DogNose. Me too. Fuck you princess - it's all fun and games unless it's YOUR family involved, huh?

**** WARNING DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EPISODE  BECAUSE YOU WON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.***** ****Or do, whatever.  You're all grown ups.**** Rather than bombard twitter with my unvarnished thoughts as I watched the penultimate episode of my dearly loved rag-tag group of good-hearted gangsters, I just started jotting notes in here. I thought it might help me bang out a faster recap because I want that sucker OUT THERE.  Then this morning I read my notes and started laughing.  Maybe you will, too.

Mary: We finally get an explanation for this show's title, and it is NOT what you expected (DAMN!) . Be prepared for a load of WTFery as Age of Feeling scrambles to give everyone in its mammoth cast *snerk* a send-off. Whether that send-off is actually fitting, I'll leave for you to decide. Will your favorites survive in the final week's carnage? kakashi: Hell yeah - the carnage episode is here!!!! Die, evil people, die! Live, good people, live! (the evil people are the ugly ones, by the way) JoAnne: I just want My Aka to get his happy ending (Yes, Mary, that's exactly what I meant) ( Now when you say that I'm not sure if you want me to read plain English or JoAnne English.)

Dear God: Please do not kill Aka yet. kakashi: He is totally expendable. I'm more afraid for Aoki and much, much more for Mo. Mo Il-hwa doesn't serve any purpose but to look cool, smile crazily and comment on Jung-tae's abilities. I think he's a goner. All the ones we want dead (like Ok-ryeon! Now! Princess Seul, his Black Knight) seem to prosper eternally. They might have babies and build an empire and then we'll have AoF2 with that spawn.

I have tried to prepare myself for this week's episodes, but I don't think I have done a good job of it. People are going to start dying tonight, I assume. Unless we lose a hateful princess, his minion, or an evil grandfather, there's really no one I want to give up. And I don't even have Kakashi to commiserate with because she's off doing grown up stuff until FRIDAY and then she has to do MORE grown up stuff on Saturday! Sigh. Might as well get started. kakashi: I'm back. But I think I'll just ignore this episode. Skip! No more deaths! You don't need my comments anyway, seeing you already used up all the internet for this post :) Plus, I couldn't even watch 22 yet cause putting in the pictures for this post took all day (minus the one hour that was stolen as we switched to daylight savings)

kakashi: Jeez, this is a very intense episode, with lots of, I mean LOTS of brutal fighting. It was also by far the best episode from the Shanghai arch, thank you, Dramagods! If the show keeps this momentum up until the end, I will be VERY happy. Four episodes away from the end, all our boys are still alive, but the question is for how much longer ... JoAnne: When the only people I want to have die in this entire TOWN'S worth of characters is Princess Seul and Denkai Grandpa...I am bound to cry buckets.

I'm so tired I keep looking at the inside of my eyelids and wonder why it's so dark with the lights on (plus I'm somewhat disturbed by what we did over at that WTFParis post ), but things have to keep moving, cause KDrama waits for no one (or something like that). Plus, it's been a hard week and I am so ready for hot men! Come at me!  JoAnne: It really WAS a long hard week, wasn't it? And we're in completely different work. But I am very ready for hot men to come at me, as well. Thankfully, I can get my fill HERE. Because real ones, I don't have energy for at the moment. P.S Shinichi had some of his very best looking moments this week, somehow.

kakashi: What a weird episode. There's interesting revelations (oh my poor Shinichi!), but there's also tons of pointless stuff (Ok-ryeon), probably there to fill the time. To me, it feels as if the writer has completely forgotten what this drama is / should be about as he lets our characters dance in circles. At least there are still pretty dances. Still, several of them have become mere caricatures of themselves: Do-ggo. Gaya. Old Man Fly isn't even there anymore. Mo gets to guest appear, but there's no purpose to his existence. At least we finally hear what the truly big bad is: Opium. It's all about Opium. JoAnne: Yes, it's all about the Big Bad, which is Opium, and it's also all about Our Hero's Kryptonite, which is Ok Ryeon. I guess that's sort of anticlimactic to us, but I can see why it was news to HwangBang. Although me, though, a flutter of excitement over our THREEWAY bromance now brewing.

kakashi: Oh dear. Do we have another Fiasco at hand? The AoFiasco? If they stop filming, I'll go cry in a corner. What is it with Kim Hyun-joong's rotten luck and dramas? Maybe he needs someone to do some kind of ritual that involves a lot of naked skin ... JoAnne: No. I reject this. They will find a way to make this work. Can we donate? This must be how those USBoFiasco fans felt, except, you know, we're fans of a GOOD drama. I'm going to contribute 5 dollars 4 times. I want Jung Tae, Jae Hwa, Do Ggoo and Mo all to whisper my name. kakashi: But for the time being, the drama is still on and it's my time to lead-squee. And squee I will! Because there is more Mo Il-hwa in this episode ... and plenty of Aoki! And Jae-hwa. Yum. JoAnne:  I'm telling you. He is so very... I just want to ... I can't even say. But it involves multiple locations, props, and breaks for naps.

It's the last couple of days before Club Shanghai opens. Anticipation is building for everyone... for some, it's also an anxious time. Show time will be go time for the brewing battle, I think.  Is it too much to hope that off camera EVERYONE is plotting to take down Seul and Baek San? kakashi: It's a very anxious time for me, JoAnne!! Remember episode 8? It's the carnage episode. 8+8=16+8=24. We are now 2/3 into the show and I fear something bad is coming. It's like that tension in the air before a powerful storm. That said, I apologize to all of you with slow internet connections. I had to gif the living bejeezus out of this episode, I couldn't help it. Also ... there's a lot of Mo. Cause he is #WhenAManIsMoBetta

It's like childhood all over again: two weeks ago, we were playing Capture the Corpse. One week ago, we watched all the kids fight over the new boy in town. This week, Jung Tae makes a decision about his date for the prom. Along the way, we get tons of what we love: more fights, more Yummy Tummy, more Shinichi, more Aoki, more Do Ggoo....there's even a sighting of the fabled Mo! Seriously, what could be better than Mo? Do you think they really brought him back because we complained so loudly? I'm going with that. There's enough wink and nod in his reappearance to make me think that writer absolutely knows who butters his bread. Life is good.   kakashi: JoAnne, I love this show. I fear the day it will be done. I hate goodbyes.  

kakashi: There's some wonderful Shinichi fight scenes in this episode, so I'm happy! Apart from that, it did have a few draggy and repetitive bits, so I am glad our almost hero is now quite clearly on the road to full-status hero and I am also glad that quasi everyone knows by the end of this episode who is responsible for Shin Daddy's death. That means we can move on to better and bigger things soon, like ... killing some bad guys maybe? JoAnne: I am hopeful that this week that was devoted to clarifying politics is enough, and we can move on to Jung Tae, Super Hero. I liked it fine but another week of clueless Jung Tae would be stretching things.

kakashi: We're entering the 2nd half of this drama ... and it seems we're over the slightly confusing gang-war bits and the all-the-side-characters-we-loved-are-gone-or-dead-or-we-do-not-know suspicion. This episode? Simply AWESOME!!! If the show ever slightly lost its footing, or maybe stumbled a veeery little, it is definitely over it. Love. JoAnne: Hand me a napkin, please. Kim Hyun Jooooooooong! Love means never having to apologize for drooling. kakashi: hahahaha.  

JoAnne: We may be alone in our love for this show soon, Kakashi. It seems lots of fans are upset to lose their oppas and don't understand how a grown up man in one country might be surrounded by different people than he was as a boy in another. I'm still here, Show! Yes, I miss some of the pretties that are gone... but I'm ok. Tell me a good story! Despite the squeeing, that's all I really want from you. kakashi: I've always liked to be in love with things that others don't appreciate. It makes me feel special. But ... I heard just now that Song Jae-rim might also no longer be part of the cast?! Come on! How many more awesome characters will we have to mourn, show?!

JoAnne This is an important episode...The Change is here. I am so nervous! kakashi: I dub it the "Bodysnatcher" episode. It's alright, don't you think? There's no easily discernible change. At least not visually. They still fight. It's still complicated. JoAnne: We just had different people to miss, as far as I was concerned. Still felt the same otherwise!

kakashi: Hm, interesting. This episode was still made under the old crew (or wasn't it?!), but it does feel like a new chapter. Shanghai is very different from the rural world of Shineuiji, not only visually: it gives off a completely different vibe. The stakes? Much higher. Our hero? Definitely grown up. There's so many new characters that we are introduced to, and new relationships, good ones and bad ones, that we must learn to understand. This is like starting into this drama all over! JoAnne: It's the drama within the drama!  I'm sad to lose so much of what we loved, but this new stuff looks pretty interesting, too. I don't like the new ending music, though.

kakashi: Two more episodes with the old team of writers and two more episodes without "less violence". I'm so in. And hey, even if the new head-writer destroys this drama (that's a possibility), I still say: 9 (or possibly 10) incredibly good episodes, that's more than I got from many, many other KDrama. Let's not be greedy! Embrace it while it's still good! And if it turns bad ... drown our sorrows in alcohol. JoAnne: I'm drinking already at today's news. Have you heard? New writer in, Kim Jae Wook out. I think they (or he) decided his character arc wouldn't get enough attention. We've been sort of complaining about the lack of favorites every other episode... Tightening up might not be bad, but damn. No Kim Jae Wook? I was waiting for that bromance! Yo! Mo? Whoaaaaaaaa.   kakashi: Shiiiiiiiit! That's some major WTFuckery ... I guess we'll never know what made him do it, but my guess is KJW felt neglected. Happens with such a larg...

Show is picking up speed at a pretty steady space and like Kakashi, I'm starting to brace myself for the body count to rise. Since there are so many people we love, this can only be a painful journey. Bring me chocolate, someone... although I think that by the end of NEXT week only booze will suffice. kakashi: This episode killed one of my favorites (even THE favorite?). I've watched it four times ... I cried once. I cried twice. I cried a third time and then, I fast forwarded through that scene the fourth time, cause I didn't want to cry again. But I still cried. So I really, really love this show and I really, really hate it right now.