The Problematic of the Unproblematic

 Shuk: FINALLY Trotwood: Finally. Appropriate, too. Since I'm not going to be blogging anymore for awhile. Work is too stressful and too busy. Spending most of my vacation being bitter that I have to go back to work and researching ways in which I might not have to go back to work for long. I'm really feeling like I'm getting too old for the crap and pressure that I put up with. But at least I haven't been blown up and gone down a trash flume slide! Wow. This episode is almost two hours!!  Kmuse: It has been so long that I almost feel I need to rewatch the whole drama to remember everything. But then I remind myself that you can only spend so much of one's life staring at gangsters staring on stairs.

  Shuk: Has Ruthainark finally realized her feelings? Has she realized his? Will these SnarkCaps ever finish? Stay tuned! Trotwood: At this point, I didn't think she'd realize her feelings even after they were married with 6 kids! But hope does spring eternal. Kmuse : Nark might be one of the dimmest leading ladies I have watched in my long drama watching career. Yet, somehow I still find myself rooting for her happy ever after. (nodding in agreement)

  Shuk: I am a complete idiot, worthy of inflicting pain on myself. Actually, Cubic only has a total of 16 episodes. Blame on my last personal recap, which had 20 episodes. Or my Moderna shots. So we only have three more episodes before we can bid farewell to the weirdest couple in the entire LakornUniverse. Kmuse: I have no clue how many more we have but am just in it to the end. And really, with the length of the episodes it feels like it is never ending. Also, this is one of the saddest episodes in the entire lakorn. Have tissues handy! Trotwood: Not just sad but unnecessarily sad! Whenever I rewatch, I skip whole sections because I really try to block out what happens here. Chapter 14 Little Flock is drinking a Sprite while his minions adopt various minion poses. One goon confirms that Ruthainark has disappeared from Taipei Hong Kong, and that LLS has a new doll on his arm. Who also happens to be Thai.  How many episodes has it been since we saw Uncle Flock? I am missing h...

Shuk: More tea sets! More Red Robe scenes! More staring! Danny still can't dance, and Lin Lan Ser still can't emote. But the law enforcement is closing around our high IQ / low EQ girl as her silly older sister waxes rhapsodic over her fantasy of LLS's love directed at her. Trotwood: It's been a really really long time, so I thought that my complete disdain for Nark"s fanily would have lessened with time. Nope. If anything, my pandemic patience is non-existent for these two. Kmuse: UGH! I forgot the stupid Dad and Sister are back. I foresee them annoying me greatly.

Shuk: You would think with all the stay-at-home orders, there would be more time to continue our delightful path down Cubic's Way. But as one of the 'front line' employees in this crisis, it's been remarkably tough to find any groove to write up anything. But I know this must be completed! The world must know Truth, Justice, and the Lin Lan Ser Way! Kmuse: I'm ready to find out if we finally have some conversation between the leads or it is more cringey staring. Who am I kidding? There is going to be a lot of cringey staring. Trotwood: With all the changes going on in the real world (sometimes every hour), it's sort of comforting to know that Nark's obliviousness is ever constant.  By the way, this one has a lot of slow-motion camera work, and lots of staring. I mean, more than the usual Cubic episode. Like I said "ever constant."

Shuk: Here we go on yet another journey to one of the best worst lakorns out there.  Episode 11! Is the end in sight? Has everyone figured out who really loves them, and who is a flockless psychopath? Trotwood: I'm so glad you are continuing with this. It always provides me something I need even though I didn't know I needed it. Who knew that Nark's Newsie's outfits would provide me with such inner peace? Kmuse: Anytime I think I might want to try a new Lakorn I remember that I am working on this project and I tell myself, "I'm good. It can't get better than staring on stairs." Let the snarkcapping continue.

Shuk: New year, new episode! Exciting things have been happening, resulting in yet another delay in squeecapping.  But now I hope we are back on track to continue our crazy ride! I also want to introduce our guest squeecapper, El, who I met in a Discord channel sponsored by the intrepid friend of Thai dramas, AlwaysMeena. El is going to dip her toes into this because of her love of Bomb. Haha, just kidding, El. Guest El: Hello! Thank you very much for the invitation! I’m so excited << SARCASM!!!!  I’m doing this to show how much I like Shuk! Trotwood: I was wondering about that last comment. I wouldn't say these were Bomb-lovin' posts. I mean these are SnarkCaps rather than Squeecaps for a reason. Kmuse: Getting back into Cubic right now is working out for me. I somehow broke my foot so this is the perfect pick me up and a good excuse to watch something Thai. Also, it puts things in perspective. At least I am not stuck staring on stairs or living with flocked hai...

Trotwood: We are back. I don't know for how long though. We may be doing eps every other month tops now that the slow season has ended, and I'm supposed to start recapping another Japanese drama soon. It's been seven months since we posted the last Cubic snarkcap and 6 months since I drafted this one--so long that I had to go back and review the key terms from the preface , so I knew what I was talking about. It's just as crazy as I remembered, but I've seen lots and lots of tassel earrings in stores now. Mei Jin was apparently very fashion forward. Shuk: So now we know of at least one crazy bad guy in suspect couture. And one useless guy in shiny suits. What more delights await us?

WE ARE BACK!  And what an episode this was. Grab your tassel earrings, your personal plunger, and your desire for puzzles. It's Cubic! Trot:  We are half way through!!! I wonder why I’m so tired, and I realize it is because this is really like being at episode 16 of a Korean drama (unless it’s TvN) because we have nearly two hour shows which would double the length if it were a Korean drama. This is also a really long episode and a recap that’s long to get in the “you won’t believe I’m saying this” details. Shuk:  You mean it's worse than a girl beating you up with a purple bathroom cleaning tool after declaring pitstank? Kmuse: I am starting to wonder if the episode feels so long because they have added Rubix Cube bumbling into the mix with random stares and stares on stairs. There is just not enough time in an episode for all three.

Trot:  I don’t think the new strategy worked, although I did remember quite a bit without having to watch completely the second time. There was SO much stare acting (SA) and very long sequences of no dialogue where we listened to people’s theme songs (TS) in multiple variations, including a music box version. Shuk: Now that the two of them are aware of each other. And are aware that the other is aware, does this mean any cute time? Yunno, without him getting arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Or that moral event horizon of sweet moments with your student. Kmuse: Is it wrong to wish that we had a two year time jump during one of their epic starefests? I really wish she was at least 18 so I could get aboard this ship. Even Jongsing has figured it out.

Trot: I was so excited thinking that this episode was shorter, but it was just because the version I was looking at had cut out about 40 minutes from the end. Sigh. Now it’s bloated from trying to explain all the action. Sigh again. Kmuse: It's because there was a good twenty minutes of mafia guys shooting each other and not hitting anything. I would probably cut some of it out if I had my way too.  Shuk: Still, there was a little bit of character development. And also, a cautionary tale to always keep extra ammo when you are a villain.

Trot:  So I am going to try a new strategy for these snarkcaps. I’m going to do a first draft from fast forwarding through rewatch and typing up whatever I remember from that. Then I’ll watch at regular speed to fill in gaping Stare holes. Do you think this will keep me from hitting the 3000 word mark? Hey, I’ll try anything at this point. Shuk: I'm just happy that so many people are enjoying these. It's nice to know that Thai entertainment has many fans out there. Kmuse: I agree. Good TV needs to be shared with the masses/fans. Even if it is good tv that is really really cheesy and bad. Shuk: Or tasseled.

Trot: I have already given up on trying to make these snarkcaps shorter. My new goal is to not make them any longer. I think I failed this time, but we finally got LLS's backstory. Does that make up for it or for the quantity of stare acting we had because of the backstory? There are loads of Robe poses in this episode people, but they come near the end, so be patient. Kmuse: You can't go around cutting out important stare acting or robe moments (preferably, both happening at the same time.) You can't rush a good stare or a good snarkcap. Shuk: I think our dear squeeglets will love us no matter what. As long as we supply quality snark.  Oh, Patrick. You know you aren't going to win, right? Even if you are the only person doing legal things in this entire drama who doesn't die.

Trot: I’m really trying to make these snarkcaps shorter, but this episode is 100 minutes. Kmuse: You can't rush good zoom in starefests. Shuk: I think they are the perfect length now. More room for StareGifs!

Shuk: This episode really establishes the dynamics between our couple:  He thinks she can't do something, she proves him wrong and says something snarky, he rethinks her abilities, then underestimates her again. All accompanied by SA, MoS, TS, DM, and all our Cubicisms. Trotwood: I just love how she talks to him the way no one else does, and he can't stop thinking about her because of it. Kmuse: Who knew a necktie would be the catalyst between a genius high school student and her CEO mafia principal?

kakashi: The first ending (episode 28) didn’t appeal to many people (you don’t say!), so they made another ending! Hahahahahaaa, massive fail. I must admit, 28 really was the biggest mess of a final episode I’ve ever seen. I do prefer this one, and it's not because they made it a happy ending. It just makes much more sense. JoAnne: I guess we'll see how much I remember of this one, huh?

Trot:  I don’t know what the titles are for individual episodes or even if they have them, so I’m just going to make up my own. Shuk: Yay! I'm excited about this project. This was a crazy show in my early lakorn-watching days that convinced me to try more Thai entertainment options. For the record, I always thought it would be a great drinking game to have a sip of Tsingtao Beer every time you recognize Taiwan masquerading as Hong Kong. Kmuse: This is my dream come true. Now I can share all my snarky thoughts regarding Cubic with the world episode by stare-filled episode. I am overwhelmed with joy just thinking of the fun we are going to have with this one. JoAnne: I might peek in. Don't be confused. Kmuse is not me.

Trotwood: So, I’m doing it again. For some unknown reason, I decided to recap another drama. I think it is because I was feeling so relaxed and energetic over vacation and feeling inspired by all the blog work that Kakashi is doing while being busier than most people on the planet. Instead of starting back small and being sensible by recapping another web (and thus short-episode) drama, I decided to take on a lakorn, and not even a Weir one at that, but Cubic . Shuk: Yay! Cubic! Or the real name:  Cubic: Nee Hua Jai Tee Mai Dai Kor "A Debt Of the Heart" . This was my first true crack lakorn. So bad. But so good, since it takes itself waaaay too seriously. Kmuse:I started watching Cubic when I was sick with the flu.  It was maybe halfway through airing and I binge watched it in one, doped up on Dayquil, day.  It was truly a life-changing experience.  I then simulcasted religiously each Sunday.  Why?  I think that I was somehow brainwashed by all of Bomb's...

kakashi: Subs get really bad and cryptic. I don’t blame you, subbers, this episode is so weird I had to watch it several times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating. JoAnne: I'm still not convinced we aren't dreaming right now.

kakashi: Tingjun finally gets some. JoAnne: Oh thank GOD. He is not quite himself though.