Thumping Spike - Episode 13 (A Squeecap)

Everyone’s favorite character is baaaaaack! I know everyone missed Soo Bin, aka Crazy Dog, right? What? There isn’t cheering in the stands?

kakashi: Oh no, why is this called "misunderstand". I don't like misunderstandings. Go away, misunderstandings. And no, I'm not drunk currently (though still in Scotland).
JoAnne: How can we trust you to know? You're in Scotland, ergo you are drinking whiskey.  You've been in Scotland a while so you've been drinking a while, ergo, you're probably more drunk than you were the last time we checked this space. It's okay though, because it works for us!
Look at Rimbutt! He's been drinking too!

Episode 13—Misunderstanding

The episode opens with Jae Woong and Han Sol walking into their bedroom. Ah Jin’s on his bed with his nighttime barrette in. I love that it is there, obvious without anyone making mention or caring. JW gets a phone beep (whatever do they call these new phone sounds? asked by Trot—the official old fogey) for a text but ignores it, picks up a towel, and starts back out. Han Sol asks him about it, but he says to leave it. After he’s gone, the phone beeps again. Han Sol picks it up, wondering who could be texting Jae Woong at this hour of the night. We all know who it is, but it’s confirmed by Han Sol’s grin. It’s his crush, Soo Bin, and he excitedly starts texting her back. Ah Jin, looking mournful because he, like us, knows that there is no possible way that this can end well, tries to dissuade him but to no avail.
kakashi: Shame on me, we're on episode 13 and I still have no idea what people's names are. I also get the feeling that I will actually never learn them.
JoAnne: One day shortly after I moved into my first apartment in Germany, I thought the fire alarm was going off and I ran outside. My landlady was out there in her garden, and I told her the fire alarm was going off but I didn't know why. I couldn't see or smell anything and I wasn't using the stove/oven. She went inside and quickly came back out. 'Your boyfriend wants to know if you would like to have dinner in town with him this evening.'  

We shift to the next day with stalker, full of volleyball regret Eul Young, once again outside the gym watching practice. Se Ra catches him again. He apologizes and tries to get away, but my favorite oompa loompa future national team coach, Se Ra will have none of that. They go outside, and she asks him if he knows why she put Hyung Sung as center. She tells him that it isn’t just because Hyung Sung’s tall and receives and attacks well but because when she looked she saw Hyung Sung working hard all the time. She didn’t see Eul Young doing much of anything but hanging around. However, she tells him that if he’s willing to start from the beginning and go back to basics, she’ll let him back. She’s also happy that he spiked the ball at her and not at Hung Sung. When he gets all teary at her offer, she gives him a smile and a perfect coach pat (gif please).
I think I will call him Tapir. He kinda looks like one.
OMG HE DOES
I had to look this up, but now that I've seen an image, I agree, too. (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/tapir/)

There is no reason to put this in except to show us that I was right, and Se Ra could not only be a good coach but a great one. I wonder if her calling is really to go around and whip teams into shape? If the writers wanted us to really hold out for her recovery, would they show us such scenes? Or does it make us want her to recover and get back to playing herself more?
I don't know, I haven't watched beyond this episode.
I never actually really cared.  I just assume she'll pick the right thing because this is clearly not a makjang and no one is going to die. This way, I can focus on her being cute with cute boys.

If anyone dies I will riot.

What, when, why, what are you saying??!

We shift back to the gym with Soo Bin bouncing into the gym into gym with poster. They are ending practice, and she waves enthusiastically at Jae Woong, but he barely acknowledges her (girlfriend really needs to take the hint). Young Yong notices she’s there and wonders where she has been lately. Han Sol says she came because he asks her to, but Sang Gyun wonders (and talks with a book in his hand) if she’s gone insane. Why else would she do anything just because Han Sol asked? Ah Jin comes up worried, asking Han Sol if he ever told Soo Bin during their texting conversation that he wasn’t Jae Woong. They all “tsk tsk” at him, shaking their heads. They, too, know this cannot end well.
I have faith in KDrama, Trot. I believe it will all end well! Also, the guy who texted her is really well built. Nice legs!
There is much to admire about this little drama.
We all agreed long ago that han Sol deserves better than Crazy Dog who treats him like crap. . . and not just because of the way he looks in a towel.

Next we have this weird conversation between Soo Bin and Secretary Kim, weird only because I’ve never understood why people—even adults—capitulate to Soo Bin. She isn’t really that scary. She calls herself crazy dog, but I haven’t actually seen her beat anyone up, throw anyone in a dumpster, tie anyone to a bicycle rack, toss gravel in anyone’s eyes, or attach anyone’s clothes to barbed wire (while he/she is still in them). I’ve seen all of these things done by middle schoolers. She’s just not that tough.
She is a minor side-character with no meaning at all. I don't even know why she exists. Also, I realize I should have gotten drunk before this because I'm a bit grumpy?
You aren't convincing me yet, but you also aren't sounding very drunk, either.

She scares Secretary Kim with her crazy dog speech when Kim makes a snarky comment about her circling the playoff dates for the president’s cup. But really, all this does is tell Kim that there is a girl who thinks she is Jae Woong’s girlfriend.
Who cares! People have girlfriends! Sometimes more than one, so what!
Exclamation points...I'm thinking someone might have had a wee nip or two...

Woo Jin turns up in the teachers’ room with a drink for Se Ra but really to ask her about Kim’s job and to tell her he’s relieved because he’s been worried about her since she moved in. Jae Woong shows up, too, surprising both of them because he’s known to hate the teacher’s room. However, he has come by to tell Se Ra that they gym class wants her to come help with volleyball.
Can't she go out with both these boys? I'd prefer that, really.
Ohhhh, so would I. If she's not willing, I volunteer.

The next thing we know, he’s running with her on his back to the nurse’s office, but the nurse isn’t there. He plops on the examination table asking her is she wants to go to the hospital and should he call an ambulance. He gets some of the cold spray stuff you put on sprains to numb pain like Freezeit (http://www.freezeitgel.com/freezeitspray.html) and begins to wrap up her ankle. Are we getting paid for that? She looks at him tenderly, and tells him that she better go receive the treatment. He looks up at her in happy surprise. She uses her sleeve to wipe the sweat from his face, saying if she doesn’t, he’ll always treat her like a patient. He grins broadly at her. Loads of gif material here. Adoring, first aid giving, sweaty Rimmbutt, a piggyback run, and then the ankle wrapping. I don’t know, sweat and bondage, Jo? Sweat is not really sexy. Well, a little glistening is.
Okay, I had some whisky in the meantime. I don't get this scene. Did she hurt herself just being the coach of a physical ed class? #fail
Give her a break! She has a chronic injury!
Remember him yelling at her for playing just because they asked? Oh yeah. I forgot about the whiskey and you pretending that you aren't drinking it.

But we all know this warmth cannot last, for the next scene shows us Secretary Kim reporting to Representative Gi-joon. She tells him about Soo Bin and how Woo Jin has a lot of fans but Soo Bin is the one keeping fans away from Jae Woong. Gi-joon focuses on Woo Jin and Jae Woong, asking specifically about their relationship with Se Ra. Secretary Kim tells him that SeRa and Jae Woon seems to have a connection but that Se Ra and Woo Jin seem to have a close student-teacher relationship. Poor climbing tree puppy. You should have worn those white pants more!
I so don't care you don't even know how little. Seriously. Aren't these two supposed to be adults? Why do they even care about teenagers and their hormones?!
Ahhh, here it comes.

This news causes Gi-joon to show up at the school. Se Ra gets called to the office to find him there having finished a conversation with the principal about him sponsoring the volleyball team. She is really happy but also feeling sorry that she didn’t think of asking for new uniforms (she needs to stop being sorry). She’s been busy actually coaching. She barely saved the team from being abolished; why would she think to ask for money for new uniforms. He, on the other hand seems to have nothing better to do but be jealous as a full-time occupation.
Not drunk enough for this. THIS IS STUPID. And he is SO UGLY.
He looks better with his hair back, though.
Oh. Yes. He has his hair up. He is starting to care about his appearance!

Back at the gym, Gi-joon plays up his influence and power. He apologizes to Woo Jin over the misunderstanding and asks to meet the other player who said he was in the pics. It clear that he doesn’t really see Woo Jin as a threat, but the way he keeps his arm around Se Ra’s shoulders when Jae Woong walks over, shows that he thinks very differently about Jae Woong. Jae Woong doesn’t like him either, and they are clearly having a High Noon standoff without Se Ra even realizing it.

Most useless manager ever, this mouth-nose jerk. He is measuring his dick against a high schooler. OMG.
I'm sure that by now even a high-school dick is full-sized, right? I didn't raise boys and I never really inspected a dick that struck me as less than full-grown. Ahem. When do their dicks get bigger? Puberty? I know it's not like eyeballs. Did you know your eyeballs are the same size all your life?
I didn't.

That night, the whole team is sitting around with coach, Soo Bin, Se Ra and Secretary Kim eating pizza. Han Sol tries to feed Soo Bin (I love the look on Young Yong’s and Hyung Sung’s faces when she pushes the pizza he offers away—I agree guys, he deserves better) and coach tries to talk/flirt (?) with Secretary Kim. This keeps her from immediately following Se Ra out the door when the younger woman (so obviously) follows Jae Woong out.
I'm getting really hungry. We basically skip lunch here on holidays and I'm sure I've lost at least 3 kilos. Also, I love how stupid people look when they eat. Oh, and is that the Tapir, now part of the team?! That was quick.
Yeah, I think that's him. I was sad for you thinking of all the pub lunches of home-made bread and thick slabs of cheese you've been missing out on but then I realized I was thinking of Heidi and you can have that at home anytime because, you know.
That is not Tapir. Tapir isn't here. In pic below is Young Yong and Hyung Sung. Sigh. you guys really don't know anyone. But then again, they seem to come in a pack.

Jae Woong takes this chance alone to tell Se Ra that he has a bad feeling about Gi-joon (Rimmbutt ain’t no fool), but she assures him that her manager didn’t know about the pictures and that he sent Secretary Kim to stay with them because he didn’t want her to be the only girl in a house of guys. Woo Jin, Soo Bin, and Secretary Kim arrive at this point. Soo Bin tells Se Ra that her dad wants to talk to her, leaving Jae Woong to grab Woo Jin to go work out, something he clearly wasn’t planning to do on a belly full of pizza, and Secretary Kim to put some ideas into Soo Bin’s head.
Hey, coach whatshisname has some skillz! He let whathisname Rimbutt and Se Ra have some alone time. I approve. Also, the actress playing Secretary Kim is really pretty when she takes her glasses off. I would flirt with her too.
I know her from somewhere...

We find out about these ideas when she walks home later with her dad. She asks her dad about Hyungchang High School and Jae Woong playing there instead. He tells her they are the first place team in the country and have been for a while, but then gets suspicious asking her why Jae Woong would be playing for them when he’s on their team. She looks guilty but denies knowing anything.
Have a picture of the Kim Secretary instead.
Those eyebrows are killing me.

Later, Jae Woong’s phone tings with a message, but he’s asleep. Guess who isn’t? Han Sol. He sneaks to answer phone while Ah Jin painfully warns him about crossing the line. He’s a goner in more ways than one because he finds himself the next day begging Jae Woong to go talk to the volleyball coach at Hyungchang. Jae Woong is suspicious of the request and his desperation. When he says to him that Crazy Dog will kill him, Jae Woong looks alert. Cut to Han Sol on his needs begging Soo Bin to forgive him. Of course, she is furious about him “playing with her” on Jae Woong’s phone. Jae Woong isn’t interested in this spat; he just wants to know what the volleyball coach thing is all about. Once again Soo Bin plays innocent and claims she doesn’t know.
*yawns extensively and intensively*
*takes this opportunity to pour scotch down your throat*

Se Ra sees him leaving the school later that day and asks her seat mate in the teachers’ office what’s going on. (I like him, but there are so many people that there really is no space for him despite how refreshingly cheerful he is.) He tells her that Jae Woong has taken an early leave to visit Hyunchang’s volleyball coach. She looks worried. Who wouldn’t be? The President’s Cup is coming up. He’s not only a key player but losing him would completely undermine the team’s morale.
Hey, I'm really surprised! They actually attend class when they don't go crazy on hormones.
This is Korea, after all. I think Headband (that's Han Sol, the one that likes Soo Bin, right?) I think he looks like a particular cartoon of a sheep that I see often. But right now, I can't remember where I see it.

Her worry continues when he doesn’t show up to practice. She is still looking for him when they take a break. Soo Bin sarcastically asks her for whom she is waiting, and then says that Jae Woong isn’t coming because he’s meeting with Hyunchang’s hockey coach. Everyone is stunned and talking about betrayal. Even Han Sol is shocked, although I can’t imagine why else would Jae Woong be talking to another coach. However, Soo Bin’s angry at them all. She wants to know why he shouldn’t go play there? This is his only real chance. While the rest of them play as if volleyball is a hobby, it isn’t for Jae Woong. She looks pointedly at Se Ra, telling them all not to hold Jae Woong back. Woo Jin (being the captain that he is) worriedly comes up to Se Ra, asking her if she knew and if this is true, but before she can answer, Jae Woong shows up for practice and wondering about the weird atmosphere in the room.
What, hockey? Okay, let me admit, I've had a lot of whisky from the moment I've started to comment to this point. Benromach plus Peach Monster. Bad. Well, no, excellent, but not too good for commenting on mediocre shows. Did I say mediocre? Yes, I mean mediocre. Anyway, is that why the episode was called misunderstanding? They think he's betraying them but he's not?
I am consumed with a desire to sit at a table and drink with you until we are both laughing so hard we cannot speak, hands waving madly in the air as we try to make some ridiculous point or other, other people in the room just laughing in disbelief.

End of Ep

Comments

Soo Bin is really annoying and not in just the second leads are supposed to be annoying way. Her point is well taken, but the “crazy dog” bit was old two minutes before it was first mentioned in the show.
I will cancel her. Just go away, seriously. How many more episodes? How many more episodes with her in it? Go away. 
Someone call the dogcatcher. Oh wait, what do they call it now? Animal Control. Someone call Animal Control. Once I called the police about a rabid fox in my drive. This idiot shows up, takes aim from maybe 12 feet away, and MISSES the poor thing. Of course, it was crazy, so it didn't really move. He did get it on the second shot.

If anyone had any doubt before that Gi-joon sees Se Ra more as a girl than as his client, then this episode proves it. I used “girl” on purpose because I think he still sees her as a young girl that he needs to protect while she grows into the woman who loves him because she realizes how much he has done for her and cares for her. Sigh. He likes (loves?) this image of her, but every episode really reveals how much he really doesn’t know her at all.
Make him go away too. Idiot mouth-nose jerk. I hate you.
There there. Have some cheese. It will all be over soon.