Thumping Spike - Episode 14 (A Squeecap)

I’m sort of afraid to post this, knowing of Kakashi’s growing distaste for this show when she’s sober. But I feel like I need to keep going until the end since I started.
kakashi: Duh. Don't mind me. And no, I don't hate this show. It does not move me much at all.
JoAnne: It's like potato chips. Pringles. Not that great, but at least no grease on your fingers.

 

Episode # 14—Confession

(It should be “Confessions” plural, since there are so many in this ep. Do they count if the person being confessed to either doesn’t hear it or doesn’t understand it?)
((Hey, maybe they have a guy or girl in charge for the titles of the episodes, just like they have people who set the headlines in newspapers?))
Does that person actually watch the show?

This episode opens by presenting us with the meeting between Jae Woong and the Hyungchang High School coach. He makes a good pitch to Jae Woong talking about the advantage that transferring to his school would have for the young player no matter whether he decides to go to university or go pro. Jae Woong looks surprised that he is getting this offer, but we don’t get to hear what he says.
If he said what I think he said he's an idiot. Oh wait, we already know he is one. By the way, what happened to his mom and sister?
Is there a dad, too? I remember I always forgot about his mother so there must be a dad.

We then go back to review the end of ep. 13, which gives Soo Bin (who?) (Crazy Dog, I think) (haha, I was joking) way too much screen time. Jae Woong is surprised that they are all standing around. They all start peppering him with questions and accusations. Our Climbing Tree Puppy seems resigned (must be used to it living with his father) and tells him that he’ll respect any decision that he makes (aww—really. I just want them to date!). Jae Woong seems about to calm them all down when Se Ra yells at them all to stop talking and clean up. Jae Woong is genuinely surprised at her anger. Hurt, disbelief, then anger cross his face. Then he stomps out.
Of course he would.
It's okay, we got to see his nice rear view.

That night finds only Se Ra and Woo Jin at the track. Se Ra sits while Woo Jin is running, and he looks like he’s been doing it for a while. He stops, telling her he doesn’t think Jae Woong is coming, so they might as well go back. While they walk back, Woo Jin works himself up to ask Se Ra what he’s clearly been wanting to ask her for a while. He tells her that he saw what happened when Jae Woong went back to talk to her (I love how he avoids saying specifically that he saw the kiss). He wants to know why she didn’t scold him (I could tell you that, puppy, but I’m afraid of Jo). He wants to know why she treats him differently than anyone else. He wants to know why she looks at Jae Woong the way she does. But when she asks him how does she look at Jae Woong, he doesn’t speak—only thinks to himself “With worry. Sometimes with pity. The way you look at him is always changing, but how can I say this?”
He's by far the better man. That irks me. He is also much taller and longer etc.
Love my Puppy.

Oh puppy. There is no need. She’s confused. You’re confused. I think you just need a hug. (Looking over my shoulder to see if Jo is anywhere around).
Where abouts would your mouth be if you hugged him without standing on tiptoes?
I think mine would be possibly within clavicle range? If I aimed up a bit? Or that nice little hollow at the base of his throat.

Woo Jin doesn’t say anything because he can’t. He just walks away, leaving Se Ra calling after him.
Woo Jin-ah! Woo Jin-ah! Come back and let me climb you!
They would be the cutest couple, wouldn't they?
She goes back to the residence and waits for Jae Woong. When he finally shows up, he ignores her when she asks where he’s been. He only stops walking when she says that he shouldn’t act like this even if he is transferring. He is surprised that everyone is assuming he’s going when he’s never said a word. But then follows an interchange that I don’t get.
Don't worry, we will help you. We are here for you.
This is what friends do, yes.

Jae Woong: What would you say if I said I was transferring?

Se Ra: Well, if I think about the team, I’d want to stop you. But if I think just about you, I don’t think its a bad idea.

Jae Woong (rolling his eyes and after a huff): I always wondered if you ever thought about me, but now that you’re shaking me up like this, I’m starting to change my mind. (he stomps off into the residence)
More buttshots? Nice. 
I think he has a contractual figure - # of butt shots per episode - the question is, did HE have it put in the contract or did THEY?

I don’t get it. What am I supposed to feel here? What does he mean by this? I’m with Se Ra gaping like a fish because I don’t understand. I watched it over and over trying to listen to see if I could hear something different in what he said then what I read in subs even with my poor Korean listening skills, but I didn’t really.
Oh, it's the typical "let's see how the other person feels about me"-test. You tell them you are leaving to country XY and see how they react. Of course, if they love you, they want to scream "staaaaaay"! But then you say "go, it's the best for you", thereby proving how much you love the other person. Or something like that. In this case here, she gives the completely wrong answer. Instead of saying "I want you to stay", she says the team needs him. But she also admits that he should go - for his own sake The "if you ever thought about me" is a nudge-nudge towards "I told you I like you - do you like me too?"
He's just being a stupid butt-head. This IS proof she cares about him. Dumb Rimbutthead.
That's the short version, yes.
It's too hot to be wordy.

The next morning Sang Gyun, Hyung Sung, Ah Jin, and Han Sol (I put the names from left to right like they are standing for those of you who are still confused by the names of our other team members—not that you’ll remember if you are still drinking whiskey) (no whisky, sadly) (but I still won't remember) are standing by Jae Woong’s bedside trying to get him to get up, but he refuses to move and insists that they go and leave him alone. Oh no, he has a depression now! They do this adorable nudge each other bit, each trying to get the other to step forward to persuade Jae Woong. However, they come outside to where Se Ra is waiting without him. They tell her that he’s really tired, but they all know that they are lying.

Jae Woong obviously is not sleeping. He’s thinking, and because he isn’t completely dumb (are we sure?)(I've never been sure.), he goes and knocks on the door of the room that Secretary Kim shares with Se Ra. (Please someone explain to me what she is wearing? It’s like something Elizabeth Bennett’s mother would wear while weeping over Lydia running away with Wickham! (https://mimimatthews.com/2015/08/30/fashionable-caps-for-19th-century-matrons-both-young-and-old/) Anyway, he wants to talk because he knows that she is behind the whole transfer thing.
Ugh. It's too hot to worry about people we don't like.
She is wearing a kinky maid's uniform, in the hope that one of the boys is into that kind of thing.
Into what kind of thing?  Sleeping with halmeonis?

At school, we get this whole useless scene of Se Ra yawning so loudly that everyone stares at her in the teachers’ room. It does give us a reason to see our cute table mate teacher (please gif his neck roll thingy), but really nothing else. I always wonder how much people like those actors playing those teachers in the background get paid for something like this. Always there. No lines, but they do get to wear different outfits.
Which they probably have to supply themselves.
They do. And wow, do they employ underage teachers now? He must be one of those geniuses.
If everyone in Korea is a genius, doesn't that sort of wipe out the advantage? Make genius the new normal?

Se Ra gets up to walk around (probably to wake herself up - no, to show her nice butt), and when she walks by the gym, she hears someone in there. Of course it’s Jae Woong. He really can’t not practice. She gets after him for skipping class after already skipping practice. He rants about how he’s not a repeat offender, having only skipped class once before, and continues his rant by yelling that he can’t go to another team because he won’t adjust to them in time for the president’s cup anyway. Of course she is completely relieved, but she pretends not to be and tells him he should go to class. He, still yell/whining, tells her that they think he is in the nurse’s office and that he’s stiff from not practicing (so many things that Jo could do with this phrasing—I’m practically gleeful in anticipation). He throws a ball to her to help him with drills and she breaks into a grin.
So you're saying, Trot, that he put his ball in her hands to help him work out the stiffness? Do I have that right?
*shocked silence* (I'm glad he didn't say "I'm not coming")
It would have been a lie. *wink*

That night, Secretary Kim guiltily follows her into their room. She thinks that Jae Woong must have said something to Se Ra, so she tries to convince Se Ra that Gi-joon was trying to help Jae Woong with the transfer because JW is so talented. It’s not until Se Ra asks her outright about Gi-joon’s role that she realizes Jae Woong hadn’t said anything. Se Ra rushes out right past Jae Woong, who is on one of the exercise bikes. Secretary Kim just looks at him guilty because she assumed that he would rat her out as soon as he had the chance. She pretends to be thirsty and rushes away.

Shoo, fly.
It's just too funny that she doesn't wear glasses anymore. 

Of course, Se Ra barges into the agency and starts accusing Gi-joon. She tells him it wasn’t right to try to “help” Jae Woong in secret or to get Soo Bin involved. Gi-joon is sitting in his chair dressed like he is some evil mastermind (who has to go to the loo)(Theory:  all evil masterminds begin with constipation), claiming that he’ll do anything to get what wants, scoffing that fair play only appears in sports. Se Ra just doesn’t understand him (while I’m screaming at her that he likes you, you idiot girl! He thought you belonged to him by default but now he has competition). Still (despite all my shouting at my screen), she doesn’t get what he would gain by sending Jae Woong away. Sigh. I love you Se Ra. You’ve got great insight as a coach, but wow. You are completely missing this one.
Really, the two idiots deserve each other.  I'll comfort the puppy.  He'll be fine.
Okay, see why I hate this drama a tiny bit? Too much stupidity.

And because she is, we get a complete exposition from Gi-joon of his motivation. He couldn’t understand why she’d want to coach this last place team even if she was interested in trying her hand at coaching. They know how that’s going to end. Badly. So he looks into it more. She must be interested in someone specifically on the team. That person is Jae Woong. If he got Jae Woong on another team, she wouldn’t need to stay with the team any longer. Se Ra seems to be getting more surprised and angry with every word he says, but he keeps going. He tells her that he doesn’t like it when she’s out of his reach and when he doesn’t know where she is. He’d keep her by his side all day long if he could.
Well okay, then.
*Screams in frustration*

Well. That puts it out there as plain as day, right?
I'm guessing not, since there are a few more episodes to go.
*Screams some more*

Nope. Not so much. The reaction shot makes us think that Se Ra might finally understand Gi-joon’s feelings for her, but I guess he’s so much in the coach zone for her that she still doesn’t register that part. In fact, when Jae Woong meets her on her way home, though she’s in a daze, it’s not because she is trying to process Gi-joon’s confession but that she is trying to process how angry she is over every time he talked about them being hopeless because their team is in LAST PLACE. She is truly riled up about this. She tells Jae Woong that she completely understands him now and why he was so mad every time she said it before. She is even more determined to win that damn cup. When he repeats back to her what Gi-joon said about wanting to know where she is and keeping her by his side—because he clearly understands that this was a confession—she frustratingly tells him that isn’t what’s important, but the fact that he kept talking about them being in last place is the most important. As frustrated as I was that she didn’t get the confession part, I thought she was completely adorable in her outrage.
The next time she's in the hospital, she should get her brain checked.
Look! Look how discouraged Jae Woong is. She's never going to get it! Which means he's never going to get it! Oddly, my puppy has been getting it all along.

In fact, she continues her rant until Jae Woong tells her that he isn’t a minor. I remember being caught off guard by this comment, too. Actually, I said to myself “Whoa. Where’d that come from?” (haha, that's pretty clear) She is really like what the heck are you talking about. But he’s already counted the days until he is finished school. He asks her to wait for him. She’s still like “What? Do people celebrate things like that? What am I waiting for?” Now, he is as frustrated as everyone else, but the advantage that he has (besides the fact that Se Ra clearly likes him the best of all) is that he just comes right out and tells her that he likes her. He might be yelling at the time, but he just yells it flat out. And he goes on to say that to him she isn’t the volleyball goddess or a coach but just Se Ra. He doesn’t like her but he loves her—the person who doesn’t get discouraged even if she can’t play again. He loves her. A lot.  
I think she needs it in writing. 
That is a man who was absolutely determined to get his point across. He so gets it.

Nope, he doesn’t ask her awkward questions like Woo Jin or confess in oblique ways like Gi-joon. He just says “I love you. I love you a lot.”
Get it? Got it? Good.
Are you sure she does? 

Comments

I can see why Kakashi started her hate now that I’m watching slowly to recap. When I first watched, I sped through all the episodes on a binge weekend, so I wasn’t bothered so much by the lack and the wasted time and scenes that are starting to creep in.
That's a very good observation. I think I could enjoy it more if I did not have to spend quite as much time with each episode. Honestly though, I'm not sure I wouldn't be very bored with it at normal speed either.
I remember spending a lot of time flipping to other screens while people I didn't care about did things I didn't care about.

I would’ve rather seen more dialogue to explain why Jae Woong was so upset by their assumptions and what he meant in that interchange with Se Ra than watching her yawn for minutes on end.  I also would’ve liked to see the struggle of Woo Jin. Or do I just want to see him more on my screen?
In terms of writing, the problem is that there is no real conflict here. There is one really dense woman and three guys who like her. So what? We know exactly who is going to get her because the other two never had a chance anyway.
Which is a crying SHAME for the puppy.  He should have been made a real contender instead of immediately being tagged as a no-go. OR actually, better, re-work Gi-Joon so he is the decent guy who supports his star but has slowly realized that he loves the woman, too.  And then let HER struggle to decide which way her heart really leans - the young hotheaded student who wants her to do whatever she wants, or the older, more familiar man whose care for her also controls her?