Thumping Spike - Episode 15 (A Squeecap)

Trotwood: This episode confirms what I’ve been thinking for a while: Climbing Tree Puppy has the absolute worse timing ever. Poor thing. Why must he see and hear things that will only drag his heart through the wringer?
kakashi: You know, timing is everything in KDrama.
JoAnne: Do you think he will always be a second lead/supporting character actor? (I do, a little bit.)

Episode 15: The Answer

The episode opens with Se Ra in bed wide awake. Secretary Kim is lying on a pallet beside her with her eyes closed, but despite this Se Ra asks her if she is sleeping. She wants to ask Secretary Kim’s attitude about age gaps between couples. Seriously? Secretary Kim tells her that she thinks it’s best if the woman is older considering the life expectancy for men vs. women (haha). She even brings up one of my favorite celebrity couples Beak Ji Young and Jung Suk Won who have a nine year age difference. Se Ra laughs at the idea only because she is thinking of herself and that would put Jae Woong in middle school. She wouldn’t laugh if she was looking at couple pics of these two now. They are adorable one minute and Rawr the next.
Se Ra did well to think about the weirdness of dating minors though. KDrama, listen to her!
He's not a minor.
If he were 9 years younger, he would be. It's a thought-experiment. 

Anyway, Secretary Kim is tired and annoyed and just tells her to think only about how she feels not the age. Wow. Does she even know what she is saying? She’s got to see the conflict here, but maybe she is too tired to realize that she just told Se Ra that she should go out with Jae Woong?
I don't actually think Secretary Kim has anything against Se Ra and Jae Woong. She just tries the stupid mouth-nose jerk (why? Does she like him?) but we are realizing that she's an okay person, when she's not around him. 
I wondered about that and eventually came to the conclusion that it's not jealousy over Gi-Joon but just jealousy in general.

The next thing we see is Jae Woong unable to sleep, too. He goes outside, and who comes out right after but Se Ra who also can’t sleep. She asks if he’s suffering from his insomnia again. He says this time his insomnia is because of Kang Se Ra and asks whether she doesn’t realize how hard it is for a man to confess but that he’s most upset about not getting an answer. She’s about to give one when Secretary Kim comes out to yell at them about being up when they know they have an early practice.
I know you ladies like Se Ra, but I really don't. I don't find this state of complete cluelessness even remotely cute. She's hurting three people, plus one (Secretary Kim) with her idiocy. Oh, and that Crazy Dog Girl, but she really doesn't count. 
I find the extended stupidity stupid, yes. I could forgive her for an episode, perhaps an episode and a half - but after that, no excuse. Just bad writing.

Jae Woong is about to scream from frustration, but Secretary Kim has a question for him first. She wants to know why he didn’t tell Se Ra about the whole transfer story. He just comes back and asks her why she hates Se Ra. Thank you. We all want to know this. At first she denies it, but when he tells her how it’s obviously written all over her face, she admits that people like Se Ra are the people she hates the most—cute, perfect body, winning smile. They get everything they want—endorsements, money, hearts—without much effort. Jae Woong says the Se Ra he knows is just a volleyball player, so he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. If she thinks you can be a great player by just smiling then she’s crazy. He also says he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to be like Gi-joon (Yes. Take the high road, honey) and yells at her to stop popping out of nowhere. He goes on to say that the only person in the house not working is Secretary Kim. The subbers translate it as “only bitch not working” but I’m not sure that is correct or has the same connotation that it has here.
She even repeats it back at him! Huh. Language, Rim-boy, language!
It may sound odd coming from me, since I regularly fling F-bombs, and will call a spade a spade (or a bitch, if that's the case) - but I don't like that word used casually, as if it's just another term for a woman. I'm actually very offended when that's done. Funny, I know.
I am, too, which is why I was really wondering about it. Where I'm from, called a woman that, there will be a serious fight sometimes involving knives.

The next morning at practice, all the players apologize one by one to Jae Woong for thinking he was transferring. However, Woo Jin is silent. Jae Woong half teasing half sarcastically apologizes to Woo Jin for not transferring. Jae Woong looks at him mockingly, but Woo Jin looks super serious. Se Ra yells at them all for chatting and not practicing, so they all get serious.
To transfer or not to transfer, that is the question.
Whether 'tis better to suffer the spikes and set-ups of outraged team-mates, or...

They go back to the Residence to be greeted by Secretary Kim who has prepared a huge spread for breakfast. She’s surprised that everyone, except Han Sol, looks upset until she finds out from Yong Young that she used all of their groceries for a week on one meal.
*Sigh* And yet, she grows on me, this awkward woman.
I did think that was nice of her.
Yeah. She had good intentions here.

Jae Woong spends the whole day looking at his phone, waiting to hear from Se Ra. He texts her to meet him after practice that afternoon only to find out after practice that she isn’t coming. When he realizes that Woo Jin is also not there, he jumps up and runs out. Woo Jin steps in just then. Jae Woong calls her, but she’s at the hospital getting treatment.
What was that about? Did he think she was meeting Woo Jin? Or was it about that text he sent her earlier?
I thought he thought she was with our sweet boy.

Because there are only three cabs in Korea, she catches a ride in a cab driven by the drunk guy in the karaoke place from ep 1 where she beat up Woo Jin. He recognizes her and asks about the boy she beat up; he asks about her health, saying that she shouldn’t go out without makeup. Sheesh. (what purpose do those bits serve?) She doesn’t seem fazed by this at all like she would have been ten episodes ago. She sees someone and asks him to pull over.
She doesn't pay him. Well-deserved, for being so rude.
I think there was a thing at the beginning about how she was always the princess of volley-ball - good but also very stylish, very pretty.  I might have just  imagined it though, but if so, it works to serve as reminder to us that the priorities of that world never did actually fit her very well.

She gets out to be greeted by Jae Woong who immediately gets embarrassed when she starts getting recognized, so he puts his baseball hat on her. They walk home, and he pretends to be interested in other things when really he just wants to know her answer (don’t we all?), so he asks her again. She teases him realizing that this is the real reason he texted and called her when he had never done either before and why he met her out on the road. He tells her that he needs a yes or no answer not an ”I need to think about it” or a “maybe next time” answer, so she says “no.” He seriously isn’t prepared for that. She tells him to concentrate on the President’s cup. He wants to know how he can with this answer.
Ack, it's that old bullshit. We must concentrate on XYZ, that's why we cannot date! Do you know what energies are unleashed when you do date / are newly in love? He would win that stupid Cup all by himself! 
Besides, it's not like saying yes means they suddenly no longer have time to practice. It's not like saying no magically removes his interest, either. So instead of being happy while practicing for the Cup, he has to be miserable? How does that improve things?

Later when he and Woo Jin are running, he’s very agitated and takes it out on Woo Jin, telling him to talk already because his silence is annoying. Woo Jin, who clearly has his own troubles, ignores him and lets him run ahead. We then get a flashback to Jae Woong’s confession, but instead of seeing it, we hear it while watching Woo Jin listen on the other side of the gate. Seriously show, he has to overhear this, too? The reason a kiss doesn’t happen is because Woo Jin opens the gate right when Jae Woong leans in. We also see another flashback earlier in the day where he admits to Se Ra that he heard Jae Woong’s confession, asks her whether she gave him an answer and asks her not to yet or say no since he LIKES HER, TOO. Finally, that’s out in the open. Please have a screen shot of when he wonders out loud why Jae Woong keeps getting caught. So Stoic. So climbable, so ready to build a tree house now. And a tent. So  . . . none of the other words I’m thinking should be put down. I don’t want to encourage my dark side.
Why does he only get to confess in flashback? UNFAIR. He should go pitch a tent in the yard and refuse to come anywhere until he gets recognition for being the rock-hard foundation of this show!
(There, Trot. Will that satisfy you?)

Okay. I know I’m not supposed to like Secretary Kim, but I’m with her in this next scene. I totally like her, so come along! She is with Se Ra in their room after an exhausting day. She talks about cleaning everyone’s rooms and doing their laundry and shopping to replace all the food she used up. She doesn’t want anyone to be able to say she doesn’t do anything, but now she’s exhausted. Se Ra commiserates and whines about the chances of getting confessed to twice in the same day. Secretary Kim can barely keep from rolling her eyes when she says “Lucky Wench.” I mean really. Not feeling sorry for you Se Ra!
Hey, can Secretary Kim have Tree?
I like her, but I don't like her THAT much. Besides, isn't one of the Nameless VolleyBall Mob a thing with her?  Isn't there a scene like that?

Later Se Ra sits with Jae Woong outside. He wants to ask her if her answer is still no. This time, she doesn’t look like she is teasing like she was before. She says her answer is still no, and he just says okay and walks inside. She looks like she wants to explain more but doesn’t. He looks pretty heartbroken and resigned.
This is some kind of noble idiocy, I guess.
*vomits*

The next scene is at the agency and has Gi-joon staring at Secretary Kim like she’s gone mad. She’s on a rant about the residence and how much work there is taking care of everyone and how they don’t have good things. She even asks him to sponsor them seriously; I think she’s angling for a new washing machine or vacuum cleaner. The only thing he says is to wonder what it is about that place that seems to change everyone.
Hahahaaa, oh no, Secretary Kim. Did you just become their maid??!
I love it. She's the house mother. House Big Sis.

The episode closes with them all, including Secretary Kim and those random extra player people, walking toward a building that has The President’s Cup sign hanging outside. They look sponsored. Se Ra asks them if they are ready. They give a halfhearted yes, but Woo Jin and Jae Woong are conspicuously silent.
He might transfer if you're not careful.
WE might transfer if she's not careful.

Comments

I think the editing and/or directing was odd in this ep because Se Ra’s mood was different when she first rejects Jae Woong and then when she rejects him again. What is the time frame for things because her mood only makes sense if her second rejection of Jae Woong comes after Woo Jin’s confession. She seems really pained about this.
She's like a woman who does not know that men and women make babies. She just.does.not.get.it.
I do think that her second rejection of Jae Woong is sincere and that it pains her because she's doing it specifically because of Woo Jin's confession, not because she doesn't want to be with Jae Woong.

I do love how Secretary Kim is all about what everyone needs now. I also understand her bad attitude about Se Ra. Not excusing her earlier behavior but I can see how Se Ra would make anyone crazy without meaning to at all.
Me and Secretary Kim have founded a "Anti Se Ra" club. Sorry. Until she changes.
I don't hate it.

I remember thinking at the time, what are they going to do with 5 more episodes.
Play lots and lots of volleyball, maybe?
Naked volleyball.