Cinderella And Her Four Knights - Episode 7 (A YawnCap)
Shuk: The show has completed its run on TvN, but we still plod on, one painful episode at a time. (Trotwood: I'm here for you, Shuk!-giving you a virtual consoling pat on back) Still, it gives us time to think about the existential characteristics of our primary characters, the neopragmaticism of their actions, and whether Eastern epistemology can explain their behaviors. Or maybe I should have another shot of soju and listen to Tropical Storm Matthew rage overhead. Yeah, that last one makes more sense.
Jaehyus: I'll hope that Eastern epistemology can explain their behaviors.
Several of our regular commenters are buried by RL, so hopefully they will come back soon. Aja aja fighting!JoAnne: *waves weakly*
Episode 7
Poor, boring Fashion Girl. After hearing Ducky's confession, she hurries out of the school, hotly pursued by Emo.
Kmuse: If I had a dollar for every time Fashion Girl gets upset that Ducky is with another woman….. I would at least have enough to buy me a drink to help make her more bearable.
I wouldn't be so bothered if she didn't act like this was the first time she's seen this.
Yawn.
Meanwhile, Cindy is brutally honest with Ducky. Look into your heart and see what you truly love, be it family or friends. She leaves him in the production room and walks away.This is what Fashion should have said long ago with this kind of force right before walking away from him. She should be thanking Cindy, but she has left too soon to hear the whole thing. (another drama trope)
But she's been told by Cindy that she has no interest. I don't think she leaves because she thinks they'll get together. I think she leaves because Ducky is yet again trying with Cindy, and if you love someone you don't want to watch them pursue someone else.
Emo finally catches up with Boring, and quickly explains that nothing is going on between the other pair. She knows it, but still can't understand how she could be friends with Cindy. She wants to be by herself to think.
Fashion Girl might want to borrow Emo’s creepy columbarium spot so she can do some angsty brooding.
Note to Fashion Girl; You could be friends with Cindy because you need not just a good friend but any friend. have you guys noticed that she seems to have no other friends besides Emo? What the heck is that about? They could've at least had some scenes with some extras while she was being humiliated by Ducky.
None of these characters, except Player, seem to have friends outside Cindy. And Player's friends are just hangers-on, so in a sense, he doesn't have any friends either.
Ibeol is still stuck, surrounded by adoring fangirls. "Oh look, it's CNBlue!" The girls look anywhere but at him, and he duck and runs. Quickly, though, they give chase. He's suddenly pulled into hiding by Barista. They are safe but surrounded. What to do?
Make out, of course. What else do you do with a cute boy when you're hiding together?
There is no way that short Barista's uniform would fit Ibeol. His butt would definitely be hanging out. But we got to see him in drag so I will suspend my disbelief since it is funny as heck.
And the quick thinking on Barista's part should be rewarded somehow by this narrative, please.
Ibeol was rather cute in drag. I would like more comic relief from him.
Oh look, some of my boys :)
 |
| Lee Jung-shin does looks good in schoolgirl. I liked him best with long hair even though it's straight and kind of thin |
And where is Ducky? He's walking down the sidewalk, subtlety being followed by a bunch of sniggering schoolkids. It appears Cindy's rejection has gone viral.
Someone’s ego is going to get cut down to size (Grabbing some popcorn to enjoy the show.)
Finally. And the reason why this is so funny to me is because she really isn't his real love. But he is in this confused state of "like" because once again Cindy is the only real friend he's ever had, and he likes her because of that. maybe she could make money holding "How to Be a Real Friend" workshops. Or make money renting herself out in some "Rent a Real Friend for a Day" enterprise.
Good plan, Trotwood!
She'd be rich.
PA Lee starts at Casa de Crap. AssStepMom is snarky, sarcastic, and unhelpful. SSDD. Ibeol tries her part-time job at the coffee shop, only to bump into Barista, who is all smiley fangirl. She promises not to tell anyone about his cross-dressing. She is unhappy to find out that Cindy is no longer at SkyHouse, and Ibeol is quick to point out that she wasn't evicted.
At the residence, Mrs B is mumbling exposition under her breath as she arranges white roses on the dining room table. Emo wonders about the flowers, and Mrs B admits that it was Cindy's idea to have white flowers to refresh the place but be subdued to not overlook the death day anniversary. Mrs B is still singing the praises of the missing girl, but Emo is already heading for his bedroom.
Once he is there, though, he stares out his window into Cindy's room and thinks about her statement that she needs to protect something. Ibeol gets a phone call from PA Lee that he hasn't found her yet. He sits back and looks at the lyrics of the song he is working on. Is it dedicated to her?
These are all incredibly lonely people.
Emo is driving around, and pulls over to the side of the road. He looks out the window and smiles. He was right! Cindy is at her late night job at the convenience store. I don't think she was there to work but to have that dinner you discuss below. I assumed she was there for her graduation dinner because ramyeon was all she afford. Um, wouldn't Barista have told Ibeol about this job? [suspiciously looks around to see if the Continuity Fairy is back]
Cindy? Cindy who? It is the way of a fangirl that you can’t have two thoughts in one’s head when near your bias. Or if you see a concept photo. Or a beauty product sporting one’s bias on its cover. Pretty much you only think of your bias 24/7.
That's right, a bias trumps everyone else.
Still in uniform, she has set up three bowls of ramyun. Why three? Aww, she pretending the other two are her parents. It's not enough to keep up her spirits, though, and she ends dripping tears in her jjajyamyun.
Of course because her graduation day should've been the happiest day in her life. It's a great accomplishment and it turned into a humiliating public disaster. She has to treat herself to her own graduation meal? At a convenience store? Bastard dad. Where was he? He should've at least been there for Biatch step daughter.
I hate that dad more than the Steps because he raised this girl, and he should've still accepted her as his own instead of being nasty. The other two are two-faced and mean, but the dad is a betrayer.
Yep. His behavior is shameful.
Emo pops in, happy to see, only to overhear Cindy. She apologizes to her mother for not being able to go to college. It gives Emo's heart a twinge; he pretends to not notice her watery eyes, and instead demands she share her noodles with him.
Tough Love.
He sits across from her, and her eyes flit everywhere but him. Emo finally speaks his heart: stop starving yourself and come back home to Sky House. She refused, but hesitantly he admits to secretly going to the temple to pay his respects to his father. Now his eyes are darting everywhere as he confirms that she completed her mission and stuff, so it's okay for her to return. Cindy breaks out into a smile and finally looks at him fully.
I hate these stupid vague missions so much.
Me too. To be honest, I hate missions in shows altogether.
He knows that she left the rose by his mother's urn; she figures their parents are neighbors anyway. Cindy praises him for giving the flower to his father's picture, and he shyly basks in the glow of her words. She's ready to go home, and he's ready to take her there.
Finally.
At gloomy Sky House, the waiting boys still haven't heard anything, and her phone is off. PA Lee thinks to check nearby internet cafes and jimjilbangs.
Just then, they hear a cheery, "I'm here!" and, just like that, Cindy is back! Emo stands back and watches the happy greetings. Ibeol calls him on his fake indifference; Emo just straightens his jacket and saunters away.
Okay, then.
Mrs B is ready to feed her (because she knows that we need food. (cough) I mean that Cindy needs food). And Ibeol is happily strumming on his guitar. Cindy comes in, newly changed into her tracksuit. She's touched that Ibeol would try to call her almost fifty times, and he apologizes for all the Kang Cat shenanigans. They gambol around like a couple of puppies.
Too cute!
They're adorable together.
Later, Ibeol and Cindy take a stroll together outside. He calls her impressive for rejecting Ducky, and, for the first time, she finds out that the entire universe knows what happened at her school. Ibeol is sure his older cousin has laughed it off; Cindy isn't so sure.
We find poor Ducky at an internet cafe looking at netizen response to the video. Too bad most of the comments are pro-Cindy (Thank goodness. I was waiting for more trashing of her). It's even been subtitled in multiple languages! Our Ducky Douchebag hides his face with his coat and hides his body at a nearby park. He thinks about what Cindy say about checking his heart and feelings. He feels a bit strange, but his self-introspective is halted by a sudden rainstorm.
Couldn’t Ducky do the same trick he pulled with Cindy’s rumors? You know, when he had enough power to control all media outlets?
No. Because the continuity fairy is drunk.
Wow, Ducky just rolled over and gave up. Also, why an internet cafe? He has a computer and smartphone.
Not at home, probably phone is dead?
He drags his sad self through Sky House to his bedroom, completely ignoring Cindy's concern-filled questions. Is he really that shaken up?
I hope he is that shaken up because I enjoy seeing him miserable.
She decides to take in some fresh air off her landing, and coincidentally makes eye contact with Emo, who is in his room messing with and R/C car. They slowly smile at each other, and she send him a text. It's a cutesie conversation, and he wants to ask her about the fake fiance fiasco. But he chickens out, and makes a big deal out of tossing his phone aside. She has one final text though, and he grins when he reads it. "Thanks."
This is the first time that I find the OTP cute and coupley. Emo’s smiles just makes me happy.
True. He needs a real friend as well to get out of his emo-like life. He thinks he is friends with Fashion Girl, but she is so self-absorbed in her angst that she can't do more than surface decency. They have now established a pattern that he rescues her. I'm not seeing him getting anything out of that relationship.
Unless one or other changes their style - ahem, Cindy, because she doesn't look good to me like that - I will never ship them. They look like brother and little brother and that's just incestuous.
But poor Ducky. He's hunched over the SkyHouse stream, reminding me of Tamaki Suou from OHSHC. PA Lee spots him, but as long as he's not faceplanting in the water, I guess it's okay. PA Lee walks away and leaves the kid on the rock.
At least Ducky’s moping has just a bit of comedy to it. Fashion Girl should take notes.
Nice.
Why do we have to settle for jaw muscles? Why? WHYWHYWHY
 |
| Appreciation achieved. Next time let’s try this scene shirtless. |
:D
StepWhatevers are doing StepWhatevering. Aspersing AssStepSis sees that Cindy is getting mostly positive comments. She gets mad, and her fingernails are ugly, although not as ugly as her soul.
They really have no function in this drama anymore. Why do we waste any time on them at all/ Could the writers not get out of a contract or something?
It is as if the writer couldn’t let go of the Cinderella concept despite the fact that we have digressed from the fairytale since episode 2. Shrugs. At least it isn’t the Little Mermaid story for once.
In his Gramps hands Cindy a dried and laminated white rose. It's the one that Emo stole from his mother to give to his father, the flower-hating cheapskate. (I thought so, too.) They both know that white roses symbolize "respect", and Gramps is monetarily grateful for her help in changing his grandson for the better. She is presented with six open-ended airline tickets to family vacation home.
UGH. He totally ignores her leaving the house. It’s not like PA Lee didn’t tell him. Gramps character stock continues to drop for this viewer.
Okay, it's not exactly a reward, since Gramps expects her to take the boys and whomever else she wants to bring, figuring that forced confinement with each other is good for familial binding. Where does he get these ideas?
It's like he's watching bad dramas and pulling out ideas.
How meta.
I really like Emo's Willy Wonka outfit here, for some reason. He's trying to call someone. Oh, it's Fashion Girl's studio. She's not picking up, though.
You had me smiling at the thought of Emo’s outfit but then I went into a deep depression at the thought of Fashion Girl. She really is a joysucker.
Focus on Jung Il Woo, looking good. I don't often say that. We're not really given many chances.
At the massage spa, Maleficent receives a phone call. AssStepMom overhears what sounds instructions to a matseon coordinator. As soon as the call is finished, ASM memorizes the incoming phone call number, and calls her whiny, useless daughter. Using the six brain cells they have between them, they come to the conclusion that Mal is hooking up her step grandsons, and of course, this one has to be Hyun-min.
Just don't care. Not even enough to dislike them.
I feel like my own brain cells are dying anytime they are on screen.
Cindy sighs while PA Lee drives. Can she really convince everyone to go to a vacation home together? PA Lee grins that they are no match for her. His smile disappears (this should be illegal--looking up South Korean penal code) when he receives a phone call, says no to everything and hangs up.
The Kang Kat Vacay Caper begins. But Ducky is asleep in bed, Emo isn't even home, and Ibeol isn't answering his phone. She tries to call Emo, and after several tries, he finally answers, while standing behind her.
Find myself grinning. I must be starting to be liking this ship. *Glances around to see if Fashion Girl is lurking in the bushes to ruin my joy*.
He still has the phone to his ear when she launches into her proposal. Cameraderie! Cuisine! Cabanas! He clicks the phone off as a symbol that their conversation is over.
About that time, Barista gives her a call, and they meet up. She had collected all of Cindy's things left at the school after that memorable graduation day.
She smiles when she pulls out her diploma; Ja Young remarks that it's nice she can smile after leaving chaos and Ibeol in her wake. Cindy promises to reward Barista, but the young girl feels she's been rewarded enough. She shows some secret photos of Ibeol wearing her clothes, and fangirls that he's wearing her uniform. Cindy gets the idea of blackmail as bait, but Barista doesn't want to go along with it. Cindy dangles the "wanna come along?" carrot. Sold!
I can't even blame her for this.
Barista needs time to ogle Ibeol in an up, close, and personal way.
Fangirl dream vacation. Happy for Barista.
Next thing we see, Clandestine Cindy is meeting up with Coordi, and hands him prints of High School Ibeol. He thinks she wants money, but, of course, she demands that his scheduled be cleared for the next three days. One down!
Ducky is at a plastic surgeon's office, demanding that he completely change his facial features around. He can't have this face out in public anymore, but the doc recognizes him. His advice? Grow out your hair and see a therapist to get over being rejected by your first love. But he thinks for a moment, and realizes that Cindy isn't his first love.
DUH!
And his first love never rejected him. Urgh, I hate this character. Sorry, fangirls.
I hate that his first love is joysucking Fashion girl.
Mopey Fashion Girl just got home and turns on her phone to all the text messages from Emo. As she's reading them, Cindy pops up in a text asking for them to meet. Fashion Girl agrees.
Cindy heads outside, where we find Tamaki growing mushrooms in other people's closets. Well, actually he's doing the "Love / Not Love" routine with a helpless shrubbery branch. Cindy's convinced he's lost his marbles, but can't distract him from his self-appointed task. She tries to break his concentration by stealing the last leaf, but just grabs another and starts all over again.
Am I supposed to feel guilty that I found this funny?
Emo is in his room, near a precariously-hanging bicycle. He's still trying to contact Fashion Girl, remembering her expression at the school. He decides to head to her studio again.
Cindy is already there; she wants to explain everything that's going on with Hyun-min. Fashion Girl is okay with it, though, and is happy that the jerk got his comeuppance.
Really, they could/should be friends. Cindy is like and anti-emo cure.
But Fashion Girl is such a dedicated emo.
She'll give in. Cindy wins all hearts eventually.
Emo makes it to the studio, this time in something that looks like a white shirtwaist dress buttoned up to the neck. Thumbs down on this outfit.
He doesn't have many good outfits yet.
Still say that all black wardrobe with sexy guyliner is the way he should have been styled. Opportunity missed.
He tried, but he likes pink too much.
Inside, Cindy starts her spiel to convince Hye-ji to come along with her and the cousins on the trip to the corporate vacation home. Fashion Girl mulls it over just as Emo walks into the room. He asks Cindy how far she is willing to push this, but before she can answer, Fashion Girl agrees to go. And she tells Emo to go too.
That will get Emo going all right.
Cindy senses the undercurrents and makes her excuses to leave; Emo stops her to restate that he's not going. Once the other two are alone, she explains her reasoning. She wants to visit the vacay house again, having been there before with Ducky and both their families. And she guilts him into re-thinking his decision. She doesn't feel strong enough to face Duck on her own.
Sigh. I'm glad that Emo might go, but I have to say that I really disliked her manipulation on this. She won't be facing Ducky on her own. She will have the Cindy shield. She should use that. It's much more effective than Emo guy.
She wasn’t worried about facing him alone in all her stalking scenes. This character has also been hit by the inconsistency fairy.
I don't think it's manipulation so much as just how FG thinks.
AssStepMom is trying to talk up her daughter with the matchmaker, but has to admit that she is strictly average with no special accomplishments and no occupation. So she hangs up in the middle of the call. AssDad shows up so their fake-crying is cut short. ASM gets his bag out of the truck and snoops through his phone. She finds a message that some guy has been found; she also finds posters requesting information on this man. The two asses decide that this "Kang Young-jin" is probably Cindy's biological father.
At SkyHouse, Ducky is still asleep. Cindy ask PA Lee for help, only to find out that Hyun-min is a very heavy sleeper who never wakes up for anything short of the Apocalypse. That gives her pause for thought.
I think he's depression-napping. I still don't feel sorry for him.
Emo is thinking while staring out his window. At least he's not emo'ing. How can you tell? Going back over some of his interactions with Cindy, he sighs. Then ducks when she trots out of her own room and starts banging on Ducky's door. Emo moseys on over to ask her what she's doing. She admits she wants to work on Ducky so that he will come on the trip; if he agrees then everyone will be on the trip, except him.
Why would anyone take a pinky-swear seriously?
Cindy is the type that would. Surprised she didn’t do a pinky swear with gramps rather than a real contract.
Cindy finally gets into Ducky's room through the unlocked interior door. After a couple of attempts to wake him up, she puts two and two together.
I like her, but she is so slow. Or the writers think we are slow, so we have to be told three times. As soon as I found out from PA Lee that Ducky is such a heavy sleeper, I would've put some nyquil in his drink and tied him up.
Ibeol is packing up for a concert in Thailand. Err, what? Unless that's where the vacation home is. Fashion Girl texts Emo regarding the trip. Ji-woon starts to type "No", but stops. Cindy smiles an evil grin in front of our unsuspecting Sleeping Beauty.
I wonder if he will notice when he's not required to use his passport?
I found this cute despite the huge gaps in logic.
FINAL COMMENTS
No. Is anything ever resolved? We have hijinks but no resolution. No one is really much different than they were before. Ducky was already questioning himself pre-humiliation. Emo was already questioning himself pre-sad graduation dinner. Ibeol was already writing his song. There is a reason they all showed up to rescue Cindy at her graduation.
They are all so tiring, Cindy included.
Is it to much to hope that we get some happy shenanigans on our vacation? Maybe all the mopey people will be unable to mope that far away from their emo caves. Crossing fingers.
Whatever. Wake me up when we get there.
