The Problematic of the Unproblematic

Trotwood: Finally, the finale. Hmm. Again I’m not sure about the title. There is nothing miraculous about this episode except for the fact that Kakashi is still doing gifs for this recap. kakashi: Ha, I'd do anything for a few clicks . JoAnne: I never thought I'd be so glad to say goodbye to 3 people I think are adorable. There are some things that are surprises, but only because they seem to be unnecessary plot twists and diversions from a) actually wrapping up some of the character stories and b) adding unnecessary time apart for both OTPs (Se Ra and Jaw Woong plus Jae Woong and Woo Jin). I laughed a lot because this is about the most useless final episode I've ever seen. But it was cute. Thanks for the ride. When I suggest recapping something else, please tell me to stop.   No. Not a chance.

Trotwood: Special thanks to my visiting daughter who heard my complaint about being exhausted and behind on recapping and how I was afraid to go on twitter since I felt guilty for not even drafting a recap last week. She just said, “Tell me what happened.” While I tried to stay awake on Friday night, she actually listened to me explain to her my malaise about this episode and typed it up for me like a scribe while I was barely keeping my eyes open. Voila! I woke up to a written draft in my email the following morning. kakashi: That is lovely of her. Mother-daughter bonding over bad KDrama! I like that. But hey, don't ever feel guilty again. That's an order. JoAnne: Wow - I'm impressed both by her kindness and your ability to recall an episode in enough detail that it could be recapped without having been watched. Oh, I had rewatched it... Last weekend when I should have recapped it . So folks, here we are at the penultimate episode. While the episode 18 was full of ...

Trotwood: Once again, I am changing the title and calling this episode “Confirmation.” In it, we get a confirmation not only of the feelings that Se Ra has for Jae Woong, but also the feeling that he has for her and the real friendship (and maturity) between Jae Woong and Woo Jin. We get a confirmation that our Climbing Tree Puppy would make such a deliciously good and faithful and wonderful boyfriend lead (can you imagine him in the role of the Master for a Korean version of Love 020? I SURE CAN) ( JoAnne: You are a DEVIL. A DEVIL, I tell you. I am ruined.) And a confirmation that the team is going all the way to the finals (like that wasn’t a given). kakashi: Hey, I totally liked this episode! No buts! Some butts. It was cute, romantic, and heartwarming. If only Se Ra would stop annoying me. ((and why do this pictures look cropped? Weird. Well, the boys' heads are a bit elongated, I hope y'all don't mind)) (((and then, it wouldn't let me do gifs! Sorry))) Sorry, s...

Trotwood: I don’t care what they are calling this episode, but it should be called “Family.” We have some father son bonding and great bromance moments. Gi-joon is finally (sorta) doing his manager job. Even Coach is starting to (sorta) act coach-like. Instead they call this episode . . .

trotwood: I initially wanted to call this episode “Stay Away from Soo Bin, Puppy!” but then I realized really that I needn’t worry. I do think things are a bit clarified in this episode, and some of this has to do with the high stakes of the tournament and how that often forces us to see outside of ourselves and what is important to others. Kakashi: I think this episode should be called "Sweaty Boys in Shorts". The one making these titles really has no clue! JoAnne: If we name it 'No Sweaty Boy Shorts' will someone remove them?

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.)

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.  

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!

Trotwood: I don’t care what this episode is called. It should be called “Ode to Glorious White Pants.” kakashi: Am I orange? Man, these holidays totally meddle with my head. What day is it? JoAnne: No idea what day it is. You look sort of orange? Yellow-y orange?

Trotwood: In my mind I think of this ep as beginning of Bromance Part 1. The next episode isn’t part 2, so don’t get excited; however, here we get a shift in the relationship between Rimbutt and our climbing tree puppy. kakashi: About bloody time! JoAnne: You don't even want to know what I just pictured. There is really no time to fight amongst themselves, and I love how they bond over their ineffectual noble idiocy as much as I like how quickly they recognize what drama watchers the world over know—noble idiocy rarely works and most of the time it just makes matters worse. Can they please become teachers in Dramaworld? Yes!  They have to room together because it's so expensive at the center of all those dramas, and they rent from me, and I have just one rule - no pants in the house.  We all live very happily. This is the time to figure out that things work better when they act like a team. They show that on the court against Hyunchang High School, now they need to s...

Trotwood: So it’s obvious that one of the contracts in this episode’s title is the contract that Se Ra feels she has to sign with her manager, but there are also other deals people make here that don’t seem to be making anyone happy--even the winners. This was a hard episode to watch the first time, and it wasn’t any better watching it again to recap. I was angry pretty much the entire episode. I know my commenters thought Se Ra was out of line slapping our Rimbutt, but I was cheering her on. I was hoping she would just go around slapping lots of people in a rage of slaps. She could slap Rimbutt again on the other side of his face to even it out. Slap some sense into Woo Jin for going to the agency and really thinking he could make a deal with the devil. Slap Secretary Kim for reeling her back in through deception even though she doesn’t want her back. Slap Representative Gi-joon for being far too gleeful and blatantly ignoring how unhappy she clearly is. Slapping Coach for being a c...

Trotwood: This is the one episode where the title seems to fit. I am going to admit that the first time I watched this show, I think I skipped a bunch of this episode because this is the other kind of ep/story arc that I find the most uncomfortable. (see my comments in the beginning of squeecap for ep 2). I feel too edgy to watch the set-up of a trap or plot against the leads and/or people I like in dramas. As a specialist in literature, I understand the necessity of such exposition to overall plot; however, I’m far more able to enjoy the post fall out. I’m much more about solutions than anything else. I think that is why I am getting less and less interested in opening episodes of dramas. Tell the set up in a couple of lines and get straight to the rising action. So, everyone, help me cringe through . . . kakashi: Oh! Yes! The thing I hate MOST in literature/entertainment has always been the good person being falsely accused of a horrible thing they haven't done. HATE IT! I o...

trotwood: I’ve decided that I don’t understand the titles for this show's episodes. They continuously seem to be more appropriate for a different episode. I think of this ep as “Rimmbutt Returns” not because Rim hasn’t been in this show before but because the little bit of cute was overshadowed (sometimes completely) by him being a self-righteous ass. He is going to have to work hard though to counteract the power of the giant climbing tree puppy. kakashi: "Rimmbutt Returns to the unity of the love team" or something? Maybe add: "hot and bothered"? JoAnne:  I'll be busy climbing the Tree, so be sure and let me know when the emotional weather clears down there with our beloved Butthead.  

Trotwood: I’m calling this the bonding episode. Se Ra and Rim bond over their love of volleyball and the trials they both face trying to keep this going. I always like when OTPs are friends first before they start the whole love bit. kakashi: Bonding! I like bonding! JoAnne: You're all just waiting for me to say 'don't you mean bondage?' aren't you.  Well, I won't dance like a little monkey so HA. And what kind of role-play costume is that, anyway? I honestly didn't think of bondage at all, but now I won't be able to unthink it. Thanks .

Trotwood: I know this episode is called “Crisis,” but I think of it as the team history episode. We do not get a definitive answer to Kakashi’s question about why they are all in this house together as high schoolers, but we do get the background about what has happened to this team and the conditions they live under. We also get some more of the history of the bad blood between Jae Woong and Woo Jin. kakashi: Go for the tree! Climb the tree, Se Ra! JoAnne: I like that. I want her to have both. Since I can't have either, you know.

Trotwood: This is the episode where I started to question my feelings. Giant puppy is so cute, but would he help Se Ra grow? Rimbutt is super sexy, but is he going to be able to function with that loser chip on his shoulder? Se Ra's tendency for self blame continued to worry me, and she makes a decision by the end of ep that I’m hoping is good for everyone. kakashi: I downloaded this in 360p, wow, the sound is bad... but this isn't about the sound really, is it. Also: I hope mouth-nose-jerk DIES.  JoAnne: See? There's just something I don't like about his face. He's not ugly. I just don't like his face .  You guys are a tough crowd.

Trotwood: I like Se Ra. I like her a lot. I wish I was her manager or coach. She needs some real support. I think she should play again, but I also think she has the makings of a great coach like I said before. I'd send her to a camp to recover and practice in the mornings and to take coaching courses in the afternoon. They have these all over the US; I’m sure they have them in Korea, too. kakashi: I vote Trot for President of all the sports clubs, of all the universities and of the United States . JoAnne: I'm cool with that.

Trotwood: So, here we are entrenched in story. I will try hard not to give things away and only write about them as they happen (I promise, Jo). We get more of Se Ra’s trauma here and a hint at maybe why Rimbutt (cough) I mean Jae Woong doesn’t like our giant puppy. Poor thing; he can’t help having a smarmy dad. kakashi: I didn't get any hints. I don't like Rimbutt at all, he's unfriendly and up himself and I want him to leave Tree alone . I want him to leave Tree alone, too. Really, he's the least offensive person in the entire show so far. JoAnne: Look at the liddle baby face, so CUTE

Trotwood: I have to say that this is exactly the kind of episode that I usually skip and/or only read recaps of because the embarrassment factor rises so much. I have a high tolerance for my own embarrassment. Someday, I may share with the tlist about the time I fell in the middle of teaching my class or how I crashed into a door so hard that my keys got embedded in the wood or when I was stuck face first on a steep snowy hill with all my hockey gear, but now is not that time. JoAnne: When you do I will tell you about the time I accidentally launched myself from the edge of a stage I'd been sitting on, hit the gym floor on my stomach, and bounced/twisted onto my back. In front of my 10 year old, most of her classmates, and most of their dads. I insisted I was fine (which I was) but mortifying, yeah. I flew, Trot. I FLEW . kakashi: Ouch. Hm. I have no such stories to share - my life is sooo boring. But I did cringe a few times during this episode at least.   Suffice it ...

Trotwood: I watched this whole show over a weekend in airports and in a foreign hotel. It’s exactly what I needed while prepping for an intensive Stats workshop—sports theme and romance. Just enough angst for a story but not so much that I was really worried. We also got some decent character development for a myriad of characters unlike the random flat side characters in Noble My Love. No. It doesn’t have Kang Swoon, but Song Jae Rim is in this and Jo’s tree puppy, Lee Tae Hwan, so you know we are in for some fun times. [The show is also known as Pounding Spike and Heart Thumping Spike.] kakashi: Squeeeeeeeeeeee! It's Rim! It's a webdrama with very short episodes! It has really nice cinematography! I think I'm a little bit excited and not at all feeling like I need to snark. (Sidenote: I cannot gif this because I have not found any downloadable files in good quality) Shuk: I don't know if I'll watch it, but I'll try to add in some gifs by Trot request. JoAn...