The Problematic of the Unproblematic

It's the last couple of days before Club Shanghai opens. Anticipation is building for everyone... for some, it's also an anxious time. Show time will be go time for the brewing battle, I think.  Is it too much to hope that off camera EVERYONE is plotting to take down Seul and Baek San? kakashi: It's a very anxious time for me, JoAnne!! Remember episode 8? It's the carnage episode. 8+8=16+8=24. We are now 2/3 into the show and I fear something bad is coming. It's like that tension in the air before a powerful storm. That said, I apologize to all of you with slow internet connections. I had to gif the living bejeezus out of this episode, I couldn't help it. Also ... there's a lot of Mo. Cause he is #WhenAManIsMoBetta

It's like childhood all over again: two weeks ago, we were playing Capture the Corpse. One week ago, we watched all the kids fight over the new boy in town. This week, Jung Tae makes a decision about his date for the prom. Along the way, we get tons of what we love: more fights, more Yummy Tummy, more Shinichi, more Aoki, more Do Ggoo....there's even a sighting of the fabled Mo! Seriously, what could be better than Mo? Do you think they really brought him back because we complained so loudly? I'm going with that. There's enough wink and nod in his reappearance to make me think that writer absolutely knows who butters his bread. Life is good.   kakashi: JoAnne, I love this show. I fear the day it will be done. I hate goodbyes.  

kakashi: There's some wonderful Shinichi fight scenes in this episode, so I'm happy! Apart from that, it did have a few draggy and repetitive bits, so I am glad our almost hero is now quite clearly on the road to full-status hero and I am also glad that quasi everyone knows by the end of this episode who is responsible for Shin Daddy's death. That means we can move on to better and bigger things soon, like ... killing some bad guys maybe? JoAnne: I am hopeful that this week that was devoted to clarifying politics is enough, and we can move on to Jung Tae, Super Hero. I liked it fine but another week of clueless Jung Tae would be stretching things.

kakashi: We're entering the 2nd half of this drama ... and it seems we're over the slightly confusing gang-war bits and the all-the-side-characters-we-loved-are-gone-or-dead-or-we-do-not-know suspicion. This episode? Simply AWESOME!!! If the show ever slightly lost its footing, or maybe stumbled a veeery little, it is definitely over it. Love. JoAnne: Hand me a napkin, please. Kim Hyun Jooooooooong! Love means never having to apologize for drooling. kakashi: hahahaha.  

JoAnne: We may be alone in our love for this show soon, Kakashi. It seems lots of fans are upset to lose their oppas and don't understand how a grown up man in one country might be surrounded by different people than he was as a boy in another. I'm still here, Show! Yes, I miss some of the pretties that are gone... but I'm ok. Tell me a good story! Despite the squeeing, that's all I really want from you. kakashi: I've always liked to be in love with things that others don't appreciate. It makes me feel special. But ... I heard just now that Song Jae-rim might also no longer be part of the cast?! Come on! How many more awesome characters will we have to mourn, show?!

JoAnne This is an important episode...The Change is here. I am so nervous! kakashi: I dub it the "Bodysnatcher" episode. It's alright, don't you think? There's no easily discernible change. At least not visually. They still fight. It's still complicated. JoAnne: We just had different people to miss, as far as I was concerned. Still felt the same otherwise!

kakashi: Hm, interesting. This episode was still made under the old crew (or wasn't it?!), but it does feel like a new chapter. Shanghai is very different from the rural world of Shineuiji, not only visually: it gives off a completely different vibe. The stakes? Much higher. Our hero? Definitely grown up. There's so many new characters that we are introduced to, and new relationships, good ones and bad ones, that we must learn to understand. This is like starting into this drama all over! JoAnne: It's the drama within the drama!  I'm sad to lose so much of what we loved, but this new stuff looks pretty interesting, too. I don't like the new ending music, though.

kakashi: Two more episodes with the old team of writers and two more episodes without "less violence". I'm so in. And hey, even if the new head-writer destroys this drama (that's a possibility), I still say: 9 (or possibly 10) incredibly good episodes, that's more than I got from many, many other KDrama. Let's not be greedy! Embrace it while it's still good! And if it turns bad ... drown our sorrows in alcohol. JoAnne: I'm drinking already at today's news. Have you heard? New writer in, Kim Jae Wook out. I think they (or he) decided his character arc wouldn't get enough attention. We've been sort of complaining about the lack of favorites every other episode... Tightening up might not be bad, but damn. No Kim Jae Wook? I was waiting for that bromance! Yo! Mo? Whoaaaaaaaa.   kakashi: Shiiiiiiiit! That's some major WTFuckery ... I guess we'll never know what made him do it, but my guess is KJW felt neglected. Happens with such a larg...

Show is picking up speed at a pretty steady space and like Kakashi, I'm starting to brace myself for the body count to rise. Since there are so many people we love, this can only be a painful journey. Bring me chocolate, someone... although I think that by the end of NEXT week only booze will suffice. kakashi: This episode killed one of my favorites (even THE favorite?). I've watched it four times ... I cried once. I cried twice. I cried a third time and then, I fast forwarded through that scene the fourth time, cause I didn't want to cry again. But I still cried. So I really, really love this show and I really, really hate it right now. 

JoAnne: I don't know about you, but I could not WAIT for it to be Wednesday. I watched this episode for the first time when it was at about 1% subbed, which means every time someone entered a room and said hello, they put that sub on the screen. kakashi: Yes, I watch this raw, of course. That either means I really, really like a show, or it means I really, really hate a show. When I really, really like a show, I watch it once raw, once subbed, and once to do gifs and screencaps. when I really, really hate a show, I watch raw AND fast forward to be exposed to it as little as possible. JoAnne: And then I wrote what you will see is a book, because I couldn't bear to skim over anything. Sorry. Not really. kakashi: When JoAnne writes a book-length SqueeCap, it's either because she is delirious with fever (happened last year with an epic Heirs recap ) or because she's delirious with love. (It's love.)