Split Screen: Forget About It

Thanks for tuning in, Split Screen fans! This week, Boys Over Flowers somehow finds a way to add yet another wrinkle to its complicated web of drama. With only one episode remaining, how will they pull off a happy ending? Meanwhile, on My Hero Academia, we’re catching our breath after an intense battle last week, but now, the real fight begins: All Might vs. Mama Midoriya.

(First time reader? Catch up on all of Split Screen here!)

Boys Over Flowers Episode 24 (from minute 32)

M: Wow! Amnesia! Not a soap opera trope that I saw coming.

E: I really thought they were gonna say psyche. I was thinking about the last time Jun-pyo pretended to be in the hospital and thought it was gonna be a fun callback. But it was not. We’ve gone full Chain of Memories.

M: It’s bizarre how inspired by Kingdom Hearts this felt. 

E: Let’s see…Jun-pyo is Sora, that seems wrong. Jan-di is Kairi, that’s…okay. And new crutches girl is Namine. And Woo-bin is Donald.

M: That’s exactly what I was going to say. I guess Ji-hoo Riku?

E: Specifically Riku Replica.

M: No, I was thinking he has Riku-esque hair, from the Kingdom Hearts II era.

E: You’re right. It’s the overly long bangs and the penchant for long coats. 

M: There were some bad coats this episode. 

E: I don’t know if the white one was bad, it was just majestic.

M: Woo-bin’s coat was bad. 

E: That I will not disagree with. I was a big fan of the studded suit that Jun-pyo had in the next-on.

M: I’m not ready to discuss the next-on. Instead, let’s talk about how Mama Gu realized that she’s been a bad mom for decades.

E: And all it took was realizing that Jun-pyo liked street food. She really knew she had failed him then.

M: I thought she was going to get out of the car and get a kebab. 

E: I wish that’s what happened. Maybe then I would care a smidgen.

M: She’s going to defend Jan-di from this interloper. 

E: When is coma dad gonna wake up?

M: Coma dad feels weirdly irrelevant at this point. 

E: There’s a lot to do in one episode. We’ve only got one episode left, readers, I can’t believe it either.

M: Have you checked that it’s a normal length episode?

E: Oh no.

M: We start it next time. Six hours later…

E: Editor Emma will check and see if we are doomed (EDITOR EMMA:  We are not, it’s a normal-sized episode)

M: To tally it up, we’ve got to get Jun-pyo’s memory back, break up this new relationship with random, gold-digging, crutch-using Yu-mi, get Jun-pyo and Jan-di back together, get Yi-jung and Ga-eul back together, find a resolution for Ji-hoo…what else? There’s lots more. 

E: Well, Mama Gu needs her redemption and coma dad has gotta wake up, right? We can’t just leave him in a coma. And Woo-bin needs some sort of fulfillment. And Kang-san has to become a pro gamer!

M: He’ll be happier and more fulfilled than anyone else on this show. 

E: He can’t be a pro gamer in his cute little pretty shirt and vest though.

M: He’ll have a unique brand. There’s still more though: Jan-di’s dad needs to come back from the sea, Manager Jung needs to quit or something, Grandfather needs to reopen his clinic, Jan-di needs to get into medical school, Yi-jung’s family arc needs some resolution, maybe. This is a heavy lift. 

E: I don’t know how they ran out of time. I mean, I do, it’s because of the flashbacks and some poor pacing. But it really feels like they need three more episodes. And I’m saying that as someone who was complaining that not enough stuff was happening for the ending like a couple of blogs ago. But then they introduced amnesia and all bets were off.

M: Throwing in Jan-di-specific amnesia and a new girlfriend is maybe too ambitious. There was enough already without either of those issues.

E: Apparently it was too much to ask for there to just be a happy last episode with no drama whatsoever.

M: I just want a happy last ten minutes. I’ll settle for that much.

E: I don’t believe that selective person amnesia is a thing outside of Kingdom Hearts, by the way. I’ll have to Google it. (EDITOR EMMA: Okay, so relationships can be a common thing forgotten with selective amnesia, but I’m still calling BS on this)

M: It just confirms that this is part of the Kingdom Hearts universe. I would have bought Jun-pyo forgetting the whole past year, but why just Jan-di?

E: How does it even work to forget a person? Do his memories change to accomodate the loss of a person in it, or is there just a suspicious blank space in that part of his memories, or is every memory where Jan-di was present gone? Neuroscientists reading, answer my questions.

M: I cannot answer that question. I wonder if he would remember his fiancee?

E: Well, she was pretty stressful.

M: What a mess. 

E: I really thought crutches girl was just there to lay some outsider wisdom on Jan-di, but that shows that I have yet to truly come to understand this show.

M: As soon as she crutched over to Jun-pyo, I knew she was trouble. 

E: Jun-pyo has also become a beanie man. For some reason. 

M: I have no explanation for that either. I thought it was maybe because he would have had part of his head shaved for some kind of amnesia procedure and obviously they didn’t want to do that for real? 

E: Cowards.

M: Or he’s just being a bum, like usual, just in a different sense.

E: I just want to see Jun-pyo missing some of his hair. Knock him down a few pegs. 

M: I wanted a longer montage of Jan-di recreating the memorable experiences they’ve shared. 

E: I wanted her to burst in and say “oh no, I’ve misplaced the jewelry that you got me!” Then he would have remembered, out of sheer rage.

M: I wonder if seeing her necklace will do it. That would be a nice full-circle moment. 

E: I think Ji-hoo just needed to punch him in the face again. Jan-di probably should have let him. It’s his fault for shaking around Jun-pyo after he was hit by a car.

M: That probably caused the amnesia. Tricky Ji-hoo, tricky. 

E: Anyway, that whole mess is probably harkening back to that fortuneteller that Jan-di saw on the weird island they went to. Like, Ji-hoo gives her strength because they’re soulmates, but not romantically.

M: I hope they find some joy for Ji-hoo. Things in his life look pretty bleak right now. 

E: Hey, Grandpa’s not dead. It’s fine. Oh right, they have to kill Grandpa off, another thing to do.

M: I would not be shocked. 

E: A pretty focused half-episode though, that’s about all that happened. I definitely enjoyed the recreation of iconic moments the most. Especially the impressive spin kick that I had forgotten about.

M: Why isn’t F3 trying harder to fix this?

E: I don’t know. Mostly they’re just staring expectantly. It’s just a fun little show for them, as usual.

M: Look, it’s all fun and games until Woo-bin has to break Jun-pyo’s arm for real at a second wedding once he remembers Jan-di. 

E: Considering that Jun-pyo used his profession as a insult, Woo-bin deserves to break his arm.

M: Jun-pyo is such a bad friend. 

E: Who’s this, some sort of “gang member?” Ugh.

M: Next thing he’ll be calling Yi-jung a potter. 

E: How dare.

M: I think we need to devote the rest of this post to predicting how everything ends. 

E: My dude, I don’t even heckin’ know.

M: It looks like Jun-pyo is getting engaged again. 

E: That’s not what was said in the next on though. I mean, that is what it looked like based on what they were wearing, but all they said was that they were going to study in America together. Which, same sort of time pressure, I suppose.

M: Jan-di will definitely have to follow him to America, with Mama Gu’s assistance. Isn’t Jun-pyo supposed to be running Shinhwa?

E: Um….yes? But I mean, I assume Mama Gu does a lot of it still.

M: Leaving the country would probably also be shirking his corporate responsibilities. 

E: Oh, maybe Dad wakes up, takes the company back over, and then realizes that the girl is not the same girl who read him books about…what were they about? Bamboo?

M: I think it was weirder than bamboo. 

E: Well, whatever. So, after a bit, coma Dad realizes and smacks some sense into his son. Because he’s good at emotional blackmail.

M: How does Ga-eul factor into all of this?!?!?!

E: A very short scene where Yi-jung is like “I’m going to be better!” and she’s like “neat!” and then they move on.

M: I kind of want him to propose, and she’ll say “no, but we can date.”

E: That’d be epic. A true Ga-eul move.

M: Man, how the heck do we manage to set everything right?

E: They’re gonna have to pull out all the stops. All the clever shots that their cameraman has been saving. All the beautiful plot threads that their writers have been stocking up. They must all come together. So that the editor can ruin it. 

M: That’s so real. Honestly, how is Manager Jung letting this happen? 

E: I need Manager Jung to pull his hero move already.

M: I just can’t wait to see what music they use when Jan-di and Jun-pyo are finally reunited. Will it be the “oooooh” one? Will it be a melancholy “Almost Paradise?” Something brand new?

E: That’s the most important part. I mean that sincerely. I just don’t know what we’re going to do when it’s over.

M: I mean that both emotionally and literally. What will we replace it with in our hearts and Split Screen schedule?

E: Tune in next time…

My Hero Academia S3E12: “End of the Beginning, Beginning of the End”

M: What a bunch of unloving, stupid parents. 

E: Yeah, it’s hard to believe that out of the forty first-year parents, not one of them decides: “hey, maybe we should reconsider this thing.”

M: I guess we don’t know that for sure yet, but if even Mama Midoriya can be convinced, I can’t see anyone else holding firm. 

E: Anyway, we start out with a touching scene between All Might and Midoriya, before we get into Nezu’s rat-haired scheme. 

M: So many tears! How long has it been since All Might has been allowed to cry?

E: Has All Might ever cried in the show before?

M: I mean in his whole anime life, not just on-screen. 

E: Oh that’s true. You’re right, I sort of doubt he’s ever let himself cry since becoming the “Symbol of Peace.” It’s a heavy thing to take upon yourself, as we saw last episode.

M: Which is why a fourteen-year-old is definitely qualified for it!

E: Well, I’m hopeful that Midoriya’s different brand of strength is sort of seen as an evolution of All Might. Right? It’s okay that he cries.

M: Right, we’re fighting toxic masculinity here. 

E: Kind of? I mean, in the context of this society, it just seems harmful that All Might is seen as this untouchable, larger than life thing. Both for All Might himself, and for the way that other people approach each other in this world.

M: That was deep. I hope someone has hooked All Might up with an excellent therapist. 

E: My recent media experiences have just taught me that everybody could use a good therapist every once in a while.

M: That’s your Talk This PSA of the week. 

E: Honestly though, I don’t know why they aren’t forcing all students to talk to someone for a bit. That’d be a nice first step to trying to change UA’s policies. 

M: Nezu is a dog-rat. He doesn’t believe in therapy. 

E: Like, these are children. Bakugo is Bakugo, but also he’s a child that was kidnapped by the most dangerous organization in Japan. So I don’t know. Maybe bring him a therapist with a explosion-proof Quirk.

M: At least the Fire Emblem kids have a counselor. 

E: They have an advice box.

M: That’s better than nothing. 

E: Maybe All Might can open his own advice column now that he’s retired.

M: He’s a terrible teacher, so I don’t think that’s the move. 

E: He won’t be able to deepen his bonds with his students that way.

M: Yeah, Bakugo is like “why do you have S-rank support with Deku?” and All Might is like “what’s support? Hahaha young Bakugo, too many video games!”

E: Yeah, Bakugo’s finally figured something out. Which would be impressive if Deku hadn’t basically just told him back in like episode 7. 

M: I thought we were going to get a flashback to that moment. 

E: Nope. No flashbacks. 

M: Do you think if Aizawa had been there, Deku’s mom would have caved, or do you think he would have ruined it?

E: Aizawa would have given up after the first no and just moved on to the next house. 

M: “The kid next door must have a quirk. We’ll replace him!”

E: That’s not quite what I meant, but that does seem correct.

M: I think she was foolish to relent. 

E: I think she has the same sort of admiration for All Might that Deku does, maybe just from years of being around Deku and his All Might shrine. So, I don’t know. If…I can’t think of a comparison to All Might in our world, but like if the biggest hero in the nation comes and bows on his knees to you, I imagine that’s a little overwhelming.

M: I know, it was an “Emperor bows to Mulan” moment. Still, I think all of the parents are foolish for not asking to hear more about exactly what the plan is for this dorm situation. 

E: It’s sort of a double-edged sword. By bringing them to the same place they have the benefit of heroes surrounding all of them and UA’s security systems. But also by bringing them to the same place, it, again, just takes one bad day like at USJ.

M: Or at the training camp. Or when they were all paired up with pro heroes on internships. Or when they were all together at the mall. I know that last one isn’t quite the same, but strength does not seem to come in numbers. 

E: I guess part of the logic is that they seem to be after certain students at this point. So there’s the risk of someone getting snatched from their homes, but in a dorm situation that’s harder to do. But again, both options kind of suck at this point. They’re in danger everywhere.

M: Literally every time these kids have been ordered to stay put, even when they’re critically injured, they run off. I think a security detail for Bakugo, Deku, Todoroki, and maybe Iida? I can’t remember who else has been specifically targeted, but that would be worthwhile and it wouldn’t put the B-list in collateral danger. 

E: But hey, fun dorm shenanigans, Madelyn.

M: Does this make Aizawa Mad Dog? My Fire Emblem professor’s name, for those not in the loop. 

E: I guess so. I guess it does.

M: Is it time for Lawsuit Watch?

E: It’s time! Not a lot of lawsuits in either of these parts, I would say.

M: Jun-pyo should sue Ji-hoo for shaking him and causing amnesia. 

E: Oh yeah, there ya go. 

M: That’s probably the best grievance?

E: Like the dorm situation opens up new grounds for lawsuits, but they haven’t happened yet, so.

M: It does allow UA to rescue Todoroki from his abusive home. Endeavor was going full-on Sports Festival Bakugo there. 

E: Yeah, that is a benefit. Todoroki wins.

M: I’m a little afraid of making predictions, but I’ll steel myself. 

E: Season 3 episode 13 is called….”Moving Into Dorms”

M: No! That was my only prediction!

E: Well, you’re correct! Good job Madelyn!

M: Fine, whatever. Prediction one: some truly awful roommate assignments 

E: Give me some examples, I want examples.

M: Deku and Bakugo. Mineta and Todoroki. Invisible Girl doesn’t get a room. Kirishima and Tetsu-Tetsu: you can’t room with yourself. Cocky Jerk guy from Class 1-B and Dark Shadow and Iida, they have a triple. 

E: I don’t know if there’s emoji to express the depths of my horror.

M: Dark Shadow will get paired with someone who usually uses black-out curtains, which will not go well. 

E:

M: Prediction two: the whole dorm is just All Might posters. Literally everyone everywhere. All Might posters. 

E:

M: Prediction three: the teachers will have to move in now too. Will they be the RAs, or is that Iida’s job?

E: Even if it wasn’t Iida’s job, Iida would make it Iida’s job.

M: Well, we’ll get a glimpse at the teachers’ rooms. Too bad if they’re married or have a lease! You gotta live at school now, buckaroos!

E:

M: Prediction four: No one knows how to do their own laundry. 

E:

M: Prediction five: Momo gets stuck making dorm furniture for everyone. 

E:

M: Bonus prediction: Shigaraki forces the Evil League of Evil or whatever it is, that’s Doctor Horrible isn’t it, whatever, to move into Dark Dorms™ and it’s actually more functional than the UA ones. 

E:

–

As always, thanks for reading along on Split Screen. Next time, the finale of Boys Over Flowers! We can’t believe it either.