Split Screen: In Arm’s Way

Hello reader! Welcome to another edition of Split Screen, featuring your clairvoyant intro host Madelyn here. Not to brag, but I accurately predicted several important plot developments that took place on both shows this week, so I’m basically a television superhero. Call me for all of your dramatic needs. Look, do I even need to sell you on Split Screen at this point? We’ve got maid outfits, we’ve got supervillain muscles, and we’ve got men behaving badly. It’s a foolproof recipe for entertainment, join us!

(Tuning in to Split Screen for the first time? Catch up on all the action here!)

Boys Over Flowers Episode 20 (from minute 35)

M: We watched out of our usual order this week, so I’m worried I’m going to have a larger volume of more intense thoughts about Boys Over Flowers, which is hard to imagine.

E: It is usually nice to have some detox time between Boys Over Flowers watching and talking about. We had watched more than half the episode last time, so at least it was a short chunk of A Lot.

M: Let’s break this down from least to most interesting plot thread, because there are three clear storylines right now that don’t overlap much except for Jan-di’s medical cameo.

E: Well, Madelyn at least (and I guess me, but not because I find it as uninteresting as she does) finds the Ji-hoo and his grandpa story the least interesting.

M: It wouldn’t bother me so much if I was watching on my own schedule, but when I only get twenty-seven to thirty-six minutes per week, I want those minutes to count. We wasted three minutes on a Ji-hoo breakfast montage.

E: The slow food eating montage was a bit much, I will give you that. But I think that this is culminating to a character realization for JI-hoo in which he realizes that he was really looking for family this whole time, especially since his character started with getting confused between a familial and romantic bond.

M: That is an astute analysis. I can definitely see a moment in two and a half episodes where he and Jan-di finally kiss, and they’re both like “eughhhh you’re like my brother/sister,” and that ends that.

E: I don’t think they’ll have a full-on kiss, but I agree mostly.

M: I was starting to worry less until the next-on when Ji-hoo punched out someone who was clearly Jun-pyo.

E: I mean, whatever, that’s just how they communicate.

M: Do you think Ji-hoo will be his best man? Maybe it was about that. Maybe he picked Woo-bin.

E: I’d pick Woo-bin. I mean, I’d pick Ga-eul, but I’d pick Woo-bin

M: Ga-eul for Best Man 2009. Or whatever year this is.

E: That leads pretty well into our second storyline which reappeared briefly near the end of the episode- Yi-jung and his true soulmate: his angst bench

M: A bond that cannot be put into words. The next-on seemingly existed to ruin any sense of positive development from this episode, because I thought some progress had been made on this front too. Evidently I was wrong. I guess it wasn’t the next-on, it was the episode description I accidentally read.

E: The episode descriptions are never super reliable, so I’m just going to wait and see with this.

M: Both of these women are too good for Yi-jung.

E: They both gave him some very excellent speeches.

M: The breeze metaphor obviously went right over his head, but was a really eloquent way of saying “you missed your chance, buddy.”

E: I also like this theme that comes up in Boys Over Flowers with Jan-di being compared to a lotus flower and now Yi-jung calling his old crush “his air.” The show seems to be trying to say that a romantic partner can’t just come in and fix your life and that that’s an unhealthy mentality to put on someone. Which I appreciate. Very anti-Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

M: It’s talking the talk, but I’m waiting to see if it will stick to walking the walk for the last five episodes. Because even though Jan-di and Ga-eul, and even our lesser love interests minus Jae-kyung who just sucks, are standing up for themselves and saying they won’t tolerate being treated badly or being with a man who’s less than what they deserve, they do a lot of rehabilitating these boys. Ga-eul in particular has been doing a lot of caretaking. There’s room for that in a healthy relationship, but I really want to see Jun-pyo and Yi-jung step up their game to be worthy of the inevitable happy ending.

E: Yeah, I agree. I do think there is a distinction between providing support and being some idol or savior figure. One’s fine, the other one is a recipe for trouble.

M: That’s why I’m a little worried about Yi-jung’s arc right now. Granted, this whole thing was introduced, what? Last episode? When did we meet his dad? It’s moved fast and will probably continue to move fast. But man, only a few episodes ago Yi-jung was the coolest member of F4 and seemed like a pretty good guy, minus a vague fear of commitment and some womanizing tendencies. Now he’s a mess. They need to turn his character around fast if they want me to root for Yule.

E: Madelyn has a lot of feelings about this, obviously. I think it works okay. The show has been opening its viewpoint towards Yi-jung’s life slowly over the course of the show. And now that we’re really being given access, you can see how things have been there all along. Like Ga-eul says this episode, he’s just very good at acting.

M: My concern is that they’ve exposed some pretty deep-seated issues. Everyone on this cast could benefit from pretty extensive therapy, but Yi-jung is on another level with his addiction issues alone. I don’t want his character rehabilitation to happen too fast or feel cheap. Or rely on the magic of the love of a good woman.

E: I don’t think he needs character rehabilitation. I think he needs a drive to be better by the end of the show, but I don’t think we necessarily have to see him become that better person.

M: I just want him to make significant strides from the guy who tried to pimp Ga-eul out to his father. That’s all.

E: Well, duh. That’s rock bottom though. He’s already taken steps above that. I think.

M: Anyway, Ga-eul’s speech was bad-ass. Yi-jung, pull it together.

E: I don’t think there’s as much to talk about with Jan-di and Jun-pyo and Jae-kyung this episode, besides the fact that the inevitable finally happened to the shock of literally nobody. We might have ordered the topics wrong.

M: First let’s talk about how Jun-pyo was paying Jan-di to watch a horror movie with him and then had to hide her in a closet while he watched another horror movie with his fiancee.

E: He then really poorly pretended to fall asleep and honestly I wonder if Jae-kyung knew he was pretending, because you can’t sleep with your head up straight. That’s not how gravity works.

M: Jae-kyung has literally never seen another human, so she probably didn’t realize.

E: That’s fair, I forgot about that character trait. Surprisingly, the reveal of Jan-di living in Jun-pyo’s house did not happen while she was hiding in the closet. Instead, of course it had to happen while Jan-di was trying to wake Jun-pyo up while in her maid uniform. Because of course that’s how the show would have this happen.

M: It’s Chekhov’s maid outfit. You can’t put Jan-di in a maid outfit and not have the reveal happen this way. You just can’t.

E: I feel like we really like throwing Chekhov’s in front of everything this show, but honestly, it’s hardly ever wrong.

M: It was a really sweet moment until she walked in. I’m having a hard time, I think because we didn’t live through the time jump in any meaningful way, (I assume it probably followed a mid-season break?), understanding why Jan-di is so reluctant to make up with Jun-pyo.

E: I don’t have that trouble.

M: He’s shown over and over again that he’s trying to change. He’s not doing a great job, but he’s doing a typical Jun-pyo job of trying things that are kinda dumb and pushing too hard. It’s that what she loves about him?

E: He has a fiancee. Sure, he doesn’t love her, but she’s there. He’s offered no way out of it. He’s offered no compromise. He’s given no reason for Jan-di to think that there’s any future or even way forward in this relationship at this point. So I don’t have trouble understanding why she doesn’t want to be in a relationship with him.

M: I just need more conflicted slo-mo shots of her, that’s all.

E: I’m sure we’ll get plenty before the season ends.

M: How dare the next episode be a wedding!

E: It didn’t seem like they were at the wedding yet. It was like dress shopping and maybe up to the dress rehearsal.

M: Okay, I’ll revise my statement slightly: how dare the wedding be so soon when there’s been no mention of a date so far! I know you said that they’re probably going to push it up to squash this Jan-di situation, but still, I wasn’t prepared.

E: It also makes sense that we wouldn’t really see Jun-pyo or Jae-kyung doing any wedding preparations because they probably have no say on how it is.

M: How did Jan-di get an invite?

E: I thought we only saw her dress shopping with Jae-kyung?

M: She was in the room when Woo-bin was going to break Jun-pyo’s arm to avert the wedding.

E: Oh yeah. Oh yeah, Woo-bin was going to break Jun-pyo’s arm. On theme with our other show.

M: I know, it didn’t shock me, and then I realized “wait, wrong show.”

E: We’re just all about the broken arms.

M: So, Romance Tracker? Where are things going? Map out the rest of the season.

E: This segments has gotten more and more extraneous as the romances have honed in and become the main driving points of the plot.

M: What’s going to happen to Jae-kyung though? Has she met Woo-bin? Could it be love at first sight?

E: She has met Woo-bin. He hired a bunch of thugs to beat up in front of her.

M: Right and he was super cold to her at that dinner. He’s Team Jan-di.

E: I want happiness for Woo-bin. That’s my request of the final five episodes of the show.

M: Maybe Jan-di’s jerk of a rich friend from episode two will come back and then two of them will fall in love?

E: Somehow I think that’s unlikely.

M: Non-romantic predictions?

E: Mama Gu is going to spend the next five episodes being really pissed off at her children.

M: I feel like she has to come around.

E: Or maybe….and hear me out! Maybe she dies.

M: We already killed Jun-pyo’s dad offscreen and Grandpa’s clock is ticking. I don’t think we can kill Mama Gu.

E: I can’t believe Manager Jung is going to murder Mama Gu for his new son Jun-pyo.

M: That would be so dark, but I give it about a 5% chance of happening.

E: Anything for you?

M: There’s going to be half a dozen major crises/tragedies that happen over the next like three episodes. We already have the wedding, an inevitable issue with Jan-di’s family, the grandpa will 100% for sure have a heart attack. Not sure if he will die, but the heart attack is non-negotiable. Yi-jung’s dad will definitely appear one more time to cause mischief, maybe at Jun-pyo’s wedding. But what will the other two be???

E: It’s a mystery.

My Hero Academia S3E4: “My Hero”

M: If you thought Boys Over Flowers was high drama this week, wait until you hear about My Hero Academia.

E: My Hero Academia was high violence this week. Please strap in while Madelyn breaks down all the safety things that the hero academy did not consider when planning this trip in meticulous detail. Via PowerPoint presentation.

M: Okay, I’m just going to do this once. All of the junior heroes should have mobbed the villains. That’s all. I understand why the writers didn’t have them do that, but I think it probably would have been safer than trying to have two kitty people protect everyone.

E: I think they would have all been skewered on Spinner’s big multi-sword. But that’s just me.

M: You’re telling me you don’t think Bakugo and Todoroki are stronger than the kitty litter?

E: Bakugo and Todoroki were not in the area you are referring to and so are irrelevant to planning.

M: They could have blast-flown/ice-glided back.

E: They are a little preoccupied with the villain who has sliced off somebody’s hand. Maybe a bit distracted. Possibly in danger.

M: Is Todoroki going to be able to emotionally handle involvement in another hand injury? Handle, good one me.

E: I don’t know. I think he is probably just cursed. I think he’s right. He’s truly the Hand Crusher.

M: He’s going to lose it when he sees the state of Deku’s right hand and arm.

E: Yes, so before we get to the meat of this episode, we also checked in with the remedial course students and the teachers. Currently, Eraserhead continues to fail us in every meaningful way. Class 1-B is also foolheartedly rushing into the fray.

M: Why is Aizawa like this?

E: Honestly? I think it’s because his Quirk is just too story-breaking? Like he can’t be out there being useful because it eliminates a lot of the threat of the villains. So if he had managed to just rush over to where the villains were with no problem, he’d honestly probably be able to get things more under control.

M: That’s what I was thinking, because he seemed perfectly capable of holding his own against some really powerful folks, Nomu included, in the first season finale, and he’s completely regressed since then.

E: Although maybe it just says something about Dabi’s ability as a villain.

M: Still, the poor judgment in leading five of your students tied up through the woods when you know there might be even the tiniest threat of a villain attack…

E: Okay, okay, he has total control over those bindings, so it’s not like he couldn’t have released them whenever he wanted.

M: I forgot that. Fair. Still, having him literally get sucker punched is another factor in why bum rushing the villains would be safer, because clearly the pro heroes cannot be trusted.

E: The danger seems to be mostly directed at the students, however, so sending them right towards the villains is a bit of a concern. Not that the pro-heroes necessarily know this for sure, but we as the audience do hear Dabi claim that they’re not here for the pro-heroes and Muscle Man says both that he’s allowed to kill Deku and that he’s looking for Kacchan.

M: That sports festival feels pretty stupid now, doesn’t it?

E: Hmmmm…I wonder….

M: It boggles my mind that this has never happened before. Even in an overly positive way. Have seen these improbably ripped teenagers? They would have stalkers.

E: The show seems to be functioning under the assumption that this is a big surge in villain activity since the time that All-Might came to the scene. So criticizing it for not expanding its world in that way is fine, but when considering story structure and events, we should look at it from under that assumption.

M: I get it all from a story perspective, but man, this school needs to be more forward thinking.

E: Anyway, the biggest chunk of this episode was left to Deku who goes off to grab Kota before heading back to camp, but of course finds a villain already there. In fact, the villain who had killed Kota’s hero parents.

M: What a coincidence!

E: All story is coincidence. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s not so unbelievable that its story breaking. He’s a powerful villain, judging by the fact that he killed two pro-heroes, so makes sense that the League would want him. It’s fine.

M: I didn’t say I had a huge problem with it, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point it out.

E: So I have two brief-ish localization corner things, and then we can talk about what you thought of the fight. So the first one comes when there’s that scene before Deku throws his second 100% smash where there’s the cuts between his face and the purple-y shot of his arm. In the sub, it’s very clearly distinct that when it’s on his face, he’s doubting himself and when it’s on his arm, he’s deciding quickly and with determination. It makes a neat effect that the more logical sentence structure they went with here didn’t really capture for me.

Speaking of logical sentence structure. I despise the choice when Deku is being crushed that he thinks in full sentences in the dub. I despise it. I’m not exaggerating. The whole noble “Mom, I tried my best” is just too much. It’s just supposed to be a scared kid calling out for his mom and dad figure because he thinks he’s going to die. The tension in that scene is not that the audience thinks Deku is going to die, it’s that Deku thinks Deku is going to die. And by giving him like a big hero line, it just kind of kills the mood. I have irrationally strong feelings about this one.

M: The mom reference still got me a little because I’m very attached to and protective of Deku’s mom. But I definitely see where you’re coming from.

E: I mean in the sub it’s essentially just “Mom, I’m sorry, Mom, All-Might.” That’s it.

M: That makes more sense. On the other hand (oh, I did it again), I don’t really need more bone-crunching shrieking filler. His dangling horrifying arm is quite enough, so I’m okay with added dialogue to fill time.

E: Okay. I judge you for that. I just think it’s part of the trend in the dub to make Deku more confident and sure of himself, possibly so he’ll read better to a Western audience based on whatever preferences and data I’m sure exists. I think that it obfuscates what makes Deku charming as a protagonist in some ways.

M: Maybe it’s because I don’t have the benefit of the comparison, but Deku has always seemed to me to just be someone who is super in his own head and is always thinking a mile a minute, for better or for worse. So it didn’t strike me as super weird that he was still thinking a mile a minute as he was taking the beatdown of his life, because he thought the exact same way all the other times he was getting the crap kicked out of him.

E: That’s the issue though. The fact that it makes this fight feel the same as all the others is the issue for me.

M: I get that. And I liked your point about the tension being that Deku thinks he’s going to die, because yeah, part of the problem I had buying into the stakes of this was that obviously Deku was not going to die. Also, dude, run! Just run! What are you doing? Why are you asking this five year old to run? Blast away!

E: He mentioned that he was worried that this Muscle Man would be able to catch up and then he’d be running and defending at the same time and he didn’t think he could do that while making sure Kota didn’t get hurt. By holding the line, he at least distracts this guy for long enough that Kota can get into the woods and the guy maybe can’t track him.

M: I get it. I guess I just don’t see, I mean I do sort of, so no need to lecture me about it, but the obvious first move when you are alone on a cliff with a beefy looking villain is to blast away with the kid. At least instead of sitting there spouting heroic BS for two minutes.

E: That’s fair.

M: As a player of video games, I get it. I do not believe in the “flee battle” option, but also, small child. And how dare they break his cell phone!

E: He needs to get a Nokia. Then I guess he couldn’t ever text his location to his whole class though.

M: Again, I understand it, but it introduces so many other times when he should have broken his phone. Maybe he doesn’t carry it in his hero gear, I can’t remember what he was wearing when he was with Gran Torino. But there was already enough justification for him not being able to text. He was busy fighting, his hand was literally grape jello, etc. I guess he couldn’t toss it to Kota this way. It just pulled me out of it for a minute, like, “oh god, of course his phone broke.”

E: I actually appreciate that they acknowledged the phone because he has used it before in dangerous situations, so if they had just left it and not said anything I would have wondered why he became stupider.

M: Sure, but now I’m wondering why he doesn’t have a lifeproof case when he’s literally training to save lives.

E: His mom will get him one soon.

M: His mom will pull him out of this school soon.

E: Poor Deku’s mom.

M: She doesn’t deserve this. Shifting gears, let’s give me a major pat on the back for two correct predictions. Number one: belly button gas masks. Number two: Kota develops a power! It looked like spouting water but is really the power to increase the power of other quirks, apparently.

E: When I watched it, I thought it was pretty self-evident that this was a battle cry. In a direct parallel to how Deku running in after Kacchan in the second episode of the series gave All-Might strength. But I mostly thought it was self-evident that he was not really using 1 million percent because Deku did not explode.

M: I was kidding about Kota’s power. But yeah, one million percent would have left Deku’s liver hanging from a tree somewhere.

E: Anyway, yes, good job with the predictions Madelyn. I was actually really pleasantly surprised when you got the gas mask one right in the last blog.

M: I understand quirks.

E: We can just skip Lawsuit Watch. No need to discuss.

M: UA is in for a world of hurt. I don’t think there’s anything on Boys Over Flowers. Except maybe the pain and suffering of Ji-hoo’s harmonica solo.

E: Any last thoughts on this episode, or do you want the next episode title?

M: Things are still looking pretty bleak for our heroes. One of the cats is full-on dead. Aizawa might be too. Unclear if someone lost a hand or if Momo created one as a decoy? But it’s looking rough. Hit me with the title.

E: Season 3 Episode 5 is called “Drive It Home, Iron Fist!”

M: Iron Fist is a real superhero.

E: Is that a prediction?

M: How can they use that?

E: Well, I mean, it’s also just a thing.

M: Just surprised at the Marvel crossover. Okay, prediction one: this is a weird title because I kind of assumed Deku would be out of commission? I guess he has one fist left? Is the bus driver going to come back?

E: Sorry, you’re really missing something ~~~~~~

Long silence, punctuated with E’s giggling.

M: I did not recognize him as Tetsu Tetsu without Kirishima around for context.

E: Okay, just wanted to point that out, because I didn’t think I would be able to keep a straight face as you veered farther and farther off the wrong path.

M: I literally didn’t recognize him. He had something on his face! Misty was around!

E: He turned to steel!!!

M: I must have sneezed.

E: Anyway, back on track.

M: Okay, prediction one: Momo will create either a truck or a golf club for Tetsu Tetsu to use to slay the villains.

E:

M: Different ways to drive that could be equally effective. Prediction two: the failure heroes are actually going to end up playing a key role. By which I mean the remedial students, not Aizawa. A KEY role. KEY. To drive off the darkness. If you count Aizawa there are seven…

I’m kidding, but I do think they’re going to swoop in or much need support to save the day, thus fulfilling their extra training requirement.

E:

M: Prediction three: by the end of the episode some pros will show up, but the kids will already have taken care of it all once again.

E:

M: No, Snipe is not allowed. Prediction four: Deku’s arm is amputated, but they can reattach the missing hand to his stump, so not all is lost. Emoji that.

E:

M: That’s not a hand.

E:

M: I always need at least at one that’s completely off the wall. Prediction five: man, I’m pissed that’s all it took to turn Kota into a hero lover. That’s not a prediction.

E: I mean, he likes Deku.

M: He believes in the hero concept now.

E: He believes in Deku.

M: I’ve lost my chance at mini Stain.

E: It’s okay, you have Lizard Stain

M: You mean Lizard Final Fantasy 7, but sure. Actual prediction: I think Kota’s water is going to have healing properties, so that’s how we’ll save Deku’s arm from the fate of prediction four.

E:  

M: Gotta cover all of my bases here.

–

Hey everyone! Thanks for following along on another edition of Split Screen. As always, we’re watching Boys Over Flowers on Netflix and the My Hero Academia dub on Fumination, so check them out if you want to keep up with us on these shows.

Next time! We check in with Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu as he faces a hero’s greatest enemy: a real gun. And on Boys Over Flowers, it’s even worse than we thought.