Thanks for tuning into a bicoastal edition of Split Screen, everyone! I’m your California Streamin’ host Madelyn, ready for some action! On Boys Over Flowers, we’re still dealing with the fallout of the broken engagement, and on My Hero Academia, everyone’s still dealing with broken bones (er, ligaments, but we’ll get to that later!). So take your foot off the brakes and accelerate into this week’s episodes!
New to Split Screen? Catch up on the pages and pages of content here.
Boys Over Flowers Episode 22 (from minute 33)
M: I’m tentatively hopeful about this episode’s plot developments!
E: What, the coma man?
M: I am hopeful for his recovery, yes. But I meant that it’s encouraging that the show is going in what I find to be some unexpected directions!
E: Oh yeah, Grandpa is seriously throwing a wrench in a few things.
M: Fortunately, his claiming Jan-di as his future granddaughter in law doesn’t seem to have gotten back to Jun-pyo. That’s got to be coming, but I appreciate we’ll at least get one cute date before it all blows up.
E: God, Mama Gu was so self-satisfied after Grandpa’s proclamation.
M: That smirk! Give her a villain award.
E: No, don’t. The whole “accusing Jan-di of being a conniving witch” bit is getting a little stale when she must have people keeping tabs on Jan-di and must know that Jan-di has done literally nothing the past five episodes or so. And also, it’s clearly not a successful strategy anyway.
M: Maybe Manager Jung is feeding her bad information so that she’ll continue to act irrationally all the time.
E: I’m hoping that the next and final three episodes is mostly wrapping stuff up and that whatever happens with Mama Gu just happens sooner rather than later. Because she’s just not threatening anymore. Not really. She’s too small and petty.
M: I’m ready for her to spread her villain wings and come into her full power these. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but it sure seems like she’s coming after Queen Ga-eul, which is a more inventive strategy than having Jan-di kidnapped for the umpteenth time.
E: It will also be her downfall though. Nobody can touch Ga-eul in this establishment.
M: She exposed herself by objecting to the wedding. Unfortunately for Mama Gu, Yi-jung is increasingly unhinged.
E: Early prediction, Yi-jung gets his hand’s movement back just in time to shatter a vase over the Chairwoman’s head as she tries to choke out Ga-eul.
M: That would be deeply symbolic.
E: Speaking of Ga-eul, she spends this episode trying to discover the concept of a physical therapist.
M: Deku’s doctor from this episode of My Hero is really exactly what Yi-jung needs. Helps with arm and hand movement, encourages cognitive-behavioral therapy.
E: Plus, having now seen shattered Deku arms, he could probably put this injury into perspective.
M: Will Ga-eul become the first Korean physical therapist in this world?
E: You see, I’d be down for that, but we’ve already got Jan-di on the medical path. It feels like she needs to find her own dream.
M: I hope that Jan-di’s med school application comes back. The show has not been interested in that lately, which is fine, there’s been a lot going on, but I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get any closure.
E: She does still work at Grandpa’s possibly illegal medical facility, and now she’s providing companionship to a coma patient, so there’s the medical theme going on in her story still.
M: What the heck was that, by the way?
E: I mean, the more I think about it, the more it has to be Jun-pyo’s dad. Even though I can’t believe they’re really doing that.
M: Isn’t his dad dead?
E: We didn’t see the body.
M: No. No, I can’t believe that. It’s got to be something else.
E: I’m sorry, but who else could it be? Give me a name.
M: Maybe Ji-hoo’s dad has been on life support this whole time and no one knew? That’s just as bad, never mind.
E: I’m just dreading his dad waking up and instantly solving all of Jun-pyo’s problems so he doesn’t have to do anything for himself again.
M: That would be a quick fix, wouldn’t it?
E: I just want Jun-pyo to renounce his family and run off and start a pizza business with Kang-san or something. Or a kimchi business.
M: When is Chekhov’s family going to come into play?
E: I’m worried that they just died from their own incompetence. Kang-san is not enough to wrangle their parents alone.
M: Speaking of incompetence, some confession of love from Ji-hoo, huh?
E: Ji-hoo, get it together.
M: His life is a…how did Woo-bin describe it? I was going to say a garbage fire, but Woo-bin had a great phrase like “everything is like death warmed over” or something.
E: Yeah, it was something to that effect. He was really embodying the grad student professor outfit he had going on.
M: Some real existential dread. Or a haunting.
E: The ghost of Woo-bins past.
M: Was he alive when he was going to break Jun-pyo’s arm? When did he become a Shakespearean ghost?
E: No wonder he hesitated a little bit, he didn’t want to give his incorporality away.
M: Maybe that was a dream Jan-di had while she slept through Ji-hoo’s love unburdening.
E: We were really in a Shakespeare kind of mood since Ji-hoo also delivered the world’s shortest soliloquy.
M: It was so weird! Why was he talking to himself by moonlight?
E: I felt like they could have conveyed everything he said through facial expression and maybe a clutch to the chest, but no, they wanted to go the traditional theatrical route.
M: Has he ever received a text message before?
E: Oh, maybe he was reciting for Siri.
M: A voice text. Exclamation point. Smiley face.
E: Am I missing anything from this episode? I mean, except for the small child trying to steal Jan-di from Jun-pyo at the end.
M: We finally saw the conclusion of Yi-jung’s never-ending Valentine’s Day flashback.
E: Right, he just threw it in the garbage because he spilled water on it or sake or some sort of clear alcohol, whatever, that’s not the important part. I thought it would have been a nice touch to have him do it with the hand that’s injured now, but missed opportunity.
M: Spilling water on important papers is relatable though. More relatable than the dancing girls.
E: I don’t understand the “rich boy brings back two girls to dance together in the background for a bit” trope. But then again, I don’t go to parties.
M: That could hardly be called a party, Emma.
E: I’m sure they came from a party. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m an innocent soul.
M: So that just leaves us with Jun-pyo’s prison break and the unexpected third wheel.
E: At least the poor child seemed to be having fun being manhandled away from Jan-di by Jun-pyo all the time.
M: I loved that we were introduced to Manager Lee, Woo-bin’s Manager Jung.
E: It’s Crime Manager Jung.
M: Maybe they’re the same person. Or identical twins?
E: If they’re going the coma patient route, they could definitely go the identical twin route.
M: One of them is light and one is darkness. But which is which???
E: Manager Jung walks the road to dawn.
M: That’s real. That’s canon.
E: Anyway, uhhhhhh, Romance Tracker?
M: Yi-jung does not deserve Ga-eul. Even a little bit.
E: Nobody deserves Ga-eul. Ga-eul deserves twenty menservants waiting on her every need.
M: One hundred dawn-walking Manager Jungs!
E: Oh no. No, she doesn’t deserve that.
M: I dread the lengths the show will go to in order to make me believe Jan-di could end up with Ji-hoo.
E: He’s her handkerchief…which doesn’t sound super romantic when you say it out loud, but the full quote had a nice sentiment.
M: He’s her snot-wiper!
E: I also fondly remembered the episode where Jun-pyo attempted to punch Jan-di in her already bleeding nose with his handkerchief.
M: That’s true love, folks.
E: Romance Tracker is getting harder and harder as we progress through to the end, in terms of being a segment where we have things to talk about.
M: There are less than a half dozen of these left, so we can’t change the format now.
E: Well, any other predictions? What else did the next on show beyond the Ga-eul stuff?
M: Yi-jung is a cool guy, not a nice guy. That didn’t convey my dramatic read.
E: I think it was “good” guy.
M: You’re right, my mistake. I just hope Woo-bin gets a cool car or something at the end of this.
E: My prediction is that we will get to the end of this series, and the most important question will have been left unanswered. Who is Woo-bin?
M: WHO IS WOO-BIN?
My Hero Academia S3E8: “From Iida to Midoriya”
E: In this episode of My Hero Academia, kids are stupid. So, normal times.
M: Relative to the adults serving as “mentors” in their lives, they’re brighter than you’d expect.
E: I don’t really agree with Tsuyu’s reasoning that Kirishima and crew are acting like villains by breaking the rules here, but also they definitely shouldn’t go after Bakugo. They’re diving into an unknown dangerous situation with nothing but a tracker. And disguises from Don Quijote.
M: It’s called civil disobedience, Emma. Look it up.
E: That’s what I’m saying, right, some rules are dumb. But they do exist to keep things relatively safe and orderly. And this rescue mission is neither safe nor orderly.
M: I agree. But there doesn’t appear to be any kind of urgent rescue mission on the pro hero front. They seem pretty busy showering for press appearances.
E: We did see a whole bunch of heroes at the police station slash gearing up, but you’re right that the kids don’t know that. And it’s a double-edged sword that they’re so used to villains now. They think they can just handle things, right?
M: They’ve assembled the dream team though. Even though I spent the whole time picking out who was who in UA’s F4+, if there’s a line-up that would be able to handle this, it’s this crew plus a freed Bakugo.
E: I think that Jiro with her headphones would probably round out the team entirely, but she’s conveniently unconscious.
M: That is convenient for a stealth mission, isn’t it? I didn’t even think of that.
E: Invisible Girl is also unconscious.
M: I mean, credit to the writers, I guess.
E: But before we get to that, we first get a detailed medical breakdown of how Deku is not-so-slowly ruining his arms. His ligaments! To be precise
M: Yeah yeah, that’s all well and good, but why is Recovery Girl the only healing superhero?
E: I wonder if they’re rare, and she’s just the one assigned to this area. Slash, she must be responsible for UA students since she works there.
M: For sure, she’s definitely the UA lead, but if healing powers are rare, I’d love for someone to say in-world so it doesn’t feel as weird.
E: Or maybe they just got the best.
M: Time seems to be of the essence for this stuff though. That’s all I’m saying. Recovery Girl’s not getting any younger.
E: What are you talking about, she’s full of vim and vigor.
M: Maybe she’s also Benjamin Buttoning, I don’t know.
E: Something that was funny in the subbed version of this is that they put a really quick explanation of what hysterical strength is that the doctor definitely does not actually say in his lines. There’s like a sentence where the subtitle is just three lines where it explains that “hysterical strength is like when a mom pulls a car off her child.”
M: Or like when you punch a villain so hard your arm rips off.
E: Not quite rips off.
M: Big deal if his arms break. Momo will just make robot ones.
E: I wonder if Deku could channel One for All through prosthetics.
M: These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night. Is One for All an ableist power?
E: Speaking of being kept up at night, poor Deku’s mom. Somebody save Inko Midoriya.
M: All of this is karmic punishment for that one time she didn’t handle Deku not having a quirk quite as gracefully as she possibly could have.
E: It does help to put a human face to the really terrible way these kids have been unprotected by their school and to the general discontent that seems to be growing among the general populace.
M: The kids seemed really shocked that the crowd watching Aizawa’s press conference was in favor of them being a little safer. ‘Wow, expecting them to protect us. They’re being treated like villains!’
E: It’s almost kind of Stockholm Syndrome-like? Honestly. I mentioned before that they have just become so used to it now, and they haven’t really suffered any consequences beyond Bakugo (and most of the class outside Deku and Kirishima don’t really like Bakugo anyway). They think that, since they’ve come out okay so far, that it’s all fine. I feel like they are just unable to see the problem in a way outsiders can.
M: I thought that scene was going to go in a completely different direction. I thought they were going to see Aizawa forced to gel his hair, and realize “oh crap, he’s going to have to do this again if we kill ourselves, only maybe put on cologne too, we can’t do this!”
E: That’s giving Deku and Kirishima way too much credit. Like, Iida and Momo would turn back at any point if they didn’t feel responsible for the wellbeing of the others. And maybe Todoroki could be convinced to give up. But Deku and Kirishima are just gonna charge off into the night no matter what.
M: Typical Jan-di and Woo-bin behavior. Or typical Sora and Axel behavior, take your pick.
E: So, small localization corner. First off, our recurring segment, the Bakugo flashback. In this case the voice actor in Japanese read it as very commanding. Like, if the original read was like the dub read in that it was kind of tense and shaky, this one was like a solid “knock it off, Deku” in tone. A “back off” kind of feeling.
Why does Deku remember it this way at this moment? It’s probably is in response to the other slight change in the dub. Uraraka actually says pretty directly that “Bakugo would be mortified if you came and rescued him” rather than just a sort of wishy washy “Think about how Bakugo would feel.” And so with that new information, Deku is remembering it differently. And that’s my corner.
M: This has been so interesting over the past few weeks.
E: Yeah, there are few more that will be interesting in the next few episodes, both in the flashback and just some other related changes.
M: Speaking of changes, good set up Emma, THOSE COSTUMES.
E: “This is me, incognito.”
M: Having been to Japan makes me appreciate all the Japanese shows I watch so much more. Don Key Ooti or whatever it was.
E: You always gotta love those copyright-free substitutions.
M: Especially now that these kids are the budget Phantom Thieves of Heart.
E: When I first watched it, I was thinking “oh of course, Todoroki has to have the emo wig” and didn’t really remember that he probably needed to cover his scar until later.
M: It’s practical, and character appropriate!
E: I mostly really enjoy Deku and Iida’s fake facial hair.
M: It’s so rough. Are they in fake Shinjuku now?
E: They’re in fake Yokohama they said.
M: Did you know fun fact that San Diego and Yokohama are sister cities? Greetings from San Diego, everyone! Have not seen anyone dressed quite like that here though.
E: Thanks for the fun fact, Madelyn.
M: You are always welcome, that is my only function. Are we ready to talk lawsuits?
E: Well, wait, we should probably at least mention the last scene.
M: Don’t tell me Shigaraki has daddy issues.
E: Okay, I won’t. No, it’s been awhile since we watched the finale of season 2, but I’m pretty sure he referred to that hand as Father back there too.
M: I either forgot or didn’t catch that. You decide whether I’m dumb or dumb.
E: Maybe I’m wrong too, but I think it was at least implied. But anyway, Bakugo is now going to fight all the villains by himself, and so we return to the thesis statement at the beginning of this discussion. Kids are dumb.
M: If Bakugo picks up the hand, will he become the leader?
E: I think it’s like the talking stick.
M: On the plus side, Bakugo fighting these guys will create the perfect distraction to rescue Bakugo!
E: Hmmm, maybe.
M: That was meant as a joke, but I guess I’m smart now. Are we ready for lawsuits? I feel like it’s nothing new.
E: Well, UA doing a public apology has probably stopped at least a couple lawsuits. Somebody out there was satisfied with that.
M: I guess so. I can’t think of much on Boys Over Flowers.
E: Grandpa can’t just claim Jan-di for Ji-hoo. That’s about all I’ve got.
M: Or claim guardianship of her. She has parents.
E: Oh, and if coma guy is really Jun-pyo’s dad, then Manager Jung is probably doing something wrong by not telling them.
M: He can’t be his dad. I’ll sue if that’s Jun-pyo’s dad.
E: Watch out Boys Over Flowers production committee.
M: Hit me with that sweet sweet episode title.
E: My Hero Academia season 3 episode 9 is entitled “All for One”
M: Okay, fine, prediction one: we probably meet All for One.
E:
M: Prediction two: the costumed kids come up with a motivational cheer to do before their stealth mission.
E:
M: Prediction three: the pro hero committee is freaking useless and just argues with each other the whole time the kiddos are kicking butt and having their butts kicked.
E:
M: Baby emoji?
E: Because they’re kids. And the baby is funnier.
M: Gun emoji?
E: Is the baby holding the gun? Or is the gun trained on the baby?
M: I thought you were going to say “is the gun holding the baby?”
E: That could also be an option. Snipe shows up with his child.
M: Prediction four: Shigaraki has to go home because it’s past curfew. He’s late, so he gets his Xbox taken away for a week.
E:
M: No more babies!
E: No promises.
M: Prediction five: Mineta shows up. He’s been tracking his classmates the whole time, because he is a master of stealth.
E: ( ͡°❥ ͡°)
M: I missed those guys.
–
Hey everyone, Emma here! As always, thanks for tuning into our Split Screen adventures. Lately, Madelyn’s been binging My Hero Academia with Clickbait Boyfriend and turning him to her side. I can’t wait for him to begin asking “why didn’t Todoroki just ice blast them?”
Next time! Yi-jung defines the difference between being a “cool guy” and a “good guy.” Also, Kacchan takes on a room of seven villains by himself while his classmates play dress-up.