Split Screen: My Honor!!!

Thanks for tuning in to Split Screen! It’s your intro blogger Madelyn here, and although I feel like I say this every week, we’ve got a crazy edition of our Off-Topic Corner recap blog in store for you! Boys Over Flowers is ready to explore how the other half lives, and My Hero Academia has half of a cavalry battle remaining! Two halves means double the fun! Read on for family bonding, punchable faces, and a surprise cameo from Michael Keaton.

(New to Split Screen? No time like the present to jump in! Catch up on all our blogs here.)

Boys Over Flowers Episode 9 (up to minute 34)

E: So this week’s episode was “Jun-pyo Becomes a Commoner: the Movie”

M: I dug it. It was fun to see him without his trademark sneer

E: Yeah, I wish the show’s editor like trusted both the actor and the audience more, because it was really clear what Jun-pyo was feeling during this sequence, so we didn’t need the sappy montage of what we had just seen to know that it made him happy.

M: He’s a much better actor than this show needs. Boys Over Flowers is trash, which is not an insult coming from me. He’s really quite good at communicating his character physically, and you’re right, the show’s editor is being quite patronizing to the audience with these gratuitous montages.

E: I mean, either that or they realized their episode was a few minutes short and they quickly needed something to fill the time.

M: I don’t understand the episode length though. We break it up in half because it’s weirdly about an hour five.

E: Yeah, it ranges from 65 minute to 70 minutes generally. I think the first episode was like 80.

M: This aired on TV, right?

E: Yeah, as far as I know.

M: So maybe there was an aggressive amount of commercials, like twenty five minutes for a ninety minute show?

E: Maybe they think the audience has forgotten what happened after fifteen minutes of commercial and that’s why there’s montages.

M: Valid point. Or maybe in Korea, people don’t pause the TV or DVR or whatever when they get up for snacks and/or the bathroom.

E: So many cultural difference that we don’t understand. Like public bath houses. Like, why would you want to go to one?

M: They do have those in New York. I would go if someone else was paying. But I would not go with my sort-of-ex-but-also-sort-of-together-maybe-girlfriend’s family.

E: I just don’t understand being naked in front of anyone ever. Besides like a doctor. But yeah, seems like a weird choice.

M: Rewinding a bit, I am so glad that the Geum family has recalibrated back to “moderately embarrassing but mostly cute and amusing.” I was really worried during breakfast that we were just gonna go off the deep end.

E: Yeah, I don’t mind them as long as there’s no pushy romance marriage talk. Like their kooky commoner habits are mostly amusing and, like, things normal non-drama families would do.

M: Minus literally ripping meat off the bone with their bare hands and feeding it to the richest man in the country.

E: Well. Yeah. They didn’t seem to have knives, to be fair. Maybe you do rip into fish in Korea. Who knows.

M: Are you saying they don’t own knives?

E: I don’t know, do they have normal silverware commonly? Like, we don’t have chopsticks here much beyond disposable ones.

M: I do.

E: Well, aren’t you bougie.

M: It just seemed really tone-deaf. They’re very aware, painfully so, of how rich Jun-pyo is. And Jan-di’s mom feeds him with her bare hands? At least Kang-san looked embarrassed.

E: He did already deign to share a futon with all of them and wear their pajamas. So it’s not that far of a step up.

M: By the way, we still got no explanation of why that happened. Why did he come over to her house? Not even discussed.

E: I guess it was because she was avoiding him.

M: Still deeply bizarre. Speaking of bizarre but ultimately delightful sequences: kimchi!

E: You know, that looked like a lot of fun. It seems like it would be a lot of fun to make a huge batch of some kind of food. I don’t know.

M: We’ve done it with baking before.

E: I guess, but I just love GIANT BOWLS and stuff like that. And mixing stuff with your hands and everything.

M: My go-to trick in acting school to disguise the fact that I’m a chronic over-actor but don’t know what to do with my hands was to try to work some stage business into every single scene I had to do for class. So I always see these business heavy scenes and I think, “wow, good storytelling. Clever writing trick.” This whole show is disguising the fact that probably none of them can act, but they can make kimchi and ride horses.

E: Except for Jun-pyo’s actor. I was particularly actually impressed like when they were throwing cabbage to each other and he starts just totally baffled, and then he’s like “Is that fun?” And then he totally gets into it. Like you can tell that he’s just totally unfamiliar and totally down for it.

M: Kicking off his day-long expedition with the Geum men! We get the aforementioned public bath, we get a sauna where we were genuinely concerned that Kang-san had died, and, my favorite, we get eating fried fish on a stick from a street food vendor.

E: He literally bankrupts Jan-di’s family, eating food on a stick from a street food vendor.

M: I’m kind of surprised he’s never had fried fish before! Rich people eat junk too.

E: But it’s on a stick! And from a cart! Like I’m sure he’s had chips and not fresh junk food, but I doubt anybody ever let him get street food.

M: Which brings us to playboy lessons with Yi-Jung.

E: Listen guys, don’t be like Yi-jung. Just call the lady.

M: “I haven’t been waiting for your call for three days and thirteen hours!”

E: That whole phone call was such a trainwreck.

M: “Geum Jan-di? Who’s that?”

E: And he was so proud of himself afterwards for hanging up first.

M: What did you think of the eventual double date?

E: God, that guy is a big jerkwad.

M: Much like Ji-hoo the past few weeks, I’m not really sure how I was supposed to interpret Ga-Eul’s beau. There were times where it just seemed like he was just common, teasing the rich boy too much, and Jun-pyo was just being sensitive. But other times, not even when he was acting that differently, I just found him so uncouth.

E: I mean, he was. Like, he was late, first of all. So was Jun-pyo, but that’s another issue.

M: He was just in the neighborhood. On business. That he finished.

E: Exactly. But this guy, gave no excuse and no apology. Decided that he was going to call Jun-pyo his brother. Was incredibly good at the crane game which is a red flag. Being that good at a crane game is a super red flag. And then he was just pushy. And also he said like “Shinhwa, must be a place where you really pay to get in.” There’s no way that wasn’t purposefully confrontational.

M: But look, Jun-pyo handled it pretty well, right? Episode two Jun-pyo would have had a hit put out on that guy within like thirty seconds. He was just a little pissy. Growth!

E: Yes, and he and Jan-di had the cute ice skating moment. Not set to Bang Bang Boom, which was disappointing.

M:Bring back Bang Bang Boom. I don’t want this new crap.

E: #BBBBB

M: It was a successful date despite the fact that he can’t eat intestines, which by the way, Clickbait Boyfriend is also scared of, so I’m a little biased here, but that doesn’t seem like a dealbreaker.

E: And then, he beats up this dude real bad.

M: I’m really glad we didn’t stop the episode right there like we were supposed to, because it made me feel much better to hear that Ga-Eul is on our side here.

E: I just don’t know what could be so bad that he wouldn’t just come out and say it about the guy. Like, all he said to Ga-eul was “if you’re date somebody, make it a good body” or something. So, what exactly did he overhear to make him react like that?

M: He’s got some weird ideas about honor, you know?

E: I must reclaim my honor! The Avatar! Uncle!

M: Butler Lee is Uncle Iroh.

E: Yes please. Make Butler Lee start spouting some wisdom right now.

M: Make Butler Lee learn a poker face. Dude gave Young Master Jun-pyo away.

E: I don’t know why he and Jun-pyo’s sister. Jun-hee? Didn’t just say he’d left early instead of saying he was sleeping.

M: Coming up with good excuses on the fly does not run in this family. Remember when Jan-di was over that one time?

E: Yes. And now that I’m thinking about it, saying he’d left early probably wouldn’t have gotten him out of trouble.

M: Maybe that will be addressed in the second half because again, no mention.

E: I’m not clear how many days it’s been. I guess one? So he should have seen her by now.

M: No, it’s been at least three and thirteen hours.

E: I guess she is a working parent, so she must be out. She mentioned like “how many times to we eat breakfast together each year” and Jun-hee was totally savage back.

M: Anyway, back to the savage beating at hand. I bet Soon-Pyo’s phone call was either about his secret wife, or he said something really crass about the girls, and Jun-pyo didn’t want to repeat it.

E: Yeah, I think those are the two more likely options. Probably the second? I think he’d be more liable to react violently if it also affected Jan-di.

M: You ready for Romance Tracker?

E: Well, we left off with Jan-di wanting an apology out of him for beating up this dude. So, that’s gonna be a causer of tension for the next part of the episode. There ya go. My safe prediction.

M: I’m too busy being grumpy that the Ji-hoo love triangle BS still seems to be a thing.

E: STOP STEALING HER STUFF.

M: It set up a cute moment with Jun-pyo giving Jan-di his glove, which was nice. But I just have a feeling he’s gonna try to cause mischief with her stuff again, and I am not happy about it.

E: Me neither.

M: Things I am happy about: Ga-Eul’s trashy boyfriend isn’t calling her back. Yi-jung, time to swoop in.

E: I bet you there will be some developments on that either this episode or next.

M: He was waaaaay too blasé about the double date.

E: You’re right. Very suspicious. Sorry, I was laughing because I was reminded of Jun-pyo talking to them about his commoner’s day. “Have you even lived?”

M: “You haven’t had fish from the street? You’re basically a zombie!”

E: That was probably my top moment of the episode.

M: But seriously, what’s a playboy supposed to do when he likes someone? Stay laid-back. So…

E: There ya go.

M: Non-romantic prediction?

E: Um, Jun-pyo’s mom finally hears from scholarship man about who Jan-di is, you know that plot thread they dropped like five episode ago? And she puts the pieces together. And we end the episode with Jan-di in a sniper’s crosshairs.

M: That would be a good time to play the music they used when Jun-pyo was eating intestine.

E: No, that’s a great time for ALLLMOSST PAAARADDDIIISSEEEE

M: Nuh uh. BANG BANG BOOM.

E: Oh noooooooo

M: Speaking of dropped plot threads, do you remember Jan-di’s rich friend?

E: Yeah. She’s gone. She didn’t pull a Ji-hoo and reappear.

M: What was that? Ga-Eul has totally replaced her.

E: It’s fine, I like Ga-eul more. Even before we knew the other one was evil.

M: Okay, my prediction is that the moms, after they like have ten episodes of feuding, are going to meet and actually get along super well. And Kang-san and the sister are going to become major power brokers. They’re gonna pull all the strings.

E: I’d watch that spin-off.

 

My Hero Academia S2E5: Cavalry Battle Finale

M: I wish they would put all of the flashback into the “previously on” opening montage.

E: Maybe I’m inoculated to it, but I didn’t notice the flashback except for the part where Deku was like “can’t drag these loser down with me!” So it was pretty flashback light.

M: We got a bunch with Bakugo and B-List too. 

E: Ah, yes, I do agree, that probably could have been put into the previously on.

M: Some fun moments in this episode, I think.

E: She’s confident.

M: “You haven’t watched My Hero Academia Episode Whatever This One Is? You haven’t lived!”

E: Yes, but as the episode title promised and as you predicted, we wrapped up the cavalry battle this episode.

M: I was on fire with my predictions. I’m pissed we Deku didn’t benevolently give up his headband though.

E: Well, we did get a version. In that, he only went for the headband he thought was the ten million instead of grabbing all of them from Todoroki.

M: I don’t believe that was a real strategy. That was just #DumbDeku

E: I think it was a little that he didn’t want to knock Iida out of the competition.

M: I liked that we saw why Bird Man joined the team. That was actually a nice use of flashback.

E: Well, because it was new flashback. Whatever that means.

M:  And I enjoyed that we finally got to see nerd Deku be helpful right, because he knew more about Todoroki than he really has any business knowing. He could take advantage of his daddy issues.

E: That’s basically what he did, huh? Until the point where Todoroki did use his left side aka his fire side.

M: But not really though. He got all fiery but it was useless. He shouldn’t feel bad about it.

E: It seemed to be an instinctual fight or flight response when he used it as opposed to a conscious decision to activate it.

M: Before we talk more about the real climactic fight of the episode, I wanna flash over the b-fight, literally, with Bakugo and B-List. I don’t care that’s not his name, it is now.

E: Monoma, in case you were curious.

M: Was not curious. He’s like, the worst.

E: Yes.

M: Why did we take Rogue, a very likable X-Man, and turn her into this jerk?

E: I don’t know. I would have said that it was an effective strategy, but then he just had to continue poking the bear. And by poking, I mean stabbing viciously with words.

M: Yeah. It is an effective way to rehabilitate Bakugo as a character. He’s positively likable losing his head about this guy.

E: Yeah, I think that’s very purposeful.

M: Boys Over Flowers needs to introduce a B-list F4. G4 maybe. To help Ji-hoo seem like a worthwhile human.

E: You really just want to bring an F4 like group into this show. I see you. I see you.

M: Desperately.

E: But I think it’s particularly purposeful that he’s poking at some of the more…like bringing up the sludge monster which seemed like a not fun experience, and then even insinuating that Bakugo is kind of villain-like. He hit some soft spots.

M: They were all true. UA really needs to add a personality screening to admissions, like I dunno, a Myers-Briggs or a StrengthsQuest on these folks to make sure there’s not too much villain raw material, you know?

E: “Villain raw material”

M: You know, if you’re an INTJ, nuh-uh.

E: I’m pretty sure that’s what I am

M: Yeah, it’s not far off from me.

E: So, Bakugo gets his points back minus any disqualification. And he gets to effectively utilize his team’s quirks, even if he still does not know their names. It’s a nice little battle to watch.

M: How long have they been in school now?

E: Yes, that’s the point.

M: No, serious question! It takes me a long time to learn names.

E: Um, you know, I’m not sure how long they’ve been in school. I think a month or two. The third seasons starts in summer. If that helps at all. And school year starts in March/April.

M: Great, so they’ve known each other for a month. It’s not like they’re in a discussion-based class. They basically take full day PE. He knows their powers, that’s totally reasonable, I think. A little dick-ish, but not blatantly rude.

E: Plus, everybody gets fun nicknames! Like Racoon Eyes. And Icy Hot. That second one, I really appreciate. In the sub, it’s Half n’ Half.

M: As if he could squirt different kinds of milk! Cow Man! Udder Disaster!

E: That’d be a great quirk. Imagine the lactose intolerant villains you could bring down.

M: Folks that are lactose intolerant welcome death. They eat more dairy than lactose tolerant people.

E: That’s fair, that’s been my experience with lactose intolerant people too.

M: Anyway, it was great to see All Might and Aizawa say nice things about Bakugo. Also snaps to Mummy Man for growing a bit of self-esteem and prioritizing self-care.

E: Present Mic even gave him a compliment. It’s all about confidence, folks.

M: And he shook off his FOMO and said no to lunch. He needed to nap. Put yourself first.

E: This has been Self-Care Tips with Talk This! Podcast.

M: He’s gonna be hangry next episode though. That’s an early prediction.

E:

M: Wait, I’m not there yet!

E: I have to respond to all predictions in emoji form. It’s in my contract.

M:  I guess the last thing to talk about is Deku’s inevitable but also surprising advance to the next round.

E: Yes, so the four teams that advance are Bakugo’s team, Todoroki’s team, Deku’s team, and Shinso’s team.

M: RIP Mineta

E: Not really though. Feel worse for Tsu and Shoji.

M: Clutch showing from thicc thighs.

E: What?

M: It’s technically his calves that muscular, but i couldn’t come up with an alliteration.

E: Wat?

M: Cut Calves?

E: Yes, Iida was a very speedy speedster.

M: But even more clutch was Michael Keaton (E: *whispered* Goddammit) and his weird pet.

E: Dark Shadow is a big mood. “Violence solves nothing!”

M: All of the montages and flashbacks were worth it for the tear geyser.

E: I’m pretty sure, that Deku has a hidden quirk. Being able to shoot water from his eyes. I predict it’ll be a plot twist one day.

M: Hero name: Yellowstone

E: That would be a great hero name for a hero who could shoot geysers out of their eyes.

M: Wait, you have to respond to your prediction in emoji.

E: Is there geyser emoji? (EDITOR E: There is not)

M: Nice. Duh duh. Law and Order sound effect. Lawsuit Watch

E: I mean, Ga-eul’s jerky boyfriend probably has some sort of assault case against Jun-pyo. For making his teeth shake or whatever it was he said.

M: “It’ll take eight weeks to recover from this!”

E: He was very specific about that. I think he’s building a case.

M: Maybe he’s a dentist, you don’t know.

E: Teeth shaking, I feel like, is not a real thing a dentist would say.

M: Fair enough. I think the UA kids have a case since they were all subject to, what, a million volts of electricity?

E: Hey, he didn’t knock anyone off their horse, ‘kay?

M: Still kind of cruel.

E: I liked that they did show off why Todoroki’s team set-up was also really effective though. Everybody’s honestly. And by everybody I mean Deku’s, Todoroki’s, and Bakugo’s.

M: And Mineta’s!

E: True.

M: And B-List!

E: True. Yeah. Everybody. Except for Shinso, who’s a mysteryyyyyyyy

M: Wut.

E: The other team that won. We saw nothing from them.

M: For some reason, I thought that was the B-List team.

E: No, he’s the one from general studies who brought up that they’re able to replace people in the hero course if they do well enough.

M: Yikes. See ya later Invisible Girl. Or not.

E: It’s a mysteryyyyyyyyy

M: Okay, I’m ready to make some more predictions. Gimme that episode title.

E: “The Boy Born With Everything”

M: Much better than last week. Okay Prediction two: Jun-pyo is in the episode.

E:

M: Missed an opportunity for Boy and Flower emoji.

E:

M: Prediction three: this episode is all about lunch time…no, I can’t say it.

E: GODDAMMIT LEAVE IIDA ALONE

M: He’s tired! He needs to refuel after a run! I do the same!

E:

M: My favorite part of running is eating afterwards! I get it!

E:

M: Alright. Moving on. Prediction three: Todoroki turns Deku’s lunch into a popsicle and he likes better that way.

E:  

M: Prediction 3.5: Todoroki also freezes Deku’s tears and it gives him a competitive advantage.

E: 

M: Prediction four: All-Might and Fire Lord Ozai trade some sick burns. Not literally.

E: As in drop it.

M: No, not Present Mic. All-Might and Fire Lord Ozai.

E: AS IN DROP THE MIC

M: And finally, prediction five: Deku’s mom is hospitalized for a nervous breakdown.

E:

–

Hey, closer host Emma here, and we’re so happy you’re continuing to follow along with us on our great journey through My Hero Academia and Boys Over Flowers. We’re doing the My Hero Academia dub on Hulu (it’s also on Funimation) and Boys Over Flowers on Netflix.

Next time! Jan-di and JUn-pyo have relationship problems, what else is new and maybe we find out why that guy needed some punching! And also, it’s T-t-t-t-todoroki time. Look forward to it!

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