Thanks for tuning in for the last Split Screen of 2018! It’s hard to believe we’re about to enter into our second calendar year of Boys Over Flowers and My Hero Academia fun! I’m feeling especially connected to the events of the shows this week. I just finished what will hopefully be my last internship, so I’ve got deep sympathy for Class 1-A’s experience, and I’ve seen Clickbait Boyfriend a lot less over the holidays, which is exactly the same as Jun-pyo going completely silent on Jan-di for six months! We’re approaching what feels like major transitions for both shows, so let’s see what our favorite dramatic high schoolers are up to!
(New to Split Screen? It’s the perfect time for a New Year’s marathon! Catch up on all our blogs here.)
Boys Over Flowers Episode 13 (from minute 35)
M: I AM SO MAD.
E: We did know this was what was going to happen.
M: We’re regressing all the way back to episode two.
E: Maybe this belongs further down in the post, but I’m hoping that we get a bit more of Jun-pyo’s perspective next episode. I get that it’s a difficult time for him or whatever, but I’d like to know exactly what’s going on to make him ignore both Jan-di and F3.
M: I have a feeling we won’t get to know. It’ll seem like we do, but Jun-pyo clearly having to lie to everyone to keep this ship afloat.
E: I’m also curious to find out more about mysterious black belt girl.
M: Yeah, we haven’t seen the last of her.
E: Well, she was way too cool looking to not come back.
M: The episode starts with something we really should have lumped in with last week: Jan-di’s swimming retirement ceremony.
E: We were way past halfway into the episode at that point.
M: Fair, but thematically, it’s definitely closer to last week’s post.
E: I don’t really have anything to add to that theme though that I didn’t say last week. It feels super unearned and I just wasn’t invested whatsoever in her swimming.
M: We did learn that Ji-hoo is apparently dyslexic?
E: Listen, reading aloud is hard, especially when you’re looking up from the page. I know from creative writing readings in high school. I’ve lost my place on the page so many times before. So, you know, don’t be too harsh.
“Okay, okay, quite funny, gimme that.”
M: We also learned that Jan-di has a “weed spirit.” Don’t google that. I just did.
E: Must be lost in translation.
M: Overall, a really sweet moment from F3. The one good thing that has come out of this Jun-pyo mess is how his bros have rallied around Jan-di.
E: Now that Jun-pyo isn’t, she’s really the new fourth member of F4. Upgraded from mascot as she was near the beginning.
M: I had forgotten about that. Now Ga-Eul is the mascot!
E: I can’t believe they didn’t take Ga-Eul to Macau. He’s in Macau by the way, even though we definitely thought it was Beijing last time.
M: I thought his father died in Beijing. He must have some dealings in Macau. You know what, it’s foolhardy to try to analyze the business side of Shinhwa too much.
E: It was also foolhardy to let Jan-di go alone to a foreign country for even a couple hours. She can hardly go a day without being kidnapped in Korea where she does speak the language.
M: What were they thinking? Everyone knows that Jun-pyo’s family is not a fan of Jan-di. Even under good circumstances, she couldn’t even waltz into his house in Korea without possibly being turned away at the door. And she thought she’d be able to what, exactly? Catch him walking around? Somehow she almost did, and it still didn’t work!
E: If she’d been wearing tennis shoes as opposed to the admittedly stylish heels, she’d have avoided several problems actually.
I mean, damn cute, but no
M: She should have committed one way or the other. Either comfy infiltration clothes or very ritzy attire to con her way in.
E: So obviously the first because I can’t imagine Jan-di conning her way into anything.
M: Especially when she speaks basically no English. I love when they speak English, by the way.
E: I think they were also speaking Cantonese sometimes, specifically the black-belt girl talking to the first pickpocket. Because it didn’t sound like Korean.
M: Let’s talk about this pickpocket situation. Jan-di can’t get Jun-pyo’s attention or sneak into his building. No surprise there. So she goes full-on tourist with a map she happens to find and then stumbles across the most unstable pickpocket in Asia.
E: Yeah, I don’t think a lot of pickpockets will threaten you with a knife upon getting caught. They can just back off and pickpocket someone else. They’re there for the stuff, not for the murder.
M: I would have bought it as an unlikely possibility if Jan-di was alone in a dark alley late at night. Then maybe the pickpocket is bold enough to threaten her.
E: I would have bought it had she not run into another scammer who ran with her suitcase and brought her into, like, gang cornering turf.
M: Jan-di has really bad luck, but from the very cursory Google search I’ve done, Macau doesn’t seem that dangerous. It’s like a Chinese administrative territory?
E: I mean, Jan-di was being stupid. Her bag was stupid and easy for pick-pocketing, talking to a kid offering cheap hotel and letting him take her bag is stupid. But yeah, it was the violence that they both responded with that I felt was unrealistic.
M: Yeah, I would have been totally fine with something important being stolen. It’s too weird to face two potentially fatal situations in the span of five hours.
E: It’s just a character trait at this point. Finds danger instinctively.
No bully
M: Before we get to the Avengers Assemble portion of this episode, who do you think the mysterious black belt is?
E: I was thinking some sort of arranged date for Jun-pyo, but she didn’t crop up at all in the parts we saw with him, so that’s seeming less likely. She was clearly someone important though because she had like semi-capable bodyguards.
M: Jun-pyo is definitely involved in an arranged marriage, right?
E: Oh yeah, for sure.
M: Is something shady going on at Shinhwa and that’s why he’s toeing the line so much?
E: Legal trouble or just financial trouble. Either way he’d have to put on a good face for potential investors and possible business partners.
M: It’s so odd and mysterious. It hurt me a lot that he saw Jan-di at the bar and didn’t say anything, but obviously he couldn’t.
E: I wish he’d at least sent someone after her. Because, like, he knows Jan-di. Like, no way she manages to find a place to stay in a foreign country.
M: I bet the Manager is Team Jan-di.
E: I can’t believe we skipped over Woo-bin being a crime boss
M: We aren’t there yet!
E: We were talking about the altercations and I think this is the most important part of the episode.
M: “You’re Prince Song?”
E: “Yeah!”
They bow to the power of the sparkly pants
M: More like “yeeeah!”
E: Actually his outfit was the most important thing in this whole episode.
M: He’s a style icon.
E: It was simultaneously the best and worst outfit on this show yet.
M: I need a shirt like that.
E: I need some glitter pants.
M: You could spill whatever you wanted on that shirt, and no one would know.
E: It’d just become part of the shirt.
M: That’s probably what happened. He spilled his airplane meal and just rolled with it. Woo-bin is so mysterious.
E: Who is Woo-bin? The world may never know.
M: #Who-bin
DO YOU KNOW THIS MAN?
E: Okay, with that out of the way, we can return to the shady business going on with Juen-pyo Gu.
M: Translations are weird.
E: There must just be different ways to romanticize these names because we also got confused with Woo-bin’s hockey jersey a bit ago.
M: Basically nothing happens after F3 swoops in to save Jan-di in another martial arts rescue. They have fun in Macau, Ji-hoo looks at Jan-di a little too much. They try on some dope masks, and Jun-pyo is all business.
E: Yeah, the last part is mostly montage. Fun montage! I’m glad they decided to have F3 follow her, because I was really afraid it was going to end on her being cornered by gang members.
M: Storylines with solo Jan-di are hard to watch.
E: She’s very relatable.
M: Washing her shirt in the automated sink was, as you said, a big mood.
E: But because she’s so relatable it can make things by herself sometimes veer either into cringe comedy or just the weird thing they do with the overly creepy guys stalking her or whatever. That part is less relatable, I suppose.
M: She’s much better even with someone evil like Haje around. She becomes much savvier in anyone else’s presence.
E: I mean, fair. Right? I always feel more comfortable especially somewhere unfamiliar when I’m with somebody.
M: True, It’s especially striking in this case, because the other person doesn’t have to do anything or even be on her side. She just instantly gets twice as smart when she’s not alone.
I want a Yi-jung x Jan-di BrOTP arc
E: Well, romantic predictions?
M: This is a bleak Romance Tracker. I think it’s clear we’re getting back on the Ji-hoo wagon.
E: See, I don’t think she’s going to start crushing on Ji-hoo again. I think that Ji-hoo will have to more directly deal with his own crush on her and that Jun-pyo will interpret them walking around together in a bad way, but Jan-di seems very focused on Jun-pyo.
M: I dunno, we’ll see after Jun-pyo breaks her heart next episode, as foreshadowed.
E: She hasn’t expressed interest in Ji-hoo since that part of the show ended. It’s honestly been a hot minute…I think.
M: I just think she’s going to be sad and lean on him way too much.
E: Sure, that’s fine, that’s not what I said.
M: I know, I know. Part of me wonders whether they’re going to concoct some kind of fake relationship plan. The only way to get Jun-pyo to do anything is to inspire a jealous rage.
E: Yeah, just doesn’t feel like a Jan-di move to me. She’s way too direct for stuff like that.
M: I’m just worried. There’s a lot of show left and I can’t take five episodes of her sad pining, but I really can’t take five episode of another go-round with Ji-hoo.
E: In the next on, Jun-pyo was wearing white and Ji-hoo was wearing canary yellow, so clearly something is going wrong.
M: I’m just so angry.
Distantly, you can hear Madelyn’s screams
E: I don’t really have a non-romantic prediction. I’m hoping we find out even more about resident mystery Woo-bin. *pause* I remembered, he also has police ties. He’s a mob boss and a police chief.
M: I think it’s likely that his family’s business has Triad ties.
E: Damn.
M: We’ll probably stay in Macau for next episode, but I can’t imagine much past that. Jan-di still has school and F4 theoretically has jobs, right?
E: School, pfft. Like anyone goes to school on this show. But Shinhwa is a global company as Jan-di said in this episode, so it’s possible he’ll either head back to Korea or elsewhere after next episode.
M: That’s my theory. It seems like he was closing a pretty big deal in this episode. I bet everyone heads back to Korea after the next one. Long term, we go to Paris for the penultimate episode.
E: I keep waiting for model lady to come back.
M: She’ll be back. Actually, where the F4 is Jun-pyo’s sister? We need her.
My Hero Academia S2E14: Bizarre! Gran Torino Appears
E: Breaking news, Madelyn called this a satisfying episode.
M: We saw some real progress from Deku and we got some funny check-ins with everyone else! This is what I want.
E: Good to know.
M: And there’s no romance plot to hurt me every week.
E: Yup. Just Deku smashing his face against a wall literally and figuratively.
M: That is what it feels like to watch these shows sometimes.
E: I did appreciate- not the right word I think but whatever- how when people passing by thought there was some kind of garbage villain throwing himself against a wall, they didn’t call anyone like the police, they just ran away. Leaving that garbage to be villained.
M: I identify as a garbage villain, so that was hurtful. Lots of hurt on Split Screen this week.
E: But anyway, the meat of this episode is Deku starting his training with the eccentric and speedy old man Gran Torino.
M: Gran Torino, what a rascal.
E: He’s who you will grow up to be.
M: What is that supposed to mean?
E: What it sounds like.
This is how Madelyn tutors, as far as I know
M: You will not catch me face down in ketchup and sausages.
E: For a good jape? Heck yeah I would. Plus with the way you eat. So messy.
M: I don’t get this! I saw you making fun of how I eat in last week’s Split Screen and I was genuinely worried. I eat in front of work colleagues! I don’t think I’m that messy of an eater!
E: You’re fine. You’re a little bad with crumbs, I would say, but not overall bad.
M: The picture you posted was like, I don’t even remember wh,o with his mouth wide open dropping food everywhere.
E: I was just being mean, okay, it’s okay.
M: I guess I can continue. Gran Torino worked that curmudgeonly weird old man schtick until Deku had some of his trademark breakthroughs. He’s totally right though. Deku needs to forget about All-Might for awhile.
E: He’s spent his whole childhood even before gaining his power wanting to be exactly like All-Might, so it’s limited his perspective about what he can do with this power.
M: You’re right, but also what happened to the Deku who worked out for hours every single day and got kinda genuinely buff?
E: He’s still genuinely buff. This has to do with mindset, Madelyn. Like, he’s just not used to having a quirk.
M: I get the whole shifting mindset thing. It was surprising to me that he hasn’t been practicing other things more diligently. When he said, “I have to get back to how hard I was working at the beach,” I was surprised he ever stopped.
Exactly, Deku just get ready, what a wise teacher
E: He has less time. When he was working at the beach, he was on break. Once he gets into school, he has all the normal homework and all the hero training and the sports festival and the villain attack, you know? He’s thinking about this internship as a break like that where he can literally dedicate all his time and energy to improving himself.
M: I have not yet seen him in regular class, so I will not believe he has math homework until I see it.
E: We saw Present Mic teaching English.
M: Yeah, okay. It’s all Rocks for Jocks level stuff.
E: Still has to hover his butt above his chair for that seven hours a day or whatever.
M: If you’re not working every minute you’re awake, you’re doing it wrong.
E: That’s why he hovers, not parks.
M: Word. That could be a t-shirt.
E: But finally, he comes to the realization that he can channel his power and spread it out through his whole body as opposed to just shoving it in his finger.
M: Thanks to some poorly microwaved taiyaki.
WHAT IS THIS FISH
E: Apparently Deku was just a child who like shoved eggs in a microwave to see what would happen.
M: It could be worse. It could be Peeps.
E: Yes, I just microwave it and then my body liquifies and becomes a gushy mess, yes, that’s how! Explode myself!
M: It just occurred to me: why does everyone call All-Might, All-Might? Why don’t the other pro heroes call him Toshinori?
E: Professional courtesy? They go by their hero names too.
M: No one calls Eraser Head Eraser Head.
E: Pretty sure people have. Like Present Mic during the sports festival.
M: Present Mic literally came up with the name, so that doesn’t count.
E: I don’t really remember anyone specifically calling Aizawa anything, so that example also doesn’t count.
M: How do I know his name then?
E: He introduced himself??????
M: Exactly. It struck me as interesting that he seems to have kept his real identity very separate.
E: Fair, but again, seems to be true for most heroes who aren’t teachers primarily.
M: Question: if heroes are basically just super fit bureaucrats, do they even try to keep their alter egos secret?
Shout out to Mr. Sport in the background, that’s his real name
E: Probably depends on the hero.
M: I’m interested in seeing this explored. I thought it was neat to get a little more insight into how being a hero actually works this episode from the intern check-ins.
E: For All-Might, probably the more he can cover the fact that he developed a late quirk, the better.
M: That’s another thing. What did All-Might look like before he ruined himself in battle?
E: Probably something in between Buff-Might and Skeleton-Might, if I had to venture a guess.
M: I figure next week we’ll probably move away from Deku for a bit. He took a pretty big step forward.
E: Maybe wait for the episode title before making such predictions.
M: Oh no.
E: We did also check in with a few other internships and with the League of Villains briefly.
M: All of the other internships are going more like internships. Like Axel and Saix, sorry, Ienzo? Xemnas?
E: None of them works!
M: Okay, fine. Axel and Colossus were berated for lack of professionalism. Bakugo needs better manners. Uraraka is actually having a decent shadow sesh. Mineta is doing menial labor.
E: Momo is a pretty face.
M: Poor Momo.
E: She was so fired up about it too, and then Medusa hero or whatever her actual name is just had to burst her bubble.
M: Misty is probably going to be a better model, too.
Although maybe they should have done more research on this
E: Yeah. Todoroki also mysteriously decided to take his internship with his father’s agency.
M: This makes no sense. He had thousands of offers.
E: I guess it could be either he wants to work through his issues with his dad as well as his mom or he just wants to murder his father while his guard is down.
M: I would buy the first reason except that he fed Endeavor the exact same line about not wanting to do anything you tell me, DAD.
E: Did he? In this episode?
M: Didn’t he?
E: I thought he just asked what they were doing?
M: Maybe I hallucinated. He still had the same attitude, even if he didn’t literally say it.
E: Iida, meanwhile, is looking for Stain who is disapproving of the League of Villains.
M: Well duh. The League of Villains sucks.
E: They seem to think that Stain will bring some sort of purpose or drive to Shigaraki, but it currently just looks like Stain is going to chop up Shigaraki into tiny pieces.
M: An internship experience of its own.
Just because you’re both villains doesn’t mean you’re friend-villains
E: Lawsuit Watch?
M: Some of the internships are pretty bad. Momo and Misty should not be forced to model.
E: I don’t know if they’re being forced to model, but they were certainly picked because of how they looked, which feels like a thing that I should know a word for, but still that’s bad.
M: Well, calling them “very cute girls” to their faces is sexual harassment.
E: Can’t really think of anything else for My Hero Academia. Most of them had reasonable normal internship things.
M: Depends on the kind of work Mineta is doing, but yeah.
E: Cleaning.
M: Mt. Lady doesn’t seem like the most professional—
E: CLEANING.
M: Okay, okay! There’s not much on the Boys Over Flowers side. Jan-di got into some bad criminal situations.
E: Just criminal charges rather than lawsuits. Which isn’t better.
M: I suppose there could be a medical malpractice suit because obviously she can swim.
E: That’s such a stupid diagnosis. Like that’s not how injuries work.
M: It can be.
E: Only if you’ve lost way more use of your arm than that.
M: She should be able to do breast stroke at least. Ah well.
E: I mean, like, sure, she can’t swim competitively, but it’s not you can never swim agaaaaiinnn. Like that’s, like, Deku arm problems.
Why does he have lightning now? Cause it’s cool, that’s why
M: Look, the actress was tired of it, okay?
E: Okay, ready for the episode title now?
M: It’s going to be like, “The Deku Show!”
E: It’s a decent title this time, might give you something to work with, and I’m not even being sarcastic. It’s called “Midoriya and Shigaraki.”
M: Man, Shigaraki was so psyched to do the preview.
E: I showed Madelyn the new ED and we caught a real short bit of the preview and Shigaraki has been waiting by his phone.
M: Speaking of the end credits, this one was weird. Cute, but like, why do they do these bizarre end credit things? I liked the new intro. It’s a little more high stakes than stretching, which I dig.
E: Fair, like, they’re all pretty good. This is probably my least favorite of all the MHA openings.
Bakugo rides a dragon, what else do you need
M: Time for some predictions. Number one: we discover that the seventh holder of One For All was All-Might’s wife, or maybe his mom. Tt could go either way, but regardless,she died tragically over-using her powers.
E:
M: Maybe that’s how he ruined himself. Trying to save her.
E: 
M: Prediction two: Shigaraki doesn’t get turned into sashimi. Instead, he rants about how he used to love All-Might until he started dating his mom, who died.
E: 
M: That’s a joke. He will explain the hatred though.
E: 
M: Prediction three: I really thought we were going to see more of everyone else’s internships, but I guess not.. Stain is gonna do some sick martial arts, Boys Over Flowers style.
E: 
M: This episode title is screwing me up.
E: Why?
M: It limited my predictions.
E: What do you mean? Isn’t it more open than usual?
M: It has to be about Deku and Shigaraki though.
E: Sure, but it doesn’t have to be about Todoroki vs. Bakugo or something.
M: Yeah, but during the sports tournament there was always stuff going on on the sidelines. Everyone was there.
E: You don’t know, maybe we’ll still check in elsewhere.
M: Okay, prediction four: All-Might drops by and Deku is like, “I’m not here.”
E: *hysterical laughter*
M: I didn’t even mean that to be deep. It just came out.
E: 
As in ghosting. Some savage, savage ghosting
M: As in Emma is dead.
E: I died as I lived. Emoji-ing.
M: Oh man, I almost said “I’m sick” but then I was like nah, this is kinda more funny, not even thinking.
E: I hate it, I hate it so much.
M: Okay fine, prediction five: we learn more about why Gran Torino doesn’t exist on the internet.
E: 
–
Hey, Emma here! Thanks so much for tuning in to Split Screen once again and listening to us rant about these bat-crazy shows. We’re watching Boys Over Flowers on Netflix and the My Hero Academia dub on Hulu if you want to catch up with us.
Next time! Everything’s all topsy-turvey on Boys Over Flowers and we hate it, take it away, stop. Meanwhile, on My Hero Academia, some light chaos begins.