Split Screen: Shock Absorbtion

Thanks for tuning in, Split Screen fans! Only three more editions until we reach the end of our Boys Over Flowers journey, but My Hero Academia is competing hard for the title of most dramatic! We’ve got some shocking developments coming your way for both shows, so get your absorption quirks and supportive subordinates ready, and let’s see what’s in store!

(New Split Screen reader? You can catch up on the whole series here!)

Boys Over Flowers Episode 24 (up to minute 32)

M: You were completely right about coma dad!

E: It was not a very challenging leap to make, but I’ll take the praise.

M: I was waiting for an even bigger twist. 

E: Like what, for instance?

M: Like he was unnie’s poor boyfriend or Ji-hoo’s dad or someone else completely unrelated. 

E: Those would have been unexpected, but I don’t think they would have added much to the narrative or pushed forward the plot any.

M: Not telling anyone is definitely on the upper half of understandable things Mama Gu has done on this series. 

E: I guess it’s understandable but it’s also in the upper half of terrible things Mama Gu has done on this series.

M: How is she going to explain it to the stockholders when he wakes up next episode?

E: I’m surprised she didn’t devise a plan to just kill him if she was this convinced that he’d never wake up anyway.

M: Because deep down, she still feels love for her husband!

E: I mean, I guess so. They did conspire on that emotional blackmail video. So clearly they were in love.

M: Very in sync, at least.

E: Understandably, finding out their dad is still alive has messed up Jun-pyo and unnie, to put it mildly.

That’s the correct face for this situation

M: Jun-pyo calling her Chairwoman Kang was ice cold. 

E: Yeah, although I did feel a keen sense of satisfaction from it. 

M: It was one-hundred percent deserved. A solid growing-up moment for Jun-pyo

E: Even if it was not a solid growing up moment to initially decide not to go see Jan-di. And then to subsequently hide in his car.

M: It set up a classic Jun-pyo in the car moment!

E: You gotta put that in quotes. “A Jun-pyo in the Car” moment.

M: To be fair, I would also decline to carpool with my sort-of-ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, who’s also kind of a weird dude, if I was planning to go confront her about fake breaking up with me. 

E: Ji-hoo is suffering from hallucinations currently, so you’re right, not a safe driver. Especially since he used to be afraid of cars.

M: It’s amazing how that deep fear just evaporated. 

E: Well, it’s probably gonna come back now that Jun-pyo has been run over.

M: I did not see that coming. 

Can YOU spot the Jun-pyo in this picture?

E: I’m not sure how I feel about deus-ex-mad-at-Shinhwa man. He really just came out of nowhere to hit Jun-pyo with a car. Actually, he was trying to hit Ji-hoo thinking he was Jun-pyo, which also makes me skeptical about how much this guy could hate Shinhwa considering he knows nothing about it.

M: He’s bankrupt and he lives in a fishing village that seems to have little to no connection to the outside world. I can give that a pass. All rich guys look the same. 

E: I guess it was an impulse thing more than anything brought on by assuming Ji-hoo was from Shinhwa. So now that I think about it, it’s a little better.

M: If Jun-pyo straightened and dyed his hair, he might look a little like Ji-hoo, but only because Ji-hoo’s hair is weird.

E: But anyway, yes, Jun-pyo has been hit by a car. 

M: It would have been bold of them to actually kill him. 

E: You know, for once, there was more child endangerment in Boys Over Flowers than My Hero Academia.

M: All Might leveled about a quarter of a city, so we’ll hold off on the Lawsuit Watch verdict. 

E: Eh, it was already leveled. We sort of skipped past the Ji-hoo and Jan-di stuff, by the way, probably because we’d rather it be skipped over. But we should probably mention it. 

I mean, how could we skip this shot? THIS SHOT? The crowning jewel of the cameraman’s career????

M: Thank goodness she rejected his ring. I was afraid she was going to take it as a friendship totem or something. At least Jan-di has the good sense to notice that he’s trying to propose this time. 

E: I was a little afraid one of them was going to chuck it into the ocean.

M: Or drop it through the pier by mistake. 

E: Jan-di is pretty careless with jewelry. This is an established character trait.

M: Honestly, it’s her defining character trait.

E: I was more surprised that she hadn’t accidentally lost the necklace than I was that she still had it on.

M: I guess she’s grown!

E: This is what we call character growth.

M: Remember when Jun-pyo and the ghost of Woo-bin were in the sauna? Let’s forget that. 

E: Why was it necessary for that scene to take place in a sauna? Like, was it metaphorical for being open with each other? Or something? Just trying to get the logic.

M: Woo-bin’s gang probably owns a ring of spa retreats.

E: I mean, yeah, seems legit. Or not legit, I guess.

Just Bro Things ™

M: We ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. What do you think Jan-di is going to say to the Chairwoman?

E: I hope she also tells her that she isn’t her mom.

M: She just comes up and says “you were never a mother to me” and walks away?

E: Yeah, that’s what I want.

M: She’s going to say “actually, you should make me head of the Shinhwa group. Here are my real estate plans,” and the two will finally respect each other. 

E: Oh man, now that would be a twist, if Jan-di somehow ended up as the leader of the Shinhwa group. Jun-pyo just stays at home, the trophy husband, spening his days trying to get better at pool and crane machines.

M: Romance Tracker?

E: This isn’t romance tracker, but Jun-pyo and Jun-pyo dad are going to wake up at the exact same time.

M: It’s a Freaky Friday situation!

E: The last episode is just a weird remake of Freaky Friday.

M: Nobody questions it. 

E: Mama Gu learns her lesson that she shouldn’t pretend people are dead when they are not dead. And then there is a concert where Lindsey Lohan plays that song. 

M: YOU’RE IT! YOU’RE THE ULTIMATE!!!

E: Yup, that one. 

M: There has to be one more big dramatic event. This car crash has weirdly sidelined Jun-pyo, so I’m not sure where we go from here. I guess the easy answer is dad waking up, but that feels pre-ordained at this point. I want more. 

E: Oh and Yi-jung and Ga-eul have to come to some sort of conclusion too. They were in this half episode. 

M: He was about to confess his love, and she was like “I’m done.” 

E: Ga-eul is a queen. 

M: Can Ga-eul end up as the Queen of Shinhwa?

E: Yes. In your fanfiction. 

Where’s my Ga-eul spinoff?

M: This space is already reserved for my Endeavor redemption fic. I can’t include Ga-eul in that!

E: It’s a crossover fic. 

M: Do you think any of those exist?

E: I’m sure Editor Emma has looked into it and linked it here if it does.  (Hi, it’s Madelyn, I found one: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19197658?view_full_work=true . Chapter Three introduces Sero, Kaminari, Todoroki, and Bakugo as F4. Guess who’s who? ALSO I think this is a current/recent fic so you can tell me if you’re the one writing it :P) (Hi it’s Editor Emma, I am both horrified and impressed, the Internet is amazing.)

M: No shame if you quit our blog right here to just enjoy that, if it exists. 

E: Honestly, shame on you if you don’t quit our blog and go look at it. 

M: We’ll be waiting. 

My Hero Academia S3E11: “One for All”

E: So, what’d you think about the episode?

M: I’m disappointed but also pleased that Nana is a grandma. 

E: Well, Shigaraki is definitely not as old as All-Might, right? So it wouldn’t make much sense for him to be her son. 

M: It’s unclear how old All Might is. Nana looked pretty young. You’re saying she couldn’t be a pro hero and then become a mom?

E: Hmmm, I don’t know. I think she probably looked young just because that’s how All-Might remembers her. Especially since he was thinking about his first meeting with her. 

M: Even One for All can’t have it all. 

E: Anyway, this episode was all about the big fight. 

M: Cannot believe we saw an arm that was worse than Deku’s mauve Sports Festival limbs. 

E: His arm did indeed also go dark purple there for a second though.

M: I was not talking about All Might’s disfigured arm, although that was a nice touch. I was talking about All for One’s…I don’t even know what to call that. 

E: When he put all his Quirks into his one arm you mean? Yeah, that was pretty gross. 

You should probably see a doctor about that

M: I did seriously consider the possibility that All Might was going to die. 

E: He missed his chance to do so, according to All for One. Well, actually, in some ways, All Might did die, right? It’s just Toshinori left.

M: Eh, everyone said that he’s still their symbol of peace even if he looks different. So I don’t think that’s one hundred percent fair to say. 

E: But he can’t work anymore. He’s entirely used up what was left of One for All that he still had. 

M: Wow, haven’t we learned by now that you don’t need a quirk to be a hero?

E: Have we? I thought we just learned you need to find someone with an inheritable quirk and then you can become a hero.

M: Maybe there’s another quirk out there that someone can give to All Might. But also, isn’t he still super strong? Doesn’t he train or anything? Surely he could still beat up Aizawa, if called upon. 

E: Maybe he could beat up Aizawa, but I don’t think he’s super strong anymore without the help of his Quirk considering he doesn’t have a stomach or like half his lungs. 

M: How is he alive? Have we addressed that?

E: People can live with that. You just don’t eat, you like get all your sustenance through fluids. 

M: Follow-up question: why don’t we see All-Might taking twice-hourly bathroom breaks?

E: Cause I don’t want to.

M: Is that the real reason he could only hold the form for a few hours these days? Can he urinate as All-Might? These are the questions we want answered. 

E: Even as this episode was a big celebration of All Might and what he stands for, I think it’s interesting how it’s already pointing out the flaws in that approach. Like, while his Symbol of Peace status inspires fear in villains, it also inspires jealousy and comparisons to others. Like, even as everyone is cheering on All Might, they’re saying like, “he’s different from the rest of them heroes.” Right? So where do they go now? What happens when the pillar of society finally crumbles?

Ha ha ha, just keep smiling!!!! Everything is fine!!!

M: Yeah, it was a little weird when all the other heroes swooped in and announced “I’ll grab one person, good luck All-Might! You have to do this yourself, even though you look like you’re about to die!”

E: They all have this really deep faith in him while is admirable, but also kind of speaks to how this is a society where a lot of people feel like they don’t have to do anything themselves.

M: It surprised me that even Endeavor didn’t try to seize this opportunity to advance. 

E: I mean, Endeavor and Edgeshot were fighting All for One until he blew them away. 

M: Fair enough. But he couldn’t blast his way back?

E: It wasn’t like it was a particularly long fight after that. Although it’s good the cameras didn’t seem to have sound so that the world doesn’t know who Deku is still. 

M: It’s unclear whether All for One even told Shigaraki. But I guess he’s a smart kid, he’s probably figured it out on his own. 

E: Either way, he still doesn’t like Deku very much, so it puts them in confrontation whether or not Shigaraki knows.

M: I can’t wait for the kiddos to change out of these clothes. Deku’s necklace is driving me nuts. 

E: Madelyn’s very picky about fashion.

“What the hell is he wearing?” -Bakugo, probably

M: It’s what Best Jeanist would want. 

E: Is Best Jeanist dead? The world may never know.

M: He’s just been thrifted. 

E: That’s probably how he would inform somebody of a death. “Your dog….has been sent to the thrift store.”

M: As much as I enjoyed everyone watching the fight on TV, it was surprising to me that all of Yokohama wasn’t being evacuated. 

E: Again, it wasn’t a super long fight. It takes a while to evacuate a city. I assume. It’s like a sudden natural disaster.

M: Remember how they always say that All-Might has never failed to rescue someone? What about all those people in all those decimated homes? Do they count?

E: Well, he did protect that one woman crawling out of the decimated building.

M: Yes, you’re right, that is everyone.

E: And there were rescue efforts going on after the fight was over.

M: Speaking of the fight being over, I know there were cameras, and it wouldn’t have looked very heroic on the evening news, but man, All Might should have thrown one last lil’ smash to be sure. 

E: Yeah, but that’s not very All MIght like.

M: Tell that to the pundits once All for One escapes. 

If this punch didn’t take him out, he earned his chance to live imo

E: Plus, he’s probably a pretty valuable source of information, considering all the other villains got away.

M: We’re probably going to discover that Tsukauchi has some kind of incredibly powerful untapped quirk that All for One is going to steal to escape. 

E: What is his quirk? I don’t think we’ve learned it.

M: I assumed he was quirkless, since he’s a cop. 

E: There’s a cat cop, he has a quirk.

M: Does he?

E: Yeah, it’s being a cat.

M: We’re sure that’s not just a trained cat? Same question for the head of police. 

E: Stop being racist like Todoroki.

M: It’s not his fault, he grew up around that kind of language. 

E: Speaking of which, lawsuit watch?

M: I know this time we have attempted vehicular murder, not to mention a mob attack on Jan-di’s house–

E: Don’t forget falsification of death.

M: Yeah, there’s probably a whole stack of white-collar crimes. The investors deserve to know. 

E: So, I feel like it goes to Boys Over Flowers. 

M: You’re just saying that because you want to even the score. All Might destroyed, as I said earlier, a whole district. 

wtf guys calm down

E: They probably have laws set up about that though considering how many heroes there are and their daily fights. 

M: I think those people are probably entitled to some restitution. 

E: I’m just saying, I wonder if there’s a tax fund already set up?

M: How loaded is All Might personally? 

E: I mean, he probably gets merch royalties galore, so probably pretty loaded.

M: Plus he gets paid for every job, right?

E: I don’t know, is it a salaried position or is it an hourly rate or is it a gig based thing?

M: When someone described it to the interns, it sounded gig-y. They fill out paperwork afterwards about the job to get paid.

E: But does the state pay them or is it a privately-owned organization?

M: They’re cool-looking civil servants, right?

E: So yeah, of course there would be some sort of public fund to cover disasters caused by heroes.

M: Yeah, but has All Might already maxed out the hero budget for the year just on his morning commute jobs?

E: I mean, maybe. 

M: And hasn’t that money already gone to all the UA families, after all of this year’s horrors?

E: I bet UA has a separate fund. Probably has donors.

M: Dang, that’s the truth. 

E: Are you ready for next week’s episode title?

M: All for One and One for All!

E: Season 3, Episode 12 is called “End of the Beginning, Beginning of the End”

M: You know what, I was kinda close. 

E: We’ve hit a real turning point in the story and the episode title wants to make sure you know that.

M: Okay, bold prediction one: we do a five year time skip. Deku is the Symbol of Peace. Shigaraki has been gone for years…but then he shows up at All Might’s funeral to cause mischief. Endeavor runs a senior dog sanctuary. 

E:

M: Wow, I was inspired by Fire Emblem, and this is what I get?

E: I knew it was inspired by Fire Emblem, as soon as you said “five year time skip,” I wanted to cry.

M: Prediction two: I was worried about a big villain attack on the crowd, but I think that would be too much. So, how about All-Might accidentally lets it slip that the kids were at the scene and they get a big lecture from Nezu. Complete with Powerpoint. 

E:

M: Is the rat All Might or Nezu?

E: It has multiple meanings.

M: That’s deep. Prediction three: Deku cries like three more times when he finally gets to see All Might. All Might tells him that he needs to get his tear-ducts removed in order to become the Symbol of Peace. 

E:

M: Just kidding, Deku is representing a new kind of man, one who’s in touch with his emotions. 

E:

M: Prediction four: How do they go back to school after this? They get back and it’s like “first day of classes! We’re gonna cut half of you, LOL.” and all the kids band together to make Aizawa feel bad for trying to pull that crap again. 

E:

M: Prediction five: we’re going to finally learn how Nana died, and we’ll get some insight into Shigaraki’s next move. 

E:

Hey Emma here! As always, thanks so much for following along on Split Screen! We’re actively looking for suggestions on what to replace Boys Over Flowers with, so give us your ideas. My Hero Academia’s going to be here for a while longer.

Next time! Parents are just as irresponsible as their kids on My Hero Academia and Boys Over Flowers has a new wrench to throw in the works, why do you do this to us BOF? Why?

 

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