Split Screen: You’re All Fired (Up)

Thanks for tuning in, Split Screen readers. Your intro blogger Madelyn here, writing from the very appropriate venue of a coffee shop (future Madelyn here, reminding you that this was written before NYC shut down everything!)! This week, Deku and Bakugo have a heart-to-heart ten years in the making, and the employees of Coffee Prince smooch and bicker, but who cares, because Sweeper returns! 

(New to Split Screen? You can read the full archive, including our watch of Boys Over Flowers, here!)

Coffee Prince: Fourth Cup (up to minute 29)

M: Alas, no tiramisu was made.

E: There’s still time. They’ve got fourteen bags. 

M: I’m glad they decided to use the extra beans as samples, although still pessimistic about the success of those samples. 

E: He was trying to give them to a particular food group in the area, but I’m not sure they said why he was doing that.

M: I assumed that it was connected with Han-gyul’s family somehow. 

E: Yeah, I guess we don’t really know the specifics of the family business, other than it has to do with coffee.

M: The grandma seems like she’s a wholesaler, possibly? She said she sells the beans. 

E: I know that word.

M: She’s a coffee supplier. 

E: Yes, yes, the coffee supplier. That’s what I was going to say.

M: I am excited that the full team of dudes seems to have been assembled now. 

E: They are one chaotic team of dudes.

M: Sun-gi, the Japanese waffle chef, really rounds out the crew. 

E: He is just there to make faces and comments under his breath in a language that no one else can understand.

M: People speaking different languages is an experience that never really translates when I’m already reading subtitles. 

E: Yeah, Korean subtitles suddenly appeared under the English subtitles, that was the tip-off.

M: And…Min-yu? Min-something, the dumb boyfriend, was very confused by it. A little extra tip-off. Eun-chan seems like she speaks Japanese though. She said she understood. 

E: I mean, I’d believe it. I feel like if you have a lot of odd jobs you probably pick up at least a little bit of the more common foreign languages.

M: Well, in the words of Min-something: why do all these boys look like girls?

E: They don’t really? Like waffle boy is very pretty, and Min already knows that Eun-chan is a girl (EDITOR EMMA: this is not correct. I don’t know why I thought he did), but that’s really it. Han-gyul and Ha-rim look pretty boyish.

M: I think it’s about skincare. Min is the kind of guy who has never washed his face. 

E: I think that’s the best way to sum up this character. It really paints a specific picture.

M: To be fair, I also refuse to wash my face, but that’s because I have a very delicate equilibrium of perfect skin. 

E: You make a conscious choice not to wash your face. The very concept of washing his face has just never occurred to Min.

M: “Lotion? What’s that?” Sugar scrub is going to blow his mind one day. 

E: Eun-chan’s sister, his “angel,” is very into face masks, so that would probably score him some points.

M: I’m clearly far more invested in the relationship between Min and Eun-chan’s sister, neither of whose names I could confidently state, than I am in the relationship between Han-sung and Yoo-joo. I’m very into their skincare routines, apparently. 

E: You joke, but I am kind of more invested in that relationship? Hang-sung and Yoo-joo just aren’t working for me.

M: Han-sung probably washes his face with bar soap. Or like, Dial. Or dish soap. 

E: Listen, he’s spending all the good money on grooming his dog. 

M: I can’t fault him for that. 

E: I commented on this while we were watching the episode, but I just don’t understand the purpose of Han-sung and Yoo-joo’s relationship. Like…where is it going? What is it trying to say? How does it fit into the main plot? I dunno! None of these questions have answers!

M: I think it’s setting up some light romantic tension between Han-gyul and Yoo-joo and between Han-sung and Eun-chan. A tiny roadblock into people just getting together.

E: Sure, I understand their function as separate characters. I just don’t fully understand the function of their relationship right now.

M: Being in a relationship makes all Yoo-joo’s time with Han-gyul FORBIDDEN. 

E: Then, why start with them so dramatically estranged? I guess it promotes distrust? But I feel like you could do that anyway.

M: Yeah, that part is pretty baffling to me. 

E: Unless DK is gonna come in and throw his barrels everywhere and ruin Coffee Prince. The store and/or the show.

M: Barrels of coffee beans. “Here’s 200 kilograms!”

E: Man, what else happened this episode? Eun-chan got yelled at more. Han-gyul is not a very good manager. Like, you don’t yell at your employees in front of the rest of your employees.

M: Maybe you do if you’re trying to make an example of them. 

E: Sure, but that’s what makes you not a good manager.

M: Maybe you do if the employee in question is your sort-of boyfriend. Just to prove you aren’t playing favorites. 

E: Han-gyul is becoming very confused. 

M: He’s grappling with some feelings.

E: Everybody likes Eun-chan now, and he feels un-special. 

M: I can’t believe he felt threatened by that kiss from Min. After the dude kissed Sun-gi’s toe!

E: Yes, Min was clearly just very drunk from his sake– with beans? I feel like I need to look this up. Note to Editor Emma. (EDITOR EMMA: *shrugs* Googling “drink with beans in it korean” was not very productive)

M: Was it sake or shoju?

E: His unspecified alcohol with beans.

M: Well, when you find out what that was, be sure to spill the beans. (EDITOR EMMA: *big shrug*)

E: Ayyy.

M: Otherwise, everyone is setting up for the big opening! Feels like this cannot go well. 

E: Wait, we did forget the big bi energy scene.

M: Yoo-joo had the hots for her principal! Plus, she got in trouble for wanting to see a flasher or something? That story was very odd. 

E: I think she was one: trying to make Eun-chan laugh, and two: telling a story where she felt called out in front of everyone in order to relate. But Eun-chan did sort of… “out” herself in this scene for lack of a better word. By telling the truth with some context missing.

M: I took away from it that Yoo-joo was like “uh, I thought you were fake gay, but I guess not.”

E: Does Yoo-joo know about the dates? I don’t think so. But I meant that she referred to her art teacher as a man even after Yoo-joo had initially referred to them as a woman. Because I assume it really was a man, but since Yoo-joo thinks Eun-chan is a man, then she comes to the conclusion that Eun-chan is a gay man not a straight woman. Whoa okay. Let’s call them Mr. A and Miss B so we don’t get confused.

M: It was Mister Gu and Miss Na, I think. I was too distracted by Sweeper 

E: Well, now I am doubly confused.

M: How many people do you think will come to the opening?

E: Five. They’re all waffle man’s super fans.

M: Nah, Eun-chan’s mom and sister will come. That’s seven. 

E: Will Eun-chan’s mom be able to hold in the truth? Or will she say something careless?

M: I think it’s more likely she’ll just wink the whole time. 

E: That seems good.

M: In other news, Eun-chan has a dad!

E: Apparently! Oh no, actually, we already saw that flashback with the records during the sleepover where Han-gyul peed in front of her.

M: Oh right, her dead record dad. My bad. 

E: Yeah, I’m like 90% sure he’s dead.

M: Not much to report on in Romance Tracker except the big homosexual energy from everyone on this show. I was not expecting Coffee Prince to be this gay. 

E: I mean, just from last episode, we already knew that Ha-rim has a crush of some sort on Eun-chan. 

M: Yeah, but the drunken kiss from Min and the principal story from Yoo-joo and the blatant jealousy already in episode four from Han-gyul…it’s overflowing! I was expecting the cross-dressing to be one big joke, but this show is ready to hook everybody up. 

E: I’m glad! I feel like, with any crossdressing plot, there’s a lot of room left to be disparaging about homosexuality in general, and I do think a good way to remedy that is to just make the rest of the show as gay as possible.

M: I will say that the character of Ha-rim right now is pushing stereotype, so I’m excited to see him get some more development. 

E: Sure yeah, I do agree with that. But this is a pretty old show as things go. So I’m not totally surprised he’s a little stereotypical. Even if you can wish for better.

M: Well, bring on another steaming hot cup of Coffee Prince. Let’s get some more window drawing fun next time. 

E: They were having so much fun!

My Hero Academia S3E23: “Deku vs Kacchan, Part 2”

M: A lot of my predictions, even if they didn’t strictly come true, were at least referenced this time!

E: The title for this week’s episode was a bit of a gimme.

M: Yeah, but I barely talked about them fighting. Predicting that Aizawa would stop the fight? Pretty spot on. Predicting it would be mostly voiceover? I’m a genius. 

E: All Might said no to your Aizawa prediction.

M: But the fact that All Might had to thwart me? Pretty cool. 

E: Anyway, remember how Bakugo did so poorly on rescue exercises? Gee, wonder if it had anything to do with his own pent-up feelings about being rescued.

M: Yikes, that is more psychological than I was prepared for. 

E: I remember when I watched this episode the first time, I was really taken off guard by this admission of him feeling guilt about what happened to All Might. But once you look back at it, it’s like “oh, well duh.” Which I appreciated as good storytelling. I really noticed some things on this rewatch that I didn’t the first time around.

M: I am excited to rewatch this arc with Clickbait Boyfriend, because I can’t remember seeing much guilt from Bakugo in the last six episodes. It’s definitely possible it was there and I missed it though. 

E: One thing that stood out to me this time was him just yelling at the rescue people “you’re not that hurt, just get yourselves out.” Which feels particularly relevant to his own feelings towards himself.

M: I’m excited to rewatch with context. 

E: A small localization corner. I actually really like how the dub script has him drop the fact that he thinks he destroyed All Might before the scene shift to where he’s facing the camera. It sort of makes a slower stomach drop that’s pretty effective. The sub just has him do a more traditional, the last line is the admission thing. If that makes sense.

M: It does! Fascinating localization corner, as always. 

E: So give me your thoughts. Because I remember last episode you were very skeptical about this. Which- it’s fine if you still are, by the way.

M: I’m glad that we’re finally transitioning from hatred to rivalry. The whole “they hate each other, but also Deku has a huge hero crush on Bakugo” dynamic was getting pretty old. I still don’t buy into their decade-long enmity, but I’m pleased enough with the outcome of this episode, even if I spent the whole time thinking that UA was under attack, that I’m willing to let go of what I thought was pretty poor groundwork. The Bakugo guilt thing worked. 

E: I felt like the hand was a little darker than I remember it being, because I remember seeing the bandages on it and being able to pretty much instantly recognize it as All Might. But this time it just looked like a hand. I couldn’t really see the bandages.

M: I did not remember he had a bandaged hand, so a handicap there. 

E: I think it’s left over from the United States of Smash thing. But anyway, I didn’t have that problem fortunately, that first time I watched it. I was just wondering what All Might was doing.

M: I’m glad it was All Might. Another attack on the school with one episode to go would have been lame. Still think it’s probably going to happen, but it will be lame. 

E: I cannot comment on future events. 

M: Don’t I know it. 

E: But anyway, I don’t have as much trouble with the groundwork as you. Deku has a very… let’s say it’s a pretty fixational personality. So I can pretty easily see him following Bakugo around, even as Bakugo (in his violent Bakugo way) tells him to leave him alone. I mean, as he says, Bakugo was the most impressive person close to him. And Deku loves to study impressive people, while Bakugo just took it as a negative thing because he assumes any attempt at genuine friendship is a personal attack. Years of that would create a pretty weird relationship.

But either way, I was really happy with the culmination of this as a whole. And, particularly, I really like the end credits scene because it really establishes the difference in the way they talk to each other now.

M: It’s gonna freak out their whole class. 

E: Well, I mean, it’s not like they’re suddenly best friends who are always gonna get along. But they’re able to have a level conversation. Which is all you can ask for.

M: I’m also upset that their moms never taught them how to vacuum. 

E: See, I was curious like…are those vacuums? They didn’t really make noise?

M: Then why were they using weird swiffers on the carpet? Same question. 

E: Maybe it’s one of Hatsume’s inventions. The Swiffer-vacuum.

M: Aizawa is going to extend their grounding. 

E: Aizawa is clearly a night owl. We already knew this. But he has a lot more energy to yell at kids at night, apparently.

M: It’s because he stays up all night looking at his computer. Aizawa is relatable.

E: Aizawa, the millennial icon.

M: He’s “hanging out with” Joke but they aren’t in a relationship, he stays up all night, random flares of anger at the kids. All checks out. 

E: Puts in juuuusst enough effort at his job.

M: Aizawa being that awake means that My Hero wins Caffeine Watch this week. 

E: I concur.

M: As for Lawsuit Watch, also My Hero. Maybe wrongful termination at Coffee Prince, but that’s a weak case. 

E: What would the lawsuit be exactly on My Hero? From their parents? 

M: Yeah. These kids are out unsupervised. 

E: There was a robot. It caught them pretty fast.

M: Yeah, and it took All Might like twenty minutes to get there! They could have been dead!

E: Listen, he’s just a living skeleton doing his best.

M: They sent a three-quarters dead man to check on the children!

E: That’s a three-quarters dead hero, okay?

M: My mistake. 

E: Anything else for this episode? You want to say anything about arms?

M: I was so distracted this episode. Their arms looked so weird. So sausage-y.

E: You wanna say anything about ballet moves?

M: Deku’s triple pirouette was impressive. 

E: You ready for the next episode title?

M: Heck yeah I am!

E: Season 3 Episode 24 is called “A Season for Encounters”

M: Jesus. Could that be vaguer. 

E: Season 2, Episode 25 was just called “Encounter.” This one tells you that there’s multiple encounters. Over a whole season. Way more specific.

M: Is it summertime now, for them?

E: It’s almost fall. I think. But yes, currently summer.

M: Okay, so prediction one: This is going to be a montage episode. We’ll kinda fast-forward through the next semester, highlighting some important, uh, encounters?

E:

M: Prediction two: something’s going to go down at the opening ceremony. I would say villain invasion, but I feel like we’ve tapped that well one too many times. Something more creative. 

E:

M: Great. That took you a long time. 

E: There wasn’t an easy thing to latch on to there.

M: Prediction three: Nezu gives a terrible commencement speech. Aizawa falls asleep.

E: 

M: Prediction four: Mina tells everyone that Deku and Bakugo hooked up. 

E:

M: Prediction five: The boys start a frat. Upsilon Alpha. 

E:  

–

Thanks for watching along on Split Screen! We’re almost to the current season, just in time for the current season to come to an end. Anybody caught up on Season 4? Boy, did I cry on the most recent episode. I sure did.

Next time! Coffee Prince has its grand opening, and it goes better than we expected. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a share of drama. And, on My Hero Academia, we check in with an unexpected character and Madelyn asks where the kids are the whole time.

*shoves my love for Twice back in its box* It’s okay, I’m not bothered.