Youths Over Flowers: Episode 8

by javabeans

javabeans: We’re back in Laos! You know, that blue-screened intro is funnier now that I saw what it took to get that footage. (Which, by the way, I watched about fifty times over the past week.)

girlfriday: Yes, she turned it into a clip and sent it to me, and we’ve since been very unproductive.

javabeans: And now you can all be unproductive. Hold on a sec while I watch it again.

girlfriday: We have a recap to write! Okay, so we rewind to the moment that Na PD tells the boys at the airport that this time, he won’t be going along on the trip. Boooo. Instead, he’s commissioned Shin Won-ho, PD of the Answer Me series. Cue running hugs from the boys. Aw.

javabeans: That’s so cute. I love that split second after Na PD says he’s not going (dawning horror from boys) to when Shin PD appears (wheeee!). You know what, aside from being a fun reunion with the boys, I wonder if this is yet more evil geniusry from Na PD, because of course the boys are going to show more respect and defer to the PD who directed them to stardom.

girlfriday: I just hope he’s not too nice. We don’t want them just getting whatever they want if they make pouty faces.

javabeans: Something tells me that won’t be a problem. Consider how we resume with the boys in their first day, already hot and tired and with Ho-joon starting to get cranky.

girlfriday: I can’t believe they’re on the verge of fighting halfway through their first day. After a long bus ride, they finally reach Vang Vieng, which the other boys assure Ho-joon is the kind of place he’s been whining all morning to get to. I dunno, right now it looks more like a random country road. Suddenly Baro starts imitating a bird, which launches us into a whole montage of his noises and outbursts of aegyo.

javabeans: He’s just chattering on and on with these nonsense noises, and Ho-joon cracks up because Baro’s so cute. He says just looking at Baro makes him smile automatically.

girlfriday: He’s kind of like an uncontrollable energizer puppy.

javabeans: You know, I was just thinking it’s a really good thing Baro’s a celebrity, because where else would his frequent bouts of uncontained giddiness be an asset and not a liability? He literally just bursts into song or barks or baby talk, and it’s super adorable and also a little tiring just watching. I feel like I understand Ho-joon’s reaction, which is to smile tiredly at him.

girlfriday: Yes, like a father. Also, I know this is just a generational gap, but he is ADDICTED to that selca pole. No matter what he’s doing, he finds some way to film himself. He hardly even needs his own VJ.

javabeans: The boys arrive at the guesthouse and high-five because it was relatively easy to find. This reminds me of the article I just read, where the PD said that Yeon-seok was so good at being the travel guide that they were shocked, and also really dismayed. And I thought, Ha, you’re complaining that the guy whose life you were making difficult made YOUR life difficult by not being so difficult? Psh.

girlfriday: Didn’t Shin PD also complain about Yeon-seok waking up at 6am all the time and making their filming days long? It’s like the actor’s here to work and the PD wants to be on vacation.

javabeans: Yes, and we see why: Yeon-seok woke up at 6:30 am this morning to make reservations, and grabbed the very last one. As they walk in, they’re super pleased with the surroundings and Yeon-seok says that he’s not congratulating himself, honest, but he’s really happy with the choice.

girlfriday: They picked a really cool place, because they get their own bungalow. As soon as they get the room, they head out to eat, and Yeon-seok tells them there are restaurants and bars up ahead. Baro is genuinely confused as to how Yeon-seok knows all this when it’s his first time here too.

javabeans: Yeon-seok says he was reading all day, and Baro’s like, but real life is different from books. Yeon-seok adds that he was using guide books, the internet, and even reading blogs, which is pretty hardcore research when you consider you just dropped him in a foreign country yesterday. Baro: “Hyung, I’m gonna be going to Europe later, want to come with us? We’ll pay you a guide fee.”

girlfriday: As they walk along, Ho-joon passes by one guy piggybacking another, and there’s this hilarious double-take moment, as he watches them and then suddenly runs ahead to jump on Baro’s back. HAHA.

javabeans: Is there a reason they’re playing the theme song from Jealousy?

girlfriday: It’s pretty damn perfect. Perhaps he just can’t stand it if anyone has more bromance than he does.

javabeans: Ho-joon picks a restaurant, and they eat under this cabana and it’s just like the picture of youthful backpacking paradise. I love that the Answer Me cast genuinely seems like friends, and they say that it would’ve been nice to have come with the other hyungs too, though Ho-joon jokes that he and (Kim) Sung-kyun would’ve just stayed in drinking.

girlfriday: LOL, they show us another Answer Me group chat, and Jung Woo uses his own emoticons!!

javabeans: Omg I love that. I have those emoticons!

girlfriday: Seriously, that is the cutest thing ever. I love him even more now.

javabeans: I wonder if he had to buy his own emoticons. LOL.

girlfriday: They say that the Answer Me cast feels especially like a family, and regret that they couldn’t bring everyone on this trip.

javabeans: Returning to their lodgings, they settle down and shower at night, which is when we get this funny bit of Baro checking himself out repeatedly, and then launching into all these push-ups, which he apparently does every day without fail. Man, those are a lot of push-ups. Then Yeon-seok does some too, and Ho-joon wonders, “Why’s everyone working out?”

girlfriday: Ha, he’s already like an ajusshi.

javabeans: I love how Yeon-seok teaches Baro workout tips, and Baro says that he’s always learning new stuff from Yeon-seokie hyung. PD: “What about Ho-joon?” Baro says, laughing, that Ho-joon’s the guy he shouldn’t become.

girlfriday: Ho-joon goes from wondering why they workout nonstop, to complaining that he doesn’t like it when every muscle is defined, to then working out alongside them days later. Guess he just gave in.

javabeans: We see that on the way home, Yeon-seok had stopped to buy a new shirt, and Ho-joon had picked out a tank just like him, saying he’s doing couple tees. He just loves Yeon-seok so much. We hear Yeon-seok saying that Ho-joon calls him for thirty-minute conversations and says “I love you” and hangs up, and he’s all, “Am I his girlfriend?!”

girlfriday: Omg. He’s totally his girlfriend.

javabeans: Although the show labels him instead “Yeon-seokie’s sasaeng fan.”

girlfriday: That doesn’t sound that wrong either, since Ho-joon seems pretty proud of himself for knowing what Yeon-seok does when he wakes up, what music he listens to, and what he wears. He brags that Sung-kyun and Jung Woo don’t know that stuff about Yeon-seok, like he gets to be the special BFF. Meanwhile, Yeon-seok: “He gets mad at me if I don’t call enough. I’m not even his wife…”

javabeans: Then we see a bunch of clips of Ho-joon giddily telling the crew embarrassing stuff about Yeon-seok, and Yeon-seok leaping in to shut him up before he totally ruins his image. Yeon-seok jokes, “You have a really heavy mouth!” (Heavy mouth = tight-lipped. Light mouth = loose-lipped.) “But only your lower jaw is heavy!” Y’know, from yapping all the time.

girlfriday: We get preview clips of Ho-joon spilling secrets left and right, but it’s just a teaser for now.

javabeans: We also see the bit where he tells us Yeon-seok’s shorts ripped in the water and he goes over to help rescue him. Later he says coyly, “I’ll let you imagine for yourselves what happened.”

girlfriday: I’m pretty sure nobody needs prompting to do that.

javabeans: In the morning, Yeon-seok is the first to wake, and he turns on some music saying that it helps the others wake up. PD: “You’re like the babysitter!” How appropriate that the song Mommy Yeon-seok chooses is G.O.D.’s “To My Mother.”

girlfriday: I know, is he making his own OST meta jokes? It’s too funny.

javabeans: And by now, all of his cartoony avatars have a kerchief on his head, like housekeeper mommy.

girlfriday: The first thing Ho-joon does when he wakes up is drink beer (gross), and Baro takes a selca (of course). Meanwhile, Yeon-seok does laundry and cuts fruit. Can I have him?

javabeans: No. I already have him. No stealing.

girlfriday: TOO LATE.

javabeans: WHY DID YOU ASK PERMISSION IF YOU WERE JUST GOING TO STEAL.

girlfriday: *MEHRONG*

javabeans: I was wondering if Yeon-seok was gonna do the Seojinnie thing and prepare three full breakfasts, but it’s even cuter that he just prepares one and then they all take turns drinking from the same coffee cup. It’s extra-bondy. Although, is this why Koreans have such high rates of hepatitis? Not to put a damper on the cute or anything.

girlfriday: Thanks for the surgeon general’s warning. They head out after breakfast, and Yeon-seok plops down in the street to dig something out of his shoe that’s been stuck there since yesterday.

javabeans: I love the Answer Me moment between “the two babos” because Baro wonders, “Is it because it’s cheap that it’s made with glass?” Which is so absurd, except then Yeon-seok digs out a piece of glass.

girlfriday: The babo parade continues as the guys pass by a little boy on a bike and suggest they borrow bikes later. Baro: “Should we just take that one?” Ho-joon: “That’s not borrowing, that’s just stealing!”

javabeans: The boys rent bikes for the day, which speeds their progress considerably, then use more aegyo to bargain down a purchase of hats and a bag.

girlfriday: Then they stop for street food and nearly drool as they watch the ajusshi make what looks like crepe pouches. Yum. But what really sells it is the look on Ho-joon’s face when he takes a bite, like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted.

javabeans: You know it’s good when they share with the staff just to show them how good it is. Ho-joon: “I wanna cry, it’s so good.” Then they continue riding to the blue lagoon, while Ho-joon pauses to coo over every cute baby he encounters, saying that all the children here are so pretty. He interviews that he loves kids and wanted to marry young, aw. He still wants to marry soon, so one of his current concerns is whether he’ll be ready to in the next couple of years.

girlfriday: Baro takes the lead and navigates their way to the lagoon, and it’s really sweet how Yeon-seok clearly knows where they’re going but takes a backseat so that Baro can figure this out on his own.

javabeans: Aw, he’s teaching a man how to fish. It’s so cute. He interviews that he’s done this before, so he wants to give the others a chance to figure it out so they can do it again with their other friends. As they cycle on, they’re passed by locals riding these cool low buggies and get all excited, wanting to try it too. That could also be because they’re tired, and we get a sequence of them being passed by all these other tourists.

girlfriday: It turns out to be quite a long ride up hilly back roads and stuff, and they’re immensely relieved when it starts to rain with about 2km left to go.

javabeans: Ha, remember five minutes ago when Ho-joon asked Yeon-seok to make it rain, and Yeon-seok asked the skies to rain?

girlfriday: As if Ho-joon needs more reason to worship Yeon-seokie.

javabeans: They arrive at the blue lagoon, which looks pretty perfect. They marvel at the gorgeous view, then take off their mics and prepare to dive in.

girlfriday: This looks like SO MUCH FUN. I both love and hate this show right now.

javabeans: I know, so much frolicking.

girlfriday: If you can’t find me tomorrow, it’s because I’ve gone off in search of a lagoon.

javabeans: I love that Ho-joon is the scaredy-cat, watching while the other two dive off branches and trapezes while keeping his feet planted where it’s safe. He gets pressured into a group jump with the others, though, which is good ’cause otherwise I”m not sure he’d manage the nerve.

girlfriday: His lifejacket is too cute. How deep could the water even be?

javabeans: And then we get “today’s highlight” with Yeon-seok, who prepares to jump… off this super-high branch over the water. Whoa.

girlfriday: I’m pretty sure the highlight is when he takes his shirt off after. Caption: “Thank you, Yeon-seok.”

javabeans: Then it’s time to make the ride back, and the second they’re on their bikes they’re all, “This is hard.”

girlfriday: The ride back is especially whiny since they’ve already had their fun and they know how far they have to go. Baro gets distracted for a moment and falls off his bike, and it’s hilarious how quickly the hyungs turn on the acting to use that as an excuse to stop and get the staff to trade their motorcycles for the bikes. “Baro is hurt!” “He twisted his ankle! Does it hurt a lot?” “We can’t go on like this!”

javabeans: I love it. Right before he fell, Ho-joon was angling for a ride on the motorcycle, pretending he just really wants to learn how to ride one since he’s never tried. So now, the captions label this: “Burst of acting.” It’s so obvious but they’re all committed to the act (and the acting isn’t necessarily bad), which makes it hilarious. Yeon-seok even does the thing of arguing against it (if Ho-joon rides with a producer and it’s his first time, it’s dangerous) and then smoothly works himself into the scene, taking the producer’s seat because HE’S experienced and can ride with Ho-joon.

girlfriday: You know it’s game over when he’s sitting ON the motorcycle, and the writer is standing there trying to protest when it’s already been stolen out from under him.

javabeans: Ho-joon asks Baro in “concern” if he can stand to walk. Cut to: Baro running forward to steal the seat of the other motorcycle from another VJ. But again, whatchoo gonna do when the butt’s already planted on the seat? Then of course the guys press their luck to have the displaced producers take their bikes back for them. Yeon-seok: “Don’t you want to try riding the bicycle?” I think that’s the very definition of shameless.

girlfriday: In the end they get their way and ride off on the motorcycles, leaving the crew to huff and puff their way back on the bicycles. Something tells me this is what happens when Na PD doesn’t go.

javabeans: The boys have a brief moment of conscience where they debate whether to just ride the bikes back, but ultimately take the motorcycles. But then we see that Baro’s riding with the AD, who guilt-trips him the whole way back, asking things like, “Is this really okay to do?” and “I don’t know if we’ll be able to broadcast this.” “Won’t you get cursed for stealing the motorcycle ride?”

girlfriday: Yeon-seok and Ho-joon seem to just enjoy the ride, but when they get back to the village, suddenly they start to wonder what happened to the PDs, and if they shouldn’t have left them there like that. It cracks me up how just minutes ago they were like, Wheeeeeee~! and now suddenly it’s all, We were so wrong! How could we have done that to them?

javabeans: Yeon-seok assumes they rode a car back, but now they’re assailed with doubts. Baro seems the most worried (prompted by the AD’s guilt-trip) and wonders if the producers were disappointed in them (for acting like celebrities).

girlfriday: It’s kind of adorable that their one act of rebellion is followed by ten times the regret.

javabeans: I know. Yeon-seok: “Why did we do that?” It just emphasizes their youth, really, because can you imagine Seojinnie being the least bit regretful?

girlfriday: He’d be regretful of leaving them the bikes instead of making them walk back or something.

javabeans: They look pretty troubled the whole time, so when they finally see the PDs arrive, they run to them looking relieved and give hugs. Then a PD says that because they’re so tired (the show labels this an “excuse”) they’re taking the rest of the night off, and will hand over the cameras to the boys to film themselves. Ha, have you not learned from Peru?

girlfriday: Apparently this is their way of giving them some free time to do as they please, but mostly it stresses Yeon-seok out and he treats it like a punishment.

javabeans: Ha, later he interviews that it never occurred to him that the producers meant them to have free time, because to an actor, being told his shoot is being interrupted is in no way a good thing. So they head back to their room looking defeated and feeling like schoolboys who have been scolded. I love that their response is to find a Korean restaurant, as a treat to cure their blues.

girlfriday: But they just pick at their food, still talking about how it all went wrong starting with the motorcycles. Yeon-seok interviews that it was even endless refills on samgyupsal, but they were so upset (thinking that the PDs were mad at them) that they hardly ate.

javabeans: The mood is just so depressing, especially since you know they’re beating themselves up about something they don’t have to feel bad about! Then the POV switches to another camera, this one from outside that the PDs are sneak-filming, and later in interview the PD tells Baro that they were shooting dinner. Baro is totally surprised, and the PD adds, “We hadn’t even imagined that you’d think it was a mistake to ride the motorcycles!” And when she explains that because the mood was so festive while they were riding away, she thought they’d greet the free time happily, and his face is just bewildered. Oh no is he crying?

girlfriday: He looks like he might cry, mostly out of relief that they’re not mad at him. It’s all that AD’s fault! After dinner they go looking for the crew to go apologize, and of course it turns out that no one was even upset at them to begin with.

javabeans: How cute is it that these boys, the stars of the show, would worry for so long that the CREW of the reality show filming them was mad at them?

girlfriday: I know, it kills me that they stand outside the door worrying, “Should we go in? Should we not?”

javabeans: I’m glad they could end the day with that cleared up, because seeing their reaction, it could’ve ruined the rest of the trip. The next day they head out for more water activities, this time taking a truck ride to go kayaking.

girlfriday: They go on this tubing course that goes inside caves, and then after more splashing around, they eat barbecue. Ho-joon actually seems to be enjoying all the food now, which was a worry when it seemed like he might starve from pickiness on that first day.

javabeans: I know, it’s gone from Nuh-uh, that looks funny to Omg this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten. We even get a whole montage of clips of Ho-joon eating things and saying, “It’s so good. This is so good.” He has the biggest reactions shots. He should do food CFs.

girlfriday: For Haitai foods! Next they set out for kayaking, and Ho-joon spends the whole instruction segment not even pretending to listen, since he doesn’t understand anyway. I’ll laugh if he falls off his kayak.

javabeans: Haha, and then the first thing that happens when they set out is that their kayak gets turned backward.

girlfriday: Baro and Ho-joon are really funny together. The show wasn’t exaggerating their babo brotherhood. I think it’s the twin-laughs — mouths hanging open, all We know this is wrong but we don’t know how to fix it.

javabeans: I love the split-screen with them, showing them paddling along in the same kayak, and then how the split screen shows both of them capsizing at the same moment. Caption: “Pay attention to lessons.”

girlfriday: HEE. Once they get the hang of it, they get to relax and enjoy the view, which is pretty spectacular.

javabeans: Baro gets introspective, saying that he thought back to how in the past there were times he’d be so busy with activities and work that sometimes moments would pass by without him getting to fully work out the problem. He says this trip feels like a time when he’ll be able to work that out more for the future. Sigh, now I totally want somebody to put me on a trip somewhere so I can get all thinky about life and stuff.

girlfriday: Right? Where is the evil mastermind kidnapper in my life?

javabeans: LOL, you might want to rethink that phrasing. But also, totally. What, like Korea doesn’t want to see ME on a trip acting like a fool? Come on, Na PD.

girlfriday: Ha, their kayaking journey ends at… a BAR!

javabeans: Aw, Ho-joon just stands slack-jawed for a good long while until a PD asks why. He’s actually just amazed to be amongst so many foreigners. It’s his first time! He’s such a country boy.

girlfriday: Baro, of course, is already dancing as he gets off his kayak. And I’m pretty sure Yeon-seok gets a girl’s number. He later explains to the guys on their way back that he got an invite to a party that night, which gets all of them excited.

javabeans: What’ll they wear? Their clogs and tank tops?

girlfriday: Maybe they should just skip shirts altogether.

javabeans: As they head out that night, they toss the guidebook aside and the lights go dark, and the show asks, “Will we be able to broadcast what happens?”

girlfriday: For their sakes, I hope they have so much fun that it’s not fit for television.

javabeans: Baro interviews sheepishly later, “The problem with this program is… I can’t separate the broadcast from reality. How much should I say?”

 
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