Grandpas Over Flowers in Greece: Episode 5

by javabeans

javabeans: We resume in Meteora, and the party huffs and puffs their way up the many many stairs that take them to the top of the hillside. It’s funny how it’s a little sad to watch the halbaes struggling, until you cut over to Ji-woo who seems in worse shape than them as she staggers up the hillside, gasping, “Oh my…”

girlfriday: The halbaes totally beat her! This is embarrassing.

javabeans: Of course the show rewinds to remind us of her bragging about how fit she is, and then the camera catches her asking where the team doctor is.

girlfriday: The best is when she stops in the middle of her huffing and puffing for a photo op. Suddenly she’s in full actress photo shoot mode. It’s instantaneous, the way she automatically turns it on.

javabeans: It’s hilarious. She’s pausing to catch her breath and rest, but her default pose is glamour girl. Na PD must clue in to this as his angle — she’s too afraid to look over the steep cliff and hunches down, until he suggests shooting their group poster here, and suddenly she leaps up and takes her place not two feet away from the ledge. (And then runs away the second it’s over.)

girlfriday: The group then heads to a nunnery on a different cliff, and since they drive up to this one, Il-sub halbae can come along. They still have to cross a bridge set between two giant cliffs on foot to get there though, and Il-sub halbae tries his hardest to cross without looking down. Later he interviews about the bridge, “Why’d they go and do a thing like that?”

javabeans: I’m so disappointed we didn’t see Na PD’s reaction to crossing the bridge! That suspension bridge from a previous trip was so funny.

girlfriday: I know, maybe he chickened out and didn’t cross? Things come to a screeching halt when Ji-woo and Il-sub halbae declare that they’re hungry, and Seo-jin looks a little alarmed that lunch is coming sooner than he anticipated.

javabeans: But thankfully they make it down to the town of Kalambaka and a find a restaurant without too much stress, and sit down to eat lunch.

girlfriday: They all rave about the lamb chops that they order, and Ji-woo inspects the bill at the end, which comes out to be lower than she expected. Still, she looks nervous for some reason as she waits for Seo-jinnie. When he comes out, she hands him the bill to pay, when he suddenly goes, “You pay it. What’d you do with all that money?” Ha, the music gets all dramatic, and she looks like he might as well have slapped her across the face.

javabeans: Are those tears pooling in her eyes? Is she acting? Because she totally should. She’s the melo-tear queen!

girlfriday: They look like tears!

javabeans: She looks SO hurt that Seo-jin quickly concedes, “Okay, fine.” In an interview, Ji-woo says with this air of indignation how it’s not like she went anywhere without the others and spent money on her own.

girlfriday: Then he interviews that he doesn’t understand why she keeps asking for money when she has nothing to spend it on.

javabeans: He sounds so baffled, like money is just evaporating or something. “Why does that happen? Why does she do that?”

girlfriday: But THEN… Ji-woo admits (later, to a PD) that she’s been squirreling some money away, like a bit of pocket change each time they pay for something, and now has 200 euros. LOL.

javabeans: I was just thinking how much like an old married couple they are. That’s totally what my mom would do, just keep the change and add it up until it amounted to something. Though it’s not like she spent it on secret things! Just more householdy expenses.

girlfriday: Right? But Seo-jin will never understand a woman’s need to feel secure by having some money in her wallet, just in case. It’s not like she’s buying purses on the sly!

javabeans: Yes, Ji-woo talks like that 200 isn’t even much: “That’s the ONLY money I have! Only 200 euros!” They stop for cotton candy, which yields the cutest little interplays, like how Il-sub halbae chows down singlemindedly, and Seo-jin fails at sneaking a bite of Ji-woo’s, and then Soon-jae halbae takes a puff of cotton candy to wear around like a mustache.

girlfriday: At first I’m wondering why the show decides to linger on Seo-jin holding the car door open for the halbaes as they climb back in, but then he stops to open Ji-woo’s door, and suddenly the soundtrack switches gears like we’re witnessing a shocking new development.

javabeans: They start idly chatting in the car as they drive on to Athens, and somehow the conversation turns into Seo-jin teasing Ji-woo about not having many friends, and then both of them insisting they do. Ji-woo starts listing off all the friends she has, which is like a who’s who of dramaland, with Lee Yeon-hee hanging out at her place almost every day, and Kim Tae-hee and Song Hye-gyo also on the list.

girlfriday: At that, Seo-jin gets quiet and stops arguing: “I haven’t even seen them in person once.”

javabeans: Ha, and then he adds, “I sometimes see Ji-hoon [Rain].” That’s totally not the same thing as drinking at each other’s houses and going to movies all the time!

girlfriday: They start to close in on their destination, but Seo-jin looks suspiciously shifty as he drives. He’s lost again, isn’t he? But this time, he doesn’t admit it to anyone and just keeps driving!

javabeans: Oh no! I mean, that’s probably for the best, but still, so stressful.

girlfriday: But he catches a lucky break when the staff car passes him by and takes the lead, and then he starts to follow them. Mind you, this all happens silently, but the captions fill us in on why Seo-jin is smiling at various points.

javabeans: But then we jump to the producers’ car, and they catch on that Seo-jin is following them and figure they should make things harder on him.

girlfriday: They’re all, “Should we change lanes? He’s still following!”

javabeans: And then Seo-jin catches wind that they’ve caught on, and tells Ji-woo how they’re trying their best to force him ahead of them. But he’s sticking close to their tail, even when they turn on their emergency blinkers and pull over.

girlfriday: The PDs’ car commentary is the best: “Should we stop? Let’s stop and force him to go ahead! Look, he’s smiling!! He’s like the devil!”

javabeans: It IS a pretty gleaming Cheshire cat grin. In the end the producers stop, and Seo-jin has to go on first, but at least they got a kick out of the interplay.

girlfriday: After a while, Seo-jin finally finds the hotel, but Ji-woo cringes when they get there to see that it isn’t as nice as she would’ve liked. She’s immediately regretting letting Seo-jin choose the cheapest hotel, I’m sure.

javabeans: There’s graffiti right next to the hotel and the neighborhood looks a little sketchy, but Ji-woo leads the group inside while Seo-jin parks. Ha, she keeps repeating how he picked “The cheap one. The cheapest one. The very cheapest one.” She worries all the way to their rooms, but they don’t look so bad. Nothing compared to that one in Switzerland where they couldn’t move around while inside it! Or that train car where they couldn’t sit up.

girlfriday: That was the worst. The triple room looks a little small, and Ji-woo kind of scurries away before Il-sub halbae can complain, but they seem okay with the accommodations.

javabeans: She’s thrilled at the bathroom, though, because it’s much more spacious than they’ve been using. We get a whole flashback to them talking about the teeny showers that are literally only two feet long and wide, where you can’t move around at all. Ji-woo says to wash her hair she had to stand with one foot inside and one outside and lean in.

girlfriday: That is the teeniest shower ever. Why even bother building walls around a stall so tiny?

javabeans: Just put a drain in the floor and call it a day. All things considered, Ji-woo is satisfied that they got a good deal considering how cheap the rooms were. Maybe Seo-jin will convert her to his side.

girlfriday: Once Seo-jin checks in on the halbaes, he drags Ji-woo out to scout a restaurant for dinner, and when they hit the main square, she audibly sighs that she’s never passed by a shopping district without stopping before.

javabeans: She hints repeatedly that she wants to stop and buy roasted chestnuts, but Seo-jin blatantly ignores the hints and shuts her down. Ha, it’s so obvious, and she pouts at him.

girlfriday: Their elevator ride on the way back up is my favorite thing. It’s so cramped in there that Seo-jin and Ji-woo have to stand squished together to let the VJ inside, and they suddenly get all awkward and quiet.

javabeans: They head out to dinner with the whole group, and Ji-woo steps one foot outside the hotel and forgets which way to go. Later in interview, Na PD asks what Ji-woo’s positive traits are, and Seo-jin says she gets lost and can seem ditzy: “She’s not perfect. That’s her charm.” Na PD repeats that he asked for positive traits, and Seo-jin tacks on, “I mean, ditzy charm, getting-lost charm.”

girlfriday: The halbaes are on a serious bartending mission tonight, for some reason, and Seo-jin buys a whole sack of lemons and a few bottles of vodka and asks the restaurant to slice them in half. They mix their own cocktails right there at the table, and they look really delicious.

javabeans: It’s extra-festive tonight since it’s Geun-hyung halbae’s last night, and he’s flying back to Korea the next day. He talks a little in interview about life being like a trip, and how he looks back now and feels that he lived right, and well. Man, I hope I can feel like that when I’m his age.

girlfriday: I feel like I have to do about eighty thousand more things first.

javabeans: At least we have a few decades. Chop chop.

girlfriday: They polish off a few bottles of vodka and head back to the hotel in good spirits, and the show points out how Ji-woo very naturally walks arm-in-arm with the halbaes. I’ve never thought of that as unnatural or anything, and she interviews that she just does that with her own father and doesn’t think much of it.

javabeans: It’s something that I think of as natural too, but maybe it’s because she’s the big star and they weren’t that acquainted at the outset of the trip? Soon-jae halbae says it’s not actually something that always comes easily, and makes her feel like a daughter. “If I had a daughter like that… it’d be daebak.”

girlfriday: How cute. And like a good dad, Soon-jae halbae lets her stop to buy snacks, unlike a grumpy oppa who always says no.

javabeans: Il-sub halbae sits down for a last beer of the night, and the server actually seems to recognize him, asking if he’s Korean, an actor, and what his name is. But he, with his limited English (and singleminded quest for likker), only says, “Beer. Beer, one. One beer.”

girlfriday: Drunk Subbie is extra funny. They have a really strange one-sided conversation, but she succeeds in getting a picture with him, just barely.

javabeans: You know it’s extra sad-funny-embarrassing when the VJ steps in to translate for you. I’m just glad for her that she got her picture, though I’m not even sure Il-sub halbae understood anything that happened. Morning comes around, and an alarm rings for ages before being turned off… and then rings again some minutes later, until she finally struggles awake. Ha, Ji-woo sleeps just like you!

girlfriday: Hey, some of us are morning-impaired! Seo-jin fusses over Soon-jae halbae’s clothes in the morning and sees him off, and then we get a whole sequence of Soon-jae halbae just enjoying breakfast on his own, with a brief interlude on each halbae’s preferred method of cracking a hardboiled egg. It’s strangely interesting.

javabeans: Because they’re so distinctly different! And kind of childlike, like how Soon-jae halbae drops his onto the table from a foot above it. Looks like the luggage couple will be splitting up today, and they convene at her door to discuss their plans. The show points out how Seo-jin lingers needlessly after they’re done, with excuses to prolong their conversation.

girlfriday: It’s cute that he’s nervous about sending her out on her own, but then she starts going over her intended route and forgets the second step. Uh-oh… She finally remembers which bus, then whirls around: “Wait, what was my room number?” Ha, does she literally only have space for one set of instructions in her brain?

javabeans: Hey, life is hard for us single-taskers! You can’t distract us if you want anything done! Ji-woo asks a front desk employee for directions, which sound way too complicated, and then decides that a taxi is totally faster and better.

girlfriday: Seo-jin is totally going to have a cow.

javabeans: Is this what she’s squirreling her money away for? Although in that case, he’s going to have a cow about her squirreling away money in the first place.

girlfriday: She would do better to sum up her day trip with: “It went well.”

javabeans: Ha, as she embarks with Soon-jae halbae and Gu halbae, she puts on her most declarative voice and says that they have to take a taxi, it’s just the only way, the other way is totally unreasonable and long and roundabout. She recites the metro-bus route in the most possible steps as she can stretch it, and somehow it ends up that they decide the taxi would cost less?

girlfriday: It’s some fancy math that she does. Seo-jin spends his day being an unemployed luggage boy, and he seems a little bored. He goes to get the car to take Geun-hyung halbae to the airport, but then makes a detour to buy lunch and totally steals a PD’s lunch money.

javabeans: That’s master lunch-money-bullying hoodoo he’s got going on. “Hey, do you have change? Do you have more than that?” And suddenly he’s walking away with bills.

girlfriday: The show points out that Il-sub halbae is especially fixated on Geun-hyung halbae’s departure, and keeps asking a million times when he’s leaving to make sure that he can accompany him, and whether he has to go early.

javabeans: Aw, I’m remembering now that they were friends from fifty years ago, and people used to think they were brothers.

girlfriday: They say that they used to spend every waking moment together, which I tend to forget because they’re both the strong silent types. Even when they’re sitting together, they don’t say much, but then separately they interview about how close they are.

javabeans: Agh, it’s such a thing that makes me cry, because you know what they’re thinking and feeling (from what they explain in solo interviews), but they don’t say it aloud to each other. It’s one of those silent communication things, where you know they both feel it though.

girlfriday: Aw, Geun-hyung halbae talks about how Il-sub halbae always had his back whenever someone tried to mess with him, and how different it is to see him age and struggle with physical limitations.

javabeans: Then it’s back to Ji-woo, and we see Soon-jae halbae cutely sticking to her side to make sure she’s okay leading them. It’s like a dad and his baby; he’s not saying anything or taking over, but he’s just right there. You know. In case she needs him.

girlfriday: It’s so cute. I didn’t take him for a helicoptery parent.

javabeans: Soon-jae halbae loves Ji-woo so much! She gets up from the table to confirm something, and not two second later he tells Gu halbae how clever she is, like a bragging parent.

girlfriday: On the bus, Ji-woo ends up sitting next to a woman and goes through this whole rigamarole to switch seats with her, then after offering her a candy, she asks about which stop to get off at. The lady is hilariously cold: “No. No.”

javabeans: For the rest of the ride, she’s huffy about the mean lady and mutters to herself, “So mean. I even gave her candy!” She interviews later how resentful she felt, and how she felt like taking the candy back. When you see Ji-woo being so pouty in real life, it’s amazing to think that she’s a good actress because her emotions are so written on her face, like she can’t hide exactly what she’s feeling.

girlfriday: They tour the canal and the ruins of ancient Corinth for the day. And meanwhile, the preview for next week shows that Seo-jinnie spends his leisure time on a man-date with Na PD, who tries to feed him like Ji-woo did, just to be cheeky.

javabeans: He is soooo mocking. I can’t wait.

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