Grandpas Over Flowers: Episode 11

by javabeans

EPISODE 11. Broadcast on September 13, 2013.

javabeans: So Sunny stays an extra day after all, to everyone’s delight. You know, I’m going to assume that having her around actually made things really smooth and easy, because have you noticed how her second day whizzes by in screentime? Whereas when it’s Seo-jin sweating alone, for instance, you can make so much screentime out of so little because of all the tension.

girlfriday: Yeah basically if things went smoothly, we zoom past. Seo-jin struggles with dinner reservations, with Na PD nagging over his shoulder more than usual, and they head over to a giant tower to have dinner. Except I’m pretty sure they don’t have reservations. Hm.

javabeans: The thought process seems to be, We may have to wait. But surely something will open up. Surely? Which are odds I don’t like. I think Seo-jin may be secretly praying a little.

girlfriday: Seo-jin manages to get a table pretty quickly (thank goodness) but doesn’t bother getting a second one for the crew. The PDs are literally like, “What about us?” Seo-jin just stares, “So?”

javabeans: MUAHAHA.I don’t know if he left them out on purpose, or if it’s a mistake he’s not exactly jumping to fix. Because remember in Europe when it started seeming like he was becoming the whole crew’s travel guide, and he was all, WTF?

girlfriday: Yeah it’s his petty payback. So the cast gets ushered in for dinner, and the crew is left standing there watching, and Na PD has to chase them down. Hee.

javabeans: Of course, it’s not actually good for the show (or the cast) to have zero cameras, and the PDs force a camera into Seo-jin’s hands. Na PD points out that they can’t just NOT film, so he’ll have to be the one to get the footage. Which is pretty much a textbook case of a revenge backfiring.

girlfriday: Pffft. Never try to out-petty Na PD.

javabeans: Ha, and even as Na PD is withdrawing, he’s peering over Seo-jin’s shoulder and complaining about the shot composition. (To be fair, Seo-jin was cutting off heads.) I like how Sunny casually repositions the camera, then takes over entirely. Lol, she really is better than him at everything.

girlfriday: I know, right? You think Seo-jinnie’s doing a good job, until Sunny starts doing everything faster, better, and with a sunny attitude to boot.

javabeans: I’m a little concerned that having Sunny preoccupied with the camera might reduce the amount of cheery interaction at the table since she’s the mood-maker, but on the other hand, the halbaes are much more willing to pose and make cute faces when she’s the camera operator.

girlfriday: It’s adorable. They pose for her every other minute.

javabeans: She even gets Seo-jin to smile and orders, “Oppa, dimples!” On cue, dimples.

girlfriday: Even the halbaes get in on the VJ action, and it turns into a fun activity, with everyone passing the camera around.

javabeans: You know they only offer so that she can eat. If it were Seo-jin, forget it.

girlfriday: Na PD sidles up to Seo-jin in the middle of dinner and says they have to buy tickets to go up to the top of the tower, but when Seo-jin hears that there’s a ticket price per person, he half-jokes that they should skip it. But then the halbaes start chiming in on Seo-jin’s side. Soon-jae halbae: “Can we just say we did and not?” Lol. The look on Na PD’s face.

javabeans: HEE. I feel like Na PD was counting on getting his scenic shots and forcing the cast to pay for it, two birds one stone. But now that they don’t want to, he’s all, Wait… but I need to get those shots… how did this get away from me? He makes attempts to convince them they really want to see it (“It’s really quite nice…. you’ll enjoy seeing it…”) but they’re all, “Nah.”

girlfriday: It’s so funny how his gaze moves from person to person at the table, and I swear it looks like he’s shrinking.

javabeans: Don’t you love how he has to actually excuse himself to go think? Sunny giggles hysterically after he leaves, and the halbaes all chuckle that he’s gotta be suffering. It’s so great how they know exactly what they just did, even as they’re feigning innocence.

girlfriday: I love that moment.

javabeans: Na PD holds a frantic meeting with his staff, then returns to say he got permission to shoot. But Seo-jin sticks to the line that the production has to pay the fees, and Na PD actually says, “Where did you learn [behavior like] that?” Seo-jin retorts, “I learned it from you!”

girlfriday: Muahaha.

javabeans: Seo-jin checks with the halbaes that they wouldn’t mind terribly going up to the roof if, say, the crew paid for the tickets, right? And Gu halbae is all, Well in that case, I’m sure we can be persuaded to oblige them. It’s so hilarious.

girlfriday: Na PD’s got his own stubborn streak, and tries to negotiate splitting the fees, which is just hilariously futile. I mean, after all that do you really think you’ll get money out of them?

javabeans: Gu halbae takes the lead in the counterargument, and don’t you remember how it ended the other day when you tried to wring money out of him? He scoffs, “You can’t do that. If you’re gonna spend some money, spend it all! Otherwise we’ll just be going. We can take the subway back.”

girlfriday: At one point, Na PD’s argument boils down to whining: “Teacher! You liked me once!”

javabeans: Now you can see how these halbaes have that chaebol-killer-instinct necessary to turn them into hardass mofos in all those dramas.

girlfriday: It’s a chicken-egg thing. Did playing the cold chaebol CEOs make them this way?

javabeans: They even cut him off preemptively, all, “You’re about to try negotiating one more offer, aren’t you?” I love how much Sunny is enjoying all this, and just like the other night, things end with the halbaes clapping and thanking Na PD for giving in, while he stands there speechlessly.

girlfriday: If he had a tail, it’d be between his legs.

javabeans: Of course, as soon as they get up to the viewing area the halbaes are all, “Oh it’s really nice. I’m glad we came up.” Hee. Gu halbae thanks Na PD, who actually (pathetically?) tries, “So do you want to pay…” Gu halbae: “No! Those talks are over.”

girlfriday: After sightseeing courtesy of Na PD, they head back to the guesthouse, where Seo-jinnie gets busy looking for their next hotel rooms.

javabeans: He gets help from the guesthouse clerk, who searches online for new hotels. There are intermittent bursts of laughter from Sunny, who’s enjoying a halbae pajama fashion show, and Seo-jin hangs his head, back to worrying about the mood dropping after she leaves.

girlfriday: With hotel rooms booked (at the hot springs) everyone heads to bed for the night, and then Sunny is the first to wake up in the morning so she can make breakfast for the halbaes.

javabeans: Sunny has to leave for the airport soon, and Soon-jae halbae asks when they’ll meet again, and she assures them that she’ll see them in Korea (as in, she’ll keep up relationships). He confirms that she has 8 bandmates in SNSD, and says, “I can buy 9 of you dinner.” LOL.

girlfriday: Aw, and then it’s time for her to leave for the airport, and everyone’s SO SAD.

javabeans: She gives them all hugs, and then the halbaes make her give Seo-jin a hug too (which is awkward in an amusing way), always ready to shove them together. Way to undercut the sad moment. We cut to an interview with Sunny, who explains that at some point in the trip the dynamics got a lot more comfortable as the halbaes (whom she calls fathers) joked around with her and she started to consider them more fathers/grandfathers. The PD asks about her own grandfathers, and Sunny starts to get emotional, explaining that they’ve passed away, and that she wasn’t able to go to the funeral because of her idol activities.

girlfriday: Once Sunny’s gone, the mood is as advertised: silent, stoic, tense.

javabeans: It’s like the mood was a dog that rolled over and died.

girlfriday: It doesn’t help when we get a montage of just how different things are With Sunny and Without Sunny.

javabeans: Don’t you love the song lyrics that match so well? It’s all about how (she) blew in like the wind, out like the wind, in like a cloud, out like a cloud. Like now they’re in the aftermath of some happy tornado but just left with emptiness. So funny.

girlfriday: And the strange thing is, I don’t even think Seo-jin is all that different, because I’m pretty sure he was this terse from the beginning. It’s just so pronounced because of her absence.

javabeans: Right? Na PD mentions that it seems the mood is much lower now, and Seo-jin retorts, “This is how it always was!”

girlfriday: It’s like, when he was the only one who was so worried about the mood while it was happy, he seemed crazy. Now, you realize he was the only one who knew exactly what he was talking about.

javabeans: It’s a long walk from the subway station to their hotel (15 minutes), so after a brief attempt to suggest the walk, Seo-jin changes tack and spends a loooong time hailing taxis. They take two, and as the halbaes watch the road go by, Il-sub halbae asks, “He wanted to walk this whole way?! We would have been doomed!” And then Seo-jin says from the other taxi, “Man, we would have been doomed.”

girlfriday: They make it to the hotel where they get the bad news that they can’t check in until evening, but Seo-jin manages to finagle two rooms early, which phew. He takes out cash to pay for the halbaes’ rooms, and Na PD totally tries to sneak extra. For the tower? Are we still not giving up on that?

javabeans: Because of the late check-in, the halbaes start thinking there was a good reason these rooms were cheap, and you can see Seo-jin starting to sweat. What if we get a repeat of the Rainbow hotel, which he reserved purely for the cheap price and had to feel sorry about the whole time? So he tells the halbaes he’ll check first and totally darts ahead to see if he has cause for concern. I am SO relieved when the rooms look fine, nothing like the Rainbow place where there was barely any room to walk.

girlfriday: I know. I was holding my breath with Na PD’s refrain, “You came here with dreams of rainbows…” floating in my head.

javabeans: Seo-jin is pretty proud of himself, especially when the halbaes are pleased with the suites. But then Na PD tells Seo-jin to share with the halbaes (as in, give up the third room), which, D’OH! Na PD tells the halbaes Seo-jin will be sleeping on their floor. Seo-jin demands his money back from Na PD, and totally hovers while Na PD counts out the cash, until Na PD totally whines, “I’m gonna give it, okay? I will!” As though he hadn’t just tried to STEAL from him.

girlfriday: And then he actually says, “When have I ever conned you?” How can you even say that with a straight face, Na PD?

javabeans: LOL, Seo-jin waits until he gets the cash to reveal that this suite was actually the most expensive one. Na PD makes one ineffectual lurch to grab money back, but basically, Seo-jin wins this round. One PD complains that Seo-jin has “gotten strange,” in that he has picked up strange habits from the grandpas.

girlfriday: So then Na PD follows Seo-jin around to get his petty revenge and points out that the hotel view is of construction, which is strangely a running theme in their travels. He asks (voice dripping with sarcastic marvel): “Wow, look at that view! Did you find this place on purpose? It seems like you found it on purpose.”

javabeans: Does Na PD get especially bratty after suffering supposed losses? Like he just HAS to needle extra-hard?

girlfriday: He really does. It’s extra funny when you can watch the build-up.

javabeans: The group treks over to the hot springs, but it’s a rather dispiriting affair because the weather is so hot and they’re all just wilting in the heat. I mean, I’m pretty sure they’d all be silent anyway without Sunny, but it’s like an extra burden, the oppressive heat.

girlfriday: Seo-jin wonders why it’s so difficult here, when they walked way more in Paris and other places. Caption: “Look within yourself for the answer.” Ha.

javabeans: Seo-jin buys entrance tickets and hands them out, at which point Il-sub halbae checks that he can just get in the water nekkid. And there’s this collective reaction of, “Omigod no! Swimsuits!” Ha, I’m glad he checked ahead of time.

girlfriday: Lol. That would’ve been a hilarious mistake.

javabeans: There’s a close-up from above as Gu halbae enjoys his soak like he’s in a happy dream, and the camera gets closer and closer and closer until Gu halbae is all distorted in the extreme close-up. I’m less interested in Gu halbae’s thoughts in this moment than I am in the image of what the heck the VJ is doing looming above him like that.

girlfriday: It’s moments like that you wish they had a bigger crew, so someone else could catch the VJ on camera.

javabeans: They enjoy the soak for a while, eat ice cream, then head on over to the next stop. Seo-jin has taken on the habit of checking exact distances and asking whether it’s okay, which is 400 meters today. I say it’s a smart tactic since the halbaes are gonna be fine with it before you start walking, and once you start walking they can hardly complain since they already said it was fine. Heh. Better than the all-too-familiar “Are we there yet?”

girlfriday: But as we’ve witnessed before, 400 meters is plenty of distance for the group to split up, get turned around, and lose each other. Even if they’re all going in a straight line. As usual, Soon-jae halbe starts getting waaaay ahead of the pack, and people start getting nervous. The editing plus “I Believe I Can Fly” is really cracking me up today.

javabeans: And how Gu halbae assures Seo-jin, “He’ll stop and see we’re behind, and he’ll wait” only to have Soon-jae halbae stop, see they’re behind, wait two seconds and continue his march onward.

girlfriday: As they take the train, Geun-hyung halbae looks up pictures of Sunny’s arrival in Korea on his phone to show Il-sub halbae: “Your daughter has landed.” Seo-jin tells Na PD about it, and Na PD needles: “They don’t laugh when they look at you, but they laugh at pictures of Sunny on the internet. Hyung, try harder. You can be loved like Sunny.” HA.

javabeans: Their destination is a hot tourist spot by the water, and crowded with people. The group sits and rests as they watch the sunset and take pictures and sorta zone out at the end of the day, until it’s time to go eat dinner. They get to the teppanyaki place, and I love that the halbaes wave away the waiter when he shows them the menu, telling him to take it up with Seo-jin instead.

girlfriday: Oh noes… this place doesn’t serve liquor! Gu halbae’s like, No no no no, that won’t do. Ack, do they have to go elsewhere?

javabeans: Ha, they send Seo-jin to go buy something at a convenience store, and he returns with this big bottle of liquor (it’s kaoliang, which I presume is sorta the closest thing to soju he can find). I’m just glad the restaurant allows this.

girlfriday: Seriously. It wouldn’t fly anywhere in this country. So then there they are, pouring likker into paper cups at the restaurant. I love it.

javabeans: Once they get a few drinks in them, the halbaes start praising Seo-jin for being indispensable, which is sweet, though they also joke that they oughtn’t shower him TOO much. But they’ll make it up to him by marrying him off, they say, and start planning the mock ceremony where Soon-jae halbae can officiate, Il-sub halbae can emcee, Gu halbae can greet guests, and Geun-hyung halbae can usher. Il-sub advocates setting him up, saying that he set up Sohn Ji-chang and Oh Yeon-soo. Omg really? That’s so cute, they’re one of those steady power couples.

girlfriday: That’s so sweet. Seo-jinnie is definitely next.

javabeans: Seo-jin starts to say how funny it is that Soon-jae halbae was singing Nam Sang-mi’s praises on the last trip, and now she’s playing Il-sub halbae’s daughter in their current drama. I honestly think he’s just making conversation with a fun fact, but Il-sub halbae’s all, “You like Nam Sang-mi? Okay I’ll see if she’s available.” She’s totally taken, of course, but it’s cute.

girlfriday: Ha, they’re just like real parents. You can’t say one damned thing without it turning into a whole rigamarole. Meanwhile, Gu & Sub proceed to get trashed. They just get progressively drunker and drunker…

javabeans: God, I just had a vision of us as them, fifty years later. That’s totally going to happen isn’t it.

girlfriday: Quick, let’s line up a luggage boy, stat.

javabeans: No, we have to wait thirty more years for him to be born.

girlfriday: What.

javabeans: I mean, unless you want a sixty-year-old luggage boy.

girlfriday: Well what’s the fun in that? Okay, I see your point.

javabeans: Gu & Sub are so hilarious when they’re three sheets to the wind. They amble on over looking for ice cream, get to a counter (that totally isn’t ice cream) and exclaim, “Ice cream! Mango! Two!” They’re pointed in the right direction, repeat that dictate, and then fight over who pays.

girlfriday: Hahahaha. This buying ice cream business turns into a whole thing, mostly because they’re really drunk. It’s hiliarious.

javabeans: “Order one more!” “But Soon-jae hyung already ate one, I saw.” “Then get one for Seo-jinnie.” “Do you take American dollars?” “No no no no no!” “This one.” “Pay first!” “I want to order this one.” “Cash! Cash cash cash cash cash cash cash cash!” Mind you, this is all Gu & Sub, while the cashier just looks confused through it all.

girlfriday: I’m suddenly having a flash to Hoo and Jun-su in Dad Where Are We Going, where they get sent to the market on their own and have to ask which color money with whose face they have to give for the rice. Somehow, it feels the same.

javabeans: They buy four total, leaving out Soon-jae halbae’s because he did just eat one on his own. But then when the others get handed out, Soon-jae halbae gets this hilariously longing look on his face, and I’m like, he totally wants one. Gu halbae sheepishly explains that they know he ate one already, and Soon-jae halbae assures them that’s the case, but then Gu halbae tries shoving his half-eaten cone at his hyungnim to make up for it, and it’s hilarious.

girlfriday: They get to take the staff bus back, and Il-sub halbae asks really loudly what’s gotten into Na PD and if maybe he’s gone (like they stole the bus out from under him?) and Na PD chirps, “I’m right here!” Hee. Seconds later, Il-sub halbae offers Na PD his half-eaten ice cream. He must’ve felt bad.

javabeans: This is the last night for the full cast, as the next day Geun-hyung and Il-sub halbaes will be leaving, and Gu halbae will be left with Soon-jae halbae. He’s losing his drinking partner, so he proposes that Soon-jae halbae match his drinking pace tomorrow, say with half-drinks, and Soon-jae halbae passes off the task to Seo-jin.

girlfriday: Gu halbae: “What, you don’t wanna?”

javabeans: Soon-jae halbae agrees to just one, and Gu halbae is both disappointed and drunk and makes this hilarious gesture behind hyungnim’s back, like he wants to smack him.

girlfriday: Heeheehee. I sense a storm brewing. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that you can’t get between a halbae and his liquor.

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