Grandpas Over Flowers: Episode 14

by javabeans

EPISODE 14. Broadcast on October 4, 2013.

girlfriday: Here we are with Part 2 of the B-sides, this time with footage from the Taiwan trip. It looks like Na PD has wrangled Gu halbae for the interview this time around.

javabeans: This is also the last episode of this “season,” which means that we’ll have a bit of a break until the next one kicks off. As of right now I don’t see a premiere date so we’ll just have to wait it out until the confirmation announcements come rolling in.

girlfriday: They’re saying late November so far (for Seung-gi’s trip with the actresses), so we’ll have to spend at least a month without this show. Oh yay, Seo-jin joins Gu halbae for the interview, which should make it more fun. Na PD starts off by asking Gu halbae about being the group leader on the first day, and notes that he had a habit of obsessively counting and recounting the money.

javabeans: Isn’t that just what you expect when you put somebody into a position that is so far afield of their real personality (leader, responsibility)? He totally overcompensates and gets all caught up in the role, which is so cute.

girlfriday: And the first thing he does when Seo-jinnie arrives is hand over that precious money envelope: “Do you know how long I’ve waited for you?”

javabeans: I have to say that tricking the halbaes by making Seo-jin arrive late for the second trip was one of Na PD’s better ploys, and that’s saying something since he has so many of those.

girlfriday: Gu halbae gives this hilariously detailed accounting report complete with receipts and Korean conversions.

javabeans: I’m laughing just listening to how seriously he outlines every penny. It sort of reminds me of a drunk person trying reaaaaally hard to sound sober.

girlfriday: And then he explains that they had food delivered last night, but they TOTALLY didn’t ask for the food, so the crew should pay for it. Na PD tries to take up the argument again now that Seo-jin is here, and this time Sunny jumps to the halbaes’ defense: “Are you saying that they’re lying?” Na PD: “….”

javabeans: I love this game. The faux innocence game where it’s cast versus Na PD, and Na PD has no way to respond other than sputtering. Lol, is Na PD revisiting this argument in the post-trip interview too?

girlfriday: YES. Hahaha. “Teacher, but you ATE the food, didn’t you?”

javabeans: It’s exactly the same argument they had before. Oh wow and then there’s even MORE footage of the argument from the Taiwan trip. I can see why they cut it out since it was long in the original broadcast, but it’s almost funnier the way it just goes on and on and on.

girlfriday: It’s hilarious to see Na PD stuttering, while the halbaes look around the room going, “When was that? Did we eat that here? I don’t remember that.”

javabeans: I can see how Na PD is good at what he does, being both persistent and shameless, but the thing is that the halbaes (namely Gu halbae) are even more shameless in insisting they aren’t responsible for that bill.

girlfriday: At some point they start asking Na PD for MORE MONEY, since they have Sunny with them and that’s one more mouth to feed. Somehow they’re going to walk away from this argument having earned money, aren’t they?

javabeans: Sunny is doing a good job keeping this really straight face, treating this very seriously (the other halbaes you can tell are trying not to laugh at points) so that Na PD is left speechless. She’s all, “But I’m staying an extra day and you didn’t give us money to accommodate that.” Which is a loophole Na PD hadn’t thought of.

girlfriday: Seo-jin just starts throwing numbers at Na PD, who’s totally frazzled by this point, all, Well you owe us this much more, so even though you owe more than we owe you, we’ll call it even. How does he make a con sound so benevolent?

javabeans: The cast is all, Cool, yup, we’re even, no money needs to exchange hands. Which was their original stance. So Na PD is crouching there looking totally confused because basically he didn’t get his money and his arguments have all been shot down. Then in the interview Na PD asks how Gu halbae felt about Sunny, and Gu halbae answers that she was great, and that “It was sooooo much better when she was here!” (Caption: “Sorry Seo-jin.”)

girlfriday: This time we watch her make breakfast with Seo-jin, which was mostly cut the first time. They actually have to go shopping for groceries first thing in the morning, and she is way too chipper for having to wake up to that. They have to settle for Japanese miso for the soup, and Sunny gets started on that in the kitchen.

javabeans: It doesn’t quite taste right, which is a worry. At one point Geun-hyung halbae steps in for a taste test and advises her on how to thin it out, and then Il-sub halbae tastes it and complains that it’s too bland.

girlfriday: Hahaha. It’s a soup identity crisis. There’s just no pleasing everybody, so which halbae’s tastes do you go with?

javabeans: I feel like it turns out kind of weird, but they’re all, “It’s good. No really. It’s… good.”

girlfriday: Heh, the halbaes force nice reactions, but when Seo-jin takes a spoonful, he actually sputters in laughter.

javabeans: It’s even better because we just got a clip of him saying he doesn’t really enjoy cooking OR eating because he’s not very keen on taste in general. And then he laughs at her soup’s weird taste. That’s like an extra blow isn’t it?

girlfriday: Like the guy who says he’ll pretty much eat anything knows your soup is bad? Yeah.

javabeans: You almost want to jump in there and change the subject, because it’s worse when everybody is kindly making excuses. “For a first try, this isn’t bad.” “And there wasn’t the right type of miso.” “So really, good effort.”

girlfriday: After Soon-jae halbae arrived, the group apparently took a break to watch a broadcast of Grandpas Over Flowers. I can see why this didn’t air, but it’s pretty funny to see them sitting there together reacting to their own show.

javabeans: Oh I love it. It’s so meta. And we get the split screen to see what they’re watching as they’re reacting. After a sequence on Geun-hyung halbae’s gift-buying for the wife, Soon-jae halbae mock-grumps that they’re all dead now, and their wives will point to his example.

girlfriday: I love the asides to Na PD: “You should’ve cut that out!”

javabeans: HAHA at the scene where Seo-jin (in Europe) is cooking birthday soup for Geun-hyung halbae and tosses out that it’s one day off from Hyuna’s birthday. Watching that, Sunny bolts up and accuses, “Oppa!” Ha, like how could he know Hyuna’s birthday but not hers? But when he rattles off her birthday too, she’s back to impressed.

girlfriday: On a different day, the four halbaes sit around sharing funny stories about Choi Bool-am (because he stopped by the airport to see them off that first day), and then the conversation naturally devolves into four people saying four different things. The PD nearby points out that they often speak without listening to each other, and they all nod in agreement with zero shame. Ha.

javabeans: Then we move on to their last hotel stay, which was the nicest place they lodged. Seo-jin explains how he was only concerned about getting the cheapest places earlier, and even when he was choosing the last place we see in conversation that it’s the PD who convinced him to actually use the money he had left. It’s like he was hoarding so much that by the time they got to the end he was surprised at how much there was still there. Ha, I feel like sometimes Seo-jin just gets stuck in a certain mentality and has to be jolted out of it. Like being the poor serving/luggage/errand boy.

girlfriday: He’s probably so used to having to beg for more money and bargain for every last thing that it’s a huge surprise he can afford it. Or maybe all that conning Na PD over takeout food ended up paying for the fancy digs? Haha, in the interview, Seo-jin says there are ways to grow the meager travel budget, and Na PD asks genuinely confused how one would do that. Seo-jin: “There’s YOU, the one who’s bad at math.”

javabeans: Muahaha. I love that Seo-jin exploits that weakness (cut to: Seo-jin at the hotel, throwing more numbers at Na PD rapid-fire), and that he does it with a completely blank expression so that Na PD doesn’t even know it. And when Na PD runs out of cash, Seo-jin just points to another PD and is all, “Give me the rest.”

girlfriday: Heehee, as petty revenge, the captions point out that Seo-jin is bullying them for cash, using the term for stealing lunch money like a street punk. Lol.

javabeans: It’s great how Na PD knows in the moment that he’s being fleeced, but his math is so weak that he can’t actually argue back. I wonder if he got back home, combed through footage, calculated the numbers, and fumed impotently.

girlfriday: I’m sure he did. But this is the problem with being bad at math: there’s no stopping Seo-jin the next time.

javabeans: There’s a clip of Seo-jin taking a taxi on their last day and just walking away after thanking the driver, and from a different camera angle we see a producer scurrying up to settle the bill. HAHA. You could see in Seo-jin’s face that he was testing out his theory, and the production team totally took the bait. He says that he didn’t study particularly hard in college but got good grades in accounting, and the caption very pettily complains, “He grows his funds by conning.” Na PD is getting all his digs in in post-production.

girlfriday: And then when he points out Na PD’s math weakness, the captions say that the “perpetrator” is adding insult to injury by “dissing the victim.” Pffft. The captions are cracking me up. He totally went home, did the math, and is getting his revenge waaay after the fact.

javabeans: Ha, is Gu halbae really referring to soju as “medicine”? He gets a call from Il-sub halbae (who left earlier) who is labeled his “medicine friend.”

girlfriday: The rest of that day goes by pretty uneventfully, and the next morning Seo-jin goes down to eat breakfast on his own. He reads the news on his phone while he eats, and comes across a story that says Grandpas Over Flowers is making lots of money, and he complains, “Why aren’t you giving any of this to us?” This is pretty much just The Money Episode, isn’t it?

javabeans: All the Seo-jin captions are cracking me up today. Maybe because I picture tiny Na PD in the editing room, vindictively typing them in. “This is why he resorts to scamming the show.” “Pissy 43-year-old mad that he didn’t get allowance.”

girlfriday: Can’t you see him getting all foot-stompy and shouting No, put that in pink! And bold it!

javabeans: Bigger font! Swooshy sound effect! There’s a sequence where Seo-jin comments on how sensitive he is regarding his sleeping habits, which reminds me a lot of Kim Seung-woo in 1N2D who insisted the same and then was out like a light. Cut to: Seo-jin slumped over in the bus, mouth agape.

girlfriday: The setup for that is pretty great because Seo-jin swears no one could sleep on that bus because it was so rickety. On the other hand we have Soon-jae halbae, who, as Na PD points out, never complains about anything.

javabeans: It’s a pretty admirable (even if it’s common-sense) approach; he’s all, You just get used to it. You sleep where you sleep, you eat where you eat. What’s there to be uncomfortable about?

girlfriday: He really never complains even about the tiniest rooms. They lucked out with a mat-hyung who’s so agreeable.

javabeans: Though I suppose their maknae makes up for it, ha.

girlfriday: True dat.

javabeans: How like Soon-jae halbae to start asking about the animals in Taiwan. Na PD asks if he has pets at home, and he says that he had a dog once but it died of old age, and then hilariously he corrects his word choice mid-sentence so that he uses the elevated term for the dog. Aw.

girlfriday: Awww. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone speak of their dog respectfully in jondae like that. After the longest bus ride ever, they go to the opera house where part of the experience is getting to watch the performers put on their stage makeup before the show.

javabeans: There’s a camera fixed on the three members as they watch the performance, and there’s this whole sequence pointing out what a bad spectator Seo-jin is, yawning and checking his watch, contrasting with the halbaes’ enjoyment.

girlfriday: On the last day, Gu halbae and Seo-jin take a tour of an old mine, which called for hardhats.

javabeans: They eat lunch there and as they’re sitting down with (what else?) ice cream (always the ice cream), Gu halbae takes a call offering him a CF. Cute, they congratulate him and the caption calls him the hottest CF star.

girlfriday: Back at the interview, Na PD shows them the list of the actresses set to go on the next trip, and both Gu halbae and Seo-jin have this hilariously frozen nervous expression.

javabeans: Seo-jin is all, I can’t go on that trip and Gu halbae says they’ve all got strong personalities so it’ll be important to find a way to balance them all out.

girlfriday: Na PD admits he fully expects at least one fight to break out. HA.

javabeans: Seo-jin points out that one of the actresses is his peer, and yet one of them is going on a trip as a member and the other got roped into being luggage boy. We get a glimpse of Lee Mi-yeon (Merchant Kim Man-deok, A Company Man) taking a meeting with Na PD, laughing that this is the first time her mother told her NOT to do something.

girlfriday: She starts describing things she likes to do while traveling, like nice restaurants, expensive hotels… um… has she watched this show?

javabeans: Which is why Na PD says, “Well, you can pay for that on your own…” LOL. She seems really sassy and fun, though, tossing out jokes and talking up a storm. Guess we’ll have to see how it goes next month.

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