Youths Over Flowers: Episode 11 (Final)

by javabeans

javabeans: This is a highlight episode since last week’s episode took us through the end of the Laos trip, but I’m hoping that there’ll be good tidbits in here. I don’t love highlight episodes since they feel like filler, but this production team is pretty good about finding narratives in any situation.

girlfriday: Waaaah, I don’t want this trip to ever end! I know, it’s already over. But I would watch a few more highlight reels of this cast, especially if there’s dancing involved.

javabeans: Should I link to the video again and waste 5 more minutes of everyone’s time?

girlfriday: YES. Do you even need to ask?

javabeans: FIVE MINUTES LATER….

girlfriday: Okay, we open three months after the Laos trip, in Busan.

javabeans: I’m actually really happy that they’re meeting way after the trip ended, for the boys’ sake because you get the feeling that they’re just dying to meet up again in the context of this show. It’s different than just meeting on private time, I think.

girlfriday: Yeah I don’t think it would take much to get these boys on a new trip once a year. They’re meeting in Busan because Yeon-seok is there for the film festival, and Ho-joon is shooting a movie nearby. Oh sad, Baro can’t join them because he’s busy jetting around the world with his idol group.

javabeans: That’s a bummer. The show did catch a moment with him during his trip to Osaka, but it’s not the same thing. He says he had a really big letdown after coming home, and asks if he can go again. “Do you not have any plans for another one? Lee Seo-jin sunbae-nim keeps going…”

girlfriday: Ha, he’s practically begging to be kidnapped again. Now he’s like, “I’ll pay for the plane ticket myself!” Ho-joon and Yeon-seok both agree that coming back to real life was difficult after the trip, and Yeon-seok sighs as he describes going straight to work the next day and being stuck in traffic, which just made him wish he was back in Laos.

javabeans: I love Ho-joon’s story about walking the streets here (in between filming) just in slippers and shorts, and being stopped by a random passerby who told him he enjoyed the show—and then put a pack of cigarettes in his hand. Aw! I mean, he should quit smoking but that’s sweet. It’s a reference to the airport when Yeon-seok refused to give Ho-joon cigarette money out of their puny allowance.

girlfriday: That’s hilarious. It must’ve really struck a chord, when they were so poor he had to give it up for a week.

javabeans: Ho-joon says he feels he could take his friends to Laos now and be their guide, since he’s done it once. Yeon-seok says pointedly, “And make the hotel reservations yourself?” Long beat of silence, and then Ho-joon laughs, “Maybe I need to go once more.”

girlfriday: That takes us back in time to their first night in Laos, as they settle into the hostel. Clothes start coming off, and Yeon-seok says back in the present, “I never imagined that you’d actually air us walking around in our underwear!!”

javabeans: I’m dying laughing. I guess they really just thought the show would edit that stuff out, not realizing that that’s the most interesting stuff for us!!

girlfriday: They really are too trusting. The next morning, it turns out that the boys actually did see some historical sights. I was wondering if they spent the entire time swimming and partying, but it looks like they did stop to soak in a little culture.

javabeans: Ha, if it were up to Ho-joon and Baro, they would’ve. It’s hilarious how Yeon-seok is trying to lead them to some sightseeing highlights, and the others are all, “When can we go buy clothes?” There’s this whole montage of Yeon-seok saying a variation on “There’s this temple here, and that temple there,” and Ho-joon just going, “Another temple? What are we, monks?”

girlfriday: Ho-joon is like a mini Baek Il-sub halbae. He could not be more disinterested in what they’re seeing.

javabeans: Maybe later (way later in life) they’ll be glad Yeon-seok forced them to see them. Although Yeon-seok is the other extreme—he wants to see every single temple in the book, haha.

girlfriday: Oh no, it turns out that the last temple that the other boys talked him out of seeing was the most impressive one. At least we get a glimpse, thanks to the location-scouting PDs.

javabeans: Ho-joon also reminds me of Hee-yeol, in how quickly he notices pretty girls and fixates on them. One girl boards the truck they’re riding in, and as Yeon-seok makes conversation with the French guy next to him, Ho-joon prods him to ask about the girl and whether she’s his girlfriend. Lol.

girlfriday: I love the way the guy just casually answers, “She’s my wife actually. I’m sorry.” Ha.

javabeans: Back (in the future) in Busan, Yeon-seok says the same thing the other Youths trio said, about how he’s seen all the episodes more than once, and that every time he watches it, it takes him back to the emotions of being on that trip. I think that’s such a huge added bonus of this trip, because we’ve all gone on trips that we have fond memories of, but we don’t relive them in the same way. And it’s not like we could stop and take videos of our vacations, because then we’d be so busy being cameramen that we’d forget to enjoy the traveling.

girlfriday: True, if it was playing on TV multiple times a week, it might be a lot harder to let go and move on. And let’s be honest, you and I can’t manage to stop and take one goddamn selca when we’re together, and always end up going, “Oh, why don’t we have any pictures from that trip?”

javabeans: We need to be better about that. I’ve already lost most of my twenties to my terrible memory and lack of photo skills!

girlfriday: I’m getting us a selca pole for Christmas!

javabeans: Right, because public humiliation should be a part of any journey.

girlfriday: Have you learned nothing from Youths Over Flowers? Anyway, back to the interview. After stuffing their faces with delicious fish, the writer mentions the caves that Yeon-seok took them to, which was a place the PDs didn’t even know about. They ride their bikes into the forest, and when they arrive at the entrance, Yeon-seok prods Ho-joon to go buy tickets like he’s training his son how to pay for things with money for the first time.

javabeans: He is so the mom. He’s so good at this that there’s a strangeness to watching him step back and let Ho-joon figure things out clumsily, because every birdie’s gotta learn to fly on its own. Honestly, what if this trip were just Baro and two Ho-joons? They would starve.

girlfriday: Yes, they would. It might be entertaining in a very different way, though then you run the risk of them never leaving the airport.

javabeans: I feel like in that case we’d see the stress of a documentary team, where you want them to step in and help even though that’s interfering with the purpose. I can see why they were honest-to-goodness shocked when Yeon-seok was so capable.

girlfriday: I wonder if they were expecting three Seung-gis and were shocked when one of them was a Seo-jin. The boys climb up the steep stairs built into the mountainside and take in the view, and then make their way into the caves.

javabeans: They’re amazed at the deep, seemingly endless caves, which is a cool relief from the heat outside, and pause to do the selca-pole-dance. Is there an unwritten rule where you have to do it while shuffling in a circle?

girlfriday: There must be. Clearly these rules are foreign to us. They stop to marvel at an army of ants like schoolchildren, and then wander down to the stream to dunk their feet in.

javabeans: This is where they learn that Ho-joon can’t swim, although he casts longing looks into the water. Yeon-seok dives in assures him that it’s shallow enough to stand, and Ho-joon starts paddling, and then it’s a full-out water play session. These boys really love water.

girlfriday: I wonder if this is why I like their trip so much, because I would loooooove a vacation where I got to do nothing but swim.

javabeans: I love the tiny moment when Yeon-seok applies BB cream to Baro’s face for him, skipping Ho-joon because his skin is good, and Ho-joon pouts, “Do it anyway!” You know what, he reminds me of Nae-il in Cantabile, where he’s just cutely jealous of any attention Yeon-seok gives to anyone who isn’t him. It’s so adorable.

girlfriday: And you totally get the sense that if it were anyone else, he wouldn’t give a crap about the BB cream. But someone else can’t command his Yeon-seokie’s attention! Also, it really must be the first day of the trip if they’re still trying to wear makeup.

javabeans: I know, I thought they gave up on that pretty quickly. On to the next morning, where Mommy Yeon-seok prepares breakfast.

girlfriday: Seriously, when he cuts fruit, he’s extra swoony. What is that?

javabeans: It’s the subverting of ages of gender role expectation, done in a totally unaffected way, which makes it somehow seem more masculine because he doesn’t subscribe to the thing where women cut the fruit and just does it himself, and therefore it’s hot. It’s not a conscious thing and I’m not saying it’s done intentionally at all — I think it’s the fact that it’s natural that it’s so swoony. Like, “Rules? Whatever.”

girlfriday: Yes, that’s what makes it hot. AGH. I love that even Baro knows on the second day: “We would’ve starved without you, hyung.”

javabeans: The writer (of both this show and Answer Me) laughs that if she’d known how he was, she would’ve given him a different character. He protests that he had a really hard time with that at first — Chilbongie’s the smooth city boy, “But I’m a country bumpkin!” So he was awkward and cringing at first, because it felt so weird. And the writer laughs, “Sorry!”

girlfriday: It’s so weird hearing Yeon-seok’s saturi in Busan, because he was the one character in Answer Me who didn’t have that accent.

javabeans: We watch the boys walking along a scenic but muddy path as they head up to the water caves, and I do think they appreciate the nature sights much more than the temples and buildings. As they trek along, Ho-joon gets all lovey and says to Yeon-seok, “If I had to go on a trip and could take only one necessary thing with me, I’d take you.”

girlfriday: ME TOO! The best part is, he really truly means it.

javabeans: And also, while I could say that as a joke (don’t we all need a little Yeon-seok in our lives?), for Ho-joon it’s actually true. HE WOULD DIE.

girlfriday: They get into their tubes for the cave tour, complete with flashlights on their heads. It’s actually pretty cool and a little scary, because they go through these dark narrow passageways just by pulling themselves along by a rope.

javabeans: The guide prods them to sing a Korean song, so Baro leads them in a song, and then the boys suggest that when they cross paths with another group on the other side of the cave, they should start a water fight. They are such boys! And while the lighting is bad and the camera super shaky, and all we can see is water splashing every which way, it looks so fun.

girlfriday: They end up having a great time and are disappointed when they reach the end. Then we fast-forward to later that evening, after the boys have gotten their party invitation and are now stressing about what to wear. There’s a short-lived attempt to revive the outfits they arrived in, but they give up on that idea pretty quickly and just head out in casual t-shirts.

javabeans: The producer asks Baro who partied the best at the club, and he answers definitively that it was Yeon-seok. At a point, he and Ho-joon were on the other side and they could see a crowd just gathering around Yeon-seok, who was leading them in this enthusiastic round of “I came from Korea! I love Laos!” and everyone else chimed in, arms slung around each other.

girlfriday: Ha, when the PDs tell Yeon-seok what Baro said, he complains that Baro has a loose tongue too. Funny how you seem to be the only one worried about what the other two will say.

javabeans: Yeon-seok says that it was actually this really big dilemma for them, because the other tourists were telling them they’d regret just leaving and it made them seriously consider staying.

girlfriday: It cracks me up, Yeon-seok’s endless attempts to repackage drunken events when sober.

javabeans: And then Ho-joon starts saying that Yeon-seok is really quite logical when sober, but… and Yeon-seok cuts in to shut him up.

girlfriday: There are about twenty silent looks exchanged in those few seconds, and they look like they might end up fighting, lol.

javabeans: Then Yeon-seok points out something interesting, that Ho-joon acted like the dummy who knew nothing on the trip while actually being very aware. And Ho-joon has this total smile-smirk on his face. Oh! Was he Keyser Soze?

girlfriday: He says that people constantly tell him that he’s either a genius or a dummy… which doesn’t really seem like the best set of options.

javabeans: I love that nobody’s sure.

girlfriday: Even HE seems unsure.

javabeans: Oh my god, this is the best: Ho-joon revisits the pants-splitting incident where Yeon-seok split his shorts while not wearing underwear and Ho-joon offered his. He tells Yeon-seok now that he was reading the internet comments, which pointed out that they could have swapped SHORTS instead of underwear. And Yeon-seok’s jaw just drops, like he never considered that.

girlfriday: Hahahaha. Honestly, that never occurred to me either. I love the look of shock on both their faces. Yeon-seok: “We’re morons!”

javabeans: Ho-joon says he still has the underwear Yeon-seok borrowed, which is now his most treasured pair.

girlfriday: Why am I not surprised? Then talk turns to food, and we get a parade of all the most delicious things they ate. Great, now I’m starving.

javabeans: I know, it’s just one delicious meal after the next as they pick their top choices.

girlfriday: Yeon-seok names a noodle dish that Ho-joon never got to try, because he and Baro went back to sleep on their last morning (after waking up at the crack of dawn to see the monks’ procession). Yeon-seok tells him now that he went back out to the market on his own.

javabeans: Ho-joon looks so sad to hear he missed out, but when we revisit that morning, he’s walking like a zombie. Damn that does look delicious.

girlfriday: After eating breakfast on his own, Yeon-seok wanders around the market looking for flip-flops, which must be the reason he asked Ho-joon his shoe size just before leaving them at the hotel. It seemed random at the time, but then we see in flashback that Ho-joon’s shoes were bothering him constantly, and cutting up his feet.

javabeans: Ho-joon does the thing where it’s clearly paining him but he keeps saying, “No, it’s fine, I don’t need new ones” and so Yeon-seok just does the mom thing and buys them for him.

girlfriday: It’s no wonder Ho-joon is in love with him.

javabeans: And then we get the caption telling us that now the talk starts to get more candid. Ooh. *sits forward*

girlfriday: Yeon-seok starts in about these friendship bracelets that he and Ho-joon bought at the market, excitedly promising to wear them and remember each other and the trip.

javabeans: They’d made this fuss about putting them on, but turns out Baro wasn’t as into them as his hyungs, and intends to only wear it for now because the others like it so much. Ha, and then we see pictures of Yeon-seok wearing his all over, and Ho-joon is even wearing his in a drama scene for Trot Lovers.

girlfriday: That’s adorable. Their devotion just makes Baro’s rejection sting worse. And then it turns out that Baro lost his. Ack, don’t tell the hyungs!

javabeans: Yeon-seok actually might cry as he relates this. He’s laughing, but genuinely bewildered: “How could he lose it?” Then they watch the greeting videos Baro shot a few days ago from his tour, as he shows them where he is and tells them to come here too. The hyungs look so emotional. Don’t cry!

girlfriday: Aw, they’re struggling to hold back tears. Ho-joon says that Baro often sends text messages filled with hearts now, which makes him super happy. And in his interview, Baro says genuinely that they’re really close and he feels like he has real hyungs that he can talk to about his problems for the first time in his life.

javabeans: They all say how they want to do it again, and Yeon-seok says that he wants to do it again with no planning, to just kidnap them and order them, “Get in! We’re going!” Haha, the things you pick up from Na PD. As we wind down, they give their descriptions of what youth means, with Baro calling it something you can’t buy with money, and Yeon-seok saying that it’s a time when despite your fears, you can just go headlong and run right into whatever’s confronting you.

girlfriday: It’s a nice happy feel-good ending… which fades into a montage of Seojinnie, slaving away in a field in slow motion. Muahahaha…

javabeans: Ha, nice touch to use the beleaguered-worker anthem from Les Mis. Look down, look down, you’re standing in your graaaaave…

girlfriday: There’s this flashy sequence about whole-grown organic foods and good simple cooking… and then we cut to Seo-jin complaining to Na PD: “I LIKE pesticides! I’m fine with them!”

javabeans: He addresses the VJ filming him, “Do you find this fun? Huh?” While Taec takes a knife to a fish, apologizing the whole time. I love the shot where they’re sprawled on the floor, just exhausted, and you just hear the sounds of laughing. Seo-jin: “Why are we doing this again?”

girlfriday: I feel like there’s this meta series that’s years in the making, about how Na PD drives Seo-jin into this existential crisis.

javabeans: Aw, and then their drama-moms Yoon Yeo-jung and Choi Hwa-jung (from Wonderful Season) show up to tell them their program is boring and doomed. They seem way more like a family here than in their drama!

girlfriday: Some quotes from Seo-jin during their press conference for Three Meals: “It was harder than Grandpas Over Flowers and less fun.” “When I’m with Na PD, I have no reason to smile.” “What is Na PD to me? Meaningless.” “I have no idea what this show is about.”

javabeans: Can’t wait!

 
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