Like Flowers in Sand: Episodes 5-6
by missvictrix
As we attain our drama’s midpoint this week, we achieve a bit of extra perception on not solely the undercover case, however no matter secret the city has been making an attempt to overlook. As ever, ssireum is on the middle all the pieces on this city, and our hero must determine simply how a lot it means to him, too.
EPISODES 5-6
Our episode opens with Baek-du narrating all of the life classes he discovered on manhood from his father — good issues like addressing as an alternative of avoiding challenges, and conserving your phrase. However Baek-du says he doesn’t pay attention effectively to his father… after which we see him up on the first light triumphantly saying his return to his teammates within the gymnasium.
Baek-du may not dwell by his father’s ethical code, but it surely’s apparent he lives by his personal, and on this week’s episodes we see it at play over and over. Baek-du rejoins the crew, however he shoulders a bunch of ridicule from now-coach Jin-su, and doesn’t push again in any respect. Then, Baek-du can’t carry himself to go to the crew dinner due to the “stolen” $40, and it’s Jin-su’s mother that has to smack (actually) some sense into him and set his coronary heart comfortable.
Baek-du has all the time been this manner, and though Yoo-kyung scoffs and scolds him, it’s so clear that there’s nobody fairly as pure-hearted as Baek-du. In a flashback to their childhood, we see Baek-du all the time taking the exhausting street to both shield his buddies or guarantee that they get what they need (like relinquishing the crew captain function to Jin-su so a few years in the past).
One other plot level the place this comes out this week is with IM DONG-SEOK (Kim Tae-jung), the wrestler who skilled in Geosan after which jumped over to a brand new crew. He’s additionally the one which defeated Baek-du in that “retirement” match after the decision from the ref.
That individual match is now underneath a lot scrutiny, since Coach Yeon’s dealings previously are coming to gentle. The ssireum crew reluctantly admits, one after the other, the cash they as soon as lent to him when he was determined — and it’s such a tragic but snigger out loud second when, after all, Baek-du lent him the hugest quantity of all.
As everybody rapidly acknowledges, heavy playing debt is all the time linked to “that different factor”: match-fixing. And that turns into the main target of Baek-du and Dong-seok’s previous match. Did Coach Yeon actually instruct Dong-seok to throw the match? And did all of it go awry after the ref’s name? Was his dying a consequence of that? Relatively than proceed to invest (sheesh guys), Yoo-kyung decides to journey to go ask Dong-seok himself — and who pops up on the bus to affix her like an excited grade-schooler however Baek-du.
At this level, Baek-du doesn’t have the self-awareness to understand how a lot he cares for Yoo-kyung (past their comfy outdated bestie vibes). Even so, he tells her that he got here again to the ssireum crew due to her, which was obtained by her in as swoony a means because it sounds. However, when she asks if which means Baek-du likes her, Baek-du acts like he’s by no means heard something so absurd. Foolish boy.
The 2 meet with Dong-seok, and these scenes are amongst my favourite of the week. Dong-seok is being ostracized for the mere gossip of probably partaking in throwing a match, and it’s clear he’s completely torn up. Dong-seok is aware of why they’re there, and has to offer his testimony to the affiliation tomorrow, however earlier than he can clarify, Baek-du out Baek-du’s himself.
Beneath the guise of checking on Dong-seok’s enamel after the match (I don’t know something about this however I assume tooth harm is a typical occasion on this sport of brute power and leverage), what Baek-du really winds up doing is encouraging and comforting him. Whereas Yoo-kyung was there for her case, Baek-du was simply there to make his fellow athlete really feel higher.
This sequence of scenes turns into one other of the significant and refined moments that this drama is so good at: not so much is occurring on the floor, however within the midst of those conversations, there’s a lot coronary heart, a lot characterization, and a few rattling good performing too.
With headway on Yoo-kyung’s investigation — and the shock goldmine of Han-ra’s footage from the match — it appears to be like like they’ll be capable to determine extra events concerned within the match-rigging earlier than lengthy. However earlier than that may occur, there’s the following championship to fret about. And though the matches are already set, and Baek-du has been practising exhausting, Jin-su decides to withdraw Baek-du from your complete championship. At first, Baek-du takes it — he’s stunned and dissatisfied however doesn’t battle it.
In distinction, this transfer pushes Yoo-kyung over the sting, and she or he confronts Jin-su over his determination, suggesting that what he sees as Baek-du’s weak spot is definitely his personal intuitive technique. It’s right here that we get some perception on Jin-su, although (lastly! I lerv him a lot however he’s so exhausting to learn). “Baek-du is probably the most gifted wrestler I’ve ever seen,” he says. “That fool simply doesn’t know the right way to use his expertise.”
It’s time for one more heart-to-heart, and that is the place the theme of Baek-du’s selfless habits comes collectively from all our episodes up to now. Yoo-kyung tells Baek-du that he can’t all the time relinquish to different individuals and he has to cease placing others earlier than himself. He’s not chargeable for them; he’s chargeable for himself. And so, one thing lastly clicks for him. He runs all the way in which to fulfill Jin-su and never solely tells him that he additionally wished to be crew captain so a few years in the past, but additionally insists that he compete within the championship.
You go, Baek-du! Whereas I like his form coronary heart, and the way he all the time places others first, Baek-du wanted this push to actually seize onto what he loves and to have the ability to battle for it. (And I’ve stated it earlier than however I’ll say it once more — Jang Dong-yoon is simply killing this function.)
Whereas that takes care of our fundamental storyline, within the background to this Hyun-wook has been wandering round doing a little low profile investigating. I discover his character very fascinating, and identical to he stated of Baek-du, they’ve their instinct in frequent.
Hyun-wook is aware of that there’s one thing to the Doo-shik whispers he’s been listening to, and between what he gleans on his personal and thru Mi-ran, he lastly confronts Yoo-kyung. “You’re Oh Doo-shik,” he tells her. His capacity to suss this out says so much about him as a personality, and it additionally helps be part of our previous and current storylines as a result of the rumor is that one thing comparable went down so a few years in the past, earlier than Doo-shik left city, and solely she, her dad, and her dad’s good friend know the reality.
Along with enjoyable reveal moments like this one, and the actually sturdy dialogue between our main characters as they work together, the drama continues to be sprinkling in its distinctive humor, too — the mukbang dialog among the many hyungs, Baek-du flustering Yoo-kyung making an attempt to show you’ll be able to see your reflections in individuals’s eyeballs, and different such moments. By some means, the drama strikes so buoyantly it’s capable of carry all these shifting elements and preserve itself from sinking too deeply into what might simply weigh it down. Main factors for execution but once more.
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