Youths Over Flowers in Iceland: Episode 3

by girlfriday

javabeans: So Haneul joins the party in Iceland, and after the group makes dinner in their apartment, they decide to head out to see what Friday night out is like. They all get ready to head out, with Jung-seok checking himself in the mirror, Sang-hoon asking for skin cream, and Jung Woo… did he just smell his socks?

girlfriday: Gross. He’s such a dude. Maybe the Garbage character wasn’t all the writer’s imagination?

javabeans: The VJs take the night off so it’s just our Four Stones and a handheld camera as they head into the city, and pause outside a bar playing live music. They peer in through the windows and Sang-hoon starts dancing on the sidewalk, but rather than go in, he laughs, “We’re hanging around outside because we have no money!”

girlfriday: That’s so sad. Walking along on the snowy streets does look fun though, or maybe they just have fun doing whatever.

javabeans: Jung Woo suggests jokingly, “Let’s spend allllll our money tonight!” and Sang-hoon readily agrees. I know they don’t mean it, but I can totally see them running out of money and not being that stressed about it.

girlfriday: I can also see them spending all their money without realizing it. They eventually return to their room and just hang out there with some beers.

javabeans: Jung-seok starts telling a story about a musical he did with Sang-hoon hyung, and it was a full house on opening night when they were onstage. The choreography had them standing still and then burst into a dance stepping to the right, but of course Sang-hoon went in the opposite direction. Haneul dies laughing at the reenactment.

girlfriday: Talk of music gets them all worked up and animated (this is clearly what they have in common), and Sang-hoon suddenly decides that they should buy a guitar. LOL. You are too poor for that!

javabeans: You get four musical actors together and I guess this is what happens.

girlfriday: They’re serious too, because Haneul says they sell guitars just down the street, and they launch into a meeting to debate whether they should spend their money on a freaking guitar.

javabeans: Ah, the infamous team meetings. They really sound like they’re discussing it in earnest and Haneul chimes in that he sees the value in them. The show notes that he’s now joined the others in “showing symptoms of meeting addiction.”

girlfriday: They decide that buying one now and having the guitar for more days is better than waiting just to find the right price, and Jung-seok actually gets dressed to go out and buy one RIGHT THIS MINUTE.

javabeans: It’s Friday night and the stores are closed! I can’t believe they would spend money on a guitar over, I dunno, food or hotel or actually seeing Iceland’s nightlife.

girlfriday: I know, they’re nuts!

javabeans: LOL, they debated for 30 minutes and the attempt is over within 1 minute.

girlfriday: Hahahaha. Those team meetings are the best. They head to bed in their new PJs, and then in the morning Sang-hoon cooks a breakfast of rice, bread, and what else—hot dogs.

javabeans: Jung-seok gets excited busting out his translator app to ask how to borrow a broom… but the app doesn’t work, wah wahhhh. He manages pretty well with his broken English, I might add—it’s just that he feels super self-conscious about it. Then he tells the crew that he’s discovered a weekend flea market and is looking forward to checking it out.

girlfriday: He’s planning to buy shoes there, though how much do you wanna bet they’ll also walk away with a guitar? The whole time he’s talking, he’s sweeping all the snow off the car, and then when he’s fiiiinally done, he looks down at the street and discovers that he just shoved all the snow right into the car’s path and trapped it there. Ha.

javabeans: We get an interview of him bragging about how good he is at driving in snowy conditions, like he’s got some kind of sixth sense about feeling the road, which makes me think he’s in for an embarrassment in 3… 2… 1…

girlfriday: He has some trouble pulling out, but he manages to get the car out and the guys cheer. They drive to the flea market and stop to ask for directions on the way, and discover that it’s nearby.

javabeans: They head there on foot, realizing too late that the snow is much deeper than they thought, and get their feet totally soaked. Oh, Haneul is still wearing his dress shoes! Poor ruined awards shoes.

girlfriday: Poor freezing feet. I love that Jung Woo holds Haneul’s hand like he’s a 5-year-old little brother.

javabeans: They make it to the flea market, which is thankfully indoors and quite large. And I just noticed that the title of today’s episode is “Shall we spend some money?”

girlfriday: Maybe there was a reason they only ate hot dogs.

javabeans: I really hope they have a side clothing/kidnapping allowance because just one pair of shoes costs nearly 70 dollars. Jung Woo goes looking for hiking boots, and starts mixing Korean and English indiscriminately with the shopkeeper. “Here… down… that one… more down!”

girlfriday: He cracks me up. He doesn’t even realize what he’s doing, or why people don’t understand him.

javabeans: Aw, Haneul keeps assuring his hyungs that he doesn’t have to buy new clothes since he doesn’t want to spend too much on himself, and says that his dress pants are winterwear and therefore pretty warm. Dude, you’re wearing a tux. Buy new clothes!

girlfriday: Seriously, or at the very least, some long underwear! This flea market is crazy expensive. Everything they pick up is way out of their price range.

javabeans: It ain’t no Dongdaemun, that’s for sure—it seems more like regular retail prices. They manage to buy necessities like gloves and shoes and pants, and head out feeling satisfied. That can’t have been cheap, but I do remember that the PD told Haneul they’d buy him clothing when they kidnapped him, so I’m hoping this falls into that budget and not, you know, the one they need to feed themselves.

girlfriday: Oh well that’s a relief. I still didn’t see any of them buying extra underwear, but maybe that’s not on their priority list.

javabeans: I think we’ve established their priorities are maybe a little backwards. I can’t believe they were going to buy a guitar before they got Haneul shoes. They drive out intending to go to the hot springs, and stop to ask for directions.

girlfriday: A quick flash-forward shows them trekking through snowy mountains and wondering where they are… This doesn’t look good.

javabeans: They drive according to the directions until they come to a fork in the road… and just pick one and come to another fork… and just pick one and keep going. It makes me nervous how they’re saying stuff like “It must be up there” or “We probably have to go this way” since they’re basically winging it now.

girlfriday: At one point the crew points them in the right direction because they keep going the wrong way, and they play it off like they meant to stop to look at the pretty horses.

javabeans: I love how Jung-seok points out that the crew must’ve been really frustrated with them to interfere. It’s like in those nature documentaries, right? Where you want to stay out of it but also can’t watch animals heading into danger?

girlfriday: Yeah it has to be pretty bad for them to stop and give them the right directions.

javabeans: They arrive at the base and start up the snowy hillside, all into it while the crew kinda hangs back. Do they know something we don’t, or are they just afraid of the hike? They’ve only gone a short way before Na PD is gasping and saying he doesn’t want to go, ha.

girlfriday: Lol, I remember Na PD saying in interviews that he doesn’t like to travel. Hiking on top of it must be torture. Sang-hoon forcefully drags him along, and Na PD whines the whole time, “I never liked hot springs! Am I the only one having a hard time? Do we have to go OVER that mountain?”

javabeans: The show maps out the route to the final destination, which is a 3 km hike, and I’m thinking there’s no time for this with the sun setting! Jung Woo suggests to Na PD that “the elders” stay back while they pop over to the hot springs real quick, and Na PD agrees with hilarious speed, happy to quit the hike.

girlfriday: This is no joke, their hike. At least the surroundings are beautiful, because it looks painfully difficult. And cold.

javabeans: And at least the guys are all pretty fit, since they seem to be faring pretty well — Jung Woo’s even jogging along happily, while the others notice the writer lagging and take her bag to carry. They pause one-third of the way in for another team meeting, wondering if they go all the way and risk a dark and difficult return route. They all agree it might be hard, but they feel it’s such a waste to not finish that they decide to keep going.

girlfriday: I think if I were them, I’d want to be lied to that they were more than halfway. At one-third, I might turn back.

javabeans: They convene another team meeting to discuss the impact on the crew, worried that it’s hard on their staff. But the staff vote of whether to continue or head back splits down the middle, until Jung-seok points out, “The time will slip away while we’re here in our meeting. Let’s go!”

girlfriday: I’m glad someone said it! Those team meetings, I swear.

javabeans: I love them! (But would probably hate to be stuck in all of them.) They do finally make it to the hot springs while the sun is still up, and cheer, “The dummies did it!” Oh, wait, are they actually intending to bathe there?

girlfriday: They are! These guys are crazy, but I love that they just do stuff and figure out the consequences later.

javabeans: Jung-seok: “What’ll we do about our panties?” Sang-hoon: “We’ll have to wear them in, then take them off and go commando on the way back.” LOL, the show draws cartoon underwear on the boys as they get into the water. Watching them stumble over each other and babble like fools is so entertaining. There’s a lot of yelping and shouting.

girlfriday: Apparently none of them can swim, because they don’t even go into the large main pool and kind of huddle in the shallow area, holding on for dear life.

javabeans: Man, getting out of that pool into the cold is going to be painful. They do eventually get dressed and head back feeling good (someone notes, “I think we had six meetings throughout it all”).

girlfriday: Jung-seok interviews that he would’ve regretted turning back, and they all agree on their hike down that the feeling is so different going down than coming up.

javabeans: They sound all philosophical in their individual interviews about how glad they were to complete the trek. By the way I love the song choice here, which is “Twenty vs Thirty” and all about being bold and unafraid when you’re young, and more cautious as you get older.

girlfriday: They’re all really happy and proud for staying the course, and safely make it back down the mountain as the sun sets (making for some gorgeous shots). The boys jump and yelp in glee, and Na PD casually says he was busy tending to other things, but then eventually hangs his head in apology, “It was too hard!”

javabeans: It’s funny because it looks like Na PD has the most cold-weather hiking gear on and is the most prepared to go… he’s just a wimp. They drive out, and hilariously, Jung-seok takes the same wrong turn he took last time. And suddenly, the car sinks into snow that wasn’t as packed as it seemed and they get stuck.

girlfriday: Ack, and it’s getting dark too! The other three boys get out to push the car while Jung-seok drives, and Sang-hoon instructs him on which way to turn the wheel. For some bizarre reason he tells Jung-seok to put it in first gear instead of reverse, and for some strange reason Jung-seok listens to him.

javabeans: Eventually they push the car out and cheer wildly. I have to say, it’s really endearing how this group treats the smallest accomplishment like they’ve just climbed Everest. And also how they take all the setbacks in stride too. Jung-seok feels really bad about spraying Sang-hoon with mud and snow in one of the attempts to push the car out of the hole, and offers to wash his clothes later while Sang-hoon is in his pajamas. But Sang-hoon adds the sad detail that it was so cold he wore his pajamas underneath, so everything he has is now dirtied.

girlfriday: They eventually make it to town and stop at the first chicken place they see because they’ve been talking about wanting fried chicken all day long. While they wait, they talk about their chances of seeing the Aurora Borealis, and a staffer shows them an app where they give daily numbers for the chances of seeing them, and Sang-hoon complains that they weren’t told about this earlier. Meanwhile Jung-seok is stressing out about where to stay for the night, and just decides to reserve a room for four.

javabeans: Sang-hoon and Haneul rejoin the party in the car, and Sang-hoon says, in a dire voice, “We have a really serious problem right now!” I’m expecting something big, and he concludes, “The potatoes are cooling. You know how they don’t taste good when they’re cold!” Though I’ll admit to feeling the pain of smelling hot food in a car you have to sit in when you can’t eat yet.

girlfriday: This is why I always end up eating french fries in the car. They make it to their lodgings for the night and Haneul succeeds in communicating with the owner so handily that the guys wonder what Jung-seok’s role will be if Haneul is their new brain. Jung-seok: “I’ll just drive…”

javabeans: They eat six servings of chicken, then pop in the kitchen for ramyun on top of it all. They’re such dudes.

girlfriday: Today I feel their mad hunger though. They climbed up so far in the snow and had to wait so long to eat!

javabeans: Haneul does the dishes afterward, and Jung Woo sneaks in behind him, crouching there to wait for his moment to surprise him. It cracks me up how long it takes that Jung Woo starts getting bored, until fiiiiiinally Haneul turns and gives him that reaction he wanted.

girlfriday: That is some dedication to comedy right there

javabeans: Sang-hoon runs over their finances, and is pleased that they’re in good shape. They’d used a lot before, so I guess their hot dog diet was a conscious effort to save money, and now he reports that they’ve got plenty, and can even spend more. He almost seems upset that they were too careful before.

girlfriday: It’s almost sad, the way he sighs that people who’ve never had money don’t know how to spend it. When he suggests they eat out tomorrow, Jung-seok worries, “What if it’s really expensive?” I’ve never once seen a cast on a Na PD show wonder why they had too much money left over.

javabeans: Also it makes me really hope they’re not wrong somehow. Like they added a zero somewhere or something.

girlfriday: That would be sad, but it would make more sense. They dance and sing and hang out for a while, and then Jung Woo eats a third(!) dinner.

javabeans: They share stories about their parents’ own artistic sides (Jung-seok’s parents had dance talents, Jung Woo’s father did theater) and marvel that it’s in their blood. It’s something they all have in common, and it’s neat to hear actors talk about how their parents feel tied to their work and some even feel they’re fulfilling their unrealized dreams for them. I guess I’m more used to hearing how celebrities’ parents are so opposed to them going into showbiz, which is a sentiment I totally get. It’s just rarer the other way around.

girlfriday: Yeah I think their stories are more unusual, and it’s interesting that all four of them had parents who were supportive of their dreams. I’m glad for them because they all struggled as actors and took a while to be known and recognized for their talents.

javabeans: They chat for a while about their dreams for happy families, then get ready for bed. I hope that somewhere in the mountains of unaired footage is scenes of someone doing massive amounts of laundry, ‘cause I sure don’t see it with my own eyes.

girlfriday: But… if they were doing laundry, we’d see it like we did every day on the Laos trip, no?

javabeans: I just really don’t want to think about the alternative. The guys all talk about wanting to see the Aurora Borealis, and peek out the window just in case. Jung-seok even gets up in the middle of the night and walks outside for a while, but no lights.

girlfriday: One of the cameras shows that the lights did show up at the crack of dawn, but just for a brief moment. Omg, did Haneul and Jung Woo cuddle all night long? They wake up all snuggly.

javabeans: Like dogs in a pile. They pack up and head out to see another waterfall, Skogafoss, driving out in good spirits, listening to one of Jung-seok’s songs from a musical.

girlfriday: It’s so cold that the spray from the waterfall makes ice on top of the snow.

javabeans: It looks like something out of a fantasy movie, the way the water has frozen in motion, giving it a weird, ethereal look all around the waterfall. They decide to climb up to the top of the falls from the base, and that’s where we end, on an ominous note. I’m guessing it’s a lot harder than it looks, hm?

girlfriday: Well it can’t possibly be harder than yesterday’s mountain trek, right?

javabeans: Never say never…

 
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