Youths Over Flowers in Africa: Episode 6

by girlfriday

javabeans: And the trip ends today! We have one more episode next week, but that’ll be the “director’s cut” scenes, while today will take us to the end of the trip proper.

girlfriday: I’m excited to see more of Victoria Falls, which we got a peek of at the end of the last episode. We open on a pretty long intro today, summing up the whole journey until now, and then catch up to the boys as they arrive at their final destination.

javabeans: They walk a ways until they get to a good vantage point, and then just gape with mouths open in wonder. Bo-gum has this big grin on his face as he says, “I can’t think of anything.” Jae-hong looks the most emotional, and interviews that he thought of his parents, and how he was thankful to be born. There’s something about grandeur in nature that makes people emotional, isn’t there?

girlfriday: Yeah there’s just an inexplicable sense of wonder that is universal. It makes you feel small, in a good way.

javabeans: I suppose it makes your stressful life seem trivial, in the sense that the bad things don’t matter quite so much. I’m amazed they can get that close to the edge of the falls, looking straight down to the bottom. I guess I’m just used to the American way, where they’d put up rails all over and make it feel amusement park-y.

girlfriday: I know, the trail leads right up to the edge, and they lean precariously over the rocks to look directly down. It’s cool and a little scary.

javabeans: Don’t you want to reach into the screen and wipe the lenses? Sometimes I like the water droplet effect because it feels up-close and real, but a lot of the shots are obscured here.

girlfriday: I was just thinking that. They’re getting totally soaked, and the only shots that aren’t covered in water are the helicam shots. The boys have to be peeled away from the waterfall’s edge because it’s closing time for the park, so they grab their cameras and everyone starts running.

javabeans: It’s dusk when they exit the park, thanking their director and crew for the opportunity, and then it’s time to find lodgings for the night. They get to one place and are shown the room, but it’s not exactly what they’re hoping for — there are literally no lights in the room, there’s no hot water, and the cold water tap has dirt in it. It’s their last night, so they try looking for another place (and ha, Jae-hong’s phone wallpaper is the Answer Me 1988 poster).

girlfriday: Fingers crossed for a place with clean, hot water!

javabeans: The next place they try is worlds better, and has a suite-like feel.

girlfriday: Yay for the boys, and yay for Jae-hong, who’s super proud of finding this room on his first time booking a hotel.

javabeans: LOL, I love how they decide to handle the money issue, which takes the PD completely by surprise. Kyung-pyo hands them the very last of their money — 20 American dollars — and says that starting tomorrow, they will rely entirely on the production team. The PD is sort of all, “You’re… doing what? What do you want me to do with this?”

girlfriday: HA. They totally ran out of money!

javabeans: Don’t you love that instead of begging or bargaining, they’re proposing this like it’s an actual deal?

girlfriday: They’re like, we got to the falls like you asked, so we’re good now. It cracks me up that they’re treating the 20 dollars like it’s leftover money. It’s not like the staff can argue and just leave them behind though.

javabeans: Or have a final day of blank footage. It’s like the final bluff: “Well, don’t you want to make a good show? We have no money, but if you want us to do things, you can pay for them. *waits silently*” I wish we got to see more of the discussion afterward, because I want to know exactly what the crew decided. But we just pick up in the morning, with the boys setting out to go rafting.

girlfriday: Yeah, huge missed opportunity there, to put a camera on Na PD’s face when the money thing came up.

javabeans: Maybe we’ll get it next week in the director’s cut? We can hope.

girlfriday: There’s a lot of prep time before rafting, like just putting on the gear and driving and walking.

javabeans: Yeah it takes a while to get on the river. It looks like they take up two rafts: The four youths and a VJ in one, and more camera crew in the other. Ha, the first rapids they hit are called Creamy White Buttocks, which the guide explains as originating with an American rafter who lost their pants in the water. Everyone moves to tighten their waistbands.

girlfriday: That’s hilarious. I’d hate to be the tourist it was named after.

javabeans: It could’ve been worse, it could’ve been Pasty White Buttocks.

girlfriday: Lol, there are still more rapids coming up, you never know!

javabeans: Finally they hit white water, and it looks like a lot of fun. I do think mounting GoPros on their wrists was a useless endeavor, though, because man do I not want to be the guy sorting through that footage.

girlfriday: You know some maknae PD got motion sickness that day.

javabeans: Maybe it’s the same maknae PD who’s crouching at the front of their boat with a selfie stick. Poor guy, haha.

girlfriday: He can’t even turn around to see what’s coming!

javabeans: I wonder if this is the only Youths cast that could handle white-water rafting, not because of the activity but because it requires a lot of English-language instruction by the guide at every step. Can you imagine the other casts kind of trying to guess?

girlfriday: I was just thinking that the Iceland boys would be a disaster. Jung-seok would be all, Wait, I need to put that in my translation app!

javabeans: And wasn’t it Laos where Baro and Ho-joon even gave up trying to understand instructions? They would’ve just expected Yeon-seok to save them.

girlfriday: Also, Ho-joonie can’t swim.

javabeans: Even more reason they would’ve died without Yeon-seok. At one point in a calm part of the river, the guide playfully pushes Bo-gum, who does a slow-motion fall into the water. Joon-yeol gets up to give him a hand…. and Jae-hong shoves his butt into the water too. So of course he’s next to get pulled in, and he floats halfway to the other boat before eventually making it back.

girlfriday: They make a pitstop at a diving rock, which just looks like a lot of fun. They’re nervous about the big jump at first, but they all love it once they’re in the water.

javabeans: They lose two of their GoPros, though, with Joon-yeol and the VJ both coming up without the one on their wrists. There’s a whole sad-song sequence with the VJ looking forlorn. He’s not gonna cry, is he?

girlfriday: Do you think it’s his first day?

javabeans: You can practically hear him berating himself, “You had ONE job!” They get pounded by a particularly strong wave and capsize, and things actually look a little frantic as the guide pulls them out of the water. Kyung-pyo is drifting the farthest, but gets picked up by the kayak that was trailing the group.

girlfriday: That was scary for a minute.

javabeans: Using footage from Kyung-pyo’s wrist camera, we only barely see his foot in frame but can hear how winded he sounds as he thanks his rescuer. Lol, I have a GoPro and now I feel like I’ve been using it all wrong.

girlfriday: Right? Apparently we need to be doing very dangerous things with it.

javabeans: Finally they get to the finish line of the course and climb out of the boat to go rest. The hike up the hill is pretty hard on Jae-hong, though, so he lags behind huffing and puffing, and jokes to the VJ that they’re stopping so he can rest. I love the visual of him standing there exhausted and resting while all these guys walk by carrying kayaks with one hand.

girlfriday: All we need is for an old lady to lap him.

javabeans: The PDs tell them that bungee jumping is next (don’t you love how the staff decides to just do everything now that money isn’t a factor?), and Joon-yeol and Bo-gum opt in, while the others offer to cheer them on. Haha. After having seen them on the trip thus far, that seems in character.

girlfriday: Yeah I’m not surprised at all. I figure it was a huge deal for Jae-hong and Kyung-pyo to jump off that diving rock back there. They eat a big hearty lunch of chicken and curry and then head off to bungee jump.

javabeans: They arrive at the Victoria Falls Bridge, and there are even videos playing of people who’ve taken their GoPros on the jump… which just solidifies Kyung-pyo and Jae-hong’s decisions not to jump. Really, nobody should be watching that video before they do it!

girlfriday: I’m pretty sure they say the same thing about childbirth. Even the other boys get a little scared when they see the bridge up close, because that’s a very long fall.

javabeans: You can’t think too hard about this, otherwise you’ll psych yourself out! I say just jump and let the body handle it. Kyung-pyo and Jae-hong chuckle about how they’re not up for the jump and how they’re fine with the decision, but then we fast-forward to after the trip when Kyung-pyo admits he’s disappointed he didn’t jump.

girlfriday: I would be if I passed it up. It’s not like there are bridges that high to bungee jump off of everywhere.

javabeans: Even so, it’s funny how both Joon-yeol and Bo-gum go off to be checked and guided to the jumping point, saying it’ll be fun but looking like they’re going to cry. Bo-gum looks like he did when he smashed the car into the wall.

girlfriday: PD to Joon-yeol: “Aren’t you afraid of heights?” Joon-yeol: “I am. I just plan not to look before I jump.”

javabeans: I really want Na PD to be forced to jump. (I’m recalling how scared he was just to walk on a suspension bridge and got passed by grandpas.) I think he’d pee his pants.

girlfriday: Oh he’d cry for sure. No, he wouldn’t even get that far. He’d offer up his life savings not to jump. Bo-gum is up first, and even though he says he’s super nervous, he does seem to be the most excited about jumping.

javabeans: He quickly rattles off a few last words thanking the show and his hyungs and telling his family he loves them, which okay written out like this sounds like a last will and testament but in action is more of an exhilarated cheer. Then he jumps, and the whole thing looks like a big jumbled whirlwind of emotion and excitement. Also, from afar he totally looks like a rag doll on a string, eep!

girlfriday: He looks so teeny tiny! And they’re so high up that he never even lands or anything—they just reel him back up to the bridge after. Dude, the tiny walkway that Bo-gum has to walk on to get back up is scary, even after the jumping. That freaks me out.

javabeans: Next up is Joon-yeol, who I think actually might be more scared even though he’s trying harder not to let it show. His smiles are forced and he’s just very stiff, ha. But the second he’s in the air, he seems to be loving it.

girlfriday: Bo-gum watches Joon-yeol jump and then says he can’t remember his own jump, like whether he opened his eyes or not.

javabeans: The two jumpers come back rejuvenated and urge the other two to jump too, exclaiming how fun it was. They say they got plenty of vicarious satisfaction and decline, though. After they head out, the crew tells them that they’ll be ending the filming with this bungee jumping segment, and the boys get teary-eyed as they thank everyone and clap. One by one the cameras cut to black, and we cap off with individual interviews of the boys.

girlfriday: They say it feels like Answer Me finally ended, which makes sense since they kind of had a whirlwind of activity from drama to cast vacation to this.

javabeans: Why is this ending so long? Now it’s like a music video.

girlfriday: I dunno. I keep waiting for it to end.

javabeans: Not that I mind seeing cute bromancey scenes from their trip, but it’s taking a while. The boys talk about what they’ve learned from their drama characters, like Kyung-pyo becoming a stronger person through Sun-woo, and how far they’ve come, like Joon-yeol going from his million-and-a-half part-time jobs to his current success, or Bo-gum feeling like as a high schooler he had to take charge and support his family.

girlfriday: I like that Jae-hong takes that pot and the MSG back home with him, ha. Joon-yeol wins the coveted safari shirt at the end of the trip, and when Bo-gum tries to sneak the hat that comes with it, Joon-yeol jokes, “You got the wife, you’re trying to take this too?”

javabeans: It feels stirring and full of emotion, cut together with uplifting music and hearing them talk about the meaning of youth, though I suppose it packed more punch when it was the halbaes talking about it.

girlfriday: That’s always going to be true, but at least these guys seem to appreciate what they have now, while they’re still in their youth.

javabeans: And that’s a wrap! For now, at least, because next week we resume in Seoul where they gather for their reunion episode at a fake campsite on a rooftop in the city.

 
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