Shut Up FBB babbling

Isn't this how we all feel when we watch Shut Up FBB?  We get sad right along with them at each defeat and we rejoice again when they succeed.  It's been almost 10 years since I graduated from high school but I feel like it was just yesterday when I see these kids.  Not that my high school years were ever this dramatic, but the general emotion is all there.  Remember feeling like you could own the whole world?  The passion that empowered you to reach toward your dream?  And the occasional disappointment that followed?   No, you're not going to die losing a rock band competition (or in my nerdy case an academic olympiad).  No, you're not going to die losing that cute girl (guy) you like.  Nor will you really conquer the world with one triumphant adventure.  But it sure felt like that when you were 17; every happiness elevated you to heaven and every disappointment weighed down like a thousand tons.  And this drama perfectly captures that emotional stage in our lives.

Let's take for example the sticky situation where you can't pick the girl/guy over your friends.  Clique loyalty, if my ancient self remember correctly, is a pretty big deal in high school.  So when JiHyuk forsakes his bandmates for the safety of one inconsequential girl, they all predictably blow up on him.  But he gets himself out of it by pleading the very same notion: loyalty.  He was being loyal to ByungHee by protecting his Muse… ahhh, but duncha know, Jihyuk?  That you've just got yourself in a double trap.  By cementing the idea that SoAh is still ByungHee's "muse", he's eliminated himself as a suitor.  I was half-way to rolling my eyes "what, is she ByungHee's damn widow?" but then I remember how taboo it was to be dating your friend's admired.  I can already see the fuss his gang's going to make.

The dynamics rest very gingerly on that one notion of trust and loyalty.  We can already see HyunSoo not buying into the BS, but willing to let it go for the sake of the benefit of the doubt.  And honest to God, it's not about his pretty face.  I really really like this kid as a character.  There's something so sardonic in his controlled anger and biting words that I find extremely interesting.  I mean, who else but this kid would jab a cue stick at their leader?

So yeah, let's talk about the Muse for a moment.  This drama also does us all a favor by creating a very likeable female lead.  She doesn't scream charisma, but she offers normalcy to the show.  That's not to say she's boring, because she's not.  SuAh is a goody two shoes done right.  She's independent, positive, and intelligent.  Discounting her propensity for falling into our hero (I swear I hear Epik High everytime she goes into his arms now: I'm fallin', fallin', fallin', deeper and deeper.  I'm fallin' fallin' into you~), she's neither the ditzy dim girl nor is she the meek doormat type we see so often in dramas.  She's nice, but she doesn't let people walk over her.  Like when JiHyuk judged her for being a preppy snob, she called him out on his prejudice.  Or when Ha Jin took a dig at her figure, she glared him back, offended, instead of looking shy and embarrassed.  Or when the girls in class talked trash to her, she stood up for herself and told them off.  In other words, she's refreshingly not frustrating.

And then I love it that both she and JiHyuk seek each other out like two normal people who have a thing for each other.  His effort is a bit… erm, childish.  Like, really, you're gonna throw a Dum Dum at the girl you like to get her attention?  But it's still friggin' cute, esp when it's so obvious he's smitten.

And the rooftop scene at the end of ep 6?  It's pretty much the capping, topping, smothering, and covering of my hashbrown romance.  It's freezing cold weather in the dead of winter.  She climbed up to a slippery icy metal roof because he wouldn't come down.  And their hands never let go of each other the whole time she was trying to convince him.  In a very much, "I'm here with you, so let's go together" way.  The sincerity of this scene is just perfect.  There's caring about someone, and then there's showing it.

And of course the hand-holding kiss that everyone and her mother spazz about.  I like it for all the reasons that have been listed but I liked it even more so for the old-fashioned fairy tale feel of a hand hold and the stability it offers.  Don't you feel like they're about to dance on that rooftop?

Hee, sorry I go all over the place in my post, but my brain is disorganized like that.  Have a bonus cap of my puppy HyunSoo.  He may bite, but the fluffy pup still needs love.