INSOLENTLY, GO GO - 'EPISODE 5'

The drunken students are found by Cheerleader Instructor Nam and snuck back into school, thanks to her quick thinking. The next day, she splits the cheerleading teams and assigns each a captain: Soo Ah leading Real King and Yeon Doo in charge of Baek Ho.
 
The Principal and her lackey work feverishly to find out who it was that ratted her out to the Dept. of Education. They figure out it was Teacher Yang and are intent on firing him. Some students overhear, and so they are given a gag order, threatened with expulsion if they talk. When the teacher is escorted from the classroom, Yeon Doo tearfully bids him farewell, runs immediately to a reporter outside the school, and agrees to give an interview about the school artificially inflating student accomplishments....


Kim Yeol enjoying Yeon Doo's discomfort.

Well, for once Soo Ah doesn't have an ominous air surrounding her. Instead, she takes her role as team leader extremely seriously, even making good on her promise to bring in professional cheerleaders for instruction. Meanwhile, Yeon Doo, not used to dealing with a reticent team, has no control over the Baek Ho students, who are much more interested in studying.

Finally, Eunji gets to show off her acting chops. The script kind of caged her up and made her character a little two dimensional. Here she showcases off a range of emotions, from flustered to devastated. And she does physical pain and drunk well, too. I was a little worried, because in a teen drama, the hormones are raging and they wear their emotions on their sleeve, unlike the prototypical emotionally crippled males often seen in K-drama. And it's interesting (and a bit painful) to watch Yeon Doo's formerly unflappable, cheery nature getting squeezed out of her.


Yeon Doo explaining to the teacher how much he means to her.

And as much as I thought they were shipping Kim Yeol and Yeon Doo, now they're going to tease us. Yeon Doo has no idea what happened that night, and Kim Yeol only drops obscure hints with that smug grin of his. When she gets flustered, he just teases her more, enjoying it immensely. I've never heard of him before, but Lee Won Keun plays this role with impeccable comedic timing and charm.

I like how this is playing out. There's nothing more fun than a little conflict, and they milk this for all its worth. The Principal is a dried up prune of a woman, who handles her issues by firing teachers and expelling students. When this doesn't work, she blackmails people into behaving. She's the worst example of an admin and is evil without being over the top. And, to top it all off, the Baek Ho students are delightfully difficult, undermining Yeon Doo and making you wonder if they're going to be ready for the tournament at all. And to top it off, will Yeon Doo even be there anymore once she talks?


Real King looks on, astonished as the pro cheerleaders make their entrance.

You just know a show is good when they take a rotten person and turn her into a sympathetic character, and they turned Soo Ah around this episode. It's not like she's that much better a person, but her potential suicide attempt and role as team leader have given her some humanity. She was a good character before, now she's even better. Maybe what she needed was to feel less trapped in a bad situation?
 
I dunno about you guys, but I'm all in, and seriously enjoying this drama. How about you?

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