Bunch Of Raccoons In A Trenchcoat

- Despite their begging, Ms. Han’s not coming back. Even if she did, there’d be no point -- MK Junior don’t trust her. Woohyun and In-Young definitely don’t trust her. It’s up to Mr. Jang to figure out where to go from here. 

- Seung-Yeon doesn’t tell the boys until later, but her return to the group came at the cost of being disowned by her parents. She’s living with her uncle now. He’s just as much of a slob, and won’t stop crying to her about how much he misses Ms. Han and wish she hadn’t left.

- Woohyun calls a press conference to announce that he will be leaving M2 and moving into a team leader/producer role at the agency. When asked whether this is an official retirement from music, he gives no comment. 

- When it rains, it pours. The non-graduating members of M2 schedule a meeting with Mr. Jang to inform him that they wish to continue as the group without Woohyun or any additional members. Ms. Han’s marketing and management always presented Woohyun as the focus; the remaining group wants to challenge their fans to support them without him. 

- Naturally, M2 Junior is devastated -- no spots in M2 means that the showcase is pointless, right? WRONG. Mr. Jang, seeing the opportunities for the agency’s survival disappearing right before his eyes, drops a bombshell decision: the showcase will go ahead, with the company scores and fan votes determining which of their favorite M2 Junior trainees will feature in a professional debut. Anyone who receives less than 5,000 votes will be eliminated from consideration entirely, regardless of the company’s scores. If only one member meets the vote requirement, then that member will debut as a solo act--if no one does, then none of the members will sign a contract. 

- Seung-Yeon acts excited about this, but secretly she’s terrified. Will anybody vote for her, regardless of her musical talent, now that they know she’s Mr. Jang’s niece, and that she’s been a woman the whole time? And that’s not even considering the rumors that Woohyun cheated on In-Young with her...She’s not the only one worried, but she has perhaps the greatest reason to be. After a conversation with Woohyun, she decides to perform the song that they wrote together 

- Showcase day comes. Each member performs their best; even though they are competing now, each finds small moments to show support for the others:

 Ji-Woo lets Dong-Woo borrow his jacket when his is just a bit too tight. All the scandals have triggered some stress-eating, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him gaining a little weight back; he just deserves to be comfortable.

Dong Woo switches spots with Tae-Kwon to go first, so Tae-Kwon can have more time to warm up. 

Tae-Kwon rushes to accompany Chang Min on piano when his music goes out only a few minutes into his performance. 

Chang Min brings water bottles for the group and jokes that Hyung Seung should “set a better example, as our leader.” 

Hyung-Seung gives Ki Beom a pep talk, seeing that he’s apprehensive about what people will think of him after reading his "X-file”. He compliments the other member’s dancing, acknowledging him as a true rival who he’d like to learn from.

Ki Beom pays a street singer to borrow his guitar when Jae-Ah’s goes mysteriously missing (probably swiped by a couple of fan-girls). 

Jae-Ah starts cheering for Seung-Yeon backstage when the opening lines to her performance is met with dead, judgmental silence. This gives her the confidence to push through.

Seung Yeon tells Ji Woo that his voice is a gift that he should share with others, even if it means that she can’t follow her dream along with him. She makes him promise that if he succeeds, that he will accept the opportunity even if she fails.

- The final votes are in -- and every member of the group has received enough votes from both the company and the fans to pass. They will debut as an eight-member, mixed-gender group. Turns out, when Seung-Yeon was opening her heart out to Woohyun about following her dreams, the other members of her team were listening--and posted it to their fan-page, proclaiming support for her as a member of the group. 

- Debuting as a mixed group with many scandals straight out of the gate won’t make it easy for them to succeed, however. Mr. Jang decides that their first album will be covers of popular songs that showcase the group’s range and individual talents. In-Young is persuaded to feature in order to put to bed the rumor that she and Seung-Yeon have a feud; in return, the majority of the company’s marketing is focused on her solo album, and she is presented as the more gracious person of the two. 

- In-Young publicly states that her photos were released by a company official, and though she declines to name who, clarifies that the employee no longer works at Sunny Entertainment. Combined with the company pulling back on favoritism towards Woohyun, this starts rumors swirling about his and Ms. Han’s relationship. It’s a good thing he decided against going to the US...

- Speaking of Ms. Han: though she excels in her new position, the American music industry differs in many ways. Her control over her clients is more limited, and dating scandals don’t hold the same effect. She keeps finding herself drawn to news about Sunny Entertainment, and can’t help but be proud that Mr. Jang has finally grown up enough to take charge. Of course, the fact that he’s very candid about how much he misses her in the many, many phone messages he leaves doesn’t hurt.

- Woohyun likes producing, but struggles not to let his temper and perfectionism get in the way. Mr. Jang urges him to use his own experiences as an idol, suffocating under the control of his team leaders, to stoke his empathy. Seung-Yeon’s refusal to take any shit from him helps.

- Now that Seung-Yeon lives with her uncle, and that she has officially debuted with M2 Junior, she and Woohyun must be even more creative about finding time to be together. Luckily, they are both dedicated to the cause. 

- Also, the main plot of the new season is the threat of a new “scandal”: photos of Hyung-Seung and Ki Beom, caught sharing a tender moment, are anonymously emailed to the company website. It’s up to our ragtag team of musicians/singers and their one brain cell to solve the mystery and protect their friends.  

Bong-Soon is trapped in a room, tied to a chair with a bomb strapped to her. She can't free herself because her super strength has abandoned her. The door is chained shut on her side. Her love interest, Ahn Min-hyuk, is on the other side of the door. He can't get in to save her. The rest of the building is evacuated, they are the only ones left inside. There is less than a minute left on the bomb. Bong-Soon is SCREAMING for him to leave her, to save himself, because she messed up and can't access her powers and so can't save herself, but he doesn't have to pay for her mistakes. And he smiles, and leans against the door, and tells her that there's nowhere that he would rather be.

Benedict has all the time in the world and it's never occurred to him to look up because opulence and the time in which to enjoy it is a given in his life. For Sophie, time is a resource that is both finite and comes with strings attached. She works for a living and does not have permission to linger.

sophie baek is a maid. that distinction is not cosmetic, it is the foundation of her entire story. comparing her to penelope ignores the central class divide that defines benedict and sophie’s relationship. penelope is from a reputable family. she is a known, present member of the ton. she is a debutante. ON TOP OF THAT ELOISE’S DEAR BEST FRIEND because of that, colin can bring her through the front door of bridgerton house without any bloody hesitation. he can present her directly to his mother. and violet, the family, and society can accept that union with joy and pride. their love fits within the rules of the world they live in. its two privileged people coming together.

benedict and sophie do not get that luxury. benedict cannot bring sophie through the front door. that is not a minor obstacle, it is the entire point of their story. sophie’s class is mountains lower than the bridgertons, and the ton will never accept her as his equal. their union will be whispered about, shamed, and resisted at every turn. loving sophie is not socially safe for benedict; it is a risk, a defiance, and a dream he is not supposed to be allowed. where colin’s love is sanctioned by society, benedict’s is fundamentally transgressive. penelope’s story is about being seen within the system. sophie’s is about surviving outside of it. collapsing those two dynamics flattens the stakes and erases what makes benedict and sophie tragic, radical, and powerful.

benedict is an aristocrat. his family is close to lady danbury who’s the queen’s closest confidant, his brother is a viscount, one sister is a duchess, another a countess, his sister in law is THE lady whistledown who controls the entire ton, to sophie, benedict is untouchable, an impossible dream. he feels unreal to her, like someone she should never even look at too closely. he’s almost like a prince in her eyes, and the idea of being involved with him any deeper terrifies her.

their love is not meant to be easy, public, or instantly accepted. it is meant to be impossible and defy the traditional society rules.

i love the idea of sophie getting to explore her sexuality. (because i’m a bi sophie truther 🙂‍↕️)

WTFFFF whats even the joke?? Who do they believe they’re punching back at with a joke like that??