Back to Site Table of Contents
(Written May 10, 2024)
This series got kinda dark kinda fast.
We pick up where we left off,
with the beach house being stormed by camo-clad soldiers in the middle of the
night, blowing whistles to wake everyone up.
The trainees are ordered into the living room like hostages. The soldiers hurl bundles of clothing them
and tell them to change and meet them on the beach in ten minutes. This is like Wild Idol, but way
scarier. I can’t even make fun of this.
I know that South Korea lives under the constant threat of war. It makes sense that military training makes its way into pop culture, especially when the entire male population is expected to sacrifice eighteen months of their lives to serve. If I were South Korea, I’d also be sending a message to the North every chance I got, including making our male K-pop idols serve and infusing our reality survival shows with endurance and strength training, just to show that even our teen idols are in shape and ready to serve at a moment’s notice.
It just feels so weird to have two fun, lighthearted episodes and then suddenly the K-pop version of Saving Private Ryan. But I can’t say the credits weren’t trying to warn me.
Our boys rush back to their rooms to change clothes, muttering that they thought they were going fishing today. Once they’ve suited up, they stumble out onto the beach. The sun isn’t even up yet.
It’s hard
to see what’s happening. The trainees
have to race back and forth, bumping into each other and tripping over shells
and seaweed. Even in the dark, I can see
that one of them looks queasy. He is
ordered to step aside and really looks like he’s having a panic attack.
The camera crew decides to cut away to the others doing calisthenics on the beach. But our distressed trainee is looking even worse and starts heaving. The camera actually zooms in, hoping to catch him throwing up, which is really undignified. Fortunately, he just spits on the ground a few times and turns away.
Now we get the opening credits, and this time, the tone fits.
Back to the beach house. It’s now 8:30am, so it really was early when they were jolted awake and dragged to the beach. They sit in chairs facing a movie screen, and a soldier tells them, “Starting today, your real training has begun. During your training, it’s normal to feel hopeless. However, you must overcome all obstacles and succeed.”
This episode and the previous one look like they’re from two completely different shows.
Now there’s a video message
for them to watch. It’s our friendly
artist/CEO, Park Jin-Young! He’s
recorded a special message for our trainees.
He tells them that he’s been watching them, and lately their
determination is gone, and they’ve all gotten lazy. So he’s sent them to this lovely beach house
and then yanked the rug out from under them as a “gift.” I’m sure the trainee who almost barfed on the
beach is thrilled to hear this.
JYP says he will continue to keep an eye on them during this training course. Which I guess is smart. He can track their progress and catch anyone trying to escape.
Then it takes a turn. JYP tells them, “Our TV audience will be watching as well.” He says that the viewing audience will choose three trainees with the most weaknesses to be eliminated. So we, the viewers, are now complicit in this. Is this a gift to us as well? Is there a return policy? If not, can I vote for the soldiers to be eliminated?
The video ends, and our trainees are given their first mission. It is to prepare a meal together. Didn’t they just do this last night? Whatever. The meal prep doesn’t take long. They chop meat and vegetables and then gather back around the table to eat. But before they can start slurping, they are given their second mission. They must choose one member who will not be allowed to eat the meal. They have three minutes to decide this.
I’m starting to get Wild
Idol levels of angry, but then something really cool happens. The trainees decide that if one person can’t
eat, none of them will. They pour the
food back into the pots and give it to the production team, who eats it
instead. As they eat, our boys sit
around hungry, and then a mystery guest enters the house.
I don’t know if this person is famous in Korea. He brings everyone outside and begins chanting/singing. It sounds like a spiritual ceremony. We learn that this is a folk singing master. This style of singing is very difficult. He says if they can master this style, then singing pop songs will not be a problem.
Our trainees struggle to sing the notes. They sound pretty weak. Our vocal master asks, “Are you not singers?” This seems to irk them. He scolds them for not being able to do this, but honestly, they’ve been up since 4am and haven’t eaten. I’m amazed they can still keep their eyes open.
Man, this episode is a real
downer.
Everyone bundles up and goes back to the front yard of the house. This show was filmed in January, so it must be freezing. The soldiers are back. They make the trainees walk barefoot on a road winding through a wooded area. Then it’s time for mountain training. To help the trainees with breathing, our vocal coach is giving them a folk song to sing as they climb the mountain. He teaches them a song with so many long notes, I can’t sing them while sitting still, much less while exercising. I feel so bad for these trainees.
They reach the top of the mountain. There, the coach has them sing while hitting each other in the stomach. This is also supposed to improve their breathing technique. I want a second opinion on this. Where exactly did they find this guy?
Finally, our trainees get some food and water and then get to come back down the mountain. Now each trainee must sing the folk song solo.
This type of vocalization is
really hard, especially after working out all day in the freezing cold, but Jo
Kwon goes first and actually does well.
His voice is clear and strong, and he can hold the notes for several
beats. Lee Junho and Khun also do
well. I’m particularly impressed with
Khun, who had no singing experience before coming to Seoul. The others struggle, with their voices
cracking and wavering off-key. Or maybe
not. I’m not sure what the key is
supposed to be.
Our vocal coach says they are improving. I’ll take his word for it. He says the top three are Khun, then DuJoon, and then JoKwon. The one who improved the least was Daehun. Daehun is having a really bad day.
They walk back to the house, looking exhausted, but they still don’t get to sleep. The show ends with them back outside at night, marching shirtless in the cold. And that’s … it. That’s where the episode ends.
I really don’t know what to say. I just watched a group of young men endure boot camp with folk singing. Are the rest of the episodes going to be like this?
I miss Julien Kang. At least he was weirdly fun.
Episode 4: Saved by the Maximum Crew
Back to Site Table of Contents
No comments:
Post a Comment