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(Written on March 16, 2024)
The title of this episode, “Talented Trainee’s 1st Debut Mission,” is blandly generic and does not prepare us for what the episode is truly about. We’re going to be focusing on the two youngest trainees competing in this series, Yoonho and Soekwon. We will also get to know #GUN, but first No Mercy has to introduce the young people so we can see how cute they are before the show eventually stomps on their dreams and feeds the remains to squirrels right in front of them.
Before we get to that, let’s talk opening credits. The second episode begins with a series of news clips showing how popular the first episode was and how the show is a hit. Apparently, Korean audiences love TV shows that leave them sobbing in their banana milk.
We left off with Hyungwon getting ready to perform, but we’ll have to wait a little longer. The show pauses to explain that we are about to see the three “visually shocking trainees.” In K-pop, “visuals” is an actual position in a group, and the three visuals on this series are Hyungwon, Minhyuk, and Wonho.
I love how the editors
of this show present our visually shocking trainees. The special effects folks never let us down.
The female judge, who I finally figured out is K-pop idol Hyolyn, is still giggling and squeeing to the point that I think we need to add a hardcore lesbian judge to the panel for objectivity. Still, I understand her reaction. These three guys are uncanny-valley good-looking. It’s almost ridiculous. Once they become part of Monsta X and get professional stylists, it almost hurts to look at them.
Okay, so NOW we’re going to see Hyungwon perform, right? Not yet. The show wants to make sure we understand just how impossibly good-looking these guys are. We get footage of Hyungwon modelling at a fashion show, Wonho working out, and Minhyuk posing in a photo shoot. Here’s the thing, and I want to say this directly to the producers of No Mercy: I understand that visuals are an important part of the K-pop package. But considering your own judges ranked Hyungwon so low because all they saw were the visuals, the style over the substance, maybe stop focusing on their looks so much? Just throwing that out there.
We get a bit of background on these three visual shockers. Hyungwon was nineteen when he first came to Seoul. Now he’s 22 and practicing with nineteen-year-olds. He says if he doesn’t make it this time, it’s over for him. Wonho has been training for three years. He also considers this his last chance because he’s getting too old for this, and his parents are worried. He doesn’t want to keep stressing them out.
Minhyuk has
trained with three different agencies, and Starship is the fourth. I thought Shownu had been through the
wringer. At one agency, the group
Minhyuk joined had their debut cancelled.
At another agency, he got cut. He
says, with quiet desperation, “I want to make sure I debut before I die.”
I have some consolation watching this because as part of Monsta X, Minhyuk is the one fans love for his manic energy. He’s like a kid who woke up on Christmas Day, had three bowls of Froot Loops, and is now shredding his way through the presents. Maybe he wakes up every morning still unable to believe he actually won No Mercy. If I woke up every morning suddenly remembering that all my dreams had come true, I’d run around dolphin-screaming like a lunatic too.
FINALLY we’re going to see Hyungwon’s performance for the judges. I’m surprised by his song choice: “No Diggity” by Blackstreet. This is a grinding, down and dirty R&B song that feels a bit jarring to me. Hyungwon’s sexuality is mysterious and enigmatic. Watching his performance here, I don’t think he’s figured that out yet. He sings well, but he seems hesitant, like he’s performing sexuality instead of actually being sexy.
The judges definitely notice. They like his singing, but from their comments (at least the English translation of them on the screen), it sounds like they also noticed that Hyungwon doesn’t look completely comfortable in his own skin. They want to see him gain confidence. I’m hoping that we’ll get to see him gain that confidence over the course of the show.
Next up is Minhyuk. We see footage of him working with one of the vocal coaches earlier in the week. He’s dealing with a sore throat. I’m surprised the stress of this show isn’t causing all of them more health problems. If I were a K-pop trainee, I’d be grinding my teeth into powder.
I love the song he’s chosen. It’s one I haven’t heard before – “Same as You,” by Jooyoung. I pause the show to put it on my K-pop playlist. It’s a sunny pop love song that gives Minhyuk a chance to show off the high notes he can hit. But again, the performance lacks confidence. The judges say he was off pitch for most of the song. My heart sinks because he’s already ranked near the bottom. It’s frustrating to see the future winners perform this badly when I know how incredible they can be.
Wonho, who performs “Bad Girl” by Bumkey, has the same problem. When they show him in rehearsal, I laugh when he says that the key point of his performance will be his abs. I am not laughing during his performance when his ab reveal falls flat. His jacket hides his stomach, and even if it had been more clearly visible, it doesn’t change the fact that his voice, like the other visual shockers before him, lacks confidence.
The first comment from one of the judges is, “I’m guessing that performance was supposed to be sexy.” Oof. I cringe so hard, my rib cage gets wedged in my lap.
Next up is Kihyun, performing “Hyeya,” originally recorded by Jonghyun from the group Shinee. This performance is crucial. With Kihyun’s reputation as an outstanding singer in the industry, even as a trainee, his current ranking of Number Eight out of twelve is embarrassing. His pride and reputation are at stake.
I won’t go into too much
detail about his incredible performance, as it’s already legendary among monbebes
(the Monsta X fan group). Kihyun nails
it. His voice is heartbreaking and
gorgeous. A couple of judges are
fighting back tears. The trainees
waiting backstage are slack-jawed. I had
to wipe away tears, and this is not even the first time I’ve watched this
performance. This is why Kihyun gets
most of the attention as a vocalist in Monsta X
and in the industry in general. Even if
you’re not familiar with K-pop, do yourself a favor and look up this
performance on YouTube. It is stunning.
The judges have nothing but praise. The other trainees have nothing but respect. Number One-ranked Shownu looks nothing but nervous. For his sake, I do hope he gets moved down a slot or two, just to take the pressure off. The man is going to wind up with an ulcer.
Now we get into the Background
Story part of the episode. Last week it
was Shownu. These week, we are looking
at the two youngest competitors, both just nineteen years old. They are still in school during the filming
of this show. We see the other trainees
waking them up in the dorm, making their lunches, and sending them off to
school to take the National College Entrance Exam. (When did they have time to study?)
Yoonho joined his first agency in middle school. He has been a trainee for six years already. He says he’s missed a lot of school while chasing his dream, so he doesn’t have a lot of friends there. Growing up, while other kids his age were playing video games and dating, he was practicing dance routines alone for hours, getting such a workout, he would have to change his shirt three times.
The next part blows my mind. One of the judges is being interviewed about Yoonho being a six year industry veteran already, and he says that Yoonho is “an ancestor, a living fossil” in the eyes of the other trainees. A living fossil. I actually yelled at my computer screen, “He’s fucking nineteen!”
We see clips of Yoonho as a child in print ads and television commercials. He looks like an angel. What a sweetie. Little would he know that in just a few years, people older than him would be calling him a fossil.
Like Shownu, he’s watched all the trainees around him debut and leave him behind. He says his parents are exhausted and want him to take up a different career path. He refuses. I think of what I put myself through for over ten years while chasing my dream of being a writer. I get it.
Back to the present for Yoonho’s rap performance. It’s OK. Not great. Then he switches to a funk-disco song for his dance performance, which is much more impressive. The judges have a mixed reaction to the rap but are still encouraging. They seem to like the dancing. Those hours of Yoonho sweating his way through three shirts are paying off.
We see more reaction shots of Shownu backstage. The poor guy. Any more of this, and we’ll be cutting to his empty seat. The camera crew will find him in a bar down the street, drinking himself blind.
Now for Soekwon’s performance. He’s been a trainee for three years, so I’m guessing he’s only considered a grandpa instead of a fossil. (No, I’m NOT letting it go already.) He sings a jazzy pop song, and while I like his voice, there’s no strength in his delivery. There’s no confidence. The judges aren’t impressed. He goes backstage, and suddenly we feel a great distance between him and Yoonho, his closest friend in the dorm. There’s already a six-digit difference in their rankings, and that gap may be about to increase. It’s so uncomfortable to watch.
Thankfully, we are moving on. Next up is someone whose name I find confusing. He goes by #GUN, which I’m not sure how to pronounce. I looked him up. His real name is Song Gun-hee. I don’t get the point of the hashtag because I am old and cranky and get the hell off my lawn and these kids today and their hashtags.
#GUN, age 21, explains that the hashtag is actually a reference to the sharp symbol in music, which makes the note a half-step higher. He says he’s a half-step better than the rest. Piano lessons were a million years ago for me, so I had to look it up, and yes, that is what the sharp symbol looks like. So that means his name is pronounced “Sharp Gun.” I withdraw my earlier criticism. Proceed.
We’re getting some backstory here as well. The film crew follows him when he goes home to visit his mother and grandmother. The scene is very sweet, especially when his grandmother tells him how proud she is of him. OK, I’m starting to like this guy.
We learn about the rough childhood he and his sister had. His parents divorced when he was three. Dad was a rapper. Mom became a single parent. They would sleep in motels and in the mountains. I’m not sure what that last part means, so something may be missing in the translation, but I get the picture. It was not a financially stable upbringing. There was a lot of love, though. I can see it in the way his mother and grandmother believe in him. They share a meal together. His mother wipes away tears when she remembers the tough times, raising the kids by herself. I love this woman. She’s a warrior.
As they talk, I suddenly remember that #GUN is not going to make it on this show. He’s not a member of Monsta X. No Mercy is going to cut this guy in front of his sweet grandma and survivor mom. This show can go pound sand.
It gets worse. He promises them both that he’s going to debut this time. He even has a cousin named Minho who is a successful rapper, so he’s got that family legacy to live up to. And OH GREAT, turns out his father died five months ago, and we get to see him putting flowers on the grave while telling us how his dad wanted him to succeed. If this show were a person, I’d punch it in the face. Why stop there, No Mercy? Why not tell us that he has an incurable disease and only a year to live, and his dying wish is to debut?
Back to the present. #GUN is getting ready to perform, and I just want him to blow everyone away. He may end up getting eliminated, but I want him to go down swinging. I do not want this to be an easy decision for the judges.
#GUN delivers.
He gives a venting, raging rap performance that I can feel through the
screen. He gets the biggest reactions
from the judges and other trainees than we have seen so far, even after
Kihyun’s performance.
He’s shrieking out into the darkness of the theater. At the judges, at the world, at the heavens. I am not okay. This show has just introduced us to the family he is anguishing over. We know them. We know what’s at stake for him. I believe every word he spits out.
When the song ends, I am
emotionally exhausted. The producers
were very smart to make this the last performance of the episode. I don’t think I can take any more.
The judges and the trainees applaud. One of the judges tells #GUN that his cousin Minho has a talent for making people feel burning inside, and #GUN has shown the same talent today. I’ve never heard Minho’s work, but I know what he means. I’m still burning. I don’t know how long this feeling will take to burn off, and I’m not sure I want it to.
#GUN goes backstage, and Jooheon shows him respect and congratulates him.
And then I realize, holy crap, #GUN might outrank Jooheon in this round.
I think Jooheon realizes it
too.
I’m kind of glad the episode ends here, and we
won’t find out the new rankings until the next episode. I want to sit with this for a while.
Episode 3: Mom and Dad crash and burn.
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