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(Written October 4, 2024)
Welcome to the finale! Time to find out who the BIG BOSS will be and then send these poor guys home so they can repair their damaged friendships. Let’s do this.
We’re up to the Math category. Already, my anxiety is kicking in. But these are internal clock questions. Without using a timer, they have to stand up when they feel it’s been 49 seconds. You’d think it would be easy to just count it, but once they start, the crew starts yelling questions to distract them, like “What time did Eun Seok wake up today?”
Oooooh, this is MEAN. For round two, the duration is 61 seconds. After four rounds of this, So Hee is in the lead, having won a total of seven ballots so far.
Finally, the Research category. A group of people in white raincoats walk a quick circle around the boys and then leave. The boys are puzzled, but I’ve played this game before. As soon as the people leave, the crew asks the band members questions about the people who just blew past them. The first one: Which one wasn’t a crew member?
Wow, this is awkward. Even though the show claims to have a
timeline of only two days, I know they had to have been filming longer than
that, and the guys feel bad about not being able to remember everyone. I am cringing.
Only Won Bin and Shotaro get it right. It’s Number Seven. He’s the owner of the café. Wrong guesses from the other band members include the show’s head writer and the guy who’s been driving them around for two days in the SUV. I’m dying.
The crew members and café owner then run back around with words written on their palms. The guys squint to read the words as the people run past. Afterward, the crew asks the band what song the words were from. Oh, no. It’s another RIIZE song they won’t be able to identify, isn’t it?
The guys start jotting down
the words and phrases they remember seeing.
Then they start arguing over which song it could be. I know which song it could be. I know this because I know the song. The reason I know the song even though I
don’t read Korean is because ONE OF THE PHRASES WAS WRITTEN IN ENGLISH.
Most of the band members get this question right, but Anton and Shotaro guess the wrong RIIZE song. They are mercilessly mocked by the others, most of whom weren’t able to guess their own song on the Haunted Mission, so maybe those others should just zip it.
Okay, final tally. Current neurotic BOSS Won Bin has nine ballots. So Hee, eight. Eun Seok, six. Sung Chan, six. Anton, six. Shotaro, four.
But just having the ballots isn’t enough. This time, the crew will vote as well. And since most of the band didn’t recognize most of the crew, there might be some serious payback.
The boys do get to campaign first, appealing to ten crew members they didn’t recognize thirty minutes ago. Eun Seok is up first. His approach is bribery. He promises to give amazing gifts to the crew if they will vote for him. “Tell me whatever products you want,” says our shameless panderer. “Using my own money, I will buy and give out a limited quantity of gifts.” “What kind of gifts?” a crew member asks. “Anything under 100,000 won,” he responds. Woah. So he’s potentially about to shell out $750 USD for those ten votes. Then he walks it back to under 50,000 won.
Won Bin thanks everyone for their hard work over what has allegedly been two long days of filming. He offers to buy them all coffee right now. Only the café owner applauds, which makes me laugh. The other crew members seem to be holding out for Eun Seok’s bribe.
Anton appeals to their emotions. He reminds them of how he ran into the ocean on Day One. He tells them he’s worked so hard, but unfortunately, things have not turned out well for him. He’s never been the BOSS. He had to harvest snails for his vegan breakfast. It’s been a lot. He’s trying to get the sympathy vote.
Now for So Hee. He thanks the crew. He reminds them of how the band bought ice cream for the crew the day before. (“I paid for that!” Eun Seok protests. “Yeah, but it was my idea!” argues So Hee.)
Sung Chan and Shotaro fight
to speak next. They finally play Rock
Paper Scissor for it. Shotaro loses on
the third round. He needs to stop
playing this game.
Sung Chan tells the crew he knows how tired they must be, so he sings and dances for them. Granted, it’s impressive choreography, but it’s not a 50,000 won bribe. He does get what sounds like the loudest applause yet.
Finally, Shotaro. Won Bin is already taking off the laurel and
preparing to lose.
Shotaro looks to the future. He promises he’ll cook for all of them in Season Two. Wait, we’re getting a Season TWO? And isn’t Shotaro one of the band members who can’t cook? (reading my own recaps) Yes. Yes he is.
He also offers to do aegyo for them right now. What follows is best left in the past.
We shall never speak
of this again.
Won Bin’s sign reads
“I have no hope.”
The crew lines up to
vote. Then our bandmates bring all their
awarded ballots into the booth and cast their votes. I think they can only vote for one person per
ballot now. Once the voting is done, the
crew announces they will count the ballots out loud in front of everyone.
The votes are piling up for Eun Seok. Did his bribe really work? Not exactly. In a flashback, we learn that Eun Seok promised Shotaro he’d treat him well if Shotaro cast his four ballots for him. And after every lie, every betrayal, after EVERYTHING, Shotaro agreed.
Back to the present. The other bandmates can’t believe Shotaro fell for it again. Even Shotaro knows he messed up.
But then Anton gets six votes. Turns out those are his own. The crews’ votes start piling up for other members. Suddenly, Won Bin, Eun Seok, and Sung Chan are all tied at ten votes, and there are a few left to count.
When all the votes are counted, the BIG BOSS is…. Sung Chan!
As the winner, Sung Chan’s grand prize is a Korean Beef Set. At least fifty percent fat, from the looks of it. Won Bin also hands him the laurel and stamp and all the other BOSS doodads.
The crew says the money left in the budget will be saved for next season. Okay, really? I can’t find anything online about a Season Two, not even from those on Reddit who claim to be insiders. But the crew seems to think this will be a thing, as Sung Chan also gets to decide where they’re going next time.
It looks like the end of the episode, but suddenly we get the successful coup music. Wait, what?
Yes, the crew announces that one
of the band members has staged a successful coup. It’s Eun Seok, isn’t it? It has to be Eun Seok.
Nope. It was Sung Chan. Before the voting, he asked for and completed
a mission coup, not imagining he was going to win. The mission was to take a selfie with the
other band members.
And since idols are always
taking selfies and posing for pictures, no one suspected a thing. This is a really funny ending, and I don’t
care if it’s scripted.
This means that Sung Chan is no longer the BIG BOSS, since he overthrew himself. He gets to keep the beef set, though. All five thousand calories of it.
The epilogue is B Roll footage, which is fun to watch, and then the series officially ends.
So this was a cool little show. I can’t really see myself recapping a Season Two unless Seunghan comes back. In the meantime, thanks to the viewers who commented, even if you were rooting for the WRONG band member.
As for the rest of you, I’ll
see you all over in the I-Land recaps, currently in progress.
BOSS RIIZE update – Welcome back,
Seunghan!
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