Hot Blood, Episode 7: A challenge scarier than death…

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(Written May 14, 2024)

We open at 8pm on what I assume is still Yoga Day.  We get dramatic music as the subtitles tell us one of the soldiers is coming into the house without any prior notice.  He pushes open the front door and tells the startled trainees to meet him in the yard in three minutes.

Their late-night run ends in a graveyard.  We switch to night vision.  I feel like I’m watching Paranormal Activity.  We are told that this is a mission to test the boys’ nerves.  Didn’t they just do yoga and meditation this morning?  These guys are going to be a complete mess by the end of this series.

The night vision camera guy keeps sneaking up on the trainees and scaring them.  Finally, the soldiers gather everyone in a line at the edge of the graveyard and tell them to close their eyes and reflect on their lives.  They need to think about what they want to do while they’re still alive.

Next, they open a large, coffin-shaped wooden box.  I do not like where this is going.  We’re told that Junsu will be the first to experience death.  He’s told to get into the box and lie down.

I’ll be honest – this is where I’d quit.  Everything up to this point, even the yoga, I’d endure if I were perusing a lifelong dream of debuting, but this is where I’d say I suddenly remembered I had to take the college entrance exam and then swim my way back to the mainland.  This would be my breaking point.

Junsu is a stronger person than I am.  He gets into the box.  They put the lid on.  The other trainees are looking very, very anxious. 

Thankfully, the soldiers don’t actually bury the box.  If this were The Traitors on NBC, they would bury it.  That episode gave me nightmares.  But on this show, they just have the trainee stay in the box for a few minutes and then let him out.  This is the only time I’ve seen a mission where an American show went harder than the Korean one.

Junsu is very quiet when he emerges.  He walks back to his teammates, and one by one, each gets their turn in the box.  Then they take turns expressing their thoughts after this experience.  They talk about the things they want to accomplish in their lives before eventually having to go into that box for good.

The soldier tells them they have been reborn now.  This experience clearly had an impact on these guys.  I wonder if they’ll be able to sleep tonight.

We cut to 6am the next morning, as the boys head out for the morning workout.  They’re shirtless again, even though now it’s snowing.  The soldier has them lie down and roll around in the snow. They may wind up back in that box sooner than expected.

Now they start running again, and the snow seems to be coming down harder.  Seriously, I hope North Korea is watching this show.  You don’t want to attack a country that’s already willing to do this to themselves.

The trainees get home, shower, and then sprawl out on the floor in the main room.  The soldiers return.  They announce that this morning’s run was supposed to be done while wearing 20 kg (44 pounds) worth of military equipment.  The weather changed that plan.  For now, they are told to gather in the middle of the floor and face the video screen.

Mr. Park Jin Young himself appears on the screen.  He has been watching footage of the training like a villain in a Bond movie.  He turns to the camera and tells the trainees that he is impressed with their progress and that they have what it takes for the future.  He now wants them to – OH THANK GOD – return to Seoul and resume their actual K-pop training.

Our boys are thrilled.  If I were them, I’d never want to see a beach again.

JYP tells them the training they just did is so much easier than the road they’re about to take.  Working to succeed in the music business will be, according to the translation, “physically and mentally 10 times or 100 times harder than this.”  Having never been in the music business, I can’t speak to this, but I do have my doubts.

Back in the screening room, the soldier tells them to look back on their previously lazy selves and be better.  He says, “Please throw away any bad memories with the instructors and keep the good memories in your hearts.”

Another soldier tells them, “In a way, we’ve really come to like you guys and feel a bit down that it’s over.”  This is actually kind of sweet.  The trainees hug the soldiers goodbye and take group pictures in the snow. 

 

The soldiers leave, and then the production team gives the trainees their cell phones back.  Being without a cell phone for several days should have been an endurance mission in itself.  They immediately start checking messages and taking selfies.  Then they go outside and have a snowball fight.  The landscape really is beautiful with the falling snow and lack of yelling soldiers.  My Yelp review would recommend visiting the island when it isn’t Yelling Soldier Season. 

Finally, everyone gets back on the bus for home.  They are still glued to their phones.  The snow turns to sleet as the bus drives onto the ferry.  The gloomy weather is a stark contrast to the bright sunny weather they had on the way over.  

We arrive at the JYP building.  The trainees have a meeting with a “script writer,” according to the translation.  It looks like they’re back in that same practice room where we first met them in Episode 1.  Just as I’m thinking that seeing this room again would trigger flashbacks, one of the trainees looks at the camera in mock terror and says, “Are we going to the island again?”

The script writer arrives and asks them to take turns sharing their most memorable experiences from the island.  They should all just do the raps they wrote for Mr. Typhoon.  Several of them talk about the talent show.  We find out that the night before the military training began, they were told they’d be going fishing the next day.  It’s kind of funny how mean that is.  Of course, one trainee fondly remembers Jessica the yoga teacher.  

The script writer, who is bundled up like she’s still outside, thanks them for sharing their memories.  (Is this the same building from No Mercy?  Why are these training rooms so cold?)  She then asks them if they know what’s next.  They shake their heads.  She tells them.

They’re going to another island.

The trainees freeze in shock.

Then she says she’s just kidding.  I want to strangle her with her own scarf.  She says the trainees have to do something before they can get the approval of the viewers.  They’re going to have to put on a public guerilla concert.  This Saturday.

I don’t know what day it currently is on the show, but I’m guessing they have less than a week.  The trainees are terrified because it will be their first time performing in front of an audience.  They were lying in a closed coffin  24 hours ago, but THIS is what scares them. 

I’ve been excited to see what a guerilla concert is ever since I first saw it in the series description.  Grab your favorite ninja gear and join me in the next episode.  This should be fun!

 

Episode 8:  Boys to Men

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