Back to Site Table of Contents
(Written November 3, 2024)
We made it, fellow K-pop fans! Welcome to the I-Land finale. Be prepared to hear about how much the I-Landers have improved. Also be prepared for an empty auditorium, because this aired during COVID, so there will be no audience.
I’m hoping our eliminated I-Landers will return and that Wonderkid will not. I’m hoping for more K-pop celebrities to visit. And I’m hoping for more surprises, like finding out that another eliminated contestant has been a member or ATEEZ or Stray Kids all this time, and I never knew.
We’re reminded right away that the global viewers are still voting. Because this is the last chance to appeal to the voters, we get quick montages on all nine finalists – our first time seeing them walking through the woods on the way to the I-Land, their various stages and rankings and freakouts over BTS, and taking orders from a giant egg timer in the lobby. I forgot what the egg was supposed to symbolize, but there is no time to go back and look it up now.
Our performance stage lights up, and Namgoong Min appears on the big screen one more time. It’s very sci-fi looking. And suddenly, he appears in person, standing next to our finalists. He’s reading from cards. Please don’t let this turn into a Boys Planet-type fiasco. I’m trusting our host to read the cards confidently and not like a hostage telling us the kidnappers want pizza.
Namgoong Min reminds the audience to vote, which stresses me out because, as I type this, we are two days away from Election Day 2024 in the United States, and the very word “vote” is extremely triggering to every American right now. But then, to lighten the mood, we’re getting a performance of “I&credible.” Okay, so it’s going to be a lot of performances of I-Land songs. This performance looks way more like an Enhypen video than anything we’ve seen so far. Dark and dramatic.
The
eliminated I-Landers are back, and we see them sitting together in the
audience. I recognize Geonu, Ta-Ki, and
Hanbin under all the flashing lights.
When the performance ends, our host reminds us that six of the final group members will be chosen by global viewers, and the seventh will be chosen by the producers/judges.
Our host introduces us to the judges. Of course, we have Bang Si Hyuk. We also have our awesome coaches Son Sung Deuk and Pdogg, the soon-to-be-fired Doobu, and (heavy sigh) Wonderkid. It’s been four years since this show aired, and I still can’t find any news, accomplishments, references, or even Redditors who know who this guy is. We could have gotten Mad Clown instead. That would have been WAY cooler.
In fact, I just looked up Mad Clown to see what he’s been up to. He released an album while this show was airing, so he would have had something to promote, but he’s not on the Big Hit label, so I guess he wasn’t good enough for this show. And wow, Mad Clown was born in Evanston, Illinois. Did I know that already? I’ll have to go back and check my No Mercy recaps. And his younger brother is a famous K-drama actor.
Sorry … fell down a rabbit hole there. It’s just frustrating to think of the millions of way more deserving people who should have been on this panel. I’M more qualified to be on this panel, and I don’t even speak Korean.
Anyway, Bang Si Hyuk thanks
everyone on the show for all their hard work, and as we pan across the former
contestants, I’m so happy to see that Hanbin has a smile on his face.
We also have special guests sitting with the judges. It’s TXT (Tomorrow x Together), a boy band whose songs we’ve seen covered on other shows I’ve recapped, and of course they are signed to Big Hit Entertainment. They tell our finalists not to be nervous and to give their performances everything they’ve got.
Now it’s
time to meet our nine finalists again and give them facetime with the
voters. Settle in, folks. If this is anything like most of the finales
we’ve seen, this is going to drag on a bit.
Each finalist walks out and stands on the stage while Namgoong Min gives
us their age, current ranking, and country of origin like they’re Miss Universe
contestants.
Now we pan over to a woman named Shin Ah Young, who is standing in front of a big world map to check how the voting is going. She’s a Korean television personality, and according to Wikipedia, she and her husband both graduated from Harvard University. We learn that Jay is getting the majority of votes from the United States. Finally, some love from his birthplace!
This bit drags on as Shin Ah Young points out who is getting the largest number of votes from each country. It must be as tedious to see in person, because every time they cut to reaction shots from TXT, they look bored or confused.
Now for the final test of the show. Our host introduces a flashback. We go to right after the Concept Test, when all nine survivors return to the I-Land after saying goodbye to Hanbin. It’s Ni-ki’s first time in the swanky bedroom, and he loves it. Jungwon, however, is a bit shaken up after barely surviving the rankings.
Jay, the ever-loyal and very intense friend, tells Jungwon, “If you’d gotten eliminated, I was going to break the egg and run out.”
Overhearing this, Sunghoon says, “You were going to break something that’s worth 200 million won? How would you even break it? It’s made of metal.”
Seattle Jay responds, “If I punched it 200 million times, it would probably break.” That’s our boy, my fellow Americans. I’m so glad he makes it into Enhypen.
The egg commands them to return to the lobby. They’re all hoping they can do the final test together instead of being split into two teams. I just now realize that the designs on their sweatshirts are being blurred, and these sweatshirts were given to them by the show. It’s part of their official I-Land wardrobe. Did production blur the graphics out of habit?
I look it up, and the show had
teamed up with GOAL Studio to provide the I-Landers’ wardrobe. So that logo is officially affiliated with
the show, and they’re still blurring it out.
Korean broadcasting rules are STRICT.
Anyway, the egg is talking. The final test will determine the final seven. This final test will be watched live by the world. The I-Landers freak out at the thought of doing a live show.
They’re shown the choreo
demonstration video and are excited to learn that they will indeed be
performing together. The song is called
“Calling (Run To You).” It’s a techno
dance song with choreo expressing the concept of emerging and running out into
the world. Oh, that’s right! Now I remember the significance of the egg! Something about having to destroy the world
of the egg in order to hatch and go into the actual world. Boy, they sure made that into a really strange
visual concept.
The I-Landers choose their parts and elect K as their leader. Poor K. He’s currently ranked in the top spot and is the leader in the final test, and he’s not going to make it to the final group.
Seattle Jay is elected the Daily Life Leader, a title I haven’t heard before. He’ll be taking care of the health of the finalists. Jay, just TAKE EVERYONE OUTSIDE EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. Good Lord, you’re all going to wind up with seasonal affective disorder.
The planning process goes pretty quickly because they know the drill by now. They throw themselves into rehearsals, the days go by, and before we know it, it’s time for the midpoint evaluation. Of course, Son Sung Deuk and Doobu are here, because Wonderkid is probably sleeping in, exhausted from days of doing nothing.
We’re in a flashback formula, so of course the midpoint eval doesn’t go well. Son Sung Deuk says they’re glossing over things. They lack energy and aren’t in sync. He reminds them of what’s at stake. Two people will be going home.
The finalists promise to work on it. Then they ask the coaches to stay for just one more minute. They have a gift for them – a banner on which they’ve all written messages of appreciation. I hope the coaches get those banners framed. It has the autographs of all seven members of Enhypen on it.
Later on, the giant egg timer
tells our I-Landers to report to the Item Room.
You know, the place where they got the BTS cell phones they weren’t
allowed to use and the GOAL Studio sweatshirts that have to be blurred
out. Today, they’re getting accessories
– new hats, ties, sneakers, and sunglasses.
The hats have blurred logos on them, because of course they do. But everything else looks clearly visible,
including the giant stuffed teddy bears.
And okay, this part is cool – they get high-end video cameras.
And then we learn that they’re supposed to use the cameras to shoot self-promotional videos to appeal to the global viewers. I knew there was a catch. The higher your rank, the longer your video can be. K, the top-ranked finalist, gets a full 60 seconds. The bottom-ranked 4-9 get only 30 seconds.
So these things in the Item
Room are props for their videos. The
show had better let them keep everything.
The guys discuss their different concepts. We spent a long time on this segment of them
filming their videos. It’s all funny and
cute, but it’s not what I’m here to see.
I know it needs to be here to appeal to the voters, but I’m going to
just skip ahead.
Before I do skip ahead, let me just say that it’s hard to believe, based on his promo video, that Heeseung will end up in Enhypen.
After recording the videos, the boys grab some dinner and are enjoying their break when the giant egg summons them to the lobby. This is a big moment. It’s time to announce the name of the debut group. Our I-Landers are excited. As Jay says, “It will be the name that we’ll have for almost the rest of our lives.” He’s right. It’s also a big moment for me, because I love seeing the honest initial reactions to finalists when they learn their band name.
The screen lights up with the
words “Connection, discovery, and growth.”
Right away our boys are guessing names like “Bluetooth” and
“Wi-Fi.” Given that there is a famous
K-pop group whose name, NCT, stands for “Neo Culture Technology,” I’m not going
to make fun of these guesses. They are
entirely plausible.
The giant egg says, “The group’s name will be …” and then the boys are shown the name, but we’re not. I’m guessing we’ll get to see it during the live broadcast part of the show. For the record, they do seem to genuinely love it. I’ve seen enough of these shows that I can catch that honest glimmer of a reaction before the finalists perform their happy reactions, and the reactions I’m seeing now look real. Because honestly, it is a cool name. I’ve always liked the name Enhypen, even though the first several times I saw it, I was mispronouncing it as “EnhyPHen.”
We now cut to a montage of
them rehearsing for the final test. When
they take a break, it hits them that in two more days, this whole survival
experience is over. Jungwon says, “It
feels like we’ve all be running really fast and stopping all of a sudden.”
I understand. This show has been their world. Literally.
Do any of them even remember what the outside world looks like? They all do a group hug and promise to make
their final performance together an amazing one.
They gather for one last photo in front of the giant
egg, and IS THAT AN UN-BLURRED LOGO ON SUNOO’S SHIRT? Jake’s shirt isn’t blurred either, although
it’s partially covered by his jacket and harder to read.
Okay, that was the entire
flashback, and now we return to the live finale and our finalists standing
onstage, including Sunoo in his still-unblurred shirt. Namgoong Min tells us the band name has
already been revealed to the finalists, and now it will finally be revealed to
us. The Egg/Announcer voice says
dramatically, “The seven lights that were shining individually discovered each
other and grew together, and they transcend each other’s limits …” and it goes
on like this for a while. These shows
tend to take the band names a little too seriously, so my eyes are glazing over
OH MY GOD, BTS IS HERE!
How long have they been sitting there? Was no one going to tell us they were here? We could have put out a buffet or something! Did anyone offer them a drink or a hot towel? Someone send the TXT guys through the gate to see what’s left in the I-Lander’s kitchen.
Sorry, that was just such a
shock. TXT gets an introduction, but not
BTS. Just … wow. Okay, back to the dramatic intro. “The seven are born as a united whole,” says
the Eggnouncer. The name appears on the
screen, and I just now realize there are seven letters in the name.
Namgoong Min explains the name a bit more. “Enhypen signifies how a hyphen connects a word with another word to create a new meaning.” He goes on to describe the name in the grandiose, self-congratulatory way these shows tend to do. Like I said, I think it’s a cool name, and I’m really glad there’s no ampersand in it, but calm down already.
We get a long segment where the producers/judges talk about why they think it’s such an amazing, meaningful, and profound name. While they drone on, I go online and find a random K-pop group name generator. I give it a spin and get the name NOD Genesis. Give me an edible and about twenty minutes, and I can come up with a grandiose meaning for that name as well. Same with my other spin results: U1N SOUL, BOS Generation, and KLOG.
While the bigwigs talk about
how great the band name is, the show keeps cutting back to BTS, which is not a
great idea because they look bored and exhausted. I guess Namgoong Min notices, because he
suddenly turns to
them and says, “BTS, I’m sure you remember the first time when you received
your group name. So how did you feel
back then, and what do you think of the name Enhypen?”
BTS Leader RM speaks for the group, and why is this color palatte so drab? Who designed these sets? RM says that for a long time, BTS couldn’t tell anyone but close family what their band name was, so that’s a painful memory. But he likes the name Enhypen.
That’s an unexpectedly sad answer with a lot to unpack, but we have to keep this show moving. Our host says it’s time for the final group performance. And then everyone just stands there for several seconds. No one moves. Why are these finales so weirdly awkward?
Finally, our boys get their
cue to begin. Right away, I’m digging
the lasers. Let’s Do This, one last
time!
The performance is wild and exciting. What’s frustrating is that you wouldn’t know how exciting it was from the reaction shots we’re getting of BTS and the judges. Everyone looks like they’re falling asleep. I know they’ve been on this set for hours, and the show couldn’t get a real audience because of the COVID lockdowns, but in that case, maybe just skip the reaction shots.
Our host asks the judges for their feedback on the performance, and of course, they go on about how great they were and how far they’ve come. This goes on for a while. Then our host asks BTS to give their feedback. I feel sorry for TXT. Absolutely no one is paying any attention to them.
J-Hope speaks for BTS this time, saying how much they enjoyed the performance. He tells them to keep working hard and putting passion and effort into their performances. That’s perfectly on-brand for J-Hope, who I’ve always considered the beating heart of the group. Next, Jimin praises the finalists’ performance, and BTS all just looks so tired. Doing these live finales can’t be much fun. Jimin says something really sweet, though, reminding the group members to always look out for each other and encourage each other. Finally, Jungkook singles out Jungwon for praise and tells him not to forget how he feels in this moment.
Our host tells us the voting
will come to an end in a few minutes, and it will be time to pick our band
members. But first, a final gift is
given to our finalists, and we’ll see it in yet another flashback. God, do these shows drag on.
We flash back to the day before the finale. Everyone takes a break from rehearsal to grab some dinner. When they get to the kitchen, they find special lunch boxes for each of them, courtesy of their parents. They are getting home-cooked meals. They also get handwritten notes from their loved ones. (It would be great if one of them said, “PLEASE COME HOME. YOU CAN STILL GET INTO LAW SCHOOL.” Or, from a sibling: “THAT’S MY SHIRT YOU’RE WEARING IN EPISODE 7! I KNEW YOU TOOK IT!”)
Some of the notes are funny,
though. As they eat, Heeseung tells Jay,
“My older brother says he likes you more than me.” I love it.
This is the second episode in which family members of the other
finalists talk about how much they like Jay.
The boys record a video thanking their parents, and they’re so wholesome
and genuinely sweet that I need to move on.
My cynical soul can only take so much pure goodness at once.
Now we get dramatic music, and the Eggnouncer saying that global voting is now closed. We end the flashback and return to Namgoong Min, who chats with the eliminated contestants in the audience. We cut to another flashback scene, where we learn that these contestants had returned to the I-Land to visit the finalists a few days ago. It’s really sweet, but again, it’s filler, so I fast-forward through it. There is no need for these finales to be this long. Bottom line: there’s a big reunion, and they all rehearse a song to perform together at the finale.
We return to the live
broadcast, and it’s pretty cool to see our 22 I-Landers performing the signal
song together. It’s too bad Yoowon’s
injuries didn’t heal in time for him to come back and be a part of this.
Now Shin Ah Young comes back
to read some live comments from the fans on social media. I really wish the cameras would stop cutting
to TXT and BTS, who have just been staring blankly at the proceedings all
night.
She Facetimes with some of the fans watching the show, and I’m fast-forwarding again. My God, this is a snooze. We finally cut back to the main stage, where something finally happens. Namgoong Min’s clip-on mic goes on the fritz. We cut back to a wide shot, but the loud music isn’t loud enough to cover the sound of the production crew yelling about the sound problem. Someone races up and gives the host a handheld mic, and now we’re back on track.
Namgoong Min says we’re about
to learn who the members of Enhypen are, but first, we need more color
commentary from BTS, who I’m sure will be firing their manager after this.
Now, here’s where it gets really weird. Our host asks BTS how they felt when their debut members were chosen, but I’m pretty sure BTS wasn’t formed this way. Yes, some members auditioned, but the question doesn’t really apply, and you’d think our host would know that about the biggest K-pop band in the world on a television show being run by their own label, so after an awkward silence, Jin takes the mic and expertly deflects, talking about how it felt to make their debut and how he wishes Enhypen a long and successful career. Nice save, Jin.
Next, we get an absolutely fantastic moment. This is my favorite moment of the episode, possibly the entire series. Yoongi, also known as Suga, takes the mic. Now, you may think it’s a bad idea to give the microphone to a man who is clearly running on fumes at this point, especially when he is on live broadcast television, but I ask you to withhold judgement for now.
Here are Suga’s comments, in their entirety:
Suga then quietly hands the mic to V and gives a thumbs-up to the camera. I am on the floor, laughing until I can hardly breathe. I replay this about fifteen times. Never mind my bias in this group. At this moment, Suga is my favorite person in the entire history of this planet on which we live.
There is a pause, and then we get too much of a wide shot to see the reaction on Namgoong Min’s face. Instead, he just says, as diplomatically as possible, “Live broadcast is always so nerve-wracking.” He pauses again, trying to find a dignified way out of this, and again I start laughing so hard, I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to get this recap finished.
Our host is then contractually obligated to ask BTS another question, and I would be perfectly happy to have BTS slur their answers in complete manic exhaustion for the rest of this show, and then just have the show’s producers list the winning Enhypen members in the ending credits.
Namgoong Min asks what BTS
remembers most from the day they visited the I-Land. Suga has somehow gotten his hands on another
mic, but V still has his own mic, and group Leader RM is gesturing for V to
speak RIGHT NOW, so V decides to give it a shot. V is also clearly exhausted but manages to
say he remembers there was so much food in the I-Land.
The other BTS members start
talking over him in an attempt to restore some semblance of professionalism and
failing spectacularly because I literally do not know what they’re trying to
say, and neither do the translators.
RM finally snatches the mic – remember, this is LIVE BROADCAST TELEVISION – and says, “My apologies. We’re falling apart here, and I’m sorry.” The camera cuts back to our finalists standing awkwardly onstage, watching their favorite group scramble madly through the hurricane of word salad they are spewing everywhere.
And then, just when you think it’s over, the impossible happens. Namgoong Min, a distinguished actor who has won four awards for artistic excellence from the Korean Broadcasting System over his incredibly impressive career, has to ask BTS yet another question.
I’m willing to bet any amount
of money that he also fired his manager after this broadcast.
He asks J-Hope, an avid viewer of the show, what his favorite scenes have been from the series. I desperately want J-Hope to answer, “The scene that we’re doing right now!” But J-Hope manages to pull it together and says he enjoyed the BTS Song Test the I-Landers did. He thanks them for performing the BTS songs so well.
J-Hope also enjoyed the scenes of the I-Landers opening their gifts from BTS and adds that he finds Jay hilarious. He ends with the battle cry, “Fighting!”
This was a very dignified, yet fun and J-Hopian response. Namgoong Min really should quit while he’s ahead. But no, he asks BTS to give some final words of encouragement to our finalists.
BTS clearly wasn’t expecting another question. They look at each other in confusion, and then group maknae Jungkook takes the mic. He manages to say some kind, dignified words, followed by RM and V who do the same, and then we return to our regularly scheduled, long, drawn-out broadcast. Thank God for BTS.
Now, FINALLY, we will learn
who the seven members of Enhypen are. We
get big, dramatic music and sweeping spotlights. We’re going to start with the six winners
decided by global voting.
As always with these finales, we get long, dramatic pauses after each sentence while the finalists try not to collapse from stress.
Our first member came in fifth place with over 1.1 million votes. We get clues about who it might be until I want to punch my computer screen. After watching six of these survival shows already, this isn’t even suspenseful. It’s just tedious.
We get reaction shots from TXT. In the most dramatic part of the show, they still manage to look exhausted. I’m pretty sure one of them is asleep. Just move this thing along already.
We finally get the name of
the fifth place winner. It’s Heeseung. After training for three years, this
all-rounder finally gets in. He used to
train with TXT, and now they get to see him get chosen to debut. (That oughta wake them up.) He’s stayed at the I-Land the entire
show. And now he’s the first announced
member of Enhypen.
The second member is announced. (I’m fast-forwarding through the long pauses.) In fourth place, it’s Ni-Ki. Our sixteen year-old Japanese finalist will be the maknae and main dancer of Enhypen. He has been through a LOT on this show, including a strange villain arc in the beginning, when he voted his bestie Ta-Ki out of the I-Land and sent him to the Ground.
Ni-Ki is overcome with tears when his name is announced, and the others surround him to shield him from the camera while he pulls himself together. He can barely make it through his thank-yous.
Now for the third place winner.
It’s Jake. Our trainee who’s been living in Australia since age nine and returned to Korea to chase his dream will now get to debut. He’s only been a trainee for nine months, so that’s really impressive. He’s done well on this show, being sent to the Ground only once.
Jake keeps clutching his chest, and I hope there’s a paramedic on standby. He makes it through his thank-yous without keeling over and joins his Enhypen bandmates.
Now for the second place
winner. The dramatic pauses go on for a
solid two minutes. Finally, we get the
name.
It’s Seattle Jay! After seeing everything he has been through
on this show, I am so happy he made it into Enhypen. He’s stunned but manages not to cry. He looks shocked and overjoyed before
returning to his usual swagger. He is
very grateful in his remarks but can’t hid that big smile. BTS looks especially happy that he made
it. I get the feeling he’s been a
general fan favorite, as well as a favorite of his fellow I-Landers’ families.
Our next member of Enhypen is Jungwon, our new group’s Leader. He’s been at the I-Land for the entire show, although there was a close call when K used an exemption to save him from being sent to the Ground and another when he was almost eliminated in the rankings.
He’s in shock. The others have to shake him a little to bring him back.
Two spots left.
Our next member, after enduring another long, dragged-out couple of minutes of suspense, is Sunghoon. He gave up an 11-year career as a figure skater, and it has paid off. He was Jay’s teammate coming into the show and stayed at the I-Land for the entire series.
We now have the six
audience-voted Enhypen members. It’s now
time for the judges’ choice, and if you thought the other announcements took
forever, you are not prepared for this.
The judges still have to decide.
They now gather to discuss. I
start timing it the minute Namgoong Min says they need to make their decision
and stop when the judges are ready. It
takes five full minutes. No
exaggeration. Five full minutes, and
even longer to say the name.
Of course, it’s Sunoo. We knew it was going to be him because we know who Enhypen is, but this is not the outcome I would have predicted. We’ll get to that in a second.
Sunoo is our trainee of ten months who has had mostly a great run on the series. He arguably had an evil edit early in the series, but he managed to overcome it.
Now. Let’s talk about K and Daniel. Here is the moment when Sunoo’s name is
announced:
K doesn’t just look crushed. He looks spiritually defeated. He’s 24 years old and has been training for about three years (including this show). He was Number One in the last ranking. I cannot imagine what is going through his head right now, but I can tell you that when this aired, his fans were PISSED. There was an internet conspiracy that once Ni-Ki won the audience vote, the judges decided they didn’t want two Japanese members in the same group. There is no evidence to support this, but after watching Boys Planet, I find it a believable possibility.
We know that K is going to make it as a member of &Team with fellow eliminated I-Landers EJ, Ta-Ki, and Nicholas. But he’ll have to go through another survival reality show to get there. Right now, he just looks like he has nothing left to give.
Now for fifteen year-old Daniel. He’s been looking anxious all during this
finale, biting his lip and staring wide-eyed at the camera. He pulls it together to congratulate Sunoo,
but I can’t find a happy ending for him.
Just like The Cadet (Lee Jae Eok) from Wild Idol, I can’t find
much on Daniel, and it’s been four years.
What I could find is that he continued being a trainee and was supposed
to debut with another group, but that didn’t happen. He should be 19 or 20 years old now. His Instagram is gone after a scandal in
which he posted a picture of himself dropping his pants. I don’t think he’s okay.
Daniel and Jae Eok, wherever you are, I hope you’re both hanging in there and finding a path in your lives that makes you happy. I’ll keep checking for you online every once in a while, hoping for good news.
Okay. Let’s wrap this up.
Namgoong Min tells us that K and Daniel are eliminated. We know. You broke them. Let them go home now. Please don’t make them stay up there and make speeches.
Sunoo steps forward and says
his thank-yous. But no one looks
happy. BTS looks upset. The judges look upset. The eliminated I-Landers in the audience look
upset. It’s not that we don’t think
Sunoo deserves this win – he totally does.
But we just watched K and Daniel get emotionally shattered. It’s all we can focus on. Sunoo is being robbed of the joy of this
moment because when he looks out into the audience and gives his heartfelt
thanks, he gets sullen faces avoiding his gaze.
And, of course, this show makes K and Daniel give final remarks. This is beyond cruel. It’s agonizing to watch K and Daniel try to speak while everyone, including even the winning members, is devastated.
Daniel gets through it as positively as he can. K, on the other hand, lifts his mic and then lowers it like it’s too heavy. After several seconds, he finally speaks. He struggles with each sentence, thanking everyone for the opportunity and vowing to go on. Over on the winners’ podium, Ni-Ki is sobbing.
Bang Si Hyuk tells them he knows they are heartbroken, but they shouldn’t give up. He adds, “I can confidently tell you that your dreams will come true.” I think of Daniel and his Instagram photos, and I just want to pick up my chair and smash it over Bang Si Hyuk’s head.
He vows to help K and Daniel. Well, he did help K. I’ll give him that. &Team is on the HYBE label, a division of Big Hit Entertainment. But Daniel wound up with a different company called Pledis, and then he disappeared.
Namgoong Min now has to try to cheer up the depressed room by hyping up Enhypen, a new band whose members are still ugly-crying on the winners’ podium. He tells them to move to the main stage now that K and Daniel are thankfully allowed to leave.
Our shellshocked debut group stands on the stage and stares out into the dark rows of seats where an audience of fans should be. Our host announces each of their names again. None of them are smiling. I’m a little concerned about Ni-Ki. He does not look like a newly-crowned K-pop idol whose dreams have just come true. He looks like a kid who’s been sentenced to juvie until he’s eighteen.
A confetti cannon goes off behind them, scaring the bejeezus out of all of them, and then they gather into a group huddle.
We’re supposed to see a new band forming a strong bond. I guess that’s a good way to describe trauma-bonding, so I’ll agree.
Our host tells Bang Si Hyuk to give a congratulatory message, but I’ve had enough of him at this point, so I skip through it. BTS and TXT are asked to say a few words. Jimin from BTS congratulates them. He’s as dignified as possible for someone who is clearly about to drop. Same with the TXT rep whose name we’re not given and who looks like he was violently shaken awake before being handed a microphone.
Namgoong Min thanks the
global viewers and asks them to support Enhypen, who still have not cracked a
smile. The final credits roll, and we
get one joyful moment when Ta-Ki races from his seat and slams into Ni-Ki so
hard for a big hug, he almost knocks his bestie off the stage.
Over the past four years, Enhypen has sold millions of records, travelled the world on three tours, and became ambassadors for luxury clothing and skin care brands. They’re still going strong.
It’s been a long finale and a long five days as I’ve watched it, taken notes and done research, and written this recap. It’s also been a long, nearly eight-month recap project.
I’m going to take a break and
set up a website for these recaps. Eventually,
I’d like to start watching and recapping these shows again. See you all next episode, whatever show it
is!
Back to Site Table of Contents
No comments:
Post a Comment