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(Written October 18, 2024)
Okay, time for this show to pick up the pace. We are officially in Part 2 of this series. Votes need to be counted. Math needs to be done. Trainees need to be cut. Everyone left needs to be living in one place so I can track them better. Let’s do this.
When this episode opens, global
voting has been going on for a week. The
votes are for the twelve finalists who will be competing to be in the final
group. Here’s where they show the
results of the voting from over the past week, and you’ll recognize the slide
below from last episode’s recap. The
only update is that we now know Sunoo got the majority of the votes from Korea.
We’re told there will be six eliminations and six survivors, which still doesn’t math its way to a final twelve considering we have 23 trainees, but let’s just see how this works out. Test 4 is about to begin.
We open on the control room with our six coaches, including Wonderkid. They are ready to get started. The I-Landers head for the stage. As they walk through the gate, they take one last look at the I-Land, because six of them won’t be coming back. We already know that Seon will be saying goodbye for good.
The I-Landers get into formation. It’s GO time. Except it’s not. We bring the momentum to a screeching halt once again as we learn that Heeseung has replaced Jungwon for the 5th Part/Center position.
In the control room, Zico explains to the other judges (and us) that the midpoint check showed that Jungwon wasn’t doing well in that part, so Heeseung replaced him. I’m willing to take his word for it. Seriously, that’s a simple enough explanation, and we really don’t need a flashback. Please don’t give us a flashback.
We’re getting a flashback aren’t we? (sigh) Of course we are. A survival reality show without flashbacks is like pizza without corn.
I just want to get to the
performance, so I’m pretty much fast-forwarding here, and basically it’s just
like Zico says. There is one touching
moment, though. The team has a meeting
after the midpoint check to discuss Heeseung replacing Jungwon, and as Jungwon
is dealing with the blow, Jay reaches over and takes his hand. Jay has been in this same situation. I love that Jay, Jungwon, and Heeseung are
going to be future bandmates.
We also get a few funny moments where are trainees think the place is haunted, but this flashback has already gone on for ten minutes. PLEASE let’s go back to the performance.
But no, this flashback will not end. We now move to the Ground. We’ve already seen their midpoint check, so why are we here? Sunoo is worried that he’s so far back during the performance that the camera won’t show him. Meanwhile, EJ’s legs are in so much pain from the constant practice, he can’t sleep. He’s always being told he has potential, but he wants to be great. So he goes back to the practice room in the middle of the night to keep dancing. I don’t want to think about the damage he’s doing to his leg muscles.
We get clips of various
trainees in confessionals, talking about how nervous they are. The show seems to be dragging this out, but I
think global voting is still going on, so this may be a last chance to appeal
to voters.
Finally, the flashback ends. We return to the stage, where the I-Landers stand in formation. Showtime.
It’s a wonderful performance, and their expressions are fierce. I even like the song, which may be a first for songs written specifically for a show. It’s a near-perfect performance, and the coaches love it.
The I-Landers return to the
giant egg timer, unable to celebrate because now they have to vote to send
three of their own to the Ground. The
coaches are choosing their three as well.
K has other concerns. He wasn’t
feeling well before the test, and now he’s feeling worse. From injuries to illness, this show is taking
a real toll on our trainees.
Everyone packs their things to be ready to move to the Ground. One by one, the announcer calls them to go to the voting room and choose three teammates to eliminate. To help them choose, they are shown all the team members’ scores from the Test 4 performance.
Jay scored 76, which puts him in third place. Sunghoon comes in second with 81, and Jungwon is first with 83. Our three top scorers are future Enhypen members. I love that Jungwon comes in first after having to give up the Center position. The low scores are K at 61 and Geonu at 60.
Once the voting is done, it’s time to find out which six I-Landers are being sent to the Ground. They are:
Youngbin, with 11 votes. This is his second time being sent to the Ground on this series. He’s struggled with learning choreo, having to do individual assessments, and getting low scores. He does not look surprised at this turn of events.
Kyungmin, also with 11 votes. Again, not a surprise, even if you don’t already know who’s going to win this thing. He started at the Ground and managed to get into the I-Land, only to get the 12th part in the final test. He just hasn’t been able to stand out.
Jaebeom, with 10 votes.
Like Youngbin, this is his second trip to the Ground. His performances have generally been
weak. Other than a solid performance in
the Signal Song Test, he hasn’t been doing well.
So much for the trainees the I-Landers voted out. Now let’s look at the coaches’ decisions.
EJ. He’s actually been doing consistently well on the show, despite already being sent to the Ground once before. The coaches just haven’t been feeling it with him on the recent tests.
Seon. We already knew about this one. He’s had a lackluster track record on this show, and the coaches even say they don’t think he’s cut out to be onstage. That’s harsh, but I get it. I barely have any notes on him because he’s just kind of been there all this time.
And finally, Geonu. He was doing so well there for a while, and
then he blew the
final test
and got the lowest score. He is devastated. Kyungmin takes his hand and tries to reassure
him, saying they’ll make their way back up to the I-Land.
The announcer tells the eliminated ones to remove their name tags from their chairs and go to the Ground, where it’s about to get very crowded. Now we get all the crying and hugging scenes we saw in the previous episode’s previews.
If I may digress for a moment, I’m writing this during the RIIZE / SM Entertainment blowup involving toxic and abusive K-Pop fans, entertainment companies with a long history of failing to protect their idols, and a huge worldwide merch boycott that could end the careers of the members of RIIZE. The rose-colored glasses I was seeing K-pop through a year ago have fallen off and shattered over the past several weeks.
What this means is that these
scenes of trainees crying over being eliminated don’t break my heart like they
used to. I feel like trainees who get
cut from these shows are dodging a bullet.
When I think of sweet, innocent souls like Ta-Ki, I want him as far away
from this industry as possible. I’ll be
relieved when he gets cut for good from this show, although if I Google his
name right now, I’ll probably find that he’s joined a different group or just
been signed to another label. Let me
check.
Okay, Ta-Ki is 19 years old now and a member of a group called &Team. That’s not a typo. The group is actually called &Team. He made it into that group through another survival reality show he did after this one called &AUDITION – The Howling. What is K-pop’s obsession with ampersands?
Anyway, the group is signed to HYBE, which is the home of BTS. I thought the name &Team sounded familiar, but then I checked my K-pop playlist and saw I had them confused with a group called Amper&One. I just can’t with K-pop.
&Team includes three
other eliminated I-Land trainees: K,
Nicholas, and EJ. Kyungmin was also part
of the group, but he quit four months after being signed due to what sounds
like creative differences. &Team is
doing quite well. Their first album was
certified platinum. I wish them
continued success, but more importantly, I hope they stay safe and protected. I hope they have good people looking out for
them.
Okay. Back to our show.
Our six eliminated trainees make their way to the Ground. The dropouts are surprised to see eliminated I-Landers walk in because they haven’t done their own performance yet. Everyone’s crying, hugging, confused, and happy to be reunited with old friends.
Now the practice room screen
lights up, and the announcer tells the dropouts there will be a final test for
the Ground called “The Final 6.” For
this test, everyone at the Ground must perform together, all seventeen of them. After that, global voting will decide which
six of them can go to the I-Land and be part of the final twelve. And everyone will be staying in one location. Hallelujah.
They have three days to prepare. They will need to redistribute the parts and rehearse, as well as figure out how to add new parts to the existing choreo. This will be exciting and chaotic. Except wait – there are only sixteen people at the Ground. Did someone leave?
According to the show’s Wikipedia page, yes. Yoonwon left after the 5th episode due to a worsening ankle injury. I looked him up, and he’s gone back to his street dancing team with over 700,000 YouTube subscribers. Netizens think he may have gone back into training to be an idol, since he hasn’t appeared in the dance team’s more recent videos.
So our sixteen dropouts have to revamp the routine in three days. This is Seon’s first time at the Ground, so he’s still getting used to the fresh air and greenery. He looks like I do after I’ve spent several hours working on these recaps and then step outside to get the mail.
Auditions start again for the different parts. Everything’s going smoothly until Geonu auditions, and suddenly he collapses. My heart almost stops. I know nobody died on this show, but still, he does not look okay. The others rush over to him. It looks like he’s injured his leg.
We don’t get to see what happens next because suddenly we cut to D-Day. We’re about to see our dropouts perform. But then we get screen text telling us the six participants of I-Land are also practicing. Wait, for what? They’ve already performed. I’m starting to think this show isn’t being translated very well.
Never mind that – here come the dropouts! Their approach is filled with all the slow-motion drama and intense music of a Game of Thrones battle.
And now, It’s showtime.
Seeing this large group move with perfectly synchronized precision is pretty amazing. Despite the injuries and exhaustion and everything else they’ve been through, they give a mesmerizing performance. Now all they can do is wait for the vote. The global fans have 36 hours to decide the fates of these remaining dropouts.
In a jarring transition, we
close out with confessionals in which the trainees talk about how much they
love BTS, how BTS inspired them, and how much they want to be like BTS. Call it a hunch, but I think we may finally
see BTS in the next episode.
Oh – we get one more clip. We actually get an interview with Yoonwon, talking about why he left the show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this happen on a K-pop survival show, except that one time on Wild Idol when we saw an injured trainee remove his number badge and leave. Usually they just vanish with no explanation.
Yoonwon’s injury was more serious than Wikipedia described. He says his leg and foot were hurting from the very beginning of the show, but he wanted to keep going, and now he can barely walk. He decided to leave and wait for the next opportunity.
This episode has been a lot,
and the drama is about to get even more intense with the results of the global
voting. See you next episode.
Episode 7: Our First Houseguests
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