Shining SOLO, Episode 10 (Finale): Once More Unto the Bridge

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(Written September 9, 2024)

Here we go, folks.  Final episode.  I’ll try not to be so grumpy this time, but these gender stereotypes are really getting to me.  

Also, I didn’t forget to include viewer comments in the second half of the last episode.  The viewers just stopped commenting after the Secret Day dates.  I threw in a few comments but got no responses.  Given that this is the finale, and we’ll probably get some real drama, I’m expecting a lot more viewer engagement.  Let’s do this.

We get a flashback clip montage bringing us up to the present.  We also get an enthusiastic TREASURE fan posting nonstop comments in the first two minutes about how the band members have improved and changed their lives and it’s such a good show … breathe, LorenDizzy.  Pace yourself.  We’ve got an hour to go.

We open at the house, which I’m really going to miss.  The boys arrive and settle into the living room.  Hyun Suk appears to be wearing a jumpsuit made out of quilting material, and I love it so much.  His stylist deserves all the awards.

I hadn’t even noticed that.  I hope he’s not tracking dirt through that beautiful house.

The women arrive together, and it’s dawning on me again that there are only five of them.  This is a little strange.  In Part 1, having more girls than guys made a 5-way tie impossible.

Everyone gathers in the living room and sits quietly.  It doesn’t feel like the usual awkward silence.  We know they’re surrounded by cameras and a production team, it’s the last day, and they probably have a million things on their schedule after this.  They’re just waiting for the classical music to start so they can get on with it.

Yoshi compliments the girls on their outfits.  The show tells us such compliments make their hearts flutter.  Oh, shut up, show.  Thank goodness the classical music starts up.  “This is the last time we’ll hear the music!” Hyun Suk says as he gets up to retrieve the mission.  The mission is the 10-minute talk time, just like with the previous group.  I’m hoping we get some top-tier flirting like the kind Haruto gave us in Part 1.

We start with Yoshi.  He’s waiting in the second-floor kitchen off the patio, and I am really, really going to miss this house.  While he waits for his first conversation, he brings out some blankets and puts them on a chair in case the women get chilly.  It’s a nice touch.  He also sets out some water and sodas and then worries that he’s overdoing it.  I’m going to miss this K-pop vampire fashion king sweetheart.

Min Ji arrives first.  She appreciates the blanket and the water.  He then takes a blurry package out of his bag and says he remembered she likes sweet things.  He hands her a blurry bar of chocolate.  She is surprised and happily thanks him.  But there’s more.  He’s going to draw a picture of her and give it to her as a gift.

(“Noona” is a Korean term used by men to address older women.)

While he’s drawing, they can’t really talk because she’s posing and he’s concentrating.  She does try, though.  She asks him what he thinks his best charm is.  He says that in a one-on-one conversation, where he feels more comfortable, he’s more manly.  I’m not sure what that means.

She loves the drawing and says she’ll frame it.  I’ll admit, I’d be excited to get a drawing from a K-pop star, even it if were just a stick figure.

Min Ji is touched and says she’s never received a gift like this.  The other band members are going to have to seriously step up their game.

Yoshi asks about her arm, because she apparently burned herself yesterday while cooking.  He picked up more bandages after it happened and gives them to her now.  It’s very sweet of him.  I would have preferred more actual conversation instead of gifts, but she’s completely swept off her feet, and she’s the one who’s voting in the end, so I’ll call this a success.

The chime rings, signaling the ten minutes are up.  Now we cut to our maknae, Jung Hwan, sitting out in the courtyard.  Ji Soo arrives.  Jung Hwan starts by saying he knows she gave him a recorder, and she tells him she also gave him a jewel.  She appreciated the way he looked out for her on the field day event when they were playing soccer.

They talk about how the little things matter, and he tells her that hers was the last jewel he received.  (I checked my notes.  He got two jewels last time, from her and Min Ye.)

He does have a gift for her, sort of.  It’s a hand warmer.  The same ones they’ve been using on the set all series.  He says this one is special, and since Hyun Suk is giving vitamins as presents, he wants to express himself in a warm way.  By … giving her a hand warmer he picked up off the set?  Come on, Jung Hwan, seriously?  Yoshi gave chocolates, drew a picture, and provided medical supplies.  Your game is WEAK.

The chime rings.  Time’s up.  We move to another part of the courtyard, where Doyoung is waiting.  Ha Yul joins him.  He has set up electric votive candles in the shape of a heart around her chair.  That’s sweet, I guess.  It’s hard for me to see the charm in acts like this when they’re being done to win a TV reality show competition, and we know these guys will never see these girls again.

I do have to laugh when Doyoung asks for Ha Yul’s honest reaction to the candles, and she admits she finds it a little cheesy.  But she adds, “It’s so you, Doyoung,” which softens it a bit.

Because they’re the same age, Doyoung asks if they can speak informally.  She asks if he thinks he can actually do that, and he says he’ll try.  Then he struggles to speak.  I am really missing a lot of the nuance of these shows by not understanding Korean.

Doyoung manages to keep the conversation going.  He remembers how she arrived at the house yesterday with star barrettes in her hair.  He says he liked that.  “It was vibrant and stylish,” he says.  She has Hyun Suk paid her a similar compliment.  Wow, Hyun Suk has been doing great, what with the vitamins and compliments.  I can’t wait to cut to his 10-minute session.

Doyoung isn’t going down without a fight.  Ha Yul tells him she almost didn’t wear the barrettes because she was afraid they would make her stand out too much.  Doyoung looks right into her eyes and says she looked like a red rose among purple roses.  She blushes and laughs, and then she comes right back with “I feel like you’ve prepared all these lines.”  Smart girl!

Doyoung protests that these lines can’t be prepared (yes they can), and she says it still feels that way.  Still she’s flattered that he thought she looked pretty yesterday.

I’ve never seen tomdjt this optimistic.

One good lesson Doyoung has learned is that his clumsiness is part of his charm, and he doesn’t have to be embarrassed by it.  So we’ve gotten at least one really good message from this show.

The chime rings.  Time to move on.  This is kind of like speed dating.  Now we get to hang out with Hyun Suk in the playroom.  He’s talking with Min Ye.  They talk about the fun they’ve had on this show, but Hyun Suk is worried that Min Ye may have felt uncomfortable, coming in on the second day. 

Min Ye says that he made her feel welcome, so the transition went smoothly.  We get a scene from the bus that we didn’t see before, in which all the guys get her up to speed on everything she missed the day before.

“Is there anything you wish you did more?” She asks him.  He says he wishes he’d been able to have more conversations with the women.  Min Ye tells him all the women like him a lot, which makes him happy.  The chime rings, but they keep talking through the sound until she finally has to leave.

Now we cut to Jeong Woo in the living room.  This poor guy.  He started Part 2 saying that his bandmate Jae Hyuk told him he’d be Mr. Treasure on Day One, and he wound up with an empty locker and being the third wheel on a date.  He’d better not leave the show empty-handed.  He doesn’t deserve that.

In walks Min Ji.  Again?  We still haven’t talked with Seung Ji.  She asks him if he has any regrets, and he says he’s got a lot.  She responds, “I think you’ll have a lot.”  OH MY GOD.  Can she go away now?

Min Ji says that Jeong Woo has many charms, but he just doesn’t know how to show them, and that’s a shame.  She asks how he feels now, and if there’s a charm he has that others don’t see.  He says he likes taking care of people.  He feels good when he can help.  But when it comes to women, he can’t do that so easily.  With his bandmates, it’s easier.

Min Ji tells him there’s no need for him to be shy with girls, and that all the girls found him charming when talking to him one-on-one.  He’s relieved to hear this.  He also tells her that she was the MVP among the women.  Jeong Woo, I respectfully and wholeheartedly and COMPLETELY disagree.  Thankfully, the chimes put a stop to this conversation.

Now we’re back to Yoshi in the upstairs kitchen.  Seung Ji arrives.  She tells him he looks great in pink.  (He really does.)  He tells her she looks amazing and loves the blush color she’s using.  He’s really good at noticing details like that.

She asks him how he feels now, and like his bandmate Hyun Suk, he also wishes there had been more time to talk one-on-one.  He takes out his paper and pen and sketches her as they talk.  Yoshi is too good for this world.  I just love him.

Seung Ji asks him what charm he’s discovered about himself during all this.  He says he’s learned that confidence is key.  As far as messages the show is sending, this episode is a huge improvement over the previous ones.

The chimes ring.  We go back outside to Jung Hwan, and night is falling.  This must be a looong day for this cast.  He’s talking with Min Ye, who tells him right off the bat that he answers questions like he’s reading from a textbook.  Well.  Hello to you, too.

He finds out that one of the jewels he received was from her.  I’m a little surprised that the guys aren’t told where all their jewels and recorders came from, like the previous group was.  Maybe because this group has already been talking about it so much.

They talk about how relaxed they feel talking to each other.  She says it feels weird that this is their last conversation.  They pretty much just keep repeating how comfortable they are with each other until the chimes have had enough and signal the ten minutes are up.  (BTW, he “gifts” her with a hand warmer as well.)

The 10-minute Talk Mission is over.  Time for the final ceremony.  We get a final shot of the house, and I actually get a bit misty-eyed over leaving it.  Just in case I haven’t said it enough, I really love this house.

Seeing it now for the last time, I’m reminded of a scene from the 1986 movie Pretty in Pink.  Molly Ringwald’s character, Andie, is a high school student who lives on the wrong side of the tracks and is studying and working hard for a better life.  One night, on her way home from a club, she drives through a wealthy neighborhood and points out the houses to her friend in the car.  She stops in front of one of the houses and says, “That one’s my favorite.  I wonder what it’s like inside.  You know what the sad thing is, though?  I bet the people who live there don’t think it's half as pretty as I do.”

I really hope the people who live in the house on this show see it the way I do.  I hope they see every day how beautiful it is.

Moving on.  I predict the final Mr. Treasure will be Hyun Suk.  He’s been consistently charming through this whole thing and didn’t seem to need help talking to women in the first place.  This guy can talk to anybody.

We go back to our Bridge of Fate with its beautiful lights and flags reflecting on the water’s surface.  In confessionals, the women say they’re still thinking over their choices, including  Min Ji, who just told us in the last episode she would choose whichever guy just popped into her mind.

Our guys stand in front of the bridge, and it’s nice to see none of them are wearing anything that has to be blurred out.  Ha Yul is the first to walk across the bridge.  She stand in front of them and gives the standard speech.  She provides a general description of her choice that could apply to any of these guys.  Just please don’t give us any fake-outs this time.

She steps forward like she’s going to choose either Hyun Suk or Jung Hwan, but then she sidesteps and give it to Doyoung.  The other guys clap, and he high-fives her. 

Hyun Suk says half-jokingly that now he understands why Jae Hyuk felt hurt.  No.  You’ll know that feeling if you’re the only one to go home with nothing after one of the girls embarrasses you.  Ha Yul didn’t get close enough to do an actual fake-out.  Yes, I’m still bitter.  Let’s get this over with.

Next across the bridge is Min Ji in a blurred-out sports jacket.  She makes her speech and then steps forward.  She wavers between Jeong Woo and Yoshi and then picks Yoshi.  His reaction is adorable.  Good bye, Min Ji.  I will not miss you.

Next up is Min Ye.  She gives the speech, steps forward, and gives her jewel to Jung Hwan.  That’s three guys who have received jewels.  This will either end in a five-way tie, or someone is going home empty-handed.

Next up is Seung Ji.  She gives her speech, steps forward towards Jung Hwan, and then veers over to Yoshi and gives him his second jewel of the evening.

Only one jewel left.  Here comes Ji Soo.  She gives her jewel to Doyoung.

So Yoshi and Doyoung win Mr. Treasure titles, and both Hyun Suk and Jeong Woo get nothing.  I’m glad it wasn’t just one guy this time.  Although it’s weird that the most consistently charming man of the entire series, Hyun Suk, was one of them.

The viewers have thoughts.        

I think laude_21 sums it up very well at the end.  This was a very interesting experiment in K-pop, and even though I have no intention of watching another dating show again, I’m glad I saw this one.  I also have a fondness for the guys in this group, even though try as I might, I couldn’t find any of their songs that I really liked.  Sorry guys, I went through your YouTube playlist, and none of it worked for me.  I do wish you tons of success, though.  You are all adorable.  Hyun Suk and Yoshi need their own fashion lines.

Also, I think your entertainment company seriously hates you.  Maybe check when your contracts are up and start looking around.  Baekhyun from EXO has started his own label, so that might be worth a phone call.

I’m going to wrap this up with my usual post-show essay, because I do have a lot of questions after watching this show.  In the meantime, remember what we’ve learned:

1. Sports equals charm.
   
   
2. Starting conversations equals charm.
   
   
3. Helping out in the kitchen does not equal charm.
   
   
4. Shyness is not charm.
   
   
5. Giving girls blankets, water, and bandages is charm.
   
   
6. Singing for girls is not charm.
   
   
7. I never want to hear or see the word “charm” ever again.

Let’s talk about Shining SOLO.

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