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(Written September 24, 2024)
We’re starting off with an apology from me. These are going to be awful screenshots, so you won’t be getting a lot of them. This entire episode takes place outside at night while our RIIZE guys run around a haunted village with only their lanterns for light. But it should still be good episode, as we see if any of these guys can complete all three missions and win five ballots. Let’s do this.
We open back at the café, where Won Bin has returned safely after completing two of the three missions. It looks like Anton is next.
Won Bin was scared when he walked through the village. Anton is downright petrified. He’s too frazzled to follow the path and gets lost in the dark. The cameras are having trouble following him. I do give him points for muttering, “If anyone pops out, I’m going to hit them with my lamp.” Atta boy. Now to get to the Missing Shoe Mission and show Won Bin how it’s done.
Now for the “Guess the Song” Ghost waiting for him on the path. Anton takes one look at him, screams, and runs. Maybe he’ll at least find his way back to the Missing Shoe Mission.
Nope. Anton doesn’t even make it to the sauna to play Rock Paper Scissors with the chick from The Ring. He just races back to the café at top speed. The poor guy will never live this down.
So Hee decides enough is enough. He has spent the whole day on the losing water sports team and has not won any ballots. He’s going to face whatever’s out there. I’m impressed – he’s walking quickly and purposefully, looking for the mission sites. He makes it to the Missing Shoe site in record time. He is truly BOSS material. Why was he overthrown in the first place?
He reads the
instructions, sees the clay pots, realizes the missing shoe must be in one of
the clay pots, opens the first clay pot and finds the shoe, and puts it with
the other shoe. Mission accomplished. Seriously, WHY isn’t he still the BOSS?
So Hee decides to pick up the pace and starts jogging. He slows to a walk when he sees the Music Ghost but keeps moving forward. Here’s where I learned an interesting cultural thing. The ghost is making a “shoo, go away” gesture with his hand, but in Korea, that gesture means, “come here.” I kept wondering why Won Bin was approaching this ghost when it was clearly gesturing at him to piss off.
So Hee thinks the ghost is
just there to slow him down, so he tries to walk past, but the ghost takes his
arm and pulls him back. Instead of
freaking out, So Hee laughs at himself when he realizes this is the second
mission.
What happens next is pretty amazing. The Music Ghost plays the slowed-down song, and So Hee concentrates, listening for the lyrics. The ghost seems disappointed that So Hee doesn’t seem the slightest bit scared of him, so he suddenly shrieks right in his face. So Hee barely notices. He half-smiles at the ghost, like he’s saying, “Yes, I see that. Nicely done,” and keeps concentrating on the song. I am in total awe of So Hee. He is the biggest badass in RIIZE.
What’s even funnier is that he’s struggling to identify the lyrics to his own group’s song, “Siren.” He finally realizes he’s running out of time and gives up, moving on to the third mission site.
He goes into the sauna
and waits. The chick from The Ring
springs up on him … and he can’t help laughing.
I am loving this. The chick is so
bummed, she just kind of flops onto the bench across from him and starts the
game. After a couple of rounds, he wins
and leaves the sauna.
He makes it back to the café, and the others are a little surprised that he’s laughing. Sung Chan has been a nervous wreck, waiting for his turn while listening to Anton talk about how scary it is out there, and now he’s just confused. He decides to just get it over with. He gives himself a pep talk, grabs the lantern, and stops at the door because he’s too afraid to go any further.
He finally makes it
outside and stumbles down the path, holding his lamp over his head in case he
needs to use it as a weapon. He freaks
out when he runs into a member of the camera crew. He finally decides he wants to give up. But he’s frozen in fear, unable to keep going
and unable to run back to his bandmates.
Back at the café, the
other members are wondering if they should send someone out there to look for
Sung Chan. Anton, of all people, decides
to brave the darkness to look for his bandmate.
He doesn’t even have a lantern because Sung Chan took the only one with
him. Fortunately, when Anton gets
outside, he sees the light from Sung Chan’s lantern and runs after him. They join forces and inch along the path
together, jumping at every little sound.
Sung Chan suggests they try the first challenge together. In response, Anton, his brother in the band, one of his best friends in the world, takes off running back to the café, leaving him behind in the dust. I repeat, ANTON LEAVES HIS BANDMATE BEHIND ON THE SCARY PATH IN THE DARK. I can’t wait for RIIZE’s next hit single, “Get a Guitar (So I Can Smash it Over Anton’s Stupid Head).”
To his enormous credit, Sung Chan makes his way to the Missing Shoe site alone. I am really pulling for him. But he loses his nerve after reading the instructions, and a camera operator has to lead him back to the café.
We see the scores so
far. Won Bin and So Hee have each
accomplished two missions, and Anton and Sung Chan have soaked two pairs of
pants. Despite getting one mission
wrong, I think So Hee is far and away the winner here. We don’t know yet what each person’s time is,
but I really hope he wins.
Sung Chan walks triumphantly into the café and says, “Success!” No one is buying it. Plus, Anton’s sitting right there. I wondered how he explained abandoning his bandmate to the rest of the group.
Next up is Eun Seok. He’s been sneaky and mean all season and really needs to prove himself here. He grabs the lantern and heads out into the darkness, telling us he loves this kind of thing. We’ll see.
He heads right over to the Shoe Challenge, reads the instructions, and starts looking for the missing shoe. He finds it in the second jar he checks. I’ll admit, I’m impressed. Let’s see if he can be the first to nail all three missions.
Like
So Hee, he’s jogging to save time. He jogs
fearlessly up to the Music Ghost. Let’s
see if he can recognize his own group’s song.
Aaaand he can’t. The ghost,
probably fed up at this point, says he’ll give him a clue if he’ll do aegyo
into the camera. I love seeing Eun Seok
reduced to doing a baby voice and cute little gestures right into the
camera. Then he turns back to the ghost
for his clue.
I really wish I could get a good screenshot of what happens next. The ghost does some of the dance steps from the song’s music video. “Siren” has some of the most insanely complicated choreography I’ve ever seen, and the ghost can only do a few clumsy steps, so I can’t imagine this is helpful in any way to Eun Seok. When the ghost is done, Eun Seok looks even more puzzled and says, “I think it’s K-pop?” Call me a ghost, ‘cause I am DEAD.
He finally gives up and runs to the sauna. He’s so impatient to finish at this point, he doesn’t really react to the Ring Ghost. They keep playing until he finally wins. He runs back to the café at top speed, knowing he lost a lot of time on the second mission.
Now it’s the BOSS’
turn. Shotaro is nervous as he walks
along the path, but he’s hanging in there.
He gets to the Shoe Thing and solves it pretty quickly. Then he walks bravely up to the Music Ghost,
who is probably ready to call it a day at this point.
The slowed-down song starts playing. We find out in a flashback that Eun Seok had already told him it was a RIIZE song. I’m guessing Won Bin spilled the beans, since he’s the only one who’s gotten it right so far. And Shotaro STILL can’t figure out which song it is. He asks for a hint. The ghost demands to see some dance moves first, so Shotaro does some choreo on the spot.
The ghost then starts humming the melody for the “Siren” chorus, which doesn’t really help because the chorus is kind of yelled instead of sung, so it’s like trying to hum the melody of a sports cheer. Shotaro finally gives up and moves on. No one in the band will accomplish all three missions.
At the sauna, he’s a little freaked out by the Ring ghost, but he stays and plays the game. He keeps losing over and over. The poor ghost girl is TRYING to get him to win, and he just keeps losing. I imagine when this is over, she and the Music Ghost are going to find the nearest bar and get plastered. She’ll keep challenging the other patrons to Rock Paper Scissors, and he’ll keep muttering into his drink, “I can’t believe my kids like this group.”
FINALLY Shotaro wins and
runs back to the café. And the episode
ends here. We’ll have to wait yet one
more episode to see who won and then who becomes the next BOSS. And then I imagine SM Entertainment will
watch this footage and fire the group for not being able to recognize their own
song. See you then!
Episode 9: The Great RIIZE Betrayal
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