Running Man Episode 162 recap

I have an honour to start Running Man episodes reviews/recaps with idols special edition “Goodbye summer vacation”.

                               Opening

The opening starts with Haha’s performance with L and Sunggyu and Gary’s dance to “NoNoNo” together with Eunji and Naeun. As expected these two Running Man members are the best when it comes to dancing (well after YooHyuk for sure). I was really surprised how well in sync was Gary together with A Pink members. No surprise he called himself Gary-Pink. Maybe he should become the seventh member of the group? He would totally fit in! 

Third and fourth members to show their dancing capabilities were Song Ji Hyo and Yoo Jae Suk. To be honest Ji Hyo really surprised me. I still have a clear picture of her dancing “Hot Issue” on Family Outing, so I didn’t except much. But this time she did well! Yoo Jae Suk once again showed us, why he is a dancing queen (king?). I don’t think any other Running Man member would be able to pull off that sexy Girl’s Day dance. But he did! And that priceless expression he had all the time while dancing... Still can’t get enough of that.

The fifth member to go on stage (well he didn’t even reach the stage) was Lee Kwang Soo. Is he an original member of MBLAQ? That’s what I would think if I wouldn’t know who Kwang Soo is. In my opinion, Kwang Soo did the best out of all members. He was able to combine both, dancing and feelings, and looked like an idol group member.

After Kwang Soo, we had Kim Jong Kook showing his dancing skills. This is how horror and comedy movies combined should look like! We all know, that Sistar dances are all feminine and to see Jong Kook dancing to it was… Scary? Funny? I leave it for you to decide. I really enjoyed Jong Kook’s little improvisation and sexy expression. I wish we were able to see Jong Kook’s lips rubbing. I believe that would be totally hilarious.

The last one to go on stage was none other than Ji Suk Jin. Overflowing with energy and full of confidence he showed us his “idol”(?) side. Well, till the moment he slipped. Fate brought him back to being a comedian and showing body gag (although I strongly believe that wasn’t on purpose. Like Yoo Jae Suk once said to Kwang Soo “You must be very lucky for Variety God to help you”. That’s what happened this time). On the other hand, I was totally blown by Suk Jin’s performance. He did a great job. 

I was totally sad for these guys to ride alone. Well, Suk Jin isn’t a surprise in these kind of situations as he is considered as the weakest link, but for no one to choose Chansung and Wooyoung? That’s surprising.

First game - "Swimming pool island"

Although game like this as far as I remember is played for the first time, I wouldn’t say it is something new for us. Photo Zone game (Peaceful Gary) is almost the same. The only differences are – this one is played in the swimming pool and when time is up you just need to be on the float.

Honestly, I was excepting 2PM members to win first round. But not so easily. I was hoping for fiercer and more intense battle between 2PM vs Kim Jong Kook vs B2ST. Still, Wooyoung and Chansung (Banana boy, right?) made the biggest mistake. They forgot about their weakest link. Till the end of the game I thought that one of them will jump to the water on purpose, because Suk Jin won’t manage to win a round on his own. But I was wrong.Although they couldn’t help Suk Jin, I totally enjoyed how they were rooting for Suk Jin later in the game.

Second round of the game was unexpected. All thanks to L. He was able to pull down Kim Jong Kook while falling. This resulted to Dasom’s and Yura’s success.

Other rounds didn’t have any surprises and we were left with these four guys still trying to succeed. I wasn’t surprised with Joon still standing there as he has built an image on TV shows similar to Kwang Soo’s .

                    Whose butt it is?                                          How about this one?

I think we should make them nickname with “Butt” in it. Nice butt brothers? Sounds good (?)

As expected, Jae Suk and Joon easily pass next to last round and battle is down to Suk Jin and Kwang Soo. I was sure I will see some cheating from both sides…

But at the same time I saw some drama elements (?). In the end, after fierce battle Kwang Soo was able to beat Suk Jin. But how about those two guys who were first to succeed? Last place… Once again it proves that you need to play as a team on Running Man and help your weakest players to succeed first.

Should we get out? This totally cracked me up. I guess Ji Hyo didn’t even realize that by complimenting other girl group members the ones that hears it will feel left out. You can clearly see that Ji Hyo felt embarrassed.

Second game - blob jumping

I was totally thrilled to know that blob jumping is one of the missions of this race. The last time it brought a lot of laughter.

First team to compete was no other than Haha&Infinite team. But what’s wrong with this lad? Once again it shows that even idols are human beings (I know right?).

Finally Sunggyu gathers his courage and…

BOOOM

Next contestants are Suk Jin and wild idols 2PM. As expected they don’t even need time to mentally prepare. Even Wooyoung’s technique is totally different.

Bromance????

Third team to jump is Jaesuk&Girl’s Day team. Honestly, I was expecting that Yura will be frightened as Sunggyu was, but I was totally blown by her courage.

Other “flyers” jumps

Third game - "Prime Dodge Ball"

The third game was kind of “Running Man” against 52 university students. The winning team is the one whose member stays alone in a square. It’s a lot of fun to throw ball while playing dodge ball but to be the one who tries to avoid them is kind of scary.

I was expecting students to go easy on Running Man members and idols. But I guess they were so angry because of summer ending, that they tried to throw the ball as hard as possible.

Don’t be misled. Although this guy smiles beautifully, he just tries to get everyone out of the game. His victims: Kwang Soo, Eunji (twice actually), Naeun, Ji Hyo.

I was so happy when PD let ousted members to come back into the game and help to eliminate other members.  We could see savage Eunji side (Savage Ye Jin, anyone?).

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Kwang Soo can’t resist these kinds of moments. Actually, I love it. It is some kind of mini “interaction” with fans. 

After that game became cruel. Gary ousts Dasom by hitting her back and “scary guy” eliminates Naeun.

As we can see, ousting Eunji once isn’t enough for "scary guy". She becomes a victim for the second time.

Kwang Soo tries effectively to throw the ball and eliminate his biggest rival – Kim Jong Kook. Sadly…

In the end Suk Jin eliminates Kim Jong Kook (How???) and we are down to two survivals – Chansung and Joon. Joon’s teammate, Seungho, throws the ball at Chansung and… It hits his back, meaning that Kwang Soo&MBLAQ won the third round.

Before last final mission, standing looks like this.

Final game - "Time is gold"

Sadly Girl’s Day has to leave for their schedule and can’t participate in the last mission. It means that Yoo Jae Suk will have to complete final mission by himself.

Starting from teams who has most time, teams will have to unravel the knotted rope from the cage, complete traditional game, unlock the chest and pull out flag.

Jong Kook & Sistar team starts mission first. Although they have 30 second advantage against next two teams, they struggle and are outmatched by Ji Hyo & Beast team. But it’s not the end. They struggle in the second stage and all other teams except Yoo Jae Suk catch them. In the end Ji Hyo, Kikwang and Doojoon finish traditional game and beats Suk Jin, Wooyoung and Chansung by a split of few seconds.

Although I don’t like episodes with lots of guests (and this one had a LOT of them) I enjoyed this episode. Maybe some guests (like Sistar) almost didn’t get any screen time, but what could we espect with 14 guests? I think this episode was OK.

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Running Man members practicing for opening: