Running Man: Episode 147

by gummimochi

This week, the cast challenges two flower boys in an athletic competition that calls for more than beautiful hair and a killer smile. Their laughter is addicting, their charm is adorable, and both are more than ready to bring their skills to the variety table. It’s virtually impossible to sit through this episode without cracking a smile and giggling at all the silly antics they have to offer.

EPISODE 147. Broadcast on May 26, 2013.

We open at a cafe where Kwang-soo has transformed himself into a literal “flower boy.” Hm, this looks familiar. He struts around the place until he meets Kookie‘s stern gaze.

Everyone looks spiffy in their dandy clothes, and even Ji-hyo looks chic and handsome in her black-and-white threads. The boys take this opportunity to tease her about Jin-woon’s joke last week since both their names were hot topics on the search engine.

Seems like everyone was just as curious as I was, though I can’t guess how she and Jin-woon would know each other aside from a clothing photoshoot about two years ago.

The arrival of today’s guests take them by surprise. Enter the real flower boys: actors Lee Hyun-woo and Kim Soo-hyun , co-stars of the upcoming movie Covertly, Grandly.

Let’s all take a minute to take in the Pretty. Don’t worry, take your time – I’ll wait.

In the spirit of today’s Flower Boy theme, the cast will participate in a Flower Boy athletic competition and pick up number cards at each station which will come in handy in what looks like a massive three-way tug-of-war.

As for our teams we have: Blue (Jae-suk, Kwang-soo, and Soo-hyun), Green (Monday Couple and Suk-jin), and Red (Jong-kook, Haha, and Hyun-woo).

Although this is Soo-hyun’s second appearance on the show, it feels more like the first time since he spent the majority of the time on his own. Jae-suk does his best to make his guest feel welcome by teasing Kwang-soo (it gets him to laugh), who remains pretty good-natured about it.

In a different car, Ji-hyo admits that she and Gary are on better terms when there aren’t any female guests. When Suk-jin points out that Soo-hyun’s presence may flare Gary’s jealousy, she answers: “Gary’s better looking than he is.” Omo, omo.

She emphasizes that there’s no one else but Gary on Mondays (Eee!), to which Gary says that that’s why the rest of the week is so dreary.

When the cast arrives at the athletic field, Mr. PD tells the cast to take a good look at the course. All the obstacles appear to look normal until they see the track itself. Oh gosh, it’s the return of the prickly floor. Now that’s just cruel.

The Green Team complains that their uniforms match the field, and a minute later, Jong-kook bumps into Ji-hyo. He follows it up with this apology: “Oh sorry! I thought you were there grass!” Hahaha.

The cast will have to complete the obstacle relay course barefoot within the time limit to move on. I can already hear the painful cries in the distance.

Naturally, the cast voices their complaints but Mr. PD is all, It’s totally possible. Haha argues that they all have to pass with flying colors – that way, the RM staff will never subject them to such torture again.

I don’t find Jong-kook’s insistence that overcoming the barbed floor is a mind over matter thing very persuasive. And yet, I can’t wait to see how long that mindfulness technique will last.

Then as Soo-hyun (painfully) gets acclimated to the spiky surface, he asks the staff: “Do we pass if we start bleeding?” Aw, I don’t think it works like that.

Not that we have anything to worry about since Soo-hyun is ridiculously fast, jumping over hurdles and sprinting down the track like it’s no big deal. The second leg of the race is a different story, however, as Jae-suk hollers in pain as soon as he starts running

Stuck in the army crawl, he cries: “It feels like my back is bleeding!” Then he gets pulllled out. Ow, ow, ow.

Kwang-soo makes up for lost time, but in the last few feet, he slips off the bar and lands butt-first on the spiky track. Suffice it to say they finish well past the time limit.

When the Blue Team hears that Soo-hyun finished his leg of the race in record time, they turn the situation around and tease their guest to pick up the pace. Ha.

Leave it to the Ace to give it her all, and as the others watch her painfully endure the army crawl, Jong-kook warns Haha: “You’re dead meat if you’re slower than Ji-hyo.” Gulp.

Over two minutes have passed by the time it’s Suk-jin’s turn. He must be so focused about the pain that he miscalculates when he jumps towards the bar and completely misses the snack. He hangs there on his tippy toes until he ends up in the pool of water.

Hyun-woo is absolutely adorable. As soon as his feet touch the prickly floor, he yells at Soo-hyun: “Hyung, this hurts!” At least he runs down that track with that killer smile of his, even after a tumble to the ground.

As expected, Haha can barely handle the pain as the clock keeps ticking upwards. He’s going to get scolded, isn’t he? (He does.)

The staff offers to lengthen the time limit (originally 45 seconds), but before both sides arrive at a consensus, Jong-kook agrees to a minute. The others naturally gripe at this, and the captions read: We were going to give you 90 seconds…

Woah, did Soo-hyun just break his own record in nearly half the time? Things are looking good for the Blue Team, that is until Jae-suk jumps towards the bar with the baton in his mouth. HA – how are you going to eat the snack like that?

Soo-hyun is so caught up in the possibility of success that when they clock in at 88 seconds, he yells with excitement. Whoops.

The Red Team speeds through the course, and it looks like they’ll make it… but they’re outside the time limit by a few seconds. The blame falls upon Haha, who runs to escape Jong-kook’s wrath.

So here we are at the cast’s third attempt, and the Blue Team fights through the pain. Even though Soo-hyun gets caught up at the bar, he crosses the finish line just under a minute.

Each of the teams pick up their number cards once they succeeds. It’s hard to tell at this point whether a higher number will help them or hurt them, but Jong-kook instructs Haha to choose theirs so that: “We can have someone to blame later.”

The cast arrives at a swimming pool for their second mission. When they see the flying chairs waiting for them, they’re all It’s a great day for a dip in the water!

It looks like Jong-kook is going to hold a grudge against Haha all day. This time he lectures Haroro to act more like the Iron Man character depicted on his hat. Haha returns a Why I oughta gesture when Kookie‘s back is turn, only to be tattled on by Kwang-soo less than a minute later.

Here, the teams will face off in a mukjippa battle (a tweaked version of rock-paper-scissors which ends when your opponent copies the same move as yours) where the losing team ends up in the water. First to win three matches moves on.

The Green and Red teams face off in the first round with Suk-jin and Haha acting as representatives, respectively. It’s amazing how a simple game like this one can wrack the nerves so much, since one can easily gain and lose the upper hand in a few short turns.

Haha takes a deep breath before calling out “Rock!” Problem is, he gives a different hand gesture and his teammates go flying into the water. Ha, I love that Jong-kook has done this so many times that he manages to put on his hat looking oh-so-awesome while he’s in the air.

Then by the time they make it out of the pool, Haha has lost the round again. Dude, seriously digging your own grave here.

It’s up to Hyun-woo to close the gap, who ties it up at two wins easily. After the Monday Couple lands in the water the second time, Mr. PD notes that they’ve accidentally switched hats. Gary: “Just take my heart, not my hat!” I wholeheartedly concur with this idea.

Both teams sit by the edges of their seats, but it’s Hyun-woo who loses. Haha and Jong-kook strike their best superhero poses as Iron Man and Batman, respectively.

The Green Team moves on to face the Blue Team, and Ji-hyo is pitted against Soo-hyun. Jae-suk reminds Soo-hyun to win, telling him that he didn’t bring spare underwear (“I’m one panty!”), to which Gary responds: “I’m going commando!”

Soo-hyun’s first loss takes his teammates by surprise, and the staff expresses their disappointment at their flying positions with the caption: How… boring.

When Jong-kook points out that Jae-suk is without underwear from here on out, Jae-suk spits out: “I’ll just wear yours!” Ha and ew.

Mr. PD instructs the two competitors to get closer, so Ji-hyo casually throws her towel over Soo-hyun’s shoulder. Okay, maybe Gary has to worry a little after all.

It gives the Blue Team their first win, but the couple towel wrap tactic doesn’t quite give off that same warm, fuzzy feeling when it’s Jae-suk under the throw. His attempt to throw Ji-hyo off doesn’t work, and Soo-hyun goes flying into the air.

The Blue Team sends in Kwang-soo as their last hope, and he falls face-first to the ground when Jae-suk throws a waterlogged towel over his head. When Haha claims that Kwang-soo’s just fooling around, he gets hit by the same towel and topples over. Hahaha.

Unfortunately, Kwang-soo loses the match, so when he’s pitted against Jae-suk for kicks, he names his condition: If he wins, he can drop the formal speech with Soo-hyun. (Up to now, Jae-suk barred him from doing so.)

Thanks to Kwang-soo’s rudimentary strategy that’s basically “Rock! Rock! Rock! Paper!” he wins the match. Guess who’s going to become best buddies with Soo-hyun now. Kwang-soo lets out a victorious yell, full of endearment: “Soo-hyun-ah!”

After another intense battle, Kwang-soo wins the right to drop the honorific address with Jong-kook, though methinks he’ll keep up the respectful relationship with his hyung once the cameras stop rolling.

At their next mission location, the other teams notice the Red Team munching on ice creams and immediately follow suit. It’s a chaotic situation, but they mistakenly think that Hyun-woo will pick up the tab. (In reality, Jong-kook hustled Myuk PD for the money.)

So Kwang-soo whispers in the store ajumma’s ear to receive payment from Kookie. When Jong-kook makes a fuss, she jokingly threatens to report his ill-mannered behavior on the internet, which would shatter his celebrity image. Ha, she’s hilarious.

Then when Jong-kook tries to lunge after Kwang-soo after sending her back inside, she reappears to remind him that she’s keeping a sharp eye out.

Back to the mission where the cast will complete various tasks in the village and aim to be the first one(s) back. Their first task is to kick an item of clothing found in laundry bins so that it hangs on the line.

It’s a task easier said than done as Hyun-woo’s item flies behind him and Jae-suk can barely kick it into the air. That’s still better than Soo-hyun, who roams around the village, turning over any and every bin he comes across.

When he finally does get the chance to kick, it gets stuck in a tree limb. It happens again and again until the tree is decorated with laundry. Hahaha.

Jae-suk is the first to arrive back, and he smugly leans into his chair with pride. His prize? A couple thousand won (about two dollars) to “buy some snacks with.”

A few of the boys rise to Ji-hyo’s aid when she freaks out over an insect buzzing around her. Kwang-soo gets scolded for not letting the Monday Boyfriend take care of her, and the situation evolves into an argument over their variety personas.

Gary: “How would you like it if I acted like an idiot [on purpose]!” It’s worth noting that though the comment (and following exchange) may sound mean-spirited, the entire cast is aware that it’s not a personal attack and further solidified with hearty laughter.

The cast (sans Jae-suk) is sent out again to return with a watermelon seed stuck on their faces. Kwang-soo uses the classic If you can’t beat ’em, stop ’em tactic on Jong-kook by intercepting him at the finish line.

But don’t worry – they later agree to cross the finish line together, hand-in-hand, and both succeed.

Time for the third task – a yogurt bowling game – where the cast members will used their rolled-up socks as a bowling ball to knock down the yogurt bottle pins. The other teams target Soo-hyun, the last of his team who has yet to succeed.

I really do feel bad for Soo-hyun, who’s been running ahead of everyone else so far, only to return just a bit too late. Hyun-woo has run into the same bad luck as well, but he turns his luck around and arrives just after Suk-jin.

Which makes me wonder why Soo-hyun expends his energy to run back so quickly. His speed is both a blessing and curse, and Kwang-soo sighs, “He’s a good-looking idiot.” Aw, maybe just adorably dim.

The tasks get increasingly difficult after each round, and the remaining cast members’ faces fall when they’re told to catch a chicken. Not only that, the coop is pretty far.

As per usual, Soo-hyun is ahead of the pack, only this time, he barely has the energy to chase after the birds. Thankfully, his quick reflexes kick in and he clutches a chicken in his arms fairly quickly. That’s pretty impressive considering it’s his first time.

When Soo-hyun arrives at the finish line, he’s met with applause and this punny gem: “It’s the Chicken Embraces the Sun!”

Back at the coop, only Ji-hyo and cowardly Haha are left. I know that the animals scare you Haroro, but isn’t Jong-kook scarier? How sweet – Ji-hyo hands over her caught bird and sends Haha off first.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Haha nearly breaks down in tears: “You’re giving him to me?! I’ll never forget this!” Aw, then when he gets back, he gives her all the credit.

So now it’s off to the final mission and the sum of the team’s cards are: Blue (11), Red (9), and Green (7).

An enormous crowd awaits the cast when they arrive at the college campus. Their final mission is a massive tug of war and each team enlist the help of a hundred students. The first team to win three rounds wins.

Now we learn what those cards were for as a pack of Spartakooks clones, aka college athletes, join them. I love how Suk-jin asks, “Who likes Ji-hyo?” and a dozen of the guys raise their hands.

After everyone’s places are determined, each team ends up with around 112 students, plus or minus two. Spirits run high among the teams, who each announce their own strategy.

The aerial shot makes this mission look epic.

The gunshot sounds the start of the game, and it cracks me up that the Green Team uses the chant “Ji-HYO.” That fanboy love must be strong as the rope slowly inches back, steadily dragging the other teams towards them.

The bell is within easy reach, and Gary wins the first round for the Green Team.

In the second round, the Red Team find themselves getting dragged again by the other teams, who struggle to gain the upper hand. Both Suk-jin and Soo-hyun extend their arms towards the bell… and it’s Soo-hyun who rings it first. Is there a way to get in on that group hug?

The score now two wins for both the Blue and Green Teams (the Red Team still has zero), Jong-kook encourages his team – this gives them more time to spend with each other, right? Way to stay optimistic.

Everyone gives it their all, knowing full well that this could be their last match. None of the teams seem to at all budge as everyone pulls on the rope with all their might.

The Green Team taps into their “Ji-HYO Power,” as the rope slowly moves in their direction once more. But the Blue Team pull their weight, and Soo-hyun waves his arm to ring the bell… then Gary rings the bell, securing the victory for their team.

After a word of thanks to the audience, the Green Team is awarded a trophy to mark their victory as the official Running Man Flower Boys.

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