Running Man: Episode 192

by gummimochi

Get ready for a cross-country race where seven different teams will travel by bus, train, or plane to the southernmost part of Korea. Sure it’s totally hectic when you’ve got fourteen people all trying to catch a minute of airtime, with new and old faces alike. But when you wonder who will having you rolling on the ground laughing all night, the answer may just surprise you.

EPISODE 192. Broadcast on April 6, 2014.

We kick off today’s episode at the SBS building, where Jong-kook affirms that he already had breakfast this morning (at 4AM, of course). Each cast member will be teamed up with one of our guests, and the boys take a moment to remark on Gary’s luck with the ladies (“He got to go visit a women’s university!”) whereas Kwang-soo isn’t as lucky.

That segues into introducing today’s guests: first up is actor Im Joo-hwan (Watch Out for Fools), who momentarily backs away from his teammate Kwang-soo; actress Kim Jung-nan (Thrice Married Woman), who’s looking sorta matchy with Suk-jin; Oh Man-seok (King’s Family), who’s also looking matchy with Haha.

Then there’s Kim Min-jong (A Gentleman’s Dignity), who we haven’t seen on this show since its first Christmas special. And it looks like luck is on Gary’s side today again, as he’s teamed up with national speed skater Lee Sang-hwa.

Everyone is so excited to meet the two-time Olympian that ZE:A’s Kim Dong-joon‘s entrance nearly goes unnoticed; he’ll be paired with yet-to-arrive Ji-hyo.

As they wait, Haha comments that Gary is well-suited for women who like gold—Sang-hwa has two Olympic gold medals to her name while Ji-hyo probably has a whole room dedicated to her amassed golden prizes.

Goodness, poor Ji-hyo looks as haggard and exhausted as can be, though she’s alert enough to recognize Dong-joon (they were both in Mandate of Heaven). Last but not least, Jae-suk’s mysterious teammate will join in later today.

With seven teams to keep track of, I can already tell that today’s Sensibility Camping Race will be a hectic one. After choosing different means of transportation and picking up monetary allowances for the day, our teams hurry to make their flights/trains/buses.

Arriving first to their destination will mean a huge advantage, and the last-place team could face punishment.

Jae-suk calls his teammate to let him know when and where to meet. Though he’s momentarily thrown off when the mystery guest answers in (limited) English, he then recognizes the man’s laughter, and exclaims: “This guy is a bit of a show-off.”

As the teams depart, Kwang-soo toots to Haha that they’re all in this together. It’s only when they’re gone however does Kwang-soo remind his teammate that it’s each team for itself, to which Joo-hwan realizes, “Ah, this is how you betray people.”

In the taxi, Gary says he saw all of Sang-hwa’s meets, which he recalls in detail. Aw. She shares about the pressures of defending her Olympic gold at Sochi and her teammates’ discouragement at having to go home without a medal.

It’s pretty heartwarming to see Sang-hwa open up to Gary about the surmounting stress and rigorous training as an athlete, and then equally touching to see how empathetic Gary is to those experiences. When it looks like the traffic might hold them up, Gary uplifts the mood by joking that they’ll take any train and stand if they have to.

We finally get to meet Jae-suk’s teammate at the train station—none other than actor Ryu Seung-soo (Wonderful Season), who asks two very important questions: “Do they feed us?” “Where are we going?” I like how you think, sir.

Even though we’ve got a seemingly random group of guests this time around, it’s nice to see that our pairings generally get along. Like how Ji-hyo skips around with Dong-joon and how Gary and Sang-hwa have already bonded.

It turns out that Seung-soo used to be Ji-hyo’s acting teacher, and she gripes to Jae-suk: “You said [your teammate] was Jeon Ji-hyun!”

Since flying is the fastest route, our two teams at the airport (Jong-kook and Min-jong vs. Suk-jin and Jung-nan) are given a harder mission. If that weren’t enough, the losing team will have to wait for the afternoon flight.

With little time to spare, the teams hurry to face off in a round of trashcan curling and neither team succeed on their first try.

Meanwhile, the two teams at the bus station eat up. Haha and Man-seok are the poorest out of everyone, but they remain optimistic. Haha: “Instead, we’ve got manners, love, faith, and sharing.” Man-seok chimes in: “We’ve got a bag full of ’em!”

The hyungs’ friendliness comes at a price however, and soon Man-seok and Haha suggest that they play a game where the losers foot the bill. They play a consonant game, which lasts all of ten seconds before the hyungs swoop in to win it, leaving Kwang-soo and Joo-hwan flummoxed.

They go for another round, but Joo-hwan is one step too late and the hyungs win again. Man-seok and Haha praise each other on their synchronous teamwork, but the captions points to some mischief afoot…

Sure enough, a flashback to half an hour earlier shows us that Haha and Man-seok had planned to fool the dongsaengs all along, with the intention to use Joo-hwan’s tendency to get flustered to their advantage.

I never knew that Oh Man-seok could be just as devious as Haha, who teaches his teammate three necessary tactics to survive: vulgarity, underhandedness, and wickedness. These two make an unlikely but hilariously conniving duo already, and it is AWESOME.

It doesn’t look like either of the two airport teams are going to make that morning flight, which defeats the whole point of using the fastest method of transportation. Everyone is in a good mood over on the train, where they’re chatting about Seung-soo’s legendary history as an acting teacher.

It seems Seung-soo has taught a number of now-famous faces over the years. His most famous former student: Jo In-sung. Dang.

Apparently Seung-soo used to run an acting cram school (and for all we know it could still be running today) and was extremely lenient on collecting fees because of his affection for his students, including Jo In-sung.

Seung-soo is even famous among the other actors for his teaching methods, and acts humble at the compliment as an acting “godfather” of sorts… that is, until Jae-suk totally calls him out for boasting about himself earlier off-camera. Ha.

Evidently the cameras did capture the “I’m the best teacher” moment, and in the present, Seung-soo talks about having a certain look in one’s eyes to be an actor. When Sang-hwa asks about herself, he replies, “They’re nice and deep.”

Jae-suk asks who gives Seung-soo acting tips then, to which Seung-soo answers, “My teachers are suffering and endurance…” Jae-suk: “Suffering? You ate a hamburger by yourself earlier!” HA.

Nearly everything Seung-soo says or does is unintentionally funny since he plays everything straight and ought to be a riot today based upon our train ride thus far. Lastly, we learn that Sang-hwa listens to Leessang before her meets, which might explain why the two got so friendly so quickly.

Our two bus teams’ eyes widen at their ticketed destination: Haenam, which is in the southernmost tip of Korea. They’ve got a food mission to keep them busy on their five-hour journey: roll a die at the rest-stop, eat all the food, and return to the bus within fifteen minutes.

Now they regret having that early lunch, and make sure to prepare themselves in the event they don’t back it back.

The three teams on the train are informed of a mission at their next layover as well, and Seung-soo asks, “Can’t we just go [to our destination]?” He adds that this is the first “strenuous” variety he’s ever appeared in… he says while sitting on a train, stirring his drink.

Only two teams will have to participate, so they play the noonchi game (the objective is to not be the last person to shout a number). Seung-soo calls out “One!” right away and is so happy when Jae-suk loses, and has to be reminded that they’re a team. HEE.

Both Sang-hwa and Seung-soo literally draw the short straw (meaning their teams will be getting off the train), and because Seung-soo isn’t certain that they’ll make it back in time, he asks for a quick photo with Sang-hwa. Hahahaha, you were born for variety, sir.

As soon as they pull in, the two teams jump off to roll the die that determines whether they get back on or not. Jae-suk and Seung-soo get back on the train, but Gary and Sang-hwa aren’t as lucky. Ha, I totally missed that classic moment when the losers send off the gleeful winners with bittersweet smiles.

Jae-suk checks in with the airport teams and is surprised to see Lee Hyo-ri (who just happened to be flying out today). He beams to hear that they haven’t even left Seoul yet.

The bus pulls in for its scheduled rest-stop, and our bus teams hurry through a call from Jae-suk in order to start their mission. Both teams rush inside to make their orders and scarf down on their scalding food.

Kwang-soo and Joo-hwan are first to finish their food, and they rush back out… only that the bus is nowhere to be found. Oh no, did they miss it?! No it’s much worse—there are a number of similarly colored buses. Time to find the right one!

Joo-hwan finds their bus parked at the far end of the lot, and the other pair luckily sees him running in that direction. Kwang-soo and Joo-hwan make it back, but with less than a minute remaining, will Haha and Man-seok get back in time?

Our two remaining train teams (Ji-hyo, Dong-joon, Jae-suk, and Seung-soo) run to the bus terminal to complete yet another randomized mission. Ji-hyo and Dong-joon are tasked to eat spicy food without water.

Jae-suk is more than happy to hear that Ji-hyo’s spice tolerance is pretty low, and taunts them by drinking some water before they start. Ha, so evil.

The burning sensations hits them both belatedly, but Dong-joon takes one for the team to eat another mouthful. Then Jae-suk looks to Seung-soo: “That’s what a loyalty game looks like.”

Jae-suk continues to tempt them anyway (and get splashed by Ji-hyo for his efforts), but Ji-hyo and Dong-joon end up failing the task once time is up. Jae-suk and Seung-soo are tasked to balance a flag on their palms.

Seung-soo is surprisingly good but Ji-hyo returns the interference favor in kind until it works. That leaves Jae-suk to balance the flag for at least another two minutes, but he lasts a good nine seconds.

Whoa, Gary and Sang-hwa show up a minute later, able to catch up quickly thanks to a very timely bus. Ji-hyo earnestly prays that she doesn’t have to end up eating more spicy food… but lands on that number anyway. She kicks the die, furious.

A gracious re-roll requires Ji-hyo and Dong-joon to submerge their faces underwater for a total of three minutes instead. Dong-joon is confident about his lung capacity, but Ji-hyo screams in disbelief, “You said you could eat spicy foods too!”

He takes a few deep breaths to practice, and then holds onto the bowl, dizzy. Aww. Giving him a shot anyway, Ji-hyo warns him to keep to his word. In he goes… and then pops right back out again. Lol.

So Ji-hyo has to make up for the rest, and lasts a good minute and a half when Gary quips, “You’ve gotten a lot better since you’ve quit smoking and drinking.” Now you’re just trying to make her laugh on purpose!

It works, and even though Ji-hyo’s 1:52 record is impressive, it isn’t enough. As for Haha and Man-seok, we see them make it back to the bus after all.

Jae-suk and Seung-soo have the unfortunate mission to sit atop a traffic cone, a feat older Running Man fans will recall from three years ago. Seung-soo tries it out first and the pain is immediate. He exclaims, “There’s no room [to sit] on this thing!”

He grits through the pain and lasts 26 seconds, and then rubs(?) his butt on the ground in a swinging motion. There… is just no other way to write that, and I’m sure he’s in pain, but does it look a little wrong to anyone else?

Jae-suk steps in to make up the time, but he howls in pain and falls over shortly thereafter. And then Seung-soo manually swings Jae-suk’s hips for him: “Massage [your butt]!” HAHAHA.

Gary and Sang-hwa must hold a challenging balancing position together, where it looks like the guy is holding up the girl (she’s kneeling) on his forearms. Concerned, Gary whispers to the staff: “She’s an athlete…” and then jokes aloud, “… so I should be the one climbing up!”

Sang-hwa kicks him for that remark, and when he crumbles on their first attempt (he blames himself), she warns, “Don’t you dare collapse!”

So Gary gives it his hall, but doesn’t have enough upper body strength to pull her up. Can’t say I blame the guy when that pose looks impossibly difficult.

Dong-joon rolls another six aka the Spicy Food From Hell, and Ji-hyo bursts in anger. Another re-roll leaves them with the aforementioned balancing couple pose, and before Ji-hyo even climbs up, she says that Dong-joon is being overly ambitious about his abilities again.

Dong-joon lifts her up anyway, and then Ji-hyo laughs, “He’s shaking.” Hee. The hyungs taunt Kim Ambition aka Dong-joon’s new variety nickname, trying to make him laugh and/or screw up for the sake of variety. He holds out for the allotted time, and smiles brightly afterwards: “I won’t be able to use my arms anymore!”

That puts Ji-hyo and Dong-joon in the lead and they gape to think that they’re headed off to Haenam.

Meanwhile, Seung-soo actually bears through the full two minutes of sitting on the traffic cone on his own, to everyone’s amazement. He totally looks while on the traffic cone, only to collapse moments later.

When they “massage” his butt, they find something else lodged in there: a water bottle. AHAHAHAHA. Omg dying of laughter right now.

Watching how it was done makes the moment that much funnier, and Seung-soo yelps, “But it still hurts!” Puhahaha.

Jong-kook and Min-jong joins them two seconds too late, both perplexed. Jae-suk devilishly says it’ll be GREAT if they land a six (because Jong-kook can’t handle spicy foods). Sure enough, they do.

The others worry that it’s too spicy for them, which is true of Jong-kook, but then Min-jong comments with his mouth full of ddukbokki: “It’s too hard.” HA.

But even though Min-jong doesn’t admit from his own mouth that it’s flaming hot, his face turns bright red anyway. They both whistle within the time limit and bear the pain for another minute to succeed.

When Seung-soo is back on the traffic cone, the others make sure that he’s not conning them this time, especially when he strikes that same peaceful expression as before. He gets through to the end before half-falling/half-flying off, and they run to make their bus.

After a length nap, our two bus teams arrive at Haenam. Here, they must give twenty autographs in order to move on. Kwang-soo and Joo-hwan finish up first and catch an earlier bus, which Haha and Man-seok miss by seconds.

That choice comes back to bite them though, because they find out that it’s a local bus, and it’ll take fifty minutes to get to the beach. Yikes.

All seven teams are headed to the beach, and now it’s just a matter of who gets there first. It’s Kwang-soo and Joo-hwan who arrives first, and they’re tasked to bring a local with them to the camping grounds.

Though we see the others arrive in quick succession, it’s Kwang-soo and Joo-hwan who come out victorious and get to spend the night in a camping car. Niiiice.

It’s raining by now, but Ji-hyo and Dong-joon are grateful to see that second place earns them a decent teepee. The housing arrangements get progressively worse and last place Jae-suk and Seung-soo will spend this rainy night in a small tent.

We pick back up at night as everyone gets ready for bed, and all I’m thinking is that the sleeping arrangements aren’t half as bad as what the 1N2D cast has had to put up with before. Aww, all the girls get to sleep in the fancy teepee together.

Gary seems pretty satisfied with the smaller teepee, and curls into his sleeping bag, tossing out questions about life and love with Dong-joon. Gary: “Love doesn’t have an answer. Love is the answer to love.”

Having heard the music playing, Ji-hyo drops by to ask about the song. Gary answers, “A theme for you?” Aw. Ji-hyo excitedly declares that they should go camping all the time, and we hear Gary call out, “Ji-hyo, don’t say that.”

In another tent, we see Haha and Man-seok downing shot after shot of water, exchanging notes like “love” and “memories” to munch on. Quite the imagination with these two.

But all of these lovely memories of this camping trip will soon fade next week when the teams are pitted against each other. It’ll be an epic Mafia game of the ages, and no one is safe from suspicion.

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