Running Man: Episode 193

by gummimochi

There’s more hilarity and fun to come on this overnight camping trip as our cast plays one epic game of Mafia, where you only need to remember three words: trust no one. So don’t let those smiles deceive you and be wary that your words don’t give you away. Unless you’ve just caught a fish and would like to wax poetic about life and fishing, that is.

Just when you thought that you’ve got everything (and everyone) figured out, the truth may not be what you expected.

EPISODE 193. Broadcast on April 13, 2014.

Tonight’s festivities are moved indoors on account of the sudden rain, though the weather doesn’t stop Jae-suk from teasing Min-jong for wearing those enormous headphones all day. Also, all that meat for dinner looks amazing. Yum.

As Haha and Man-seok man the grills, the latter cracks me up with his dry, witty humor. Like how his skin is darker now thanks to the charcoal, and at one point, he asks for a script because he’s about to cry (because of the flames). Heh.

Inside, Jae-suk encourages Seung-soo to eat up because it’s probably been a while since he’s had meat. At first I thought Jae-suk made the joke to imply that Seung-soo might be struggling financially, but no—the actor lives alone, and a bachelor wouldn’t find much occasion to cook meat on his own.

Bellies stuffed, Seung-soo asks brightly what tomorrow will be like. How is every word that comes out of your mouth so funny? No one knows yet, but Gary asks if Seung-soo was planning to head back to Seoul if it was strenuous. Bingo.

After dinner, it’s sharing time aka hearing the answers to the quickie questionnaires everyone filled out about their teammate. Min-jong places first with three votes to the Q: “Given the chance to change partners, who would you want to be paired up with?” and there are those with zero votes.

Although the questionnaires are anonymous, Ji-hyo speaks up in alarm at the question of “your teammate’s first impression.” Aw, turns out she described Dong-joon as the perfect teammate. And also, super ambitious. The remaining color in Gary’s face disappears.

Jae-suk shares more of her answers with the class, like how Ji-hyo doesn’t want to switch teammates. What’s more adorable is that Dong-joon’s answers about her is just as sweet, but now Gary’s blood is boiling. Haha interjects: “It’s a questionnaire, not a love letter!”

But Dong-joon is honest about his teammate’s weakness: fatigue. And then we see a series of clips of Ji-hyo trying to catch catnaps whenever she can. Aw poor girl.

Still, Dong-joon is satisfied with his teammate and adorably says he loves her, which Gary scoffs at: “Love?”

Next up is Gary’s descriptions of Sang-hwa, whom he describes as pretty but sometimes is like a strong lion. The hardest moment today? “When my thighs’ pride was hurt.” Who would he want to be paired up with: Ji-hyo, of course.

But Sang-hwa says in her questionnaire that she’d choose Gary again if given the chance. Aw.

Seung-soo’s been taking furtive peeks at the questionnaires this entire time, despite being called out on it countless times. Everyone is perplexed over another set of answers (even though Man-seok is laughing because he knows it’s about him) until a mention about darker skin. Man-seok: “I tanned again because of the grill!”

Man-seok’s weakness? “He’s ugly, but nice.” Then Haha would choose Min-jong if he had to change teammates because “He’s good-looking.”

In turn Man-seok has written a nice description about his synchronous teamwork with Haha… apart from Haroro’s short-sightedness. And even those these are supposed to be anonymous, Jae-suk leans over to Man-seok to clarify his handwriting. HA.

I actually really enjoy listening to all of these answers, like Joo-hwan’s description of Kwang-soo: “He’s tall.” The hardest moment for Seung-soo: “The entire day.” Oh and he’d like to change partners with Kim Kwang-soo. Pfft, you did mean our LEE Kwang-soo, right?

Min-jong hits the nose on the head with Jong-kook’s weakness: “He talks a lot.” Still, there’s this warm and fuzzy atmosphere in the room as the teams look to their partners, all knowing the tiring day they all had.

But we know that loyalty won’t last long when the sun rises tomorrow, and everyone will suspect each other for betrayal.

Everyone is still fast asleep when Jo PD wakes them early the following morning. The teams hurry to line up for breakfast, and Jae-suk jokes how it would be highly entertaining if there wasn’t any food left for Kwang-soo to eat.

Despite their suspicions for getting a free meal, the cast eats anyway. As they eat, they’re called to 1:1 meetings with the staff, and are told that they’ll be playing the Mafia game today.

For the uninformed, the simple rules are: each player is either a citizen or a mafia member. It’s the citizens’ job to catch the mafia before they’re outnumbered, or else the mafia wins. Although there are variations on this role-playing game, the show will be sticking to the format of allowing two accusations (and subsequent eliminations) after each round.

Even if one mafia member remains by the end, the mafia wins. Aha, so there are multiple mafia members afoot. A tied vote will exempt the accused, and the eliminated will be stuck with cooking lunch today, unable to participate for the rest of the day.

Everyone is already suspicious on the bus, but then Jae-suk calls out a few names just for the heck of it, and adds, “We’re going to eliminate Jong-kook anyway and make him cook!” Kwang-soo’s question of whether the mafia knows who’s on their side raises a few eyebrows.

It’s a pretty entertaining bus ride as accusations start flying: Seung-soo thinks the staff wouldn’t make dumb choices (Jong-kook: “But why are you stuttering?”) whereas Sang-hwa is determined regardless of the role she’s playing.

Our first game takes place on a muddy beach, named a gae “crab” race. I should note that the word is also a homonym for “dog,” and Kwang-soo asks if the staff is being crass right now. Gary pipes in: “Then should I fight myself [gae]?” Ha.

Here, each team will collect crabs and pit them against each other in a race. The top two teams are exempt from accusations, and the teams can place their crab on the track as soon as they find them. Sure it sounds easy now, but something tells me it won’t be that easy.

While everyone else is having trouble spotting the crustaceans, it’s Seung-soo aka the crab expert, who finds a few first. But soon enough, everyone is piling crabs into their buckets, and Jae-suk pockets a giant one.

Just because the crab is huge doesn’t mean it’ll listen, since it just sits on the track. Jong-kook and Min-jong’s crab crosses the finish line before anyone else’s gets going. Now it’s a fight for second place but none of the crabs have the slightest interest in moving.

A little encouragement gets them going again, and it’s a fight between Kwang-soo’s and Sang-hwa’s crabs. Tension runs high as the crabs overtake each other again and again, but it’s Gary and Sanghwa’s crab who pulls ahead.

The group is given some free time to discuss and throw out accusations, and at the end, one pair will be up for elimination. Oho, that’s certainly unexpected. To protect themselves(?), Jae-suk declares that his teammate Seung-soo isn’t mafia.

Seung-soo is still the group’s top choice, but Jong-kook says he wants to keep their guest around just to see him sweat some more. Ignoring Seung-soo’s protests, they joke that they’ll let him stick around for another game.

And when Seung-soo asks what they’ll do if they’re wrong (and he’s innocent), Haha answers, “We’ll just be sorry, I guess…” Seung-soo has to be reminded that this group eats betrayal for breakfast. So. True.

Man-seok says he’d really like to be mafia, insisting that it’d be obvious if he was lying. Noting his change of voice, the group points out that it is obvious.

Next they use the “it’s always the quiet ones” argument against Dong-joon and Jung-nan, and grumble over how they can’t accuse Min-jong. Seeing how Jae-suk is so talkative today, Haha is certain that Seung-soo is a culprit.

Anything anyone says or does is suspicious, and when Joo-hwan claims that he can’t cook, Jae-suk tells him: “Use this opportunity to learn!”

Suspicion falls back on Man-seok again, to which Haha exclaims, “He’s too ugly to play a lead role!” Man-seok takes everything in stride, and Min-jong says he thinks it’s Joo-hwan and Haha, and the latter says Min-jong shouldn’t pretend to be quick on the uptake.

Time is up and one team has to go. Hilariously, Jae-suk casts his vote against Seung-soo, but it’s Haha and Man-seok who get the majority vote. Then it’s time to find out their identities… and while Haha is innocent, Man-seok is a mafia member.

It’s every man or woman for themselves in the following game: a fishing competition. All they need to do is catch one palm-sized creature to succeed. Jong-kook: “My palm is wide, though!”

In this round, the first four people will be exempt from elimination. Asked for a code to let the staff know of their catch, Seung-soo offers: “Eureka!” Hahaha.

Jae-suk seems pretty confident, saying that he caught rock fish on their last fishing adventure, to which the PD comments, “But you didn’t catch anything.” Yes, the memory of Su-hong’s lucky day is still fresh on my mind.

Joo-hwan is a man of few words, but he shares that he’s gone on fishing trips with his father before. But it’s Seung-soo’s peculiar behavior that catches my eye every time because all of a sudden, he just gets up to look out at the sea.

Jae-suk: “[Seung-soo] just likes being a show-off sometimes.” Seung-soo claims that he’s trying to get a feel for that classic Titanic moment… and Kwang-soo says it’s too cold out. HA.

Seung-soo’s talking as if they’ll never get this opportunity again, to which he’s told to come out on the show again. Seung-soo: “Come again? Where?” Pfft.

I forgot that Min-jong used to be a singer in the 90s—he and his boat sing along to old 80s hits (Suk-jin: “We’re probably the only ones who know them!”). This group is more interested in the fisherman’s haul (hoping to get a bite to eat out of it, ha) than the mission at hand. Hm, maybe no one’s a mafia member here…

I must say those abalones do look scrumptious, and we see that they’re not the only ones eating. Ack, I knew I should have eaten lunch before this episode.

Ji-hyo is hoping to catch a shark (sang-eoh) and Gary chimes in that he hopes to catch Sang-hwa. Aw, so punny. Suddenly, Gary’s line goes taut—whatever it is, it’s strong, but he loses it.

Seung-soo is positive that he’ll make the first catch, and he’s reminded that he must, lest he face elimination. Gulp. Then Seung-soo points out how his reel is moving ever so slightly, only to be told that it’s because the boat is moving. Hahaha.

Jae-suk’s line goes taut too—will this be his first catch? It’s definitely caught on something but sadly, it’s not a fish. Instead, it’s Suk-jin who reels in the first fish of the day, to his delight.

Feeling proud, Suk-jin imparts life lessons to the others, much to Jung-nan’s annoyance. But then she reels in a huge flounder for herself. That’s awesome.

Now it’s Jung-nan’s turn to recount her epic catch in great detail and dispense fishing tips to our resident coach Kookie. “The chance came just as I was about to give up. I think that’s what life is like.”

Seung-soo says he feels he wants to give hope rather than catch fish. When asked to whom, he answers, “To everyone here. Everyone looks so serious.”

A less-than-thrilling mission like fishing lives or dies based upon the cast interactions, but we see them wait… and wait, and wait some more. The good thing is that they get to eat, and aw, Kwang-soo feeds the staff, too.

Ji-hyo is still optimistic, and it pays off: she catches herself an eel. Gary tries the same method, and screams, “I caught seaweed!” Hahahaha.

Jae-suk’s boat is the only one without a catch, and Jae-suk whispers that it’s Seung-soo who’s the bad luck charm. Still, Jae-suk is shameless enough to try and catch the eel Seung-soo lost moments before in the same spot. So is Kwang-soo and Joo-hwan.

After losing a potential catch to a staff member, Joo Hwan’s line goes taut. Sure enough, he catches a big one and shows it off. When the others asks how he feels, Joo-hwan jokes, “Don’t talk to me, people who didn’t catch anything…”

Poor Min-jong has been fighting seasickness, and belatedly finds out that he’s made a catch of his own. If anything, he’s relieved to get back on land… where he says he has to keep up the act to the end. Huh?

We know that Min-jong has been working hard today, and now we find out that it was all just to throw off suspicion. So when he laid down onto the boat, he actually groaned, “It’s so tiring to act…” and told the staff, “Don’t laugh!”

A flashback confirms that Min-jong is indeed part of the mafia, and as he lies somewhere closeby, Min-jong sighs over how he missed the window for exemption. The others are busy regaling each other with their adventures when Min-jong rejoins them.

Jong-kook argues that Min-jong’s lack of a desire to win supports that he’s innocent, though, Kwang-soo adds that it could just be a tactic. Then Jo PD announces there are three mafia members remaining.

Accusations start flying again, and Suk-jin says it’ll be really funny if they accuse Seung-soo and he turns out to be innocent. Seung-soo starts getting genuinely upset, but he keeps a smile.

The group still hasn’t arrived at a conclusion when it comes time to vote (and Min-jong sticks to the sickie act). Both Dong-joon and Jae-suk are up for elimination… and Dong-joon is innocent.

As for Jae-suk… we’ll find out next week.

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