Running Man: Episode 213

by gummimochi

Our cast is back with the ladies who left us wanting two weeks ago with their hilarious parodies. Although these actresses may be initially reluctant about getting down and dirty, nothing will stop their inner ferocious competitiveness when they do. It turns out that the women who play those classic vindictive roles are as sweet, adorable, and hilarious as they come, and it’s like our Running Man guys don’t even know what (or who) hit them—literally.

EPISODE 213. Broadcast on September 21, 2014.

We’re re-introduced to today’s lineup of guests we caught a glimpse of two weeks ago (since last week’s broadcast was pre-empted due to the 2014 Asian Games soccer preliminary match): Yoo In-young, Seo Woo, Choi Yeo-jin, Kim Min-seo, and Lee Yuri.

The ladies have their pick among the guys for today’s Couple Race, and I love how Ji-hyo simplifies their choices by taking Suk-jin for herself. Saying that the ladies catch their partners off-guard unawares would be an understatement—particularly for Kwang-soo, who gets hit over the head as a greeting. Oh hai there, Yeo-jin.

Elsewhere, Yuri barks at Gary for eating: “Are you a cow or pig?” Gary yelps defensively, “I’m a gae [dog]!” HA. It’s been a while since I’ve heard lines from Good Doctor, but those are the words Min-seo throws at Jong-kook, and In-young takes out her rage on a flummoxed Haha.

It isn’t long before Haha absorbs himself into the act too, and orders her to pick up one of the bottles she cast aside. She does. Heh. Seo Woo struggles to stay in character in Jae-suk’s presence, since he all but rolls his eyes at her melodramatic performance. Kwang-soo is bewildered by the treatment, and while Gary gets a glass of water thrown in his face, Jong-kook is literally pressed by Min-seo’s declaration of love.

All the women break into smiles as soon as the staff yell “Cut!” on their parodies, and they exchange polite greetings with their partners. Kwang-soo asks why he doesn’t get the chance to exact a little revenge, but he’s pleased when Yeo-jin says she chose him.

I do love how some of the ladies admit that they veered off-script because of their rising emotions, but at least the guys have plenty of stories to tell by the time they’re all gathered together again.

All of our guests have played some emotionally manipulative characters before, though Jae-suk notes how varied their villainous styles are, from aggressive (In-young) to self-pride (Yeo-jin) to destructive (Yuri) to the actual fighter Ji-hyo.

Everyone gripes when they’re told that there’s a second-generation chaebol heir amongst them, except for Jae-suk, who jokingly asks if they enjoy filming at his hotel. Suk-jin one-ups him by telling the others to have their pick of any building in Seoul, but then Jae-suk says he should probably change out of his athletic pants first.

As for today’s Find the Chaebol Race, the first three teams to succeed in the games will acquire hints regarding the mysterious chaebol’s identity; however only the women will see those hints themselves, so it’ll be up to them to team up with the right person, which means there ought to be some teammate switcharoos in the near future.

After telling a smug Suk-jin that he’s considered too old to be a second-generation chaebol, everyone rushes out the door to get to their first mission location. Yuri giggles that she’s probably the strongest out of her fellow guests, and In-young jokes that she’ll look like a nicer person once the makeup comes off (from their various games).

Seo Woo yells at her neighbors that the gas is leaking from their car, only to learn that it was likely the more harmless air conditioner fluid. Jong-kook, however, interprets this as a lie to distract them and tells his teammate Min-seo not to be so naive.

Still, she and Jong-kook arrive first, with Kwang-soo and Yeo-jin not far behind. Seo Woo comes running in her white heels, which she claims she wore because she’s the most petite out of everyone here. Yuri’s also wearing fashionable shoes, and she too is admonished for her choice of footwear.

Here in the muddy fields, the cast takes a minute to admire (or criticize) their miniature model selves which represents their current pairings. Gary’s pleased that his mini-me is pretty handsome, whereas mini Jong-kook has puffed-up cheeks.

Third place Seo Woo reads her hint (“Resembles an animal”) and doesn’t change the lineup. Second place Yeo-jin reads hers (“Wants to be friends with idols”), then switches Kwang-soo out for the other Easy Brother Suk-jin. Lastly, first place Min-seo reads hers (“Released an album”) and leaves the lineup as is.

For their first game, the ladies will assemble on a platform while the men will try to clamber to climb on. They’ll play three rounds and last couple standing wins. Seo Woo’s and Yuri’s shoes are deemed inappropriate for this down and dirty game, and Haha screams that there’s no need to be stylish on this show. Wise words.

Although the ladies opt for waders instead, it takes them a while to get them on. And then Haha finally bursts impatiently, “Let’s play the game already! It’s like there are numerous Suk-jins around!”

He won’t stand for actresses trying to preserve what’s left of their pride on this show, but he soon isn’t the only one when the other guys have to sit to compensate for Seo Woo’s height. Suk-jin realizes, “Ji-hyo was so cool.”

Just then Yuri walks back on her tippy toes, and Gary finds out that his teammate is literally wearing two left waders. Needless to say, the guys are already half-exasperated with their guests even before whistle blows, but when it does, it’s pure chaos on the platform.

In-young gets tossed back and forth until she’s dragged into the water, and whoa—Yuri manages to push Jong-kook out of the way. And everyone else, for that matter. She really wasn’t kidding about her strength, was she?

What the—Yuri then actually uses Kwang-soo like a literal ladder, climbing over him to get to the platform. Our poor Giraffe gets used as a step multiple times thereafter, and the staff have to call a timeout to break up the fight.

Seo Woo claims that the ladies promised not to push each other, which we know is pretty much moot after the fact. The guys confirm that these ladies are definitely vicious, and Jong-kook doesn’t get why this group of ladies won’t just give up.

While it’s still tattletaling time, Suk-jin claims that Seo Woo nearly swore after checking if there were any cameras around. The staff tweak the rules so that any couple not on the platform after 100 seconds is eliminated, and there’s a lot of pushing and yelling in the second round. By the end, Jae-suk and Suk-jin are eliminated.

Now it’s the ladies’ turn to climb on the platform, and Yuri wields red clay against her opponents. She and Min-seo use their strength to climb on top, then Kwang-soo gets his pants pulled down before falling into the water. He’s pushed off again moments later, then waits for the opportune moment to climb up and secure the win with Yeo-jin.

Afterward, third place Yuri reads her hint (“Over 170cm”), which sadly eliminates Haha. She switches Gary for Jong-kook. Min-seo reads hers (“Likes ddakji”), but Yeo-jin’s hint remains a secret.

Yeo-jin questions Kwang-soo in the car, and seems to believe him when he claims to be the most loyal out of the others. Says the Betrayal Icon. Yuri shares a laugh with Gary about her clue that the chaebol’s height eliminates Haha.

In-young is annoyed when she hears that arriving first earns them nothing now, and Haha reveals to the others that she used to be the best fighter at school. Yuri and Seo Woo sprout invisible heels when Suk-jin points out their petite height.

Here, each couple will act out a scene, then run into the car and eliminate all the paper evidence within the time limit (30 seconds) or else be met with a literal downpour. Jae-suk and Seo-woo are up first, and they launch into an impromptu parody of the movie The Housemaid.

What’s hilarious is watching Seo Woo clean the mud with her towel, then screams at Jae-suk for messing around with her when he’s married with a kid. Her added details that she’s poor and has no manager (since she isn’t currently signed with an agency) and mock-slaps Jae-suk away.

She barely lets him get a word in, but that’s when the whistle blows, and they scramble inside the car to start shredding paper. When Jong-kook tries to talk strategy with Min-seo, she likens him to a nagging father-in-law. Lol, at least she isn’t afraid to tell it like it is.

After Jae-suk and Seo Woo are given a sudden shower, the latter gets caught in her lie that they got rid of everything. Haha and In-young are up next, and she slips into character with her fiery gaze.

She breaks character not long afterwards, then she and Haha scramble to get rid of their stack. It already looks like a lost cause from the start, so Haha starts chomping down on the paper.

Gary and Yuri are up next, and she is committed to this task, as she slides down from the hood of the car. Their scene takes place at a nightclub, where Yuri repeatedly rejects his advances. When he grabs the arm flying towards him, she uses the other hand to slap him.

It looks like they’ve got a shot at winning as the final seconds tick down in the car. They succeed with three seconds left on the clock.

Kwang-soo plays the jilted boyfriend, refusing to give into Yeo-jin’s aegyo tactics. But even he can’t hide his smile when Yeo-jin leans in with a kissy face. It’s pretty adorable, until Yeo-jin snaps him out of it, and that earns them an extra ten seconds.

They come close, but they run out of time anyway, and gets some glamourous model shots in. Jong-kook turns his hat for his Moon That Embraces the Sun parody (or should we call it the Moon That Embraces the Muscles, hee), but Min-seo doesn’t let him get a word in, shushing him with a bit of mud.

They get extra time too, and Jong-kook works so fast that his manual paper shredder looks like an automatic. Hell, it’s faster than any automatic out there, and he and Min-seo snage second place.

Suk-jin and Ji-hyo’s awkward acting doesn’t earn them any extra time, and they fail. Haha relays to the others how In-young just told him to slap her, to which he cries, “How could I possibly hit you?!”

Basically In-young ends up slapping him around, and this time they were smart—they folded their stack before the whistle blew. So In-young snags third place, then reads her hint (“Talks a lot”). At first I was thinking that it could either be Jong-kook or Jae-suk, but the show reminds us that they ALL talk a lot.

Min-seo reads her hint (“flattering in glasses”), and so does Yuri, though we don’t get to see what she reads nor the switch she makes.

Everyone gathers together again later that evening for the final mission, where the ladies are promptly led away to various locations. Then the guys set off to meet their new partners, and everyone apart from Haha and Kwang-soo have a new teammate.

In this “Make My Man A Chaebol” mission, our teams must (1) find out the mysterious chaebol’s identity; (2) find his nametag; (3) attach it to their male teammate; and (4) stand on the platform together. So they’ll need to find (or steal away) the right nametag, regardless of who the chaebol is… though I suppose being considered one brings with it its own bragging rights.

At the start, In-young insists that Haha’s out of the running since he doesn’t meet the height requirement. He’s persistent, though, and she tosses back, “What’s the point if you’re the only one being stubborn about it?”

Haha isn’t the only one putting the cart before the horse, however, because Kwang-soo’s convinced that he could be the chaebol, too. Our SpartAce duo is deducing, too — they have to pay attention to who Min-seo has by her side now since she has three hints.

Speaking of whom, Min-seo admits that she couldn’t really decide between Jae-suk and Suk-jin with her batch of clues. When Yuri tells Suk-jin that it could be him, he asks if she’s good at lying. She says she’s gotten better since playing villainous roles, but still adorably stumbles over her words, confessing, “I.. I did tell one lie [right now].”

She relays one hint Haha told her (“Doesn’t talk”), though Suk-jin is quick to tell her that the truth is likely the opposite of whatever she was told (“Talks a lot”). Meanwhile, Jong-kook discovers Kwang-soo’s nametag, which gets placed on his back like a disposable card. Nothing to lose, huh?

It also turns out that there are multiple nametags of our potential chaebols hidden on the premises. Kwang-soo gapes to see SpartAce working together, but gives up a hint since the latter doesn’t have any. But as expected, what he tells them is a bald-faced lie and Yeo-jin’s side-eye is a dead giveaway.

She does, however, reveals a logical hint: It isn’t Jong-kook, because Min-seo has the most hints and wouldn’t trade have traded him away if Jong-kook was the chaebol. Elsewhere, Jae-suk makes a run for it as soon as Suk-jin and Yuri appear, and the latter bite the bait.

And just like last time, the others hear the noise and start running. They manage to wrestle the nametag in Jae-suk’s hands, only to realize that it’s one of Kwang-soo’s.

Jae-suk swipes another tag (but not a member’s nametag) and takes off again, and lures Yuri and Suk-jin in again. To learn why Yuri is so relentless about chasing Jae-suk, we rewind back to when she read her final hint (“Initial J”).

Jae-suk finds another one of his own nametags, which Seo Woo tries to wrestle away, to no avail. He gets onto the platform with his nametag and Min-seo, but he isn’t the chaebol everyone’s looking for. It’s one of Yeo-jin’s hints that clue us in: “He’s part of the Betrayal Trio.”

Which means only Suk-jin fits all the criteria. Nearly everyone lands on the same conclusion—well, everyone except Kwang-soo and Yeo-jin, that is. Convinced that Kwang-soo’s the chaebol, Yeo-jin openly declares her marriage intentions towards him. “You’re going to accept me, right?”

Hee, Yuri accidentally sprays her face with hairspray (thinking it was a mist spray). At the same time, the hunt for Suk-jin’s nametag is still ongoing. Kwang-soo joins the search, having heard the news belatedly, and finds Suk-jin’s nametag under a tablecloth.

It isn’t long before a few couples start gathering around him, though, and Haha shushes them so that they don’t draw more unnecessary attention. As expected, Kwang-soo bolts the first chance he gets.

Not if Haha or Suk-jin have something to say about it since they catch up to him in no time. It’s full-out war, andYuri makes off with the nametag, only to lose it again in the stairwell. It’s kinda funny how the actresses try to aggressively grab the nametag while smiling, “Let’s not [fight] with each other.”

Jong-kook, on the other hand, is waiting a few steps down to deal with whoever the victor is in this chaotic struggle. So Jae-suk decides that it’s faster to look for another one of Suk-jin’s nametags.

So while everyone else is debating with one another, Jae-suk and Min-seo roam the premises uninterrupted. And sure enough, Jae-suk finds what he needs.

Now it’s a matter of getting downstairs before everyone else does… and they run and stand on the platform before anyone else gets there. Suk-jin arrives dead last, and his shocked expression is sad-hilarious.

Min-seo wins a gold ring while her teammate Jae-suk is presented with a fancy nameplate that befits his chaebol status. And to wrap up this episode, the cast celebrate August birthdays (Jae-suk, Ji-hyo, and Haha). What a sweet finish!

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