Running Man: Episode 287

by gummimochi

A new crop of interns will be joining the ranks among our cast this week, but these fresh faces of the workforce are actually the grand sunbaes of the entertainment industry. Learning the variety ropes will be harder for some than others, but it quickly becomes apparent that our cast members will have the hardest time of all. Because how do you show respect to your sunbae who you know is your hoobae for a day?

EPISODE 287. Broadcast on February 21, 2016.

We jump right into the Intern Race this morning, as our cast is told that the age difference between them and their teammate is twelve years (aka ddidonggap meaning, they share the same Chinese Zodiac sign). Haha immediately assumes that it must be someone younger, so he starts searching for celebs born in 1991.

Ji-hyo does the same, wondering if it could be Answer Me 1988 star Park Bo-gum. Jong-kook believes that he’ll whip the intern into shape.

When a car pulls up, Haha peers in, then calls out: “Noona.” Noona is right—it’s comedienne and MC Park Mi-sun born in 1967. He doesn’t know what to do when he’s technically younger than him, but Mi-sun is quick to escort her sunbae into the car.

Being called “sunbae-nim” freaks him out, since Mi-sun has been active in the industry for 29 years now. She suggests calling her “Park-yang” aka Miss Park, but Haha says he understands what’s going on now, so they don’t have to stay in character whenever it’s just the two of them.

Suk-jin is paired with a hyungnim of his own: comedian Lee Hong-ryul who refuses to let his “sunbae” drive. Hong-ryul realizes that Suk-jin is now old enough to have his own set of hoobaes now, and he adds that Suk-jin can try to stay hip, but he’ll reach an age where it just won’t work anymore.

… and then Hong-ryul apologizes for trying to teach his sunbae a life lesson. Ha. Jae-suk’s intern is singer Yoo Yeol, who gained fame in the ’80s and ’90s. He insists that Jae-suk in the back until he’s told that there aren’t any cameras installed there.

Haha is still griping over how his teammate isn’t a young actress like Park So-dam or Kim Go-eun, but then bows to Hong-ryul with his forehead to the ground. Singer Kim Jo-han is Kwang-soo’s intern, but I love how all the cast members are so uncomfortable with their entertainment sunbaes insisting upon waiting on them.

After asking for permission to switch to banmal, Kwang-soo immerses himself in his new sunbae status. He scolds Jo-han for making him wait outside in the cold, then looks like he instantly regrets speaking that way.

Ha, Detective Kim—er, Kim Won-hae (Signal) is Ji-hyo’s intern. He’s even prepared gloves to drive with, and even yells at the staff car in front of him to hurry up.

Gary is startled at the sight of his intern, actor Ahn Gil-kang (Cheese in the Trap). They’re also former castmates from the 2008 film Dachimawa Lee, and Gary munches on the clementine Gil-kang feeds him.

The most awkward and respectful greetings are exchanged once everyone files into the company. Haha feels especially awkward around Hong-ryul, who is good friends with his own mother. “My mother calls him oppa!”

All the interns get up at the mention of coffee, which means the cast members do too. Won-hae is like the eager, bumbling intern who asks where the kitchen is so that he can make everyone coffee.

Then it’s time for the interns to introduce themselves, and Yoo Yeol softly says it’s his first variety show appearance. He even adorably waves to the cameras. Jo-han introduces himself as the maknae among the interns.

O man, I totally forgot about Jong-kook, who’s still waiting in the cafe. He immediately sits up when he sees guitarist Kim Do-kyun of Boohwal. Needless to say, they’re late to work, and when Do-kyun stumbles through his introduction, Yoo Yeol says that’s how he’ll get fired.

The speakers announce the first game: the interns will jump to the line where they’ll catch balls of paper thrown by their sunbaes into the trash bins they’re holding by the feet. The Betrayal Trio advises their interns to cheat, but when the whistle blows, Gil-kang slidddess to the line.

Although Do-kyun is the last to join the party, he does a pretty good job of catching the paper balls. Everyone is surprised to learn that Jo-han caught four, as he swears that the cameras captured it all.

Jae-suk starts docking points for the interns who slid their way to the line, but he’s speechless when Yoo Yeol admits he did the same. Everyone wants to start over, but Hong-ryul doesn’t want to slide up again.

So he decides to take a vote about where to start over, and hangs up on Mi-sun for allegedly whispering seductively into his ear. As for Do-kyun, he’s like to start at the halfway point.

They decide to start over at the line, but then Jae-suk notices that his intern isn’t wearing shoes. HA. The second round goes a lot smoother, and at the very end, Yoo Yeol cries out… because he wants to do variety now. Aww.

His socks method actually worked with seven paper balls, and Jae-suk is again speechless when he gets to Do-kyun’s bin. Jong-kook chimes in, “I’ve never seen anyone trying to avoid the balls before!”

Jo-han shares that he loves his team (also because he and Kwang-soo placed first), and Jae-suk points out that his laid-back posture makes him look like a judge on K-pop Star.

We move right along to the next game: the intern will need to grab five items and return before the cast member finishes their drawn-out breath. The interns squabble over age to determine order, so they play the Noonchi Game (where the last person to not say a number, loses) and Won-hae cries out “seven!” when it’s clear that he’s in last place.

Mi-sun is surprised to find out that Won-hae’s younger than she is, and so they continue the game. Jo-han and Hong-ryul both eliminate themselves, and upon hearing that four is the last digit now, Gil-kang gets up and calls out, “Four.” HA.

Ji-hyo and Won-hae are up first, and intern Won-hae moves at lightning speed. He presents his items to Ji-hyo… who says he got it wrong. Hahahaha. Jo-han and Kwang-soo are up next, and the others are quick to provide distraction: “He should’ve been told in English!” “Was there a ruler on the list?”

Hong-ryul is likened to Robert De Niro, and he asks that Suk-jin name the items calmly and clearly. No matter because Suk-jin runs out of breath a few seconds later. “You call yourself a singer?!”

Gary reads off his list to Gil-kang, who has no idea what a USB looks like. Uh oh. When Gary runs out of breath, Gil-kang admits that he only knows two of those items.

Yoo Yeol swears his sunbae will show everyone up, but Jae-suk runs out of breath too. As expected of the singer, Jong-kook holds the note while Do-kyun rifles through the cabinets. Turns out Do-kyun grabbed everything he could get his hands on. Hehe.

He did obtain three items, and Jong-kook slowly starts easing into the scolding tone in his voice.

It looks like our third game is a long-jumping competition with the acupuncture mat we all love so much. The cast members go first, and Jae-suk tells everyone to back off. He still jumps further than anyone. Kwang-soo can feel Jae-suk holding onto him at the start line, and his mic line breaks when he jumps.

Ever the mischievous one, Jae-suk holds on to the rim of Gary’s hat before he jumps. Kwang-soo holds him so that Haha can splash his face with water. Gary jumps an impressive 2.35 meters.

The guys crowd around Jong-kook before his turn, and when the Tiger revs up, his hands strikes Kwang-soo’s family jewels. Ouccch. They try do distract him again, but Jong-kook jumps 2.05 meters.

Won-hae makes sure no one messes with his sunbae, thought Suk-jin reminds her that her We Got Married husband, Taiwanese actor Chen Bolin, is watching. She crouches in embarrassment.

Suk-jin is the last to jump, and the guys are ready to pull out all the stops. They snap towels and throw socks at him, and jumps the shortest distance.

Hahaha, Hong-ryul literally toes the line when it’s his turn to jump. He jumps 1.7 meters, and Miss Park follows that up with 1.5 meters. Won-hae surprises everyone by jumping 2.1 meters and ever so gracefully steps off the mat. Yoo Yeol jumps past 2 meters too, and it’s Gary and Gil-kang who take first in the third round.

But it’s Ji-hyo and Won-hae who are in the lead, as the intern tumbles on the prickly mat in celebration. Yoo Yeol won’t be beat though, as he opts to do a headstand. Gil-kang does a celebratory roll for coming in third.

Everyone breaks for some 1:1 mentoring time—each of the rooms are filled with memorabilia from movie posters to albums to old pictures.

Just then the speakers announce that the final mission will begin. The teams are locked inside and instructed to escape the room within an hour—the losers will be paying for dinner tonight.

Ji-hyo and Won-hae are given a clue for winning the games earlier, but it isn’t much: it can either be a “n” or a “g”. The lock is unique—made up of letters and digits—and Suk-jin realizes that there’s a letter missing in the mockup of Hong-ryul’s diploma.

Jong-kook turns on a music player which plays a guitar chord. He turns to Do-kyun, who readily admits that he doesn’t have perfect pitch. What does he use instead? A recorder. HAHAHA.

Haha realizes that the newspaper article has misspelled Mi-sun’s name, which should be a “n” instead of a “g”. Meanwhile, Won-hae points out that their clue also looks like the English “L”. Just then, Ji-hyo realizes that the movie posters are hanging on the wall with blue tape—their team color, perhaps?

Haha and Mi-sun are on to the same idea, pointing out all the green items in their room. Jae-suk and Yoo Yeol search for clues using their team color purple, while Gary tries out the surname Kang…

… and the lock clicks open. Although Gil-kang yelps in celebration, he quickly masks it as if to vent his frustration. But it isn’t over yet—now they must collect the others’ nametags and place them onto their own vest.

From there, the colors will be added to the roulette wheel—the more of one color there is, the higher their chances for paying up tonight. When Gary and Gil-kang’s escape is announced, Ji-hyo doesn’t lose hope whereas Kwang-soo apologizes for being paired up with him. “Did you bring your wallet?”

The other teams keep searching for clues, and Jong-kook believes that it’s music-related. He tries song, but Do-kyun thinks of “sing”. The second one works. It turns out Haha and Mi-sun have escaped too—their word was “love”.

Haha finds two purple tags, while Yoo Yeol and Jae-suk realize that their code is “talk”. Suk-jin and Hong-ryul’s code is “nose” while Ji-hyo and Won-hae’s is “gold”.

Mi-sun is struggling to catch her breath when she and Haha run into Jae-suk and Yoo Yeol. She has to make a run for it while Haha buys her some time, but Yoo Yeol manages to steal back one of the purple tags.

We take a quick look at the scoreboard, where Suk-jin and Hong-ryul along with Kwang-soo and Jo-han have the greatest possibility of footing the bill for dinner tonight. The numbers keep changing as the teams stumble across more nametags, and soon Ji-hyo and Won-hae are in dangerous territory.

Perhaps they should be more careful in their search because Won-hae accidentally hits his head on a door. As for Kwang-soo and Jo-han, they’re still in the room, singing.

Everyone gathers together again to spin the wheel. Since Jong-kook paid last time, he does the honors. It looks like it’ll land on red—which means Jong-kook and Do-kyun would have to pay—but it lands on a white space.

Jong-kook spins again, and the wheel seems to slow down as the red space approaches… but it passes it and stops at the green space. This means that Haha and Mi-sun, who had a mere three spaces on the wheel, will be paying for dinner tonight.

All of our hard-working interns earn a gold employee badge for their efforts, because working experience is literally worth its weight in gold.

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