Running Man: Episode 66

by gummimochi

That’s right – this is the episode you’ve all been waiting for. It’s Flower Boy Joong-ki‘s epic appearance on Running Man!! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in a Running Man episode before. Joong-ki, you’ve got to come back – we’ve missed you!

EPISODE 66. Broadcast on October 30, 2011.

Early in the morn’ Mr. PD enters a hotel room to wake up Princess Yoo Hyuk. Oh man, the staff is one step away from filming them while they sleep, like they do in 1N2D. Is there no dignity left for celebrities anymore!?

This morning mission is a relay, waking each other in order, and completing tasks, in 30 minutes. Also, breakfast is on the line. I can still see the crusts in his eyes.

Still groggy, Jae-suk cautiously enters the first room: “This kid sleeps naked…” And yet again, Gary is covered only by the comforter. Jae-suk’s task is to scrub his elbow and sticks it in warm water to heat it up. Gary complains at the randomness of the task, but it’s a success and a courtesy smiley-face covers the evidence.

Onto the next room (Ji-hyo’s), and how much do I love that she has bags of snacks by her bedside. Gary prepares to wash her feet and she sticks her feet in… to find that it’s cold. So she flicks the soapy water with her foot and it lands square in Gary’s eye. Can’t the Monday Couple get through one romantic task?

She’s ticklish too, so she squirms, splashing the water all around her. They finish (Jae-suk chimes: “Look at how dirty the water is!”) and she picks her next target with 20 minutes to go.

Ji-hyo brushes Spartakooks‘ teeth, but it’s the next person I’m afraid for: he has to wash their hair. And that unfortunate person is Haroro, dragging him across the bed to the sink. Haha tries to squeeze in some time brush his teeth, but no time good man! No time!!

When they get to Kwang-soo’s turn (they have to wash his back) the reversal of the situation is freakin’ hilarious. He greets them already awake, book in hand, but five seconds later, has a look of utter terror as his hyungs rush to undress him and push him towards the bathroom.

And when Kwang-soo has to tie up Sun-ah’s hair, she kicks him. HA! These morning missions are the best. That image you worked hard to maintain? It’s flown out the window now.

So Sun-ah heads out to wake up Joo-hyuk and uncovers the comforter… O M G. JOONG-KI?! @#!$%!! You’re BACK!! But there isn’t time for warm welcomes and Sun-ah gets a bin to wash his face with one minute remaining. Thousands of fangirls just fainted.

The timer ticks down but with 17 seconds to spare, everyone wins breakfast.

Mr. PD introduces the next mission as a Quitting Time Race and Joong-ki says: “But I just got here!” The boy’s been gone for six months and you want him to leave? Thousands of fangirls just rioted. To clarify, it’s more like a race around Korea, destination Seoul.

Our cast groups into three teams: Yellow (Kwang-soo, Ji-hyo, Joong-ki), Blue (Jae-suk, Gary, Suk-jin) and Red (Jong-kook, Sun-ah, Haha). The three team members who didn’t retrieve their name tags yesterday get special ones that say, “Mr. Kim, Mr. Lee” Hahaha.

In the car, Jae-suk mentions about how he imitates the voices of the members he calls and Jong-kook recalls when Sun-ah was in a Turbo music video, “Forbidden Game.”

The Yellow Team is the first to arrive at Daejeon, their task to find three people who look like Kwang-soo and jump rope 30 times. The Blue Team arrive a little later, wandering the streets looking for those who resemble Gary (Gary tries to employ Joong-ki but thousands of fangirls just mobbed you).

The Red Team finds people who look like Jong-kook right away, or basically people of big stature and small eyes. They even answer, “Kim Jong-kook” when they ask for their names.

The Yellow Team unveils their finds, and the last guy is basically Kwang-soo’s doppelganger. They have a fairly good run, until Kwang-soo trips and when Joong-ki asks whose fault it was, the crowd shouts, “Kwang-soo!” Aww.

The other teams also fail and either Mr. PD is feeling gratuitous or pity because he knocks it down to 20. The next time around, it’s Joong-ki who trips and Kwang-soo tries to get his revenge, but the thousands of fangirls just shouted it’s okay. Oh well.

The Yellow Team finishes first, so off they go! The Blue team follows behind them and it’s the Red Team who is left behind. They jump… 17, 18, 19, and trip. And if the failures weren’t bad enough, Sun-ah keeps getting whacked by the rope so they bandage her up. They succeed but not before she gets smacked again by the rope.

The boys congratulate her in the car for becoming the 2011 Bandaged Fighting Spirit, much like the World Cup soccer player who played though he was injured back in 2002.

Next stop is a rest stop and each team must eat an acorn jelly soup within 100 seconds, not letting one team members’ feet touch the floor, and choose a utensil from 1-10, and the list goes on and on. The Yellow Team picks up their meal first and Kwang-soo says, “Noona, while you were sick… you must have eaten well.” Cheeky.

The Blue Team carries Suk-jin who claims that he’s around 70 kg, but both of his team members struggle to carry him. When they exit the building, Mr. PD attempts to prevent them from getting hurt but he tumbles backwards onto the ground. Ouch!

Active Joong-ki (for his amplified assertiveness at any task) picks the next utensil and closes it back, his face crestfallen. Ji-hyo wonders if it’s an ear pick and Kwang-soo checks the box to unveil… toothpicks. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse.

But it does because the next time around, he picks again to reveal 3 lone toothpicks. Oh Joong-ki, I’ve missed you.

The Blue Team finally succeeds after several bowls with a pair of plastic chopsticks (Mr. PD sifts through the bowl to make sure), They’re led to a row of various animal costumes and their last mission: gather as many people at the amusement park while wearing the costume. Jae-suk and Gary pick from the more popular animals and encourage Suk-jin to don the bunny costume. Suk-jin: “Isn’t this a woman’s?”

By the time the Red Team has finished, they fight over the leftovers, in particular, who gets to be the sheep. Ha!

At the amusement park, the Blue Team gets ready to change into their costumes and Mr. PD mentions that the losing team will work overtime.

Jae-suk mentions that Suk-jin obviously bears the mark of someone who’s never been a character before, sitting like an ajusshi with a bunny for a head. A bunny, a panda, and a monkey walk into a bar…

Though it’s a little tough at first, they find their groove, even Suk-jin the Bunny convinces a young couple to promise to come. And when a youngster asks Jae-suk the Panda if he eats bamboo, another girl quips, “Hey…he’s fake so he doesn’t eat bamboo!” HAHAHA!

With 20 minutes left to gather as many people, the Yellow Team heads out. I honestly think that the cast should just dress up in animal costumes each week, because this stuff is variety GOLD. When Ji-hyo the Chicken scares a little girl, Gary the monkey pats her on her head and Ji-hyo punches him in return.

And poor Kwang-soo the Tiger gets pestered by the kids. Some things don’t change.

Now just over 6 minutes remain on the clock and the Red team finally arrives. They form a train, encouraging others to join them and soon they get a fairly substantial amount of people following them.
The clocks ticks with only a few minutes left and the crowds trickle in to each section and when time runs out, the staff tapes the sections off.

It’s time for the big reveal and each of the teams unveils themselves to much fanfare and cheers. They also show the count and for the Blue Team, 95, to the Yellow Team’s 74. Now it’s just the Red Team left. The numbers rise, creeping closer to the 90’s… and the final count is 99 – the Red Team gets to travel to Seoul first.

At the Han River, the Blue and Yellow teams dash towards the flags. Gary in the lead suddenly stops short when he sees only two flags (he thought only the ‘Overtime’ one remained) and Jae-suk grabs the last one, which leaves the Yellow Team with today’s punishment. Joong-ki: “It’s been five months!”

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