Running Man: Episode 306

by gummimochi

It’s time for some fun in the sun this week because our Running Man Lifeguards are ready to jump at a moment’s notice. In order to become the best, our teams will be put through boot camp that will test their strength and agility, while another simultaneous mission will make them question what it’s all for. Will everyone be able to pull their weight or will their rising suspicions crash and burn into the sand?

EPISODE 306. Broadcast on July 3, 2016.

Just off the coast of Hanagae Beach, the Running Man Lifeguards are on duty… soaking in the cloudy skies. Donning wacky wigs, Suk-jin looks like he got into a fight with his hair dryer. Our team leaders Jae-suk and Jong-kook roll in on ATVs ’cause why not?

Jong-kook looks just like the animated character He-Man in his blond ‘do, but it’s clear that everyone’s looks is based on the ’90s TV series Baywatch.

As such, everyone has English names: Bruce (Jae-suk), Crab (Suk-jin), Long (Kwang-soo), Bench (Jong-kook), Red Song (Ji-hyo), Pierrot (Gary), and apparently Chakra for Haha, who originally wanted “Shark.”

In true Baywatch style, our three guests come running: familiar face Nichkhun of 2PM, Nine Muses’ Kyungri, and actor Lee Ki-woo. Today’s team breakdown is as follows: Blue (Jae-suk, Kyungri, Suk-jin, Kwang-soo, and Gary) and Red (Jong-kook, Ji-hyo, Ki-woo, Nichkhun, and Haha).

Apparently Suk-jin had no idea that Ki-woo is dating actress Lee Chung-ah, and he gives Jae-suk a hard time about flubbing up Nine Muses’ name, though the latter points out he didn’t even know who Kyungri was when she appeared.

Ji-hyo is a girl after my own heart when she takes a good look at Ki-woo, and all the guests get their own English name: Nick (Nichkhun), Thomas (Ki-woo), as in Thomas the Tank Engine, and Sandy for Kyungri for the sandy beach. And that’s when Jae-suk pulls out the Dad pun: “Are you stronger [ssen-di] than I thought?”

After a throwback title sequence, a TV is brought out, featuring David Hasselhoff’s face. Er, can they do that? This Hoff can apparently speak Korean though, as he tells the team that there’s a promotion on the line—the winning team leader will be promoted to Chief, and his teammates will be rewarded.

They’ll be running through three different exercises, and the team with the highest marks, wins. And that special prize? A golden whistle. The losing team will be punished via the paddle. Yikes.

Gary: “The effects of that [last time] lasted a week!” Kwang-soo says that part was edited out because of airtime… so the crew shows us that segment now. Yeahhhh, that looks painful.

Everyone but the team leaders are dismissed, then the Red Team is told to enjoy some ice cream. Our team leaders are told that every training exercise comes with a hidden mission today, and at present whoever took off his or her wig has made his team lose. And that was Kwang-soo, one minute ago.

Jae-suk is understandably upset that his team lost at something they weren’t even aware about, and neither he nor Jong-kook can mention this fact to their teammates. If either of them make a peep about this hidden mission, they can kiss that promotion goodbye.

Jae-suk is left frustrated at this situation, which is when Jong-kook suggests that he slaps Kwang-soo across the face without giving him a reason why.

Once the teams arrive at the mission location (and grumble about the setup), Jae-suk mentions how Ki-woo used to appear on X-Man back in ye ol’ variety days. Apparently he was a heodang much like Kwang-soo, though everyone points out that Ki-woo is far more handsome: “You should’ve grown up like he did.” Kwang-soo: “What’s wrong with me?!”

Today’s first training exercise is an obstacle relay race, and when the Blue Team puts their hands in, Kyungri is called out for placing her hand on the bottom. Methinks it’s just because she doesn’t like the feeling of someone’s hand underneath hers, but it’s played off that she doesn’t like feeling Suk-jin’s hand.

While the Red Team is amenably assigning each task, the Blue Team is busy bickering about who should do what. In the end it’s Ki-woo and Gary at the starting line, forced to run with open parachutes behind them.

Ki-woo pushes ahead despite the resistance with Gary not too far behind. Then Kwang-soo and Jae-suk bounce on the inflatable flamingo while Jong-kook and Ji-hyo slowly let the air out. Realizing they need another tactic, Jong-kook tears the tube open.

Kwang-soo and Jae-suk have a harder time ripping the flamingo apart, though Jae-suk pops off a wing and its head. With that, Suk-jin and Haha face-off in the army crawl, digging into the sand.

Suk-jin can’t fit in the tire as Haha worms his way out. Nichkhun then climbs up and over the inflatable obstacle to secure the first win.

Since it’s best two out of three, the teams will have to do it all over again. Frustrated with Suk-jin, Kyungri offers to do the army crawl herself. Jae-suk scolds Jong-kook for placing his foot on the tire, but it takes a group effort to kick him off.

The Blue Team is suspicious when the team leaders are suddenly called forward before the second round begins. The hidden mission: “Whichever team calls out ‘Fighting!’ first, loses.” Meanwhile, the Red Team isn’t the least bit curious.

Seconds later, Kwang-soo calls out “Fighting!” much to Jong-kook’s amusement.

Nichkhun and Kwang-soo start off the second round, and the massacre begins right away when Suk-jin tears off a wing. Still, Kyungri isn’t too far behind Ji-hyo, who slips out. Jae-suk goes after Ki-woo and drags him down by the ankle, but that means Ki-woo is ready to catch Jae-suk once he’s ready to climb. But then Jae-suk manages to slip ahead and tie up the score.

However, his team is still fixated on the idea that Jae-suk has a different agenda and hangs on the word “mission.” Haha clarifies that their team is too scared to ask Jong-kook what’s going on, but right now they all need to focus on this tie-breaking round.

Kwang-soo and Ki-woo are neck-and-neck in the beginning, then Kwang-soo helps his teammates with the inflatable dolphin by pressing his body on it. Ki-woo is quick to follow suit, and then we see that Kwang-soo is trying to claw a nail into the plastic.

It gets the job done, and now Kyungri has a head start into the army crawl. She slips out first, but Jong-kook holds onto Gary until Ji-hyo gives him the baton. It’s a slippery climb to the top, and Jong-kook is one foot ahead of Gary.

But then an exhausted Gary appears afterward to reveal that no, he won the race. We see that Jong-kook had accidentally let go of the baton at the last second, enabling Gary to take the win.

Again the team leaders are called forward, and something the PD says to them makes Jae-suk grab a fistful of his shirt. Suk-jin can’t help but think that they’re mere pawns to the team leaders’ mission, and Haha jumps on that notion: “Are they the main [game] or are we?”

Jong-kook reveals that Kwang-soo is the hero of the hour (in his eyes, since he keeps unknowingly screwing up), and the current score is 20:10 in favor of the Blue Team.

Now everything anyone does is suspicious, though Jong-kook reassures his team that it has nothing to do with betrayal. Haha is the only one who voices his doubts and tells everyone else that Ki-woo is focused on his appearance fee.

The second training exercise is a 1:1 tug-of-war of sorts where each team will try to pull away to put on wet socks. The first team to three points, wins.

Kwang-soo is pitted against Ki-woo, who Haha points out always fainted in the movie The Classic. As if on cue, Ki-woo slips out of his shoes and falls on his butt.

As soon as the whistle blows, Ki-woo pulls Kwang-soo toward him. Kwang-soo struggles but manages to pick up the first sock, then tosses the bowl of water in Ki-woo’s direction. Just as Kwang-soo grabs the third bowl, Ki-woo puts on the last sock… and gets a Charley horse.

As the teams prep for the next round, a table with bottled water appears behind them. Turns out this is the hidden mission: Whichever team drinks from that table first, loses.

Jong-kook opens up a bottle and hands it to Suk-jin, who readily takes a sip. Jae-suk is busy wiping up the wet mat, and is belatedly told about how his team has lost again. He has no idea this was Jong-kook’s doing of course, and simply crumbles under the stress.

He can’t utter a word to his team, who doesn’t understand why they keep getting punished. Anything Jae-suk says draws suspicion, which Haha can’t even freely express.

The ladies are up in the second round, and Kyungri jumps on the opportunity to pull Ji-hyo her way when the latter is busy putting on her first sock. Even though she’s grabbed both socks in the process, Ji-hyo still drags her back to pick up the second point.

Both teams bet three points in this last match between Suk-jin and Nichkhun. Suk-jin is sure that there were droves of negative comments about his army crawl attempt earlier, so he’s determined to make up for it. Gary chimes in: “That part didn’t make it to broadcast!”

It looks like Suk-jin has the element of surprise in the first few seconds, only for Nichkhun to pull him back. Suk-jin tries all his might to hold on, but then falls on his face. Twice.

He manages to use a small window of time to pick up two socks, but he has a hard time getting the stocking on. It’s no surprise that Nichkhun finishes easily, and again the team leaders are called forward.

Jae-suk is so close to blowing the lid on their hidden mission, and the Blue Team encourages Jae-suk to just spill the beans. They claims that it’s a tied game right now, so Jae-suk has no need to worry. Oh if only they knew!

Now the score is 40:20 in favor of the Red Team, and Kwang-soo doesn’t believe that today’s mission is as simple as just focusing on the games. Their third and final training exercise is an upgrade to the same game they played three years ago: they’ll dance until the music cuts, which is when they’ll try to secure as many tubes on their respective poles.

Time to show off some dance moves, and Ki-woo adorably hops in place. He then does a handstand… only to fall over on his butt. Everyone else shows off their dance moves, and Ji-hyo puts an end to her dance battle by knocking Kwang-soo down.

Both teams immediately get to work when the music cuts out, and the Red Team to make sure to guard their poles against Kwang-soo.

Of course Kwang-soo plucks out a whole row of inflatable tubes, so Ki-woo returns the favor. Nichkhun notices that Kwang-soo is on the move and holds him back, while Haha wreaks havoc on one of the Blue Team’s poles.

The Red Team is currently in the lead when the music is back on again. The Blue Team moseys over to dance around the Red Team’s poles, then gathers around Haha to bounce him on the sand.

When the music cuts out again, Jae-suk heads straight for the nearly abandoned pole. Ji-hyo sits squarely on top of the tubes, then Ki-woo uses all of his limbs to hang onto the other pole.

It looks like the Red Team has the clear win when the game is over. The team leaders are called forward once again for the secret mission: Make sure you have no donut tubes around your poles.

The problem is that the Blue Team has one donut tubes whereas the Red Team has three. (Mix-up alert: the show has erroneously labeled one of the Red Team’s poles as the Blue Team’s).

Jae-suk immediately kicks the donut tube away when the music cuts out again. Jong-kook runs to the pole Ji-hyo is guarding, and Haha picks up on the fact that they mustn’t have any donut tubes.

So Kwang-soo stacks a donut tube on top of the Red Team’s pole, and Ji-hyo chomps down on his arm. Kwang-soo can’t tell whether he’s supposed to steal them or stack them, but right now the Blue Team has two donut tubes.

There’s a full-out brawl as Suk-jin grabs onto Haha’s dreadlocks, but everyone is honed in on these particular tubes until finally, relief comes in the form of the whistle.

Now it’s time for the official count, and the Red Team have 23 tubes versus the Blue Team’s 22. Jae-suk wants everything to end so he can stop keeping today’s secret to himself.

So the PD finally reveals that the team leaders have been participating in their own secret missions all day, including the donut tubes. The remaining number of donut tubes is subtracted from each team’s total, which is ultimately a tie of 20:20.

However, since the Blue Team only had two donut tubes, they win the secret mission. The PD goes as far back as to explain the reasoning behind the ice cream and losing the first hidden mission, and how that was Kwang-soo’s fault.

Thanks to all of these secret missions, the Red Team wins 40:30, which means Jong-kook gets promoted. The winning team is also awarded their gold while Haha preps the Blue Team for their punishment. SMACK.

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