Running Man Episode 662 Review

Guests: Hwang Kwanghee (singer of Z:EA) and Lee Daeho (professional baseball player)

My Entertainment Score: 7 out of 10 laughs

I enjoyed the game in this one, but they skimmed over a second game in favor of a market shopping trip which I found disappointing. Also, I have to admit I found myself getting annoyed by the narration. For me personally, it didn’t add either suspense or humor, so I kept wondering what the point was. I’ll reiterate that I think a return to the silly cartoon editing worked fantastically for this show and I would love to see it come back.

What Happened: 

Theme: Running Scouts

Opening/Guest Introductions (start of episode- 8:42)

The members are given an invitation to a scout meeting and uniforms to wear before gathering up. The World Scout Jamboree is being held in Korea this year, so Running Man decided to join in the fun. 

Race Explanation (8:42- 9:57)

Note: This episode they tried out a kind of dramatic 1940’s film Noir narration. I think it was meant to build suspense or else it was meant to either foreshadow or hide the fact that the game wasn’t as straightforward as the members (mostly) thought. For simplicity sake, I’m going to explain both what the members thought and the actual game here as there wasn’t a huge shocking twist and the preview showed money going up in flames anyway.

So, the members are told that the goal of the day is to earn scout badges in each game and then exchange those badges for cash at the final location. The winning team in each game would choose 5 badges and the losing team would choose 3. The badges would be “appraised” and the members would be told how much the collectively chosen badges that round were worth. That way they could attempt to work out the value of the badges for trading or just for the next round's picks. 

However, there is a false scout among the group. They would ALL know this if they had followed the second QR code that was on the page that was opened by the first QR code. You can imagine that didn’t always happen. At the final location, a name tag ripping game ensues to find the false scout and the scout captain (who needed to be protected). 

Teams:

Daeho Team: Seokjin, Daeho, Haha, Somin

Kwanghee Team: Jaesuk, Jongkook, Jihyo, Kwanghee, Sechan

First Mission: Curved Kickball (9:57- 31:12)

Essentially, this was kickball on a slippery surface. The bases were made up of various blow-up apparatuses (a climbing wall, a slide, a hill). There were no infielders. After kicking, because the surface was slippery, the defending team could ‘tag’ the hitter out by simply hitting them with the ball. A huge slingshot was provided for the ladies (and Kwanghee because he weighed less than 60kg). 

Badge Choices - 27:25

Second Mission: Buan Daily Market (31:12- 49:30)

Teams get changed on the bus.

Daeho Team: Seokjin, Jongkook, Haha, Sechan

Kwanghee Team: Jaesuk, Jihyo, Somin

Each team is given 70 dollars to spend on whatever they want to eat for lunch.

Lunch Game/Lunch - 43:15. The game was essentially breezed over. For each success the team could earn one of the dishes that they bought. Most of the time in this segment was spent during lunch.

Badge Choices - 45:27. 

Third Mission: Name Tag Ripping Game (49:30- end of episode)

The members begin by looking for stations to exchange badges for cash, believing that they can leave for home as soon as the exchange is made. But when the cash goes up in flames (not a figure of speech), the situation quickly devolves into chaos. The members discover that there is a captain that must be protected in order for them to win. There is a villain that is only faking his scout status whose aim is to oust the captain. 

Each time a member is ousted, a hint can be obtained by only one person at the badge exchange store about who the villain is. 

Preview: Joseon Era gamblers assemble to find the ultimate winner! 

!!!Spoilers!!!

Curved Kickball

Kwanghee Team - WINS - Chooses 5 badges

Daeho Team - Loses - Chooses 3 badges

*Note: because the value of the badges is ultimately meaningless, I’m not going to track the value for each person in each round.*

Lunch Game

I believe Kwanghee’s team won as those members chose 5 badges.

Name Tag Ripping

I loved the dramatic finish on this episode. 

Sechan was the captain.

Jaesuk was the villain. Sadly, he won on his own.