**EXCITING NEWS! Kocowa is re-releasing the episodes of Running Man starting at Episode 1 under the title “Running Man Classics” every Thursday!! I’m a little behind on this news. There are already 9 out. Oops. That said, I’m soooooo excited. These episodes were impossible to find for a while and I’ve missed them. Plans are in the works to at least write up my rating of the episodes, the guests, and the theme/location. Get ready to go back to the beginning and get ALL the inside jokes!**
Guests: None
My Entertainment Score: 8 out 10 laughs
This episode got me-legitimate surprise, not once, but twice. It managed to do the same to the members and that was hilarious. I don’t even know how to write this up spoiler-free.
What Happened:
Theme: Going Home Race, Read the Room
Opening (start of episode- 10:10)
The members are addressed in separate locations and given their theme of the day and first mission. The members are going to be competing to prove they are quick-witted. For each successful mission, they will get coins. As soon as they reach 50 coins, they will be able to go home. To start, they are given 10 coins. Their first mission is to go out to breakfast at one of two restaurants: A Chinese food restaurant or a Korean food restaurant. The Korean food restaurant has 80 coins that will be split evenly among any members that come, while the Chinese food restaurant has only 30 coins to be split evenly among the members that arrive. The members, of course, proceed to call each other and try to set up fake meetings.
This is the first episode where Kwangsoo’s impending departure from the show is mentioned in the show. I gather that he will be in two more episodes after this week. There was a lot of banter about this while they called each other in the car and as they arrived at the restaurants.
Breakfast (10:10- 29:20)
The members are, without knowing how or why, given coins based on decisions they make, such as what they order or whether they use a fork or chopsticks, or whether or not they politely exit and tell the staff something nice on the way out. They are also made to turn in coins when they make certain decisions. Remember...in order to get home, they have to earn 50 coins and the staff tells them that they have enough plans and locations booked to keep them there until midnight.
I’m going to leave a lot more information in the Spoiler’s section….there’s just no other way to do this without ruining the episode for a first time viewer.
Travelling to 2nd Location (29:20- 35:24)
Even while travelling, there are hidden missions that can earn the Running Men coins. Details in the spoiler section. The amount of time spent on this should indicate that things were happening!
2nd Location (35:24- 45:49)
As they are setting up for the next game…..TWIST!!!....I was completely and utterly thrown off by this one. As was everyone else. Even the cameramen were surprised.
Last Location (45:49- end of show)
The members play various games. Each has its own set of hidden missions, as before that cause coins to be given out, seemingly at random. Everything from which team you’re on, to saying “this is fun” to helping out another member earns coins.
The first game is called Foot-volleyball of Wits. The teams are split by asking an either or question such as “Do you prefer the mountains or the sea?” Members that choose the same option are on the same team, no matter how uneven the teams are. They play with those teams up to 5 points and then come split the teams again with a new question. Each winning team gets 3 coins for the win. The entire match ends when one person accumulates 15 points through their teams. The top 3 members with the most points get additional coins. This starts around 47:00.
1:04:15 “Bend Over and Touch with your Mouth” is the second game and it is not nearly as bad as that title would have you believe. A tray with snacks, held upright by whipped cream, is placed between two members. Those members have to keep their hands behind their back, and kneel. Whomever is able to pick up the most snacks wins the round. I believe they have 30 seconds. Coins were given according to hidden rules here as well.
1:11:32 TWIST #2!! Again, the bafflement on the member’s faces was amazing. I actually should have seen this twist coming in some form or another. I blame the weather...easy target.
Preview: Jaesuk, playing around during the breakfast game, gave the staff an idea: Next week we will see if Jaesuk’s idea for a show ‘Three Meals for Jaesuk’ is going to be a hit. I have a feeling the members are going to revolt...
