Variety Review: Running Man Episode 565

Guests: Lee Yongjin (comedian)


My Entertainment Score: 7 out 10 laughs


I really enjoyed this episode overall, but it wasn’t a bucket of laughs. It had consistent humor and a nice concept that was easy to follow but not too predictable. I recommend it.


What Happened


Theme:  Unofficial Comedians Association Raising Money


Opening/Guest Arrivals (start of episode- 10:10)

The members come in and are introduced based on their seniority as comedians. The actual comedians are the senior comedians. Jaesuk is a year 1, Seokjin is a year 2, and Sechan is a year 3 (as follows their real life comedian debut dates.). All the other members are rookies. To even out the teams, the senior comedians are joined by Lee Yongjin who is also a year 3 with Sechan.


Race Explanation (10:10- 13:20)

The comedians association fees have been stolen. They were meant to be used to pay the rent on the association’s rooms. Oh no! Kwangsoo was very naughty to have done that. (lol) The association has to come up with $4000 before the end of the day or they will face a punishment.


The senior comedians and rookies are split into teams and each is required to pay half of the money. If a team fails to meet their half of the dues, 1 member of the team will face the penalty. If both fail, a member from each team will face the penalty. If they both pay, there will be no penalties.


After a game, two members of each team will get to choose a scratch off card with a dollar amount on it. The winning team from the game will have higher valued cards to choose from. After getting their cards, those two members will head into the ‘ATM’ to withdraw the money. The running man bank is super mean, though. They must answer a quiz question to get the full amount on their scratch off card. The amount is halved for each wrong answer. They have three tries before the card is rejected. 



First Money Withdrawal  (13:20- 23:16)

The senior team is automatically the winning team. I think they simply wanted to give the members an idea of how the money withdrawal would go. The winning team has 10 scratch card options from $100 to $1000 while the losing team has 8 scratch card options from $100 to $800. This is where the members discover the quiz problem.


19:15- You see their first encounter with the quiz ATMs. These encounters get progressively funnier as the show goes on.


First Mission: Flour Marionette (23:16- 39:04)

This is difficult to explain...so, I’m sorry if it's confusing. Three members of a team will sit (or lay) in a row with a bowl held over their head (on on their belly). The remaining member will scoop flour into those bowls. The combined weight of the flour in the bowls will determine the winning team. The farthest bowl (the person lying with the bowl on their belly) is tripled and the middle bowl is doubled. The catch is that the scooping member will have bungee cords around each wrist. The opposing team will have control of the other end of the bungee. 


They play two rounds (for each team, so four total rounds) that last for 100 seconds each. These begin at 26:55 and get crazy.


Second Money Withdrawal (39:04- 46:35)

I was in hysterics watching this section of answers. It’s probably my favorite section of the whole episode.


Second Mission: Colorful Slurping (46:35- 55:58)

This mission is played for immediate cash as well as for the cash withdrawal. Two members of each team will play. While blindfolded, the member will eat a bowl of jjajangmyeon. They will wear a shirt which the teams markup with circles (traced around a cup). The members of the team that’s playing put four circles (worth $100) in black and the opposing team puts two circles (worth $-100) in red. The eating member’s goal is to let the noodles dangle and hit the shirt in the correct places as they slurp the noodles in. Keep in mind that the person is blindfolded and therefore has absolutely no idea where they should be getting messy.


I didn’t hate this game, but I didn’t love it either.


Third Money Withdrawal (55:58- 58:13)


Third Mission: Let’s Fly, Tarzan (58:13- 1:19:02)

The setup for this game looks a bit like an obstacle course. There is a platform alongside a foam pit. In the foam pit, are three round platforms. The teams take turns being on the attack. The defending team will first swing on a rope out to whichever platforms they want. The attacking team will then swing out and attempt to knock the defenders off/take over the platform. The team with control of the most platforms wins the round.


There was an immediate cash element to this game as well. Each member of a team that remained on a platform at the end of each round was worth money.


For the third round, teams alternate sending members, two from one and then two from the other.


I found this super fun. I get immense enjoyment out of this type of game, though (Ninja Warrior, Wipeout, Let’s Go Dreamteam, etc.). 


Fourth Money Withdrawal (1:19:02- 1:25:57)

There was a lot of tension for this one. It was the final draw and would determine who would get punishments!


Results (1:25:57- end of show)


Preview: Next week, the Running Men will have to choose the easy path with a lower return or the hard path with a risk of total failure but higher return. With these risk takers, I have a feeling the show will go nuts before the end. 

























!!!Spoilers!!!


First Money Withdrawal

Seniors Team: Jaesuk gets a $300 card and answers on the 1st try--earns $300

:Seokjin gets a $100 card and answers on the 3rd try--earns $25

TOTAL SO FAR: $325 of $2000


Juniors Team: Somin gets a $100 card and answers on the 3rd try--earns $25

Jongkook gets an $800 card and answers on the 1st try--ears $800

TOTAL SO FAR: $825 of $2000


First Mission: Flour Marionette

Senior Team wins.


Second Money Withdrawal

Seniors Team: Yongjin gets a $900 card and fails to answer--earns $0

:Sechan gets a $400 card and fails to answer--earns $0

TOTAL SO FAR: $325 of $2000


Juniors Team: Jihyo gets an $800 card and fails to answer--earns $0

Haha gets a $100 card and answers on the 2nd try--earns $50

TOTAL SO FAR: $875 of $2000


Second Mission: Colorful Slurping

Seniors Team: Yongjin gets 3 positive circles and 2 negative circles--earns $100

:Jaesuk gets basically all the circles several times. The staff kept count. --earns $200

TOTAL SO FAR: $625 of $2000


Juniors Team: Somin gets 1 positive circles and 0 negative circles --earns $100

Jihyo gets 2 positive circle and 0 negative circles --earns 200

TOTAL SO FAR: $1175 of $2000


For the purposes of who would get the 10 scratch off cards vs 8, the teams were tied. They had a member of each team pick one noodle out of a bowl...longer noodle wins.

Seokjin (senior team) vs Jihyo (junior team)--Jihyo wins!


Third Money Withdrawal

Seniors Team: Yongjin gets a $200 card and fails to answer--earns $0

:Sechan gets a $400 card and fails to answer--earns $0

TOTAL SO FAR: $625 of $2000


Juniors Team: Jihyo gets an $700 card and fails to answer--earns $0

Somin gets a $400 card and fails to answer--earns $0

TOTAL SO FAR: $1175 of $2000


Third Mission: Let’s Fly, Tarzan

Senior Team Defends-- 0 seniors defended, 3 juniors landed-- junior team earns $150

Junior Team Defends-- 1 junior defended, 1 senior landed-- each team earns $50

Third Round-- 1 junior defended, 1 senior landed-- each team earns $50

TOTALS SO FAR: Seniors $725

Juniors $1425


NOTE**The totals given in the show are not what I have here, so I have to assume another game was played somewhere but it didn’t air. This is where we are in the show:

TOTALS SO FAR: Seniors $945--NEED $1055 to avoid penalty

Juniors $1535--NEED $465 to avoid penalty


Fourth Money Withdrawal

Seniors Team: Jaesuk gets a $700 card and answers on the 1st try--earns $700

:Seokjin gets a $400 card and answers on the 1st try--earns $400

TOTAL: $2045 of $2000 THEY MADE IT!!


Juniors Team: Jongkook gets an $400 card and answers on the 1st try--earns $400

Haha gets a $600 card and answers on the 2nd try--earns $300

TOTAL: $2235 of $2000 THEY MADE IT TOO!!


FINAL RESULTS

Both teams met the $2000 limit so no one faces the penalty this week! Good work teams!

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