Here we are in season 2, starting with one of the most iconic Run BTS moments in the history of the whole show and a character still spoken of with a mixture of fondness and horny longing to this day. This is the era where the show starts to feel like an actual TV production instead of a YouTuber channel thanks to things like opening credits showing all of the boys instead of a BTS intro splash frame. They’re still refining it, but Run BTS is clearly something they’re investing in as a brand now.
Setup:
BTS are sent to a school set to create a skit for our enjoyment. However unlike the confession episodes - which I skipped over because it’s a lot of fremdschämen (German: to be embarrassed on behalf of someone else) to take in - this time it’s not pure improv but something they can write out ahead of time. Mostly.
The Moments of Pure Love:
- 1.
For the record, in the opening credits they label the boys with the following words. There is no apparent rationale for this but I enjoyed the randomness.
Namjoon - Cute
Taehyung - Amazing
Jin - Chic
Yoongi - Spectacular
Hoseok - Fresh
Jungkook - Romance
Jimin - Variety
- 2.
The boys walk into the classroom and immediately start exclaiming at top volume about how long it’s been since they were in school, including Jungkook who is still a baby
- 3.
They sing a song and do a little dance, presumably something familiar to Koreans about school, but what’s familiar to me is the way Jungkook tries to kick Jin in the butt during most of it
- 4.
Jungkook thinks they’re going to solve problems or do quizzes, and only with the benefit of today’s knowledge can you see that he is NOT excited about that
- 5.
The staff reveals that they’re filming Run BTS again, and they’re like “oh wow we forgot that show existed!”
- 6.
In fact they forgot it existed so much that they can’t remember the intro, though Namjin make a concerted effort, so they decide to make a new one
- 7.
Yoongi suggests singing and doing the Run choreography, to crickets, until Hoseok sweetly echoes him
- 8.
Jin starts a barbershop quartet intro where everyone layers a syllable in a chord on top of each other and it sounds like total trash but Namjoon is proud of them
- 9.
BTS fucking hate skits and immediately start reliving their past trauma, the Confession episode, which they claim was only saved by their editing staff
- 10.
Jungkook grabs the prepared roles, on seven scrolls of paper, and hands them out under the threat of being punched if someone doesn’t like theirs:
Namjoon - A kind but slow-witted student, which Jimin says is just like him
Yoongi - A new female transfer student, an announcement that is like setting off a small bomb in the room
Hoseok and Jungkook laugh their asses off
Namjoon laughs softly, then fake laughs so loudly for entertainment purposes that he sounds like he’s being tortured
The rest of them, especially Jin, are filled with a mix of delight and relief
Jungkook says “Congratulations!” in English very sarcastically
Jungkook - A tsundere (the staff kindly translate this concept into English because they don’t know that anyone online enough to be watching this show in the first place is well-aware of what a tsundere is)
Taehyung - The top student in the class, glasses included
Jin - The school idol, the role he was born to play
Jimin - The class president with an angelic smile, which he says is actually just who he is, and he’s right
Hoseok - A literary, emotional student, which he claims makes him the protagonist, even though it’s not him at all
Namjoon is quick to point out that he cries a lot, which Hoseok rolls right past without acknowledging
- 11.
Yoongi says that he carries many characters inside of him at once, as all great actors do, and he does it with his tongue firmly in his cheek like it’s bullshit but he doesn’t know what we know about his future Agust D cinematic universe and dramatic-ass D-Day concert VCRs
- 12.
They try to do the layered singing thing again and it’s even worse than before; Yoongi predicts that they will never do it again after this episode
- 13.
After they change into school uniforms they act even more manic than they already have been, which is really saying something
- 14.
Jungkook starts drawing everyone on the chalkboard in startlingly good caricatures and gives Jin the widest shoulders on the planet
- 15.
Taehyung method acts in the corner, reading a book with his fake glasses on
- 16.
Hoseok says smugly, “The six handsome ones are here”, and we get our first horny editor moment of Run BTS when they opine that they wish they’d gone to a school with this many hotties
- 17.
Jimin, back in a school uniform, is already feeling the psychic pressure to be a rule-following teacher pleaser
- 18.
Hoseok wants to look pure and innocent, and Jin sarcastically says that he does
- 19.
Jimin tries to nail down what an angelic smile is and they’re like, “just smile you weirdo?” but when he tries they roast him
- 20.
Jin tries a confident pickup line on Jimin but can’t sustain the resulting tension and has to flap his arms around like a bird
- 21.
Taehyung lowers his voice an octave as he explains the detailed backstory of his character
- 22.
Jungkook does his best smooth “you look cold here’s my jacket“ move and they all get super weirded out and make him stop
- 23.
Namjoon tries to look happily stupid, and everyone says we’re seeing Namjoon as he is when he’s at home and doesn’t have to be the leader
- 24.
Yoongi is getting a makeover and the flashes we can see are already titillating…
- 25.
Taehyung wants to method act their planning meeting by leading it, but Jimin tells him to get a grip: Jimin is the president
- 26.
They all start worrying that Yoongi will not play along with their skit, but Namjoon points out that if he wants to go home (which he does) he’s gonna have to do something
- 27.
Namjoon finally gives out instructions about what all the rest of them should do and in what order, much to their relief
- 28.
The skit starts, and they give a full soft filter and flowers intro shot to the perfect, incomparable, beautiful Min Yoonji who has caused many lesbian awakenings in the fandom
- 29.
Namjoon screams about how pretty Yoongi is (mood)
- 30.
Namjoon moves in and tries flirting with Yoongi like a total dork; Yoongi just blinks at him
- 31.
Taehyung shoos Namjoon away and starts his own “I could tutor you in English” approach, gives Yoongi his glasses as a courting gift, and does an immediate confession; Yoongi negs him
- 32.
Jungkook enters the scene and gives Yoongi his jacket; Yoongi throws it on the floor and demands he take off his shirt instead
- 33.
Jungkook checks the abs and finds them not-camera-ready, so he takes off his shoes and deposits them on Yoongi’s desk, then gives him food and a heatpack and feels like the sexiest guy on the planet
- 34.
Yoongi says jacketless Jungkook is the one that’s going to need the heatpack
- 35.
Hoseok slides in and gets the first semi-positive reaction from Yoongi when he asks him to sit down
- 36.
Hoseok is going to read a poem, and Yoongi tucks his hair behind his ear and coyly tells him to go on; the Sope enthusiasts are dying
- 37.
Taehyung sneezes during the reading and Hoseok loses his shit, poetically
- 38.
Hoseok gives himself fake tears with eyedrops, then with an entire water bottle; Yoongi sprays another water bottle in his face
- 39.
Yoongi becomes genuinely annoyed when Hoseok spills water on him and exclaims everyone here is weird as fuck
- 40.
Jin forgets the order and tries to go ahead of Jimin, who is smiling with such manic intensity that he looks like The Joker
- 41.
Jimin tries his presidential approach; Yoongi immediately sends him out the fucking door
- 42.
Jin now approaches, ears red and face handsome as he tries a “don’t you know who I am”; Yoongi is like “um, no?”
- 43.
Jin was going to dance but instead tosses valuable rings at Yoongi to display his wealth; Yoongi catches every single one like a hero
- 44.
Jin starts screaming at the highest pitches he can over and over again with a crazed expression; Yoongi wants to die and tries to shoo them all away
- 45.
Namjoon announces there’s another new student and tries to climb out the window as they all rush to her instead
- 46.
Yoongi does some sort of aggrieved chicken dance, then sits down in relief and crosses his legs to end this farce
- 47.
In the debrief, Namgi agree they’d rather do a 10K run than do another skit ever
- 48.
Minimoni think Yoongi looks great and fuckable
- 49.
Yoongi’s assessment is that he looks exactly like his youngest aunt
- 50.
Yoongi says Jimin is the coolest on stage, and Hoseok is “really something”
- 51.
Namjoon feels like he failed to be dumb enough
- 52.
Jungkook stutters that he was super hot, okay, and probably everyone fell for him??
- 53.
Taehyung says he stepped out of the box as the top student role, even though he says he was a perfect angel during school
- 54.
Jin gets the MVP vote from Jimin, and Jin is just pleased that people laughed at his ridiculous antics because he has zero pride left
- 55.
Jungkook asks if they’re going to have to do another skit again, very worried
- 56.
They try to close with the singing thing and it’s actually a little improved!
- 57.
An extended behind the scenes shows Yoongi getting made up, shell-shocked, then cementing the Dom Top legacy of Yoonji as he absolutely handles Jimin
- 58.
Jin recites Teletubbies poetry to Hoseok, cracking himself up the entire time
- 59.
Jungkook tells them all to get out, and they do, and thus ends the episode
The Finish Line:
Look, there’s a lot of funny shit in this episode, as evidenced by the number of bullets in this recap, but it will forever be the Min Yoonji episode. Min Yoonji took hold of the fandom in her vice-like grip and shook us until we could think of nothing else. She launched a hundred memes, spawned even more fics, and left her stamp on our hearts. Yoongi still gets asked about Yoonji's status in lives, and that’s because she is our icon and queen.
But moving past her, if we can, I had forgotten how much they totally loathed doing skits, though it makes sense. They’re naturally hilarious just existing in each other’s space, they don’t need a structure, and when you specifically ask them to perform roles it makes them all really tense and weird (except for Taehyung). While the next episode will also be a skit, it’s wise they move away from them in future Run episodes, because BTS has a lot of skills but mild improv is not one of them.