The golden age continues with another classic episode, and one where the results of the competition are actually somewhat the highlight which is super rare. While we all love the energy of Run, what they’re doing and the ultimate outcome are less important than how they do it and what it means to them, but in this one we can get invested… in bowling.
This episode is relatively close to the last one in filming, because Jimin is pink-haired, but now Namjoon is his iconic purple so it’s at least not the same day.
Setup:
Dressed in black Puma hoodies and track pants like they dress the people who play ARMY in their MVs except more sponsored, they’ve been whisked into a bowling alley to battle it out in an actual sport. A sport where you can drink beer while you do it, but still a sport. Let’s see how that goes.
The Moments of Pure Joy:
- 1.
They’re still trying to do the barbershop quartet opening and I’m still shocked that it lasted this long; I’m even more shocked that it sounds really good, mostly because they let Namjoon start it off to build from his note and Yoongi doesn’t make a single sound the entire time
- 2.
The wall behind them in the alley says BOWLING in letters taller than all of them just in case you were confused by all of the pins, lanes, and gutters - honestly it might help
- 3.
Namjoon’s energy levels are so fucking high this entire episode that it’s amazing he didn’t launch a bowling ball through the ceiling and into space
- 4.
They remind us that they did a bowling episode on Rookie King, and Jungkook has to remind them that he sucked because they assume he was very good at it
- 5.
Whether or not he sucked doesn’t matter, because the theme of the first game is Beat Jeon Jungkook!
- 6.
The stakes are high, because if Jungkook wins then they all have to give him a full bow, and if they win then Jungkook has to buy them dinner
- 7.
The hyungs all complain that this will hurt their pride to bow to this youngster, and it’s very tongue in cheek but it’s also a little serious, especially from Jin
- 8.
Jungkook negotiates that it should be a restaurant he wants to go to, which they reject because he’ll take them to the cheapest place around, but when he announces that his pride would never allow him to behave in this way they are very impressed
- 9.
Taehyung requests that Jungkook roll down his sleeves to not show his forearms because he, Taehyung, is scared of them
- 10.
The game will be all six of them playing 10 frames against Jungkook, and they’re very pessimistic
- 11.
Yoongi decides to Zen his way through this by telling himself they’re not Bowling but instead they are doing a Heavy Ball Rolling Contest
- 12.
Jungkook reveals that he has been learning how to bowl in his spare time, then picks up a ball to demonstrate the form
- 13.
Hoseok is already partially cranked just watching Jungkook walking around with a bowling ball
- 14.
Jungkook gets six on his first attempt then picks up the spare and Bangtan’s shared competency kink goes into overdrive in the form of extended appreciative noises
- 15.
Jungkook’s cool-guy swagger at his success is especially tantalizing to Taegi
- 16.
Jin remembers this is a competition and assigns himself to psych Jungkook out via shouting out devastating taunts like “hey, you are bad!”
- 17.
The rest of them agree that this is the role Jin was born to play
- 18.
Even though Taehyung insists, again, Jungkook refuses to roll his sleeves down over his forearms because he likes it better
- 19.
The rest of them instantly decide this must be the key to success and roll their sleeves up too
- 20.
Yoongi’s arms are so pale as to be nearly translucent, but he’s confident enough to name himself Overdose Suga and go first and succeed
- 21.
At this point I feel like I just need to describe them all as bowlers so you can really get the right visual
Yoongi - exclusively granny bowls it between his legs, and he feels great about himself 100% of the time
Jungkook - moves like a real bowler, with exaggeratedly proper form and his leg swung out behind him when he finishes
Taehyung - throws the ball down the lane like it offended his loved ones, absolutely zero spin but maximum speed
Jimin - approaches so confidently each time, swaggering like a pro, but is rarely on target
Namjoon - unwieldy and afraid of his own strength, can’t aim for shit until he switches to Yoongi’s granny technique
Jin - holds the ball with the wrong fingers, throws with his shoulders instead of using his body, somehow makes it work
Hoseok - good form, approach and speed, but he’s scared of the buzzer that goes off if you step over the line and you can see it every time he stutters on the release
- 22.
Jungkook wipes down the ball between his two throws with a cloth, and once again they all find it crazily hot
- 23.
Yoongi tries his hand at verbal taunting but Jungkook picks up another spare with ease
- 24.
The group is very impressed with Taehyung’s overall sports anime vibe, as he’s wearing glasses and he looks great in Puma athletic gear
- 25.
Jungkook gets less than half the pins on a first throw and Yoonjin do a dance to celebrate this victory
- 26.
Jin follows up with more psychological warfare
- 27.
The caption says that they are “only 5 points apart” while they are showing a score of 23 to 17, and sorry for publicly shaming the intern that did that math but I am who I am
- 28.
They claim Jimin is an ace, which is just the sort of positive statement that makes Park Jimin get a gutter ball and a soulmate pep talk from Taehyung
- 29.
Namjoon gets a ball holding lesson from Jungkook and screams “Peace!”, which makes Jungkook laugh
- 30.
Namjoon holds the ball like he’s about to throw a pitch and Jungkook laughs even harder because he is fucking whipped
- 31.
Jin entertains the whole crowd with his unorthodox approach, and he’s happier than he would be if he got a strike
- 32.
Jungkook throws the ball without putting his fingers in the holes, using his palm to get spin, and he gets a strike; he claps for himself while the rest of them try to contain themselves
- 33.
Hoseok steps up and Jungkook very seriously announces that “he has some potential” and “he’s not bad”
- 34.
This may be true but Hoseok is susceptible to comedy routines as Yoongi points out that his bright green ball looks like a watermelon and the rest of them start in with their own patter
- 35.
It’s important to note that every single time that Hoseok goes Yoongi walks all the way up to the platform to high five him afterwards
- 36.
They all celebrate Hoseok’s accomplishment of a spare, until Taehyung points out that the score is 74 to Jungkook and 28 to them (Jungkook has gotten another strike off camera)
- 37.
Yoongi overcomes his deflation and decides to simply be the best granny bowler in the world, and as far as I can tell he succeeds
- 38.
Taehyung also decides to become confident as he does his best bowler form; his thumb gets stuck in the ball and he launches it into the air, making it thud a third of the way down the lane and then go into the gutter
- 39.
Jin, who went to the bathroom or something, comes back in disbelief to Taehyung’s poor score
- 40.
Taehyung and Jin initiate an extended bit that I’m not sure I understand, but here’s what happens
Taehyung asks Jungkook if his feet point inwards at the end pose (Jungkook, for the record, says that Taehyung isn’t good enough to worry about this in a casual bowling setting)
Jin challenges Taehyung to a spelling test with “poin”, which is the Korean romanization, I think, of the English word point, but the captions say it comes from a Japanese word which is where they lose me
Either way Taehyung spells it as p-o-i-n, very confidently, and everyone laughs at him
Yoongi, from the corner, is like, isn’t that how you actually spell it?
Jin admits that he has no fucking idea
Namjoon says he doesn’t either, and it might not be an English word at all
Taehyung speculates that it may be Chinese, and everyone laughs including Jungkook, who is trying to bowl
Namjoon is excited by their psychological trickery of Jungkook
Yoongi confidently says Poin is Japanese, and who am I to doubt him
Namjoon and Jin start making Korean puns that I can’t really follow, and everyone’s having a good time including me, even in my confusion
- 41.
They’re delighted that Jimin’s pink ball is the same as his pink hair, even though this is well before Barbie
- 42.
Namjoon is now talking about what Chinese characters would make up “bowling” (which in Korean is just a borrowed English word); he proposes “bowl” and “linga” which again makes Jungkook laugh just as he’s trying to throw the ball
- 43.
Jin adopts granny bowling technique to great success, but it’s still Jungkook winning by a lot
- 44.
Because Hoseok throws the ball really hard with zero spin, Yoongi compares him to Ronaldo, which I’m sure is funny if you know about soccer / football
- 45.
Jungkook is ready for them all to bow to him, and Yoongi is first out the gate and very enthusiastic about it
- 46.
Jungkook sits as arrogantly as he can while they all grovel, and he is loving it
- 47.
Game 2 is Jungkook, Jin, and Taehyung against Hoseok, Jimin, Namjoon, and Yoongi, presumably trying to find a good balance of performance between them, and it seems fair enough
- 48.
Hoseok invents a “spirit lifting” exercise for his team where they link hands and do an arm worm; he’s very satisfied
- 49.
Not to be outdone, Jin insists they do something similar so the three of them hands in and shout “Yeah!”
- 50.
Hoseok notes that real bowlers go up and support each other after their turns, but Jimin is mostly kind of disgusted that they’re going to do the hands in and shout after each frame
- 51.
Jin starts taunting Jimin, who fires the ball down and gets one; the opposing team does their hand link and shout with him in appreciation, then call him the spy
- 52.
This is exactly the sort of negative statement that gets Park Jimin to get a spare, and his team showers him with praise, as is his due
- 53.
Jin, Jungkook, and Taehyung have graduated to a huddle and shout; Namjoon is skeptical they’ll keep doing it
- 54.
At this point I will note that Jin has put his Puma sweatband around his waist, creating a very sexy effect, and Taehyung has put his sweatband around his forehead but over the hood of his hoodie, creating a very statue-like effect
- 55.
Jin changes his throw style every ball and gets a random result each time, but he’s very vocal about the successful ones
- 56.
Jinkook try really hard to rattle Hoseok with more watermelon chatter, with limited success
- 57.
Taehyung gets 9 on his first throw and Hoseok accuses him of pretending to be bad on purpose in the first round
- 58.
Jungkook isn’t up to his usual amazingness and gets pouty while they all heckle him from the back
- 59.
Namjoon succeeds with granny bowling under Yoongi’s tutelage, and Yoongi happily shouts that even though Jungkook has practiced for months, if they win it means practice is for suckers!
- 60.
Hoseok points out that the other team didn’t do the hands in and shout before Jin’s turn, and they do it at a subdued level suitable for a funeral
- 61.
Jimin throws his next ball directly into the gutter, which makes the opposing team do the hands in and shout much more enthusiastically
- 62.
Taehyung gets another first throw 9 and Yoongi says he’s better than Jungkook
- 63.
They begin the watermelon bit again on Hoseok’s next go, which he asks them to stop doing, so Namjoon suggests zucchini; Hoseok reacts as if both of these foods are just as sexual-innuendo inducing in Korean as they are in English
- 64.
Namgi are going all in on the psychological needling about Jungkook’s lack of strikes, really hitting it after every single turn
- 65.
Hoseok doesn’t join in but does appreciate Yoongi’s ruthlessness in going after him, as he’s getting more and more smug as the match goes on
- 66.
Namjoon gets a strike and Hoseok practically climbs him like a tree
- 67.
Namjoon says “as long as Jimin doesn’t put two balls in the gutter it’s fine”, and Jimin immediately tries to gently murder him
- 68.
Jungkook continues to struggle a little and Namgi don’t heckle him, and then compliment him on his form and spare pickups
- 69.
After Jungkook’s bonus 10th frame ball they’re ahead by 9, which means if Namjoon, Yoongi, Jimin and Hoseok can get a strike or a spare, they win
- 70.
As they decide who should go, they immediately rule out Jimin, then decide to go with Namjoon since he got the only strike of the game
- 71.
Namjoon thinks they’re making a huge mistake but he’s the leader so he does it
- 72.
Yoongi considerately turns around so as not to watch what happens; what happens is Namjoon gets exactly 9 pins, making it a tie
- 73.
No one wants to do the next ball, so they play their favorite rock-paper-scissors to figure it out and Hoseok “wins”
- 74.
Yoongi wipes the neon green ball for him, gently
- 75.
The other team gets up and stands directly behind Hoseok to pressure him, alongside Hoseok’s actual team, who’s already there; Hoseok considers throwing up
- 76.
He picks up the spare and many things happen simultaneously
- 1.
Hoseok screams like a banshee
- 2.
Jimin flings his arms around him
- 3.
Namjoon tries to hug them both but sort of bounces off
- 4.
Yoongi sinks into a Sports Celebration Lunge
- 5.
Jungkook claps, grinning in happy resignation
- 6.
Jin and Taehyung wander to the back, stoicly
- 77.
The winning team belatedly realizes they get an extra ball because of the spare, which Yoongi volunteers to take
- 78.
Yoongi grabs his ball and waddles up to the lane, hooting like a goblin who’s seen a particularly large pile of gold, lets the granny ball fly, and gets a fucking strike
- 79.
Yoongi is gobsmacked, the rest of his teammates show up to do a soccer-style jumping celebration with him, and Jungkook is like “Forget it, Jin. It’s Run BTS”
- 80.
In the wrap-up, Hoseok is very impressed with his team’s strategy, which they didn’t have, but I’m gonna give it to them because they deserve it
- 81.
The winners get to slap the losers on the ass; everyone wants Jungkook but Yoongi gets the honor
- 82.
Jimin wants Jin (very interestingly), so Hoseok takes Taehyung
- 83.
The losers also bow to the winners, though it’s really just Jin who’s older than the rest of them and Jimin revels in that feeling of power
- 84.
Hoseok does a powerful bowling-form slap of the ass to Taehyung, while exhorting him to stay healthy for the Wings Tour (god this was so long ago!)
- 85.
Jimin stretches out his wrist and thanks Jin for being so entertaining these days before smacking him as hard as he possibly can
- 86.
Jungkook decides to stoically accept his ass-slap, and Yoongi offers his wishes for Jungkook to get better this year, especially at bowling
- 87.
To cap it off, they ask Jungkook which person was the best out of them, and Jungkook diplomatically says they’re all very cute when they bowl before pointing directly to Yoongi
- 88.
The end!
The Finish Line:
I wrote a lot of bullet points for this one and that’s because I love it with all my heart. It’s only 20 minutes long but they are a perfect 20 minutes to me. A large portion of that credit goes to Yoongi, who was having the time of his life at the bowling alley, able to be a casual little troll from his comfy seat nearly the entire time. When Yoongi’s energy is up everyone’s energy is up, and him rolling that final strike to his own amazement is really the cherry on top of the sundae that is this episode.
It was also fun to see a Run BTS centered around one of their hobbies, explicitly acknowledged, and to have them all in matching athleisure-wear. But the passage of time on this one really feels weird - the Puma sponsorship, and Wings, was so long ago at this point, and yet I still feel like they could have filmed this exact same episode this week. The timeless quality of BTS despite everything they go through and receive is lovely, and I had a great time with these guys for another episode.
Next up is another iconic moment, this time with cooking, so the golden era is still cranking as hard as it can. See you then!