Run BTS Rewatch Episode 22: Hanging in Hanbok

Traditional clothes and traditional games! The boys are dressed up again, but this time they don’t have to do any sketch comedy so it all goes much less awkwardly. Chuseok is something we all know if we spend any amount of time being fans of BTS or Korean entertainment, and I really like that they use it as a launching point for this episode. Chuseok, a serious and important holiday, cannot be blamed for how ridiculous everything gets.

Setup:

BTS will do several traditional activities, with some twists, to compete in today’s games. They’ll divide into three teams to play four games , but the method of division is very creative. They’ll all make a traditional Korean food, songpyeon, which is filled with various ingredients, and be judged on the visual artistic merit of their creations. The best three will go together, the next two, and then the bottom two. They’ll also be making one songpyeon filled with disgusting food combinations, which will be eaten as a penalty by the losing team.

The Moments of Pure Love:

1. 1.

   Barbershop intro doesn’t take a holiday, and they go for it again, with Hoseok lamenting that they’ve never gotten it right even a single time; trust me, Hobi, we know

2. 2.

   As mentioned they’re all wearing hanbok and look fucking fantastic, with Taejin elevating the proceedings literally by wearing the mesh-rimmed high-coned hats that Google tells me are called a gat

3. 3.

   As they discuss the fact that they’re celebrating Chuseok, Hoseok begins singing a traditional song about the moon while waving his arms in the air like gentle seaweed

4. 4.

   Jimin joins in with more perfect, doll-like movements; the rest of them try to ignore that any of this is happening

5. 5.

   A producer tries to ask what food comes to mind when they think of this holiday but Jungkook, who has been thinking furiously, interrupts him to say that they have to play yut, a traditional folk game

6. 6.

   The rest of them, who have not checked out of the experience for a inner mental journey, start yelling about an actual food, songpyeon, with true enthusiasm

7. 7.

   Hoseok recalls that Jin’s mother gave them songpyeon last year

8. 8.

   Jin has zero memory of this

9. 9.

   Yoongi reminds him that he’s currently being recorded for broadcast, and all of them, including Jin, suddenly remember how much they enjoyed it with perfect clarity

10. 10.

    They begin making their sangpyeon at a low table with some pre-made dough

11. 11.

    Jimin says that he’s made a ton of them up to now; when Hoseok presses him on when he last did it, he says when he was six with no drop in confidence

12. 12.

    Jimin gives them a tip about oiling their hands with sesame seed oil, but the production staff must look skeptical because he starts questioning himself

13. 13.

    Taehyung asks what the heck it’s even supposed to look like

14. 14.

    Yoongi, self-proclaimed expert in everything, says it varies based on the region; in Daegu they are very round

15. 15.

    Jungkook dislikes this thought, as he doesn’t know how to fold something into round

16. 16.

    The producer quizzes them on a famous proverb, which is “If you make a pretty songpyeon,” and they fill it in as follows

    • Hoseok: You marry well

    • Jin: Your face is pretty

    • Yoongi: Your children’s faces will be pretty

17. 17.

    Yoongi is correct, and they all suddenly feel the pressure of their yet-unborn children weighing on their shoulders

18. 18.

    Jungkook has figured out how to make songpyeon through sheer intuition, of course, and he immediately shares the technique with Namjoon, double of course

19. 19.

    He also shares the technique with Taehyung, but Taehyung is busy sampling his own wares

20. 20.

    Hoseok suddenly directs everyone’s attention to Yoongi’s beautiful songpyeon, even though Yoongi is sitting in the middle of the table and Hoseok is at one of the wings

21. 21.

    Yoongi says proudly that he’s made the Han River Monster, which is either actual folklore or a play on the Loch Ness Monster

22. 22.

    Jimin holds a piece of his dough up for a final shape confirmation

23. 23.

    Hoseok instantly calls it ugly, mercilessly, and Jimin stammers that he hasn’t even put anything inside it yet

24. 24.

    Hoseok, conscious of the fact that their silent food-making is not good television, asks what they do during Chuseok

    • Taehyung: Jijim

    • Jungkook: Play games

    • Namjoon: Also play games

25. 25.

    2seok ask what jijim means and Yoongi explains that it’s a Daegu dialect term for vegetable pancakes

26. 26.

    Jimin, still holding onto the crack about his ugly sangpyeon, mocks them for not knowing what it is because he, a Busan boy, knew right away

27. 27.

    Jin, unwittingly ambushed in the crossfire of this feud, informs them all that they’re ignorantly making dumplings instead of sangpyeon

28. 28.

    Jimin, firehose turned on anything that moves, says that Jin has made a fish, which is just a fish

29. 29.

    Yoongi tries to diffuse whatever’s going on at the left side of the table by making some kind of joke about the Bronze Age, and it works

30. 30.

    The right side of the table, meanwhile, is purely focused on the art

31. 31.

    Hoseok, from the complete opposite end of the table, calls out Jungkook for making the most beautiful sangpyeon he’s ever seen in his whole life

32. 32.

    Everyone starts praising him lavishly for his artistry, with Yoongi saying after he retires he can become a sangpyeon master

33. 33.

    This is just one of the many things Jungkook can apparently do perfectly after he retires, and Jimin recalls that he’s supposed to open up a barbecue shop with Yoongi

34. 34.

    Yoongi, in a much-referenced detail in fic, clarifies that Yoonkook are going to open a lamb skewer shop because they love them so much

35. 35.

    We are 3:23 into this video and I already have 34 bullet points, which is what happens when you have Bangtan sit down and banter over a food craft

36. 36.

    Jungkook eats one of his beautiful creations with every appearance of delight

37. 37.

    They start in on their penalty food with excitement

    1. 1.

       Yoongi stuffs his with mayonnaise, wasabi, hot chili powder and possibly honey; everyone hates him

    2. 2.

       Hoseok goes with chocolate and tuna

    3. 3.

       Jin decides on banana and wasabi

    4. 4.

       Jimin picks hot chili powder and mayonnaise

    5. 5.

       Jungkook tries chocolate and mayonnaise; I’m starting to think that either Korean mayonnaise is different than what I’m used to or they don’t eat it much because while not the most pleasant thing to put inside dough it doesn’t seem THAT bad

    6. 6.

       Taehyung includes just banana, which everyone agrees actually sounds kind of nice

    7. 7.

       Namjoon either doesn’t say or I missed it but I imagine it’s also gross as he’s squeezing in something from a small tube that might be wasabi

38. 38.

    Taehyung tries to hurry them along but Jimin begs for more time as he spoons in loads of hot chili powder

39. 39.

    Taehyung anxiously reminds everyone he can’t eat spicy food

40. 40.

    They all record a little intro to their final products and this is so long I was going to skip over what they look like but let’s be real, I can’t, so:

    • Hoseok: One bun-dumping shaped and three fried-dumpling shaped using three colors of dough (He escapes commentary by going first)

    • Jimin: Three cute, small balls with hearts on them (Yoongi says Jimin is most likely to be last)

    • Jin: A tableau of fish designed to evoke the story of Finding Nemo, because having a story, he explains in his quickest, most bullshitting voice, is the key to marketing success (Hoseok says he thought Jin would be better since he’s a good cook, but Jin says cooking and making the plating look good are not the same skill)

    • Yoongi: A big one that looks like a dinosaur (Han River Monster), a small one that looks like a boxing glove (in honor of the Mayweather / McGregor fight he recently watched), and a medium one that looks like a sweet potato (an autumnal crop)

    • Namjoon: Minimalism in action, with three tiny ones of different, solid colors that he compares to Picasso in a long-winded explanation (Jin says he’s most likely to come in last, and Namjoon bickers with him like a child)

    • Jungkook: Three wonderfully shaped creations with ombre colors and flowers across them because he likes flowers (Everyone thinks his, and he, are perfect)

    • Taehyung: One shaped like a human head that represents him, one shaped like a wonton that’s meant to be a multiplicative sign when viewed above, and one with a heart on it, all representing that Taehyung x ARMY = Love (Everyone thinks he’s shamelessly pandering, because he is)

41. 41.

    The staff vote on whose is the best by putting dots on a posterboard

42. 42.

    While this is going on Jimin sways up to Jungkook with maximum seductive pout and asks Jungkook to vote for him because he really doesn’t want the penalty

43. 43.

    The final results are, from first to last: Hoseok, Jungkook, Namjoon (Team 1), Jin / Jimin (Team 2), Yoongi / Taehyung (Team 3)

    • It’s worth noting that outside of Hoseok and Jungkook hardly anyone got any votes, and I suspect the few the others did get were mostly out of pity

44. 44.

    Yoongi and Taehyung start holding hands, Bon Voyage Hawaii style, and try to stay positive

45. 45.

    Game 1 starts, and it’s yut, a game I have absolutely zero knowledge of and, because it’s a traditional Korean game, they don’t explain at all; the best I can determine it’s sort of like the American game Sorry! but you throw sticks instead of roll dice to see how many spaces your pieces can go

46. 46.

    Bangtan are throwing massive foam pillows shaped like logs sawed in half instead of tiny sticks for this, which again is something that I can’t tell if it’s a normal party version or something they did for Run to be more filmable

47. 47.

    The group immediately has to develop rules for how to throw them so that people don’t cheat

48. 48.

    The rest of this section involves people throwing these foam things and shouting out words like “yut”, “ge”, “do”, “geol” that have absolutely no meaning to me before moving markers around on a board, so I’ll just do a run down of interesting things

    • If the foam things don’t end up on the straw mats on the floor then the roll doesn’t count, and whenever they do the group takes to saying “out!” in a babyish high-pitched voice (it sounds a little like “yum yum!” in English) that really cracks them up

    • Jimin is revealed to be a master strategist when it comes to moving the markers around, and takes special delight in knocking the other teams’ off the board

    • Jungkook cannot be trusted to throw two at once because he doesn’t know his own strength

    • Taehyung gets increasingly sad when he’s losing, which is a lot in this game, so Yoongi appoints himself as the optimism center of their team and really tries to brightside every moment

    • As you would expect, whenever something is almost off of the mat the room immediately explodes into a courtroom where the producers are called to adjudicate more than once

    • At one point when they judge a Taegi throw out Taehyung kicks one of his shoes off into the distance then goes to sulk against the far wall

    • Yoongi cheerfully agrees to throw all of them himself and hard carry the team; he gets some kind of really good result and Taehyung is so excited he comes back to play

    • Namjoon gets so excited he calls out the wrong results at least once, but he’s very cute about it

    • Jin and Jimin easily take first

    • Yoongi continues to get good results through his throws (mostly), and puts them in a position to possibly not get last via a specific result on one final throw

    • Taehyung joins him, after sharing a fortifying hug, but they throw the foam things off the mat and lose anyway

49. 49.

    Game 2 has them spinning around in ten circles “elephant nose” style to get dizzy, then kicking off a shoe and trying to hit a target mat on the floor about four meters away

    • Hoseok spins very precisely but his body is a microchip that’s not designed to be put off-balance and he kicks his shoe way too far; he can barely walk afterwards

    • Jimin spins quickly, spotting with each rotation, and nearly gets a bullseye

    • Taehyung spins more upright to stave off dizziness but still manages to sail it over the target

    • Jungkook spins super fast and hits the target on the outer ring but doesn’t have the same balance trouble as the rest of them

    • Jin spins off center and loses his balance so much that he staggers into the nearby camera operator then clings to him for support, which amuses Namjoon so much it nearly kills him; he also can’t hit the target

    • Yoongi’s spins are more like oscillations as he ranges across the floor and slams his hand into Taehyung’s dick accidentally; he falls over when he kicks but hits the outer ring

    • Namjoon is surprisingly controlled and balanced as he goes, but when he tries to retrieve his shoe from just outside of the colored target he slips and falls on his ass

50. 50.

    They only show the second attempts of the ones who score, namely Jimin (who is just as sedate but nearly topples over when Jin tries to hug him) and Yoongi (who falls over again when he kicks)

51. 51.

    During this whole thing Jin, and really all of them, remark out loud that they’re having a fucking great time with this one, and it shows

52. 52.

    Game 3 is Jegichagi, which some might be familiar with from a concert where Jimin did it and did the splits; in essence they kick a pom pom (jegi) in the air while wearing scuba flippers and try not to let it hit the ground, with the most taps winning

    • Jin gets a wild four and makes them all realize they need to make a wider circle around the player when Namjoon and Jungkook nearly get flipper-slapped

    • Taehyung gets 3 and Yoongi encourages him soooooo hard, it’s very cute

    • Namjoon gets to 4

    • Jimin explains that you need to do a pointe shape like a ballet dancer, then gets 2 and they all laugh as he makes some model poses

    • Yoongi’s imagination writes him a check that his body can’t cash when he claims he’s going to do a kick combo off to the side like a Street Fighter character to get 5; however, he’s the first one to use both feet and gets to 6

    • Hoseok holds his arms out to the side like he’s doing the Karate Kid crane pose and twitches his way to 5

    • Jin goes again for his two-person team and kicks it soooooo high, but it gets him 5 and inspires a one-legged chicken fight between him, Namjoon, and Hoseok

    • Yoongi goes again and masters his two-foot style to get 9, the best so far; he repeats that he’s going to carry Taehyung to victory as the trusted older brother

    • However Jungkook has merely been biding his time watching all of these guys faff around and gets 10 on his first try, leading his team to victory

53. 53.

    Game 4 is ddakjichigi, another game I don’t know at all (having seen Squid Games since I wrote this I now am much more familiar with this game), but involves throwing square, folded papers really hard onto other square, folded papers on the floor to try to flip them over, which seems physically impossible but they all manage to do it so what do I know

    1. 1.

       There’s a rapid montage of them flinging paper at the floor with various levels of strength, sounds, and outcomes

    2. 2.

       When the outcome is bad Bangtan murmurs “Aaaaahhhh,” when the outcome is good they shout “Woooooooooah!!! and when the outcome is close to good they say, “Ohhhhhhhhhh”, which is the only way I know what’s happening

    3. 3.

       Jimin and Yoongi seem to be the best at it overall, though Taehyung has a lot of heart

    4. 4.

       Namjoon at one point does something well and gets sooooo smug that Hoseok can barely control his libido

    5. 5.

       It seems like they all fail a lot more than they succeed, but ultimately Taehyung and Yoongi lose, I guess? I don’t know what happened

54. 54.

    Taegi have also lost the whole thing, so they have to pick their penalty sangpyeon by picking a number out of a cup

55. 55.

    Yoongi gets 3 (Taehyung’s) and Taehyung gets 2 (Hoseok’s)

56. 56.

    Taehyung is so nervous he’s going to get a spicy one but Hoseok assures him his great, as it’s chocolate tuna

57. 57.

    The rest of them collapse in laughter at the sentiment, which: fair enough

58. 58.

    Yoongi got pretty lucky with his banana-only one, though it is absolutely massive and cylindrical and I’m sure there’s some tumblr account dedicated to the screenshot of him opening his mouth to receive it

59. 59.

    Taehyung smiles like a sport when he eat his, but he ends up with his head bowed in agony over the table as they send us out into the credits

The Finish Line:

In contrast to the last episode, this is the first Run I’ve rewatched where I truly didn’t understand a lot of the rules of the games and had to rely on context clues to know who was winning and losing; it will not be the last! And overall it was fun to watch them do this even when I was confused, because they were not confused in the least. They were having a lovely time revisiting these childhood games, just like we would have fun with our own, and it definitely showed.

This is also the second episode in a row where you can see how Taehyung really, really doesn’t like to lose at games, and this will become a theme in later episodes. It was very sweet, and very emotionally sensitive, how Yoongi tried to counterbalance his obvious frustration and annoyance with more entertainment and smiles, and I think we’ve seen that in a lot of other ones as well. They have a really good sense of each other and how they feel, and when someone starts to get genuinely annoyed or out of sorts they all notice, react, and cover with kindness or chaos as needed. Teamwork even in competition.

But also just competition, because they really, really like watching people do penalties who aren’t them.