1 Night 2 Days: Episode 332

by javabeans

girlfriday: Oh, man. Never has a week been so long. We finally get to find out what happens in the 6 vs. 80, Cast vs. Staff game of do-or-die footleyball. We start with a recap of the very dire situation that the staff is in, all due to the folly of ONE MAN: The one and only Na PD, he of the quick wit and possible gambling problem.

javabeans: It’s amazing how quickly fortunes turn in the 1N2D world. One moment at the helm, in full control like a withholding God with sadism issues, the next moment a bewildered Dr. Frankenstein facing the mob.

girlfriday: After losing the entire staff’s right to eat dinner by losing a soccer match, he’s gone ahead and made a double-or-nothing wager, that if they lose this game of jokgu, all 80 of them will take a dip in the sea. The cast has nothing to lose, because they already won dinner — enough for 80, in fact — so winning for them is purely a point of pride. Well, and the fun of watching the losers go for an evening swim.

javabeans: Even if they lose, they make sure to stipulate that they still get to eat their dinner. It’s just that they’ll share the 80 portions with the staff. No skin off their nose whatsoever. Just a chance to see what it feels like to hold the fortunes of so many in their hands. Well, I suppose, feet. Alas for them, their feet are less reliable than they would like.

girlfriday: Flashback to the last big Cast vs. Staff match, where the boys won, and the entire staff had to sleep outside in the rain. That battle was quite epic as well, though Na PD was never so cavalier about his bets until now. I remember in that episode he went around and asked permission from the daejangs, the heads of each department, BEFORE calling the bet. It’s a lot like The Godfather, when the heads of the families gather for important decisions, except with a bunch of ajusshis deciding which schoolyard games they’re most likely to win.

javabeans: The staff may have the advantage, but at least this is a four-on-four game. Meaning, Tae-woong and Jong-min sit out while the others keep their hopes alive.

girlfriday: The boys start out with a lead, but the staff closes in. It turns out the only one who’s any good at jokgu is Su-geun, who actually looks kinda cool, despite his aerobicise getup. Seung-gi and Ho-dong do decent support work, but the problem is Ji-won, who might as well not be there.

javabeans: Seung-gi goes from being the hero to being a possible liability, enough that the staff starts cheering for him every time he makes a mistake. I think this confidence in his abilities may be as much a hindrance as the lesser players, because Team Cast is expecting Seung-gi to deliver, and half of the time, he’s dropping the ball. (Literally. Har har. I must really be Korean — for all my disdain of lame puns, I can’t resist ‘em myself. They’re so…punny.)

girlfriday: Pffft. It must be genetic. I have it too, the pun gene. It’s inescapable. OMG, I love Na PD booing the cast, like a little brat. The boys are pretty cute too, when they get all excited and tell each other how awesome they are. Ho-dong scores a point and Ji-won goes running into his arms, yelling, “Hyung, you’re so cool!”

javabeans: Yeah, that’s pretty adorable. Ji-won is a lovefest to Su-geun and Ho-dong, who are doing all the work. It’s not 6 versus 80, it’s 2 versus 80. With occasionally an extra half (Seung-gi).

girlfriday: Birth of Ji-won’s new favorite thing: impersonating the referee from the lighting team. Even Na PD laughs, amidst the nail-biting. There really are a surprising number of staff members who are good in front of the cameras on this show. Maybe it’s because they’re used to having cameras rolling at all times, but a good portion of them are hilarious in their own right.

javabeans: Aw, the cast members are doing pretty well, but there’s nobody to cheer them on. They score, and the reception is chilly. Su-geun wonders, “Isn’t our team too lonely?”

girlfriday: Things start to look bad for the staff, until they rotate in a new player, and use the chance to call out Tae-woong and his dog feet. Oh, poor Tae-woong. Does he only work out from the waist up? I’m marvelling at how someone who looks so fit can be so bad at sports, but then it dawns on me — this is one of those moments when I realize something that should have been obvious from the get-go: He’s an ACTOR, whose job it is to LOOK like he’s good at everything. Whoa. Harsh reality check.

javabeans: Oh. My. God. This montage is amazing. It takes all his coolest scenes from previous roles, and constructs the hilarious narrative of the Man Who Has Everything…Except Good Feet. His almost-perfection is betrayed by his lack of coordination! Snerk. If he had it his way, Tae-woong would’ve sat out the whole thing, but the staff saw that they’re in jeopardy, so they’d clamored for a lineup change just to bring in the lesser players.

girlfriday: Tae-woong finally cuts loose before he can do any more damage, so in comes Jong-min… who is just as bad, but is given a harder time, because well, Ho-dong is more comfortable giving him a hard time.

javabeans: I actually felt really sympathetic for Jong-min in this episode, because although he usually plays up the laugh, it seems like he got mocked extra this time. He was a good sport, but I felt sorry for him, trying so hard to be useful and just being told to stand aside. Aw. He’s set off my underdog trigger.

girlfriday: It’s so close, point by point, but the staff pulls through in the end. Cue massive sigh of relief from Na PD, who is saved from the doghouse. (Which reminds me… if I remember correctly, that time when the staff slept outside in the rain, one of the PDs slept in the dog’s house… literally.)

javabeans: Bummer. For the sake of this cast-mutiny narrative, I really wanted our boys to win.

girlfriday: I have to say, I’m pretty disappointed that I don’t get to see all 80 of them jump in the ocean.

javabeans: It’s the cast’s biggest letdown, too.

girlfriday: Na PD: “I almost died.” Camera director: “You WERE dead, but you were brought back to life.” Ho-dong says it’s far from over and prepares them for a future rematch. He makes a sly thowaway comment to the camera director at the food truck: “Eat up, you’re gonna need it to sleep outside tonight.” Aw, yeah. More games!

javabeans: At dinnertime, the crew loads up on food and exclaims, “We almost didn’t get to eat this.” Man, now I really wish they’d lost just to see Na PD squirm. And squirm. And squirm. *takes a moment to ponder what could have been*

girlfriday: Su-geun greets the Food Truck Ajusshi (Food Truck Ajumma’s husband), joking that he hasn’t seen him in three years. Ha. It is a rare sight, to see them eat with the staff like that. After dinner the cast rests, but not Na PD — no, he’s busy planning 6 vs. 80, the Comeback Tour, like a total nut. He has a writer and a PD singing a love duet, to see if this is a game they can be confident in winning, before he suggests it as a possibility.

javabeans: I know! He had to check to see that they were capable of scoring well on the karaoke machine before confirming that this would be the evening challenge, right?

girlfriday: Yay, it’s maknae writer Daeju, (er, he might not be the maknae anymore, I dunno) who is another one of 1N2D’s great on-camera personalities. He’s adorably earnest and nerdy, and there’s a running joke, when the boys are split up and tasked with different challenges, that if Daeju gets in your car, that means you’ve got the hardest one. Going in comfort? Na PD’s riding shotgun. Traveling to the farthest island? There’s Daeju.

javabeans: Poor guy. I suppose there’s got to be a payoff to getting stuck riding with Na PD, he who never met an evil challenge he didn’t like. If you ride with him, you’re basically putting yourself at risk of getting subjected to impromptu challenges, no?

girlfriday: They score 100 on the karaoke machine, and immediately Na PD shouts, “All right, we’re going with this!” Heh. It turns out he’s not a total degenerate gambler or anything, because he proposes a love duet competition to determine if the boys will be sleeping inside or outside. Aw, not with the entire staff sleeping outside?

javabeans: He’s learned his lesson. Don’t write checks your ego can’t cash. Or that your staff refuses to cash without launching into a round of attempted mutiny.

girlfriday: Ho-dong decides that Seung-gi is their sure thing, but he needs a partner. Su-geun suggests that Jong-min is actually really good. Ho-dong: “Don’t mess around!” Hahaha. And poor Jong-min.

javabeans: Like I said, I’m feeling total underdog pangs for him.

girlfriday: They decide to bank on Tae-woong, mostly based on genes — they determine that since he’s THE pop diva Uhm Jung-hwa’s little bro, he must be good. Uh… your noona can sing, ipso facto, you can too? Never heard of that one.

javabeans: Wouldn’t it be funny if he turned out to be tone-deaf too, on top of the bad feet and coordination?

girlfriday: But thankfully, his singing skills are WAY better than anything involving the use of feet. Ho-dong is pleased to discover one thing Tae-woong is good at. He’s not a singer, but he already has a great speaking voice to begin with — he’s a lot like his buddy Lee Seon-kyun that way — so suffice it to say, there’s gonna be a lot of swooning from here on out.

javabeans: He’s actually sung on OSTs before, so they’ve got to be aware that he’s capable. Although Su-geun could read the room and points out that because Tae-woong isn’t protesting, it means he’s pretty good. (Is this a Korean thing? If you don’t overdo the modesty, you must be confident? It’s such a natural way of thinking that it hadn’t occurred to me that it might not be so common, say, in the Western parts.)

girlfriday: I’ve never really thought about it, but it’s true! Like modesty is default, and then if you don’t over-play it, that’s code for: I actually rock at this.

javabeans: And while he doesn’t necessarily rock his part, he does well enough to impress the team and redeem his image partially from the Bad Feet Montage. Partially.

girlfriday: I mean, Seung-gi + Tae-woong x love ballad = puddle of goo, right? It’s the only way that equation works out.

javabeans: I think the parody meter is also running pretty high on that, what with the way they’re both turning on the actor charm, pretending to be singing the love song to each other.

girlfriday: LOL, Ho-dong directing them to gaze into each other’s eyes. SO good. It’s like he’s writing the fanfic for us.

javabeans: He knows his audience.

girlfriday: I love that the caption points out Tae-woong’s 90s ballad stance.

javabeans: They’re sounding pretty good, although I’m kind of nervous through the song because Seung-gi keeps running flat. But they manage the task and come through strong. They know they’ve done well, and the PDs have to tough act to follow.

girlfriday: They pull out all the stops and score 100. PD’s turn, and they’re actually really good. Just maybe more nervous, because they’re not used to performance pressure. Seung-gi, I notice, is the opposite — he half-asses rehearsals, and then brings it up when it counts. Tae-woong just seems the same nervous/shy throughout, but he sure knows how to look cool.

javabeans: They’re really good, especially the male PD, but they did pick a pretty difficult song, making it tough to get a perfect score. Adding to the tension, Ji-won points out the machine never gives out two 100’s in a row.

girlfriday: Ho-dong can’t turn off his itch to be a matchmaker. Teases the PDs: “I don’t know WHY you kept looking into each other’s eyes…”

javabeans: Having won the right to sleep inside, Ji-won faux-cries, “It’s been AGES since I slept indoors!” It does seem like they’ve had a rough day of it — or at least, a really long one. Phew. I feel like I’M the one winding down after all that physical activity.

girlfriday: Get ready for bed time. Omg, how cute are everyone’s matching PJs? Ji-won the cho-ding refuses to shower.

javabeans: Hee. I thought that was cute, because it’s such a little-boy thing to do. Until I remembered that they spent all day playing soccer and jokgu, no? Ew.

girlfriday: Ho-dong can’t resist the urge to play a prank on Seung-gi, and walks in pretending to be a VJ while he’s showering. Heh, nothing like a little naked bonding between brothers!

javabeans: Ho-dong’s face mimicking Seung-gi’s surprise is priceless. And the hands covering his crotchal region instinctively. Haha.

girlfriday: The boys decide they can’t just let the staff walk away without a dip in the ocean, and suggest a rematch. Ho-dong starts by calling Na PD to the room and telling him that they’ll give the staff a chance to win at something, since they lost the noraebang showdown. Na PD: “Well, if you consider that Seung-gi is a professional singer, which gives us a 10-point advantage, we basically won.” HA.

javabeans: What an arbitrary point distinction. Though, okay, he has a point.

girlfriday: Except HE was the one who presented the challenge with, “Just because you’re a professional singer doesn’t mean you score high at the noraebang.” As expected, Na PD asks what the boys are willing to put up as a wager if he’s going to put the 80-person sea bath back on the table. Dude, have you learned NOTHING from the events of earlier today?

javabeans: It’s funny how quickly Na PD regains his sense of equilibrium after practically sweating bullets all day. Now he’s back to his sassy self, like the whole I-put-my-authority-on-the-line-and-almost-completely-lost episode was a figment of our imagination.

girlfriday: This time, he at least has the sense to say he’ll bow and ask permission from the staff. Ho-dong: “Are you confident that you can convince them?” Na PD: “Yes, because we are ONE!” Everyone busts a gut.

javabeans: LOL. That’s what we call selective memory. Remember…all that…mutiny earlier?

girlfriday: Apparently, he thinks it was Mutiny Lite, because he’s goin’ back for a second helping. He throws out crazy counter-offers, like all six members shaving their heads, and then finally settles on one that shows his true PD-ness: if the boys lose, they stay in Namhae til sundown, introducing all the local sights. That doesn’t sound so bad at first, but then if you remember that Namhae is six hours’ drive from Seoul, that’s a looooong ass day.

javabeans: That’s pretty smart of him, because if the cast loses, they have to shoot extra footage which would ostensibly take up another episode’s worth of time, thereby actually lessening his crew’s workload in the bigger scheme of things…

girlfriday: They ask if they’ll get an allowance, and then offer to use their own money and treat Na PD too. Na PD’s face instantly brightens. Still… he’s gonna have one helluva morning…

javabeans: Good luck getting the crew on your side, after you just put them through all that work and a couple of near-misses.

girlfriday: HAHAHA. He greets the camera/lighting directors with a big bow, and then sheepishly mumbles, “There’s this thing I did…” using a turn of phrase like you would for starting a fire, or say, inadvertently starting a war. He goes table by table, softening them up with compliments, followed by the truth. Reactions: “Why, why are you doing this to us, hyung?”

javabeans: I love their reactions — not quite shocked, but just bewildered enough that he still has to exert himself to sway them all to his side again. “Because we are one” my ass! Because you wear them down until they reluctantly concede to your authority, more like.

girlfriday: They decide on a six-man relay race, and the boys ask that the staff team be comprised of people from the same age groups as each of them. (So, one in his 40s for Ho-dong, one in his 20s for Seung-gi, and four in their 30s for the rest.) That seems like a good way to make it fair.

javabeans: In theory, yes. But they’ve got such a big pool to draw from, I’m just not feeling confident in the cast for this task…

girlfriday: But Seung-gi’s got that killer competitive instinct look in his eye… for the cameras. Heh. Each team sets up their strategies — the staff decides to go fastest first, while the cast does the opposite. Ji-won is surprisingly fast, but it turns out he’s a sprinter, and falls behind by the end of his lap.

javabeans: Then it’s Jong-min, who falls more behind, who passes the baton to Ho-dong. He seems to keep the pace at par, but they’re already a quarter-lap behind at this point. And then…the pass to Tae-woong.

girlfriday: They show Tae-woong’s dramatic slow-motion start, cut back to the boys’ strategy to turn the tables late in the race, then back to Tae-woong running. The caption: “He just runs… but he’s not even a little bit fast!” HAHAHAHAHAHA!

javabeans: His feet are pumping furiously so you think he’s a speed demon — until they pull back and show him full-body. The problem is, he’s not covering any ground. It’s like he’s on a treadmill. Then it’s Su-geun, who seems speedier but is so far back that you can’t even see his opponent in the same shot. Seung-gi’s the anchor, but there’s no race left to anchor. Aw, they lose.

girlfriday: I love that the one cameraman literally puts down the camera, runs the race, then gets right back behind his camera. Got a job to do, bub.

javabeans: This means the boys have to stick around for a full day, and they sit down to plan their tour of Namhae.

girlfriday: Seung-gi suggests that they go out to eat, and then one member pays with his personal credit card. Su-geun: “The mat-hyung really ought to pay…” Ho-dong knocks him around for that.

javabeans: I notice Seung-gi tends to propose these little games a lot. What an instigator! Such an innocent face, but so sly. Ha, then he does it again by adding a complication to the game.

girlfriday: They play 3-6-9, and the loser is… Jong-min. Aw, poor buddy. Rough day.

javabeans: Lunch is one of those occasions where it starts off looking like any meal, with the guys oohing over the food in that slightly exaggerated-for-camera way. Only, one by one, they all taste the food and their reactions are so extreme and amazed that it make it seems like they’ve stumbled across some kind of manna from the gods. The one that really convinced me was Ji-won, who was all skeptical, and then tasted it and practically bugged his eyes out of his head. Jong-min’s been a pretty good sport about losing this game and encourages everyone to eat up, although cutely, he feigns refusing to let go of his card to the restaurant ajumma when it’s time to pay up.

girlfriday: They’re riding along in the car, and then Tae-woong gets a text… from Su Ae! He says they’re close. Omg, omg.

javabeans: Talk about fortuitous timing! (For the show, that is. For Tae-woong and Su Ae’s secret love, not so much.) The boys know this is potential gold, and Seung-gi comments, “I think this is going to make it to the broadcast…”

girlfriday: If Ho-dong has one talent, it’s forcing people into love confessions that they never intended on doing.

javabeans: I love that not only does Ho-dong twist this into a romantic thing, but he even gets Tae-woong to admit that his noona Uhm Jung-hwa thinks they’d be a cute couple. At first Tae-woong’s pretty nonchalant about the whole thing, but he gets more worked up as he realizes, the longer this scene goes on, that this is going to be totally manipulated turned into A Thing, but he’s powerless to stop it.

girlfriday: I love Tae-woong’s writhing and foot-stomping, like a little kid.

javabeans: And a new Cho-ding is born.

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