1 Night 2 Days: Episode 339

by javabeans

 
EPISODE 339. Broadcast on June 19, 2011.

Supporting Actor Special continues!

girlfriday: O.M.G. Sung Ji-ru, I love you, but that is WAY more than I ever wanted to see of you. Must. Scrub. Rampant ajusshi nudity out of brain…

javabeans: That “Stop” song just makes the moment. Lyrics: “All that I have is all that you’ve given me…” Caption: “Seductive and shapely legs.” I’m…not sure that’s how I want to think of Ji-ru ajusshi.

girlfriday: Haha. Everyone else comes back and joins the group in front of the cameras, and then Ji-won finally notices Ji-ru standing off in the corner, “I thought you were the lighting director!” He really is the least movie-star-like movie star in this bunch.

javabeans: Dong-il points out that he happened to see somebody doing something unexpectedly nice, in washing the sand off of Seung-gi’s and Chang-seok’s shoes, after their dip in the ocean. Turns out it was Gil-kang, quietly taking care of the others — and Dong-il quips, “Or he thought they were trash and wanted to take them for himself!”

girlfriday: Ho-dong asks Jo Sung-ha about why he isn’t at Cannes right now (for his film Hwanghae, aka The Yellow Sea), and he tells them that he chose to come to 1N2D instead. The boys are like, What Why? I love that they all think he’s crazy, but he thinks 1N2D is cool and wanted to come. I also think the boys don’t fully understand since they’re fixtures on the show, but a memorable guest spot on a show as popular as this one can do wonders for guys like them, who never get the spotlight otherwise. Skipping Cannes might sound crazy to them, but doing 1N2D might have a bigger effect on his career. For guys like Go Chang-seok to have spent a few days at the top of the news searches (because he was lovable here) is a big deal.

javabeans: Do you suppose they also underestimate their own popularity? I mean, they do know they’re big, but perhaps it doesn’t register that bona fide, Big Time Stars (with the actresses, and now these guys) respect their own variety prowess, too.

girlfriday: Yeah, I think it confuses them. Like they’re big in the variety world, but maybe they feel like it’s just that small world. I find it cute when the boys are genuinely surprised that other stars want to be them for a day. The hyungs laugh that their kids could care less if they shoot a hundred movies, but are all crazy excited about their guest spot on 1N2D.

javabeans: This is kind of like a live demonstration of the whole popularity-versus-critical-reception dichotomy, isn’t it? You think the grass is always greener on the other side, and underestimate how much others respect your position. It’s cute.

girlfriday: Ho-dong tells the staff that they had the best bus conversations, and makes Jung-tae re-do the scene from Bang-ga Bang-ga (He’s On Duty). Keke, he’s genuinely embarrassed, and yet totally game enough to perform for laughs.

javabeans: I love that he totally doesn’t break character, and that everyone starts singing along with him like they’re a part of his movie.

girlfriday: Everyone changes into new outfits for the evening, and Go Chang-seok says that having a stylist has no effect on him (ha) but then giggles at the camera, “But I’m still better than Ji-ru hyung, right?” Hahaha.

javabeans: Gil-kang takes a moment to tell the camera, “Yeon-ju-ah, Dad’s on 1 Night 2 Days — ’cause you told me to!”

girlfriday: They decide to divide and conquer, so a few guys set up the tent, a few others start the fire, and the rest work on dinner. It’s surprisingly cooperative and genial — not that I expected anyone to be unhelpful, but usually with twelve people, there’s bound to be fussing over the “right” way to do such-and-such.

javabeans: The members must still be too awed by their guests to let their normal bickeryness out, I’m thinking.

girlfriday: Right? Because normally, there’d be way more “No, do it this way, you idiot!” going about.

girlfriday: Jung-tae starts to show his cooking know-how, as he sifts some flour to make dough. The visual of the tough-guy gangster, chewing on some squid, while kneading dough, in the middle of a beach… it’s so randomly awesome.

javabeans: After the tents are up, Na PD asks jokingly, “After all this work setting them up, you’d probably be annoyed if I told you to sleep indoors, huh?” The guys take a moment to think that over, and Gil-kang says, “That doesn’t have to be the case…” Alas, it’s just talk. Na PD is such a tease.

girlfriday: How weird is it to see Ho-dong running around shouting, “Hyung-nim! Hyung-nim!” aegyo at full-steam?

javabeans: I think he must just be tickled to finally be able to call someone hyung, since he’s almost always the oldest. In fact, if you take the regulars out of the equation, he’s practically the maknae. Heady stuff, yeah?

girlfriday: That’s what’s so weird about it. I’m so used to Ho-dong being the big brother who literally beats up the others, but here he is, suddenly meek and cute Little Bro. That’s the power of the Korean age hierarchy — in a flash Ho-dong transforms from Bully Hyung to Cute Maknae, and it’s just like a light switch. Nobody tells him to do it. He doesn’t have to be told… it’s like built into his social learning.

javabeans: I love the moment when Jung-tae almost drops his dough into the sand, if only for the twin looks of absolute horror on his and Seung-gi’s faces.

girlfriday: And then Jung-tae actually starts to beat up his dough like he’s punching someone in the face, and I’m beginning to wonder if he’s just making this up as he goes along…

javabeans: I love that everyone sort of ignores him at this point. “Oh, let the maknae play with his toy, whatever.” I mean, they know he’s making something, but at this point it’s just a ball of dough and isn’t that impressive. And it cracks me up that every time Jung-tae starts to get violent with his dough, the writers make the captions seem like he’s getting pissed that the attention is getting stolen away from him. Oh, those cheeky producers.

girlfriday: But between Jung-tae and Dong-il, they look like they know what they’re doing, although I never would’ve guessed that they’d be the cooks of the group.

javabeans: No kidding. Then Jung-tae starts elbow-smashing his dough and Dong-il sounds all sage as he advises, “Jung-tae-ah, you don’t cook with anger, you cook with your heart.” HA.

girlfriday: And then using a can as a rolling pin, he totally starts rolling his own kal-gook-soo (noodles). Like from scratch. Out of flour. On the beach! I’m so impressed right now.

javabeans: I’ve done this ONCE in my life. It was exhausting. On one hand, you’re like, “Ooh, flour and water and presto, food!” On the other hand, it took me and grandma (okay, mostly grandma, who was probably slowed down by the incompetent child) so freaking long to do it that I thought to self, “People can’t cook like this on a normal basis. How would they get anything else done?!”

girlfriday: Over by the fire, Gil-kang and Ji-ru jerry-rig two poles through their giant pot of soup, to hang it right over the fire. These guys should have their own wilderness show. Out of nowhere, Jung-tae sings a line from Seung-gi’s noona anthem, but instead of “Because you’re my girl,” he sings, “Because you’re chewy dough~!” LOL. Seung-gi re-works his lyrics and sings back: “I’ll call you noodles / No matter what you do / So that you become good kal-gook-soo / I’ll roll you well.” This? Is why I love Seung-gi. Because he’s witty as hell.

javabeans: I’m loving how attentive Seung-gi is being to Jung-tae, like he’s learning from the master. The two maknaes together, makin’ noodles.

girlfriday: Everyone comes over to watch the final stages as Jung-tae starts slicing his slabs of dough… and then presto! Noodles! For someone like me, to whom cooking is mostly a mystery, it’s like he just did a magic trick. Like he made something out of nothing. Ji-won marvels that they never saw anything like this when the actresses were there. Yeah, Jung-tae’s skills are not normal meal-cooking skills. He’s something else entirely.

javabeans: It’s sort of funny, the awe this inspires, given that this is literally how kal-gook-soo got its name… knife noodles. Heh. It’s like going to a farm for the first time and realizing that meat isn’t grown in plastic containers. You know where it comes from…but you don’t think about how it’s made until it’s made in front of you, and it’s both so simple it’s silly, and amazing.

girlfriday: Seriously. Well I’M amazed, at least. They eat, and I’m totally jealous, because it looks deliciously overly spicy, which is just my taste. Jung-tae asks Na PD: “We can’t drink, can we?” Don’t we all wish. Ji-ru is adorable, feeding all the staff members by hand and making sure everyone gets a taste. I can see why he has the reputation of being universally beloved by crew members on each movie set.

javabeans: I like that he did that because seeing the staff reaction confirms that it does actually taste good. I’ve decided that I no longer trust Seung-gi’s reaction to anything food-related, because he always reacts like he’s shooting a CF. “Mmmmmmm! GOOOOOD!”

girlfriday: Hahaha. He also gets told regularly that he has the taste of a grandpa (as in hardcore), so he’s a weird barometer anyway. Ji-won is the only member to trust fully, because he’s got the taste buds of a fifth grader, and he’s always painfully honest.

javabeans: Ho-dong says that Jung-tae’s star is going to shoot up once this airs, and Dong-il chimes in that that’s what he wants for him — so he can get back the money he lent. Heh. He’s sticking with this money-grubbing motif today, isn’t he? Dude has a canny sense of comic timing, though, knowing just when to slip that into the conversation.

girlfriday: There’s another great hyung-dongseng moment when you see that the two guys left to scrape the bottom of the pot are Seung-gi and Jong-min, the two maknaes. The hyungs get to eat as much as they want, then they get the scraps. Ha.

javabeans: Such the Korean way. Maybe they were just hungriest? Although I suppose that could be that they ate slowly until they were sure the hyungs were done, and then attacked the dregs.

girlfriday: Seung-gi takes the chance to ask his sunbaes about the difference between acting in dramas and movies. Ji-ru says that the advantage of movies is that you have a completed script, whereas in the live-shoot drama system, not so much. But the burden is greater on a movie set, simply because of the cost of film — if you’re the guy who screws up a take, you get your ass cursed at. When they ask about Tae-woong as an actor, Sung-ha explains that there really aren’t very many films released in a year, but to be chosen consistently as the lead actor speaks for itself. Gil-kang: “Either that, or his pay is low.” HA. I love that everyone’s now re-impressed with Tae-woong.

javabeans: Chang-seok shares a story about how the older lady living downstairs asked one day what he did for a living, and when she heard he was a movie actor, her reaction was: “If someone like that can be a movie star, then so can I!” Aw, even “Chungmuro blue chips” get the blues.

girlfriday: I love that these guys all think that Su-geun is a comic genius when he starts singing the prayer version of Jong-min’s song. HAhahaha, WTF with Jong-min not knowing how to sing his own song in a different key?

javabeans: It’s hilarious, but almost embarrassingly sad for Jong-min when Seung-gi has to step in to get him in the right key on his own song. Aw, and ha.

girlfriday: Na PD informs the guys that they failed to grab sleeping bags and pillows from the prop truck this morning, so they’ll have to sleep without. Jung-tae and Gil-kang immediately start threatening him, “Let’s go talk about this in the back.” Heh.

javabeans: As much fun as dinnertime is, I’m relieved when the games start, proving again that the genius of this show isn’t solely the games or the docu style, but the melding of the two. You can’t have nonstop hilarity with a full “reality” like docu setting, because there are bound to be lulls and slow bits, but something that’s all games tends to get boring for me, too. The only variety shows I used to watch consistently before this were X-Man and Love Letter, and I felt the same thing there — when it was all games and scripted bits, you don’t really trust the funny. I used to just speed through and watch the off-script parts, like the Dangyunhaji game. Ahh, the good ole days. Of 2006.

girlfriday: Why you gotta make us feel old? Yeah, I think good variety is really in the unscripted cast interactions. But it has to occur around the game framework, otherwise it’s just dudes sitting around a campfire, and then you’re like, why am I watching this? Although with these twelve guys, it’s kinda fun anyway because I’m so curious about their personalities.

javabeans: Yeah, it’s amusing watching them interact — but when the games start, I’m giggling on the floor.

girlfriday: Na PD introduces the pairing-off by numbers game, and tells them that as twelve grown men, they are to “hug each other tightly.” Oh dear god. I love Na PD. Ho-dong just bursts out laughing in disbelief, “You bring these scary men and…” And it’s time for huggles?

javabeans: Basically, it’s musical dancing chairs until the music stops, and Na PD shouts out a number — and the men have to hug in groups of that number. The odd duck out loses his shot at sleeping in a tent. Okay, despite what I just said above, the games are cracking my shit up. It’s seeing these serious actors jump whole-heartedly into the game and shoving guys out of their hug-circle, getting hardcore. Gil-kang, oh my god, he is so hilariously ruthless!

girlfriday: Seriously, who had the genius idea to take twelve men and make them hug each other competitively? I’m dying. The dancing and the hugging alone is funny enough, but then the violence begins…

javabeans: It’s a combination of wanting to sleep in the tent, and manly pride. And pure competitive spirit. I love the one where seven men are hugging and the number is six, and nobody’s letting go, so Sung-ha proposes, “Let’s get rid of Seung-gi,” and everyone joins forces to shove him out. And then… I have no words to explain Jung-tae grabbing Tae-woong’s ass and groping his legs. Omg.

girlfriday: PAHAHAHA! More nudity? What is it about this show and lack of pants?

javabeans: I don’t know, but I am deeply grateful. And in the final round, it’s the youngun’s against Ho-dong — so you have Seung-gi, Ji-won, and Jong-min tacitly understanding that they want to stay away from their scary hyung. So they steer way clear of him, and scramble for each other when “three” is called. Hee. So the six guys who get to enjoy their hard-won tent privileges are split between members and guests: Seung-gi, Ji-won, Jong-min from the cast, and Sung-ha, Gil-kang, and Ji-ru from the actors’ side.

girlfriday: There’s something I love about how no-frills these guys are. When it starts to rain in the middle of the night, Dong-il finds a giant plastic sheet from the prop truck, and within five minutes, makes a covered area for the outside guys to sleep under. Simple as that. It reminds me of some of the old intense survival camp episodes when the boys would make their own tents out of plastic sheeting and refrigerator boxes in the dead of winter.

javabeans: In the morning, they have their customary wake-up game of capture the flag(s). I have no idea if the show has employed this tactic before, but in any case, entrusting six crew members with the flags, who are told to then run AWAY from their pursuers? GENIUUUUUUUUS.

girlfriday: It’s new, and it’s SO. AWESOME.

javabeans: Ji-ru gasps, “Nothing’s easy on this show.” Ain’t that the truth, brutha.

girlfriday: The look on his face when he realized they were going to run away was like, are these kids fucking with me?

javabeans: I swear, I thought Sung-ha was going to drown his guy for the flag.

girlfriday: I know! He turned out to be WAY more hardcore than the other guys. It was like taking revenge on the kid for making him run. And his victory dance? Officially my favorite moment of the episode. KILLA.

javabeans: He’s so cute.

girlfriday: Not surprisingly, Gil-kang, Ji-ru, and Seung-gi capture their guys with speed and/or brute force. Chang-seok, on the other hand, spends ten minutes trying to negotiate with his flag-bearer, only to end up in the ocean anyway. He still comes up empty-handed, and when he turns away for two seconds, Su-geun jumps into the water to pluck it out from under him, after all that hard work! But then adorably, the flag-bearer has gotten attached to Chang-seok, and gives him the flag. Aw.

javabeans: It’s so cute. Like Stockholm Syndrome, 1N2D version.

girlfriday: After breakfast, the guests all get 1N2D pennants signed by the boys, for their kids. Sung-ha says that his daughters could care less what projects he does: “All they care about is who else is in it.” Haha. Well, if you’re say, shooting a drama with Yoo Ah-in, Song Joong-ki, and Park Yoochun, you can hardly fault your daughters for forgetting you exist.

javabeans: At least he wasn’t playing an evil villain in that. It’s one thing to be ignored by your kids for your co-stars — but could you imagine if they actively rooted against you, just ’cause your character was, for example, plotting to bring down the pretty boys?

girlfriday: They end with the losers of last night’s bet (Who bets against Kang Ho-dong in a wrestling match anyway?) taking a dip in the ocean.

javabeans: I think it’s adorable, plus it gets most of the guests into the water at some point or another. Despite the fact that this is used as threat/punishment most of the time, it’s also such a staple of the show, and a bonding experience, that I think you kinda have to do it, yeah? Like after the Actress Special, even the ladies who didn’t have to take a dip said they kind of wished they had.

girlfriday: Ho-dong makes the rounds, kissing his hyungs on the cheek for extra cutesy points. Ji-won asks, “So can Chungmuro open for business again?” as in, the movie industry does not go ’round without you guys. That’s so sweet.

javabeans: This whole episode is just sweet. Something about grown men acting like boys, and bromance, and crazy games, and this show…

girlfriday: Like they did with the Actress Special, the crew goes around to catch up with the guys after their first episode has aired. Ji-ru says he’s gotten more phone calls after 1N2D than the time he won an acting award. Sung-ha is on the set of Romance Town, Jung-tae’s on the set of Ripley. Sung-ha beams that his guest spot made him popular with his daughters, which is So. Cute. They’re all such hardworking sweet dads that I’m never going to be able to see them as badass gangsters anymore.

javabeans: Nope. This show has totally “ruined” their image — but in the best possible way.

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