Running Man: Episode 87

by gummimochi

What would you do to find your first love? This week, the Running Man search their childhood memories to recover the missing pieces once lost to track down their first love. Will they be able to find out before time runs out?

EPISODE 87. Broadcast on March 25, 2012.

On a bright and balmy spring day, our cast waits with great anticipation of today’s guest. I guess the bar’s set pretty high after an episode of a top female action star. It is rather impressive how the production staff have pulled in some A-list celebrity guests in their history.

Haha jokes that at this rate, they’ll be having Johnny Depp on the set. Yeah, fat chance.

Today, a pair of floral palanquins brings in today’s guest. What’s supposed to be a grand entrance is, well, a little less graceful. The staff dressed in yellow look like they can barely lift them, let alone carry them across the expanse field. And surprise – Mr. PD instructs them to choose a side.

They start theorizing that they might be duped – Haha’s heard some deep grunts from one side. So they awkwardly shift around (and Jong-kook grabs Kwang-soo, telling them they’re a set (Spartavatar)) until it’s 5:2.

Unfortunately for the team of 5, they get a dud (hi maknae FD!) which means that Jae-suk and Gary correctly chose the guest palanquin.

Their mouths literally drop open at the sight of today’s guest, actress Han Ga-in (The Moon that Embraces the Sun). Like most actresses who have shied away from the variety spotlight, she’s surprised to see so many cameras pointed at her and nervous about doing well.

But she really has no need to worry since here at RM, the cast works to build up actresses’ images rather than dismantling them.

Since the teams are uneven, Ga-in reserves the choice to bring someone over to their team. Woah, Kwang-soo? And just in case he didn’t hear her, she calls for him: “Mr. Giraffe.”

Kwang-soo excitedly runs over and it looks like he’ll be saved from Jong-kook’s firm grasp and lethal wrath today but that’s more like bad news bears for the Impala Suk-jin. Less game to feed on in the safari.

Today’s mission – Find Your First Love. Mr. PD explains that everyone’s suffered from amnesia (cringe) but they’ll discover clues to ‘recover their memory.’ Oof, you’re taking a page from old melodramas are you now? At least the cast find it just as preposterous as we do.

The teams are as follows: Blue (Gary, Ga-in, Jae-suk, Kwang-soo) vs. Red (Jong-kook, Haha, Ji-hyo, Suk-jin)

The first mission is entitled, ‘The Moon that Pierced the Sun,” Pffft. It basically looks like a human ring toss where the “suns” (hula hoop) have to be caught onto the “moons” (the team members). The cast members balk at the title and the captions read why they’re so surprised because they applauded themselves for coming up with the name.

Kwang-soo shows off that a hula hoop can safely roll between his long legs and the ever-mischievous Jae-suk sends it flying to where the sun doesn’t shine. Commence the chase of the Giraffe after the Grasshopper.

Getting down to business, the Blue Team readies themselves for the toss, and the hula hoops end up landing smartly on their hands. And despite Jong-kook’s assurance that the hoops will be in an easy place to catch, it ends up being a tangled mess.

Ga-in adorably “practices” how to roll over in a corner, but that kind of behavior doesn’t go unnoticed when you’re surrounded my cameras and Jae-suk notes as much. Then when Jong-kook shows her how, she readily follows and ends up with loose, tousled hair. So much for maintaining that pristine graceful actress image .

And Haha, I’d stop touching her hair if I were you – she’s a married woman. To a Vampire Prosecutor.

Count on Running Man to come up with some cheesy cheers, with the Blue Team announcing that Ga-in isn’t an “idle” star (word pun!) and the others team up their powers like a bad Saturday morning cartoon complete with theme song and animation.

Not surprisingly, Spartakooks is a formidable thrower and he’s so good that Gary, who’s been shooting them into the far side, shouts, “Can we have him throw for us too?!”

The green jokes continue too as Kwang-soo complains about his white pants getting grass stains (Jong-kook: “Give them to Jae-suk”) and trades his green marker with Jae-suk. Well at least Ga-in is catching the hoops better than her teammates.

Thanks to Spartakooks spot-on accuracy, the Red Team succeeds first earning a pleasant ride to the next mission location and a hint: a Picture Diary.

Ga-in’s been tolerating Incriminating Kwang-soo‘s comments at best but when he makes final jab at her, she finally bursts, “I think I get why you treat him like you do now!”

The members’ ‘lost memories’ are finally revealed – and it’s like the cutest thing ever. Ga-in transferred into their class and the boys fought over who she would sit next to. Mini Haha’s playboy ways started young, “Will you become my last love?” and the Monday Couple was still intact.

Mini Ga-in ended up sitting next to young Jong-kook and jotted a note that ‘I really wanted to sit next to you.’ If these kids don’t look familiar, they’re regulars on another variety show called the Star Junior Show and are all children of celebrities.

All that teamwork has been for naught because now it’s every man or woman for themselves. The mission card reads: Meet with your first love, gather five name tags and open the time capsule.

Each member enters with a nostalgic picture in their hands. Haha wonders if the former Monday Couple were each others’ first love. Oh I wish, Haroro. I wish.

Too bad for the members of the Blue Team who wander around unaware that they have to hunt for a picture diary.

Our mission is clarified as Ga-in listens intently to find out that she’s today’s heroine. The staff cannot inform her of what the hint was, but a different type of clue will aid her to help her find her first love who was amongst the Running Man.

One thing’s for sure – I am NOT going to fly Running Man Airlines, especially if Jae-suk and Kwang-soo are going to be my pilots. Jae-suk berates him for belatedly informing the passengers to put on their seatbelts and then coolly announces their apologies for crashing.

But I’ll watch Ji-hyo acting adorable trying on different wigs and accessories and Haha jokingly broadcasting Suk-jin’s elimination on the 6 o’clock news.

Speaking of whom, Big Nose Hyung looks like the only person concentrated on the mission and uncovers a clue right away – he dances well.

The distant memory plays before our eyes and Suk-jin wonders aloud, “But I can’t dance very well.” Mm, well I wasn’t going to put you in the running for Ga-in’s first love anyway.

After spotting Gary, Haha wonders if they’re star-crossed lovers and plays up a headache – his memory is returning – his first love had double eyelids and Gary promptly shows him his. HAHAHA!! But alas, this relationship fizzles away with just bromance.

Haha spots a clue stuck on a slide and nearly hurts himself (Gary calls, “My love, are you okay? My love?”). He slips away and praises himself, “I saw this RIGHT when I saw the slide and it was RIGHT on the top of the slide!”

He discovers that the diary’s owner is Ga-in and notices that in the picture, her first love wore green…does that mean it’s Jae-suk?

Kwang-soo haven’t you learned anything? He successfully shakes Jong-kook loose so that he inadvertently slides down the slide. Jong-kook shouts from the other end and Kwang-soo slides down… to find a beating waiting for him. Then he pleads when Spartakooks teasingly rips his name on and off.

Ga-in takes full advantage of Jong-kook’s weakness towards women, approaching him for information. She gets it and when the staff ask why, he meekly replies, “I wanted to be like Yang-myung.” To give everything that he can, just like he did for Yeon-woo – could it be you, Jong-kook?

Now wielded with the picture diary hint, Ga-in searches every nook and cranny. Sifting through the sand, she discovers another entry – he used to pull her pigtails (and mini Ji-hyo declared war – HA) and their rough and tumble ended with them lying in the field, a colorful parasol gently covering them. Oh they’re just pouring on the drama references.

Suk-jin shares his clue with Jong-kook who deduces that the picture is of someone without glasses. They decide that Jong-kook should hold onto the clue with the promise that Jong-kook will share the next one he finds. Yeeeaah I don’t see that happening but you can still dream.

Jong-kook and Ga-in slip away to compare notes and he sharply notices that their clues boil down to two possibilities: Jong-kook or Gary. Only a few of them wore glasses in the photograph, he dances well, wanted to become a singer. Then using an old Turbo song, “My Childhood Dream” as a reference, his face nearly burns red as he asks, “Could it be me?”

Acknowledging himself as Yang-myung, she giggles as she leaves (Spoiler Alert!), “But things end sadly for him – he dies at the end.” To make it worse, the captions tell us that they filmed it BEFORE the final episode aired.

The Running Man boys are way too easy to win over. It’s not long before Haha gives up his clue “He’s handsome” to which the captions remark that it’s a difficult clue. Pffft – are you trying to say that none of your cast members are handsome? And of course Haha immediately dismisses Gary, Kwang-soo, and Suk-jin. Awww.

And in another part of the building, Gary unearths that Ga-in’s first love wore glasses on Picture Day. Combine that with Haha’s clue about green and dancing… now all signs point to Jae-suk.

Suk-jin and Gary immediately confront him about it but Jae-suk seems to be in the dark. At the mention of first love, he asks, “Me and you [Suk-jin]?”He gets more confused as more of the cast members accuse him as Ga-in’s other half.

Jong-kook notices that Jae-suk isn’t wearing green today and then Gary looks to himself in his army green jacket, “Then is it me?” But Jong-kook remains confident that it’s Jae-suk and when asked why, “Because it’s me.” HAHAHA. I’m splitting a gut here.

To top it all off, they belatedly ask – where’s Kwang-soo? Aww did no one care?

Kwang-soo is busy searching for more clues himself. Another entry reveals that there was a birthday party in August. He thinks to himself who has August birthdays – Jihyo, Haha, and Jae-suk.

But his defensive wall comes crumbling down at Ga-in’s bit of aegyo and shares his clue. Hidden in a corner, he blushes and comments, “This is like our secret place.”

Ga-in knows how to play the game – she abandons her alliance with Kwang-soo as soon as Kwang-soo shows up, citing that they didn’t share hints to his defiant disbelief. Jong-kook asks him who he’d like to eliminate first if he had the chance.

He doesn’t believe that Kwang-soo would take him out last: “Even if I believed everyone else, I just can’t believe you.” I’ll say, given his record in recent weeks. Then rrriiiippp – Kwang-soo’s out.

She then plays the innocent card, making sure she secures Jong-kook’s loyalty and moans, “It’s my first time here! I don’t know what’s going on! This is so cruel!”

Haha and Suk-jin are astounded to hear that Kwang-soo is eliminated. Jong-kook: “He wasn’t anything!” When you put it that way… and Haha cleanly rips off Suk-jin’s name tag too.

Meanwhile Jae-suk contemplates in the elevator – he and Ga-in used to be former castmates in 2002. Could it really be him? But Ji-hyo concludes that it’s Jong-kook (she’d seen some clues and seen Jong-kook with Ga-in earlier) though she didn’t recover any clues. Jae-suk: “How do you know everything without having found anything?” Easy answer – she’s the Ace.

And then Haha finds the mother of them all – an entry reads that at a friend’s house, the food was terrible. His eyes grow wide because he flippantly made a comment earlier about how his mother’s cooking was terrible and that woman in the flashback sounds oddly familiar…

In another part of the building, Ga-in comes to the same conclusion. The flashback sequences now fill in the missing pieces and indeed – it’s Haha. He doubles over in a feigned migraine and dramatically sighs, “I remember.”

And in true dramatic Haroro fashion, he hugs her like long lost lovers. Then a note hidden in Haha’s jacket has them fake crying all over again. Haha: “Will you be my first love? Because it’s already too late to be your last…”

Her memories returned, Ga-in needs five name tags in order to unearth her time capsule. So she lures Jae-suk away and then eliminates him as quick as a bunny.

It doesn’t take long, however, for the remaining three to figure out that Haha is the other half of the couple after all.

Jong-kook finds Ga-in with his head hung low, knowing that his role is to be Yang-myung. He still dutifully follows her to the end and leaves with a smile on his face, handing over his acquired name tag so she can finish her mission.

He arrives to jail with Kwang-soo’s blood boiling over, commenting that Jong-kook’s brought his mouth with him to jail. Jae-suk soaks salt in the wound and adds that Jong-kook’s more like seasons (yangnyum) than Yang-myung. Oh the word puns!!

Eliminating poor innocent Gary is easy-peasy as he falls knee deep in Ga-in’s words right into Haha’s waiting arms.

It’s really the Ace you want to be looking out for. Despite Haha’s bravado about how easy it will be to eliminate her, he jumps at the shadow of his own camera crew. And when he finally discovers her, he cries for help, cowering at the sight of the Ace.

Ga-in is surprisingly stronger than she looks and brings Ji-hyo down.

The couple head outside to track down their time capsule – and how convenient that the hiding place lights up in the dark. In it, they find their nostalgic memories hidden inside along with small golden nuggets. I did not know that Ga-in’s huge eyes could get any bigger.

Where does Running Man get all this gold anyway? And man, did mini Haha rolled deep back in the day!

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