1 Night 2 Days: Episode 401

by javabeans

EPISODE 401. Broadcast on August 26, 2012.

javabeans: Back to our Back to the Basic(s) trip. Although apparently if you are married to Su-geun, there is no such thing as basic and you’re always prepared to cook for an army. Which I suppose is appropriate since these boys eat like an army. It’s dinnertime, and after spending all afternoon working, it’s time to cook for the staff.

girlfriday: So the boys split up to earn dinner money, and we last left Seung-woo in the den of gambling, where he’s quickly losing his soul. And all his money.

javabeans: Jong-min plays enabler for a moment, giving him a spare piece that he doesn’t need, but he’s wise to the ways of gambling: “Once you play while incurring debt, it’s all over.”

girlfriday: Sure enough, Seung-woo loses all his pieces, and leaves grumbling, “That’s not a writer. That’s a tazza!” Poor maknae writer. Now Seung-woo has to trek ALL the way back up, just to get five more pieces. Please don’t go back there again. You’re not going to gamble away these five too, are you?

javabeans: Hey, don’t blame the tazza (gambling shark) for the crazy gleam in your own eye! I wonder if he’s going to attack Bird PD once he finds out it was all for five bucks. Compare that, say, with Tae-woong who earned a hundred bucks collecting shells.

girlfriday: But Seung-woo catches a break when huge groups of tourists start pouring out from somewhere, all asking for pictures.

javabeans: I love the dynamic — they’re the ones sheepishly asking Big Movie Star for a photo, but he’s even happier to do it (earning about a dime each, I think) so he practically forces himself on them with the offers.

girlfriday: At least it’s a dime per human being, not per picture, so the big group one earns him some cash. Just… don’t gamble it halfway down for more stones!

javabeans: He gets 3,000 won, which is more than half what he’d get for walking alllllll the way back down and allllllll the way back up to win that badook game, so I’m like, just cut your losses and go! Ha.

girlfriday: He still goes back down, successfully walking past maknae writer-tazza without stopping, and then resumes the game with Bird PD. This time, Bird PD’s like, imma play with my life on the line! (Because he lost to Jong-min, ha.) And oh noes… Bird PD wins! It is just not Seung-woo’s day.

javabeans: Is it strange that I’m actually relieved for Bird PD? He was so ashamed of losing so fast to Jong-min, and there was the whole thing where his game for provisions backfired on him.

girlfriday: That’s true. I guess he got his revenge for Seung-woo’s relentless teasing. Oh man, Seung-woo just won’t let the loss go–he puts up another bet, to play a round of dibidibidib.

javabeans: And then he loses that too. HAHA. At least Seung-woo’s a good loser.

girlfriday: Hee, he gets up saying, “I’m badly wounded… physically… emotionally.” Meanwhile, his teammates debate picking 500 tomatoes or going to bungee jump. The other team has the exact same conversation in their car, all deciding they can’t face the jump.

javabeans: Seung-woo drives over to meet his team at the bungee location, and gives himself a pep talk, sorta: “Bungee jumping? Eh, just do it!… Tae-hyun can.” The bachelors meet on the bridge, and all of them are immediately like, “Nope, can’t do it.” Tae-woong wants to go tomato-picking instead, ha. I love that he’s the hard-working laborer guy — he prefers the thing that requires no skill or courage, but just tedious energy.

girlfriday: Tae-hyun really intends to jump, because he gets there and asks the guy to hurry up and get him in gear ‘cause they’re running out of time. At first he’s all jokey and running towards the end like it’s all fun and games… but then he looks down and his face starts to change.

javabeans: This is totally the kind of thing you just have to DO, without letting too much time slip by to change your mind. The longer he’s up there at the end of the bridge, the more and more you can see the fear settle in. Whereas, if there were a way to get harnessed in super-fast and just jump, he totally would’ve been fine.

girlfriday: Yeah I think it’s the time spent up there, thinking it through — that’s the worst. And then everyone else joins him up there, and his teammates make it worse, saying he doesn’t really have to do it if he doesn’t want to. So quickly, he’s like, “Okay then!” Haha. Then Su-geun has to be like, Um… we didn’t mean it…

javabeans: HA. And their team totally needs the money, too. There’s only 3 of them, and I don’t know the total, but it’s a lot less than the bachelors’ 200-plus dollars. Su-geun’s all like, “Someone on this show has to jump!” And I’m like, uh, I don’t see you suiting up.

girlfriday: Both Shi-kyung and Tae-hyun have bungeed before, and Shi-kyung says he remembers the feeling: “I told myself I’d never do it again.” That’s not helping. Tae-hyun says the fear really only lasts four seconds, but in that freefall you’re thinking, “Why did I do this?!”

javabeans: He’s like, it’s only four seconds, but man those four seconds are tough to endure. Su-geun is totally not helping: “You don’t have to if you really don’t want to… but we need the money… but you don’t have to…”

girlfriday: Su-geun says they really don’t need the money, and now it’s just a promise to himself. Tae-hyun: “But… I’m the guy who always loses to myself. I have never once won against myself in anything.” Hahaha.

javabeans: Jong-min’s fear really does seem pronounced, though, and he’s the only one who can’t bear to be on the bridge at all; he shouts encouragement from off to the side, safely under a roof. And then Tae-hyun finally just decides to DO IT, even though he totally doesn’t want to, and jumps off the end. It does look terrifying. But awesome. Okay, who thought to score the moment with the song “Icarus’ Wings” (Vanila City)? Because… that story doesn’t end well.

girlfriday: Heh, perhaps to add more suspense? Now the single team is watching with serious expressions, half jealous, half scared, wondering if they should do it. DO IT!

javabeans: I want to see Joo-won do it, because I half-think he might pee his pants.

girlfriday: But! He’s Gaksital!

javabeans: Which is why it’s funny? Shi-kyung’s already jumped before and Jong-min looks like his phobia is so real that it might honestly break him. So it’s Joo-won or Tae-woong, and either would be hilarious. I do like how many angles we get of the jump, which does make me agree that it would’ve been a shame to do all that prep (with cameramen even laying down in boats below) and get no jump.

girlfriday: Tae-woong keeps saying he wants to but can’t, and it’s Joo-won who says, “Then should we all jump?” Shi-kyung agrees to do it if they do, gearing up first. Are they really all jumping? It’d be hilarious if they agreed and then didn’t, after Shi-kyung jumped.

javabeans: That would be so awesome if they all did. Or even if they all agreed to mass jump, and then three of them stepped back. Haha. Too bad Seung-gi’s not here to fall for it. (Hur.)

girlfriday: They totally should’ve tried that. Evil, but brilliant. I do think this group’s peer pressure pact just might work, but you never know who’s gonna back out on the ledge.

javabeans: Su-geun tries to pull the “But it’s manly!” thing on Tae-woong, who immediately quips, “I’m womanly!” Pwahahaha. And now I’m remembering what an ugly woman Tae-woong makes. Shi-kyung actually looks like he’s pumped up and excited to jump, hooting off the edge, and then he does an aside to camera: “I’ve gone crazy, I see.”

girlfriday: People cheer him on from down below and he’s like, “I’m just trying it on…” But the guy counts down, and he jumps, even having the presence of mind to yell, “1 Night 2 Days!” I love that Jong-min is waiting to catch him in the boat.

javabeans: Joo-won watches this all with a super serious look on his face, and finally speaks up: “I’m jumping.”

girlfriday: Woot!

javabeans: Don’t you love Tae-woong’s reaction? It’s all, “But then how does that make ME look?”

girlfriday: Yeah it’s so like, I’m the hyung! You can’t make me look this way! Joo-won gears up and heads to the platform. “I think I’m gonna die.”

javabeans: You can practically feel his heart palpitating. The guy counts down a few times, and finally he just takes the leap.

girlfriday: Whoa, he goes down head-first, like a dive.

javabeans: He does have the coolest takeoff, even getting air into the jump.

girlfriday: Must be all those Gaksital leaps off of buildings. I can’t even imagine the fear of hurtling towards the ground literally head-first.
javabeans: Dude it would be awesome. We have to go bungee jumping now.

girlfriday: Next vacation! And only if the minions go first.

javabeans: That can be arranged. Now Tae-woong has no choice, does he? He suits up too, because you can’t in this situation be the big buzzkill, can you? Aw, how adorable, the jumping guy is actually a fan and before Tae-woong jumps, he asks for an autograph and gets a big message scrawled onto the back of his shirt. He signs off with, “I’m scared!” Hahaha.

girlfriday: That’s so cute. Tae-woong admits that he’s always been most afraid of bungee jumping, and thought to himself that if he could do this, he could do anything. Aw. Countdown… and he jumps! Ha, his jump is the opposite of Joo-won’s, going feet-first.

javabeans: I actually tear up watching him falling and crowing into his wrist-cam. At first he’s all, “I’m crazy, I’m crazy!” and then he talks to himself, “You did good, Tae-woong-ah. Now you can do anything!”

girlfriday: And I love how he gets the Superman music.

javabeans: Too bad Tae-woong and Joo-won jumped after deadline, so they don’t earn money. Bummer, but I don’t think they mind at this point. It was really about the jump itself. The Marrieds have, all total, 66,800 won (so sixty bucks). The Bachelors have… 267,100 won. Tae-woong’s the MVP of the day.

girlfriday: That’s a massive difference. Bird PD says there’s a punishment for the losing team — dishes after dinner. After cooking for a hundred people, then dishes too? Tae-woong: “WHY do we have to do this?” Rumblings of a revolt? Shi-kyung: “Do we have to bathe you too?” HA.

javabeans: They calm down and agree to go with the mission, although I bet we’ll be hearing a LOT more from the losing team later. They head off to shop for groceries, and Team Married is looking at the cheapest ramyun they can find, with pickled radishes. That’ll feed ‘em, but I can’t see that winning any missions… Then again, Team Bachelor is already talking like they’ve won the whole shebang, which makes me nervous. They can afford fresh ingredients, but they’ll have to cook ‘em well.

girlfriday: Chef Shi-kyung takes the reins on his team, since he knows how to make a spicy marinated pork dish. That should go over well. If they can manage cooking in that quantity. That’s always the twist in a task like this: math.

javabeans: And the one-hour cooking time limit. Eep! The teams return to basecamp where there are two cooking stations set up. Let the magic begin.

girlfriday: Team Married actually worries that it’s too much time, given that their dish is ramyun. Ha. Team Bachelor splits up for different duties, and Tae-woong is off somewhere peeling onions, worrying about how the onion must feel, being stripped naked and all. Pffft. I forgot how weird and silly he is in the kitchen.

javabeans: Ha, he totally is a goofball. He’s crouching peeling onions off to the side, and he looks at the hubbub over at the cooking station and sighs, “I want to go to the party too.” Caption: Uhmderella? Over on the other team, the husbands role-play like they’re shooting a drama titled Ramyun, with Su-geun barking orders and Seung-woo chirping, “Yes, Chep!” Seung-woo says he can’t work in a restaurant like this, because he needs instruction in the cooking methods. Su-geun retorts that they’re a ramyun house so there’s nothing to learn.

girlfriday: Tae-hyun: “Open packages for three years, then you’ll move up to opening sauce packets for three years!”

javabeans: My crush on Shi-kyung is totally coming back in full force.

girlfriday: Because he’s making tasty food?

javabeans: He’s just the calm, capable and stoic manly man. Rawr. Which is also why it’s so enjoyable when he’s NOT, but as far as being in his element, he sure looks damn good to me.

girlfriday: Er, things are not going well on Team Married. They’ve burnt the rice, and are burning the mandoo.

javabeans: Is this what happens when you get too used to the wife handling your cooking? Here’s where the necessity of feeding yourself may be an advantage for the singletons.

girlfriday: It’s starting to look that way, though I’m not sure how Team Bachelor would’ve fared without Chef Shi-kyung at the helm. They only barely start to cook after a looooong prep time, but things are looking up for them: good smells, good rice, happy looks all around.

javabeans: Bachelor Dinner is what you and your friends go out to eat for (barbecue pork, dwenjang jjigae), and Married Dinner is what you make for yourself at 3am after coming home from the party, half-drunk (jajang ramyun, frozen mandoo, hot dogs in kimchi).

girlfriday: I do think it’s funny that Su-geun, whose wife is the best cook, is the worst in the kitchen.

javabeans: It’s half “Huh, why wouldn’t he learn?” and half “Well of course, he just lets her cook then!”

girlfriday: Everything’s starting to come together, and it’s making me seriously hungry. Chef Shi-kyung comes by to do a taste test of the soybean stew the others have made without him. He takes a slurp and makes a yucky face, “EH!” They all look up at him in horror… “It’s tasty!”

javabeans: Aw, he’s learned the art of the fake-out!

girlfriday: It’s adorable.

javabeans: It’s time for the crew judging. First with Team Married, and Seung-woo (ha!) describes their concept as “a fusion between Chinese and Korean cuisine.” Which, PFFFFFT. Whereas the bachelors get Food Truck Ajumma’s stamp of approval.

girlfriday: So a few people get to sample each side, but then the contest isn’t based on taste per se. Everyone lines up and then chooses which side to eat their dinner from, and they tally everyone’s choices. But, what if there are regrets? Shouldn’t they taste both and vote?

javabeans: Is this where presentation comes into play? Ha.

girlfriday: Jong-min is busy selling their side, announcing things like Su-geun’s stylist choosing their side over loyalty. The older guys seem to choose the Marrieds based on trust alone, thinking they’d be better cooks. Everyone makes their choices and the consensus seems to be: Bachelor dinner tastes good, Married dinner tastes burnt. Oh no. But… wouldn’t you know it, Bird PD announces the winners, and the Marrieds have it.

javabeans: Whaaaa? They got 49 staffers out of 87 who ate. But… what about that one guy who said, “I regret my choice”?

girlfriday: I guess regrets don’t matter. Which is why it’s kind of the PD’s fault for tallying it this way. Aw, they made the better dinner and they have to clean up anyway?

javabeans: They should’ve done it Top Chef style, where in Restaurant Wars the diners have evaluation cards. You can’t eat both meals, but at least you can judge what you did eat. It’s sort of sad, the atmosphere, because they all are pretty confident their meal was better liked. Whereas I think if they knew they messed up, they’d be in better spirits. Ah, I guess that’s why it’s bokbulbok.

girlfriday: That is a crazy huge load of dishes, all scrubbed by hand too.

javabeans: Ha, a moth flies inside the room, and Joo-won frantically bats at it and stomps his feet.

girlfriday: I love that at first he seems brave, but then freaks, “It touched my hand!” *feet stompy*

javabeans: Meanwhile, the winners get to rest with fruit platters and iced coffees.

girlfriday: Seung-woo’s shouted himself hoarse, so he’s taken to writing down his reactions on a sketchpad: “Wow,” or “Hahaha.”

javabeans: Adorable. He even draws two back-to-back ones, of one finger (1 night), and then two.

girlfriday: Bed time. Each team takes out their supplies, which aren’t much. Team Married has a mosquito net and a mat, and Team Bachelor lugs out that mattress they brought all the way here. It is hilariously way too small for four grown men, but they crawl onto it anyway.

javabeans: It’s cracking me up so hard. But you can’t have brought it here and then NOT use it, so they stubbornly refuse to admit it’s not comfortable with all four squished inside.

girlfriday: They literally HAVE to spoon four ways to be in it. That mattress is my new favorite thing.

javabeans: Because the mosquito net is so transparent, there’s this hilarious shot of Joo-won inside it, looking nervously around, telling Tae-woong that it’s like the mosquitoes are watching them. Then a moth flies onto the net, and he flicks it off like a huge scaredy cat.

girlfriday: I just love the shot of them in the morning, all four facing in one direction, squeezed onto that silly bed. The alarm rings at 6 in the morning with “Oppa’n Kangnam style…” and Tae-hyun literally wakes up and immediately starts horse-dancing. The PD asks if everyone slept well and Su-geun guffaws that she knows they were up all night watching soccer. Ah it was the night of the bronze medal game and half of them chose soccer over sleep.

javabeans: That explains why they look particularly dead this morning. This mission has the added bonus of allowing you to go home right away. The theme is “connections”: they have to call somebody (a friend, family member, anyone) and whoever gets picked up first gets to leave. Now they all scroll through their phones, wondering who they can call at 6 am.

girlfriday: Haha, that’s funny, but also potentially mean. Su-geun starts saying there are lots of people who would come for him, and Tae-woong cuts in, “The grim reaper?” HA.

javabeans: Joo-won starts dialing first, and asks, “Hyung are you going to work?” Shi-kyung calls someone and says they’ll all be surprised by his person… because nobody’ll know who it is, haha. Then Tae-woong calls his contact, but his voice is strangely gruff and polite, and Tae-hyun laughs, “Is he calling the cops?”

girlfriday: He gets a no, and hangs up disappointedly, and they ask who it was. Tae-woong: “Bird PD.” LOL.

javabeans: Tae-hyun starts arguing with his person, which is hilarious. “I said someone has to come for me! Or else I can’t go home!” Shi-kyung gets this aha look on his face and guesses: “Jang Hyuk?”

girlfriday: That would be so awesome. Sleepy Jang Hyuk here to pick him up, all grumpypants? Su-geun calls someone who must be a gagman (maybe Lee Byung-man?) because they do his silly fake Chinese back and forth until Su-guen finally has to be like, “Cut it out.”

javabeans: The funny thing is that it’s Korean, so you can sort of make out what they’re saying, like they’re actually carrying on a real conversation even though it sounds like nothing.

girlfriday: Jong-min calls someone and the first thing he says is: “Did you drink?”

javabeans: Ha, Tae-hyun immediately quips, “It must be Shinji” (his groupmate). And then Jong-min smiles and says, “Shinji-ya….” Aw, cute. Seung-woo calls his person, and says they’ll be bound to startle everyone. “In fact, if you are not all startled, I won’t leave.” He gives them a hint: “It’s someone with dignity.” Tae-hyun: “Then that’s too burdensome for US.” Hahaha.

girlfriday: There’s no way he got Jang Dong-gun out of bed at 6 in the morning, right?

javabeans: It’s a deliberate reference to dignity… but no way. I’m like, could it be one of the others? Kim Min-jong?

girlfriday: But he’s on a baseball team with Jang Dong-gun, right? So maybe? Possibly?

javabeans: They wait around awhile and the first car arrives… and out steps someone nobody recognizes. So they’re like, must be Shi-kyung’s friend. Yep, he’s his trainer and friend, and says they’re good buddies in real life. Asked how Shi-kyung is as a friend, he says he’s mostly a good one… although if he hadn’t come today he would’ve given him a hard time for the next week or two.

girlfriday: The second friend arrives, Hong Kyung-min, and at first I don’t even know who he’s here for, because he’s one of those celebrities who’s like friends with everyone. Also, he looks like a wreck.

javabeans: Tae-hyun even jokes that they’ll leave asap, ‘cause his friend looks even worse than he’d expected. I love how the men were all up anyway, though, having stayed up to watch soccer. Omg, and there’s apparently a hilarious second degree of separation between Hong Kyung-min and Uhm Tae-woong, from waaaay back in the day — they’d both participated in a program about singers singing with siblings, and it was Uhms against Hongs. Oh, that nineties hair.

girlfriday: That’s a really embarrassing clip. The next car arrives, and Joo-won shoots up nervously. Aw, is that his real hyung?

javabeans: Joo-won has a hyung? Dude. I always pictured him having like five older sisters.

girlfriday: I guess this explains why he so naturally latches onto other hyungs. They ask if they fought growing up, and he says no–at five years apart, Joo-won was pretty much just the good little brother.

javabeans: Why is it so hilarious that in the midst of a regular conversation with Gaksital’s brother, we pan over and Hong Kyung-min’s scarfing down a pot of ramyun?

girlfriday: This whole situation is just so weird. It’s chaos, but entertaining. And it’s so interesting how different Joo-won is in front of his hyung–suddenly very quiet and nervous.

javabeans: Aw, both Shinji and Bbaek Ga came for Jong-min. I dunno why, but the old groups that are still tight just make me feel so warm and fuzzy. The first thing Shinji says is to Hong Kyung-min, how he’s eating away his hangover. Haha. Then they start in on a round of how unusual it is that Shinji didn’t drink last night, and Su-geun tries to smooth it over saying that the viewers might get the wrong idea about her, and Jong-min and Bbaek Ga both burst out, “But it’s true!”

girlfriday: Omg, Bbaek Ga and Jong-min answering everything in unison is just the cutest thing ever.

javabeans: Omo, and then Shinji’s like, “Why didn’t you ask your girlfriend to come pick you up?” And Jong-min bursts out, “I said I don’t HAVE one!” Seung-woo starts worrying that his contact won’t come and everyone will start leaving without him. They point out that Koyote haven’t been able to leave yet — ‘cause Bbaek Ga’s 30-year-old tin can on wheels won’t start. Cut to: Koyote, pushing the car, saying, “Let’s work really hard to make money and buy Bbaek Ga a new car.” They are just so cute.

girlfriday: D’awwwww.

javabeans: Why does it not surprise me that Tae-woong’s buddy, a friend from high school, is the director for a Jindo (dog) association? Hong Kyung-min acts as the MC as he greets the friend, and jokes that he’s the host of a new program called Killing Camp.

girlfriday: Su-geun’s cracking me up. He asks whether the dog is male or female, “Is it an ahm-nom or a soo-nom,” and then oh-so-casually adds, “What kind of nom is Uhm Tae-woong?”

javabeans: Su-geun’s friend turns out to be a gagman after all, Byun Seung-yoon, and they all take turns basically ribbing him for not being a good one. Ha. Bird PD gives everyone the okay to go home except Seung-woo, and they all start to rise. Seung-woo actually stutters, like he’s nervous, “You’re g-going?”

girlfriday: It would be hilarious if Jang Dong-gun really came and no one was left to be wowed.

javabeans: The remaining members sit around waiting with Seung-woo, and notice that they’re all Marrieds: “This is what connects us.” Bird PD asks, “Are you sure it’s not because you don’t want to go home?” Su-geun: “That is what connects us.”

girlfriday: Hee. But they wait and wait, and Seung-woo’s friend doesn’t come, so they end up leaving in the end. Even the crew starts to pack up, and poor Seung-woo looks like the last kid whose parents forgot to pick him up after school.

javabeans: Aw, that’s so sad. Bet Bird PD’s reconsidering his brilliant morning mission now, huh?

girlfriday: Seung-woo asks the crew, “Even if you aren’t surprised, will you act like it?”

javabeans: Finally a huge van starts to pull up the road, and the crew perks up. It sure is a fancy, celeb-appropriate vehicle. And out steps…THE WIFE, hahahaha.

girlfriday: OMO!

javabeans: Kim Nam-joo’s actually on 1N2D! At least the crew is excited, and there are screams.

girlfriday: She totally gets screams of excitement, unprompted by Seung-woo. ‘Cause yunno… she’s kind of a bigger star than he is.

javabeans: She comes bearing ice cream, too. It’s funny to me because she’s totally a huge star, but she’s also his wife, so not exactly a surprise.

girlfriday: She’s so cute and all excited, and Seung-woo says he was told to call his closest friend, so he called her. AW. And she even came after an all-night shoot on the drama set.

javabeans: They’re adorable together, like these super-affectionate moony-for-each-other lovebirds. And then he announces the “present” he prepared for her, and gets up with a notebook. He prepares her, saying that if it doesn’t get broadcast it’ll have been cut for being too cornily lovey-dovey. Cue Love Actually reenactment! Aw, it’s from when he was writing all his comments from being hoarse.

girlfriday: Why are they so cute? His note: “Thanks for coming… And… You are… To me… Someone who rolled in unexpectedly (like a stroke of luck).” A reference to her drama, of course.

javabeans: Is she tearing up?

girlfriday: She’s totally about to cry.

javabeans: She’s all, this is the first time he’s ever done something like this. She demands the book to keep, and then notes, “The book is so thick, your note’s a little short.” Seung-woo: “That’s why if I did stuff like this, you’d get used to it like a habit!” Seung-woo asks her to say a few words, and she says, “I hope you beat Running Man!”

girlfriday: Haha. Such a straight-shooter. They get in the car and do a final sign off, and kiss. So cute. She squeals, “Oppa! You were supposed to kiss me on the cheek!”

javabeans: I love them separately, but I LOVE them together.

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