Running Man: Episode 119

by gummimochi

What do you get when you combine sports with Running Man? Hilarity. And when you mix in a chock-full of superpowers? Confusion. Try your best to keep up with the plethora of superpowers the cast throws at us. This sure isn’t your traditional game of baseball you played in gym class. I suppose two adorable baseball superstars make up for it.

EPISODE 119. Broadcast on November 11, 2012.

On this fine autumn day, Jae-suk arrives with a smile: he’s already seen the headlines about today’s guests. He frowns a little, however, at the green jacket. What do you mean it’s not your favorite color?

Gary picks up Ji-hyo’s jacket for her and stares into the camera, “If you miss [me/it], then come find me!” One by one, the speakers announce their entrance and they wonder if they’ll be starting today without an opening.

Just then, another guest arrives: actress Jin Se-yeon (Five Fingers, Gaksital) who’s an adorable ball of nerves. “What if I get eliminated right away?”

We hear voices in another part of the building which belong to none other than today’s guests: baseball stars Choo Shin-soo (Cleveland Indians) and “Monster Pitcher” Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanhwa Eagles).

They’re busy practicing each other’s name tags and Shin-soo admits that the ripping noise certainly feels unsettling. He feels that it might be rude to rip the cast’s name tags off right away and Hyun-jin jokes, “So we’ll say ‘Nice to meet you!’ and rrrripp!”

They continue to joke around and then Hyun-jin freezes – he took the stitches out with the name tag already. HA – I think I love them already.

A mix of shock and fear washes over the cast members’ faces as the sports stars are introduced and Haha whines, “It’s like having three Jong-kooks today!”

And then the speakers blare their first mission – time to tear off some name tags. Ohhh yeah. I love an episode that starts off with a bang.

The cast start to panic and call to join forces but that’s no use because Shin-soo charges towards Haha and takes him out in seven seconds flat. Woah.

Kwang-soo runs into Jong-kook and the two of them whisper that they have to team up but then Shin-soo bursts out of the stairwell. He grabs for Kwang-soo and Jong-kook bolts. HA.

Kwang-soo pleads for his life, calling out for Jong-kook who hides in a corner. Shin-soo reaches for Kwang-soo’s back… and Kwang-soo has Shin-soo’s name tag in his hand as well.

It’s no surprise that Shin-soo’s the one who comes out victorious, Kwang-soo’s name tag in hand. And as Kwang-soo heads to jail in the elevator he comments that things would’ve turned out differently if only he was a little faster. Mmhmm.

Shin-soo gives chase when he hears a voice in the distance. It’s Yooruce Willis who spotted him around the corner. Jae-suk runs like his life depends on it but let’s assess here – you’ve got an MBA player on your tail.

Soon, Hyun-jin joins in on the chase and Jae-suk’s run so far away that he loses his VJ in the process. But Shin-soo catches up with him and rips off the name tag with ease.

That’s three cast members down in 10 minutes. Impressive.

We hear someone else’s screams in the corridors. Those belong to Gary who is currently running away from Hyun-jin.

I love that everyone is so good-hearted about this entire game, both the chaser and chased alike. It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Poor Hyun-jin grabs his side and is breathless and Shin-soo gasps, “I haven’t exercised since the season ended!”

They form an alliance and comment that this show sure is tiring. That’s right, sir – Running Man can take the wind out of any athlete, even Olympians. Then, someone else grabs their attention and Shin-soo sing-songs, “I got you~”

Jong-kook looks in surprise… to see Ji-hyo and Se-yeon. Ji-hyo worries about the brute force of the baseball players. The screams liken to those when they were hiding from Choi Min-soo.

Ji-hyo relays that Se-yeon’s got one wish: to take out Suk-jin. Cut to: Suk-jin hiding beneath a TV stand. Pfft.

After some time, Suk-jin finally resolves to venture out into the jungle. He’ll be safe just as long as he remains out of sight, right? But just his luck because he catches Shin-soo’s eyes. Ah, so that’s who he started chasing after.

Suk-jin tries to run away from Shin-soo… only to find Hyun-jin waiting for him. Ack! His elimination is announced and Se-yeon stomps her feet. She was supposed to take out the Impala!

Mr. PD sounds surprised that the two baseball players are now allies and Hyun-jin tells them that he’s even going to lose to Shin-soo sunbae. “He came such a long way, after all.” Hahaha.

Watching Hyun-jin move away from Jong-kook makes me nervous. Surely he isn’t luring Spartakooks into a trap, right? Then Jong-kook proposes to join forces and take Shin-soo out together. Well now…

… and Shin-soo gives him the okay. They part for now and Jong-kook whispers, “Choo Shin-soo, I never thought that we’d meet like this.”

A little while later, Shin-soo rounds the corner and spots Jong-kook who instinctively runs away. Jong-kook remains calm as he does his best to muffle the sounds of his footsteps, buying time until Hyun-jin arrives.

Cut to: Hyun-jin trying to find his way around. “How do I get upstairs?” HAHA.

Ultimately, Shin-soo’s got Jong-kook cornered and the latter tries to reason with him as well. How about they face off in a final showdown? It’s much more entertaining than watching two baseball stars have at it.

Shin-soo contemplates that for a moment and then decides, Heck with that and reaches for Jong-kook. The ladies look on downstairs, nervous, and the two men start wrestling each other.

Jong-kook’s quick to prevent Shin-soo from reaching and soon he’s got the baseball player pinned against the wall. In a matter of seconds, Jong-kook tears the name tag off and Shin-soo collapses to the ground.

Drunk with victory, Jong-kook shouts, “You should have backed down when I went easy on you!” He keeps his smile just long enough to show the name tag to the ladies but when he turns around, a glint of nervousness betrays his confidence.

Jong-kook and Hyun-jin run into each other in the stairwell. He’s ready to forgive the pitcher for not showing up earlier (Hyun-jin: “You should have screamed!” Jong-kook: “I did! The entire neighborhood could hear me!”) if they take out the ladies together.

Hyun-jin nods and a voice calls out, “What’d you just say?”

Ha – it’s so cute that Hyun-jin sends Ji-hyo secretive baseball signals and then admits that he’s already let the ladies off once. Jong-kook: “That means it’s time to eliminate them, right?” He nods again.

This is Running Man which means that people are in danger every time their backs are turned. Like how Ji-hyo moves up the stairs when Jong-kook isn’t looking or how Se-yeon hesitantly reaches for Ji-hyo’s name tag.

In jail, Suk-jin boasts that out of all the times he’s been eliminated (I think we should make up a prize for that), Shin-soo definitely takes the cake. So they’re legitimately surprised to see Shin-soo himself, who tells them that he’s been taken out by Jong-kook.

Shin-soo shares that everyone around him told him to take Jong-kook out because “he acts like he’s too strong.” Jae-suk remarks that those same people will think differently after today’s broadcast.

Ji-hyo decides to sneak attack Hyun-jin but he notices her reflection (or maybe her VJ) and she yelps when he appears. Her scream startles Jong-kook and Se-yeon but it’s too late for them to come to her rescue as he tears off her name tag, smiling brightly, “You’re out!”

Then he runs towards Se-yeon who’s in the elevator. She’s like, “Do you know who I am?” He does but he’s still going to take you out. She cries, “And I didn’t get to tear off any name tags!”

Back in jail, the eliminated hear that it’s down to Hyun-jin and Jong-kook, so they chant for their favored victor: “Ryu Hyun-jin! Ryu Hyun-jin!”

The two men face-off and Hyun-jin asks, “You’ve done this a lot, right?” Wait, what do you mean?! Like Jong-kook’s done this a lot so he should lose?

They decide that they’ll make this final battle an epic one and start from opposite ends, setting up a plan. They go to shake hands… and Hyun-jin reaches for Jong-kook’s back.

Round and round they spin as Jong-kook has a shocked expression. Hyun-jin’s got both his hands on Jong-kook’s name tag now and then tears it off his back. He laughs in a high-pitched gleeful voice.

The others give Hyun-jin a hearty congratulations in jail and gang up on Jong-kook for eliminating Shin-soo earlier. Shin-soo even plays along, feigning injury.

But that was just the preview. Today’s theme is a superpower baseball game. They’ll pick up associated ‘superpower’ cards through mini games that will help them for the match.

The guests look at each other – confused – and Suk-jin tells them, “We’re clapping because we don’t understand either!” HA.

The group is divided into two teams (Hyun-jin, Jong-kook, Gary, Kwang-soo, & Se-yeon vs. Shin-soo, Jae-suk, Suk-jin, Haha, & Ji-hyo) and the Hyun-jin’s team starts off with two unknown superpowers.

In the car, Kwang-soo guffaws as he listens to Jong-kook tell Hyun-jin that he better put in his A-game today. Caption: It’s like teaching Michael Jordan how to shoot hoops.

What do you know – Shin-soo’s actually the maknae on his team (He’s born in 1982) and the others talk about the chant from the States, “Go Choo!” LOL. Oh man, that’s… (laughs).

(Gochu means ‘pepper’ but is also a slang for ‘weenie’.) Omg, the more they say it, the more I’m laughing. Hey, I wasn’t the one who made it up!

At their first mission, the game rules are as follows: One person tries pushes their legs out while the other pushes in using their thighs. Either the person must separate the other’s legs or the other must endure until time runs out.

Jae-suk goes up against Hyun-jin first and the literal size difference of their legs is a sight gag in of itself. The clock winds down to the last few seconds as Jae-suk cries out in literal pain. The victor is a bit unclear but Jae-suk is declared the winner.

Now Shin-soo and Jong-kook face off for Round 2 and as soon as the whistle blows, Shin-soo turns a bright red. Jong-kook can barely budge an inch and all we can hear is chants of, “Go Choo! Go Choo!”

Stop making me laugh – this is supposed to be a serious battle!

Spartakooks rounds up one last burst of strength but it isn’t enough and Shin-soo wins the battle, picking up two superpower cards for his team.

Mr. PD asks the cast to turn around and the curtain drops to reveal a small crowd. Jong-kook is pleased to see that it’s a ddakji elimination battle and they put the two baseball players head to head.

Shin-soo flips it on the second try (Hyun-jin gives an adorable Hmph on his face) but then Gary flips Shin-soo’s ddakji to much cheering from the crowd. It’s like Gary can do no wrong as he sends away both Suk-jin and Haha.

Man now I hope that Ji-hyo wins but then she completely misses his ddakji. Gary crumbles a little when she asks him not to flip hers over, “Then say that we’re dating again.” Pffft.

She might have missed that ddakji but she ain’t gonna miss slappin’ your face for that comment. No matter because he flips it over.

Now it’s undefeated Gary against the former ddakji champion, Jae-suk. HAHAHA – Jae-suk sans glasses always cracks me up.

Gary fails to send Jae-suk away in one round… but so does Jae-suk, who misses. LOL.

But it’s Gary who comes out victorious with an all-kill and walks away like a cool cat. Jong-kook tells Jae-suk, “Come back [to fight me] when you’ve beaten Gary!

The cast arrives at the baseball field for their Superpower Baseball Match. Aww and Hyun-jin gets some good news. (He was offered a posting bid to work with the LA Dodgers.)

Shown an array of available superpowers, each team starts choosing. Each team choose a “Hyun-jin/Shin-soo Controller.” When Kwang-soo asks if he can have a power named, “Glove Metamorphosis.” Hyun-jin asks, “Why?” As if it’s useless. Hehehe.

This can get confusing so we’ll tackle the powers as they come. The teams greet each other and waitaminit, that’s Kwang-soo and Haha pretending to kiss each other. Wouldn’t Byul have something to say about this?

Though now everyone is souped up on superpowers, they can only use their power once per inning. The pitcher, however, can change powers whenever they like.

Gary’s up first and safely makes it onto first base. Suk-jin’s pitch to Se-yeon goes short but it hits the edge of her foot. That counts as an injury as she runs to first base and the boys chase after Suk-jin.

Haha revs up for his first pitch against Hyun-jin and calls upon his power as a Devil Pitcher.

He throws the ball and suddenly, smoke bursts in Hyun-jin’s face. HA. (The power actually distracts the batter and the throw is declared a strike.)

But Haha the pitcher isn’t done yet and calls for his second power. He throws the ball but then another one drops from above and lands close to the catcher’s outstretched glove. HAHA – it’s Hyun-jin’s WTF just happened face that sells the moment.

Another burst of smoke later, Hyun-jin strikes out and he falls to the ground, laughing.

I love the little captions in the player introductions. Like how Jong-kook’s strength is ‘all sports’ but his weaknesses include, ‘Yoon Eun-hye, Moon Geun-young.’

He hits the ball with two bases loaded. Gary runs safely to third base but Jong-kook gets ahead of himself and runs towards second… and turns right back around when he sees that Se-yeon is already there.

He gets tagged out by the time he reaches first base and Hyun-jin lets out a cry of exasperation.

Ji-hyo starts off the bottom half of the first inning and she uses her power right away to transform her bat into a huge board. She cries, “This is heavier!” But thanks to a slip by Jong-kook, she reaches first base.

Kwang-soo uses his ‘Lol Lol’ power to throw three pitches simultaneously but that also means he gets three balls thrown back to him by the catcher.

Jae-suk somehow hits one of the three on the second pitch and both Haha and Shin-soo arrive at home plate to bring the score to 2:0.

Haha (Strength: New Husband. Weakness: Married Man) calls upon the power to control Hyun-jin, which basically means Haha gets to choose the ball that is pitched to him. It works and though Suk-jin slides into home, he’s tagged out by Gary.

Kwang-soo calls on the ‘Shin-soo Controller’ and gets to choose the bat of his choice. Omg, this is getting more hilariously ridiculous by the minute. Anyone else confused and overwhelmed yet?

Jae-suk asks, “Are you letting him hit the ball or not?” Jong-kook: “Not!”

Shin-soo isn’t too deterred by a small stick and hits the ball anyway. Two of his teammates make it to home plate and he runs to third base. Flabbergasted, Kwang-soo yells: “Don’t we have a toothpick [to give him]!”

Se-yeon uses her ‘Homerun’ ability to score an automatic home run. She runs around the bases embarrassed. Then Shin-soo sighs when Hyun-jin uses another power: moving the fence just around the bases.

Hyun-jin easily hits the ball outside of the makeshift fence and brings the score 4:2 against his team.

HAHAHAHA – and the “fence” has to walk backwards to their original position. So much work for one superpower.

Gary’s superpower is hilarious. He basically dons a fat suit, which means that any throw that hits him is considered a ball. The opposing team cries, “Your belly is covering home plate!”

Gary: “I gained some weight! What can I do about that?” Is he going to have to run across the bases in that too? He does. LOL.

The bases are loaded with two outs and Kwang-soo faces off against Jae-suk. He runs outside the line which results in the end of the inning. Kwang-soo defends, “I honestly don’t know anything about baseball!”

Turns out that Jong-kook is weak when it comes to baseball as he flubs the ball again. “Let’s play baseball with Jong-kook from now on!” The others cry.

Hyun-jin throws a ball back towards Ji-hyo who has to slide back to first (it’s more like a ‘kerplunk’). Then with two bases loaded, Jae-suk uses his power to teleport bases.

Then we see the home plate zip towards third base. AHAHAHA – my brain can’t even compute this anymore.

It feels a little more like a traditional baseball game as Hyun-jin and Shin-soo are pitted against each other. The ball rolls towards Jong-kook, who catches it this time, but it’s too late – Ji-hyo’s already stomped on home plate/third base. It’s just not Jong-kook’s day.

By the top of the third inning, the score’s now 5:2 in favor of Shin-soo’s team. Kwang-soo hits and runs towards second, only to find it missing. He runs towards third base, “Where did second go?!”

Then with some encouragement, Se-yeon calls for another automatic home run. I get why and it’s not necessarily anyone’s fault but it does sound like a cheap shot at this point.

In any case, it brings the score to 6:5 in favor of Hyun-soo’s team by the latter half of the last inning.

Haha eggs on the other team to lure Hyun-jin out but Kwang-soo comes out instead. Using his ‘Lol Lol’ power, he effectively confuses Haha with the simultaneous pitching.

However, Haha calls him ‘a cowardly Giraffe’ and Kwang-soo dismisses his Lol Lols… so he can send a pitch right at Haha. This breaks into a (play) fight and effectively, the umpire pulls both of them out of the game.

Haha and Kwang-soo both cry, “We get along [in real life]!” Given your pretend kiss earlier, very much so I’d say.

Now with two outs, Hyun-jin warns that he won’t joke around anymore. Jae-suk hits a foul and Hyun-jin throws a strike. With two outs and two strikes, can Jae-suk make it?

Jae-suk hits a ground ball that rolls towards Hyun-jin… but it slips through his fingers. He belatedly throws it to the first baseman who misses it. Run, Jae-suk, run!

Jae-suk makes it to second and Shin-soo’s team calls to teleport home plate towards third. Oh, now it is on.

Not only that, Ji-hyo changes her bat and Jae-suk calls upon another power and piggybacks Haha. (If they both make it to home plate, they score two runs.)

Hyun-jin’s team has their own weaponry and calls up a defensive outfielder army. Oy, this is two steps to utter chaos.

Ji-hyo misses the ball and Jae-suk ever so slowly inches towards home plate. She hits the second pitch and it rolls towards Hyun-jin who picks it up and runs to first before it even registers to Ji-hyo. He yells, “We’ve won!”

HA – then Haha screams out, “The power to see the future!” and throws down his ‘ddakji.’ Er, I don’t think it works like that anymore. He calls Jae-suk to do the same and Jae-suk, breathless: “I can’t do this anymore.”

Hyun-jin and his team win a fancy golden trophy for winning the Superpower Baseball Game. Shin-soo pouts and yells, “We should have won that! I came here for that!”

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