Running Man: Episode 162

by gummimochi

A record-breaking number of guests visit to play some games with the Running Man cast in this Idol Special. But don’t let the number scare you off—this episode is a rollicking fun time that has just enough chaos to keep the laughs coming at any given moment. And yes, there’s plenty of eye candy for both guys and gals alike.

EPISODE 162. Broadcast on September 7, 2013.

We waste no time to introduce our fourteen(!) idol guests from seven different idol groups as they arrive with each of our cast members with an opening dance number. Let’s name them all at once:

• INFINITE (Sunggyu & L aka Myung-soo) with Haha
• A Pink (Jung Eun-ji & Son Na-eun) with Gary
• BEAST (Lee Ki-kwang & Yoon Doo-joon) with Ji-hyo
• Girl’s Day (Min-ah & Yu-ra) with Jae-suk
• MBLAQ (Seung-ho & Lee Joon) with Kwang-soo
• SISTAR (Da-som & Hyo-rin) with Jong-kook
• 2PM (Chansung & Wooyoung) with Suk-jin

I never saw I’d see the day where Gary would dance to a girl group’s song, but I. Love. It. And then Gary notes that Ji-hyo’s smiling a little brighter next to the BEAST boys. Uh, can you blame her?

I love that Jae-suk has this serious look as he does the suspender dance. How is it that Kwang-soo’s idol stare is instantly comedic? It’s so funny that the MBLAQ boys have to stifle their laughter while dancing.

But above all, I’m on the edge of my seat to see Jong-kook dance to the song “Alone.” And whaddaya know—it’s totally smexy. Also, what in the world is our mat-hyung wearing? My eyes can’t unsee what I just saw. But hey, the man can dance!

Today’s race is entitled “Goodbye Summer Vacation” to wrap up the summer. These seven teams will acquire time cards at each mission statements that will come into play for the final mission. Jong-kook remarks how the all-male teams are at an advantage, but Jae-suk, flanked by idol girls, disagrees: “I love it!”

Ha, is Jo PD trying to play matchmaker by allowing the first to third place teams choose who they want to ride in the car with? The cast jumps on that bandwagon, joking that they’ll be exchanging numbers soon.

That is, apart from Kwang-soo. But he’s on Cloud 9 when the SISTAR girls choose him, then Jong-kook brings him back to earth: “They said Kwang-soo reminds them of a water strider!” Like the bug?

Jae-suk is caught between choosing either BEAST or 2PM… which does seem like a legit dilemma. What can ya do—I’m a fangirl.

Girl’s Day Min-ah whispers her choice (BEAST), which gets loudly announced moments later. Aww, she looks adorably embarrassed.

The girls get teased about it in the car before Jae-suk redirects the conversation to the idols’ busy schedules. He says they must be so busy going going going that they never know where they are since they sleep in the car. The idols concur.

A Pink’s Eun-ji names Sunggyu as her ideal type, and the boys waste no time to ship the two. Though I’ll say that I’m in the Eun-ji and SHINee’s Key boat (thanks to their recent WGM date). Sunggyu just drinks it in, saying, “Oppa will think about it.” LOL.

In another car, Dasom doesn’t hide her adoration for Kwang-soo. Aw, you’re a fangirl; that’s cute.

Cut to: 2PM and Suk-jin driving in silence. HA. Suk-jin wonders if they should have a cheer, so Wooyoung shares their group cheer with him. Chansung: “Who am I?!” “I am champion!”

The horde arrives at a swimming pool for their first mission and run to stake their spots. Jo PD introduces the game where the teams will have to swim to the island in the center of the pool. The team to get all of their members up on the island within the time limit will win the road.

The teams strategize and alliances(?) are made before the whistle blows. Everyone jumps into the pool and the first wave of idol boys duke it out on the platform.

2PM does their best to claim their turf, sending off anyone and everyone into the water. (Even Jong-kook! I know!) Unfortunately, Suk-jin doesn’t make it in time, but the 2PM boys pass the round.

They cheer Suk-jin from the sidelines, but Jae-suk calls out that having the mat-hyung on their team will ultimately be a disadvantage. They predict that Suk-jin will come in dead last.

In the second round, Kwang-soo holds Jae-suk back just like the previous time. It’s BEAST who climb on first, and Suk-jin pulling himself up right after them. The cast joins together to send the man over the edge. HA, so close.

Idols and cast members go flying left as right with every push and shove. Only three people can pass this round, so Jong-kook grabs onto L… and they both fall in.

It’s back in the water for the third round, and keke—Lee Joon lies flat on the platform. It’s pretty entertaining to watch Suk-jin climb on and 2PM’s reaction shots when he gets pushed off.

HA, both the MBLAQ boys gape at Eun-ji’s strength as she’s got a strong grip on Lee Joon. They have to throw her off together, but she earns a round of praise from the cast.

At the end of the fourth round, the INFINITE team succeeds first, and four teams have already passed by the sixth round. Teehee, it’s the Jail Regulars Trio… and Lee Joon.

It cracks me up that Suk-jin is still a contender, and Jae-suk assures 2PM that he’ll keep his promise for mat-hyung to come in last place. I’ll die laughing if that comes true.

The Jail Regulars Trio breaks into a scuffle, and then the Easy Brothers falls into the water. Suk-jin pulls the ‘ol pants-pulling prank on Kwang-soo, who returns the favor in kind. At the end, it’s the Easy Brothers who remain for the final round.

Kwang-soo climbs on first and prevents Suk-jin from even trying by stepping on his fingers. So childish and petty, and yet so hilarious. But Suk-jin manages to climb on anyway, and it’s a full-out paiiinnful brawl, trapping each other in headlocks before they fall in simultaneously.

Kwang-soo resorts to using his bare foot on Suk-jin, who just tickles him. With less than five seconds left, Kwang-soo lifts his hyung and throws him into the water. Which means the 2PM team actually does end up dead last. HA and aw.

First place earns a hundred seconds and the time decreases for each subsequent team (last place gets forty seconds). It also calls for some reshuffling in the cars, and Girl’s Day smiles brightly to sit with INFINITE. Haha shares some candy with them, and Sunggyu says it represents their hearts. Ha.

It’s oddly quiet in the A Pink-BEAST car, and Ji-hyo notes how the Girl’s Day girls had so much aegyo. Without skipping a beat, Eun-ji asks, “Should we get off then?” Pfft. The Monday Couple deduce that acquiring more time will be advantageous later on.

It’s the return of the Balloon Jump for their second game, and the cast complains that the jumping height is higher this time around. The teams practice and INFINITE is up first.

Haha gives scaredy-cat Sunggyu some advice on the platform, but those words just go in one ear and out the other. Sungyu wears this mung expression on his face, and Kwang-soo yells that he can’t be the one to freeze ’cause yunno, that’s his thing. LOL.

Sunggyu can only laugh nervously, and I love how it’s the usual scaredy-cats shouting advice from below. After a good ten minutes, the pair finally jump and L flies into the air. Woot!

2PM is up next and aw—Suk-jin wants to make his little boy proud. I worry that Wooyoung’s current position will work against them. They jump… and Wooyoung literally spins in the air. Daebak.

The Girl’s Day ladies don’t seem too worried compared to Jae-suk, who looks like he might hurl soon. Yu-ra’s like, “It doesn’t seem that high!” and the RM boys look back at her, all, Then what does that make us?!

Sure enough, Min-ah flies high into the air like a feather, and all the idols are all smiles after their thrilling jump. The ladies definitely shoot into the air much further than the guys do, though all the jumps are pretty impressive overall.

I love that we get a closeup shot of Kwang-soo’s trademark perpetually scared expression before the MBLAQ team jumps. They jump moments later, and Lee Joon takes the cake on the most impressive in-air pose of the day.

In order to get in some more shots for the day, Wooyoung is nominated to do a celebratory jump. When Kwang-soo gets reined in to jump, he exclaims, “What did I do wrong?!” The guys jump and Wooyoung spins into the air. Dayum, that a boy.

Time to announce results, and 2PM ends up in last place again. MBLAQ is abuzz with excitement as four teams rank below them at 6.40 m. They manage third with 6.50 m. Niiice.

It’s either SISTAR or Girl’s Day in first place. Jong-kook and Jae-suk immediately start bickering per usual… and Girl’s Day wins with 7.40 m.

As the A Pink-MBLAQ teams discuss their total times in the car, Eun-ji admits she thought that the final mission would be food-eating contest. 2PM, meanwhile, decides to forsake victory in exchange to look awesome for the rest of the day.

Everyone gapes when they arrive at a stadium where hundreds of spectators have gathered. Here, they’ll be playing dodgeball… as the targets.

That’s when a select group of fifty university students come filing out into the field. The rules are simple: last team member standing wins it for their team.

After a round of greetings, they begin. Er, is there just one ball flying among the fifty of them? ‘Cause that’s not really enough reason for all twenty-one cast members to run for dear life.

It all depends on who’s doing the throwing I guess, and once the first person (Yu-ra) is tagged out, the number quickly shrinks from there. One guy actually looks super sorry after he tags Eun-ji out.

We fast-forward a bit ahead where the eliminated sit restless by the sidelines. So Jo PD invites them to attack, too. Aww yeah, now we’re talking.

It brings some excitement back into the game as the ball flies in every direction. Did Eun-ji just oust her “ideal Oppa” Sunggyu? HA.

A little later in the game, the crowd collectively rallies to go after the BEAST team, and Jae-suk warns that they shouldn’t encourage the angry mob mentality: “Soon they’ll cry, ‘Kill them! Kill them!'”

The crowd keeps the ball moving, and Kwang-soo successfully eliminates Ki-kwang. Ji-hyo makes sure to convey her feelings about her team member’s elimination. It puts him in such high spirits that he gets the audience in on a massive crowd wave.

A few more eliminations later, we’re down to seven players left on the field. Jae-suk’s neighbor takes out Min-ah, and the remaining six do a pretty good job of staying on their toes.

With Jong-kook as their next target, Haha signals the crowd to do a five-point star pass (from Dragonball, is it?). Then Jo PD brings the crowd closer to speed things up.

Wooyoung has to stop himself before attacking his own, and then the guy who’s taken out many of the girl group members tags Ji-hyo out, to everyone’s disappointment. Gary: “Let’s talk afterwards!”

It’s down to either Jong-kook, Chansung, or Lee Joon now. Kwang-soo tries to make an impressive throw at Jong-kook (and fails), but it’s Suk-jin who strikes Spartakooks out and is hoisted into the air for his accomplishment.

Then with one more shot, Chansung is tagged out, giving Lee Joon an opportunity for a victory lap. They’re absolutely beside themselves to get their hands on their time card. So cute.

Just to keep track, let’s do a final count of total time (in seconds): SISTAR: 200; MBLAQ & INFINITE: 170; BEAST: 160; Girl’s Day: 150; A Pink: 120; 2PM: 110.

Here at the final mission, we finally learn what those time cards were for… and then Jae-suk says that he’s on his own. Er, what?

Turns out the Girl’s Day girls had to leave early due to their busy schedules, and they had gaped in shock when they heard about the gold prize. Ha, many people do.

In any case, back to the mission. It’s an obstacle course where they’ll have to (1) escape a cage (2) complete a puzzle (3) take the key and use it to remove the flag.

The timer starts and SISTAR gets to work to untie their roped cage. Two more teams begin twenty seconds later, and Jae-suk starts to sweat just thinking about tackling this mission on his own.

Five teams have started by the 140 second mark, and it looks like the BEAST team is working at their knots the fastest. A Pink decides to take their time, and Gary adds optimistically, “We’ve still shared memories together.” Lol.

Poor Jae-suk has barely made any headway by the ninety-second mark, even biting at the ropes to no avail. Thanks to Ji-hyo’s quick hands, the BEAST team move on to the puzzle with less than sixty seconds remaining.

With just over thirty seconds left, Jae-suk is the only one left caught at the gates. The others get caught up at the puzzle, putting pieces in haphazardly to see which ones fit. It’s confusing when there are so many hands at work, but the BEAST team solve it first with 2PM just on their tail.

It’s the final spurt as both teams runs towards the flagpole… but it’s BEAST who makes it there first. Yay!

Everyone gathers together again for the closing, and the BEAST team, including Ji-hyo, holds up their gold trophy loud and proud.

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