Running Man: Episode 173

by gummimochi

It’s the return of the Superpower Baseball Match as this game throws us and its players for a loop of supernatural proportions. This time, Hyun-jin has come prepared(ish) for the unexpected, and the rules of this game are so wacky that even professional baseball players have a tough time keeping up.

EPISODE 173. Broadcast on November 24, 2013.

Bellies stuffed, the cast readies themselves for a post-dinner mission on this MT (short for “membership training,” an overnight trip where schoolmates or co-workers play games, eat, and drink a-plenty) with guests Ryu Hyun-jin and Suzy.

Their task is to find (or steal) the pillows hidden in the basecamp and return to their sleeping quarters to stake their claim to one of six spots. Last week’s winnings equate to each member’s allotted time for the game, which means the Betrayal Trio only have about thirteen minutes.

Losers’ punishment: washing dishes. But at least this means everyone gets to sleep indoors? Haha: “I already assumed that I’d be on dish duty.”

Ji-hyo is lucky enough to find one right away, and how cute is Suzy stopping to snap a photo of a stray goose after she finds hers? Gary’s just a tad too short to reach his, an opportunity a much-taller Hyun-jin gleefully takes advantage of. He runs off with said pillow.

It cracks me up that Suk-jin targets (who he thinks) is the easiest prey: Suzy. He actually catches her just outside the entrance and steals it away, only to get it stolen from Haha.

They seemingly call a truce to hand the pillow back to Suzy, but end up chasing after her seconds later. But this time, Hyun-jin comes to her rescue and holds them off long enough for her to slink past. With four members already inside, only two pillows remain.

It’s no surprise that Suk-jin barely gets ten feet before he gets caught with a pillow. The other four won’t let him off easy, so they play rock-paper-scissors at the five-minute warning. Suk-jin comes out on top, but they turn on him while Haha discovers the last pillow elsewhere. Run!

Haha manages to slide in with the pillow on his back, and the other four are told to take the fight outside. They head out with less than thirty seconds on the clock, but they start swiping at each other anyway… and in a surprise turn, Kwang-soo steals the last spot.

That leaves Suk-jin, Jae-suk, and Gary to wash dishes. When the mat-hyung gives minimal effort to the task, karma whips back at him and he loses the rock-paper-scissors match, leaving him to clean everything spic and span.

Aw, the captions tell us that he was still awake after everyone’s asleep.

The cast is woken up with a not-so-pleasant blaring wakeup call at dawn. And what in the what? Sleepyhead Ji-hyo is up first? The staff seems just as surprised as I am since there’s plenty of evidence showing us her infamous sleeping goddess habit.

One by one they trickle outside, and once everyone’s gathered, they’re told that today’s games will ultimately lead to an upgraded version of last year’s Superpower Baseball Match. Ji-hyo is given a bonus for waking up first, and she’s not sharing. Attagirl.

They play another round of rock-paper-scissors for folding the blankets. Kwang-soo’s attempt to target Suk-jin utterly fails (for which he gets promptly scolded for), but they get the ladies to participate, and in the end, it’s Jae-suk who loses out.

None of the guys actually help, so Jae-suk takes Kwang-soo aside for yunno, just a little chat… and all we hear is ruckus and Kwang-soo comes back out, hollering: “Why did you turn the camera away?!”

On the bus, Kwang-soo jokes that Hyun-jin’s large frame equals to three Suzys, but Hyun-jin just lets it roll off his shoulders, all, “Oh is that all?” Ha.

Then Jae-suk calls out his VJ for filming Suzy instead of him again, but can you really blame the guy when a pretty face is right in front of him?

They arrive at an outside market for their first training session where they’ll aim for a high pedometer count to earn money for buying groceries. So Yoo Hyuk breaks down on the floor, which can only be described as a backward worm dance, and both Suzy and Jae-suk pull in big numbers.

Haha goes all out for his “Single Ladies” rendition, which just cracks me up, while Suk-jin happily acts out the gestures for the classic “YMCA” song. Hee.

Problem is, the market quickly becomes crowded, so the staff declare Suzy the winner with the highest pedometer count. They proceed with the next game, where they’ll need to flip three coins consecutively on textbooks.

Maknae Suzy fails to flip her first coin, and then makes a bird-like reaction the other quickly imitate. Myuk PD reminds the cast to call out their turn beforehand, and when Suzy declares that she didn’t, he gives her a do-over, to the others’ grumbling. And aw, Hyun-jin resets the books the way they originally were for her.

He helps her out again, and this time it works for the first two, but she fails to get the last one. Then Hyun-jin steps up to flip the first two coins and readies himself for the last… which stays as is (and we also see Kwang-soo poke him at the same time).

Jae-suk gets pretty close with his back-to-back method, and when Suk-jin does the same, none of them flip over. D’aww. Pfft, then I love that they’ve all adopted Suzy’s bird stance whenever they fail.

At least that’s still better than Jae-suk’s stress-inducing tactic of telling Kwang-soo that he has to hurry it up. But then Gary tries the back-to-back strategy… and comes up short.

And then whaddayaknow, Jae-suk swoops in for the win despite his coins rolling all over the place. And those bonuses make Jae-suk, Suzy, and Ji-hyo’s wallets a lot heavier.

Then it’s off to the baseball field where they’re all given fancy introductions, and we also meet a few more baseball stars to join us today: Lee Byung-kyu (LG Twins); Kim Hyun-soo (Doosan Bears); and Shin Kyung-hyun (Hanhwa Eagles).

It’s nice that Hyun-jin gets to see an old teammate in Kyung-hyun, who’s since retired. Hyun-jin keeps his respects to his sunbaes, taking off his hat and a full 90 degree bow. The cast worries about how this superpower game is going to work out if they’re facing superstars.

Jae-suk mentions that he and Byung-kyu go way back to their clubbing days of yore, and when the cast asks how often they went, Byung-kyu answers, “About four or five times a week?”

Ha, said to the man with a wife and kid at home. I suppose there’s some consolation that Jae-suk’s success rate is a zero.

Aw, Kyung-hyun played catcher in Hyun-jin’s pro debut game, and they were also roommates at one point. Then he admits Hyun-jin was also the errand boy. Lol.

Turns out Hyun-soo graduated from the same high school as Suk-jin, who even earned a reputation from the teachers: “[Suk-jin] wasn’t good in his studies, but he sure can talk on TV.” HA.

The teams are divided to Hyun-jin (Blue) versus Jae-suk (Red), and I love how the cast averts their eyes, none of them interested to be teamed with Jae-suk. Hee, it’s like the opposite of what happens in a schoolyard pick.

When it’s Hyun-jin’s turn to pick, Jae-suk points out how unfair it would be to have three pro baseball stars on one team, to which Hyun-jin quips, “Don’t worry, I’m going to pick Suzy.” And then Kwang-soo follows up with: “You’re here to play baseball, not date!”

The picks continue until the Betrayal Trio is left, and Hyun-soo says they can’t pick Kwang-soo ’cause well, he saw the giraffe play in the last match.

I like how he points out that Kwang-soo just got shouty and angry, which on one hand is a part of his variety persona, but it’s another thing when your guest says it’s too much, and in the end, unhelpful in the game. Aw, but they still pick him anyway.

The Red Team have a superpower advantage of 13 versus 9, and the cast tells the baseball players that they can’t be shy when it comes to the corny magical incantations.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t be dramatic about their transformations, and I totally laughed after Kwang-soo broke character, adding: “… and that’s how you do it.”

Powered up, the teams disperse to start the match, and we see a quick display to see that the majority have two powers each, with the exception of Ji-hyo who has three, and a select few who have one.

And to keep things as simple as possible (though I’m sure it’ll still be plenty confusing), we’ll tackle the superpowers as they come.

Hyun-soo is up at bat first and hits a foul. Wait a minute, is Hyun-soo an ambidextrous batter? Whoa. He totally gets hit by the second pitch and his teammates immediately round on Hyun-jin.

So Hyun-soo walks (Hyun-jin: “I didn’t mean to throw it like that” Hyun-soo: “Then why’d it hurt so bad?!”), which leaves Suzy adorably puzzled. After Kwang-soo hits a single—and gets super excited about it—Hyun-jin lets his sunbae take the mound.

Ha, I really love some of these descriptions, like how Haha’s most valued items are his shoe lifts (the ones that make you taller). Haha hits the ball fairly far, pulling his team ahead to score a run.

I’m getting the feeling that Kyung-hyun may not be the best replacement as he nearly hits Byung-kyu. But at least he admits that he’s trying to hit Byung-kyu and gets cranky whenever he tries to avoid it.

It’s already two outs by the time Jae-suk is up at bat, but he gets tagged out and the teams switch. Don’t think I didn’t see that Gary’s weakness is Ji-hyo. Ha, figures.

Gary hits the ball… which bounces back to hit him moments later, effectively eliminating himself. HA. A little later, it’s Suzy’s turn at bat and you can practically see Hyun-soo’s cheek turn a bright pink.

She swings at every pitch, so Hyun-jin steps up to give her a few pointers himself. And it really must be her first time in baseball, as she follows Hyun-jin’s instructions to “hit and run” to the letter, even running with the bat still in hand.

I think it’s safe to assume that Kwang-soo will be a tad less forgiving, but that’s when Suzy utilizes her superpower, which basically leaves all the men (apart from the pitcher) frozen in place. And just to make sure that they’ll stay frozen, a group of oppa fans come marching out to hold the men back.

Suzy hits the ball, and it soars high into the sky, letting her teammates run to home plate to tie up the score.

Did… Hyun-soo the pro baseball player let a ball slip through his fingers? Granted, it’s a tennis ball but the error costs his team another run. The bases are loaded for Kyung-hyun, who calls for the power to stop the ball… and another ball is unmagically lowered to an ideal position.

They brace themselves for what should be a powerful hit… and it rolls along the foul line. D’aww. Kyung-hyun gets hit by the next pitch (and runs at pitcher Jae-suk, heh), then explains the ball was crumpled earlier, to which Jong-kook says, “But the ball’s round!” Lol.

We skip ahead to the top of the second inning, and it’s only now that I see that pictures of our cast members are included in the “audience” behind them. Oh yes, but anyway, Suk-jin steps up to the mound, where he declares the powers of darkness… which basically means blinding Byung-kyu with an eye mask. Ha.

Suk-jin is plenty confident until he hits Byung-kyu with the ball, who then crumples to the ground in agony. At least the superpowers are being used more frequently now, and Gary’s Lol Lol power equates to a horde of Little Leaguers to help them out in the outfield. Simply Adorbs.

So when Jae-suk hits a ball high into the sky, the cute tots easily catch the fly ball to end the top of the inning.

The score is 3:1 in favor of the Blue Team with one out and two bases loaded in the bottom half of the second inning, and Haha assumes the mound against Hyun-jin. I’d completely forgotten that Haha used his superpower to hilarious effect, and this time is no different: a dove flies out of his hand while another ball falls straight down into a glove.

A spurt of carbon dioxide threatens to block Hyun-jin’s view for the next pitch, but he’s prepared for it this time and hits it. Whoa.

After the switch, Hyun-soo calls upon the power to move the baseball fence closer, and when he asks what happens if he wastes the opportunity by missing the ball, Jae-suk tells him that that’s ridiculous: “You HAVE to hit a homerun!” Kwang-soo: “Aren’t you a baseball player?”

So Hyun-soo buckles down with laser focus, and hey, actually hits a homerun. Kwang-soo gets caught up in his own theatrics rather than pay attention to the ball. It’s only when his invisible wealth is threatened that he hits the ball.

The Blue Team has a bit of magic of their own against Byung-kyu, and the first ball literally burns mid-pitch (and falls into the waiting glove below) while the second rolls on the ground and slides into the catcher’s hand. Hahaha.

Then we skip ahead again to the bottom of the third inning, where Hyun-soo uses another superpower to put a long wooden board for bat in Kyung-hyun’s hands.

He eventually hits it, but gets a double whammy when another incantation calls for the dreaded prickly floor to be laid across first and second bases. HA, okay that is pretty great. So when Suk-jin hits the ball, Kyung-hyun runs (in pain!) to second base.

Then Hyun-jin is up at bat, and this time when the ball “pops” in the air, he looks up to wait for the other ball to drop and hits that instead. Smart, smart!

HA, I love how Byung-kyu calls out his incantation with zero hesitation. A giant net is unfurled in the outfield, and when Byung-kyu’s ball rolls onto it, it’s declared an out. Then we breeze over the fourth inning, where Ji-hyo’s superpower results in a shower of identical fake balls to confuse the other team

We charge ahead to the fifth and final inning where Ji-hyo uses two superpowers at once: turning the game into a temporary kickball match and sending the other Blue Team members to a corner.

It results in a single and now it’s down to Jae-suk: either he hits a homerun or strike out to end the match. And with the score 3:7 in favor of the Blue Team and bases loaded, he’s got a lot riding on his shoulders.

One ball and one strike later, the tension builds… and Jae-suk hits the ball. It slips through Gary’s fingers, and the Red Team earns three more runs to bring the score up 6:7.

Ji-hyo calls upon the kickball incantation once more and she safely runs to first base. Hyun-jin takes over the mound when Hyun-soo is up to bat, and the Korean Monster doesn’t hold back.

Hyun-soo hits the next one, but Ji-hyo panics before reaching second base and gets forced out. It’s the end of the game and the Blue Team celebrate their win with gold rings. Gary: “I’ll have to rap with this on!” And is that Heodang 007 I see for next week?

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