Running Man: Episode 248

by gummimochi

This week, our cast and guests will be up against the scariest punishment this show has seen yet. Friendships will be tested and tension will run high as everyone must do their best to avoid taking the plunge that awaits the unlucky. Winning in today’s games will come with great rewards and losing will mean extreme punishment. Who knew that winning Running Balls would be a frightening thought one day?

EPISODE 248. Broadcast on May 24, 2015.

We find our cast stuffed in a clown car this morning at the end of a double red carpet. Everyone except Kwang-soo that is, who climbs out of limousine. He’ll be our MC this morning, and the others wonder why he’s screaming as if speaking to tens of thousands of people.

However that limousine also holds today’s guests: g.o.d’s Park Joon-hyung aka the original Frozen Man (for his outdated yet hilarious antics), 2PM’s Nichkhun, f(x)’s Amber, Super Junior M’s Henry, and last but not least (as Kwang-soo’s voice can only be heard by dogs now) MIB’s Kangnam.

The remaining six are introduced as one collective group, much to their disappointment. I’m confused about this Home Improvement theme song playing in the background, but it’s enough time to exchange greetings and go down the line for intros.

Everyone congratulates Joon-hyung on his upcoming wedding next month. It takes several self-encouraged takes to convey his happiness, and I love how the show kept all of that in. Henry isn’t very familiar with much of the cast—his relationships can be summarized by the following: Jong-kook, that hyung he sees at the gym, Suk-jin, that ajusshi he doesn’t know, and Ji-hyo, the pretty lady he saw on a plane once.

The cast is happy to have Nichkhun join them today, but note that they’re always in for a tough day ahead whenever he comes to play. Now for the rules of the Extreme Punishment Race: Between six teams of two, the top three teams in each mission will be rewarded while the bottom three will face punishment.

Ranking in the bottom three in every mission will mean their names are entered into a lottery where one (un)lucky pair will undergo the ultimate punishment.

And what the—is that… a bungee jump? The maknae PD had the unfortunate pleasure of experiencing this horror ahead of time, and the others watch as — I kid you not — the clip releases and he freefalls with NO ROPE to a depth fifty meters below him. Holy crap.

Mouths still agape, Gary warns Kwang-soo not to betray any of them today. Henry chooses Jae-suk as a teammate, and when Amber suggests that Henry isn’t as athletic as he appears, she and Henry drop down for an impromptu push-up showdown.

Kangnam picks Jong-kook while Amber chooses Haha, then Nichkhun selects Gary. Suk-jin rejects Joon-hyung, but man… beggars can’t be choosers right now. Suk-jin: “If we team up, our combined ages would be over a hundred!”

The mat-hyungs pair up together in the end, fully prepared to lose today. That leaves Kwang-soo with Ji-hyo.

Everyone has their eyes on avoiding punishment today, and in the car, Kangnam asks if Jong-kook is one of those brawny but no brains type. Dude, you don’t stir the Tiger’s wrath right off the bat.

Jae-suk advises Henry to be careful about his flattery because people could think of him as a brown-noser. Henry insists that everything he’s said is genuine, and then the next set of praise is displayed via caption like a textbook definition of the word.

Kwang-soo and Ji-hyo are first to arrive at their first destination where they’re greeted by two cranes in the sky. Here they’ll be playing a quiz game, and the top three teams will enjoy a gourmet breakfast inside whereas the bottom three will eat outside… six stories up.

If the bottom three teams have a pleasant breakfast outside, they’ll earn one punishment Running Ball. Refusing to eat there, however, will earn them 10 Running Balls. When Suk-jin and Joon-hyun finally arrive, they’re given the TL;DR version before joining the others who are busy coming up with questions for their teammates.

Here comes the twist: all of their questions will be asked to the entire group, and the first person whose call gets through to the staff will get to answer. Answer one of their own questions correctly, they’ll get to choose to hand over a Running Ball (from an initial ten) to any other team. If another team answers one of their questions correctly, that extra ball ends up in their basket.

Henry starts off with the question “If you knock on a Canadian tree, what comes out?” Wow, it took me a full minute there, but does he mean maple syrup? Ji-hyo gets through and answers, “Santa Claus!” Hahaha.

Nichkhun gets through to the new number, and then Kangnam apologizes for calling the wrong number. Nichkhun get it right (maple syrup), adding a ball to Jae-suk and Henry’s pot.

Aww, Kangnam’s misspellings in his question are adorable. The question itself is rather confusing since dolphins don’t lay eggs as mammals, but Suk-jin catches the trick question and answers as much to score the point.

Jong-kook says the foreigners will have trouble guessing his question, but agrees to give Henry his entire fortune if he does. The pressure’s on to have Henry come up with the right answer, but Jae-suk gets through and answers, “Okonomiyaki.” Or in his words: “Economiyaki.”

And when Suk-jin gets through the next time, he too answers, “economiyaki.” Hahaha. But that brings Jong-kook and Kangnam’s count up to 12.

Kwang-soo’s question is specifically about Ji-hyo, which she answers correctly. Immediately the other teams start chanting their names, hoping that they aren’t picked. After placing the ball in Gary’s basket, Kwang-soo tries pretending that he made a mistake. But Gary isn’t having it—if this is how he’s going to play, then so be it. “I’m going for totally real today!”

We skip ahead to Joon-hyung posing the last question with four teams at risk of eating outside. He asks what year g.o.d. debuted. Oh, oh, oh, I know the answer to this! Unfortunately for Suk-jin, someone’s beat him to it: Kwang-soo… who gets it wrong.

Jae-suk gets through the second time, and he knows because he was there when g.o.d. debuted: 1999. As it stands, Ji-hyo and Kwang-soo, Amber and Haha, and Jae-suk and Henry all get to eat inside whereas the rest will be eating on the crane instead.

Once they sit down, Kwang-soo tries to defend his decision, arguing that neither Gary nor Jong-kook ever get to face real punishment. Realizing that he, Haha, and Kwang-soo all rode on that frightening rollercoaster in Taiwan wins Jae-suk over.

Outside, Suk-jin insists he can’t eat on the crane, ten Running Balls what have you. Today’s deluxe menu: cup ramyun. Jae-suk: “That’s a punishment for Jong-kook.” Ha, so true. Slowly but surely, the tables rise to a height of 25 meters where they dig in on triangular kimbaps and ramyun.

The other teams toast over wine(?) inside while the others are left suspended until the gourmet meal comes to a close. Suk-jin calls the group to hurry up and finish their meal already.

Gary is in a terrible mood, so Kwang-soo decides to send a written message to his hyung. Too bad the tinted windows make it near impossible to see the words of love (“Gary hyung, I love you! We’re almost done now…”) which get lost in translation. Gary: “Wow, I can’t even curse him out or anything.”

Joon-hyung tells Suk-jin to stick it out, because the final punishment will be much worse. Deciding to make the most of it, Jong-kook snaps a selfie. Once they’re safe on the ground and one punishment ball heavier, the bottom three teams decide to become allies. They try drawing lots for kicks, and twice Suk-jin and Joon-hyung get the short end of the stick.

Their second and last mission takes place by the Han River where Gary rebuffs Kwang-soo’s attempt to cozy up to him. The top three teams here will travel by a luxurious yacht while the bottom three teams will swim across the river.

Everyone raises their voices—how do the staff expect them to swim across? Joon-hyung: “That would’ve been okay 76 years ago, but not now!” Some of the younger guests seem optimistic about it, but the cast knows all too well how difficult it is getting across the river.

Taek PD says there’s nothing to worry about if they can’t swim because their bodysuits also act as floatation devices. Swimming across in half an hour earns one punishment ball whereas giving up halfway earns ten.

It’s a complete game of chance: one person will throw a dart at a board which corresponds to a number of a shower each team will stand under. The unlucky team who gets wet is eliminated. Haha can’t help but acknowledge that even though that this game is about pure dumb luck, the idea still upsets him.

Amber throws the dart which lands on yellow. Taek PD gives the teams a final chance to switch places, but everyone remains firm…

… and water spritzes out from Nichkhun and Gary’s showerhead. Wow, that really really sucks. Nichkhun is next to determine who will be joining them. It’s red, and it’s Kwang-soo and Ji-hyo. Guess when you pair up the lucky goddess and the unlucky icon, misfortune wins out.

Kwang-soo rallies the crowd to cheer for 2 (Jae-suk and Henry) before realizing that 4 (with Jong-kook) would be a decent outcome too. Jong-kook warns him, “If we have to swim that river together, I’ll make sure that you never cross.”

It falls on yellow and Kwang-soo runs over to pour water over Jae-suk and Henry’s heads. That’s just Kwang-soo pulling their leg, because the true winning losers are Haha and Amber. I can’t help but wonder—is it actually possible to cross the river in half an hour?

Jong-kook commemorates a happy yacht ride with another selfie while the bottom three teams are told that safety divers will be accompanying them. So they should swim at their leisure… for over half an hour.

Amber advises the others to stay on their backs and use their legs to propel backwards. She’s an adept swimmer, but ahead of the pack is Nichkhun. Suk-jin says that kid has it all, to which Joon-hyung agrees with, but right now Nichkhun’s in the water and they’re on this yacht. Truer words.

Jae-suk and Henry are safe from that crazy bungee jumping punishment, and in what seems like a blink of an eye, Nichkhun is already halfway across the river. Amber isn’t that far behind and arrives shortly after with Haha.

Gary, meanwhile, swims back to grab Kwang-soo by the air and drag him across the water. One by one, Gary and the others swim ashore within the thirty-minute time limit. Even Kwang-soo made it in twenty-nine minutes, and he recounts the horrific time spent in the water.

Now it’s the moment of truth: Gary and Nichkhun are the only ones with two punishment balls, but no matter what the probability is, it’s just chance. Kwang-soo walks over to comfort Gary, just because, and now the results are in: it’s Suk-jin and Joon-hyung.

Gary erupts in celebration and embraces Kwang-soo, the animosity behind them. He even plants a giant kiss on Kwang-soo’s cheek. In the midst of the victory dances, Jae-suk offers to treat everyone to dinner tonight.

Nichkhun admits that he was curious about what it’d be like to swim across the Han River. Now he knows it’s super tough, and Jae-suk says he wouldn’t even be saying that if he were facing the final punishment.

One week later, we check in with Suk-jin and Joon-hyung, the latter of whom says he’d like to stay alive to see his mini-mes running around. They freak out during the ascent, having made the terrible mistake of looking down.

Suk-jin asks the instructor how many people have backed out of this activity. When he’s told “1 out of 1000!” Suk-jin counts himself among those few. Another twenty minutes passes until Suk-jin is lowered into position.

That aerial shot is absolutely terrifying, then Suk-jin freefalls into the net. It isn’t until he hits the ground does Suk-jin let out a sigh of relief. When it’s Joon-hyung’s turn, he sends a video message to his loved ones, in case, you know, he doesn’t make it.

Down Joon-hyung goes and he exclaims, “My jaw locked! My nostrils have become parachutes!” What a way to end it for the Century Old Bros.

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