Running Man: Episode 290

by gummimochi

Our cast will be racing against the sands of time in the second half of this Dubai adventure. They’ll get a taste of spices, a touch of gold, and feel the heat in a race that somehow involves a golden grasshopper. Sometimes I wonder if they even understand the rules since we’re told bits and pieces of it as the race progresses. Still, the teams will do their best to make the best out of a trip that has taken them to new heights and lands.

EPISODE 290. Broadcast on March 13, 2016.

Out in the desert, Jae-suk takes the lead on pitching their tent for the night. Back at the hotel, the Monday Couple bicker at the table — Ji-hyo asking why Gary’s being so nice to her, the latter explaining that he feels bad for their earlier game and swearing to do better tomorrow.

Jae-suk’s survival skills expertise start to sound like nagging to the other guys. And here they are, eating ramyun in the desert.

Everyone slumbers that night in their tents… or so they think because Suk-jin’s loud snoring makes everyone else toss and turn. The temperature drops to below freezing, and when the snoring stops, it gets replaced by a fart parade.

Finally sun breaks over the sand dunes. Jae-suk is the first to rise, and Suk-jin tells him that he found a way to stay warm last night: by farting. Well, at least you remembered that happened.

They don’t even have time to wash their faces before being presented with a morning mission. Il-woo is barely awake enough to hear it: use the contents in this box for a morning photoshoot, choose the best photo, and that will be placed in a ranking for breakfast.

Between sunglasses, a bath seat, and a kettle, it’s all pretty random. The mat hyungs gripe at being given a mission, but they light up when they see a head sticking out of the dongsaengs’ tent.

Suk-jin denies the claims of snoring, arguing that he sleeps like a newly-wedded bride. Laughing, Kwang-soo says it’s probably more like an established housewife. Meanwhile, Il-woo takes some artistic-looking photos, save for the ones of him rolling down the sand trying to look like an action star.

He chooses the one of him pouring water into the sand, then we cut to Jong-kook who’s very particular about the photos he wants from the photographer. When Jong-kook says he wants a photo where the sun looks like a tiny ball, the photographer tells the PD that they’ve reached their 15-picture limit. Lol.

Kwang-soo wants to capture lonesome in his photo by hula-hooping alone whilst Haha’s photo is of him yearning for a practically empty water bottle.

Jae-suk wants a romanticized photo where the only footprints in the sand are his. Too bad his legs keep sinking into the dunes. He decides to hop-jump down the dune, which really makes him look like a grasshopper.

Gary points out what he thinks are animal prints in the sand, only to be told that they’re Jong-kook’s. Ha. Da-hae tries to create a scene that she’s stumbled across an oasis whereas Ji-hyo does the Running Man in the sand.

It’s 10 AM by the time they finally see the food, and are told that the Dubai-based staff voted on the pictures. First place (among the four) gets food plus a cup ramyun and last place gets to choose only one item off the menu.

Jae-suk comes in first with seven votes, followed by Kwang-soo, Haha, and Suk-jin, who didn’t get any votes. Suk-jin chooses the dates as his one item after seeing Jae-suk enjoy some, then whispers to Kwang-soo to score him some bread. He’s denied, told that rules are rules.

Over at the hotel, Jong-kook comes in first place and gets the biggest place for breakfast. The one who came in last with zero votes? Il-woo, who takes back his breakfast like a careful balancing act. Pouring water around these parts is considered wasteful, buddy.

Jae-suk shares his cup ramyun with his dongsaengs when they compliment him on his morning stubble. Suk-jin just gets ignored.

As the day grows hotter, the others pull up to the spot looking refreshed. Gary’s the only one to be teased (“Did you spend the night with us?”), and Jae-suk gets annoyed when Jong-kook says they should’ve lit a fire if they were so cold last night.

Now that they’re all together, another mission is literally thrown at them: The Legend of the Golden Grasshopper. They’ll be divided into three teams to search for the missing golden treasure in Dubai all before they run out of time.

The teams: Black Haha, Jong-kook, and Il-woo; White Jae-suk, Suk-jin, and Da-hae; and Orange Kwang-soo, Gary, and Ji-hyo.

They’ll be playing a three-person kickball game in order to score revival coupons. Il-woo revs up… and falters. Hahaha. And when he tries to chuck it to second base, it falls short of that mark. Is the sand the man’s kryptonite?

Kwang-soo is the first out, and later Gary kicks the ball between Il-woo’s legs. Ji-hyo slides to second, then she switches positions to kick again. She kicks, Kwang-soo is tagged out, and Suk-jin completely misses the ball.

So Ji-hyo runs to second base, and Gary runs to home base for their second point. After a brief break of Kwang-soo exclaiming that the “rocks” are actually dried poop, Gary kicks a home run and he and Kwang-soo run to score two more runs to a total of five points.

With the hyungs breathing down his neck, Il-woo tags Ji-hyo out to end the inning. It’s no surprise when the Black Team score point after point after point. Soon they’re up to nine, and the White Team switches out Suk-jin for Jae-suk to pitch.

Jae-suk lets the ball go… and Il-woo totally misses it. The second time, he kicks it into the crew. Whoops. Il-woo is ready to redeem himself… but then misses the third throw.

Still, the Black Team manages to come out on top and pick up two revival coupons. The Orange Team pick up one coupon, and the White Team come up with nothing. Jae-suk: “We weren’t even thinking of being revived [into the game]! We’re sick of being chased!”

The teams hop on a water taxi and admire all the passing boats until they arrive at their next location. Here at the souk (a marketplace) that sells gold, spices, and fabric, the teams will disperse to three different locations and find the “solution”.

Initially, the mat hyungs argue over who gets to take care of the gold mission, but once they find out Jong-kook will take care of that for his team, they immediately changed their minds.

More rules: they need to find the correct items (based off their poetic hints), take a picture, and send it over text to complete the mission. Gary’s jaw drop at the various golden items for sale, while Da-hae, Il-woo, and Kwang-soo are instructed to buy specific items which are spoken phonetically from Arabic.

They get on the water taxi once more, and Kwang-soo realizes he didn’t flip his hourglass over. Il-woo gets caught for writing his intel onto the envelope, while the last third blind taste their spices to buy in the market.

Jae-suk suffers from the spiciness and stops at a stall for some water. He tastes the chili peppers there and buys them, then remarks that the owner here is quite nice. The stall owner parrots the words in Korean. Ha.

Ji-hyo takes in the smells at the spice market, then tries a couple of different spices. Both of them are incredibly hot, making her jump in place.

Jae-suk and Haha return together, and both have successfully guessed their respective spices (chili and saffron). Suk-jin is on the hunt for a gold peacock necklace, and while the first one he finds is grand, it’s not quite what he’s looking for. Furthermore, it would set him back about 120 million won (around 120,000 USD).

Told that it weighs two kilograms, Suk-jin walks out and comments, astounded: “What the? Is gold like [ordering] pork belly?”

He finds another peacock necklace at a different shop that’s closer to his description and about a tenth of the price. He takes a photo of it… and is told that it’s correct.

While Da-hae tries to confuse Kwang-soo on the item he’s supposed to buy, Il-woo makes a run for it. Too bad he can’t correctly recall the name of the shopkeeper he’s supposed to find, but at least the other shop owners tell him that he’s got the name wrong.

Da-hae has trouble recalling the name of the owner and fabric too, and Kwang-soo says hello to each shopkeeper while looking for his man. He gets excited when one man claims to be his guy, only to learn once he’s in the shop that he’s got an entirely different name.

When Kwang-soo takes a shot at the name of the fabric, Abdullah the shopkeeper replies back in Korean: “Cheap! Cheap! Gangnam style!”

The shopkeeper tries hard to make a sale, and next thing we know, Kwang-soo looks like he belongs in the Arabian landscape. He’s offered a price for his wardrobe, which decreases with each of Kwang-soo’s (failed) attempts at the name of the fabric he needs.

He ends up buying the kandora, and the shopkeeper gives him yet another name when he leaves. He gets back onto the water taxi hoping that he’s got it right, but he’s totally off. Yep, he’s been duped.

He tries telling the taxi operator that he’s running out of time, but the boat simply floats along. It’s no surprise that his time is up by the time he returns.

He decides to use a revival coupon before the others return. Gary and Ji-hyo return with their correct items, but Jong-kook is still out and about. He returns with time to spare, but Da-hae and Il-woo have yet to return.

Kwang-soo is still out there too, and all three of them dash back with their items. Da-hae returns first and succeeds, which means her team gets the best hint: “In order to switch the golden grasshopper, you need sand.”

Il-woo whoops victoriously from the boat and get it right to secure second place. Everyone but the Monday Couple are gone by the time Kwang-soo returns, and he’s the only one who celebrates when he gets it right. His team gets the vaguest here: “You must go here if you wish to change times with someone else.”

The White Team arrive at the final mission location first, where they read how they require sand in order to switch the stone grasshopper for the golden one. They’ll need to keep their hourglasses safely hidden while looking for chance scrolls. Additionally, eliminating the others will add to their total allotment of sand.

The Bastakiya district is a labyrinth of narrow lanes, which makes it perfect to sneak about. The three aim to utilize their time to their advantage by looking for chance scrolls.

Da-hae finds one that allows her switch her hourglass with someone else. When Kwang-soo runs into Suk-jin, the latter asks outright how small his hourglass is. It’s a strange question, so he asks if the hourglasses get smaller.

They eventually part ways for now, and Kwang-soo immediately asks Da-hae the same question when crosses paths with her. As more people gather together, Kwang-soo repeats the question, which has him think that one of the chance scrolls has a negative effect on their hourglasses.

The caption tells us the answer: “What do you mean… it gets smaller if your nametag gets ripped off.”

Suk-jin curiously has his eye on Gary’s nametag, and when Gary and Kwang-soo walk away, Da-hae scolds him for acting so awkward. Kwang-soo: “Da-hae’s scolding him! She’s angry that he mentioned the hourglass getting smaller!”

Darkness settles in with the sunset, and Jae-suk notices that Suk-jin doesn’t have much sand left in his hourglass. After Suk-jin flips over his hourglass his time, Jae-suk asks him if he ripped off anyone’s else’s nametag.

Unfortunately for them, Gary is within earshot, so now they have to catch him before he blabs to anyone else. He soon finds himself surrounded and Da-hae does the honors of tearing off his nametag.

Now Gary’s hourglass is much tinier with about a five-minute time limit. He shares the information with his other teammates, who notice Jae-suk a stone’s throw away. They lure him in and grab him at the first opportunity.

Gary gets his revenge by ripping Jae-suk’s nametag off, but now the White Team has a plan: they’ll wait until the hourglass is in its final minute and trade with Il-woo’s. The thing that worries Jae-suk is that Il-woo has won every time he’s shown up on this show—today would be his third victory.

So the change is made, much to the Black Team’s surprise. Kwang-soo and the Monday Couple are wary when Da-hae makes a move to attack Kwang-soo. Suk-jin slips up yet again, giving the other team another hint.

The Orange Team vote to use their chance coupon against Jong-kook, which essentially eliminates him (the Black Team still has one revival coupon left). So the Orange Team gets on the move while the Tiger is away, and everyone targets Haha and Il-woo.

By ripping off Haha’s nametag, his hourglass changes to a smaller one, and Ji-hyo realizes that Gary’s hourglass is about to run out. She and Kwang-soo run through the streets to find him, but he’s busy falling into the White Team’s trap.

Kwang-soo arrives just in time, and he rips off Da-hae’s nametag. Gary’s time is up moments later, and that’s when he told that he still had a big hourglass he didn’t pay attention to.

Seeing the Black Team reformed, I’m assuming they’ve used all of their available revival coupons. They all gather together in an open space, and Jong-kook says the guys can face off sans the ladies.

Jae-suk argues, “They could be much better [contenders] than the rest of us are!” The Black Team circles their prey, and in an instant, Jong-kook takes out Suk-jin while Kwang-soo and Da-hae eliminate Haha.

When Ji-hyo runs out of time, Kwang-soo and Jae-suk run back to check on their own. They engage in another brawl in the narrow alleyway, and in a surprise turn, Da-hae rips off Il-woo’s nametag.

Now Jong-kook faces a 3:1 fight, and he grabs Jae-suk’s nametag shortly after his own is caught. Jae-suk is just a hair faster, and now only Kwang-soo, Da-hae, and Jae-suk remain. And then Da-hae tears off Kwang-soo’s nametag when he bends over. Well, that was easy.

That means the White Team has won, and Jae-suk and Da-hae enter the hidden room of the Golden Grasshopper. When they pour the sand into the bowl, the golden statue rises from beneath the sand.

In this barren desert, the Grasshopper has won.

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