I know, I know, playing catch up once again, but quite honestly, I had not been in the right headspace to do this the past week, especially since I am doing all this for free and just to unwind. Forcing myself to do it would be counterproductive to why I started blogging again after a long time not doing it.
But now I’m sorta back in the game and I think I can start doing it again! Once again, if you’re going to need a short recap of the previous episode, you can either read the previous post or watch the whole episode above!
After the ~variety training~ in the previous episode, we now have the boys actually having to prepare and perform the Seventeen songs they were asked to creatively choreograph.
Team Nicholas, who is doing “CALL CALL CALL”, are the first to rehearse and encounter a mini-dilemma as the stage is larger than the rehearsal space they were using, necessitating a change of blocking so that the whole thing won’t look so empty while they perform.
They didn’t show a lot of the rehearsal, but what I did see looked pretty good. However, the dance instructor had some problems with the blocking, which is why I am just a viewer and not a dance instructor because I have two left feet.
Meanwhile, Team EJ has a freaking bed for their performance of “HOME;RUN”, which really had me going “Huh?” because I thought we were going with a baseball theme? But then again I am not a J-pop trainee, I have not managed to train a successful J-pop group, so I should just really enjoy things as they come. Also the show captions literally saw that the reason for the bed will be explained shortly, revealing me as a snarky idiot.
Team K, which is doing “Oh My!” has a horrible rehearsal in my opinion, or at least it was edited to look like that, and the only thing I am thinking is that this is a set-up for a redemption arc later on in the episode.
The producers also keep saying that it’s been a while since they met with the trainees, which really muddles up the timeline for me because all of these seem to happen within the space of a week but probably not?
The lockers where the trainees check their &Balls are also in the studio where they’re going to perform, which is supposed to be even more ~nerve-wracking~ for the trainees but all I’m thinking is will the trainees see how many &Balls they’re getting? Because the &Balls couldn’t just be there already because that means the producers already had a score in mind even before they performed.
There’s also a clarification where it’s explained — or maybe this was already explained and I’m just an idiot — that once the &Ring is filled up, they’ll start to whittle down the members for the final group. Which kind of breaks my heart a little because I want all of these boys to debut but that’s them breaks. Because I honestly think that they do fill up that &Ring, since the associated Naver webtoon for the group is already being advertised.
Just like the previous episodes, we get to see the boys’ interim check before their actual performance, and Team Nicholas got pretty even feedback. But when they finally perform, I actually really enjoyed it! I really felt like it matched the energy of the original song (with allowance for the fact that they’re just trainees, of course). And the producers all seemed to like their performance as well! This does make me worried for any of the two groups who get good feedback during their interim check because that for sure means they’re going to get piled on in the actual performance.
Also apparently the producers weren’t the ones putting in the &Balls beforehand? I guess they just assigned the numbers and had the grunts put them in the lockers because they were saying “Oh am I the one putting it in?” when they were depositing the &Balls. The show doesn’t show how many &Balls the boys got, but the guys start bowing to the producers so maybe it’s a lot!
We then move to Team EJ and they do this little baseball skit and it’s so cute? I can’t? But then my heart drops because they get a lot of compliments during the interim check and you just know they’re being set up to be destroyed during the actual performance.
Their great performance during the interim check results in an advantage for them, which is the option to add props or special effects to their performance, explaining why the bed was there during the rehearsal. AND JUST AS I EXPECTED, the boon given to them ends up being a hindrance during rehearsal because it fucks up their blocking and shit, especially since they didn’t practice with a bed. They had to do last-minute changes to their choreo, which just translates to me as them being fucked by the judging.
And the performance is so cute? I can’t? They don’t fuck up at all so I am thinking what mistakes the judges will point out this time around for the expected storyline to make sense. And it’s producer Son Sungdeuk who points out that they didn’t properly convey the field trip theme they were going for and truthfully if you get over the cuteness of it all he’s kinda right? Anyways, this just proves the pattern that a good interim check just means you’re going to be destroyed during the actual performance.
All the critiques get to Jo, who got the brunt of it, and he ends up crying. Which really makes me feel mixed emotions because it’s always sad to see someone not get the result they wanted after practicing so hard, but at the same time…that’s life? And if you think about it, these trainees aren’t getting as harsh a critique as the earlier generations did when the companies were literally abusive and nobody cared.
The final performance is Team K, which is doing “Oh My!” They get decimated during the interim check which at least reassures me that they’re going to do great during the actual performance unless the show is really mean and shows them getting destroyed during the actual performance as well.
The performance is, again, really cute and thankfully, the show sticks to the pattern and Team K gets glowing reviews on their actual performance. At this point I think all the guys must be hoping that they all get horrible reviews during the interim check just so they get that redemption arc storyline.
We don’t get to see just how many &Balls the guys get for this round, but we do get to learn that the next round is the BTS round, and boy you guys better do this well because messing this up will get you nowhere good. Also apparently one of the team’s &Balls from this episode won’t be counted? What????
Ron Does Stuff 
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