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Boys Planet Episode 11: Recap and Guide

Hey, fellow Star Creator! Are you ready to have your heart smashed to smithereens? …. No? Me either. In fact, I'm late getting this recap to you because it was hard to type with my heart next to me in a basin of saline solution. But I managed.

Let’s go!

At 0:38, we start off with the boys hanging out at their dorms after their third mission, high fiving each other and expressing some anxiety about the upcoming eliminations. They have to pack to go home now for a while. The staff has set up a photo booth for them to make some memories. In case anyone thinks that there’s animosity between Woongki and Zhuang Shai Bo, there definitely isn’t.

The trainees go back back home, awaiting the next elimination ceremony.

Pretty sure that’s Ricky, just being mysterious and painting roses in a graffiti covered studio, because how else would Ricky spend his time when he’s not performing?

We spend a little time with Han Yujin and his very popular pretty mother. We also see Keita and Kum Junhyeon hanging out with Eunho from Younite and Hwi from Ciipher -- it seems that Junhyeon used to be a trainee at Rain company and trained with some or all of the Ciipher, which explains how they both know Hwi, but I’m not sure the impossibly faced Eunho fits in (seriously, who has a face like that? He looks like a Bratz doll come to life, in a good way). I also don’t know how we never knew that Junhyeon and Keita have been friends this whole time??? They’re just out having a meal and talking about how young Kum Junhyeon was when they used to train together. We see a lot of other stuff, including Kim JiWoong at a dog cafe, even though he’s apparently allergic to dogs. They’re all visiting with friends and family.

Then we see the guys all packing to go back to Planet Camp, even though many of them know that they probably won’t make it through this elimination ceremony. It’s pretty sad. But remember, they’re all going to be ok, right, team? A lot of them are signed with good companies and will probably debut in 2025, if not sooner. So deep breaths. It’s ok!

Then we visit with Park Hanbin, who is wearing a very soft looking blue sweater, as if anticipating future MNET shows. He says he’s worried about not being able to debut. Park Hanbin, you silly goose. You’re going to debut whether or not you make it into Bepler. Listen to BPR Noona. I know of what I speak.

6:15 Now it’s time for the elimination ceremony!

So, I actually watched the live streaming ceremony, which popped up on my phone as I was getting ready to go to sleep. Cannabis is legal where I live and so I might have been particularly ready to close my eyes, you know? But I watched, my eyes blinking heavily, because I wanted to know! The things the boys were saying weren’t translated, so I was only able to catch the gist. Also, the live broadcast was just a raw feed of them, and without the editing and background music, it felt like I was watching a first rehearsal.

Anyway, as usual, we start with the boys backstage talking about how nervous they are -- us too, guys -- and then coming out in small groups based on their most recent challenge mission. They do various kinds of schtick, and once their whole team is out they do a combined schtick. It looked heckin’ awkward in the live broadcast, but edited down it looks much better.

Here’s the order they come out:

Kim Tae Rae, Na Kamden, and Zhang Shuai Bo (Switch)

Keita, Park Hanbin, and Yoon Jongwoo (Switch)

Wang Zi Hao, Ollie, and Haruto (Supercharger)

Woongki, Takuto, Seo Won (Supercharger)

Zhang Hao and Lee Jungheyon (Over Me)

Ricky, Chen Kuan Jui, Jay (Over Me)

Sung Hanbin and Han Yujin (Say My Name)

Yoo Seung Eon, Seok Matthew, and Kim Ji Woong (Say My Name)

Hui (Lee Hoe Taek), Hiroto, and Lee Seung Hwan (En Garde)

Kim Gyuvin, Kum Junhyeon, Park Gunwook (En Garde)

And who is their Star Master this time? In the live broadcast, she stood with her back to the camera for just a few seconds and then came in, but of course, in the edited version, there’s 15 minutes of guessing first.

But it’s Jeon Somi!

I would impale myself on those spikes every time I moved slightly, but she makes it look good.

If you’re not familiar with Jeon Somi, she is a successful soloist who went through the reality show gamut. First she was on a show called Sixteen, a reality competition show that created the kpop giants Twice (you know, the ones who sing “Feel Special”). She didn’t make the lineup of Twice, but she got pretty popular from being on the show. Then she was on the first season of Produce 101, the precursor of Girls Planet/Boys Planet, and ended up pretty much killing it, taking first place in the final episode and becoming the “center” of project group IOI (pronounced “eye-oh-eye”). Check out their song Very Very Very if you want to see what IOI is like.

After IOI disbanded, Somi became a soloist. I love her song Birthday -- my fella doesn’t like much kpop, but for whatever reason he loves Birthday. (He specifically loves how she she says “eyyy”.) Despite it being a pretty great song, Birthday wasn’t a huge hit because she was “f a a t “ at the time (she absolutely wasn’t, and even if she was, it shouldn’t matter, but people can really be The Worst, and also her stylist didn’t know how to dress a young woman with actual boobs). Anyway she has other songs now, like Dumb Dumb, and she’s frighteningly skinny now, so she’s a lot more successful. I think she’s always been a sparkly fun person. I wish she’d given her cue cards a bit of a read before she came out on stage, but… whatever. Oh, and if you’re wondering, she’s 22, half Korean and half white, and was born in Canada.

The boys go crazy when they realize it’s Somi -- Kamden says he won’t be able to sleep tonight, and a few of the others talk about how tall she is. She’s 5’8, which is fairly tall for a girl, especially in Korea.

She reads some usual stuff off a cuecard, and then adds, “It’s not easy being on a survival show, is it? I remember HATING this studio myself” (as in, when she was on Produce 101). The boys give her some serious snaps.

We find out that people in 182 countries voted a total of 31,750,293 votes, and that trainees ranked 1 through 18 will survive. We also find out that during the first phase of the announcement, they’ll only be announcing trainees from 11 through 17 inclusive, which is only seven people, so this is really silly.

After that, in the live broadcast, Somi said something that MNET translated thusly: “I know how much effort and sweat they have put into this far because not only I but so many world star creators are sending their cheers to them. Believe in your time and the sweat dedicated, and get with it to the end.” That part didn’t make it into the final airing, as far as I can tell, but I think it’s funny. She read it at top speed, sounding like a bored flight attendant reading the same safety instructions for the millionth time, and not looking up from the cue cards once. Maybe that’s why they didn’t air it.

Anyway -- so now that the stakes have been established, we bring up two teams to start with: Switch and Engarde.

First Round of Eliminations

Here are the 12 trainees who are waiting to hear their fate, in order of their rank in episode 8:

6 Kim Gyu Vin Love Me Right - K / Love Killa/ En Garde

7 Kim Tae Rae Back Door - K/ Man in Love/ Switch

8 Keita Kill This Love - G/ Zoom / Switch

9 Park Gunwook Kill This Love - K/ Tomboy/ En Garde

10 Kum Jun Hyeon Back Door - K /Gang / En Garde

11 Hui Love Me Right - K / Tomboy /En Garde

13 Park Hanbin Hot Sauce - K / Law/ Switch

15 Yoon Jong Woo Back Door - K /Home/Switch

20 Na Kamden Back Door - G /Law /Switch

21 Lee Seung Hwan Danger - K/ Gang /En Garde

23 Zhang Shuai Bo Back Door - G/ Feel Special /Switch

28 Hiroto Very Nice - G/ Rush Hour/ En Garde

Somi announces that they’re going to announce the trainee who is 11th place, who got 2,365,604 points. It’s someone who did the killing part.

Then she gives the clue that the person in 11th has the family name “Park.” Well, that’s either Park Gunwook or Park Hanbin. Gunwook doesn’t want to be announced in 11th place; Hanbin would be delighted to be in 11th. So they sort of awkwardly grin at each other from across the aisle.

At 17:13 And then we find out that it’s Park Hanbin! So they’re both happy! Everyone is proud of him and a little surprised.

Look how happy Z-Bo is for him, and everyone else, too! That’s their fearless leader!

He says, “I won’t be able to be the shiniest star on Boys Planet, but I want to be the one and only star. Since this could be my last chance to shine the brightest, I’ll try to give a great performance.” Somi tells him he shines brightly already, and his gives her a huge, eye squinting grin. That’s doing to be a “happy memory for a sad day” for him -- one of those happy memories you return to when you need a boost. But hopefully Hanbin won’t have too many sad days in front of him.

Kum Junhyeon says to Park Gunwook, “he didn’t deserve the low ranking,” which is so true. Park Hanbin has been great since the first day. It was just hard to get to know his personality at first.

In the live broadcast, Somi asked him to show his “favorite facial expression,” and he did, but it’s all so weird. Does anyone else think that Kpop is getting a bit too codified? Can there be any mystery or general stage technique that isn’t parsed down into the tiniest bits? Anyway, that doesn’t make it into the final broadcast, which is all for the best

As Hanbin walks up to lonely seat 11 all by himself, Jay says, “Park Hanbin serves and deserves,” which is a great way of putting it.

Here’s the floor plan to help you figure out who is sitting where as the episode goes on-- that’s P-Hanbin in 11th.

This is where the live broadcast ended, so I was a mixture of happy (I was so stoned and sleepy and just wanted to close my eyes) and contented (at least my Park Hanbin is safe!) and furious (seriously, MNET?). But that’s all they gave us, the fuckwits.

Rank 12 is next, and it’s someone from En Garde, someone who stood out because of best friend energy, so that could be a lot of people.

We find out that it’s Park Gunwook! He’s fallen from 9th place to 12 -- everyone is shocked, and there’s a silent pause before people start applauding. That peach, Lee Seunghwan, who probably isn’t going to make it through this elimination, gives him a high five and tries to cheer him up, but he looks really sad.

Sad, but still cute! I like the ruffly hair.

Ok, everyone’s super surprised that he fell out of the top9, but I’m not that surprised, really. Don’t get me wrong, I still quite like Park Gunwook and am rooting for him to succeed in life. I’ve heard that some people dislike him, but I think he’s essentially a sweet guy who jokes around in uncomfortable situations. I also think he’s talented, with a loveable face, and I hope that Jellyfish will figure out some way to promote him if he doesn’t make the top 9 here.

That all said, he’s been showing the same part of himself again and again on the show. It’s that super masculine, powerful style of dancing that he always does, you know? I think people are just a tiny bit tired of the powerful powerhouse of power. I feel that way a tiny bit myself. I didn’t need him to do something super cute like Say My Name or something mega sexy like Over Me, exactly, but I think I would have liked to see him in something more like Switch -- something that requires a different, more lighthearted style of dancing. I think he can do it, so I hope that he can show that in the next episode.

Who’s next? Rank 15. Who could it be?

It’s someone known for his unique facial expressions, and it’s an extrovert, so it could be a lot of them -- not Keita, Hui, Hiroto, or Lee Seunghwan who are introverts, but any of the rest. (Is anyone else surprised to hear that Kim Taerae is an extrovert? He comes across as more of an introvert -- probably MNET editing striking again.) Anyway, it could be almost any of these six…

And at 22:45 we find out that it’s Yoon Jongwoo, who had been ranked 15th in episode 8.

Everyone is super surprised, including Jongwoo himself. I think he was expected to be eliminated after his ignominious treatment in episodes 9 and 10, but seriously, watch his fancam from Switch. He’s such a good dancer and performer. He’d be a benefit to any team he’d be on. I really hope he does a cover of Over Me and puts it up on Youtube. Just putting that out into the universe.

Kum Junhyeon and Kim Gyuvin have given up on casting spells.

Who’s next? Rank 16. Who could it be?

Park Hanbin mutters to himself, “This is daebak.” I should have mentioned this in an earlier recap, but for those of you newish to K-culture, “daebak” means something like “amazing” or “surprising” or even “cool.” Sometimes people just say “daebak” as an exclamation, in which case it means something like “wow!”

Everyone is anxious but Zhang Shuai Bo, who already knows that there is a 99.99999% chance that he is eliminated. He probably didn’t even pack anything in his suitcase. His new brown hair looks nice, though.

It’s someone who’s rank has fallen, and someone who never had a killing part. That could be a lot of people.

And at 25:49 we find out it’s Kum Junhyeon. (The Viki subtitler spells his name Guem -- the G/K sound in Korean is sort of halfway between G and K, so you see it either way depending on the transliteration system in use. And there’s a lot of variation in how people transliterate vowel sounds in Korean, which is one of the reasons I learned to read actual Korean sybmbols!)

Kum Junhyeon has dropped a lot from 10th place. I don’t have a specific theory as to why he dropped, but I kind of think that he’s stopped looking like one of the it-crowd, somehow. Put on a team with Gunwook and Gyuvin, he sort of faded into the background. I like Junhyeon a lot -- he’s charismatic, funny, open-hearted, and a really great singer -- and hope he debuts, but I don’t think he’s going to debut with Bepler. I think he knows that too -- he looks like he’s going to cry.

We hear from each of them.

Yoon Jongwoo says, “Since I came here without expecting anything, my memories here are so precious. I kept telling myself to be in the final, at least. And I ended up being here. I’d like to thank the Star Creators who support me one more time.”

Park Gunwook says, “I really wanted to be on stage one more time. My goal coming here was moving on to the final. Thankfully, I’d be able to join the final with such a high ranking. I’m relieved. I’d like to express my love and gratitude to the Star Creators who support me.”

Then Somi asks Gunwook to do something aegyo, and he chooses instead to do something kawaii instead. He says, in Japanese, things like “I love you! I like you a lot!” (The on-screen words are transliterated Japanese with Korean translation underneath.)

Side note: “aegyo” is a thing in K-culture. It’s when idols and other performers do over-the-top, cloying, saccharine cuteness as a… mini performance. It’s quite popular among Koreans, and is often requested by variety show hosts, but international audiences often don’t like it. Personally, I don’t like it, but it’s not my culture and it’s not my place to say “stop doing thing because I don’t like thing,” you know? Though I really do wish they’d stop.

Anyway, Gunwook speaking Japanese spurs Kum Junhyeon to do his speech in Japanese as well, and he sounds like a first semester Japanese student. It’s much cuter than his old “I am 5 years old” shtick, though, I’ll say that.

So, this group takes their seats, and everyone wonders, Who’s next? But there isn’t anyone else in this group.

Though the show plays danger music to make it seem otherwise, it’s fair to assume that Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, Keita, and Hui are probably in the top 10. But unless Na Kamden, Lee Seung Hwan, Zhang Shuai Bo, or Hiroto is ranked 18th, they’ve all been eliminated.

The trainees think that Lee Hoetek/Hui might have been eliminated, but that seems extremely unlikely. The people who’ve been voting for him as of episode 8 are probably going to keep voting for him -- he just hasn’t done enough to attract new people to him. I don’t think he’ll make the final lineup, but I don’t think he’ll be eliminated today.

Then Somi announces that she’s heard that “on a beautiful day, the trainees spent a day full of doubts and suspicion.”

Oh no.

It’s…

30:05 FILLER TIME

If you’re not into Kpop -- and even if you are a little into it -- you may not know about the whole ecology that surrounds idol groups. There are these variety shows, such as After School Club and Weekly Idol, shows where idols come on and get made fun of and forced to do silly things, like dance to their songs at 2x speed, or chicken fight, or answer trivia questions, or whatever the show feels like doing to them.

There’s also a custom of idols creating content specifically for their fans, to hold up their side of the parasocial relationship. They joke around, they play games, they cook or eat food, and most importantly, they talk to the camera like it’s their girlfriend and talk about how much they miss their fans and want to see them again. This stuff makes me uncomfortable, but I know a lot of people like it.

Anyway, all the “filler” stuff we see on Boys Planet is a good introduction to the kind of content you often see on shows or videos like these. As such, even though it’s filler, it’s actually an audition for a big part of the job that they’ll be doing as idols. Plenty of idols are known as much for their reality show appearances as for their performance skills (if not more so).

That said, there isn’t a lot to say about this stuff -- it’s just cute fan service. Here’s a super quick recap:

The boys gather outside at an area with big platform tents, on what must have been a lovely sprint day. Park Hanbin is wearing that same soft looking blue sweater, and Kim TaeRae is wearing a sweatshirt that says Thrasher on it, with just enough dark tape over the logo that they don’t have to blur it. My 17 year old self fainted dead away when she saw that Thrasher logo. Is there anything cuter than a skater boy? (Other than my fella, who is the cutest boy of all boys.)

The trainees are told they will have to dress like cute animals and spend a self-sufficient day in the forest - - which is complete bullshit, but that’s ok.

First, they have to put on loose pajama pants without using their hands -- which is an excuse to help each other and touch each other’s crotchal areas with their feet and teeth -- in order to choose which team gets to wear which animal outfit. That part is actually pretty fun to watch, especially when Chen Kuan Jui uses his powers of stretchiness to get’er’done.

Once they get their animal outfit on (they’re just big loose onesie outfits), they’re all told that each team will have a “raccoon” in it (basically, like a mole -- someone who ruins everything) and that they have to figure out who it is. They have to go into a tent one by one to find out if they’re the raccoon or not -- it’s not as if they choose to be the mole. If the team can figure out who’s the raccoons amongst them, then everyone else wins the prize, but if they don’t, the raccoons win the prizes. The stakes are high.

Say My Name comes in first and chooses unicorn.

Switch comes in second and chooses something red; I can’t tell what it is.

En Garde comes in 3rd and chooses dinosaur.

Supercharger comes in 4th and chooses something pink; I can’t tell what it is.

Over Me comes in last and chooses something black.

Over Me’s raccoon is revealed immediately as Lee Jeonghyeon, and he says, “thank you” and that he’s confident he can do it. Just more MNET spotlighting him to try to get another K-group member in the top9 if possible.

They’re hungry and have to play a game where they spin around until they’re dizzy and have to poke at a board with ingredients written on it. The best things are in tiny boxes, which are hard to target. But most of the trainees get at least something decent for food.

Then they play another game to win dessert -- prizes range from shaved ice to “healthy tea” -- and this game is my least favorite Korean reality staple, “Scream in the dark.” It’s this game where they all wear huge headphones that block out most sound, and have to shout at each other and read each other’s lips. This game is played on all the idol shows, and it’s really not my favorite. Maybe it’d be more fun if I were a fluent Korean speaker…? Also, it’s obviously going to be hard for non native speakers from G-group.

This part goes on for approximately 3,791 years, so if you’d like to skip to the end of it, go to 49:18.

After that, the boys discuss who amongst them could be the raccoon (mole). We find out that each raccoon has a purple raccoon symbol stamped on his foot. So they choose who among them is the raccoon and then that person has to reveal their foot.

Though Over Me’s team seems to suspect Lee Jeonghyeon, they cast out Jay, almost as if they are the general public viewing the show. Of course, Jay is innocent.

Switch team picks Keita, but he’s innocent as well. Turns out the mole was Park Hanbin! Back when he found out that he had to be the mole, he said -- with his face hidden and voice distorted -- “I can’t lie!” and collapsed on the floor. But he was good at it after all! Have I mentioned lately that I really like Park Hanbin? Because I do.

Say My Name team picks Sung Hanbin, and he’s also innocent. Turns out it was really Han Yujin. Interestingly, when he was chosen as the mole, he said, “I’m good at this kind of thing.” A rare glimpse into the personality of Han Yujin.

Supercharger picked Wang Zi Hao, and he is in fact the mole.

En Garde team picked Kum Junhyeon, and he’s also innocent. Turns out the real mole was Park Gunwook.

The raccoons have won! Their prize is a variety of high fashion outfits -- in other words, their animal onesies. (Ten bucks says they all got to keep their onesies anyway.)

And that’s the end of the filler!

56:50 SECOND ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

They joke about the game for a bit longer, and then go back to the eliminations.

Next up will be the other teams: Supercharger, Over Me, and Say My Name.

Ricky says to Jay, in English, “Let’s survive together.” Kim JiWoong leans over to Matthew and says, quoting from Love Killa, “Oh I’m sorry, did I make you anxious?”

Here’s everyone who’s up on the chopping block, in case you would like a refresher as to who is who. I’ve listed their most recent rank as well as their three challenge missions.

1 Sung Hanbin Love Me Right - K / Tomboy / Say My Name

2 Zhang Hao Kill This Love - G/ Tomboy/ Over Me

3 Han Yu Jin Back Door - K / Law / Say My Name

4 Seok Matthew Kill This Love - G/ Love Killa/ Say My Name

5 Kim Ji Woong Back Door - K /Love Killa /Say My Name

12 Jay Love Me Right - G/ Home /Over Me

14 Ricky Back Door - G/ Rush Hour /Over Me

16 Haruto Love Me Right - G / Zoom/ Supercharger

17 Yoo Seung Eon Very Nice - K Home Say My Name

18 Seo Won Very Nice - K Love Killa Supercharger

19 Wang Zi Hao Kill This Love - G Law Supercharger

22 Chen Kuan Jui Kill This Love - G Butterfly Over Me

24 Lee Jeong Hyeon Love Me Right - K Gang Over Me

25 Takuto Danger - G Rush Hour Supercharger

26 Cha Woong Ki Very Nice - K Feel Special Supercharger

27 Ollie Hot Sauce - G Zoom Supercharger

Who’s up first? 13th place. Who could it be?

Someone who’s noted for their talent (thanks, that’s unhelpful). It’s someone from Over Me. We see Park Hanbin with his hands folded, as if in prayer -- he’s hopeful it’ll be his WakeOne teammate, Lee JeongHyeon.

At 1:01:00, we find out it’s Jay.

We see that Jay’s Korean support is painfully low -- only 62,829 votes, while everyone else announced so far has had 200,000+ -- while his global support is super high -- 1,400,606 while no one else has broken into the millions. He’s a little sad because he’s dropped another spot, and it’s looking less and less likely that he’ll make top9 in the end.

Honestly, at this point, I think it’s better for Jay that he *not* debut in Bepler. Looking at what’s going on with Kepler, all the fan wars and stuff, I think he’s better of not in that kind of situation. Who wants to debut based on global vote and then have to go to fan meetings in Korea where literally no one acknowledges you? He’ll have a more fulfilling career using this as a spring board to make his own music and release it mostly online, the way that B.I. and Jackson Wang do. Let K-netz hate him all they want, and let him just sing in English like he’d probably prefer to do. I’d much rather have B.I.’s career than, say, Park Jihoon’s. (Though I do absolutely love all three of the songs I linked to, for the record. But Jihoon’s stylist noona deserves serious sanctions. His whole MV team does. Send them to the naughty step for a few hours to rethink their choices in life.) There’s life after Boys Planet and it doesn’t have to involve Bepler.

Who’s next? 14th place. Who could it be?

Someone indispensable -- so team Supercharger hopes it’s Haruto, as do we all, right? Haruto is everyone’s unproblematic fave.

At 1:02:34, we find out it’s Yoo Seungeon.

Yoo Seungeon is signed to Yuehua, along with current trainees Ricky, Zhang Hao, Han Yujin, Ollie, and Kim Gyuvin, and eliminated trainees Brian and Ji Yun Seo. He really is quite young to debut, and doesn’t really need to debut right now -- it seems quite likely that Zhang Hao and Han Yujin will make the final lineup, and Ricky and Gyuvin have a decent chance, so the Yuehua team that debuts in 2024 or 2025 will start off with a lot of momentum. It still can’t hurt for Seungeon to have more exposure, so it’s nice that he made it. He seems like a sweet kid and a genuine talent. All that said, I’m so worried about Haruto I can’t think straight.

Who’s next? 17th place. Who could it be?

Everyone is hoping that it’ll be themselves, and this is so painful. Cha Woongki tries to keep from hoping. The person is known for their rapping, so of course I’m hoping for Haruto, but there are a lot of rappers here.

Somi says that the person has two “ng” consonants.

Korean reading time! The little circles you see in Korean have a few different roles. Often, they’re silent, like when they come before a vowel. For example, the family name “Lee” (which is really pronounced more like Ee) is spelled 이, as you see above on Lee Jeonghyun’s name. (That straight up and down line thing is the -ee part. You also see it in the final syllable of Woongki’s name -- 기.) When you see the circle thingy at the top of a name, it’s more like “w-” sound. When it’s at the bottom of a word, it’s a -ng sound. That’s why you see it in the top and bottom of 웅 for Woongki (and for Kim JiWoong, also) and in 왕 Wang. You also see it in the bottom of Lee Jeonghyun’s second syllable.

Of course everyone has tons of little circles in their names since they do so much work in Korean writing -- even before I could read Korean I could always tell Korean from other writing systems by the little circles.

Who could it be in 17th place? At 1:05:05 we find out it’s It’s Lee Jeonghyeon. He burst into tears, which seems to surprise his fellow WakeOne trainees Park Hanbin and Kim TaeRae. Of course people are happy for him but sad that they (or their other friends) didn’t survive.

We get told that without the benefit, he would have been in 19th place.

The surviving trainees get to make a speech.

Jay says, in slow English (probably to make it easier for non-native speakers to understand): "To all my friends and family watching from all the way back in the states, I just want to say thank you so much for tuning in every week and screaming at the television.” Somi, who is Canadian and fluent in English, says “Blow them a kiss!” and he does.

Yoo Seung Eon says, “First of all, I never imagined that I’d survive in a high rank of 14, so I feel like I’m dreaming. I have no words to describe how I feel right now. Also, thanks to my Say My Name teammates who created the greatest performance, I really love you.”

Lee Jeonghyeon says, “At every survivor announcement, I was always on the verge of disqualifications. So today, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to make it. But I’m really grateful to the Team Over Me who practiced hard, so we could get benefits.” Then he says, in extremely halting Chinese and Japanese, things like “I love you” and “thank you”, with Hiroto and other trainees helping him from the sidelines.

They take their seats, and Lee Jeonghyeon regains his cool.

1:09:00 THIRD ELIMINATION SEGMENT - TOP 10

So, let’s look at the list of trainees, in their episode 8 ranking order. Those marked in green have already been seated in 11th through 17th place.

1 Sung Hanbin 2 Zhang Hao 3 Han Yu Jin 4 Seok Matthew 5 Kim Ji Woong 6 Kim Gyu Vin 7 Kim Tae Rae 8 Keita 9 Park Gunwook 10 Kum Jun Hyeon 11 Hui 12 Jay 13 Park Hanbin 14 Ricky 15 Yoon Jong Woo 16 Haruto 17 Yoo Seung Eon 18 Seo Won 19 Wang Zi Hao 20 Na Kamden 21 Lee Seung Hwan 22 Chen Kuan Jui 23 Zhang Shuai Bo 24 Lee Jeong Hyeon 25 Takuto 26 Cha Woong Ki 27 Ollie 28 Hiroto

Speaking of falling out and making room, Somi reminds us all that Park Gunwook has fallen out of top 9, leaving a space for a new person. From context, the only person it could be is Ricky -- unless in some weird world it’s Hui. I just don’t think Hui is doing well enough on the show to make top9. So yeah, given the obsessive nature of of Ricky’s fandom, I’m assuming he’s a lot of people’s one-pick and will probably be in the top 10, along with Sung Hanbin, Zhang Hao, Han Yu Jin, Seok Matthew, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, Keita, and Hui. I’m trying to think, could any of these have fallen out of the top 10, leaving room for Haruto? And I don’t think so. I think Matthew will have fallen a few ranks, but I don’t think he’s fallen out of the top 10. And Hui -- I think he’s more nervous than he has to be. But we’ll see.

Next up, we find out the “candidates for 9th place”, ie, the people ranked 9th and 10th. And it’s Hui and Matthew.

Hui is relieved, as he’s been thinking the whole time that he’s been eliminated, while Matthew is resigned to what to him is bad news. Matthew was ranked 2nd and then 4th, so falling to 9th or 10th is a steep drop. I really wish he’d just been sweet and nice about the part switch, because he did a great job in Say My Name -- I think the best in the group -- and he definitely lost some fans. I’ll add, however, that he might have lost those fans anyway as we moved from pick-3 to1-pick. The dynamics always change a lot when we get to the 1-pick.

Matthew and Hui come up to the front to find out who came in 9th -- and it's Matthew.

Matthew says, “I want to thank all the Star Creators for allowing me to stay in the Top 9. Hanbin hyung, Ji Woong Hyung, Yujin-ee and Seung Eon-ee, I was just so happy to be with you. I want to become more cool like Hanbin hyung and JiWoong hyung. Thank you, and I also hope we’ll all be successful together.” Really putting on those retro-rockets, huh? I hope it helps -- I think he’s a great performer and would make a good member of Bepler.

Hui says, “I came worrying that I may have to go home today. I really want to thank the Star Creators for allowing me to get such an unexpectedly high rank. I also wanted to thank my En Guard team members who’ve worked so hard with me. I would like everyone to stay with me to the end, and although I cannot give amazing benefits like Boys Planet, I will becomes an amazing Hoe Taek and I will show you a good side of me.”

As Matthew goes to take his seat, you can hear Yoo Seungeon rush over to give Matthew-hyung a hug. Jay also comes over and says something in English but I can’t quite make it out.

Next is 8th place. Who could it be? Well it’s one of Ricky, Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita. And at 1:16:42, we find out it’s Ricky!

Ricky says, “It’s so cool to enter the Top9 for the first time. I can’t believe it. Honestly, the sofa looked so comfy that I wanted to try sitting in it at least once. I will show an even more improved version of me during the final stage.” The show makes a big deal out of how “sofa” is probably not a Korean word or the right word for these chairs, but, whatever, everyone knew what he meant.

We hear Jay call “Ricky!” and it’s honestly very pleasant to hear someone pronounce it like that. (Not going to say “correctly,” just… correct to my ears, you know?)

Side note: with his hair styled down like this, I actually don’t recognize him. I mean, I know it’s him, but my brain doesn’t believe me.

Now it’s time to find out who is in 7th place. Well it’s one of Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita.

And at 1:18:39, we find out it’s Kim Gyuvin.

I like the return to a messy mop of hair.

He says, “I want to thank you all for allowing me to end up in such a high rank. Through this final stage, I will prove to you why I need to debut.” Then he adds in uncertain Japanese, “I will become a more improved GyuVin. I love you.” Hiroto coaches him from the other side of the room.

I mean, I know that that interim ranking showed him really low, but it never occurred to me for a second he’d fall below 17. I think he might have been worried, though. He’s gotten some hate online. He sits down in the comfy chair and gives that weird smile of his.

Next is 6th place. Who could it be? Well, it’s one of Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita. Because it’s someone whose rank improved, it’s either TaeRae or Keita.

At 1:21:17, we find out it’s Keita. Nice! I knew he’d make it. I’m glad to see his rank improving. His Korean support is low, but his global support is insane. He’s the first person to outscore Jay in the global vote. (He outscored Jay’s Korean support, as well.)

Keita says, “I am just so happy and grateful to be able to move onto the final. I will keep doing my best.” Then he bows. That’s Keita for you.

Next is 5th place. Well, it’s either Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, or maybe Zhang Hao. The person is popular with teenagers, and his charming point is his shy smile. TaeRae doesn’t have a shy smile, but Yujin does.

At 1:22:58 we find out it’s Han Yujin, who at previous eliminations was 4th and 3rd.

Lee Jeonghyun turns around to look up at Park Hanbin and wonder out loud, “What place is TaeRae in?” Again, all three of them are signed together at WakeOne. And hopefully will all debut together ASAP.

Han Yujin says, “To the Star Creators who have shown me much love ever since Na Bina was released, I will work even harder from now on.” Then he adds in Chinese, “Hello. I’m 17-year old Han Yujin. I love you all. You’re so pretty. Thank you.” It doesn’t sound too bad to me but I don’t know Chinese.

Somi teases him about his legendary “Noona, I love you” thing and she asks him to say it to her. (Other trainees watching, including Kum Junyheon and Kim Gyuvin, mutter that they’d be happy to tell her that too.) He says, “Somi-Noona, I love you!” and Somi melts. It’s actually pretty cute, even though I have very little patience for this shiz.

As he goes to his seat, he’s mobbed by some of his friends, including his Yuehua teammate Ricky, who jokingly asks him to say “I love you hyung” to him, and his other Yuehua teammate Kim Gyubin, who seems happier for Yujin than he was for himself.

Next is 4th place, who only scraped past 5th place by a few thousand points -- I’ll do a point analysis at the end of this recap -- and it’s obviously Kim Ji Woong or Kim Tae Rae, or maybe Zhang Hao.

Almost immediately we find out it’s Tae Rae.

Hair stylist noona was really feeling the ruffley bang look today, wasn’t she?

TaeRae says, “To my Star Creators who have always supported me, thank you so much. I will do my best to repay you for your love and support with an even better performance on the final stage.” Then Somi makes him do a big weird laugh and it’s… weird. But he’s still cute.

He goes to take his place, and someone runs to hug him -- I’m pretty sure it’s his WakeOne teammate Park Hanbin.

Somi says she’s going to announce top 3, and Chen Kuan Jui says, in a big, bright, almost-not-sarcastic voice, “who on earth could it be? I’m so curious,” Big snaps for that, CKJ.

Obviously it’s Kim JiWoong, Zhang Hao, and Sung Hanbin.

Ok, so the show reminds us that the top placing trainee in the final episode will get to do a solo song on the group’s debut album, and we’re shown a clip of Kepler performing, with a focus on the first-place-winning Kim Chaeyoung. Thing is, though Chaeyoung came in first (and though she’s talented and sweet and I like her), she is definitely not the most popular member of Kepler these days. I checked a few different random rankings and she was ranked anywhere from 4th to last depending on which list I looked at. She has fans, definitely -- I’m sure plenty of people like her! -- I’m just saying that she’s not the runaway queen of the group or anything. Focusing on her just reminds us that it doesn’t matter AT ALL who comes in first, not even on the final episode, and definitely not now, a week out from first.

(Side note: Another example of this is Ni-Ki from Enhypen. He finished in fourth place in the show I-Land, and spent some time in the unfavored zone for the trainees, but is now the runaway king of the group, with his fancams showing millions of views. The public who votes for reality show trainees aren’t necessarily representative of the entire Kpop viewing population.)

Despite the show basically shoving that fact in our face, it continues to act as if we really care who will specifically will be first, second, and third. Also I think we all know who is third. But WHO COULD IT BE?

At 1:28:49, we find out it’s Kim JiWoong.

He says, “I am grateful and think of it as an honor to be able to provide comfort and happiness to others. Thank you.” I actually adore this guy. He’s a complete mystery of a human and I adore that.

Then there’s some dumb bit where Somi makes him do aegyo and it goes on way too long.

So now it’s time to announce who came in first between Zhang Hao and the impossibly, ridiculously perfect Sung Hanbin.

They say a lot of the normal, “what if confident, but polite?” type things, and then we find out that apparently Sung Hanbin helped Zhang Hao with the “Over Me” choreography to add some waacking elements. They weren’t even on the same team, and Hanbin still took time out of his schedule of providing solar power with his smile to go help his friend.

And at 1:34:19, we find out that Hanbin has taken first again.

He says, “Well, for this past Artist Battle mission, there was such a big benefit on the line, so I wasn’t really able to predict this. Please continue to cheer for me so I can run for the finish line, shining as bright as I can. My Say My Name members, I love you.”

Hao says, in his halting way, “I am so grateful and happy to be able to rank 2nd place again. I will continue running without stopping. Please continue being happy through my passion.” Then he adds in extremely halting Japanese, “motto ganbarimasu” -- kind of “I’ll keep going/ I won’t give up.” His vote tally shows that he is more than 800,000 points ahead of 3rd/4th/5th place (which are almost a tie).

But it’s nothing compared to Sung Hanbin, who is more than a million points ahead of Hao.

Sung Hanbin is dominating first place in a way we’ve never seen on the produce series. To put this in perspective:

In Produce 101 season 1, Jeon Somi and Kim Sejeong traded off between 1st and second, with Somi actually falling to 4th place at the 2nd elimination before finally finishing in first.

In Produce 101 season 2, Park Jihoon, Kim Jonghyeon, and Kang Daniel held first place at different times.

In Produce 48, Sakura, Lee Gaeun, and Jang Wonyoung held first place at different times.

In Produce X 101, Kim Yohan and Kim Wooseok traded off in first place.

In Girls Planet 999, Yurina was in first place in ep 5 and didn’t even make it into Kepler. Shen Xiaoting was in first place for most of the rest of the time, and then only made it into Kepler in 9th place, and Kim Chaeyhun came in first despite not ever ranking above 8th place before that.

Granted, all four Produce seasons were known for straight up vote rigging, so maybe one person really was the most popular the whole time. But regardless, Sung Hanbin’s DOMINATION of first place is completely unprecedented in previous seasons of this show, with or without vote rigging. If he comes in first on Friday morning, it will be something we’ve never seen before on this show.

Anyway, our top 9 is seated. Hey, if this is the debuting team, I’ll definitely follow them.

1:36:26 Chair 18

This is the part where they announce who is ranked 18th, ie, the very last survivor. I’m not going to go in much depth here because this part isn’t fun to recap, you know?

Haruto notices that Supercharger is still completely seated in the gallery -- no one has made it through the elimination. That’s the worst.

Here’s who’s left, with their episode 8 rank.

16 Haruto 18 Seo Won 19 Wang Zi Hao 20 Na Kamden 21 Lee Seung Hwan 22 Chen Kuan Jui 23 Zhang Shuai Bo 25 Takuto 26 Cha Woong Ki 27 Ollie 28 Hiroto

Who’s most likely to take that last spot? I hope Haruto, but really it could be any of them other than Z-Bo, Takuto, and Ollie, in my opinion. Let’s find out.

Somi announces the FOUR candidates for spot 18 -- that’s so cruel.

They announce Wang Zihao, Na Kamden, Cha Woongki, and Hiroto -- representing China, USA, Korea, and Japan.

Of course, this means that Haruto, Seo Won, Lee Seung Hwan, Chen Kuan Jui, Zhang Shuai Bo, Takuto and Ollie all have been eliminated.

I can’t believe it about Haruto. The way he hangs his head just breaks my heart. I don’t even want to screen cap it. I didn’t see it coming so it was just a punch in the gut.

I’m sad for all of them, really, but aside from Haruto, I’m also especially sad for Lee Seunghwan, who, you may not know, already went through the reality show ringer once and was a member of 1the9, a group whose promotions were severely impacted by covid-19. Poor Seunghwan -- luck just never seems to be on his side, though he’s handsome, sweet, and talented.

Side note: I was all up to date and ready to get this recap out on Saturday or something, but I just… didn’t… want to write it. I watched the whole thing taking quick notes to use as the basis of my recap later, and when Haruto was eliminated I just fast forwarded to find out who did survive and then turned the episode off and didn’t come back for several days. So if that’s how you’re feeling about it, me too. I guess maybe Haruto didn’t look like a viable candidate, so people gave up? Or maybe people thought that other people would vote for him, that he’d be safe? It’s strange to me that Hiroto beat Haruto in the final ranking. Nothing against Hiroto at all, but I’m just surprised.

Anyway, let’s finish this.

21st place turns out to be Hiroto, the only eliminated member of En Garde. From his spot on stage, Park Gunwook mutters to himself, “If we’d just gotten 1st place….” A general to the end, worrying about his troops. I will hear no talk about Gunwook being “mean” or anything like that.

Hiroto says (in slow, careful Korean), “I didn’t get a good result because I was lacking, but…” (Woongki interrupts quietly, saying “that’s not true,” and Somi looks heartbroken) “...I am happy if the Star Creators were happy while cheering for me.” It’s a very sweet speech.

Somi says, “You are not lacking!” and Hiroto’s face lights up. She continues: “None of you are lacking! All of you here are amazing!” There, that’s my girl. That’s my Somi. 💓 She is so much more human than pretty much any judge or host we’ve had on the show so far -- well, Sunmi was great too, but she was barely there. Somi knows exactly how these trainees feel and relates to them as equals, even though she’s successful and they’re not there yet. I’m glad she’s here. I bet she made this easier for them.

Next we announce 20th place: It’s Woongki.

His final speech is at 1:39:55 and it’s great. He says, “When I said that I would appear on Boys Planet, people told me that what I want is different from what I can do, that my time is up, and that I would learn to face reality. But I feel like that’s not true. Through Boys Planet, I was able to learn more about my potential as Cha Woongki. Woongki boy is just beginning. Thank you!” and then with a bright smile, he bows. Yeah, Woongki!

Somi says, shaking a cue card in the air for emphasis, “Don’t give up on your dream!” And Woongki cheerfully says, “I won’t!”

Finally, we announce 18th place, which means announcing 19th place at the same time.

18th place turns out to be Na Kamden. Jay practically falls out of his chair in relief, and we see Z-bo’s face is lit up with happiness. Ollie gives him a congratulatory hug -- probably the whole English speaking crew got pretty close at the show. Other trainees gather to console Wang Zi Hao, who is taking it in stride, as he takes basically everything in life.

Kamden says, “Honestly, when I wasn’t called before, I was organizing my thoughts and emptied myself of expectations. But thank you so much for allowing me to stand on such a large stage as the final.” Then he adds in English, “Love you Mom!” and then in Korean says, “I made it to the final!”

We check in with Wang Zi Hao. he says, in Chinese, “I was grateful to be able to experience these times together with everyone. I will treasure the fact that I was able to make good memories with you all at this starting point of my life. Thank you.” He’s such a sweetheart. Haruto mentioned that Wang Zi Hao joined Supercharger voluntarily in order to help Haruto -- isn’t that sweet. There’s often a G R E A T A G E N C Y R E S H U F F L I N G following a show like this, so I’m hoping that WZH ends up signing at another agency so we can see more of him in the future.

Somi wishes the ten eliminated trainees the best, and we pan over them. Haruto seems to be having the worst time of it -- the rest saw it coming, at least.

Here is the complete final ranking -- filling in the last few spots with some help from the internet.

Sung Hanbin

Zhang Hao

Kim Jiwoong

Kim Taerae

Han Yujin

Keita

Kim Gyubin

Ricky

Seok Matthew

Hui

Park Hanbin

Park Gunwook

Jay

Yoo Seungeon

Yoon Jongwoo

Kum Junhyeon

Lee Jeonghyeon

Na Kamden

Wang Zihao

Cha Woongki

Hiroto

Haruto

Chen Kuan Jui

Lee Seunghwan

Seo Won

Ollie

Takuto

Zhang Shuai Bo

Sung Hanbin is 1,046,481 points* ahead of Hao, who is 816,760 points ahead of 3rd place. However, JiWoong, TaeRae, and Yujin are all within about 25,000 points of each other, making them virtually tied. Then there’s 432,355 points between Yujin and Keita, so that puts Keita down kind of a tier. Keita is only 51,928 points ahead of Gyuvin, making them almost tied. The next few ranks are all about 130k-150k apart from each other, like a stair case, but then there’s a big gap (311,148) between Matthew and Hui. But from Hui down to Na Kamden, they’re all pretty close together, like 6000-60,000 apart -- especially if you remember that Lee Jeonghyeon got that 200,000 point benefit.

*I say points because they’re not straight up votes, due to the K/G weighting thing.

What I’m saying is that unless something drastic happens, I think that Sung Hanbin and Hao will be 1-2 on Friday; JiWoong, TaeRae, and Yujin all look like locks as well, and from Keita down to Matthew, things could easily move around, but it’s not looking super-duper likely that many people from Hui down to Kamden will end up in the top 9 -- unless Park Hanbin continues his meteoric rise and Matthew continues his sharp fall. If you're curious, here's the ranking of the top 18 if only Korean votes decided things:

Sung Hanbin

Kim Tae Rae

Kim Gyu Vin

Han Yu Jin

Kim Ji Woong

Zhang Hao

Yoo Seung Eon

Na Kamden

Kum Jun Hyeon

Park Hanbin

Hui

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Ricky

Park Gunwook

Yoon Jong Woo

Seok Matthew

Keita

Jay

And here's the ranking if only Global votes decided things:

Keita

Zhang Hao

Sung Hanbin

Jay

Seok Matthew

Kim Ji Woong

Han Yu Jin

Ricky

Park Gunwook

Yoon Jong Woo

Kim Tae Rae

Hui

Kim Gyu Vin

Park Hanbin

Kum Jun Hyeon

Yoo Seung Eon

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Na Kamden

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

So... the next phase is the one-pick vote. I could rant at length about how dumb the one-pick system is in terms of creating a sustainable group. Groups that are truly successful tend to have multiple members that are popular among fans. There’s a popular boy group that I personally like only 2 members of, so I really can’t consider myself a fan of that group. Meanwhile in Exo, I basically can’t pick a favorite because I really like almost all of them. So letting us vote for multiple members would tend to create a situation in which the group is all loved by all the fans.

The rest of the episode was the boys preparing for their next song, and I have to admit, I don’t much care about those two last songs. The performances happen AT the finale, once the audience has already voted, so there’s kind of no point to them.

Here are the two groups for the two songs:

Hot Summer Sung Hanbin Kim Taerae Kim Ji Woong Ricky Lee Jeong Hyeon Kim Gyuvin Han Yujin Keita Yoon Jongwoo

Jelly Pop Hui Yoo Seung Eon Zhang Hao Park Gunwook Kum Junhyeon Park Hanbin Jay Na Kamden Seok Matthew

Who knows, maybe I’ll recap the rest later, but I wanted to get this posted.

Hope you’re all doing well, and I hope that your one-pick makes it.

#boys planet #haruto #sung hanbin #park hanbin #seok matthew #hui #ricky boys planet #kim gyuvin #na kamden #zhang hao #wang zi hao

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boysplanetrecaps · 1 year

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Boys Planet Eps 9-10 Recap: Say My Name

Hello, beautiful people! As you may know, I already wrote a recap/master post for episode 9, and another one for episode 10. This recap focuses just on the stuff that’s relevant to team “Say My Name” -- so their rehearsal period and their additional focus/footage in episode 9, as well as their rehearsal footage and performance in episode 10. Just say “read more” and all will be revealed.

The Trainees

Here’s a list of the trainees in this group, and their ages, along with their rank as of episode 8 and their two previous missions:

Sung Hanbin - 21 1 / Love Me Right/ Tomboy

Han Yu Jin - 16 3/ Back Door / Law

Seok Matthew - 20 4/ Kill this Love / Love Killa

Kim Ji Woong -24 5 / Back Door / Love Killa

Yoo Seung Eon - 19 17 / Very Nice / Home

The First Rehearsal Segment

At 23:20, we endure the gut-churningly uncomfortable atmosphere at team Say My Name for a solid eight minutes.

The editing is really pushing the drama, by beginning in medias res, with Matthew saying “Really? If only I knew, I would’ve been better off to join team Switch. I feel like you guys are ditching me a bit.” Then, crying, he gets up and leaves the room. No one follows him. Sung Hanbin’s perfect face is hard to read -- a mixture of sadness and determination.

WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?

We jump back in time to find out. The team is having their first rehearsal after T h e G r e a t R e s h u f f l i n g, and they need to redistribute parts.

The team agrees that Yujin should keep the Killing Part -- Kim JiWoong says that Yujin would look yeppo (pretty) in the part.

(Side note: They mention that Ollie was the other one with the Killing Part -- I’m sure the team never had the plan to let him keep it. Poor Ollie. He would have done great with it, for what it’s worth.)

The bigger battle is, who will be main vocal? Yoo Seung Eon, the titanium voiced cutie pie, says: “The main vocalist of this song should lead the choreography rather than showing off vocal skills. I think it’s about getting the feel right. I think Hanbin should be the main vocalist.”

Let’s take some time to let that sink in. Seung Eon, the lowest ranked on the team, whose major claim to fame, really his only claim to fame, is his voice, is giving up the main vocal part. And not just any main vocal part -- a main vocal part that is practically the killing part or center or whatever you want to call it. Why? For the good of the team. He interviews, “Of course I wanted the part. But I thought things would go smoothly if I just switch my position.” Aww! What a sweetheart.

So. Now, what part will he get? Does he want Sub-Vocal 1, with its 41 seconds of singing time?

That’s been Matthew’s position, and after a pause, Seung Eon says, “I think Matthew fits in that part well,” and agrees to take Sub Vocal 2. No one wants to have any more drama today, so the team decides to just go with it rather than have auditions or even discuss it further.

In an interview, Matthew says, “I was thinking of asking [Seung Eon] if he wants to give [sub vocal 1 ] a try. But Sub-Vocal 1 is the part I wanted the most. I thought it’d be weird to tell him to go for it too.” Production asks, “Were you afraid he’d just take it?” Matthew replies, “I was a bit scared because he’s so good.”

The comparison is so obvious and in our face that I barely need to point it out -- but I’ll point it out anyway. Seung Eon gave Hanbin an extremely desirable part because he thought that Hanbin would be better at it. Matthew was scared that Seung Eon would steal “his” part because Seung Eon would be better at it. Their motivations seem diametrically opposed.

Later, the team is practicing singing the song. It’s becoming obvious that Matthew’s part is a bit too high pitched for him, and Seung Eon’s part is a bit too low pitched for him.

Leader Hanbin takes time out of his schedule of taking care of baby bunnies to give an interview, in which he says that the parts were distributed wrong because the team was in a hurry, and he’s “not used to negotiating things.” Then a thousand daisies spring up at his feet, so he picks them and finds some lonely elderly ladies to give them to.

The next day, Hanbin is still trying to think of a non-confrontational solution to the problem (confrontation would startle the flock of white doves that flutter around his head!) when Kim Ji Woong suggests the solution -- that Matthew and Seungeon switch parts. I mean, it’s obviously the solution, if Matthew’s part is too high and Seungeon’s part is too low. Hanbin asks them to try each other’s part, and it sounds so much better.

Hanbin tries to sell it to Matthew, saying that Sub-Vocal 2 has more character than the “basic” main vocal and sub-vocal 1 parts, and Ji Woong points out that Matthew will shine more in a part that suits him better, which will be better for the team, too. Matthew isn’t buying it. In fact, he thinks the whole thing is a hidden camera prank. Everyone says it isn’t, but he doesn’t believe them.

Oh boy. On the one hand, I can understand why Matthew would maybe think it was a hidden camera prank. After all, En Garde did that to Park Gunwook, and maybe Matthew heard about it and they do that kind of thing all the time on the show. Also, he wanted this part so much, it’s almost as if he’s going through the stages of grief -- denial and bargaining and all that. I can understand that. But it’s really hard to watch.

As Matthew begins to think that maybe this is real, he says that he’d be "doomed" if he lost Sub-Vocal 1. He interviews that Seung Eon can do high pitched adlibs, and he himself cannot. He says, “If I become sub-vocalist 2, I’d just be gone! There’s nothing! I can’t do it! I’m just someone passing by. I’d just be like, ‘Hello.’”

Here, Matthew is hampered at least a little by his comparative lack of ability to speak Korean -- he’s explaining himself as best he can, though, and I think his point is clear. He feels like if Seung Eon is on sub-1, and he himself is on Sub-2, no one will notice him.

Matthew is again motivated by anxiety, which is completely in keeping with what we’ve seen of him so far on the show. While I can’t fault him, as this must be the most awful environment for an anxious person --- like, I want to reach for a bottle of diazepam just thinking about what it would be like to be on this show -- it’s also absurd for him to be threatened by Seung Eon. Matthew is ranked in 4th place currently, and yes, that is a drop from where he was in episode 5. But oh my God, Matthew. At the second elimination, you had almost three times the voting points that Seung Eon had. And it’s not as if you’re going to win the audience vote in this song. You’ve got to know that Hanbin is going to win, right? He’s going to smile at the audience, and everyone in the theater will pass out in bliss and wake up cured of all disease, and that’ll be that. So why stress about it?

Also, Matthew, sweetie, what on earth makes you think that the Star Creators at home vote based on how you do in the performances? If that were the case, wouldn’t Takuto have been eliminated in Episode 5? Wouldn’t Lee Yedam still be on the show? Listen to BPR-Noona, ok? You’re doing all this so the audience will like you, but in doing it, you are making the audience not like you. You’re creating this hell for yourself.

Nothing Matthew does is unforgivable or anything. But I’m not going to pretend that this is anything other than what it is. I’m bummed for him, because if he had just switched parts right away, and been sweet about it, it would have worked out so much better for him. As it is, a lot of people in the audience are probably getting really frustrated with him for being unable to accept reality (“I STILL think that this is a hidden camera!” gets pretty irritating after a bit) and for being so selfish in comparison to the saintly Seung Eon.

Second Rehearsal Segment

Ok, so let’s skip to 1:58:42, still in episode 9.

It’s performance day, and Key introduces the Say My Name team. We pan the audience and see signs for Han Yujin, Kim JiWoong, and others, along with many signs for Matthew.

Because it’s kind of fun to be able to spot the signs, you might want to be on the lookout for certain Korean letters/symbols. Seok Matthew’s name written in Korean looks like this: 속매튜 Or you might see it just Matthew, 매튜. The square in the first symbol of Matthew is the M, and the thing that looks like a skinny H is an “ae” sound, and the thing that looks like a capital letter E is the “t” sound. So compare that to Kim Tae Rae 김태래 -- you can see the M in the bottom of the first symbol, the T at the front of the second symbol, and the “ae” at the end of the second two symbols. And that’s your Korean reading lesson of the day!

The point, though, is that the audience is losing its shit over Matthew, which serves to remind us that his anxiety is kind of unfounded.

The team is backstage, ready to perform (they won’t actually perform until episode 10, of course). They look anxious.

We cut to more rehearsal. The team is sitting around uncomfortably. Matthew is saying that he wishes he had gone to the “Switch” team if he was going to have to do Sub-vocal 2. He’s saying it with a big smile on his face, which is something he tends to do -- say something like it’s a joke when it’s serious. No one else is smiling. Hey Matthew, I bet someone on Supercharger would still switch places. Go ask Woongki. He’d be delighted to be sub-vocal 2 on Say My Name.

Thing is, smile or no smile, Matthew is angry. You can tell. And saying this, when it’s no longer possible to switch, is clearly just an attempt to make everyone else feel bad.

That’s an angry face, my friends. It’s not a felony. I’d be angry too. But he IS angry.

And then, Kim JiWoong, with his superior emotional intelligence says, “But Matthew, you need to consider the teammates you’re working with. I don’t think now is the time for you to do only what you want. I think someone who fits the part should do the part.” Oh my god, JiWoong, thank you. It had to be said.

Matthew interviews that what JiWoong said hurt him, and I was thinking, “oh, because you realize that you’re being kind of immature and entitled and you feel bad about it…?” but no. He is sad because he wonders if they all “didn’t believe in [his] ability.”

JiWoong says they have to think of the team. Matthew says that him keeping the part he wants is for the good of the team. Hanbin tells Matthew again, that this isn’t all about Matthew. And Matthew can’t believe that his friend has turned against him, because again, this IS all about Matthew, for Matthew.

It’s hard for Matthew because he feels like he has no choice in the matter, but like, that’s how this always works. When you try out for the Killing Part or Main Vocal and the team votes for someone else, you can’t just decide “well guess I’ll take the part anyway.” And yeah, you had the part, but now you’re losing it. That happens.

I am not being mean on purpose, you guys. I don’t want to pointlessly bash Matthew when he’s making kind of an ass of himself on an international stage. I’m going to take this moment to be profoundly grateful that no one was recording me at those moments in my life that I made a complete ass of myself. Let’s all be profoundly grateful for that, right?

Yoo Seung Eon speaks up, apologizing for not speaking up earlier about wanting the part (not your fault, Seung Eon) and just being sorry in general. Seung Eon’s complete sweetness gets through to Matthew, who is now crying. He says, “Seung Eon, you have no reason to feel sorry. This happened because you’re good.”

The thing is that that’s not totally the case -- Seung Eon is good, of course, but the bigger issue is the pitches, and I wish Matthew understood that. Seung Eon doesn’t sound great as subvocal 2 any more than Matthew sounds great as subvocal 1. Keeping them in their current parts would be like choosing the super tall person to be on your baseball team, and choosing the person who can throw 100 mph to be on your basketball team. You want to put the right person in the right position.

Matthew goes out into the hall to kind of deal with his feelings, which is a good idea. And then he interviews that the reason he wanted to sing Subvocal 1 is that the lyrics were mostly in English, and he wanted his mom to enjoy listening to him sing in English.

Argh, I am trying so hard not to be mean about all this but I mean, I can’t not know that this is a lie. He’s lying.

Consider the following:

Matthew’s first reaction on hearing he was going to lose the song wasn’t, “oh no, my mom…” but “I’m doomed.” In what world does missing out on a special thing you wanted to do for your mom equate to being doomed?

Matthew said in an interview, “If I become sub-vocalist 2, I’d just be gone! There’s nothing! I can’t do it! I’m just someone passing by. I’d just be like, ‘Hello.’” That’s all unequivocally about wanting center time. There is no second interpretation of this comment.

Matthew is very close to Hanbin and fairly close to JiWoong at this point -- if this mom thing was true, he would have felt comfortable talking to them about it.

Now, the “doomed” comment -- I can see one interpretation of this that isn’t just about wanting center time to avoid elimination. It might have been a reference to Matthew’s difficulty in learning Korean lyrics -- he may have been worried about having to learn the lyrics to a whole new part. But if so, say so! That’s a valid concern -- why lie? What is that?

Another issue is that Matthew’s characterization of Sub-Vocal 1 as being “half English” is a massive exaggeration. SV-1 has one line fully in English (“can I be your boy? Can I love you more?”) but otherwise is mostly in Korean.

Here’s the complete lyrics that SV-1 sings (not including parts where they all sing or where SV1 and SV2 sing together).

Eeny, Meeny 이제서야 Your turn Let me let me know 말해줘 Baby 매일 아침마다 / 이미 우정엔 금 갔지 더 고민해 봤자 시간만 / 떨림이 말해주네 대답은 그걸로 충분해 Can I be your boy? Can I love you more? 네 주위 아무것도 아닌/ 애들도 난 거슬리지 Just say my name 늘 부르던 부르던 세 글자 Say my name 또다시 두근거려 시간이 멈춘 것 같아 / 떨림이 말해주네 대답은 그걸로 충분해 / 친구 말고 Love oh baby

Here’s the complete lyrics that SV-2 sings (again not including parts where they all sing or sing together).

Just say my name, Just say my name 네 옆에서 언제까지 Yeah 해야 할지 남사친 그거 초코우유 나야 / 재고 또 재는 손 크기 그냥 확 잡으면 어떨지 / 어제 이름과 좀 다르게 설탕 한 스푼 더 추가해 / 네 모든 걸 다 기억 자신 있어 Come here 어제 이름과 좀 다르게 (Changer!) 설탕 한 스푼 더 추가해 (Special!) 이 순간 흐르는 잠깐의 정적 어제 이름과 좀 다르게 (Changer!) 설탕 한 스푼 더 추가해 (Special!)

They’re both mostly Korean. Even that line at the beginning of SV-1, “Eeny, Meeny 이제서야 Your turn/ Let me let me know 말해줘 Baby” -- Eeny meeny isn’t real English and having that be mixed in with so much Korean, your ear stops distinguishing English lyrics and sort of just hears sounds, with the “baby” at the end, you know? It’s not this overwhelming English sound that you hear.

So yeah, the mom excuse is just a lie, and for me, that’s the part that really bums me out, because I want to like Matthew. I kind of naturally root for the North Americans, because I am one, you know? And if he had just said, “I’m so sorry and embarrassed I made this uncomfortable for everyone. I should have been more understanding about why we had to change parts. I don’t have any excuse, I was just so anxious about everything” -- if he said something like that, I’d forgive him immediately because again, the pressure they’re under is absurd. It’s natural to feel that way. Just own it. But instead, he lied.

And one reason that I say that Matthew is not being evil edited is that the show seems to be presenting this obviously false explanation as true.

Look at the screenshot above. He’s talking about how Sub-Vocal 1 has so many words in English, and the on-screen images are backing him up. What they’re NOT showing is the lyrics in SV-1 that are in Korean, which is a lot of lyrics, nor are they showing the lyrics from SV-2 that are in English. They show him crying while talking about his mom and they play stirring violin music the whole time. The show is sympathizing with him.

I’m still not saying that he’s a bad person or that any of this is unforgivable. He’s a human being and it’s natural to be defensive and anxious and all these things. It’s cool if you forgive him. Just face reality, is all I’m saying.

Anyway.

Ok, so we see the five trainees doing their intro bit on stage, and as I expected, they’re clearly doing a high teen concept, complete with a school setting on stage and all that. But we’re not really going to see the performance yet -- we’ll have to wait for episode 10.

Final Segment

We’ll skip to episode 10, at 49:30. Key introduces the team again, and the boys come up to introduce themselves.

We see Lee Hwanhee in the audience for a picosecond, holding up this sign:

I think it says “Ji Woong-ee hyung”.

The team says they want to be your first love -- they’re team Say Yes! Then Key makes Han Yujin say “noona I love you” over and over and I want to call Child Protective Services.

Then they ask Matthew about his rehearsal experience, and we go into flashback mode. This isn’t just a flashback, this is a flashback to what we’ve already seen -- the team explaining that he’s not a solo artist, and him going to sit down in a lobby area. The on screen captioning is again defending him, saying “he understands his teammates, but he can’t calm down.”

Then the on screen captioning says “one hour earlier”, but I’m almost certain that they really mean one hour later, or else nothing makes sense. MNET, can you just tell the story in order and not jump around so much for no reason?

Hanbin gives his team a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (baked goods spontaneously generate whenever he laughs) and tells them to take a 10 minute break while he checks in on Matthew, who is hanging back.

It says Soek Matthew on the left, and Sung Hanbin on the right. (By the way, the little symbol that looks kind of like a ^ symbol, that’s the S in Korean, so on the left that’s the S for Soek and on the right it’s the S in Sung. As a reminder, the square is an M and the E is a T and the H is an “ae” sound.)

Anyway, Hanbin is checking in on Matthew, who he senses is having a hard time. Matthew denies that anything is wrong, but he’s obviously kind of sulking. They try to rehearse together as a team, but Matthew is still not feeling it.

JiWoong interviews that he feels bad for doing what he had to do, that he’s not sure how to treat Matthew from now on, and that this has been hard on him too. JiWoong has the necessary emotional intelligence to do the hard work between friends, but that doesn’t mean he likes it. Look, I’m happily partnered and am not looking to date anyone else, but my friends, that is some boyfriend material right there. Being too passive to the point that you can’t even communicate about what’s on your mind just allows things to fester. Nothing against Hanbin, who is truly trying his best and doing a decent job, but JiWoong is the hero of this story. Find yourself a person who can communicate like that.

We cut to dance rehearsal with the psycho dance teachers, who ask Hanbin and Matt about their bromance. Turns out they never actually performed together on the show. Leader Hanbin shoos away a herd of passing unicorns, then explains that the group has been training for a week, but that they just changed some parts today.

The dancing doesn’t go well -- the judge yells at them because the mood "isn’t cute" -- especially Matthew, who isn’t “managing” his facial expression. They try again, and Matthew continues to sulk. The dance teacher reminds them that they have to not let any conflict between them show on stage. They try a third time and it still doesn’t quite work.

Matthew’s interview comes in like a voice over, narrating over the scene, saying that he feels bad that he made the mood like this and got his teammates in trouble. He says, “I realized that I can’t keep being like this. At this rate, I might screw up our performance.” Good, Matthew, good start. You’re on your way! Keep it up.

The fourth time through, they manage to pull it together.

Later at the dorms, JiWoong goes to visit Matthew. JiWoong is wearing what appears to be pinstriped pajamas. Of course he is. JiWoong asks if Matthew is ok, then adds, of course you’re not. Matthew is still held back a little bit by not being 100% fluent in Korean, so it’s hard for him to explain his exact feelings, but it’s something similar to betrayal. You know, that feeling that Woongki and Seo Won and Ollie and Takuto probably felt when you voted them out of the team? I mean, just sayin’, there’s plenty of betrayal going around, and it’s probably better to count your blessings.

JiWoong says, “I considered all day whether or not I should talk to you. In any case, I should apologize to you since the parts were changed [so late].” Matthew says he understands why JiWoong did what he did and that his (Matthew’s) reasons for wanting SV-1 were selfish. (We don’t see any further mention of the Mom/English lyrics story.)

JiWoong says he needs to be a good hyung (older brother figure) to Matthew, but it really goes beyond that -- he’s the embodiment of forgiveness and patience. He said what he needed to say and now he doesn’t hold a grudge. Next time someone pisses you off, think, WWJWD? And unless that thing is showing your nipples, do that thing. I mean, unless it’s a good time to show your nipples. I don’t know your life.

Matthew commits to Sub-vocal 2 and begins working on the lyrics. They’re tricky for him, which backs up my theory that part of his issue was fear at having to learn a new set of lyrics.

We see the team rehearsing and they all seem to be getting along much better. At dress rehearsal they do a great job, and Matthew is all smiles. The judges cheer. Matthew interviews that he has finally realized that the team is the most important thing. Good!

Honestly, I really can forgive Matthew for all of this, but the whole Mom/English lyrics bit was really… icky. Just come out and say it, guy -- say, “I wanted the big part because I’m anxious because my rank fell a lot from 2nd to 4th and I’m worried that I won’t debut after all and it’s all I can think about.” That’s fine, that’s a normal way to feel. Sigh. But I guess he thought that the audience at home wouldn’t forgive him for that so he made up the Mom lie?

Anyway, it’s finally time!

The performance begins.

My take: Well, the thing is, I’m not really into this kind of song -- new jack swing lite, I guess you could call it -- but I try to critique songs within their genre, and for a song of this genre, it’s ok. It’s cute. It doesn’t grate or irritate.

What’s more relevant is that the boys do a really good job with it. Their dancing is lively, their singing sounds great, their on-stage chemistry is convincing, and while I know they had an MR, I think a lot of their vocals were live and really, it was good. The staging didn’t compete with the performance, and their outfits made them all look cute. It all came together really well. The part where they all say their own names at the end is really cute, too.

I think that Matthew and Seung Eon did the best job in terms of stage presence. Weirdly, Sung Hanbin’s smile didn’t really convince me -- I saw stress on his perfect face, rather than cute happiness. He's still preternaturally charming. Han Yujin seemed to be holding back, but I’ve always thought that about him. And Kim JiWoong seemed a little uncomfortable. That’s just how they seemed to me and maybe I’m the only one who thinks that. I still think all five of these guys are super talented and I can see why someone would like them and vote for them.

After I wrote all that, I showed the performance to my fella and asked him what he thought, and he said that he thought the “chaotic teenager” energy they gave off suited the song. He picked out Matthew as the best one, picked out JiWoong as not fitting in (he said that the rest looked like they were confessing a crush, while JiWoong looked like he was promising a good lay), and said that Hanbin looked really exhausted. I swear that I didn’t tell him about the tension in the group, or that JiWoong was known for doing sexy concepts! He just picked up on that anyway. He’s not really into vocals or dance specifically so he was mostly judging based off of vibe.

I *am* into vocals, and I just want to say again how good of a job I think Yoo Seung Eon did. In other performances, I found his voice to be a tiny bit too thin and screechy for my taste, but he sounded much better here. I think he’s quite a talent and I’d love to see how his singing continues to improve as he matures and gets even more training. I actually think he’s ready to debut now but I also don’t think he’ll make top 9, so we’ll have to wait for the Yuehua boy group coming in, IDK, 2024. Seriously, I’m so looking forward to it!

Am I sad that TaeRae wasn’t the main vocal of this song? Yes. Yes I am. But I don’t hold it against them. Hanbin sang well, especially since he considers himself a dancer first.

Congratution on your gradution!

The Edit I think the edits on these five mission stages will all be kind -- we’re at the point when the show wants us to like every performance. Mostly they just show the performance, without a ton of instant replays or reactions, but they did have to interrupt a few times to see the audience losing their shit for Matthew. They even threw in a shot of Key smiling. When the song is over, they really dwell on the audience reaction. The audience is LOSING THEIR SHIT.

Afterwards Backstage, the boys are really happy and proud. Then Key walks by and says “you remind me of me when I was younger,” which is probably a moment that they’ll take out of the memory bank and stroke like a soft blanket on sad days.

We don’t find out who came in last, which was also the case for En Garde -- MNET jiggery fuckery again.

And who do you think wins the audience vote? Come on, take a wild guess! Was it... maybe... Sung Hanbin? Yes, indeed, it was -- with 826 points (so Haruto still has the highest individual score). It’s this Hanbin's first time coming in first -- he lost to Hui in Love Me Right and lost to Zhang Hao in Tomboy.

Am I crazy, or does there still seem to be a bit of awkwardness between Hanbin and Matthew? JiWoong talked it out with Matthew and cleared the air, but I think Matthew and Hanbin need to have a similar conversation at some point soon, or there will be awkwardness in their friendship for a while to go.

And that’s about it for this recap. Thanks as always for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one!

#boys planet recap #boys planet #sung hanbin #seok matthew #kim jiwoong #yoo seungeon #han yujin #say my name

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