Kate

they should find a way to reshoot it with both actors... but even without actors it's possible to make it look better than what we've got. be clever with the angles or something...

"The finale didn’t feel like a finale because not much was answered" that's a norm for tomb series, it's not even an open ending, it's basically often ending the season mid a scene lol And Wu Xie has been looking for his uncle in basically all )or almost all) seasons 😅

Great review! Detailed and explaining different aspects of the show :)

they go back to the companies they are sign under as trainees. If they don't have companies, they usually get sign under one if they manage to debut from Boy's Planet (no company would turn down a new trainee with established large fanbase).

Usually most of these idols who were in the final group debut either in the new groups from their company or as a soloist shortly after the permanent group disbands to keep the momentum going

I mean, most of the trainees are sign under different companies (names being introduced as they introduced the trainees themselves), it would be impossible to make them a permanent group, especially since mnet is not a music label.

These shows are just a good way to:
1. Promote yourself and your company so when you officially debut after the show ends, you already have a fanbase
2. Promote the company you are from.
3. For mnet to make money thanks to the final group that will be promoting for year or 2.

Will he leave pentagon? - no. Since the groups that debut from shows like that are not permanent, it's almost never an issue if already debuted idols debut in them. Same happened with Hwang Min Hyun - he was part of Nu'est when he took part in Produce 101 Season 2. Nu'est just promoted without him when he was in the "temporary group". This is not a unique situation this season, it happened in more or less all survival shows like that.

The thing is: Pentagon's contract ends this year, so we don't even know if Cube will want to renew the contracts. We basically don't know if Cube even wants to keep Pentagon as a group.

And Hui is not the only idol who debuted and has a group to come back too: there is also Keita, debuted 2021 in Ciipher. Technically speaking even Jay debuted as soloist right before the show started.

We just don't know what is happening behind the scenes. If we got the confirmation from Cube that they renewing the contracts with Pentagon, I would be far more at ease, but from the outsider's viewpoint who has been into kpop for years and saw what happened to a lot of Cube groups, even the popular ones, it does feel like Cube just gave up on Pentagon quite some time ago. So I would not be surprised if he joined the show what that thought in mind.

saw the rating and cried a little bit 🥲
"The background music is simply dreadful" < this though made me laugh, coz I loved the music and downloaded the whole playlist 🤣

However, the production tends to over-explain and tediously repeat the sci-fi aspects.< on the personal note I agree. But I also saw people still ask for explanations for these bits. But then if some people did not get it with over explanation like that, would they get it with even more? 😅

Tea time.

Good skills in terms of dancing, rapping and singing is not enough if you don't know how to be entertaining and "promote/sell" yourself to the audience. I think we need to accept the fact that even if we preach how only talented guys should move to next rounds in shows like that, in reality, talent is never enough to be an idol. How many talented group fail? That's why some trainees that are below average pass, because people find them funny, entertaining etc. And it's also part of being an idol. Most people are not fans of a group just because of the music. In most cases you can find 2-3 groups with similar music style to the one you "stan". You decide to like a group after knowing the members and enjoying their activities outside of the music too.
Does that mean that someone who can barely dance and hold the note should debut? No. Should they rank high? No. But I am honestly passed being pissed about them overall going to the next round. Realistically speaking, it's not like the trainees below rank 53 had chance to debut in the show anyway. It's all rigged ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There are also trainees with AMAZING skills, but for me don;t exactly fit either to debut in this show, or to debut in a group overall:

Hui is amazing, but his music style does not fit whatever generic k-pop mnet will get the debut team to do. Mnet will also prioritize the theme of the debut to fit majority of the members, and it might be something Hui does not exactly fits. I have a feeling that Pentagon might not renew the contract with Cube and that's why Hui is here, but maybe this is also just a chance to gain some popularity to show Cube they still have a market value (coz we know how fast Cube drops idols and groups they don't see immediate "potential" in)

Jay - I think he would shine the most as either soloist or in duet. He has a really distinctive style and how he presents himself, I'm not sure how well can it blend into a group.

Kim Ji Woong - how well can he do in any other concept that sexy? Can he be "not sexy"? Coz even in Back Door which could be more powerful, we mostly saw him be... sexy 🥲 Is he limiting himself with the concept?

Another thing is: Korean Americans/Canadians (Koreans who did not live in Korea) should be counted in K group, not G group. Us all pretending Seok Matthew is a G member is funny for me. Dude is Korean, trained in Korea to debut... but because he was born in Canada, now he is counted as a foreign member by the technicality 🤡 (unless he is mixed... but he does not really look mix). Way for the mnet to pretend it's a global show while also making sure mostly Koreans are in. Same with Na Kamden.

I did not really like episode one either. This level of trauma dumping is just ridiculous for me. They should have taken it a bit slower and use first 2 episodes to show how bad FL's situation is. But then I really enjoy next 4 episode... until episode 6 happened and I lost all the hope 🥲

It feels pre-selected here too. It's painfully obvious who mnet wants to debut

oh I can't. For me the difference between 7.5 and 8 is not even in the quality, but how excited I was for the next episode. And I honestly was not that excited to watch 🌖🐔 - it was more of a "I guess new ep dropped" and not "damn I cannot wait for the next ep to drop".

They really did not show enough of Uncle Jim. It's hard to connect to a character you barely know 🥲

all i had to do was think about all the other dramas I have seen with characters in their mid 30' and 40' to know this does not add up here 🥲

no idea, have not seen the episode yet, only saw the rankings on the mnet app...

I need Park Han Bin to be the underdog that climbs to the top 9 🥲

at his alleged age of "nearly 40" < ALLEGED AGE 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
They are a huge wholesome family and that is >>>>> 100 times than Jim and Wen's romance < OMG THIS! Honestly all the scenes that had more friends and less romantic interest scenes from Mix And Earth were their best....

If feel like they wanted the complex conflict that comes from cheating... but without actual cheating..
they wanted the dilemma the age gap and difference in perspective, but without real age gap (because it would not be visually appealing to viewers + marketing it as Mix and Earth drama so 🤑) ...

damn i had some major complains about contestants in episode 4 lol

𝙉𝙏𝙓 (2:00) 𝙫𝙨 𝘿𝙆𝘽 (8:00) - 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙨
I have to say I love the song they picked for the groups. Coz songs like Blackpink makes are easy to tweak to make them fit dudes, coz they have the hip hop undertones in them. But Bang and The Boys and THE FEMALE ANTHEMS.

🩹 DKB (8:00) - Bang!
THAT BANG BANG BANG during first verse was PURE HYPE! The whole performance was AMAZING! The level of energy was just sdlgfkhdslghd Was it better than original song? no. But Bang is truly THE kpop song so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

🏆 NTX (2:00) - The Boys
As hype as Bang was, I enjoyed this one more 🤣 I think they did better with mixing their own style into the song, compared to completely changing the song like DKB did. It was still The Boys but with a twist. Loved the choreos too! It was more clean, compared to just explosion of energy Bang was.


I have such a soft spot for Lee Han Gyul 🥲

The teams for next round:
BLITZERS (9:00) + NTX (2:00) + BDC (18:00) + ATBO (5:00)

M.O.N.T (20:00) + DKB (8:00) + 24K (21:00) + DGNA / The Boss (23:00)

VANNER (11:00) + BAE173 (13:00) + BLK (15:00) + 24:00

DIGNITY (1:00) + BXB (4:00) + MASC (7:00) + GHOST9 (14:00)

I honestly do not mind the idea of an assessment the next day, but it depends on how it will go. The judges said it well - it does not matter how long you practice if you get it wrong from the start, you just keep practicing your mistake. So it's better to point shit out quickly. As long as they will not expect them to ace the practice, it's actually a good thing.

🥲 VANNER (11:00) + BAE173 (13:00) + BLK (15:00) + 24:00
Hee Do does cut then trainees with different opinion fast, but he is also not wrong. Dynamic performances are far more fun and entertaining than 5 people rapping 8 bars one after another. That said, dynamic performances are also a lot harder to master, and they only have 3 days. So now can they manage it all? Also... While I do believe Hee Do was right, he completely failed to explain why he was right, and that's why the members were not sure. He also failed to convince them they can actually achieve it. That's why they wanted to play it safe by 8 bars.

Also, dan Hee Do is a bit of a dick, how during the interview clips he cut Hyun Jae off and be like: don't put everyone down, talk about yourself. Like damn, literally every group in every performance describes both wins and loses as a team and it's not like everyone else aced their performance and he was the only one criticized by the judges. Damn I am not vibing with Hee Do coz he really is not good at communicating.

Dance team also fucked up. I am kind of sad how inconsiderable everyone is in both rap and dance team. The pace of learning the dance was based on the members learning the fastest which is the biggest bullshit ever. Not even the mid one, but the fastest ones. Don't they know that even if they "slay" as solo the team is going to lose anyway and they won't get benefits? Or do all sub-units just ignores the team aspect and want to shine solo, because they assume it's fine to lose as sub, as long as another sub wins? 😐

Good they pointed out how the leader did not do shit. Like we saw the 3 who learned the slowest practice alone. But the fuck can they do without someone teaching them and pointing out possible mistakes? Don't be a leader if you don't want the responsibility. They should pick someone who fits the role in terms of attitude not the best dancer. Coz weaker dancer with good attitude can motivate the better dancers to support and help the weaker ones, but this one just bragged how they can learn it all by tonight WHILE ALSO SEEING HOW SOME MEMBERS ARE FAR BEHIND and it's impossible for them to keep up. While he was learning the whole choreo, he should ask some other members who are also rather fast at learning to teach and practice with slower ones. And not just assume everyone will learn at his pace.

Okay but also what a bullshit about the whole "don't want to hear some people join the dance team coz they were left" BITCH YOU CANNOT SET A LIMIT FOR VOCAL AND RAP AND THEN BE LIKE: DON'T COMPLAIN YOU HAVE TO DANCE WHEN IT'S NOT YOUR SPECIALITY FOR FUCK SAKE. You set the system where people who do not feel the most confident in dance have to join dance unit 🤡 I don't mean the dance teacher himself, but how the show is set, he knows, so saying that to them was a bit of a bullshit.

When the two dudes keep saying how the leader taught them well 🤡 Sure we only saw a small bits, but for me it was enough to know the dude is not a good leader. Saying they all quickly learn, they keep the pace and learn the whole thing fast, while also clearly seeing some members are struggling only makes them mess up even more because they get stressed out and cannot focus and the gap of how much they learn and how much the group progresses gets even bigger. Sure they said that when they asked for help, he came and helped then, but the thing is... as the leader he should offer help first. He should take them to the side and practice with them more. Ask what they are struggling the most with, reassure they can do it.

The fact he was not with them practicing all the time too. I don't know, maybe I just have high expectations after seeing what kind of leader was Park Han Bin in Boys Planet - literally practicing with everyone all the time, fixing every members moves, when they were assessing individually he danced with every member as a comparison to see what they have to work on etc. This is how leader should be. Everyone was too nice about the leader lol Jong Up acted more like a leader when he talked by the end. They should change 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

That's the best type of toxic tho 🤣🤣

Oh that i don't know why...