Under Nineteen, Episode 11: This is getting kind of depressing.
We’ve got some conflict coming up between the other teams getting ready to battle. Also, Kai from EXO is stopping by, hopefully to ask why literal children are performing “Growl.” Welcome to Episode Eleven!
First, let’s resolve the cliffhanger. The votes from the Mirotic vs. Fake Love battle are in, and of course, Fake Love wins, 373-289. I hate it for the Mirotic team, but that’s what happens when you go up against a BTS team, no matter how good you are. I’ll leave it at that before ARMY blows up my car.
Bain is so sad in a confessional, and I just wish I could show him his future and tell him that other than his unnecessary appearance on Build Up, he’s going to be just fine. Same with Wumuti, who looks completely discouraged.
We have to keep going. Our audience is excited for Round Two so they can vote for the wrong team again. (Sorry, I’ll stop.) Next up is Team Be Mine vs. Team Fiction.
Of course, we’re starting with a flashback. Team Be Mine is rehearsing. This is the team with my Wild Idol favorite, Lee Jae Eok, who has not been getting a lot of screen time.
The vocals for this team are not a problem, but since not everyone on the team is fluent in Korean, learning the choreo is a bit tricky. It looks like this show is not providing translators. The shows I’ve been recapping usually don’t, which is frustrating when they make a big deal out of being inclusive to people from other countries.
The ones who should not be having a problem with the choreo is Team Fiction. We switch over to their rehearsal. As I mentioned last time, this song has the most inane choreography I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure it has enough movement to qualify as choreography. Or even actual movement. Every time I watch the video, I want to check the band members for a pulse.
We switch back and forth between the two rehearsals, seeing the usual Flashback Formula problems. Teams struggling to stay in sync. Coaches criticizing how things are going. We know the drill.
Our coaches, visibly thrilled with progress so far
Team Be Mine is having a very hard time with the choreo, since none of them are dancers. I check my notes, and only two of these six teammates are from the performance team. You’d think the rest of them would have picked up some dancing skills by now, but the setup of this show has never made much sense.
It also doesn’t help that two of the teammates, Kim Youngseok and Jung Taekhyun, both fourteen and the youngest on the team, start goofing off. Soon all of them start getting punchy and rebellious from exhaustion. Some members just walk out. Team leader Kim Shihyun finally hits his limit and scolds them like a parent. “I’m doing my best with my jaw clenched,” he snaps at them.
He tells them they’re blowing their chance, but I think he’s overworking them. They aren’t going to retain anything if they can’t rest. These survival shows keep trying to convince us that nonstop practicing for hours and all through the night is a good thing. It’s not. It’s actually counterproductive to learning.
Back to Team Fiction. A coach walks in and demands to know why they aren’t practicing the choreo, and I can’t help laughing because they ARE practicing. That’s how low-energy the steps are. The coach thought they were just tired and shuffling around.
The trainees protest that they WERE practicing, and the coach says, “I don’t buy it. Your faces are dry right now.” Dude, even the original group couldn’t work up a sweat doing these steps. Have you SEEN the music video?
They do a run-through for the coach, and the subtitles tell us, “A big portion of the dance involves standing up.” Yes, we know. We’re told the trainees are dancing like they lack energy, and I know I keep harping on this, but they’re dancing with the same energy as the original group in the music video. I just can’t.
The coach scolds the trainees, and this goes on for a while. Thankfully, we cut to three days before D-Day. Team Fiction is rehearsing, but Choi Sumin is missing. They practice shuffling around without him.
Hours go by. Night falls. The group is still practicing and waiting for Sumin to show up. Finally, he walks in and sits with them, not saying a word.
The others just stare at him. He tells them he’s injured his right knee, and it’s very swollen. He says he can’t participate in the mission.
His teammates are stunned. I’m getting the impression this is the first they’re hearing of his injury. (He wasn’t limping when he entered the room, and he doesn’t seem too upset about it.) We’re now two days from D-Day, and the team has to re-do the entire song. They offer a solution: Sumin can skip the dancing and just come onstage to do his rap parts and then leave the stage. He agrees, and they start rehearsing again.
I don’t know why, but I’m not buying this. Something feels off. Put a pin in this for now.
We cut to their next evaluation. The team explains to the dance coach what has happened. I don’t speak Korean, but I agree 100% with the look on her face.
The first thing she asks is why this is happening again. Wait a minute. (checks notes) She’s right. This has happened before. Back in Episode Seven, Sumin was on the “Her” rap team and dealing with a foot injury, so when he did the final performance, he did very little dancing and focused on his rap part. They won their battle, but the rap team came in last in the mission, losing five team members in the eliminations.
I check the rest of my notes on Choi Sumin. He entered the show bragging and arrogant, and the judges were hyping him up like he was the Korean version of Kendrick Lamar. His ranking mission performance wasn’t very impressive, and he still got the top ranked spot. On Judgement Day, he bombed and lost almost all his solo parts, and he still wound up ranking first on the rap team. His low-energy and mistake-filled performances never matched his high rankings, and he always had a smirky attitude about it. What exactly is going on with him? Is he a nepo baby?
The dance coach demands to know if the rest of the team is okay with this. Her tone of voice clearly states that she, for one, is not.
The rest of the team doesn’t answer, so she asks Sumin directly. And he looks her right in the eye and LIES TO HER. He says that he told the team yesterday that he still wanted to be a part of the performance. He’s making it sound like the rest of the team is pushing him out.
That little shit.
He knows this is all being filmed, right? As the rest of the team stares at him in shock, he tells the coach, “I think I can handle it. That’s why I told them that I could do it.”
At first, I’m guessing that Sumin is the oldest one on the team, and that’s the reason the others aren’t contradicting him. But no. Teammate Ji Jinseok is two years older than him. Why isn’t he speaking up?
The coach clearly isn’t buying this but decides to call his bluff. Sumin is back in the performance, and the team now has to redo the entire thing AGAIN to accommodate him. At this point, I went online and did some research on what is really happening here, and wow. Keep that pin in it. We will get to it. For now, I want to see how this unfolds.
The dance coach leaves. The studio is filled with awkward silence. Then team leader Shin Chanbin, who’s a year younger than Sumin, speaks up. “I think this situation is complete nonsense,” he says.
He reminds Sumin that yesterday he was telling them he couldn’t do the performance at all. He accuses him of lying to the instructor. He is PISSED.
“There’s a reason, if you want to hear it,” Sumin responds, and his tone is petulant. I’ve heard this kind of whining before, and I know exactly what he’s about to say. He has to find a way to make it someone else’s fault. Sure enough, he says, “You should have asked me yesterday, not now.”
Chanbin is now shouting in anger, calling Sumin on his BS and demanding an apology. “Stop making excuses!” he yells in frustration. Sumin keeps making weaselly excuses, and Chanbin shuts him down, saying he doesn’t want to hear it. He orders Sumin to keep his word and start practicing as hard as the rest of them. Instead, Sumin storms out of the room. (He’s still not limping.)
We cut to the dress rehearsal. Team Fiction is up first, beginning with Sumin’s rap. True to form, he forgets some of the lyrics. He also doesn’t know any of the dance steps, despite this being the easiest routine in the history of choreography. The others are unable to cover for him. He doesn’t know any of this.
When their rehearsal ends, Sumin shrugs off his mistakes, and I can feel his team’s seething anger through my computer screen. The coaches ask what is going on with this team. No one responds.
Backstage, Sumin’s teammates ignore him while he practices the rap parts and keeps forgetting the lyrics. Chanbin stares straight ahead, biting his lips so hard, his mouth disappears. Then he starts biting his finger hard enough to leave teeth marks.
When Sumin tries to get Sungho to re-do a part with him, the others walk away. I don’t blame them. They are fighting for a chance to debut, and their own teammate is sabotaging them.
Flashback over. Round Two of the Shuffle Mission begins, and Team Fiction is up first. Ready or not, it’s showtime.
Right away, Sumin messes up his rap. His knee appears to be just fine, though. The team makes it through the performance, but they do not look happy. Afterwards, they go backstage, not speaking to each other. Sumin tells us in a confessional that he messed up the lyrics because he was focusing too hard on the dance. That is not an excuse.
Team Be Mine is next. Lee Jae Eok is on this team. They take the stage and get into formation.
This was the team that had trouble with the choreo and was breaking down from exhaustion during rehearsals. They also appear to be completely done with each other. They rarely smile or even look happy to be up there. They perform well but with no enthusiasm.
The audience votes, seemingly oblivious to the problems right in front of them, or they don’t care. They’re just screaming the names of the boys they like. I’ve never seen an audience like this on any of the shows I’ve recapped. Other audiences notice mistakes. We can see them react. Maybe this audience is being heavily edited to try to mask what’s happening onstage. It’s really strange.
In the end, team Be Mine wins, 335-303. I feel bad for Team Fiction, but Sumin needs to leave this show. He’s dragged this team down and damaged their chances of debuting. Again, I know what’s going to happen with him, so keep the pin in this for now. According to what I’ve found online, he’ll be dealt with in the next episode.
We do get a really touching moment. Min, our trainee from Thailand on the winning team, is so happy, he cries while his team hugs him. Not only has he been working so hard on the performance, he’s been struggling with the language barrier, and his efforts have paid off. This is the team camaraderie I wish I’d seen from them onstage. Also Lee Jae Eok gets a win here, so it’s not all bad.
Let’s shake this off and get to the songs I really want to hear. Round Three is Team Sherlock vs. Team Growl. I’m trying really hard to put aside my discomfort over these very young trainees performing these beast idol songs.
Flashback time. We watch Team Sherlock rehearsing. They have a real chip on their shoulders because everyone else sees them as the easy team to beat. The trainees on this team are mostly from the bottom ranks because the voters who organized the teams put all the top-ranked trainees together, and these are the leftovers. However, this situation is giving them the motivation to work hard to win this thing.
Cut to Team Growl’s rehearsal. They’re excited and ready to stomp Team Sherlock into the ground. Our team maknae, Suren, already knows the choreo and starts teaching the others.
Back to Team Sherlock. They are completely out of sync. This is not easy choreo. It doesn’t help that American teammate Christian barely speaks Korean. But we do get a really cool scene in which Christian and Oh Dahan communicate in a made-up language while mapping out the choreo on paper.
We then get a detour showing some of the trainees, including Wumuti, performing at the 2018 MBC Entertainment Awards. This segment goes on for a while, and it’s interesting, but I’m ready to go back to the final battle round until suddenly, we get a special guest. It’s Kai from EXO!
He’s here to cheer on our guys before their special MBC performance in front of the K-pop bigwigs. As it happens, all seven members of Team Growl are here. I’m glad to see Kai, and I love EXO, but this feels a bit unfair. Team Sherlock is the group that really needs help and could use a visit from someone in SHINee. Team Growl is doing fine. They don’t need the extra advantage.
Kai asks Team Growl to show them their progress, and they perform the song for him. Kai is impressed and gives them a quick dance lesson. He also reminds them to find the happiness in what they do. He seems like a really nice guy. Having written that, I have to nervously check online to see if he’s been involved in any horrible scandals, but thankfully no. He gets criticism for dating and has faced some backlash for not boycotting Starbucks, but no actual crimes. That’s a relief.
Now Kai brings out a present for our trainees. It’s corporate sponsorship! Oh, Kai, you shouldn’t have!
He puts out a tray of Subway sandwiches and drinks. It’s mukbang time, right before our trainees go out onstage in front of major corporate people to sing and dance! They try to work into casual conversation how much they’re enjoying the different sandwiches and how it helps them to fuel up. These poor guys are going to be belching their way through the performance.
Finally, we’re back to Round Three of the Shuffle Mission. With all the focus on Team Growl, I’m pretty sure they’re going to win this, even though we get some manufactured drama about Kim Jungwoo having a sore throat. It just feels like Team Sherlock is being set up to lose this. It’s like the show has given up on them.
We get a glimmer of hope during the dress rehearsal. Team Sherlock goes first, and I like that they’ve changed the opening whisper from “SHINee’s back” to “Nineteen’s back.” The few seconds we get to see are pretty amazing. There’s hope here. Could we possibly get an underdog win?
Let’s find out. We cut to the final performance. Nineteen’s back. Let’s go.
Aaand five seconds in, Kim Youngwon loses his microphone. He grabs it and has to hold it in his hand.
Okay. Let’s assess.
It’s not bad. It’s clumsy in places and wildly fun in others. They clearly feel the spirit of the song. Youngwon even manages to get his mic pack into his pocket about halfway through so his hands are free. The vocals waver and falter in some places and roar in others.
These trainees are clearly not ready to debut, and I’ll be surprised if any of them win this show, but I did enjoy this performance. Show maknae Lee Yeechan is the most promising in this group, but every protective instinct in me doesn’t want him to debut yet. He’s too young.
Team Sherlock leaves the stage, and Youngwon is beating himself up for the mic accident. Honestly, I give a team points for being able to recover quickly from accidents that inevitably happen, and he did great. He kept his cool and held on to the mic until he could discreetly slip it into his pocket. He has nothing to be ashamed of.
Now for Team Growl and Jungwoo’s (eye roll) sore throat. Let’s do this.
It’s jarring to hear kids’ voices singing these mature lyrics, but other than that, it’s perfect. The vocals, choreo, and expression are all perfect. It’s not going to be fun to see them beat the lowest-ranked trainees, but then, this show was never set up fairly to begin with.
After the performance, Jungwoo cries backstage because he thinks his sore throat ruined everything. I know the producers told him to do this, so I can’t be pissed off at him. I’m pissed off at the producers for trying to manufacture drama in an already unfairly balanced battle. We know this team is going to win. Just have them sit and wait for the votes to be counted.
The votes come in, and they rub salt right into the wound. It’s a total landslide. Team Growl wins, 454-174. It’s an embarrassing loss for Team Sherlock, who never stood a chance in this battle.
Both teams hug it out, and the Shuffle Mission that had so much promise whimpers to an end.
All the teams gather onstage. The next mission is announced. It will be a Collaboration Mission with the coaches of this show. We’ll get more details later. The episode ends.
We have a LOT coming up as we enter the home stretch of this series. In the three episodes left, we’ll have more rankings and eliminations. We’ll also see what actions the show will take against Choi Sumin, and we’ll lose other trainees as well, for reasons other than the rankings. And of course, we’ll have the live broadcast finale, with a runtime that will probably make the Lord of the Rings movies look like a TikTok video. Bring your boxcutters, because we’ll have a lot to unpack. See you then!
Go to Episode 12 recap