Double Date with ATEEZ, Episode 3: Dancing Like Butterfly Wings
Welcome back to double dating with ATEEZ! So far, I think Hongjoong and Wooyoung are in the lead for the best date prize. They’ve been doing crazy water sports, losing several baseball caps and much of their dignity in the Han River, while the others have been making pottery, taking nature walks, and enjoying gourmet meals. Time for these other bandmates to kick it up a notch.
We start with Mingi and Yunho, who are winding their way through the forest in a luxury sports car. Mingi says he has prepared “an extreme that you can’t even imagine.” NOW we’re talking. Yunho reminds Mingi about how they went bungee-jumping in Macau when they were trainees. I’ve seen a lot of videos of K-pop idols bungee-jumping. Is that a K-pop rite of passage?
We see footage of the In Your Fantasy tour, and I have another question. Some Redditors insist that ATEEZ has an age restriction on their concerts, like R-rated moves in the U.S. I can’t find any confirmation of that. To any ATINYs reading this who have been to an ATEEZ concert, did you have to show ID? With some of these concert clips I’ve seen online, I wouldn’t be surprised. If you’ve ever wondered how a microphone can be used as a phallic symbol, ATEEZ will be happy to show you.
Last week, we learned about how ATEEZ was treated badly after their debut because they came from a small label. Now we’re seeing clips of them playing packed stadiums. I hope that all the other groups who refused to bow to them and producers who cut their performances short are watching this show.
It’s time for another Hidden Ask question for the group. This one is inspired by the song “Déjà vu” and submitted by Yeosang: Was there a moment you enjoyed inescapably?
Yunho says it’s Coachella. Back in the studio, several of his bandmates agree. These boys still haven’t come down from that high.
Mingi says he loved performing at New York City’s Field Stadium, and I think he means Citi Field. That concert was delayed two hours due to rain and almost got cancelled. But when they finally decided to perform in the rain, the 45,000-capacity crowd was still there, waiting for them. New York ATINYs are not afraid of a measly little monsoon.
“We were crazy back then,” says Hongjoong. Yes. Back then. As opposed to the time the group decided to film themselves getting a sleep endoscopy in 2023 for their YouTube channel. They really did that. ATINY may debate me on this, but for me, the best part of that video is Mingi waking up in recovery, still under the affects of the anesthesia, and bragging repeatedly and triumphantly that he was the first one to wake up. He also got up and danced around while a nurse tried to get him back onto the gurney. God help us if this group is still crazy famous when it’s time for their prostate exams.
Back to our show. We join Jongho and Yeosang in their pottery class. It’s time to move on to their next date, prepared by Jongho. And of course, there’s a Porsche Boxster waiting for them.
As they drive through the night, another Hidden Ask question pops up on Yeosang’s phone. What do you think is true coolness?
Yeosang says modesty is cool. For Jonho, coolness is being truly great at what you do. Plain and simple.
We cut to Seonghwa and San at the restaurant as they wait for yet another beef course (between them, they’ve eaten an entire herd of cattle at this point), and they’re already on another question: Have you ever had a moment where you just had to enjoy it because you couldn’t avoid it?
That’s a tough question. San says he can’t really enjoy things he can’t avoid, so he just grits his teeth and pushes through. Seonghwa makes a good point – the band has to be careful because everything they do is in public, so they have to make the best of the things they don’t enjoy.
After everything I’ve learned about toxic fans over the past year, I get it. The last thing a K-pop idol needs is a picture of himself showing any sign of frustration. Whether it’s having a very short time to prepare a performance or doing a concert in the pouring rain, they have to put on a smile and power through.
Seonghwa and San agree that if you can avoid something unpleasant, you should. “So what’s the thing you most wanted to avoid during ATEEZ activities?” Seonghwa asks.
“Preparing a stage when we didn’t have enough time,” San responds. Idols sometimes get opportunties to perform on a show last-minute and have to make it look like they’ve been rehearsing for weeks. As a veteran watcher of K-pop survival reality shows, I see this a lot. One particular Wild Idol mission had trainees coming up with a stage in just 90 minutes, outdoors in the pouring rain.
Our boys enjoy their final beef course. It’s snowflake beef with an egg yolk for dipping. Of course, the egg was free-range. I’m surprised the hen didn’t lay the egg right there in the kitchen. Now I’m thinking the meal is over, but nope. Those were just the beef courses. The dishes keep coming. I hope they’re saving room for six rounds of dessert.
Speaking of dessert, it’s a four-color set. Black sesame jelly, soft persimmon, Earl Grey pave chocolate, and matcha (a type of green tea). I wonder if DoorDash would bring any of these things to my apartment. I really want to try them.
When this meal started, it was early afternoon. It’s now dark outside. I would want to go right to sleep after a meal like this, but no. San gets a text alert. It’s time for him to bring Seonghwa on the date he has planned. They’re going to Songpa-gu.
Everyone in the studio is excited, so I look it up. Songpa is the largest district in Seoul (by population) and hosted many of the events of the 1988 Summer Olympics with of all its sports facilities. The district’s Wikipedia page is mind-boggling. Songpa has a childcare center that is actually called the “Children-Only Multiplex Facility,” which has a theater, experimental education room, book café, and cafeteria. I am deeply jealous. I never had a multiplex facility growing up. Is this South Korea’s way of trying to bribe the country into having more children?
We’ll have to wait to see what awaits them in Songpa-gu. Back to Yeosang and Jongho in their Porsche Boxster. They’re bickering because Yeosang thinks Jongho has gotten lost. “Even the streetlights are getting fewer!” Yeosang wails. “Don’t worry,” the maknae responds, but it really does look like he’s kidnapping his bandmate. Driving down mountain roads at night is creepy.
Jongho reminds his date that this is supposed to be romantic and asks if they should hold hands. After a pause to allow the fans watching this show to shriek in response, Yeosang declines. “Shouldn’t we interlock fingers?” Jongho insists. “Knock it off,” says Yeosang.
Jongho getting shot down by his date
Yeosang might want to reconsider, because Jongho says they’re going to a haunted house. I can’t tell if he’s kidding. We eventually arrive at a lake and what looks like campgrounds. No one does glamping like K-pop idols on these shows. Jongho has rented the entire facility.
Turns out, they’re going night fishing! This looks really cool. There’s a fountain in the middle of the lake and a surprising lack of mosquitoes.
Back in the studio, San is getting a bit too much into the romance of it all, wondering if they’re going to kiss. I’m sensing a passive-aggressive vibe because he’s still jealous that he’s not on that date with Yeosang.
Before hands are thrown, we cut to Hangjoong and Wooyoung, still weaving through city traffic in their red Porsche. They get a Hidden Ask question: Is there a trophy or honor you still want to get?
Hongjoong says he wants the band to eventually get a 30th anniversary trophy. They’ll be in their late 40s at that point, which means they can celebrate that anniversary with new songs like “Blind (without my Bifocals)” and “Not Okay (an ode to Male Pattern Baldness).”
Hongjoong would also like to win a Grammy. I checked and was surprised to learn that as of this writing, not a single K-pop group has won a Grammy Award. I thought for sure BTS would have at least one, but after five nominations, they still haven’t won any. I hopped over to Reddit to see if anyone there had an opinion on the matter and was knocked out of my seat by the angry rants. K-pop fans are PISSED.
Wooyoung says he wants to perform at the Super Bowl. Again, I can’t believe not a single K-pop artist has done that. Jungkook from BTS was invited to perform with Usher in 2024, but he was doing his military service. Can you imagine ATEEZ doing the halftime show? That would be insane. Someone get an online petition started.
Our boys get another question. Was there a time when you felt like the bandmates are connected, even if you didn’t say it?
Wooyoung has an answer. When things go wrong onstage, like if the stage lift malfunctions, the group quickly comes up with a workaround without saying a word. They just look at each other and know what to do. Hongjoong has a similar answer, saying the bandmates can sense each other’s energy and know when to mix things up onstage. After so many years together, it’s like they can read each other’s minds. They think this intuition is why the band doesn’t argue as much as they used to.
The fact that they’ve been together so long really is remarkable. Artists are tempermental by nature. Put eight of them together in a band and have them travel, live, and work together for years, and you’d expect them to drive each other nuts. Most bands, K-pop or otherwise, don’t have a long shelf life for that very reason. The fact that ATEEZ has gotten through the hurdles and made their bond stronger makes me think there might actually be a 30th anniversary celebration in their future.
Time to check in on Yunho and Mingi. Yunho is trying to guess what kind of extreme date Mingi has planned. They’re driving upwards into the mountains, so he guess a zipline, and Mingi says it’s similar. He says it’s a combination of bungee jumping and ziplining.
Of course, we’ve seen the previews, so we know where they’re headed. That’s right, paragliding! As they approach the site, even Mingi looks a bit nervous. Or he may just be a little embarrassed that Yunho is protectively putting an arm around him while parking. Their bandmates in the studio tease him mercilessly about that.
Turns out, neither one of our boys have been paragliding before. In a confessional, Yunho tells us Mingi might actually be crazy. “He’s not normally like this,” Yunho says worriedly.
Mingi tells us he’s chosen the highest paragliding spot in Korea, and it’s also the longest course. He may actually be crazy.
They sign a bunch of releases, absolving the paragliding company of all responsibility in case Mingi decides to try steering them into North Korea to see if anyone recognizes him. (Seriously, the guy is obsessed with making sure everyone recognizes his name. I honestly don’t think it’s an ego thing. I think he has this genuine innocent curiousity to see how many people have actually heard of him.)
Our boys change clothes and get their safety training. Their instructor tells them the drive to the top will take twenty minutes on an unpaved road, and then they will fly 2.5 km (about 1.5 miles).
They hop in the truck for the bumpy ride up the mountain. They get tossed around the backseat, and I’m wondering if the instructor is purposely aiming for all the potholes. Mingi starts getting carsick, so he just goes to sleep. He’s able to do that. Just puts his head back and starts snoring in five seconds. I need a handful of melatonin to sleep at night, and this guy just flips a switch in the middle of a wildly jolting off-road ride.
Yunho shakes him awake when they get to the site. I’m getting really excited to see them flying. The instructor inflates the paraglider wings and straps the safety gear on our boys. They have to wait for strong winds to die down, which causes some anxiety because they do NOT want to have to go back down in the truck. While they wait for the winds to cooperate, their phones buzz with another Hidden Ask: When did you feel the destiny?
“Right now!” says Mingi. “I’m destined to fly!”
For Yunho, he feels it when he performs for ATINY. We get more clips of their live shows. The view of the audience from the stage is dizzying. I cannot imagine 50,000 people showing up to see me. All those people spending money on tickets and travel and hotel and light sticks and merch, learning the fan chants, braving the crowds, making new friends during the show, experiencing the kind of high no drug can come close to causing, losing their voices from the screaming and singing, and finally making their way back home afterwards and experiencing the emotional crash, only to look forward to doing it all again … all for me.
No wonder this group keeps talking about how much they love their fans. I get overwhelmed when someone just remembers my birthday. Having 50,000 fans show up for me, concert after concert, would be humbling beyond belief. I understand why Yunho feels the destiny every time.
Now we cut to Seonghwa and San, who are leaving the restaurant and heading for the Songpa-gu district. Are they going in a flashy car? Can Mingi fall asleep on command?
San looks so effortlessly cool behind the wheel. They drive with the top down through the city streets at night, and I get a bit wistful because it really is romantic. The camera crew really knows how to capture this. Huge round of applause to everyone who worked on this show.
After some blissful moments riding around the city, we return to our fishing spot in the campground with Yeosang and Jongho. Yeosang has never been fishing before. Jongho walks him through it, and they cast their lines into the lake. I would give anything to see them reel in one of Hongjoong’s missing baseball caps.
Back in the studio, San is miffed that he’s not the one teaching Yeosang to fish. He actually looks jealous, and I don’t think it’s for the cameras. I want to get a degree in psychiatry just so I can poke around in that head of his. In the meantime, Yeosang is only thinking of ATINY and wishing they could join him and Jongho on their fishing date.
While waiting for the fish to bite, our boys get a notification of another Hidden Ask. We’re getting a lot of them on this show. The question: When did you want to hit a member the most? I think we had this question in the last episode, but I’m all for stirring the pot again.
Jongho says San recently took his phone away and changed his name in the contacts from “Choi San” to “My San,” so when Jongho looks him up, he has to type “My San.” So now Jongho wants to hit the bandmate who looks way stronger and is already jealous that he’s on a date with Yeosang. Maybe you should think that one through, my guy. And San, seriously, what in the name of Frasier Crane is going on with you?
Yeosang says in the past, he and Mingi had the same phone case and kept getting confused and taking each other’s cell phones. Yeosang had to do a digital detox for several hours when Mingi took off with his phone. I hope Mingi had fun with that, answering the phone while pretending to be Yeosang. I would totally do that. “Yeosang speaking. San? Who’s San? Am I supposed to know you?”
Our fishermen aren’t having much luck. The fish keep taking the bait and swimming away. So they take a break and cook ramen right there in the tent.
In the studio, the other bandmates admire how these two chew and swallow. Mukbang is … interesting. I will say that the ramen looks so good, and I’m ordering DoorDash as soon as I finish writing this.
Back to Seonghwa and San on their evening drive through the city. They are approaching an amusement park in Jamsil. That city name sounds familiar. I Google it, and yes, that’s the location of Jamsil Indoor Stadium, where the first season of Boys Planet had its finale. I am so glad I decided not to recap the second season. Every time I check for updates on Reddit, the viewers are more and more angry. It sounds like the Chinese trainees are getting royally screwed over.
Seonghwa and San are not heading for the stadium. They’re headed to someplace even better – Lotte World Amusement Park! I love amusement parks at night. This is going to be so much fun!
San pulls into the parking deck, and his bandmates in the studio marvel at how sexy he looks when he parks. They go on about this for almost a full minute. Yes, he does look sexy driving, but it’s San. Objectively, he probably looks sexy when flossing his teeth and picking up his dry cleaning. I would think they’d be used to it by now.
We’re running out of time in this episode, but we get some great shots of the amusement park.
San has rented the entire park for the evening, and he probably looked very sexy while doing that as well. Seonghwa is so excited, he’s dancing in the parking garage
Are they starting with a roller coaster? Maybe the carousel? Nope! First they have to … put on school uniforms. Okay. What?
There’s actually a shop in the park that sells school uniforms. I’ve learned a lot about Korean culture from recapping these shows, but somehow I missed this.
I’d appreciate it if any ATINYs familiar with Korean culture can tell me in the comments what this is all about.
With our final couple of minutes, we head back to the paragliding site with Yunho and Mingi, and the winds have finally died down. They’re actually going to paraglide while carrying selfie sticks.
Our episode ends here as Yunho takes off, and this is a great cliffhanger. Next week, we’ll get to see paragliding and amusement park rides. We’ll get more questions for the group. Maybe Yeosang and Jungho will actually catch some fish. Whatever happens, I can confidently predict that San will look sexy during it all while complaining about not being on a date with Yeosang.
See you then!
Go to Episode 4 recap
