[Official] SPARTACE COUPLE KimJongkook-SongJiHyo

[chelseafjl8]

I am watching it with subs right now, JK did say he doesn't come to this area.

[linzer03]

I watched the live stream and was disappointed. Not just with the spartace interaction, since it seems they're being very cautious at the moment, but with the staff's choice in games. It was like "We have this talented cast, what should we make them do this week?" "Let's have them move furniture." As for spartace, I also noticed KJK mentioning where SJH lived and later on, SJH asking KJK if he was okay carrying the mattress by himself. It sounds like KJK  is the one who says "Ji Hyo, we'll get it, right?" when they are walking inside to do the random draw. But spartace seem to be avoiding each other except for KJK being the one to princess carry SJH until he had to switch.

Like @athoughtcloud1 said, it'd be good if they went back to their roots a little. I don't want the exact same since the members have grown and they have to keep things interesting. I thought they were getting on track with the Bad Santa episode and the Blackpink episode, but then the firing happened and I think it threw everyone off. One type of episode I've been dying to see is a throwback one where they do some of the games from the very early episodes (like the Thief Game, Bells Hide and Seek, and Tea Time) perhaps with some guests who were on the show in the early days as well.

[chelseafjl8]

Thoughts regarding this episode:

There's really nothing special, the only one scene that I might re-watch in the future would be when haha and JK sang kids rhyme together. Also, they replayed some scenes too many times, like the one where JH had to smash that thing, they replayed it for 8 times, totally unnecessary. I was disappointed even after watching it with subs, unlike last week where it turned out to be much better. Recently, the quality of this program is really unstable, sometimes you laugh a lot but like this week, it's just nahhh. I really want the production team to think of games that's slightly more competitive for the members to play or at least more complicated. I totally understand why the rating can't go up because the games are really not interesting enough. We are all watching it because we are the members' fans but in Korea the rating shows it all. I really hope they can improve, but they seem to be lack of ability. Anyway, next weekend there will the thailand fm, something that I can look forward to.

[chelseafjl8]

Rating was 6.2%(-1.2%), wasn't even in the top 20 yesterday.

[Guest athoughtcloud1]

I can understand the PDs going for less active episodes during this period since the members had just come after a fanmeet and had a late night shoot the day they landed (except Haha who had come one day early and JS). But why should this episode be so lazily conceptualised? Yes, I like getting peeks into the staff's life, but one whole episode devoted to a staff member who nobody even remembers that much (if it was Dong Wan FD, one could understand) calling her suddenly 'the energizer of RM staff' etc when the show is struggling with ratings seemed an overkill. Yes, if the show was having good ratings, an episode devoted to something like this may have made sense, but not right now when the show needs better concepts to rise in ratings. This one seemed really lazily conceptualised as if the RM members can be made to do anything random since they are in a variety show. Much of it was bearable coz of the cast chemistry. Otherwise, what fun is there in seeing the members move and  re-arrange furniture? Yes, I like the PDs trying to bring the members' real life characters out, but to think anything goes in the name of being real is just the best way to kill the show. While there weren't any athletic missions, still the members were doing some heavy lifting! Uncharitable as it may sound, I even started wondering whether they were using the members to help a staff move out for free (poor JH was even packing up things that hadn't been taken care of). Most of the mission was about moving out stuff, there wasn't anything creative there.

I liked the opening since there was some funny banter (JS' 'there will be rumours if you two meet' to Haha and JH and KS' 'I live with a woman now' cracked me up). But the first mission was a bore! How can you have such a boring first mission since that is what decides how many in the audience are going to keep on watching the show? I also wish we had got to see JK carrying JH in the princess hold. He would have been more gentle with her than KS (JH just had a fall 2 days back where her face and waist were injured. Can't but blame the PDs for missions like this). The replay of that shot was a bit too much!

Also, why doesn't the PD think of whether filming would be smooth when you film outdoors. Last episode, you could see how the members were worried some of the snack bars might not allow them to film at a time when they were racing against the clock. This episode too, JK was worried the customer who ordered the chicken might not allow them to film. Why doesn't the PD think of these things while assigning missions? JK and Haha would have failed the mission if no one called or if the customer did not want to film for no fault of theirs. Seriously, I wish this PD gets a rap on the knuckles at times. He is too much into the studio format. With the Running House, I am pretty sure we are going to get more indoor episodes like Avatar House, Bromance House etc.

[Guest athoughtcloud1]

Btw I mailed one of the moderators of the shipper forum asking her if there was any way to update the first post on the thread. She suggested that we should have a discussion and have one of us be the thread-starter who will then get to modify the first post. Does anybody want to do the job? I am busy at the moment, but if nobody is interested, I volunteer.

Found this old post on SA naver based on old insta posts. You can literally see the hearts in her eyes.

cre: as tagged

[Sarita Ramchandani]

20 hours ago, chelseafjl8 said:

I am watching it with subs right now, JK did say he doesn't come to this area.

Hi,may I know where you watch the live ep of rm when it airs on Sundays? I try to watch via some links online but most of the time it lags pretty badly. Would you be able to share the link please?

[yumiyumi17]

Heard JK calling JH several times in this eps but since its not subbed i dont know what does he said  1st one rite after they failed second round at throwing shoes & 2nd one after entering the passcode of the house.. its so cute tho, jihyo ya jihyo ya 

 

[yumiyumi17]

@Sarita Ramchandani try this http://aqstream.com (sometime it work sometime its not for me hehe )

[linzer03]

Running Man Rewatch Ep 4 and 5

Note: The order in which this episode is filmed and the order in which events are shown are different. So I think the swimming pool games happened first during the filming, followed by food, followed by the twenty minute struggle for KJK's nametag, followed by the rolling bin game. And there was probably some hunts for golden pigs in between. I'm going to present it as it was shown in the episodes, but I think you have to compare KJK and SJH's interactions in order to understand the change in this episode.

So this episode is the first and one of the few times that KJK and SJH are shown in a romantic way in the show. From what I’ve heard, KJK was supposed to have a love line with the female cast member, SJH, on RM (which might also explain why, in the second episode, when KJK complained that YJS was acting too familiar with SJH, the captions added “jealous” to his comment); however, KJK rejected the love line, and so the responsibility fell to KG or HH. But, at least we will always have this first attempt to pair them up.

It starts out with YJS saying to SJH that “among the few people here, there are a few who like you a lot.” The reactions: KJK and SJK laugh, KG looks disinterested, and HH smiles awkwardly. HH fidgets nervously, and SJK notices, which results in everyone teasing HH about liking SJH. (I think HH actually had a crush on SJH in the beginning of RM and that might have affected how KJK interacted with SJH.) HH then deflects attention from himself to KJK, saying, “Hyung, didn’t we talk about this just now.” And then they talk about how KJK always has love lines. SJH laughs at this, but she also fidgets a lot. JSJ then tells KJK to look over at SJH. Their reactions are definitely awkward. SJH laughs, covers her mouth, and looks away. KJK laughs and glances around. Honestly, I’ve always gotten the impression that SJH was more interested in KJK in the beginning (though not yet at this point), and if last episode is anything to KJK just went through a bad break up and isn’t in a place to start liking his coworker. Anyways, then the guests show up and everyone jokes that they can’t have a love line since Nichkhun of 2PM is here.

During the hunt for the golden pigs, KJK and SJH both find the trilobite at the same time. They smile as they battle to open the door, and KG comes to help KJK.

During the jumping games, when SJH’s team is nagging her, at certain times KJK defends her, saying things like “Why does Ji Hyo have to see that? Telling Ji Hyo to observe well and so on.” You can see SJH smiling in response to KJK's words in the episode. I don’t think KJK was being anything more than his polite self, but it’s still a cute moment, and it probably felt nice to her to have someone step in when he thinks the joking at her expense has gone a bit too far.

SJH is also one of the people who battles for KJK’s nametag for twenty minutes. Again, nothing standout about this interaction, but she does praise how amazing his strength is.

A lot happens during the rolling bin game, and I’ll try to get all of it. SJH finds KJK’s disappointment that they can only push their opponents funny. When SJK is pushing KJK in the bin, SJH calls out “Jong Kook-hyung, you know this is a game, right?” YJS teases her, joking that she sounds like she’s in university, calling him “hyung”, but KJK says that calling him “hyung” is fine. She calls KG and HH “hyung” for awhile as well it seems like, but it’s interesting that KJK is the first one to receive this treatment. After KJK moves his bin into the circle, SJH is the first one to run forward, crying, “How can you do this?” And KJK innocently asks, “What?” The entire red team bickers with KJK, but already you can see the competitiveness in both KJK and SJH which one of those things that they have in common. She asks him, “Why are you like this?” and he asks her “Why must you do this to me?” (These are questions they ask each other a lot in the next year and a half - “Why are you like this to me?”) Then, later on in the game, when KJK backs up with SJK in the rolling bin, SJH gets mad and complains, “What?” KJK then stops and half-laughing says that he can see SJH’s anger. This is the most these two have interacted so far that we've seen, and I think it went a long way for breaking the ice.

During the photo game (which was actually filmed before the rolling bin game judging by the time of day, when KJK is sitting on top of the inflatable, it’s hard to see, but SJH is behind him, trying to pull him down by the leg. And when they’re taking a photo on the platform, you can see in the background, SJH shoving KJK off as he tries to get up. However, she’s rather awkward blocking him, and at one point you see her look at KJK before turning to people she’s more comfortable with and blocking them.

Also, they sit across from each other during the break. They don't talk to each other from what I see, however.

Just something to note, when KJK does his hip hop dance for the first time, SJH chants “Kim Jong Kook” along with everyone else and listens to his story with interest and laughs a lot, but she doesn’t react to his dance with fangirl tendencies like she does in later episodes, so I don’t think either of them have a crush on each other at this point. I think SJH has moments of interest in him such as when he jumped from the 10 meter platform.

When they’re searching for the golden pig, it ends up being just KJK and SJH. In order to stop him, she hugs his waist.

I think she got a little more comfortable with him as the episode went on—I think their competitiveness in the rolling bin game helped them interact a little more. SJH felt comfortable enough to hug him around the waist while looking for the golden pig whereas when they were in the pool, she seemed to stop herself from touching him too much even if it meant stopping him from doing well.

And those are my thoughts on episodes 4 and 5. What do you think?

[Adines Nugraha]

@linzer03

i'm just curious about why JSJ ask KJK to look over to SJH, wasn't KJK already refuse having loveline in RM ?

wouldn't it more make sense if he asked HH or KG instead ?

anyway, what makes me smile is eventhough it's her 2nd appearance, SJH already comfortable enough to hug KJK in the waist to try to stop him. that kind of "treatment" special for KJK only, as she didn't do it when dealing with KG or HH. called it scripted or being competitive, i don't mind, i just love it.

[linzer03]

@Adines Nugraha I don't know anything for fact obviously, but here are my theories as to what was going on with the love lines in ep 4:

At the time, JSJ probably didn't know KJK had refused to do a love line. I mean, JSJ and KJK were by no means friends at the beginning of RM. So JSJ might have just assumed that the King of Love Lines would have a love line with the female member. The cast members KJK would've told that he wanted to move on from love lines would've been YJS and HH. I think HH was just deflecting any attention on himself liking SJH to KJK, and he wasn't really trying to set up a KJK-SJH love line. And if you watch the episode, YJS was by no means setting KJK up in a love line with SJH, simply pointing out that all of KJK's love lines ended when filming ended (making it clear that none of KJK's previous love lines were real outside the show) and probably helping KJK graduate from love lines. As someone pointed out in a previous post, when SBS guests on RM, it seems a bit like YJS and HH were both trying to tone down her love line with KJK, YJS tells KJK to stop doing love lines and HH tells SBS that KJK is chatty and different now.

It's also possible that KJK hadn't decided not to have a love line yet. In the previous episodes (2 and 3), the staff did caption KJK as being "jealous" of YJS being familiar with SJH, and then they start episode 4 off showing the potential for a KJK-SJH love line, and they actually have at  the end of the episode SJH calling KJK "hyung" and KJK asking her "Why are you like this to me?" But then by the next episode, they stop drawing attention to KJK and SJH's interactions (except for the waist hug which wasn't treated in any romantic way), so perhaps somewhere between the airing of episodes 4 and 5, KJK told the PDs that he didn't want a love line, and that's why after episode 4 any mention of a spartace love line disappears. 

Side Note: I agree that SJH treated KJK different from HH or KG early on. I think YJS and JSJ were always older brothers to her, while SJK and LKS were always younger dongsaengs - none of them were possible romantic interests. KJK, HH, and KG, however, were all in the age range where there was probably some question of interest between her and them. However, out of the three men, it's KJK who SJH first calls hyung, and it's KJK who SJH hugs around the waist like that - I think he captured her attention more than the other two from the get go.

[cleo47012]

For me this episode was a Ok episode not good but not bad as have a lot of members interaction. When I see this type of episode make me think the Pds are trying to see if will work to transform RM to a reality show focused on the members friendship an their interaction with their close people.

Regarding SA my favorite moment was when the psychic (Who is a spartacer for sure) was saying JH and JSJ were almost all the time right and JK ask why they doesn't insist in their point and they answer now one will follow our opinion and JK answer we are a team looking to JH (Plus the Psychic smiling at the same time LKS moved his head approving it complete the picture)

Regarding episode 4&5 and why Spartace never was a love line my theory is that is the same of the pepero JK is not and actor and could be uncomfortable to make a loveline with someone that for him is attractive in real life and is possible JH taked as a rejection from him what could give us and idea of why they were not a couple until years later 

[linzer03]

Running Man Rewatch Ep 7

I kind of figure no one else will really want to rewatch this episode for the spartace moments, because there really aren’t any memorable ones. So I’ll post this, and you can rewatch the moments you think are worth it. And no, I’m not skipping an episode, SJH missed episode 6 and then came back for ep 7 as an official cast member (for episodes 2-5, she was listed a guest).

Once again, KJK and SJH end up on different teams, so don’t expect a lot of interaction between them this episode. However, after HH and JSJ leave with the couple hats, you can see SJH and KJK standing next to each other (we’re early enough in RM where the two of them standing next to each other is a big deal when we get to the 2012 episodes just mentioning every time they find a way to be next to each other would take up pages). Then it looks like they were told to stand in teams and SJH has moved away from KJK.

When they’re entering the building, SJH holds the door for the people behind her, but then KJK takes it, and SJH looks around the hall with a smile.

SJH has a cute reaction to KJK dancing weirdly to Twist King on the stage. I think her reaction is different for him than it is for Yong Hwa, Jo Kwon, and KG where she sees more anticipatory of KJK’s performance and then more surprised and entertained by his Twist King dance (though this could be my biased shipper eyes). Watch and decide for yourself. But again, I don’t think she’s the fangirl of Turbo that she’s going to become after she gets to know KJK better. Anyways, here's the video for KJK's Twist King:

 

 

If you watch them during the small photo frame mission, KJK ends up behind SJH in the frame but is too uncomfortable to pull her out of the frame (it’s SJK who does that a few seconds later). But it's a similar situation to ep 2 where KJK ended up behind SJH in the photo mission, and he tried to cover her face without touching her. So here's the photos of KJK hovering behind her. He's the one reaching for her on the right.

But then when SJH is in the back and KJK is beside her, she seems to be trying to push him out of her way. KJK was there first, and after SJH lost her spot in the front, she eventually moves to KJK's side and tries to push him away.

When she can't push KJK, you can see her sort of jump on KJK and KG in the end:

Which results in this photo:

So it seems that between the two—SJH and KJK—in the beginning SJH is the one initiating things—scolding him for cheating, hugging his waist to stop him from getting the piggybank, and now trying to push him out of the photo frame. This makes sense, since they’re both a little reserved (SJH being introverted, and KJK being shy around women). At this point in time, KJK has a secure place on the show and is surrounded by good friends (YJS and HH), whereas SJH only just became a permanent cast member and doesn’t have many close ties yet to the rest of the cast. She needs KJK right now in terms of her character more than he needs her, so she would be the one to be more aggressive in the beginning.

When the blue team is discussing whether they want to be mission team or chasing team, SJH says, “I don’t have the confidence to get KJK.” Everyone else latches onto this reasoning, but I find it interesting that SJH was the one who was thinking about KJK. I think he’s already stood out to her.

The staff actually show a lot of SJH’s reactions to KJK in this episode. We get SJH’s close-up reactions to: KJK dancing Twist King, KJK the muscular ballerina, KJK getting eleven lemons in his drink, KJK complaining there won’t be room for water in his lemon drink. SJH often gives good reactions so that’s where a lot of her screen time comes from, but she must have given good reactions to KJK for them to show her laughter frequently.

[Adines Nugraha]

@linzer03

ah so that's why JSJ make KJK and SJH look at each other, thank you for sharing your theory. it really make sense now 

and i want to added just a little about ep 7:

when they talking about Sejong Center

KJK : i've come here to collect an award 

YJS : really ? did you know you're speaking a lot more lately ?

it's kinda funny that YJS just realize that KJK is more  talkative the moment SJH come back to the show as a permanent member. i know that it's merely coincidence, and the reason KJK more talkative is because he's been in a lot of show. 

anyway, that conversation remind me to a scene in Escape Crisis when the host asking KJK about his interaction with SJH during several FM, and KJK try explaining to them, then the person on KJK left side said "this is the first time, i've seen KJK this talkative"

oh, and the second one is when YJS team discussing about whether they will be the chasing or mission team. when SJH talk about KJK, although the sub written is "i don't have confidence to get Jong Kook", but you can hear clearly that she said "jong-kookie"

maybe she's just imitating how YJS sometimes called KJK as "jong-kookie", while she's almost always call KJK with "jong kook hyung" or later "jong kook oppa"

[yumiyumi17]

Good job @linzer03 keep it up!  im already on further episodes rewatch so lazy to go back on earlier ones hehehe..

In eps 177 KG & Gil eps, around minute 29.04 I noticed JH touch JK hand, sorry if this has been mentioned before..

And then in eps 291 the revelation of MC, when JS asked KS whose bodies he want to switch with & KS answer was JH.. I feel like he said this was because he was jealous of her, if im not mistaken KS has said in some interview that JK wife will be very happy to have him, just my thought tho bcoz KS refused to answer why he want to be JH, it might be other reasons as well 

@Adines Nugraha i love when JS call JK jongkookie, he always call him kookjong also

 

[Guest athoughtcloud1]

I re-watched episodes 2,3,4 and 5. It is surprising how you get a different perspective every time you re-watch. I wonder whether some months down the line, I will get different thoughts if I re-watch them again.

Anyway, @linzer03 has covered the major moments from all these episodes. I don't have that many moments to add.

Thoughts on episodes 2 & 3

On F.O, I got the feeling JK was more pre-occupied and while JH may have left an impression on him, it wasn't that obvious to me. The shooting for the F.O episodes must have been in July 2009 since the episodes aired on Aug 2 and Aug 9, 2009. The Running Man episode where JH guests was shot on July 5, 2010. That means JH and JK meet again (from what we know) after almost an year. On F.O. JH was more of a tomboy and interacted without that much shyness while when she guests on RM for the first time, she is more feminine and shy. That could be coz F.O had more older men and had Sooro who had been JH's acting coach in the past. It also had other women and younger guys. The setting was also that of  a family-like atmosphere and JH was just guesting for one episode. On RM, there were more men around JH's age and it was a new format where one didn't quite know what was in store. JH  comes dressed more stylishly for RM with full make up and wearing heels. To me, she gives off more of a womanly vibe on RM while on F.O, it had been more of a girlish vibe.

Among the cast, the three members JH has interacted with before are SJK (with whom she worked on FF), JK and JS and perhaps KS? I don't know whether she had met the others before, but from everybody's comments, don't think they had. JS, as usual, tries to act quite close with JH on their first meeting making JK and Haha complain about how JS is acting too familiar. JS and JH don't have that much awkwardness in their first meeting on RM. However, it is not just JS, JK has also met JH before. This is just my speculation, but when you meet somebody whom you have met before, you are expected to acknowledge that, right? But JK is somebody who is quite shy when it comes to acknowledging that in case of a woman. He knew Cha Yeon was the same girl who had visited his dorm years back the very first time she participated on X-man, but it still took him around 1 year to acknowledge that he knew who she was (in their memorable X-man 'Of course' game). Compared to his earlier interaction with Cha Yeon (where JK and she interacted more closely since she had been his fan), JK and JH may have interacted less, so there isn't much ground to act familiar. Yet, very few people would say based on JK and JH's first meeting on RM that they had in fact met before and had worked together on the same team twice. However, I feel JK must have improved in that matter by 2010 and on F.O, does mention he had met Hyori before. Anyway, usually, the acknowledgement is expected to come from the older person and perhaps JK was trying to do that in some way during their first shoot on RM? But then JH was shyer than before and she was too focused on adapting to the new format, so I wonder whether they went beyond the perfunctory greetings on this day. Besides, since they were not on the same team, it was harder for them to interact as well.

However, compared to F.O. where JK looked more pre-occupied to me, it is on RM that I feel he starts noticing JH properly. To me, that is more obvious in the 'guess the name' game, especially the first round, where JH is the most enthusiastic participant in her team. JK and Joong Ki laugh together when the oppiste team tries hard to get Haha's answers right, especially at JH who is the one trying hardest to figure out what Haha means. My screenshot hasn't got JH properly, but you can see JK smiling at someone in the opposite team and this is when JH (with the long hair) is trying really hard to answer a question and looks quite cute doing that.

 

Also, during the same mission, while JK does answer "Frozen Flower" and "Jumong" for a question related to JH, he merely repeats what his teammates say. So I don't think he was very familiar with JH's work at that point. Other than that, I didn't get to see any other moments between the two except during the diving game. @linzer03 has already mentioned JK-Haha's exchange during the soccer match. I felt JH's smile had vanished for a second when Haha brought up the topic about JK's non-amicable break up (perhaps wondering if it was a sensitive topic), but after that, she starts lauging along with the rest. I felt that JK was a bit upset at Haha at least for some time coz of that revelation since to me, seems like YJS addressing JK out of nowhere telling him he looks like Sparta is meant to change his mood. Haha, on the other hand, is smiling at JK from the other side and I don't think JK's bad mood lasts beyond a few seconds.

We are not shown the cast's reactions to JH diving 5 m. But since she was the first one to do it after SJK, I am sure it must have left an impression on the castmates including JK. Anyway, during the diving game, you also get to see a bit of the kind of person JH is. All the other members on her team cheer for SJ (who is on JK's team) while he goes for a lower height than his team wants him to. JH, however, doesn't cheer along with the rest perhaps coz she didn't find it a good thing to do even if it benefitted her team. On the other hand, JH cheers for all those members who brave their fears to go for a greater height. JH is extremely enthusiastic and covers her mouth in awe when JS goes for 7.5. But it is definitely JK who leaves the biggest impression on her since her eyes are fixed on him once he comes out of the pool and she looks at him in awe. She still seems to be lost in thought even after that moment has passed. JH has seen JK taking down Chun Hee on the pole before (and also losing to Sooro), but there the stakes were different and she wasn't as involved in the proceedings as she is here. To JH who asks Haha to man up and jump and who had been impressed every time one of her team mates or others jumped from a higher height than they were expected to, JK going for 10 metres so calmly and making a clean dive must have made one hell of an impression.

There was another water game that day which involved members having to throw off staff members from a float, but we were not shown any of it except one shot. Seems like JK is the last man standing for his team and you can see JH with the towel wrapped around her head looking in his direction. So yeah, JH may have got to witness at least two games where JK brought out his 'Mr. Capable' skills. But the water games including the diving game, unlike shown in the episode, were shot at the end of the day since you get to see JH with a towel around her head and the other cast with wet hair during the last session where they empty their piggy banks.

During this episode, among men closer to her age (i.e. Haha, JK and Gary), I feel JH and Haha bonded more. Haha, being more experienced in variety and far more outgoing and possibly finding JH attractive as well, might have made a greater effort to make her feel comfortable. JH wouldn't have asked Haha to jump if he was a man unless they had formed some kind of equation. Since Gary was also a newbie just like JH, he may have been more focused on getting his bearings than trying to make JH comfortable. But JH, Haha and Gary worked quite well as a team. JK, on the other hand, doesn't get to interact with JH since she is on the opposite team.

[linzer03]

Running Man Rewatch Ep 8

Once again, this is an episode without noticeable spartace moments so I don’t blame you if you don’t watch it and just read my post lol. What I find interesting about this episode is that I see KJK taking a more active role in his dynamic with SJH than he did in previous episodes. In ep 4, it was SJH who started arguing with KJK over the rolling bin and who hugged him to stop him from getting the golden piggybank, and in ep 7, it was SJH calling KJK out for cheating. But in this episode, KJK seems to be talking to SJH a bit more and beign the one to initiate it.

When they are nagging SJH about what she can do best, it sounds like KJK says in the background, “I’m curious.” Then, when SJH takes too long to say anything, KJK starts to answer “Club, club” (correct me if I’m wrong, it’s not subbed). But KG says, “Love,” right before that so everyone gets distracted by KG’s answer. But you can hear KJK trying to help SJH out a bit when she’s struggling to come up with a good response for variety.

 

I think it’s important to note that KJK wanted to tease her about her talents, saying she was good at clubbing, but he got overshadowed by KG’s “love” comment. This is where the Monday Coupe love line starts, and it’s noticeable how the staff is suddenly on board with this love line because we get to see SJH’s reaction shot to almost everything KG does. I don’t think KG intended to start a love line with his comment about SJH being good at love (everyone seems a bit surprised by it), but then YJS or KJK or even the PDs thought it would be a good idea for variety newbie KG to have a love line, and they probably started to encourage him after that, since he then waits for SJH to finish at Tea Time.

When it’s SJH’s turn to slap the chopsticks on her knees, KJK calls out, “Ji Hyo, be funny, be funny.” Again, KJK is paying more attention to SJH in this episode than he has previously, and while I don’t think there's any romantic motivations behind this, I do think it shows that he’s getting more comfortable with her.

Later on, we get a shot of KJK smiling when SJH runs up to get the Running Ball because she was the only member of the blue team to survive Hide and Seek. I think this is one of those moments where he finds her cute.

I also love SJH’s reaction to the old videos of KJK in Turbo. I think she had much more of a reaction to his old videos than she did to HH (and we didn’t even see her reaction to KG’s). Even though I think SJH got along with and knew HH the best out of the trio (KJK, HH, and KG), she showed a much bigger reaction to KJK's past videos.

SJH while watching HH’s video:

Before KJK’s video even shows, SJH smiles and then looks back to see KJK’s reaction.

SJH while watching KJK’s video:

SJH also tries to answer the question in KJK’s video but no one else’s. After the video ends and she’s trying to think of the answer, she stares over at KJK.

As SJH’s drinking the hot egg-yolk drink, KJK says things like “Oh, are you okay?” So do HH and KG, to be fair. And HH calls her pretty when they’re watching her old video.

I think this is where they start developing equations with her. HH already had a bit of equation with SJH, but he calls her pretty here. KG started to develop his love line with SJH, which I think helped him become more comfortable with her, and KJK started talking to her when it’s her turn on team games. So yay progress in everybody’s relationships with SJH! lol

[Guest athoughtcloud1]

Thoughts on episodes 4 & 5:

Re-watching the episodes, it is hard to say how much of the other members' interest in JH is pure attraction and how much of it is coz they think they might be in a loveline with her. That goes for JK too. I don't think any of them know each other well enough at this point to develop that much of an attraction towards the other. But for a variety show, it is the usual thing to find a pair who are compatible with each other to start a loveline. Episodes 1-3 had been about fixing the format of the show and trying to see if JS and SJ could play their roles as team leaders effectively. By episode 4 though, I feel the production team is looking for somebody to replace SJ as the team leader. Perhaps the initial plan was to have JK and Gary, both athletic, as the sub-team leaders on JS and SJ teams (in the first episode, JK and Gary are on opposite teams), but by episode 3, it is pretty apparent that SJ is neither athletic nor has that much of a variety sense for all his experience. The members on his team don't really look up to SJ as well since he isn't that inspiring a leader (he went for a shorter height than his team wanted to for the diving game putting a burden on the remaining members).The team division for episode 4 is based on the height of the members and unlike the last three episodes where it was based on seniority (JS vs SJ), this time they are divided into adults team and kids team. Even JK looks puzzled when he finds himself on a team opposite JS and SJ and wonders aloud what the criteria for the selection is. The production team may have been trying out JK in the team leader role since he had done really well for his team in the last episode.

So the whole talk in the opening about which of the members has interest in JH may be about adding other elements to the show such as a loveline. By this time, I think the production team had decided to retain JH as the permanent cast  During the episode, she is asked at least thrice to name her ideal type among the cast, so I feel the male members know she is gonna be a permanent member and hence is going to have a loveline on the show. I feel JS, in the opening, has Haha in mind when he informs JH that there are some men who like her. When Haha brings up JK's name as another potential candidate, JS who is usually pretty enthusiastic when it comes to setting up lovelines for JK doesn't push it much beyond talking about JK's lovelines in general. Instead, it is SJ who tries to push for a JK-JH loveline by asking JK to look in JH's direction. Again, it is Haha whom JS teases during the break asking him why he is hovering around JH. JS was on a team with Haha and JH last week, so he may have noticed Haha trying to get close to JH and may have felt there could be a loveline between the two of them. Since JH was shyer, he perhaps felt it made better sense to make a loveline with her and Haha since JH needed a more outgoing partner. Haha had plenty of variety experience and was also closer to her age.  JS pushing Haha instead of JK might also be coz, he felt that JK needed to be used in another role than in a loveline. On F.O, there was Kim Sooro along with JK and I heard there was some displeasure at JK joining the team among Sooro fans as their variety characters overlapped. So while JK's lovelines with Hyori and Ye Jin weren't a surprise since he was known for his lovelines on other shows, I also think it was meant to differentiate JK's variety character from Sooro's. But on RM, there wasn't anybody who had a variety character like JK's and so JK needn't exactly be in a loveline.

While JS may have thought a Haha-JH loveline would be good, think things were pretty undecided at this point. JH does get asked a lot during this episode to name her ideal type and during the break, LKS directly asks her to name the man whom she likes the most among the male members. If JH had expressed any interest in JK or any of the other men, perhaps the production team may have developed the loveline accordingly. However, JH, too new to variety and more of the shy type when it came to openly expressing her interest in a man and perhaps more worried about settling in with the cast at that point than any lovelines, was not really showing interest in any particular man for it to be made into a loveline.

Before I had believed that JK was averse to doing another loveline on RM. But re-watching the episode, I get the feeling he was also game for one if he had been asked to do so. Since the team division that day is itself a surprise to JK, I wonder whether he had realised by then that he was going to be used in another role and may have thought his role could include the loveline. He had been in lovelines on almost all the shows he had been on, so he may have expected the possibility of being in a loveline on RM too if there was going to be a permanent female member. I do believe the subs are right to a large extent since it seems like Haha is changing the topic by bringing JK into the picture when SJK asks Haha if he is the one interested in JH. However, there may have been some truth to Haha saying he and JK had a discussion about JH before. JK doesn't protest much either when Haha brings him into the picture or when SJ asks him to look in JH's direction. While one can't rule out JK considering JH attractive, I feel it is also a case of JK being ready to play a loveline with JH if such a demand was made. But yeah, that also means JK must have found JH pleasing enough to entertain such an expectation. I feel JK not doing the loveline was more of a production team's decision than JK's or at least at this point, JK was willing to do one (don't know whether he didn't want one later). After re-watching episode 9, where he did better than I expected him to when it came to his loveline with Bong Sun, I feel he wasn't that averse to doing a loveline on the show. He holds BS' hand when she is scared and later sings along with her after interlocking their fingers and even hugs her after they complete their singing mission. JS even quips that JK is really good at this sort of thing. If JK was okay doing a loveline with BS, then what about JH who was more attractive and closer to his ideal type? It could be that once he was given a more energy-consuming role as the other team leader, he didn't want to have a permanent loveline and let the responsibility go to somebody else.

But during this episode, I don't think he quite knows what his role on the show is going to be. I felt JK got a bit disappointed when the teams were announced and Jessica was made part of his team instead of JH (he looks down after the announement and doesn't look that excited to me). By this time, Haha, Gary, KS, SJK had all got an opportunity to work with JH, but not JK. If JH was going to be a permanent cast member, JK may have wanted to interact with her more. I also feel he had found JH cute/interesting during the last shoot, so there may have been an added motivation to it. And the team division had immediately come after the talk about the loveline, especially between JH and JK/Haha. So he may have expected her to be teamed up with him and Haha. Yes, JK and the rest joke around that they don't have any expectations about getting a loveline after Nickhun arrives, but that is just talk since nobody tries to pair up JH and Nickhun.

Out of all the 3 guys who are offfered as potential partners (ie JK, Haha and Nickhun), JH seems shyest when her eyes meet JK's. JH turns red and immediately averts her gaze. JK is also slightly red in the face. In a later episode, when JS and SJ try to set up JH and Gary, JH's unwillingness is obvious. But here she doesn't look displeased and is really shy. But I really don't think lovelines are in JH's head much at this point and I feel JH's later statement that everything was a blur to her in the first few episodes could be true. Compared to JH who may be trying hard to fit in, JK who is more experienced at variety may have been relaxed enough to look around more and wonder whether he could be in a loveline with JH.

 

When LKS asks that question to JH about who she likes most among the cast, JK seems a bit stiff  to me (which to me says he is tense). Also, like @Adines Nugraha pointed out, JK does become more talkative starting from this episode even taking JS by surprise. JS mentions as to how JK was talking a lot during their break (SJK also makes the 'yapping' gesture) and the break time is the only time both the teams sit together and JK is sitting directly opposite JH. Of course, there are n number of reasons why he became more talkative by this episode - there are more men around his age on RM, the athletic format was something which came more naturally to him and it was in this episode that he got to lead his team without any senior member around. But still, it could also have been an attempt to make JH feel more comfortable around him so that they could break the ice. Again, part of this could be coz he thought he might be asked to play a loveline with JH and part of it could be coz he genuinely wanted to get close to her. Even during the bin game where JH addresses JK as 'hyung' , JK says it is fine since he might have felt it would make her comfortable around him.

But the bin game happens after the water game and the chatting session. During the water game which must have been among the first games they played that day, JK does speak up for JH. While JK later develops an interfering image on the show, at this point of time, it is strange to see him interfering in the affairs of the other team, especially when it concerns a female member and that too someone he hasn't interacted with much. It is also interesting in terms of SA's later development since it shows JK being perceptive about JH right from the beginning which of course later extends to things like what she likes and a more definite sense of when she is feeling down or upset. While her team members, especially SJ, might have been partially bullying JH for the sake of variety, during the game, think it reaches a point where JH genuinely starts to get upset. The first time SJ makes some pointed remarks about JH, you can see JK and Haha laughing on the other side perhaps making fun of SJ or laughing at poor JH who is SJ's target for the day. But the 3rd time SJ brings up JH's mistake, telling her to watch and learn and JS joins in saying JH knows only how to clap, something that makes LKS imitate her clapping, you can see that JH is looking genuinely upset. It is JK who notices that first and steps in saying "Why should JHsshi see all that?". When he continues, "why are you telling her to observe this and that?", JH laughs perhaps to hide that she is feeling upset. The others also then notice her mood -you can see Gary looking concerned, KS on her team looks apologetic and Jessica also comes near her asking her whether she is alright. Later, Gary refers to how JH's mood was weird a while back. So JH was definitely upset at that point and it is heartwarming as a Spartacer that it is JK who had interacted with JH the least till then who noticed it first among all the men there (in fact that is the first time on the show where JK specifically mentions JH).

The bin game happens after two games where JK and JH are in close contact with each other. First is the trelabite mission where JH hugs JK from behind to stop him from entering the room where the pig is kept. The other is the name-tag ripping game where JH is among the many who try to wrestle with JK for his name-tag and she says he is scarily strong. I felt JH did look at JK with some concern when they were standing in the line-up for the bin game perhaps since JK's hand had got injured. By this time, I think JH has realised that JK is the man to beat and hence her asking JK not to cheat may be based on that. Also, JH may not have spoken much to JK on the show before the bin game since she hasn't quite decided or been told by JK how to address him. However, even before she addresses him that way, while talking to the other members about JK, you can hear her calling him "hyung". I definitely think she wanted to get closer to him and hence the "hyung", but later she switches to oppa when he is trying to shift the position of his bin. JK also then talks back to JH asking her if she is getting angry at him. JH doesn't say anything to JK at this point, it is JK who notices that JH looks angry, so he was pretty perceptive to her moods that day. Or he wanted her to talk more to him. In the last game too, JH doesn't have any awkwardness in tightly hugging JK's waist. She backhugs Haha as well to prevent him from taking the pig, but the tighest hug that happens that day is definitely between JK's waist and JH.

Later when JS' team loses that day's game which means they have to take the penalty and JS says JH is unhappy because she had to stay back last week as well, you can hear JK asking JS if that was so.

I don't know where to draw the line between JK wanting to get close to JH as a potential teammate and perhaps loveline and a genuine attraction towards her. I did feel JK was making more of an effort to draw JH's attention to himself than I had initially thought of. Compared to episodes 2 and 3 where JK is much more passive, in 4 and 5, he is more active not just in the physical missions, but also in chatting  and showing his lighter side like in the dance demo. That could be coz he was more comfortable in his skin by this episode and finally got a role which comes natural to him, the leader, but it is a change everybody notices.

In these episodes, what I generally find is that the production team is specifically trying to create images for the 3 variety newbies since the others know how to take care of themselves. KS was showing capability as the long-legged, unfortunate member whom nobody listened to and JH being the lone female wasn't that hard to place. In episodes 3 and 4, I felt there was more focus on Gary and JH than on KS. JS trying to sneak in on Gary and the peaceful Gary tropes are repeated through these episodes. I assume some of the writers were Leessang fans and since Gary didn't have variety experience, may have seen it as an interesting challenge to create a new character for him. So though Gary is not being considered as a potential loveline for JH at this point, since he gets a lot of focus and perhaps popularity as a result, I can see it leading to a situation where the writers feel Gary is more endearing to be used in a loveline than Haha.

[linzer03]

@athoughtcloud1 Yay! I appreciate your analysis since you fill in a lot of gaps between the moments I find. I also see different things when I rewatch, and it's really interesting. I definitely didn't remember KJK paying as much attention to SJH as he did in the early eps, and it's interesting to see that they both take note of each other. I agree that it's probably a bit thrown off by SJH being out of her element while KJK is more comfortable.

I think it's often hard to tell who's trying to claim whose attention between KJK and SJH in the early episodes. Ep 2 and 3, they don't seem to be paying too much attention to each other. And it's not until KJK does the diving boards that SJH starts to look at him with interest. But then by eps 4 and 5, KJK seems to be taking more interest in SJH, and I wonder if perhaps having a conversation with HH or watching the RM eps when they aired sparked KJK's interest in SJH more. However, in ep 7, KJK doesn't seem to be paying too much attention to SJH except in the photo mission where he won't try to throw her out of the frame (but KJK is like that too most females, so I wouldn't put too much weight on that). But then by ep 8, KJK is commenting on what SJH is doing a lot - talking to her when she has to do the chopsticks and after she drinks the hot tea. SJH also seems to be paying a lot of attention to KJK in ep 8 as well, she pays far more attention to his video than she does for HH and they don't even show her reaction to KG's so I'm assuming it was nothing great. And then you have ep 9 where SJH seems to not enjoy KJK's love line. They enjoy arguing with each other over when KJK turned off the music, and SBS gets in the middle so I wonder if she did sense something between them. In ep 10, it's KJK who pays more attention to SJH during the bidding then she does to him...though it's hard to tell with SJH because KJK's sitting behind her - she does steal some looks at him when she turns to look back at CTH. This is also the ep where MC begins, and KJK at first doesn't seem too thrilled when they plan to ditch KG and SJH together, but when he comes back, he's supportive of the love line being the first one to go up to KG and ask how it went (so perhaps he realized this was love line and he needed to support it). HH makes a joke about KJK being jealous of the love line after KJK takes some of the female guest's coffee, so I wonder if he wasn't too happy at first when KG was chosen t have a love line with SJH. That's as far as I am now in my rewatch (I'm trying to space out my posts on each episode), but I think there's moments of interest between both of them and they both seem a little put off by each other's love lines.