Show Review: Produce 101 Season 2 Episode 2

So if episode 1 of Produce 101 was boring in that it was just auditions, then episode 2 is just more of the same. It’s still decently entertaining though, so let’s jump into it.

The episode starts off with the 98 trainees (because I think at this point 3 had already left) watching the first episode. It’s pretty standard, really. There’s a lot of them laughing at #ultimatememe Yoon Jisung and the MMO Gossip Squad. There’s some crying as the boys hear some of the other trainees talk about how difficult the training process is.

And finally they show the ranking results after the first episode. Park Jihoon is first, Jang Moon Bok is second.

And then it goes back into auditions, which is more of the same. I’ll discuss some of the auditions down below.

One of my favourite sections of the audtion section of this episode is where Cheetah and Don Mills get to rate the rapper trainees. Some of them are good (like Woo Jinyoung, bless his smol soul), others less so. It’s just entertaining to watch Don Mills go from scary tough rapper guy to a literal teddy bear.

Notable Performances:

Lee Woojin

So this little goober performs ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber to great effect. He’s literally the only trainee who can get away with performing such a horrible song because he’s just that cute. Also worth noting is that literally every comment about this kid is that he’s cute which is a #fact. I was anticipating this performance because he caught my eye during the ‘Nayana’ stage, so I’m glad he’s such a talented little cutie. He gets a B because his dancing isn’t quite there yet, which is fine.

YG K+

So this tall group of model sings 2PM’s ‘My House’ and it’s one of the funniest things I have ever seen. They’re model trainees, not idol trainees, so predictably they don’t do so well. The entire focus is on Kwon Hyunbin and his inability to really do anything but be tall, and really after this episode we should have known that this would be the ultimate fate of the YG K+ trainees. Hyunbin shows a rap that really doesn’t show anything at all. They all gets Fs, which was to be expected after such a horrible performance.

S.How

My men. My loves. These guys are absolutely amazing in every sense of the word. They have their audition after a segment of good looking boys as the “ugly” ones. I put ugly in quotations because theyre fucking gorgeous. Namhyung is literally one of the best looking people I have ever seen; he’s completely my type and I love him. At any rate, Namhyung is the best rapper on the show and Dongsu is one of the best singers and they perform a self-written song. Namhyung gets an A and Dongsu gets a B and it’s completely deserved and I’m pissed that literally everyone but me slept on their gorgeous, talented selves.

Jung Joonji

This is the worst rendition of EXO’s ‘Growl’ I have ever heard to the point where it’s hilarious. This kid is literally just a normal guy who really wanted to perform a stiff-ass version of ‘Grow;’. He gets an F, but it’s hilarious. It’s even funnier when you put it to the fact that he’s been practicing this for months.

Ardor and Able

So these are the boys from Hotshot, a group I only know about because one of the members was training to be in EXO and lost the opportunity of the lifetime and ended up in Hotshot instead. Neither of these boys are that one, but holy hell if I don’t need to pay attention to Hotshot after this. They perform and amazing rendition of Block B’s ‘Very Good’ and Noh Taehyun does some sick ass krumping and made me fall in love with him. They both get A’s, and honestly I don’t know where else I would put them.

Kim Dongbin

This cutie performs NCT Dream’s ‘Chewing Gum’ and honestly it’s not bad? He has horrible stage fright though and he has to redo it because he thought one of the trainers told him to stop. Besides the stage fright I honestly don’t think he did that bad of a job, but he gets an F anyways. As someone who was a performer most of her life, I can completely understand the fear he’s going through.

Starship

Okay so before the show even started I went on OneHallyu to ask what trainees I should support (before I knew that international fans weren’t allowed to vote) and I swear half of the comments were for me to support Jung Sewoon from Starship. Even the show put a lot of emphasis on him during this episode. So I was expecting big things from this kid. I was like “this kid better be the second coming of Ryeowook for me to stan him”. After watching their performance of ‘Sugar’ and hearing Sewoon sing his own song, honestly I didn’t get the hype? Sewoon seems like a nice kid and all, but he doesn’t seem to be anything special to me. Neither does Gwanghyun, who you literally don’t see again until episode 7. They both get Bs for being particularly unspectacular.

Jang Moon Bok

Finally, the king comes out. The Hip Hop President himself. I came into the show ready to stan and I still do. His hair is legendary. His performance though? I don’t think he deserved the F that he got. He’s definitely not an amazing dancer, but his rap isn’t bad at all. I don’t care at all though because I love this man and the energy he brings. No one can’t not smile when he’s around.

Brand New Music

The final audition is Brand New Music, a company that has hip hop artists, not idols. With this in mind, I was curious about what they would show. I was also curious because Lee Daehwi was the centre for ‘Nayana’ and I wanted to know exactly how good he was to steal the centre from Samuel’s hands. They performed their own original song and choreography and honestly it was alright. Daehwi and Woojin both get As and Youngmin and Donghyun both get Bs. If I was judging this I would put Daehwi down to B for that awful straining in his singing, but overall it wasn’t anything bad.

So they finish the level tests by saying that there are 7 people who got rank A and 31 people who got level F. Last season was a lot fairer in terms of the distribution, so this is pretty ridiculous. They also take this time to reveal the song ‘Nayana’ to the trainees, and honestly it’s a lot more difficult then ‘Pick Me’ was last year. I don’t know why they’re holding the boys to such ridiculous standards, but here we are.

So they start practicing the song by levels and it goes pretty much exactly how you expect. The A boys are fantastic (though the guys in B are better at singing) and those in F are really bad.

There was this beautiful moment between Cube’s Seonho and YG K+’s Hyunbin though.

Finally, we go into the individual practice room. It sort of cuts around so I’ll just list of the grades and write off the important things that happen with each practice cut.

A

• ·      Can I just say that Namhyung really sets himself apart with that beanie he’s so beautiful I just can’t with him.
• ·      None of them are comfortable with the range of the song, and honestly I would be the same way if I was in their shoes. The song seems to be written for a particularly high tenor, which very few of the boys in the competition are. Seongwoo is the most comfortable singing it but his voice is still very strained.
• ·      This episode is also the start of the ‘Samuel can’t get anything he wants or deserves’ subplot of the show
• ·      Their dancing is much better than their singing

B

• ·      These guys are the most enthusiastic
• ·      Teacher Seokhoon criticizes Dongsu so he’s automatically the enemy
• ·      This is also the start of Ha Minho’s storyline of ‘I’m a rapper let me rap’ comes in but don’t get too attached like I did HE BETRAYS US ALL BY BEING AN ABUSER LITERALLY FUCK HIM
• ·      Daniel also goes in with the mindset that he has to be good at everything which is the right mindset for this kind of thing. He nails the high notes with just a bit of strain.
• ·      Lee Woojin also misses the memo to stand in the centre of the room somehow and walks right up to the teacher for some reason I don’t understand that part
• ·      He’s also the only one who can easily sing ‘Nayana’ because he’s the only one who’s voice hasn’t cracked yet
• ·      They’re dancing is also not quite up to par
• ·      Except for Daniel, the ace in the hole, who quite literally teaches the rest of the class.
• ·      I love you Daniel
• ·      Also Jaehwan can’t dance and it’s kinda hilarious

·       

C

• ·      So first things first the C trainees all like looking like bananas I mean it’s they’re opinion but I wouldn’t be thrilled about that
• ·      They also really like Yumi (the teacher) because she’s pretty but like all pretty girls who sing she’s really scary (this is an actual fact by the way I was in choir for years the prettier the girl the scarier they were when it came to singing)
• ·      Jinyoung comes out and singes with zero confidence. He’s one of the more popular guys so I was expecting more, but he’s just alright. He’ll be really good with some confidence though.
• ·      I kinda just wanna hug him and make sure he’s alright.

·       

D

• ·      D class is mostly the ‘Why can’t Nu’est do it show’
• ·      This is actually especially sad because Kahi is trying to teach Nu’est the dance and they’re just not getting it and it’s very heartbreaking to see these guys have absolutely zero confidence in themselves. It’s not that they’re incapable; they’ve just been thrown down.
• ·      Dongho literally says he has no confidence
• ·      Guanlin also has trouble and literally gives up at some point. He’s only been training for 6 months so I get his frustration, but as someone who learned to dance at a similar age to him, I also know that you never get anywhere by giving up. My expectations really dropped for him this episode.
• ·      I do love how he says that it’s hard for his mind. He’s trying to digest everything in a new language so I can imagine that it’s doubly hard for him BUT DON’T JUST STOP TRYING
• ·      Nu’est is also singled out when it comes to singing. They do better than their dancing, especially Minki.
• ·      Gunhee is apparently the best singer out of all levels. Remember that.
• ·      Also apparently Seokhoon thinks that Yuehua’s Ahn Hyeogseob has no singing talent but he sounded find to me where’d this guy learn to teach singing????

·       

F

• ·      The kids in F are so full of life I just want to squeeze their cheeks
• ·      Especially Moon Bok. Guy can’t dance but fuck yeah he’s going to have fun with the entire experience
• ·      He literally makes the F part watchable
• ·      The teacher in this who’s name I can literally never remember is really sweet to the F boys
• ·      The focus on Hyunbin and his inability to dance in this episode made me think that he’s the Sohye of the season.
• ·      But he also spends a lot of time giving up bb why DON’T DO THAT

After the training montage they film their re-evaluations. Honestly none of them are that great. The only one that’s super impressive is the F trainee at the end of the teachers evaluating them. His identity is revealed next episode but be warned he’s a big ball of vampire hotness. It’s very sad to see Hwang Minhyun (one of the Nu-est members) do so poorly though.

BoA and I have the same thoughts about trainees giving up: DON'T DO IT

Then they get to call their parents (this is before the trainers see their videos). Memorable moments include Jisung’s sister thinking it’s an interview and Seonho having to tell his parents that he only gets 3 meals a day instead of 5.

Notable Moments:

The start of the Daniel x Woojin father/son dynamic

Get used to this. Daniel will be shown every time Woojin does something and vice versa. It's honestly really cute though I'm not complaining. 

Literally everything Woojin does

So everything that Lee Woojin does in this episode is accompanied by cute child music (since he’s the youngest) and everyone saying how cute he is. Literally this kid has trouble peeling a sticker and it’s the cutest thing in the world.

Yongbin’s nose

During a segment about beauty and how handsome a bunch of trainees are, this guy comes out with a Nose™ that’s really quite impressive. Too bad it’s the last time we ever see the guy.

Jisung continuing to be hilarious

I love this man and he continues to be a meme, a glorious, glorious meme.

The fucking white board.

There’s a segment where trainees write their last words before their audition on the board. It’s pretty boring, except for the juxtaposition between the short Yuehua trainees and the tall YG K+ trainees.

Eunki

They don’t show his performance, but episode 2 is where Hong Eunki places himself as the main gay of the competition in literally 2 seconds.

Sunghyeok

I can’t find a clip but Sunghyeok hitting his head getting his revaluation is hilarious.

That’s it for this episode. I’ll see you next time for episode 3 and the start of more interesting things than just auditions and training montages (though I sure wrote a fuck ton of stuff holy shit).