Show Review: Produce 101 Season 2 Episode 4

After a million years of putting off writing this, I’m finally getting around to episode 4. I now have the added challenge of seeing how fast I can push out reviews before I disappear for ten days in July but I’m literally averaging like 20 views a post so I don’t think anyone cares.

Episode 4 starts off with a recap of episode 3. No one cares. Next.

This entire episode is just performances, so I’ll do pretty much the same thing that I did for episode 3. I’ll go team by team and write about the pre-up to the performance, put a link to the actual performance, and then write about the performance itself. After that I’ll put who my winner was and who the actual winner was.

Okay let’s begin.

Replay

So one of the biggest things about this battle is how different the two teams are and I think it’ll be very apparent which is more my style very quickly.

Team 1

· If you guessed that the team that was my style was this team, you’d be wrong. I’m all for cute aegyo stuff but this… this is just too much.
· Justin is just overwhelming. I can forgive him for that because he’s like 15 but it’s seriously cringy to me. Kid also goes from “I’mma show my abs and be a tough boi” to “OMGOSH I’m the cutest child ever” and it’s honestly very strange and I don’t like it.
· Even from the rehearsal scenes you can tell that this is going to be an over exaggerated mess.
· But poor Gunhee misses all of his notes during rehearsals and it’s kind of disheartening
· Kid tries so hard; I feel bad for him.

· And right off the bat this performance’s biggest flaw is that it’s completely overdone.
· Like all the gestures are so big and so just unbelievably fake cute that’s it’s nauseating
· But this is Korea so of course this gets a pass
· Minki is the standout here because a) he already has stage experience and b) he’s the only one on stage not trying to be overly cute
· Also if you were even slightly worried about Gunhee and this stage, it was completely misplaced
· So I was a performer for most of my life. I’m nearly 23 now and I started performing when I was 3. Singing, acting, piano, choir, flute, concert bands, jazz performances, that was my life until I was 19. I was always taught, all of my life, that if you make mistakes in practice you won’t make a mistake on stage. It’s the people who are overconfident in practice and get everything right who give poor stages. So I was never worried about Gunhee; I knew he was going to nail it.
· Also Jung Jung does a flip. Of course he does. He’s muthafuckin Jung Jung he does what he fucking wants and usually that means doing a badass flip.

Team 2

· Men. Manly men. Just my type.
· Also the cutie from Blessing who reminds me of Jimin from BTS is in this group he’s a cutie
· So this team is at a natural disadvantage because this is a cute song and none of them (minus Jimin-lite) are really stereotypically cute, no matter how attractive they are to me. So I’ve already gone into this expecting their loss.
· There’s a lot of comparison between Justin and Sanggyun, since they’re the two centres, and how they couldn’t be more different. One of my favourite moments is when Kahi calls Sanggyun’s performance ’cheesy’ as if Justin’s wasn’t.
· But Kahi also says that team 2 looks like they can seduce noonas well, and as a noona (for some of them) I’m seduced. They’ve already won.
· Mostly Team 2’s issue is that they need to find a balance between their more masculine visuals and the (more) cutesy nature of the song.

· Right from the get-go you can tell that this team is a lot more relaxed, and a lot more focused on having a strong stage performance wise rather than on being cute.
· That being said Sanggyun shows aegyo right off the bat but that even looks more natural than whatever was happening with Team 1.
· Sanggyun also does a legal ab shot though, so all is forgiven. I am cleansed from all my sins.
· So while their visuals may not fit the song, overall I felt as if their voices suited the song a lot more than Team 1, and their dancing was cleaner.

Results

My Winner: Team 2

Actual Winner: Team 1

Mansae

So this was the performance where Team 2 was the group made up of all the leftovers.

Team 1

· If you want to see Woodam get praised, this is the part of the episode for you. And boy does he get praised.
· So all the team members get along and practice is going great, so everything should be good, right? This team has no problems, right?
· Nope. One of their team members leaves and now they have to rearrange the entire song.
· So because Woodam is the best and most stable vocalist in the group basically all of the extra lines are given to him and he gets stressed out
· Hell, I’d be stressed too if I had two days to learn extra parts
· Woodam starts to mess up in rehearsals and if Gunhee is anything to go off of this is a good sign

· This is an overall very stable stage. I don’t think it’s the strongest stage, not by a wide margin, but it’s good.
· Jinyoung’s rap is going to be very hit-or-miss for viewers, though everyone who doesn’t like his rapping is lying to themselves but that’s another story for another day
· Vampire King Taedong does his job as centre splendidly mostly just by being nice to look at.
· Woodam’s voice is probably the best part about the stage. It’s incredibly smooth and pleasant to listen to and you can tell that he just likes to sing a whole bunch
· And, yes, despite all of his mistakes during rehearsals he nails it. Of course he does. He’s Park Woodam.

Team 2

· Everyone who watched this episode knows this team is going to be bad. They’re 5 F-rankers and 1 D-rank like you know that this is going to rough to watch.
· But everyone who watched this also really, really wanted them to pull through and bring an amazing stage.
· But from the practice scenes you can tell that their morale was, understandably, low. When you’re about to compete and you know that your competitor is at a much higher level than you it really hits your self-esteem.
· They struggle in the vocal class, and then in the dance class. Dance class is so bad it’s actually quite painful to watch.
· By the end of their rehearsals they pull it together, and I just have my fingers crossed.

· I mean, it wasn’t terrible?
· The aired performance would have been better if they showcased some of Yongjin’s mad twerking though, because he decided he was going to WERK on stage let me tell you.

· But they have trouble matching the beat and the style, which is kind of ridiculous considering THREE of them have already debuted (Hadon and Chanyool in JJCC, and Yongjin in an even more nugu group that I don’t know the name of)
· Yongjin is a fairy capable vocalist, considering he’s a rapper, though in any group he would never be the main vocalist like he is here. He doesn’t attempt to do the things Woodam does, which is probably for the best
· At the very least, Sungwook looks hella cute in those glasses. Kinda wished he went full on Spider Man in this performance though; he would have gotten mad points.

Results

My Winner: Team 1

Actual Winner: Team 1

Really there was no question that Team 1 was going to win, or that most of the votes went to Woodam. You had a team with really 1 gem and a bunch of shiny rocks versus a team with really nothing spectacular, and everyone is going to vote for the 1 gem or the shiny rock that catches their eye the most. It also helped that there were literally no popular trainees on either team, so that gave Woodam a huge boost. Kid got more votes than the entirety of Team 2.

Sorry Sorry

This was one of the match-ups that everyone was waiting for. This is because Team 2 had a lot of heavy hitters like Nu’est’s Jonghyun and Minhyun, and international darling Daniel. If you’ll recall, Team 2 was nicknamed ‘Justice League’ as a response to Daehwi’s ‘Avengers’.

Team 1

· This team has an early advantage due to the fact that they have Namhyung the Manhyung on their team. You’ll notice that he has a beanie on. That is because Namhyung is so dedicated to his Brand™ that he has a beanie for every occasion.
· Their name is Super Mario, because of course it is. I bet Seonho came up with that.
· So because their team has two of the stronger rappers in the competition (Namhyung and Asshole Minho) they decided to forgo the dance break in the song in order to show off their rap.
· Naturally this doesn’t go over well and they’re told that they’re not allowed to that.
· This was definitely a diversion tactic because Mnet knows that if Namhyung was allowed to show off his superior rap skills to the world none of their favourites would have a chance of beating him popularity wise.
· The reason they give for not allowing it is because then the two teams aren’t doing the same song and therefore aren’t being evaluated the same, which is fair as well.
· To compensate Asshole Minho changes the choreography so that Tall BBY Seonho jumps off his back.
· Seonho is super chill with this, of course. He’s Seonho. He knows how to jump.

Have I mentioned that Seonho is a cutie? Because he is.

· As expected, Namhyung and his beanie steal the show. True beauty cannot be overshadowed by anyone or anything.

· Hyeob is a good choice for centre. He’s a stable performer and not bad on the eyes (don’t @ me I don’t know how old he is I’m pretty sure he’s legal but if he’s not don’t @ me)
· For someone who like 2 weeks before this was filmed could barely do basic dance moves, Seonho is surprisingly strong on stage.
· It’s a pretty decently polished stage. It’s a little rough, but then again so are Super Junior so that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
· They do the dance break and Namhyung is spotlighted because he’s one of the strongest dancers out of the non-dance specific people, in addition to being the most beautiful and the best rapper.
· Seonho’s jump over Asshole Minho goes well. Too bad he didn’t step on him so hard he pushed him straight into the depths of hell.

Team 2

· As previously mentioned, people were going nuts over this group, and for good reason. They’re all good looking, popular, and reasonably talented boys.
· But then there’s Hyunbin. Sweet, sweet Hyunbin who I thought was going to be the Sohye of this season. Alas, his work ethic leaves something to be desired.
· Hyunbin is such a creaky dancer. He reminds me of me during my senior year production of Grease and they told me to do the mashed potato and my feet just wouldn’t.
· Jonghyun is the single most optimistic person to ever live on this planet. His faith in Hyunbin is just absolutely amazing.
· I do think it’s unfair to just throw Jonghyun under the bus when something goes wrong just because he’s the leader. Which is what happens when the dance teacher realizes that Hyunbin hasn’t gotten the hang of the choreo yet.
· I mean Jaehwan isn’t much better at dancing but still.
· But Mnet decided to go full on evil edit of Hyunbin and released a montage of him not practicing diligently enough. It’s enough to ruin a career, honestly.
· Yeah the entire pre-amble to the stage is just Hyunbin being bad at practice and Jonghyun being amazingly supportive.
· It was a popular storyline though. So kudos to Mnet. You got a good storyline and all you had to do was make Hyunbin’s life miserable no big deal.

· You’ll hear some people say that this was the best performance out of this evaluation, and they’re right. Everything about this performance works, even Hyunbin’s non-singing singing.
· They all look and sound good, God bless.
· This is also when Jaehwan starts getting noticed for having an idol like voice, when previously it was said that he didn’t sound like an idol.
· Also Ong looks especially spectatcular.
· I wish I had a gif of it but there’s one move that Minhyun does where he moves his head back and forth and it’s hilarious to me.

Results

My Winner: Team 2

Actual Winner: Team 2

The 10 people who voted for Namhyung will have 7 years of good luck for their superior choice.

Shock

Were you looking forward to the performances of Shock? Yeah, me neither. There’s no especially noteworthy trainees in either team, so I guess in this way it’s more fair? These teams were so especially not spectacular or memorable that I can’t even remember which team won off the top of my head, and I have an especially good memory when it comes to this goddamn nightmare of a show.

Team 1

· Poor Dongmyeong somehow managed to hurt his leg and can’t do the dance. He literally walks out on crutches poor baby.
· Seonghyuk is the focus of the practice session, and he has qualms with how things are progressing with their team. He thinks that they’re moving along too slowly, and really I have to agree.
· He’s a very anxious boy with a lot of more laidback personalities, so I can see why he’s worried and why everyone else doesn’t seem to be.
· Poor bby I just want to hug him
· It’s actually kind of frustrating that the rest of the team doesn’t seem to share his sentiments for practice. The only clip they show of his team acknowledging his feelings they’re sort of dismissive towards Seonghyuk. And that sucks.

· Dongmyeong sits to the side the entire performance and sings from there. He still does well. If anything his voice came out better because he didn’t have to dance. He still participates in the choreography which is nice.
· It’s a balanced performance. They have stable dancers and vocalists and the rappers aren’t bad either.
· I mean their main vocalist is weak, but not horrible so I’m not really complaining
· In the end it’s really nothing to write home about but it’s nice.
· Seonghyuk, despite being like 17, is a good performer in comparison to everyone else on his team, but I don’t know if that’s just Mnet’s bias talking.
· But real talk I don’t know why Mnet decided on Seonghyuk for the awesome edit but it happened and I’m not complaining? Maybe it’s because his reaction to the blood circulation dance last episode went viral?
· Also I didn’t know that Yuehua boy #5 was in this group because he was so inconsequential to this entire show.

Team 2

· Team 2 has the bonus of having Dongsu, Namhyung’s hyung and bro 4 lyfe, on this team. So automatically I love this team. Or just Dongsu. One of the two.
· This team’s issue is that there’s no rapper on the team, just vocalists, which automatically places them at a disadvantage.
· Dongsu bites the bullet since his voice isn’t at its best and decides to rap
· Too bad he’s a horrible rapper. He needs Namhyung to help him.
· He’s also struggling with the dance too because he hurt himself. But he’s pushing through with dedication that would make some of my old directors proud.

· Dongsu manages to pull his rap game together to an acceptable level, but honestly the rap in this group is really bad in comparison to the other group.
· I also didn’t think this group was very strong dance-wise.
· Vocally, however, this group shines over the Team 1.
· This team also had a more effective ending.
· Yeah, really the only thing of note in this performance is that Dongsu looks hella fine

Results

My winner: Team 1, by a hair

Actual winner: Team 2

The 23 people who voted for Seonghyuk and the 45 people who voted for Dongsu know what they’re doing.

Be Mine

So I’m about the only female k-pop fan without some sort of raging lady boner for Infinite, so I didn’t really know what to expect from this song. I was anticipating this more than the Shock performances though.

Team 1

· I love how they make a big deal over Hoeseong completing his mandatory military service. I dunno if that’s considered sexy in Korea? I guess it does?
· They also make a big deal about Hoeseong being an awesome vocalist, which does more for me than the military service.
· And Hoeseong is a triple threat in this practice session because they also note that his pants are too tight which is HILARIOUS and probably made a few fangirls more than a little bit excited.
· Unfortunately, poor Yehyun hurt his ankle, but he’s a trooper so he’s still going to dance.

· Apparently Yehyun’s leg injury means he has to rap rather than sing for some reason????
· He also looks like he’s going to cry from pain the entire time which is NOT A GOOD THING
· Hoeseong really steals the show this performance. His vocals are really exceptionally strong.
· I also forgot that this was the origin of Hoeseong’s signature lip swipe
· Overall this is another balanced performance with good singing and dancing.
· The ending was a little weak mostly because Yehyun isn’t a good rapper and their final vocalist was lacklustre

Team 2

· This team is hilarious because they have the oldest trainee, Park Sungwoo who’s pushing 30, and the youngest, Lee Woojin who’s maybe 14, and it’s just so funny that they ended up on the same team.
· This team is also really worrisome because Park Sungwoo is just a shitty dancer. He’s really bad. Like I could out dance him in a heartbeat and as previously mentioned I’m a very shitty dancer.

Kahi is me and I am Kahi

· Youngmin teaches everyone the dance, and it’s really good that he knows it all because this team needs all the help they can get because of Sungwoo (and also everyone else is kind of shitty too)
· I’m such a fake fan of him I feel bad
· From what I can see Yongmin is the real leader of this group and he’s really trying his best but when your team can’t follow it’s really hard
· This team learned the hard way that picking someone popular isn’t really a good idea if they don’t have talent
· Unfortunately, by the time of the dress rehearsal Sungwoo is hitting the moves but is off beat, which is honestly worse.
· Youngmin is the most nervous alpaca I have ever seen.

· Okay so the best part of this performance is that Daniel keeps getting edited in every time Woojin does something even though he wasn’t even in the room for that performance. Mnet has a narrative and they’re sticking to it.
· This performance could have been so good if Sungwoo could actually dance
· Though LOL at him for doing his tiptoe move in the choreography because that’s literally the only reason why he’s popular
· Kenta is an effective centre mostly because he’s incredibly attractive.
· I love Woojin’s little dace break too; he’s so adorable
· Overall Sungwoo didn’t completely ruin the performance

Results

My Winner: Team 1

Actual Winner: Team 2

Boy in Luv

Another anticipated competition, so it’s no surprise that it’s the last one. There are popular members on both teams, so it was one to watch even if it kind of felt like a foregone conclusion.

Team 1

· If you’ll recall, this was the Avengers team that Daehwi made with all the popular trainees and Sungwoon.
· Because Daehwi picked popularity over talent, naturally this team doesn’t work well together. While there are some very well-rounded people (Daehwi, Samuel, Sungwoon, and Jihoon), the others don’t really match up.

Yes. Yes you did.

· As well, they don’t really mesh well as team which is hilarious after knowing who actually wins the competition.
· Like they make so many mistakes in practice it’s really bad
· They don’t know the words or the dance like come on get it together
· Also, I still don’t understand why Jinyoung and Jihoon are doing the high note climax part when Sungwoon and Daehwi, who are both far superior vocalists, are one this team.
· Not that it matters because SHIT that high note is bad JUST LET SUNGWOON AND DAEHWI SING IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
· I do like that Jihoon acknowledges that if they win because of popularity it would be kind of unfair.

· Unlike 99% of the people who watched this show I don’t think Jihoon is a very effective centre. He just lacks something, idk what to tell you he just doesn’t do it for me as a centre.
· Euiwoong needs to not show off his underaged abs and get back to doing what he’s good at: rapping.
· His tone really doesn’t suit this song though, which is sad.
· It’s really not funny how much these trainees do not suit this song. I only really believe Sungwoon and Samuel, and it’s a stretch for Samuel. I think they were trying to just look cool instead of actually trying to figure out the feel of the song. BTS have a very specific image and feeling that’s like a mixture of innocence and toughness at the same time (I don’t know how else to describe it) and this team isn’t really nailing it. I think part of the issue is that they’re all more or less stereotypical flower boys, which BTS really isn’t.
· Also I still don’t understand why that high note is for vocals 3 and 4 when really it should be a vocal 1 and 2 thing.
· It’s still bad. Like really bad.

Team 2

· Unlike Team 1, Team 2 has a much manlier image which I feel suits the song a lot more.
· Even in practice that high note sounds better
· Basically they just need to be a stronger group than Team 1 in their mind.
· I think they know that they need to be spectacular in order to beat out Team 1’s popularity
· Then finally they show the famous doubling incident where Dongho gets pissed.
· Basically Team 1 adds Daehwi to the high note in order to make it sound better but they forgot to tell Team 2. Or at least forgot to tell Dongho.
· We still don’t know if Sungwoon was trying to cover up the situation by saying that they did tell them or Team 2 (and Dongho) just forgot about it.
· If it’s the former, literally shame on them. Especially Sungwoon because he’s much older than the other members and really should know better than to let a stunt like that go through unchecked.
· Also Dongho singing that line for like 3 seconds is stronger than Jihoon and Jinyoung RIP

· Ah yes, the start of Dongho being ‘Bandit Sexy’, a term I still don’t fully grasp, but ok

· Guanlin’s stare is also pretty good.
· Like I said, this team fits the song better
· Whistle-Blower Lee Insoo wouldn’t be my first choice for centre; I would have liked to see why they chose him
· I don’t like what Sangbin did to the rap though. He made his own lyrics, but it doesn’t really flow with the song. I would have preferred it if he had just kept the original lyrics and put his own flow and flair to it
· Guanlin still hasn’t quite figured out how to speak yet, which is fine. It comes.
· I think Insoo shows abs but the lighting is too strong so I can’t tell if they actually exist or if he’s just showing off his stomach for the hell of it
· And of course that high note is far more relaxed and in tune than Team 1’s
· This team has a stronger dance and stronger vocals, but the rapping sort of turns me off it just didn’t fit
· I don’t get why Gunmin and Yongguk are doing adlibs though; shouldn’t it be Dongho since he’s the first vocalist?
· Gunmin also does a flip, which is nice
· Also Insoo is the centre so I don’t know why Guanlin is blocking him at the end

Results

My Winner: Team 2

Actual Winner: Team 1

So they don’t show Jihoon’s votes quite yet because they want there to be some mystery as to whether or not Jihoon’s votes can overtake Woodam’s 270.

Results Announcement

So after all the performances they show the overall votes. So they show how many points each trainee got with and without the 3000 point benefit.

But before that the announce the team that got the most points and therefore gets to go on MCountdown to perform. If you’re smart, you’ll have already figured out who gets first place. They tease that it’s going to be either Boy in Luv Team 1 or Mansae Team 1.

If you guessed Mansae Team 1 you’d be right. Woodam’s vocals are just too powerful to overtake in this round of the competition. It’s actually nice that they won because they’re a bunch of no-name trainees who might not have gotten the chance otherwise.

They show that Jihoon only got 113, which is very small in comparison to some, but not very surprising when you realize that when you get a bunch of popular kids in the same group and vote on them the results are going to be very balanced and even.

So Mansae Team 1 gets to perform on Mcountdown, and, yes, it’s just as cute as the original performance.

Okay so onto the final numbers.

The top 11 without the benefits are:

Park Woodam (HF Music Company) (Mansae Team 1) (270 Votes)
Kim Taedong) (The Vibe Label) (Mansae Team 1) (180 Votes)
Ahn Hyeonseob (Yuehua) (10 out of 10 Team 2) (163 Votes)
Choi Minki (Pledis) (Replay Team 1) (157 Votes)
Kwon Hyunbin (YGK+) (Sorry Sorry Team 2) (142 Votes)
Takada Kenta (Star Road) (Be Mine Team 2) (133 Votes)
Yoo Jinwon (Blessing) (Replay Team 2) (123 Votes)
Jang Moonbok (ONO) (Call Me Baby Team 1) (123 Votes)
Yoon Heeseok (Jellyfish) (Call Me Baby Team 1) (121 Votes)
Park Jihoon (Maroo) (Boy in Luv Team 1) (113 Votes)
Lee Kiwon (2Y) (Shock Team 2) (112 Votes)

My favourite thing from this stage is the buildup to Woodam getting first like boy you know you’re going to be first the second ranked trainee is literally from your group you already saw his score.