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Running Man: Episode 56

Gone are the girl group idols – they’ve been replaced/transformed/hi-jacked/dragged away. We find out what exactly happened to cause this radical change and see how the boys react to the new and improved versions! Will their hearts skip a beat for these ladies? Will they wail over what is already lost? It’s another day of chase and games and havoc in RunningMan Land!

EPISODE 56. Broadcast August 14, 2011

Everyone heads to bed after a wonderful day of cherished memories. Mr. PD asks the boys what couple games they would like to play the next day and the boys gather together to draw up some ideas. Jae-suk peeks at Gary’s card and notes that Mr. Gary resorts to the game’s description versus its proper name, such as, “Ankles tied together race” in place of, “Three-legged race.” Heh. The boys drift to sleep, content.

In the girls’ dorm, however, they drink a strange tea before falling asleep. Cue Secret Garden transformation music.

The boys are awoken the following morning, still drunk with sleep despite their full night of rest. Time for a morning mission: Deliver milk to the girls. If they accept, you’re in the clear, if they don’t, tough luck – you’ll be paired with someone else. As far as I know, milk is still distributed in classrooms in both the States and Korea. Furthermore, to give your milk carton away is a sign of affection or interest to someone of the opposite sex (See Coffee Prince for an example).

And um, guys, I’d worry more about your disheveled appearance than whether or not they’ll accept your milk. Just sayin’.

Haha heads out first and his heart skips a beat as he’s sweetly called in by Suzy’s voice. He happily scurries to where Suzy is sleeping and pulls back the comforter…and actress Ahn Moon-sook (Sign) reveals herself from under the covers.

A fear-stricken expression of panic and legitimate surprise envelops his entire being as one by one, the other three ladies arise: comedienne and actress Kim Sook (Manny), comedienne Shin Bong-sun, and finally, actress Yang Jung-ah (Romance Town, The Man Who Can’t Get Married).

Haha’s choice? Ji-hyo, of course. She’s the least threatening out of the rest of them. HAHAHA. I love it that in front of four powerful noona sunbaes, he has no choice but to cower like a helpless puppy – a complete reversal from last week. Ji-hyo uses the opportunity to voice that the boys snubbed her when the girl idols were guests, and the unnis respond, “We’ll make sure you get your revenge!”

Jae-suk is equally surprised at the unexpected revelation of the four women, and he joins Haha to mourn for their lost idols, yunno, before they’re quickly shushed by the same four women. Jae-suk asks when they arrived, and when they respond, “Yesterday,” he calls them out on it, saying their Botox is ‘too fresh.’ Jung-ah sticks to her story and replies, “We grew a lot overnight.” Heh.

I’m torn between laughing and crying knowing that the boy’s excited faces will deflate as they happily skip towards their doom. Kwang-soo enters the room and gets four noonas instead of his team partner, Luna. Play on words – it’s simply puntastic. He hands his milk to Moon-sook who revels in her popularity, but Kim Sook deflates her bubble, “Maybe they’re just scared of you…”

Gary hands his milk to Ji-hyo (long live the Monday Couple!) and points to a lump on the floor, “Who’s that one with two milk pints? With her forehead sticking out?” At which Moon-sook gets up and he immediately gets down on his knees, arms raised like a kid ready to receive a scolding.

The ladies anxiously await for Jong-kook, the most popular cast member among the guests who refer to him as a “2PM Taec-yeon in his 30’s.” He’s completely shocked to see Bong-sun in particular (Bong-sun previous guest-starred on RM and her love for Jong-kook is no secret to us nor the cast).

Time for some new couples! It’s Hide-and-Seek time where the ladies seek the men. The ladies wander around the room cautiously, blindfolded and the boys weasel through, scared to be captured by any of the ladies. The ladies eventually find their match, except for Suk-jin who is paired off with the maknae FD.

I enjoy how the cast parallels the awkward pairing between Kwang-soo and Moon-sook to the pop culture Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher couple reference: She’s the woman with big bucks, and he’s the man with big dreams. Moon-sook doesn’t even bat an eyelash at a huge bug in the room and comments, “Hey that’s medicinal!” She puts Jong-kooks bravery to shame.

The first couple game is a piggyback game: piggyback the ladies and then rest the basin of water on the guy’s head back to the finish line. The boys gripe to Kwang-soo since it was his idea (before he knew the guests would be noonas instead of idols). All that matters is that they don’t place last.

The Monday Couple are the first to clear and then, people start playing dirty – kicking water basins and knocking it out of each other’s hands. But you don’t mess with Moon-sook and poor Suk-jin is doused in water. To top it off, he places last.

The last game is a Couple Hide-and-Seek, and as long as one person of their team survives, they’ll win! The best part is the name tags that get progressively bigger from tiny diamonds to those big ol’ plastered ones we saw in Thailand. As each team enters the small town, the captions read their team descriptions. For instance, Jae-suk and Kim Sook reads: Extremely Scared Comedians, while Haha and Jung-ah’s reads: …the Same Height Couple.

Each couple strategizes their next moves and Moon-sook declares that they’ll chase the others instead of running away. However, Kwang-soo replies that he’s known to hide rather than chase. Aw, maybe today you’ll get your courage…under the shadow of Moon-sook’s tough armor of meanness.

As a strategic move, Bong-sun suggests an alliance to tag the other teams out first before they attempt to eliminate each other and Moon-sook accepts, with a warning, “If you betray (us), you’re no longer a man!”

With a newfound confidence, Kwang-soo boldly steps in for Moon-sook, claiming to act as her agent to speak on her behalf. He even grabs Jong-kook’s chin as an act of defiance and solely lives to see another day because of Moon-sook’s presence.

News of the alliance makes the other teams uneasy and they confer what they know about the teams: Everyone is strong apart from Kwang-soo and they’re particularly afraid of catching Bong-sun. Quite the spirited character, she’s known to kick and Jung-ah says she’s heard that Bong-sun is strong enough to break bones. Ha! I think that’s only true if Jong-kook’s safety is in danger.

The teams split off and Jae-suk runs into Moon-sook trying in earnest to lure him towards her. But this is Yooruce Willis you’re talking about! He senses that Kwang-soo must be somewhere in the area to eliminate him! And right you are Jae-suk as we spot Kwang-soo hidden in the cornfield. He starts to calculate his moves when Jong-kook zooms in his direction, giving chase.

At the same time, Bong-sun is chasing after Kim Sook but they both tire out quickly and Kim Sook manages to slip away by hitching a ride from a local.

Haha and Jung-ah walk into jail, too exhausted to find a hiding place and Haha comes up with a plan: they’ll send out a fake announcement of their elimination so they can safely take out the other teams. They decide to head back out and just then, Suk-jin walks into the jail for a break…and his name-tag is easily ripped off, revealing a very pale backside.

A miscalculated move from Kwangvatar to rip off Jong-kook’s name-tag leads to an untimely end. Both he and Moon-sook are simultaneously eliminated.

Kim Sook and Jae-suk tearfully reunite, sharing stories of their almost captures and Gary almost slips away before being noticed by Jong-kook and Bong-sun. But he’s got something up his sleeve and points towards to where the others are. He gleefully rides away, telling Jae-suk, “Take your time, hyung!”

Something’s definitely up. Jae-suk thinks on his feet, borrows the car keys, and they slip in before Jong-kook and Bong-sun can grab them but…the car won’t start. Um well, crap. He gives it a couple of more goes and luckily, it starts.

In jail, Moon-sook voices that Jong-kook and Bong-sun should get together and have kids already – their genes would pool together to make incredible hunters children. She’s astounded that Haha and Jung-ah are still in the game…

Jae-suk and Jong-kook’s teams confront each other in the street and as per Jong-kook’s style, he tries to distract Jae-suk, “Isn’t that Haha…?” and Jae-suk replies, “You think I’ll fall for your tricks twice, you weasel?” And how much do I love that when Jae-suk calls the two a “Weasel Couple,” that Jong-kook is offended being called a “weasel,” and Bong-sun blushes at the mention of “couple.”

But this Weasel Couple is not to be trifled with and they inch towards Jae-suk and Kim Soo, separating them with a literal fork in the road. They pounce and just then, the Monday Couple appears from behind them. It’s a tussle between guys and girls. On the girls’ side, Kim Sook is easily eliminated and from the guys’ side…

Jae-suk rips off Jong-kook’s name-tag and congratulates Gary on a good job…until they both reach for each other’s name-tag and Jae-suk is ultimately eliminated. Bong-sun squirms and puts up a good fight, but it’s the Monday couple who reign supreme – or so they think.

They skip around the village in a victory lap, without a care in the world – which creates a perfect opportunity for Haha and Jung-ah to sneak up on them and rip off Gary’s nametag.

It’s the Ace against Haha and Jung-ah and Ji-hyo reaches over to rip off Haha’s name-tag…but she gets eliminated at the last second. It’s Haha and Jung-ah who are the winners of a restaurant gift certificate and couple rings!

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Man, Kwangsoo is going to regret touching the Commander's chin. HAHAHA. Yeah, Bong-sun's love knows no bounds when it comes to KJK. XD

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Oh yeah. That girl will do anything to protect her man, like beating people with a broom or kicking them in the face. LOL. Love her. I totally agree with Moon sook, that Jong kook and Bong sun should get married and have hunter babies. XD

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Lol... Agreed. KJK&BS4Ever!

I love their faces when they see their "young lovely lady" in the morning. lol.. Nice secret garden flashback.

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I remember that episode at the amusement park at night. Man, even when Kim Jong-kook was using her, she was still devoted to him. HAHAHA. It's funny when she came running in and jumped into his arms. She was all "OPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!". Kim Jong-kook gets involved with the most interesting people. I can't wait for Cha Tae-hyun's guesting episode.

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awesome...lolololol
thank you for the recaps

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LOL. omg Jong kook and Bong sun seriously should XD. THEY'D HAVE RUNNING HUNTER BABIES FTW. LOL they should have a wedding themed RM ep with her as a guest again LOL. then the monday couple can do something too rofl. so epic. This show is pure awesomeness.

and also, THANKS FOR RECAPPING RM! <3

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Thanks for the terrific recap, G!
You've really hit your stride in recapping RM - this one had me laughing like a fiend all the way through!

Have to hand it to Bong-Sun - she's so totally up-front with her unabashed love for her Prince JK - no sissy flirting for her!

HaHa just kills me - he's so turncoat and sneaky and gleeful while doing his traitorous deeds. His expression when he saw what he was getting in the place of his Idol was worth the price of admission!
:) :)

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Hurray for a Haha win! His cleverness knows no bounds lol

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just a correction, yoo jae suk didn't say their BOTOX was too fresh, but BOHL-TOUCH, which is blush in korean. That would be pretty mean and bitchy of him to have said botox!! ;)

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Whoops! Thanks for the correction - must have been my ears. A ball can go rogue every now and again.

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Whoops! Thanks for the correction - must have been my ears. A ball can go rogue every now and then.

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haha, I can't wait till the episode is out with english sub. :)

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Oh. I so want the couple tees!! So cute! :D RUNNING MAN JJANG! Thanks for the recap which I patiently awaits every week :))

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I want to see GOng Yoo in Running Man!!!!!!!!!!!he will be Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

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omg Haha definitely getting it on!!! he's my favorite on the show!! so glad he won!

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Wasn't Gary oppa the one who rip off Jong Kook oppa's nametag? I didn't remember see Jaesuk ajusshi did it???

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Could have been. 3 men trying to push, rip, tear, what have you... When it was all over, Jong-kook was eliminated :( Poor Kookie fans...

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it was gary, not Jaesuk

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simply loves the hide and seek part in the game.

and loves to see KJK down again :x

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There needs to be a Bong-sun vs. Hyori showdown! Maybe then we get to see Jong-kook do his tank top cat walks again.

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at first Running Man had an identity, but now it's totally like 1N2D. no wonder people started watching it.

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I don't know. Way too different from 1N2D in my eyes. For one thing, 1N2D focuses on the small games with big prices/punishment, RM focuses on, well, the big games. Even when they have the individual games in 1N2D, I still can't see the similarities. Although, some people can say that with variety some similarities are bound to happen. It's all based on games afterall so what makes it different is the cast and the different quirks they bring to the table.

Besides, RM is staying pretty true to it's elimination format, so I don't see how it is similar to 1N2D at all. Maybe you can enlighten us on the similarities that you think are there.

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agree! i find that RM has more similarities to Survival than 1D2N, mainly because of the travelling to different places to accomplish various missions element~

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thanks for the recap
so funny
can't wait to see the subbed ep

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Oh looks good. Waiting for sub too!

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monday couple should have a rematch with the same height couple..

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if you're talking about fair game and rematch then the monday couple should have same size name tags as the Haha-Jung Ah couple, their name tags were very small and harder to take out, giving big props to HaHa for thinking that elimination strategy by fake announcing, i like him because he is very clever and sneaky and very good at analyzing his surroundings and also his standing in the games, he knows that he is physically weaker than most of the others so he is always careful and doesn't take huge risks without thinking, i like that in him, in this episode he single handedly won that gold ring for jung ah and himself.

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Hi i was wondering if you know the brands of the couple shirts that they were wearing?

Thanks :)

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Hi.. i dont know if you are still looking for the brand of the couple shirts they were wearing, but i managed to find out [since i was also looking for it]. it's call pancoat and i think they only have it in korea since it's a korean brand. i hope that helps=) have a nice day!

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Hi, does anyone happen to know what is the brand of the couple tees they were wearing??

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This episodes was damn funny: Kwang Soo cussing at Jong Kook, the shock on their face when they "woke up" the ladies, and poor Suk Jin who had to carry the FD! So many memorable scenes including the twist at the end! Haha is really a thinker!

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Hello dear, do you know what's the tittle of background music when haha walks to the girls room? I love that music so much. Thank you

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Frankly speaking, I think Bong-Sun should know her limits. It's really disturbing to see how Bong-Sun sticks herself to JongKook even though he doesn't like it. No offence but it's really shameless of her. :/

Also, the cast should make loveline jokes for jongkook with other guests or people. A very good e.g would be Lee Arisu and KJK on episode 44.

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(No offence to Bong-Sun fans.)
Everytime when she meets KJK,she would stick herself to
JK and JK has to put a happy face(except if it is very funny)
No Offence really.

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i don't know how you can say 'no offence' to Bong Sun fans
when that's the thing you are doing, i am not her fan but i don't mind her or anyone showing their love for KJK, she's just a big fan of him, i'm sure KJK don't mind her at all, it's not like she's seriously asking him to marry him, also you can tell she is half doing it for variety and entertainment, when writers of the show know that people guesting on the show have crush on one of the cast member and viceversa they always force them to play the loveline for the sake of entertainment, i don't think Bong Sun went overboard with him at all, majority of the viewers in Korea do love to see love lines in variety shows...

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wait rewind,
i watched episode 81 and heard him said,"Bongsun,how are u now?" so i think he really cares about bongsun

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I think it doesn‘t seems fair. Since HaHa makes an announcement through Dong Wan. It makes other team have no suspicious about what is actually happens. Ji Hyo-Garry should be the winner

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totally agree. jihyo-gary managed to rip others' name tags fairly, and got defeated by a sly trick. some may call it smart, but i merely see it as unfair.

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c'mon the game was unfair to begin with, ji hyo and gary were given the smallest puny nametags just because they won the first game, Haha and Jeong Ha had no chance at all if they played by the books, and running man is never fair, it's more like ji hyo and gary and all the others were stupid to fall for HaHa's trick, i give him props for thinking that strategy and bagging the win, even ji hyo and gary as well as other members seem to accept their mistake in trusting that announcement, also i never noticed announcements being made when other people got eliminated...

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Yeah I'm glad that so long after since the episode is first broadcast, viewers are still annoyed by the Haha trick. Notice also that this announcement thing has never been done again, meaning after the production team discovered what really happened, they must have put a stop to such unfairness. Well, I guess they couldn't be unfair to JSJ as well since Haha and his Nuna ripped off his tag while he had fallen to their trap earlier, so they had to let it slide. Anyway the T-shirts were made of such bad material that everything was torn off during the removal of name tags that they provably couldn't re-shoot the scenes.

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whine whine whine, blah blah blah...

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Yeah exactly. I was WHINING while you were OH MY GAWD MY OWN OPINIONS MATTER MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE SO I WIN. Just because you're a Haha fan, the rest of us are WHINING? Has this ever been allowed to happen again? NO RIGHT? If so, every week they could have done it right? Your blatant arguments about the name tags being of smaller sizes to begin with SUCKS because in many other episodes, there have been different-sized name tags depending on whether the teams win their mini-games. Haha's deception has NOT BEEN ALLOWED TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

Grow up and stop behaving as if only your opinions matter. Because you just made yourself seem so childish and dumb.

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Stepping in here: you're on notice. Comments like these are not welcome here and won't be allowed to continue.

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And since you're SO MAGNANIMOUS, why aren't you standing up for JSJ? His name tag was GINORMOUS!

I'm sorry I believe your vocabulary is really too limited anyway, since you had to repeat 'whine' and 'blah' three times because you have no better words to use. And FYI, there is a difference between 'WHINE' and 'RANT'

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Be civil or be gone. Those are the rules. http://www.dramabeans.com/about/commenting-policy/

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I've always been civil till this poster started going around insulting KJK or SJH fans, and calling people stupid idiots for having certain opinions about the episodes. I'm more than willing to stop baiting her, but let me put on record that she was the one who started this rude exchange. I don't care if you ban me or anything, but be fair. Just because she hides her insults in wall of texts doesn't mean she isn't the one doing the baiting. I understand you probably can't read her crap since she has terrible grammar anyway and doesn't bother punctuate her words properly.

*snigger*

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