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Running Man: Episode 58

Last week’s episode was all about brawn and this week is all about brain. It’s a battle of wits where the stakes are high. Who will be the ultimate victor?

EPISODE 58. Broadcast on August 28, 2011.

After a grueling all-day Jeju Race Part 1, everyone is told to hold on to their remaining Running Man Currency (RMC) for the next day. In the evening, the staff visits each cast member’s rooms to deliver the morning mission: arrive at the hotel restaurant by 9 AM.

Their reactions vary from suspicion (Gary) to excitement (Se-kyung) to Jae-suk complaining about his demanding roommate, Suk-jin. I can’t get over Tae-hyun in a face mask. Hallyu star’s gotta get his beauty sleep!

The next morning however, Mr. PD visits the guests’ rooms an hour early. The staff wakes a disheveled Tae-hyun and a sleepy Se-kyung to let them in on their secret mission during breakfast…and it’s ridiculous. The guests have to trick each member to say a certain phrase (Gary: “Streessss“) or perform an action (A stare from Ji-hyo). Goodness gracious, Mr. PD – Tae-hyun’s not even AWAKE yet.

Mr. PD continues by saying there’s a reward if they succeed and a punishment should they fail and Se-kyung mutters that they’re likely to fail, given the difficulty of the tasks. The two imagine how each member will react – Tae-hyun is unsure if Jong-kook will feed him and Haha will definitely declare his undying love for Se-kyung today. The RM suspicion radar is sensitive, so proceed with caution!

Each member arrives to breakfast and Jae-suk asks why Mung Ji-hyo is on time (she’s notorious for sleeping in). She cheerily replies, “To eat!” Keke. Girl after my own heart.

The guests settle down at the table and they’re already in mission mode. Tae-hyun warms up by asking Ji-hyo if she always wears sunglasses in the morning and suggests that they sing to her ‘Happy Birthday’ (to knock out both Ji-hyo and Jae-suk with one punch). Se-kyung enthusiastically joins in which arouses a bit of suspicion. But then, Jong-kook mentions that Tae-hyun’s family sings altered versions of classic children’s songs.

The Three Bears Song (original lyrics can be found here) – Cha Family style: “There are three bears in a house/ Daddy Bear, Momma Bear, Baby Bear/Daddy Bear drinks all day/Momma bear is a fatty/ Baby bear is so noisy/ Shrug, Shrug, You’re doing awful.” The translation loses some funny but we’re let in on how to raise a mini Cha Tae-hyun Version 2.0.

Tae-hyun quizzes Jae-suk by singing a line of ‘Happy Birthday…Not’ and gets Jae-suk to sing along. Soon after, they also get Suk-jin to laugh heartily. Score!

Thank goodness Tae-hyun and Jong-kook are such good friends as he successfully slurps a bit of Jong-kook’s noodles. And after the cast is clued into that they’re in a mission, Tae-hyun joins in on teasing Gary and he blurts out his catchphrase, “Streess!” Woah! Tae-hyun’s on a roll!

Meanwhile, Se-kyung tries to get Kwang-soo’s attention by smudging her chin with her chopsticks and feeding him. Thus begins the merciless teasing from the other cast members, again questioning their friendship. With Tae-hyun’s help, Kwang-soo cleans off Se-kyung’s chin. There’s two more to go!

Tae-hyun’s expression darkens with less than 10 minutes left. The others ask him what’s wrong and he mumbles: “I’m in a mission.” Wait, no! He continues telling the truth and the cast bursts into laughter – of course they’re in a mission, duh!

Tae-hyun goes on, “You’ll all be surprised later…” Innocent Se-kyung pipes otherwise and it piques everyone’s curiosity…and a glare from Ji-hyo.

There’s one minute left on the timer now and the RM suspicion radar is on full alert. Tae-hyun practically spills the beans on the entire mission (only Haha remains) but twists the end so that Haha must declare his love for Se-kyung in order for the entire cast to win. To which everyone yells at confused Haha to say it already. And he does. Pure. Genius. Tae-hyun. Eun Ji-won would be proud.

The guests finally reveal the mission card to the rest of the cast and some take the reality harder than others. Case in point: Incriminating Kwangsoo, “You wily [girl]! You’ve been playing me? I don’t want to look at you! Don’t you ever confuse me again!”

Tae-hyun and Se-kyun earn 35 RMC each and the Capable One asks, “Is this a part of the mission too?” and Tae-hyun replies, “It’s over.” Hee.

The cast regroups after dividing yesterday’s RMC and is told to individually enter a separate room. There Mr. PD informs them of the possible reward: bet on the victor of the final mission. If you choose correctly – you earn twice the amount of RMC you gamble. If you win – you win everyone else’s loot.

Now the question is: who to choose? Poor Kwang-soo suggests himself and a staff member laughs in response. Aw. To rub salt in the wound, Suk-jin asks if anyone chose Kwang-soo, and Se-kyung immediately says, “No.” Double Aw.

Most of the members hint at choosing Spartakooks, but we’ll just have to wait and see…

The mission is to create a sentence by collecting letter hints around Jeju. On an entirely different note, I like that the members are driving around in electric cars – yay for being green!

And so the battle of wits begins! Kwang-soo runs over to offer a flower as a token of peace to Jong-kook. He’s cautious and asks if Kwang-soo really voted for him. Hm, who did he really choose? Tae-hyun?! LOL. Anyway, a successful alliance created!

They meet up with Gary who says he voted for Jong-kook (but his real choice was Jae-suk). Jong-kook calls his bluff, adding that they’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the past year, and that it’s obvious when Gary lies. Gary protests that he’s telling the truth but Kwang-soo rips off his name tag anyway and reveals an important clue: the letters are hidden beneath everyone’s name tags! Oh yeah – Hide and Seek!!

Se-kyung hears of Gary’s elimination through the speakers and her crestfallen expression says it all – with her voted victor out of the game, now she must win in order to earn her RMC back.

She runs into Haha and Jae-suk, the former of the two was trying to convince Jae-suk that he voted for him. She corners Haha and confronts him about where the clues are. He lies and she calls his bluff, telling him to go and bring them to her. Hehehe.

Meanwhile, Jae-suk meets up with Kwang-soo who slips that he knows where the clues are. Jae-suk presses him for more details and he stalls, giving a roundabout answer that he voted for Jae-suk. But Kwang-soo gets lost in his own explanation and spills that if he told someone, they would rip his name tag off. Which Jae-suk does and Kwang-soo is eliminated.

Oho, but there’s someone else observing this scene from above: Tae-hyun with his eagle eyes. He immediately deduces that he must rip off name tags and goes to work.

Haha, Se-kyung, and Jae-suk all run to catch Suk-jin since they didn’t vote for him, but before Haha can make a move, Jae-suk sneaks up behind him and eliminates him. Remember that face, Jae-suk. That’s the face of disappointment from someone who trusted (and voted) for you. Like, for realz.

But Suk-jin doesn’t stay in the game for long – he gets ambushed by both ladies and is eliminated. The girls both claim that they voted for Jong-kook and agree to become allies to keep him in the game.

In jail, the three boys commend Big Nose Hyung for surviving for so long. They reveal their votes to each other and its equally split between Tae-hyun and Jae-suk. Kwang-soo notes that then none of them voted for Jong-kook, which is pretty sad. Haha responds that Kwang-soo should watch what he says in case his comment goes on air, and the others mention how much they love Kookie (a cute nickname for Jong-kook). Heh.

On the other side of the hill, Tae-hyun informs Jong-kook on what he knows so far and explains that he voted for his best friend. Jong-kook looks back at him …and tells Tae-hyun everything about the letter clues.

Concubine Cha (or Cha Hee-bin, a reference to the famous royal concubine, Jang Hee-bin, of the Joseon Dynasty. She is commonly depicted as a ruthless vixen in popular media) isn’t through yet as he tries to lure Jong-kook to let him sneak a peek under Jong-kook’s name tag. Jong-kook refuses, and they move on.

Yooruce Willis spots Jong-kook and follows him, grabbing at the only chance to catch him. It would be a miracle if he could, since Jae-suk is usually on the receiving end…and Jong-kook calls his name on the other side of the door. Your keen senses really do make you the Capable One!

The door opens to Jong-kook alleging that he chose Jae-suk, and we see that he’s telling the truth, despite Jae-suk’s suspicions. Mr. PD had asked if Jae-suk would believe Jong-kook if he told the truth, and he admitted, “Probably not.” Sad, but it’s true. You two are more likely to compete with each other versus settling on an alliance.

Jae-suk walks up to Ji-hyo, Se-kyung, and Tae-hyun who are busy trying to draw up a strategy. They trap Jae-suk and he proposes that he’ll tell them where Jong-kook is. Tae-hyun takes the bait, and is nearly eliminated by Jae-suk, who in turn is almost taken out by Ace Ji-hyo on his own tail.

Everyone takes a breather and more details are unveiled: Ji-hyo and Tae-hyun both voted for themselves. Jae-suk still claims that he voted for himself, but we’re still left in the dark. Hmm… So that’s still zero votes for Jong-kook.

Jae-suk earns a head start and Ji-hyo races after him…and Jong-kook cleanly rips off her name tag. The remaining four end up in a messy tussle, all trying to eliminate each other. It’s then Tae-hyun spots Ji-hyo’s name tag on the ground and hands it off to Se-kyung who lies down on the ground to protect herself. Hehehe.

Jong-kook and Jae-suk manage to corner Tae-hyun and trick him into an elimination. They’re not at all surprised to hear that everyone lied and Jae-suk tests Jong-kook’s loyalty to him.

Both of them approach Se-kyung, wondering why she wants to win (they assume she voted for herself, but we know she previously voted for Gary) and she plays the dainty lady card – it’s inappropriate to be caught by two grown men. Yea, I can’t make that sound any better.

A sly smile slowly appears on Jae-suk’s face and his hand reaches towards Jong-kook’s back…and rips off his name tag. That’s TWO people you betrayed today Jae-suk, just in case you were counting. But then he turns his back to Se-kyung? What the…

We flashback to Jae-suk’s meeting with Mr. PD and it all becomes clear – he didn’t vote for himself, but voted for Se-kyung! Sneaky, sneaky! So Se-kyung rips off his name-tag, which makes her the winner and able to complete the sentence with all the clues in her hands.

Hahaha. Jae-suk doesn’t seem to fully comprehend the rules of the game as he claims that he’s the winner with the most RMC (His 64 RMC doubles to 128 RMC). But Se-kyung claims everyone else’s coins – which makes her the ultimate victor! Woot!

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Loved the breakfast mission. It was so funny. Tae-hyun is good :O

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LOL. love the recaps you guys do<3
Anyone wanna do strong heart?

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Cha is genius. Love how he completed the mission. Absolute genius.

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I like this episode! with the breakfast game a warming up funny game and the twists in the main eliminating game.

and i m really surprise no one voted for jong kook cos he is quite a obvious winner most of the time. even more surprising is he vote for jae suk and not himself!

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I just zoomed through this making sure I don't read or see a single picture because it will spoil the whole episode when the english subs come out. But I failed when I saw the girl in yellow holding something up.. TT.TT

I loveeeeeeee and am addicted to this show. Please..Please have 10000000000000 episodes! A whole episode that will last a life time. haha. :] I'm still waiting for episode 53. *lol.

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Oh god i did the same thing T_T

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This got to be the best Running Man episode! The breakfast mission was like an appetizer but chasing and psychological game in the end was simply the best. I love the twist!

I was sad at first that Ji-hyo chose JongKook and not Gary but I'm relieved that she chose herself :) I'm ecstatic that Se Kyung chose Gary though.. :P

It's really funny that Gary, Haha and JongKook chose Jaesuk to be the winner especially Haha. I would have thought that Haha would choose JongKook.

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Oh Concubine Cha, can I just count the number of ways I love you? No, no I can't. That'd take way too long.

I love how everyone is always trying to out trick each other in this show. But seriously though, bring back Hide and Seek. It's the only way the Capable One can come back and scare the living out of these guys. I don't know who I feel sorry for more often than not: Kwangvatar or Sukjin. HAHAHA. Is it me or is Haroro not doing a lot of movie scenes lately? He needs more Dongsaeng-Hyung scenes with Kookie. XD

Running Man....You had me at hello. X)

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OMGWTFBBQ.

Jaesuk, is 128RMC (well, 64 since the other 64 was yours to begin with) really enough to betray Jongkook who voted for you?!

Bad grasshopper!

And I thought you're starting a good bromance/frenemy thing!

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Am i the only who thought se kyung was annoying? She couldn't do much at the breakfast mission, and she kept trying to rip off other ppl's tags impulsively. It was very annoying when she used that line whne jkook and Jaesuk were trying to rip off her tag. + she kept putting one arm behind her so she can cover her tag. that's not a very smart move when you're trying to attack others and get their tags cux you need both arms. It really pissed me off when Jaesuk let her win. I feel like every RM ep is very fun and interesting at the beginning, but it has a very disappointing ending.

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she's not the only person in running man who's put one hand on their tag to protect it, idk why you just had to call HER out for it. and jaesuk letting her win had to do w/ the fact that jaesuk made a stupid calculation and didn't think. that's not her fault.

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Se Kyung is not the only who also tries to impulsively rip off other peoples tag, which is the point of the game. There's been many times RM and/or guest would try to cover their name tag with their hands. I remember Kim Min Jung from ep 50 doing it through the game.

Obviously Jaesuk would let her win, since he bet on her. He did miscalculate the point of the game though.

I thought she was cute here. You can tell she feels awkward and nervous, but was still going out there doing her best and trying to be outgoing.

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Yeah, I know what you both mean. I don't think it's her fault that Jaesuk let her win, I'm just disappointed cux I feel like it was possibly staged for her to win, which is only my opinion. For example, she's not a very strong girl, and since Ace Ji-hyo had bet on herself, she could have ripped off her tag a long time ago.

As for the impulsive ripping- throughout the show I felt like ppl were actually thinking of little plans and schemes to win or help who they bet on to win. But everytime I see her, it's either she's lying on the floor or hand on the back.

Also, I have no doubt that other guests or RM casts covered their own tags, but this one just seemed to stuck with me more than usual, I have no idea why that is...

Lastly, I agree that ppl can tell she felt awkward and nervous. And that she was trying really hard. But in some way I felt like she was too serious alll the time (almost like her character in high Kick), so she wasn't very funny. But Cha tae-hyun on the other hand.... he's awesome.

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I guess each fan views the guest differently. :)

Cha Tae Hyun is one of a kind. He is totally made of awesome. I hope he's on the show more often. :D

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This. I'll have to agree with uhm well 'rant.' I understand that Se Kyung was not the first one to ever cover her name tag with her hand and being that she is still new at variety, but it was still very annoying to see her immediately and constantly strike at other member's tag (Ex. Jaesuk's tag name). I get that the whole point of the game is to get the name tag, but at least wait it out a bit, analyze the situation, plan it out first or what if one of your alliance member already had a scheme in mind and your actions are simply just disrupting it? I wished she cooperated with her members a little more before acting out and maybe be a bit more attentive? (Ex. at the breakfast session, She completely ignored Cha's remarks. He was directly pointing out that HaHa was the only one left. He had to say it numerous times) But other than that, Se Kyung did a great job as a guest. :)

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You shut up la, Cha Tae-Hyun is annoying!

You this fanboy can just stop watching RM!

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4 years later...lol i'm rewatching everything ><

It might be annoying but in the end Running Man is not about who SHOULD have won but who managed to complete the mission somehow (even if it is through luck, not doing anything and/or being supported by someone who wasn't 100% clear with the rules)

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i loved this episode!

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Ending to this game had me lol. Major plan backfire. heh

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i love running man...it's just disappointing that it's locally underrated but really popular internationally...i love the fact they're going to other countries...and they just finished filming in china today ^__^...hope they go to other countries as well...

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OMG!! love this episode, CTH is the best!!!! sooo funny, love the part of the special mission XD !!!! love it!!

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The morning mission was hilarious. I love Gary and his "STRESS!!!" outbursts. Cha Taehyeon was a genius at manipulating the situation at the end with Haha. Oh, Haha and his cheesy lines.

As for the afternoon game, I was really disappointed that Yoo Jaesuk didn't believe Haha. I know that Jaesuk and Haha bicker some times, and that Haha has usually sided with his hyung Jongkook. But even I could tell that Haha was telling the truth. His eyes were a pair of dewy, puppy dog eyes with hearts in them. I was surprised though, when Shin Sekyung chose Gary (what was she thinking, I wonder?). I would have probably chosen Song Jihyo <33. Yoo Jaesuk showed his partiality to Sekyung so many times in this episode, lol. It was a stroke of genius to bet on her while telling everyone else that he bet on himself.

There was a flaw in this game, though. If the winner gets everyone else's coins, then even if you correctly bet on the winner and double your coins, it would be impossible to have more coins than the winner. There's no incentive to bet on someone else or to help someone else win.

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I can't get over the fact that Suk jin is sharing a room with Jae Suk. WHY?

Ji Hyo shld be sharing the room with Gary. lol TEEHEE

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I don't like this episode... Didn't like Sekyung winning! And this betting doesn't make sense to me... there was no way for anyone BUT the winner of the mission to win the whole thing... unless many of them made an accurate guess... and if so, there was no reason for them to be loyal to each other... isn't it?

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I like shin se kyung as an actress, but I hope that she doesn't go on running man again. I'm sorry, but it was the first time I found a guest so annoying - maybe it's cos I really like running man for its humour and entertainment, and se kyung seemed way too awkward and inexperienced. It didn't help that she keeps making those 'innocent, cute, naive faces' that look great in movies, but totally don't fit in with the style of running man.

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@loveuxoxo

actually there were many guests that were worst in term of "being funny" and "entertaining" beside sekyung ah. And worse, they didn't even have a lot of air time. Compared to those useless guests, Sekyung was a lot better. And I also find the cute and naive sekyung quite entertaining in her own way. You want funny stuff? Go watch comedy shows.

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Too many Sekyung haters. ;p
For me she was the best.
Among all other previous guests she have lots of dialogue and screen time.

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I find her annoying as well. both in this episode and in episode 103. in my opinion she always try to act clueless to look cute. in episode 103 is even worst. she looks angry all the time and doesn't look like she care to be there

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I totally agree!
I thought she got a lot better on the newer episode where she teamed up with Gary and haha, but you can tell that she's really serious about everything. If Gary and Haha didn't pass those rounds, I felt like she would just have been gloomy face for the whole day.
By all means, I am not a SSK hater, I think she's very pretty.. but that's pretty much it. I've only seen her act in high Kick and I actually still have no idea sometimes what she was trying to 'emote'. Then when I saw her in RM, I realized maybe she wasn't really acting in High Kick, cux' her real life personality was the same as her character. Sorta awkward and very serious.

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Im not SSK haters but i do hate her in this episode and before. Her scream hurt my ear and yeah, she get much curious at breakfast time. I found she overreacted at saying 'annyeonghaseyo' or 'kamsahamnida' to create a polite-cute image. It brings laugh at first, but later it became : err..

Im thingking about this. She won for both episode. It was WRITE on their CONTRACT. And betting is just a cover to make her won doesnt seem so weird.

Yeah she is pretty cute, she must be a cf model, or others besides joining var show such as rm and acting. Oh, i dont really like her acting. Her char always serious, dont talk much and, straight face.

Cha, is senior. His laughter is funny, also his son's song. 생일 축하 않애요..

Lol

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Jae Suk got tricked by the mission card.
The most important part of it was "Winner takes ALL" so in the end even if you bet on the correct person, your Runnings will be taken by the winner anyway.

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Why does everyone hate Se Kyung here... I thoroughly enjoyed her participation in these two episodes... It's not her fault she's shy, why do you got to hate on someone who's clearly uncomfortable around strangers but wants to do her best anyway? There are introverted people who take some time warming up to people... Plus, even though she was shy and quiet, she was actually pretty sassy. She said what she wanted to say and spoke her mind; you might have thought she was trying to "act" cute, but if she really was, she wouldn't have shown the moments when she was irritated - and most of the time, I think she had a right to be a bit frustrated. She was actually a bit irritating to me in her more recent episode with Park Ye Jin, etc. cause she really was pretty helpless and see-through in that one. I had no problem with her in these two. Her awkwardness was refreshingly funny and I didn't find her name-tag ripping impulsive - it seemed natural to me. I loved both episodes but what actually bugged me was this game's flaw... the "special" thing about it was supposed to be voting for the winner, yet there was no point in voting for a winner other than yourself =_= Seriously flawed... I don't blame YJS for not having thought of that since it doesn't make sense.

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Thank you! The hate just seems like hate. Hate on introverts. Hate on women. She was awkward and nervous but you really put it well, she was trying her best and still saying what's on her mind. She has a very interesting personality. She's shy and a bit clueless but still strong and assertive. I also thought she was outright hilarious. All I see here in the comments are internalized misogyny and close-mindedness. It's frustrating that people only want to see one type of "fun" personality. Also, IU was exactly like SSK with the nametags. She was very aggressive and kept reaching for other people's nametags and I thought it was hilarious, but you're not going to see anyone hating on her.

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Everything was good until she won (which I predicted). Another episode ruined. Ugh.

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