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Running Man: Episode 78

EPISODE 78. Broadcast on January 22, 2012.

Happy Lunar New Year Running Man! The cast sends their warmest New Year greetings to their audience with a big bow (and Ji-hyo starts with a small one and belatedly switches to a big one).

Oh Haha, what do you call that sponge on your head? The others give him grief about it and Haha turns it right around to Jae-suk, teasing him about how he’ll end up with a perm too. I’ve seen a preview of his perm on Happy Together. Veto!

They convince him to try on Haha’s glasses to change up his style and wow, he seriously resembles a Grasshopper now.

Jae-suk thanks the RM fans again for their wins at the 2011 SBS Entertainment Awards and then everyone congratulates each other. That is, everyone except Gary and Suk-jin, who didn’t receive an entertainer award.

Never fear, because the staff has prepared a special ‘event’ for them, with presenters. Say hello to our guests: actor Lee Bum-soo (History of the Salaryman, Giant) and actress Hong Soo-hyun (History of the Salaryman, The Princess’s Man). They mimic the awards like a real ceremony, full with banter and tension-filled waiting, conceding to each other to announce the winners. Soo-hyun tosses the baton back to him, and Bum-soo quips, “Then should I?” I kinda love you now.

Gary and Suk-jin receive their awards (and a staff member awkwardly pops in to give them bouquets). They start to give their thank-you speeches, but Haha enacts the role of the director telling them to wrap it up. This is awesome – moreso because they’re outside in the middle of nowhere.

We’re introduced to today’s mission: the Chohanji race – it’s a war between Chun and Ha, and ultimately, the teams must track down the nine pieces of the royal seal. Then Jae-suk adds that there are those present who don’t know what chohanji is, then darts his eyes to Haha. Bum-soo: “That’s right, that’s right.”

(For clarification, we know the drama as History of the Salaryman, but ‘chohanji‘ can also be translated into ‘contention.’)

Our teams today are divided like so: Team Cho (Jong-kook, Haha, Gary, and Soo-hyun) and Team Han (Bum-soo, Jae-suk, Ji-hyo, Kwang-soo, and Suk-jin). Onto the battle!

For our first mission, our teams must locate their flag in a haystack and then hang it on the opposing team’s flagpost. They start digging, along with some pushing and shoving. Team Han finds theirs first, but not if Spartakooks has anything to say about it as he starts shoving the weaklings off.

Then, a rarity. Kwang-soo lifts Jong-kook by the leg and Jae-suk joins in. Together they hoist Spartakooks in the air. Jae-suk screams, “Take a photo!!!” HAHAHA!!

Team Cho uncovers theirs too and now it’s a race to whoever raises their flags first. Team Cho hits their drum… but the flag’s sideways – no good! And Team Han use their mistake to their advantage, winning the first round. An irritated Gary says, “Wait, you can’t look at it like this?” and cocks his head.

The losing team must eliminate a team member and Gary jokingly suggests Soo-hyun. Too bad it’s you, buddy, and Gary gets dragged away.

The next mission location takes us to a school, and our winning team gets to munch on some snacks. Bum-soo kindly hands a pastry over, telling the boys to give to Soo-hyun (keh). They tease the Cho team about their dwindling numbers, and Soo-hyun says casually, “After this, we could be down to two.”

It’s time for our teams to meet in battle once more, hence the separated desks in the hallway for a 1:1 fight. So the schoolyard trash-talking begins, showing off their mat-hyungs. Jae-suk: “You don’t have anyone born in the 60’s, do you?!”

Haha and Jae-suk duke it out on Round 1: Knowledge Quiz. The first question is a string of consonants “ㅇㄹㅅㅇㄹㅅ” It leaves them puzzled, until Ji-hyo hints that it’s a cast member’s name. Haha spews, “Yooruce Willis!” I’m oddly impressed.

These two try to one-up each other calling “common sense” their motto and their son’s name to the point where it gets kind of ridiculous. Oh their petty bickering – I never tire of it. Jae-suk brings the score back up to 1:1 and Haha mulls over the other choices – how awesome would it be to have a Nonsense Quiz?

And sure enough, the scroll unveils a Nonsense Quiz. HA! The question (If a lion falls into soup…?) gets them scratching their heads for a good few minutes until Haha, the Nonsense King bursts out, “the animal kingdom!” Dude’s on a roll.

Then he gets the last answer right (“generation”), rubs it into Jae-suk’s face, reveling with a victory dance. What a tragic loss for Jae-suk, the trivia king.

Round 2 consists of lifting weights, increasing them with each turn, and drinking water from a pail. Haha versus the Easy Brothers? Ruh oh. Haha passes with ease, but Big Nose Hyung… gets the water all over himself. 2:0 for Team Cho.

Round 3 is a battle between the beauties. Ji-hyo says modestly that she can’t be compared to Soo-hyun and Jong-kook pipes in the background, “You think you’re prettier than her!” Hehe.

Here, they’ll have to choose a guy from the opposing team and whoever can raise their heartbeats to a higher number within 1 minute will be declared the winner. I love this game – you can’t lie to a heartrate monitor!

Ji-hyo immediately calls out Haha, completely confident. This ought to be interesting. Trash-talking ensues about how to jog his heartrate and then Bum-soo says, totally laid back, “Cheap fella…”

Ji-hyo starts off about how Haha sent her a text at the end of the year and if he thought she’d fall for him because of it. She scoffs, “Love?!” and takes out her phone as evidence. She follows it up with how she heard that he’d wanted to be set up with her – was that why he texted? This effectively gets him all riled up and she delivers the last blow, “Sorry, I’ve never seen you as a man.” I’m dying right now.

Results are in – it’s 149. Knew you could always rely on Haroro‘s short temper.

Next up is Soo-hyun and she’s picked poor Kwang-soo. OMG, it’s been 5 seconds and his heartrate has skipped over 120. Oy, I worry. Soo-hyun asks him to call her by name, and he hesitantly mutters her name in response.

She leans in… whispering in his ear this time and this boy cannot contain his excitement as his heartbeat accelerates at an alarming pace. Time’s up and the PD declares the result – 142. Soo-hyun coolly says, “I’ll have to erase your number then…” Crack – that might’ve been Kwang-soo’s heart.

The final round’s got 2 points on the line and it’s team leader against team leader in a ddakjichiji (딱지치기) match to flip a paper square. Turn after turn they fail, and Bum-soo kneels down to examine the square and says (in a very Yoo Bang-esque voice), “This is too thin.” Pfffft.

Jong-kook wins for his team and Bum-soo looks to his teammates, deciding who to eliminate. Jong-kook tries to convince him that he should get rid of the older folks (aka Suk-jin) but Bum-soo makes his decision – Kwang-soo. Aw, but it’s no surprise.

At the final mission location, the cast is to find the nine pieces of the royal seal. And as always, the first team to do so is the winner. They scour the place for any hints. Well, sort of because Jae-suk quickly scans with his eyes, concluding that he can’t find anything when nothing catches his eye.

Meanwhile, our ChunHa exiles arrive at the final mission location. When the PD asks if they’re willing to betray their countrymen, they readily agree. Heh, no loyalty among the banished. Keke, and then they have to step back from their revenge shot, afraid that it might ruin their makeup. So they’re vain outlaws then.

They’re each given one piece of the puzzle with a mystery clue. Their incentives? Help one team win and split their prize or receive an apology (and Gary chooses the prize, keh). Or help neither, stick it to the end, and receive your own prize. Ooh, interesting. Thus, Team Ji is born.

Jong-kook tracks down a piece (and Ji-hyo catches on in a flash) and pretends to act cutesy to distract the others. Soo-hyun’s genuine surprised reaction, however, gives it away.

I love how some Running Man guests have a strong competitive spirit. Bum-soo searches high and low, mistaking a bar of soap for a puzzle piece, until he finally tracks one down. I’m getting some Si-won vibes from his earnest desire to win.

HAHAHA. It’s been 10 seconds since Team Ji headed out, and already Ace Ji-hyo is patting Gary down for any clues (rawr?). Kwang-soo tries to stop her, and helps to untangle a nametag caught in her hair. She doesn’t let her guard down, so in desperation, he bites down, hard. Worst. Spies. Ever.

Soo-hyun and Haha track down Kwang-soo. She asks him to take off his shoes and Kwang-soo asks what she’ll do in return, so she pulls out her cell phone to call him. His cheeks flush red again.

It’s an odd conversation about her being okay with him not bathing, but she wants to see him anyway and that she wants to take a whiff of his feet. Ew. What a skewed relationship, even if it’s just about the mission.

Kwang-soo resolves to share his secret with her anyway, unveiling the hidden puzzle piece. She asks for it right away, and when he hesitates, she pulls out the aegyo guns. He nearly crumbles and the captions read his heartrate is probably past 160. He promises to give it to her later and asks for an aegyo encore.

They say that the best place to hide something is in plain sight. The Suk Brothers (Jae-suk and Suk-jin) complain about how difficult it is to discover the clues, all while it’s blatantly staring right at them. Finally, Suk-jin notices it and tacks it on his chest.

Gary is displeased at Kwang-soo’s infatuation with Soo-hyun, telling him that he shouldn’t fall so easily – it’s been nearly 80 episodes with Ji-hyo. When Kwang-soo grows bashful at Soo-hyun’s admission that she texted him, Gary shouts at him to keep his eye on the prize – revenge.

His mission gets outed by Haha thanks to his awkward acting. He adds that both teams need them as they have the final piece of the puzzle. He offers to help the team who betrayed him to share in the prize. And Haha gives him a quick peck on his temple in thanks.

Team Cho looks to have figured the mission to the last crumb again – they have to out Team Ji before the time’s up or they win. Then there’s Team Han who ushers Kwang-soo into the dressing room to strip him down to find the clue. Nothing turns up, which sparks Ji-hyo’s radar and she grabs… a water bottle?

Clever, clever Kwang-soo, who stuffed the clue into the empty bottle to avoid notice. He hangs his head, dejected, unable to keep his promise to Soo-hyun after all. And then Team Cho grabs Gary’s clue.

But even with nearly all the clues, both teams are baffled about where to go and what to do with them. Kwang-soo muses with a smirk, “A person’s greed knows no bounds…”

Those smiles reveal that the boys received an extra clue, used only in dire circumstances. Kwang-soo gets a key and Gary learns of the mission location: an ice rink.

Team Han apologizes to Kwang-soo, who is slightly miffed when they basically send him on an errand as soon as he accepts their apologies. Then Bum-soo tells him, “Do you think that Tom Cruise was some kind of errand boy in those Mission Impossible movies?” HAHAHAHA.

Soo-hyun calls him soon afterwards and Bum-soo adds that he’s figured it out, “the spy who’s fallen in love with the enemy.” Suk-jin asks if that kind of spy succeeds and he chirps, “He dies!” Well, there’s your movie ending.

Time is tickin’ away and Team Cho reel in Gary to spill about the ice rink. The two teams resolve that they trade for what they need – a perfect opportunity for Team Ji to slip away. But the others catch on quick and Jong-kook grabs both puzzle pieces, running to rink.

It’s no use if the entrance is locked. The memories from earlier today flood Kwang-soo’s head, and he slips the keys into Soo-hyun’s hands.

Now it’s a race as both teams hurry to quickly assemble the pieces together. It’s complete madness, with pushing, shoving, and swiping squares from each other. Team Han finishes theirs first, securing their victory. Since Kwang-soo provided the key to Team Cho, they refuse to split the prize with Team Ji.

You can’t put a price on love, can you Kwang-soo?

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Wow, looks like a fun episode! Can't wait for the subbed version! Poor Gwangsoo. You never seem to win, do you?

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Hello. I stumbled on a subbed version of this episode today and I just wanted to share it. Here's the link: http://runningmansub(dot)blogspot(dot)com/

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Copy cat, catch a rat... this link is a pathetic cat...

FYI - This subbed link stolen from kshownow subbers team..

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lol well what goes around comes around I guess, FYI kshownow actually USED to steal from other subbing team and even making money from it.
glad that they're making their own subbing team now though..

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that's the ironic thing about kshownow

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Thanks Gummimochi!

Hilarious photo of Big Nose Hyung and realy love battle quiz between Haha dan Yoo Jae Suk! Hahaha... ^^

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Chohanji is an account of the Chu-Han Contention, from the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. Chu was led by Xiang Yu (Hang-woo in the drama) and Han by Liu Bang (Yoo Bang in the drama). Haha's variety character is as somebody who doesn't know very much, so Running Man was probably alluding to Haha not being aware of the historical Chohanji, and not the drama.

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Chu-Han Contention occurred soon after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, whereas the Three Kingdoms period was after the fall of the Han Dynasty. So these are different periods in Chinese history, with different characters (Chu-Han featured Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, whereas Three Kingdoms had Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao etc) and should not be lumped together.

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Thanks for the correction!

I do wonder how closely the drama will stick to the Chu-Han Contention, especially the pairings. But this should probably go in the History of the Salaryman threads :)

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Heh. Reading the recaps, the drama seems only very loosely based on the historical events - the key relationships don't quite match. The drama seems to be heading for a Bang & Yeo-chi pairing though, which would be in line with history since Lü Zhi, on whom Yeo-chi is supposedly based, ended up being Liu Bang's wife and empress.

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hey just wanted to ask!

anyone knows what is the background music played when ji jin hee was told to wear his detective gloves in ep 77!
i have a youtube vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLmH_8ou3ro&feature=related
and the song plays from 9.30 onwards. i think i heard it from a drama ost before too, but i would really like to know the song title!

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Man. It sounds familiar, but I just can't seem to place it. But if you're willing to wait, isubs who do awesome Running Man subs always add the name of the Background Music and the artist that sings it on their videos as part of the subs. They're now on episode 70, so not long to wait.

Otherwise, hopefully someone might know and can help you out. X)

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LOl lmao big nose hung made my day cause of his low stamina and ended up spilling water all over himself. IM absoluletly pshyced for next weeks episode!!!!!

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That was so amesome LMFAO on this episode !

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I love RM...thanks for the recap

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Thanks for the recap! At the end where they all run to the ice rink, couldn't Team Ji just not move and let time expire? I assume that for the sake of the show they have to give the other team a fighting chance.

Any chance you could explain the trivia quiz answers? Like the one for the nonsense quiz?

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You guys can watch Rm on Kshownow.net there are all episodes..and they are trying very hard to sub the show!:)

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Gary and Gwang soo are the worst liars ever (but which makes them the most adorable people)... and ultimately the worst spies.. haha.. LOL at them getting 'caught' 10 seconds after they went in...

and how cute was the Gwang soo's 'love line'? ^__^

in the early episodes of RM, I think a lot of people were saying that Suk Jin can just not appear and it will not be felt in the show.. but now.. I think he's finding his 'groove' and settling in his place in the show, what with his Easy Brothers team up with Gwang soo and his air time these past episodes.. hehe

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Yeah, I always felt sorry for Big Nose Hyung. It's bad enough that he was never funny in some of his MC stuff, like on Star Golden Bell. As a Running Man though, I just can't seem to see Running Man without him. He's just so pathetic how he tries to be this cool suave guy, but always ending up in jail. It's hilarious. Besides, we need someone that everyone can pick on so Kwangsoo doesn't always get the worst of the teasing. Hahaha. RUnning Man family hwaiting!

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I loved Kwang Soo in this episode, he was positively adorable. Soo Hyun was amusing because she really wasn't the best fit for this kind of show. At the beginning, she didn't even try to jump in the hay to look for the flag. She just watched everyone, lol. I don't blame her, I wouldn't have wanted to get covered in hay either.

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Hi! thanks for the recap,, but the recent episode was the Sherlock Holmes episode right? how come yours was late....

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Hahahaha. Yoo Jaesuk and Kwangvatar lifting The Commander like that was pretty epic. You guys seriously waited 78 episodes to do that? I love me the Capable One, but if seeing people gang up on him and making him look not-so-invincible, than I'm game.

I'm really surprised Gary didn't get an entertainers award since he's the other half of the Monday Couple. But it's ok, there's always this year. Fighting! Ace Jihyo, you'll always be the prettiest. X)

I love guests like Bumsoo who just want to win. VICTORY! XD Oh Running Man, always so cool.

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So... I am totally kicking myself in the head for not watching "Running Man" sooner! This show is HILARIOUS! Thanks for the recap!

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You should watch the Christmas special (2011). The most hilarious ep ever :D

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I will. Thanks!

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You can watch this episode in kshownow.net and kshowonline.com.
They have all the episodes there.

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I wanna see more of ace ji hyo and commander jong kook. Forget the monday couple. Ji hyo needs a new man .

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I'm usually the first one to say that I love me some RM, but this episode kinda left me a bit **meh**. I don't know if it was coming off the high of that wonderful 'Killers' RM, but this episode just didn't come across as particularly inspired.

I'm way more interested in seeing the upcoming 'Sherlock Holmes' being held on (I think) a cruise ship. I find I really like RM more when great outdoor locations are used for filming, rather than places like malls - maybe because it's a 'been there, done that' for me.

But, thanks for the recap - it was a fun read!
:)

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I don't know why but this episode felt like it didn't live up to expectations. Maybe its due to it having the theme of "Chohanji" while the games do not have a connection with it. Also at the mall the events that happened was not that interesting, and the actions of some of the members were confusing. (Like why did Gary and Gwang-Soo run to the ice-skating ring for)

Maybe its just me, or this episode just felt too scripted.

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What is the background song when the red team empty the bottle when he falls at the fitting room. Please anyone tell me thanks!

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Someone please tell me the background song during kwangsoo's heart rate. It's the piano theme
It is from an anime but I do not remember.
Please and thanks!

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finally got to watch the first part of this with subs, and can i say the first part was hilarious. a war strategies concept is not bad, running men are in their niche when bickering. the games themselves didnt have much connection with the concept, but splitting them up into teams and have them going head to head captured the spirit. haha vs jaesuk were so cute try to win over the other, and haha vs jihyo are a delight. running man brings out the children in all of them. i loved it when suk jin hyung and jae suk easily turned over the cards when "big" men joongkook and beum soo took so long.

lee beum soo was a great guest, he'd fit right into the family, he's assertive yet good natured, and hong soo hyun was ambitious enough to also get caught up in the rivalry.

bwahaha when gwangsoo/gary decided they were going to be Country "Ji" in Cho Han Ji... there's no such thing, unless he meant to say they were going to put the "Ji" (contention) in the phrase Cho Han Ji? as if i wasn't laughing hard enough, they had to go: Ji! -Suk... jin?

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Always laugh because Ji suk jin.. I like him..

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