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Running Man: Episode 204

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful princess whose skin was delicate and fair, known to be a sometimes space cadet and a lover of naps. She was surrounded by seven other mischievous dwarfs who all vied for her attention in hopes that one of them would be her one true love to awaken her from her something-like-but-not-necessarily poisoned apple-induced slumber.

This is the story of Snow White Ji-hyo and her Prince Charming, but beware—this is no ordinary fairytale.

EPISODE 204. Broadcast on July 13, 2014.

In a dark castle far away, a mysterious witch asks her magic mirror: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” “Snow White Ji-hyo,” it answers.

Speaking of whom, Snow White Ji-hyo and the Seven Dwarfs (including returning guest Ryu Seung-soo, yay!) are gathered together in a peaceful little town. Seung-soo brings on the laughs right off the bat when he asks, clueless: “What’s today’s theme?” Says the man sitting next to Snow White.

Ji-hyo is taken aback at the thought that her former acting coach might be her Prince Charming, meaning he’d have to kiss her. Seung-soo doesn’t seem to mind, though: “I think today’s gonna be so much fun.” Her WTF face is priceless.

After the boys correct Snow White on her own story (like how she’ll be passing out instead of dying, and that it’s a fairytale, not a comic book), she prepares to take another bite of her apple when Jae-suk quips: “Why are you eating so much of that apple before you die?” LOL.

Finally, Ji-hyo bites into the poisoned fruit and passes out, only to rise again laughing when the other boys try eating some, too. In fact, she barely stays asleep for the rest of the opening while the PD introduces today’s theme: The Dwarfs will be traveling to the future to gather clues about the spell the princess is under and the prince who will save her.

Guessing that Prince Charming is one of them, Haha then asks, “If we don’t want to save her, couldn’t we wrap up with the closing?” Ji-hyo rises to glare at him, so Haha hurriedly feeds her some more poisoned apple. HA.

Upon hearing that being unable to save Snow White means to lose her forever, the boys celebrate the idea of getting a new princess. And again Ji-hyo wakes, unable to contain her laughter. Gary: “I’m supposed to cry, aren’t I?”

The boys will be time-traveling through a magic mirror, and when Kwang-soo pretends to get sucked in, Jae-suk reminds him that he’s supposed to just walk into it. Whoops. One by one, the Dwarfs jump in, much to Suk-jin’s embarrassment. “Can’t we just go in [without the theatrics]?”

But the best thing about this opening is getting to see the other dwarfs being mischievous after they “time-travel,” like how Haha trips Jae-suk up or how Jae-suk pulls at Suk-jin’s suspenders. Then when Seung-soo attempts to princess carry Ji-hyo through the time portal, Jae-suk notes that his back just cracked.

Present day Seoul. A sleepy Snow White Ji-hyo has awoken to participate in their first game which will give them their first clue about Prince Charming, who is one of them. Here, they must find Kwang-soo (in disguise) hiding somewhere in the building and carry him piggyback outside.

Since carrying him would be difficult for Ji-hyo, Gary suggests that she grab Kwang-soo by the hair and drag him back instead. Then they’re off, but at one point, Jae-suk is feeling mischievous and suddenly starts running. Ha, looks like he’s trying to dupe Seung-soo into thinking that he’s pursuing Kwang-soo.

It works on Seung-soo, though… and everyone else who happens to spot them, only to groan when they find out that they’ve been tricked.

A hungry Kwang-soo is busy snacking when Suk-jin appears outside. The mat-hyung walks past, but Haha notices that one of the “women” looks suspicious. So he acts on his hunch, asking after the staff member with her head bowed.

When Jae-suk appears moments later, Haha locks him out of the room and blocks his view before he whispers, “Kwang-soo, it’s clearly you.” And then Kwang-soo looks up in surprise: “How could you tell?” How could you NOT, hahaha.

Haha tries to persuade him into teaming up with him, barking at him in a low voice to hurry up. Kwang-soo: “I won’t leave if you bark at me like that.” Haha eventually gets him to comply and follows the rules by piggybacking him downstairs.

Jae-suk and the others show up by the time they reach the entrance, however, and they all escort Kwang-soo out the door. It’s basically chaos as everyone tries to get Kwang-soo to join hands with them until Jae-suk finally leaves the choice up to him: they’ll all line up and he’ll climb on one of their backs.

Always the conniving one, Seung-soo pulls Kwang-soo aside to whisper something, but then tries to use the opportunity to drag the tall man with him. Needless to say, it doesn’t work and the others gripe over his dirty tactics. Then Gary brings over a water bottle and cries, “What’s with this bottle?!”

And while the others are busy giving him a good ol’ painful leg-split, Haha and Kwang-soo sneakily win the first round.

With more clues up for grabs, everyone else is sent back inside to type a phrase using only their nose and print them off from designated R-stickered computers. Technologically-challenged Jong-kook admits that he doesn’t know how to print off documents, so Gary offers him a tip: “After you type with your nose, say ‘Print!'”

Everyone is in such a rush that they leave most of their VJs behind (“Do we wait?” “You don’t know what floor they went to, right?”) and some of them end up fighting over the same computer. That’s only the beginning of their frustrations as they struggle to type out each character. Big Nose Hyung:”I can’t type just one because of my big nose!”

What the—Seung-soo? What are you doing back already? He claims to have lost his VJ and just stands there. There are other cameras around! Get movin’! Upstairs, Ji-hyo tries to intercept, but Jae-suk makes off with his document and hands it in.

It sounds like the VJ must be present (whether that’s in the building or the starting point, I can’t be sure) for a win to count, but the point is that Seung-soo’s early return is pointless. Seung-soo tries to explain himself for running off alone, but then he uses gestures to mimic typing with his hands. Something smells fishy.

Sure enough, there’s video evidence and a witness statement that proves Seung-soo cheated and typed with his fingers on a random computer. Did he forget that there are cameras, like, everywhere?

Everyone is reminded of the infamous water bottle incident, but Seung-soo laughs off the moment: “This show’s amazing! Everything comes to light!”

We skip ahead to the next round as both Ji-hyo and Jong-kook come running high heels. Who will it be—the princess or the muscle man in pain?

Although Jong-kook arrives first, the others interfere to buy time (and maybe see Jong-kook suffer some more, ha). Seriously, when are we ever going to see Spartakooks in killer heels again? Is it just me or does Suk-jin look strangely comfortable in women’s shoes? Then again, so does Seung-soo, who arrives just seconds before the Impala.

Everyone piles onto the bus after receiving their hints, and Seung-soo slips into teacher mode when he gets asked an acting question: What must one do with their hands while acting?

The only thing an actor should be thinking of is emotion, Seung-soo explains, because being conscious about your hands means one isn’t focused. In fact, he was so surprised by Kwang-soo’s acting… because it made him so embarrassed. Ha.

And when the others suggests Seung-soo stop snacking (“That’s why you’re getting so flabby,”) he replies defensively, “This is all muscle!” And then he shows off his biceps.

Succeeding their next mission will mean learning the curse’s location. Here, one person will be standing beneath an ever-growing water balloon in hopes that the others will pop their balloons by jumping on a pogo stick before the water-filled one bursts. They immediately suggest Kwang-soo for that honor.

A majority vote puts him there though, and Kwang-soo freeeeakkks out as soon as the whistle blows. He has good reason, too: that balloon is swelling up pretty quickly.

Kwang-soo cries out desperately as Jae-suk tries to get his bearings, but the grasshopper ends up throwing the pogo stick on the ground in exasperation. Twice.

And then, Pop! HA, it really does look like Kwang-soo’s wearing a hat. Realizing that Kwang-soo usually gets the short end of the stick, the cast puts the next round to a vote, though it skews back to Kwang-soo anyway.

After determining their order (and Seung-soo places himself as third), Kwang-soo just lies down, waiting for the inevitable. This next round goes much quicker, and they only have two more balloons to pop by the time the massive water balloon looks like it’s about to burst.

Unfortunately, Haha can’t jump high enough, and then there’s another pop! I’m pretty sure we saw that water float in the air for a split-second before it landed on Kwang-soo’s face.

Another not-so-secret vote puts Suk-jin under the water balloon, which swells up to such enormity that its mere inches from his head, touches it, and then finally pops, enveloping his whole body with water.

Pop, pop, pop go the balloons in swift succession in the next round, and Kwang-soo sweats as the water balloon presses on his head. There’s just one more left… and Suk-jin misses. But thankfully, Suk-jin tries again and succeeds just before the water balloon bursts once more.

At the mention of the supposed curse, Jae-suk bursts, “Why do we always have to be cursed? We lead innocent lives for the rest of the week and come here and get cursed. What have we done to deserve this?!”

The Seven Dwarfs then time-travel back to the peaceful little town, but where’s Snow White? Asleep, thanks to the effects of the curse. Or just Ji-hyo in the middle of her favorite activity: napping.

A message is left for the men: last Dwarf standing must bring over the prince to awaken Snow White Ji-hyo. Oh I see, so the prince is indeed one of them, but that person doesn’t know it yet.

It isn’t long before the boys are fighting over this fact, and Haha points out that Seung-soo already looks like he thinks he’s the prince.

Let’s see if we can get this straight: Using their hints from the future, the Seven Dwarfs must discover the secret to the curse before they are eliminated (by different, unknown means hidden with the gold sprinkled throughout the town). Furthermore, their loot will be handed over to the person who eliminated them; however they must be wary not to eliminate the prince or else the curse can’t be lifted. Phew, that was a mouthful.

Ha, I love how Suk-jin just gives up and says he’ll just collect gold, and the others jokes that they’ll eliminate him after he does. Jae-suk takes a peek at his clues, wondering who this mystery prince who “speaks eloquently” might be. “Is it me?”

Hearing the other hints (“The prince is famous in neighboring countries” and “He’s not very bright,”) makes me wonder if it’s Kwang-soo. But at least the staff puts Jong-kook’s queries about himself to rest with a simple hint: “It ain’t you.” HA.

On the bright side, Jong-kook discovers a book containing gold and an elimination hint: Pull someone’s hair to eliminate someone. Haha stumbles upon one, too, and wonders if he should try the forehead flick on himself to make sure it doesn’t work on him. It’s risky, but it doesn’t work, thus saving him from that particular method.

Jae-suk, meanwhile, runs over to the Dwarfs’ Castle and finds another elimination hint: Give someone a leg-split and make ’em scream to eliminate them. Ha, no one said these tasks would be easy! Or make much sense.

Elsewhere, Gary declares that if he were the prince, he’d take that forehead kiss one step further and kiss Ji-hyo on the lips. Said like a true Monday Boyfriend. Gary’s hint informs him to draw on someone’s foot to eliminate them, while Seung-soo’s tells him to place a neck pillow on someone.

Seung-soo is still convinced that he might be Prince Charming, because he apparently grew up being called The Little Prince. When Jae-suk runs into Kwang-soo, he wastes no time boasting that he’s the prince, claiming that the staff tipped him off earlier.

Kwang-soo isn’t convinced, however, since he has the best hint about the prince. Jae-suk: “But you know I have the second-best, right?”

Haha and Seung-soo create an alliance and take a commemorative photo together to cement their trust in each other. Are those… cardboard cutouts of Do Min-joon and Chun Song-yi from You From Another Star?

Anyhow, it turns out that this is all an excuse for Haha to try out that forehead-flicking method on his new best bud. But Seung-soo catches on right away, and there alliance fizzles out.

The Easy Brothers, Jae-suk, and Gary decide to share their hints with each other, but they’re all wary about actually showing them to one other. Suk-jin: “C’mon, we’ve been working together for four years!” And your point is…?

Then Kwang-soo suddenly flicks Jae-suk’s head. Aha, he found the same hint Haha did earlier. He shares his “best hint” with the others, but I don’t see how “the prince is a human” helps anyone. Suffice it to say, Kwang-soo gets kicked out of this sharing session.

Oddly enough, the eloquent speech and dim hint seem to tip the scales towards Gary, since Kwang-soo’s supposedly not so good with the talkin’. Offended, Kwang-soo asks: “Why can’t it be me?!”

I’d forgotten that both Haha and Kwang-soo won the first mission together, which means they both have half of the best hint about the prince. When they put it together, two words pop out: Human and Scent. And since Gary’s newest single is “Your [Human] Scent,” that means he’s Prince Charming.

It seems Gary has already figured it out for himself, putting the clues together in his head. Knowing this, Kwang-soo immediately gives Gary the royal treatment, which makes him uneasy: “If I don’t turn out to be the prince, you’ll betray me right away.” Bingo.

A little later, Haha gets caught trying to eliminate Seung-soo again, but the others join in to use Seung-soo as a test subject for each of their elimination methods. When none of them work on him, they turn to Suk-jin.

It turns out the leg-split effectively eliminates Suk-jin and writing on Jae-suk’s foot eliminates him. Jae-suk complains that this whole scenario will only make the prince stronger until he finally kisses the princess and wins. Gary quips, “Don’t think of it as a kiss! Think of it as treatment for the princess!”

It’s hard to tell just how much time has passed with all these cutaways, but we eventually see Seung-soo trying on the neck pillow for himself. The others laugh how funny it would be if he accidentally himself that way.

They use Seung-soo’s gullibility to their advantage and target him for even more elimination methods. Nothing they know of seems to work, so they move onto Haha. A little hair-pulling gets him eliminated.

With Haha out of the picture, Kwang-soo becomes their next target. He tries biting Seung-soo (which, owwww), but the neck pillow gets him eliminated. Everything about this entire elimination process feels more confusing than it should be.

The remaining three contenders left in the game are as follows: Prince Gary, Jong-kook, and Seung-soo. When Seung-soo tries to make an alliance, saying that he thinks Gary’s the prince, Gary responds, “I always thought I was the prince since the beginning.”

Seung-soo keeps up the small talk until he suddenly flicks Gary’s forehead. And Gary actually looks and sounds genuinely annoyed at this; granted, much of the day hasn’t been going in his favor.

Later on, Jong-kook keeps his distance from Gary, wondering if there’s someone else still involved in this who isn’t any of the three people left. Meanwhile, Seung-soo is busy searching for Snow White Ji-hyo’s cottage. Seung-soo: “She can’t be in sleeping in the road, right?” Ha, no she isn’t.

And then suddenly, men in hooded capes seize Seung-soo, to his alarm. Another hooded person approaches and covers him. The Witch, perhaps?

Still fretting, Jong-kook mentions that Ji-hyo is nowhere to be found either. Wait a minute…

Sure enough, when we check back to where Snow White Ji-hyo should be sleeping, only an empty bed remains. Which means the Witch can only be one person: Ji-hyo.

A flashback shows us that Ji-hyo was, in fact, the Witch only pretending to be Snow White. As such, the Witch had cursed this land to steal the gold from the Seven Dwarfs. So while the other Dwarfs were busy eliminating one another, the Witch rose and kept watch over how her curse wreaked havoc on this peaceful town.

After the Witch eliminates Seung-soo by her own hands, the sound of crows cawing echo once more throughout the land. Hearing it, Jong-kook realizes that something’s up.

At the same time, the Witch Ji-hyo is busy planting a trap for Prince Gary, setting a crown beneath a magic mirror. Next thing we know, Gary’s wearing the thing on his head, oblivious of the cursed crow’s feather stuck on it.

Jong-kook is hesitant to trust anything or anyone at the moment, and notices the glove Gary’s currently wearing. It was the same one Seung-soo was wearing, Jong-kook notes suspiciously.

And while Gary is busy proclaiming his innocence, more writing appears on all the magic mirrors: “Once the Dwarfs became aware of the Witch’s existence, they ran to tear off her nametag.” If only they’d stop arguing enough to see it!

They don’t of course, and Prince Gary taps into his telepathy to find his princess. But on the way, Jong-kook realizes that they can’t be the only two left in this fairytale—what about the Witch? Now you’re talkin’.

Jong-kook keeps talking out loud as the pieces start coming together in his head. Spooked, Gary tells him to stop telling scary stories. But by the time they arrive at the cottage, Snow White(?) is still fast asleep.

While Jong-kook checks their surroundings, Gary leans over to kiss the princess… and then pulls back: “I feel like I’m going to be eliminated if I kiss her.” Then Gary leans in again, figuring that there’s nothing to lose…

…and plants a kiss on Ji-hyo’s forehead. She wakes… and then bursts laughing to see Gary’s face. “I’m going to fall asleep again.” HA.

All three of them now awake and looking to win, the Monday Couple slowly approach Jong-kook with the belt. But what eliminates the muscle man is the forehead flick, and now only Gary and Ji-hyo remain.

Gary eats up Ji-hyo’s tale that she was waiting for her prince so that they can fulfill their mission together. He isn’t completely trusting, though, as he tries the forehead flick on her. She says it doesn’t work on her.

Then Ji-hyo pulls the “Oppa, don’t you remember how we wore couple t-shirts once?” card on Gary, which effectively wins him over. But he still tries the forehead flick again. Heh.

He does, however, piggyback her back to town. Ji-hyo follows a step behind Gary, waiting for her opportune moment to tear off his nametag. And just when Gary notices the magic mirror, Ji-hyo rips off his nametag and eliminates him.

And so, the Witch Ji-hyo is today’s victor with a heavy bag of gold to show for it. When the cast is instructed to leave through the time portal, they’re all too annoyed to play along anymore. Jae-suk: “I’ve got my car waiting for me!”

Somewhere far away, the witch once again asks her mirror: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” And this time, it answers, “You of course, dear Witch.”

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I like this episode, it was fun and there was not a bunch of guests that made it hard to focus and limited the amount of screen time for the cast members. I also think the reason for the cardboard cut out of Do manager and jun ji hyun is because they shot a scene of the drama there. It was a pity that the show came last in terms of ratings since this was a pretty solid episode. However I am glad that the show that came first was 1n2d am really enjoying watching season 3 reminds a lot of season one and the cast interact well with one another.

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Yes, i find it the most entertaining when there's just one guest or no guest at all. I just love their interactions :)

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Right!! So prefer the Running Man with either no guests, or just a few guests that make sense together (say bandmates, for example)... so much less chaotic than watching 20 different guests who don't know each other and everyone only gets like 5 minutes of screen time :(

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well once RM ever mention gold you always got to put your money on a Ji-hyo win! abd beside the promo from the next episode shows the dreaded girl idol attack, thus meaning she get next to no screen time for that episode so glad she got a decent amount this time around.

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Haha First Comment. LoL

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Ryu Seung-soo made this episode worthwhile for me :). this is one cool, sneaky customer who looks/sounds right at home with the RM cast. RM isn't quite there yet, but i would consider this episode an improvement over the past few ones.

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i think this ep has one of the best opening lately. i can watch the cast sit down and talk all day.

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I always like the ones with the elaborate setups, because even if the rest of the episode tanks, I always enjoy the initial interactions. I especially like the family reunion episodes.

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good opening, but i like most the opening from episode 158 (movies parody) xdddddddd

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sorry not 158, it's 198 xdddd

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The opening is often the best part of RM and this one didn't disappoint.

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I haven't watched the episode yet. I just wanted to come in and say how purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrty Miss Jihyo looks in that top screencap. I miss the RM cast. I really need to catch up on the show.

Thank you for the recap!

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RYU SEUNG-SOO!!! Pffffffft. He is seriously so funny! This episode was definitely fun, with some good cast interactions :) Loved when RSS kept calling himself one of the aces LOL! And then thought he was the prince later on too! And his bluff! If he could become one of their guests that keeps coming back I would LOVE it!

I admit the twist at the end of this episode wasn't actually that exciting for me. I just felt like it could have been more effective if there were more hints to there being a possible witch in the first place, but it was still a creative and fun episode and I enjoyed all the games :)

Thanks for the recap!

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,was I the only one that was befuddled by this ep?

there were funny moments here and there but by the time they introduced the twist, I was like huh? what was the point of everything again?

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This is the first time i've fast-forwarded the episode to almost the very end. While I immensely enjoyed the ending and I was very excited about the rest of the show, somehow in the middle, it got really draggy.
I was actually thinking the Prince was kwangsoo as well, because come on, we've seen the Asian episodes and he is definitely way more received there, besides Jae Suk. Very disappointed that it turned out to be Gary, not because I don't like him but rather, it's just so predictable! Overall, besides the beginning spiel, the rest of the episode was a gigantic ho-hum.

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Thanks for the recap! :)

As much as I hate to admit it, I was sort of disappointed by this episode. I was super excited based on the preview and the premise, even if (SPOILER?!) I figured out from the preview last week and from the opening sequence that Ji-hyo was probably going to be the evil witch— I was pretty excited to see that twist happen.

However, I felt like there was a lot of wasted potential as well as odd choices happening in this episode. Ji-hyo felt sorely underused, and I really wished they’d brought in the twist earlier so that she actually had something to do instead of lie there while all the boys ran around and had fun bullying each other. The game itself also copied the mirrors and out concepts from the horror special with J-hyo and Suzy I think last year? Except this time the cool concept just didn’t seem to work as well within the context of the game. :( It just didn’t feel as awesome and creepy as the previous horror special it heavily borrowed from. I wish the mirrors had been used to greater effect, and I especially wish the methods of making people out had been more interesting— last time, it was really fun because the producers based the out methods on particular interpretations of the cast members’ personalities/characters on the show, and then tied it all together with the yearbook explaining all the connections. This time, the out methods seemed pretty random, and with Ji-hyo appearing only at the end to take out 1-2 people, the central conceits on the game seemed to just not work as well as before. It was also super obvious for Gary to be the prince, seeing as how Ji-hyo was the princess; I would've loved for them to switch it up some more.

On the upside, though: Ryu Seung-soo was so great as a guest! His bluffing character fits in so perfectly with the cast, and they clip they showed of his last appearance when he stuffed the water bottle down his pants had me rolling on the floor with laughter all over again. I also LOVED the opening of this episode, particularly the meta aspect of it all— we got to see how much crew and CG effort it actually takes to make those boys look cool, and I loved seeing them poke fun at the concept and at the whole acting portion of it all, and also seeing the boys “disappear” but then actually be sitting out of camera sightline, messing with the other guys as they tried to take their turn in the CG spotlight!

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Actually, the preliminary games were all really fun as well, particularly with the hilarious cast interactions we got to see. I loved the balloon game, particularly as the balloons grew /big enough to touch the poor guys’ heads!!/, and Haha finding a terribly hidden Kwangsoo in the first game was hilarious. Seeing Ji-hyo with a concrete block go up against Sparta in heels was also amazing to watch, and I totally agree— even while complaining about “why the heck do women wear these crazy things anyways”, Suk-jin looked way too comfortable in those heels!

I think really it was just the final themed game that had me disappointed, because I had such high hopes for this premise.

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I'm really worried about RM ratings lately, are so low, only 9,2 % this episode, in 3 more months maybe will be 8% or 7%.

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yeah, double digits are safe area, but one digits are in danger zone.

running man needs to change the format.

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Looks like they are running out of ideas. I really liked the running man at the beginning, but now it's not something to get too excited about.

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Need to consider that it's the middle of summer as well. More people go out for activities and enjoy the weather, rather than if we compare to winter ratings, the ratings will be so much higher for winter as more people stay at home.

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why yoo jae suk never wears shorts?? i think never wears that in running man.

in summer kwang soo and jong kook always wears shorts.

Gary, ji suk jin, haha, sometimes wear shorts sometimes not.

ji hyo the same, i think she never wears shorts.

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lol not to mention those early epsiodes of RM where the punishment was wearing hotpants..really believ me you not missing anything in not seeing him wear shorts!
Plus those skin tight jeans of his are something of a trademark for him.

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Jaesuk has skin problems, this could be the reason why he doesn't wear shorts too often.

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The episode was entertaining to be sure, but showcased a lot of flaws that are really destroying the show in my opinion. Namely, the episode was really poorly thought out. I mean, Ji Hyo had this in the bag. The conditions for the cast to win was keep the prince alive to save the princess. By nature of the setup, only 1 dwarf and the prince would be left to challenge Ji Hyo at the end. The game was set up way too easy for the spy. Jong Kook got like 90% there and lost because he couldn't figure out the last 10%. That look when Gary kissed Ji Hyo and the game didn't end pretty much showed the big problem with Running Man. Both Gary and Jong Kook looked super confused, like why isn't the mission over yet. For it to be a really fair game, they should have made it so Ji Hyo would have to eliminate the dwarfs and prince before she was kissed. Basically, all she had to do was wait until there were only two left and (I know she eliminated Seung Soo but she didn't really have to, if she didn't, one of Gary or Jong Kook would have-or he would have eliminated one of them) once there were only two left, she used their confusion to eliminate them. I think it was grossly unfair to change the conditions for victory for the dwarfs/prince since they did kiss the princess. The only way for them to win was to survive that nametag round robbin ripping, then see the mirror and eliminate Ji Hyo. She had every advantage in this episode and as the "ace" she shouldn't need the PD's giving her such an advantage. It was fun to watch the cast interact but I really wish the producers would let the cast go instead of trying to script scenarios that end up being unfair. Also, it seems like Ji Hyo would win if a dwarf accidentally eliminated the prince. That was another poorly set up detail.

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forgot to mention, I loved Ryu Seung Soo as a guest. He's got that charm and charisma that works and plays really well against the rest of the cast. His bluffs and how he plays everything straight even when everyone knows he's being ridiculous really sells it.

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Am I the only one bothered that RM used cardboard standees of Do Min-joon & Cheon Song-yi?
Starring HaHa Min-joon & Cheon Seung-soo ~.~|||

Anyways, ByeolGeudae is SBS's property anyways, so I guess they have the right to do whatever they want with it...

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The village used in the final contest here was also used in the "levitating kiss" scene in 'You From Another Star.' I assume the cardboard cutouts were placed there for fans of that series, and the RM cast decided to have some fun with the tourist traps.

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For some reason, Kwang-soo snacking on someone else's treats and than offering one to another worker really cracked me up.

It was nice of Kwang-soo that after being picked on for the pogo/balloon game, he volunteered to get wet again after Suk-jin tears.

Seung-soo should be a semi-regular.

Oh well, Gary being seduced by Mong-ji's charms and Ms. Mong winning the gold again.

Hope she got a nice nap in while filming.

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I keep wanting to pick up on watching this show but the number of episodes is to much .
can all you regular viewers recommend the best episodes form me ?
I don't care about the guest list I only want to watch the most funny episodes .

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Christmas and new year special episodes are fun! Just check the episode number from the list on wiki please :)

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Watch the Park Jisung episodes....very very funny!!
Ep 96, 97, 153

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ep 27, 28, 32, 40, 43, 49, 59, 61, 69, 96, 103, 111, 120, 122, 125, 133, 137, 141, 182, 195

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While many think the earliest eps were the best - they were really hit or miss (just like now).

Not an exhaustive list (going backwards):

- 187 - Han river w/ college students (s
should see the 1st Han river crossing before this).
- 175 - Gong-yoo, Park Hee-seon
- 167 - Chun Jung-myun
- 163 - 3 members of Big Bang
- 160/161 - Shinwha
- 153/154 - Park Ji-sung, Evra, etc. - basically any ep w/ PJS
-144 - Cha In-pyo
- 139 - Go Ara, Lee Yeon-hee
- 135 - Jackie Chan, Choi Si-won (really funny)
- 123/124 - Han Hyo-joo and Go Soo
- 92 - with baseball stars
- 109/110 - Park Tae-hwan, Son Yeon-jae
- 108 - Gong Hyo-jin (one of the funniest)
- 105 - Han Ji-min
- 103 - Noh Sa-yeon
- 87 - Han Ga-in (worth it to see the children versions of the RM gang)
- 80 - Go Ara, etc.
- 78 - Lee Bum-soo, Hong Soo-hyun
- 76/77 - Ji Jin-hee, Kim Sung-soo, Joo Sang-wook, Chun-hee, IU
- 70 - Son Ye-jin
- 63/64 - SNSD
- 61/62 - Lee Yeon-hee, etc. (Beijing)
- 55 - Suzy, Sulli, Ji-yeon, Luna
- 28 - YJS singing and dancing Turbo to annoy KJK and Mong-ji 's clueless dancing.

Basically all the overseas eps (HK, Vietnam, Thailand) are pretty entertaining - except for the Australia eps.

And the among the best, including some of the very best eps, are those just w/ the RM members and the ones which involve the public or students.

Super Powers, Yoomes Bond, 1st Han River crossing (a couple of others where they had to accomplish really difficult tasks, etc.

Also, the eps where "Sparta!" really starts and the ep where KJK manhandles YJS on the wrestling mat.

And for the early eps, while some aren't very fun (like ep 2/3) - there are some really fun ones due to the really silly games.

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I really wish the members let her characters out, and will be themselves, i think will be more interesting, i really want watch the real kwang soo, the real jong kook, etc...

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I totally agree - thanks for mentioning that. I think their real personalities are strong enough to be entertaining, funny, and interesting without having to resort to "personas". But I'm still a fan regardless...

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It's kinda making me upset with the ending of this episode. I couldn't understand why the writers/PDs can't think of a new idea instead of making Ji Hyo keep on tricking all other members. Plus, doesn't it obvious that they always make Ji Hyo has the 'easy access' on winning gold(s)? Even HaHa managed to figured that out! LOL It's pity too see all men members ALWAYS being tricked & used up by ending up gave Ji Hyo an easing winning. If you wanna say Ji Hyo is a female, come on, she's the ace of RM and she is not like any other females. By the way, criticism can be taken positively if they want to improve the quality of RM show, and doesn't mean we can't give any comments since it's being released every week. Be realisitic.

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You have an odd mix of words here, include the word "ALWAYS" to a show that has had many episodes with a lot of variety in plots. The cases where they "make" Ji Hyo "trick" all other members is . . . what . . . four times in two hundred and nine episodes?

Setting up a game where one of the regulars has to outwit all of the others is standard for RM, and has been used many times for the male cast members as well as the lone female cast member. Jae Suk, in particular, was pitted against the other cast members a half dozen times I can recall off the top of my head, including all of the "Jhames Bond" episodes.

So, does it bother you when Jae Suk is the sole villain, or just when the female cast member is the sole villain?

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I can't speak for anyone else here, but I'll do my best to respond to your points.

First, I thought it was pretty clear that he/she didn't mean "always" literally. Then again, that's an assumption on my part. Regardless, it doesn't have any effect on the main point, which is that Ji Hyo generally has an easy time when she's the spy.

To answer your question about sole villain/spy episodes, it does bother me more when Ji Hyo is the spy compared to other members. Ji Hyo plays very passively. She rarely takes the initiative. Take this episode for example. More than half the cast (Haha, Gwang Soo, Jae Suk, Suk Jin) are eliminated before she even makes a move. All she did was sleep, literally. In a lot of her other spy episodes, she has similar tactics. For example, the ghost special with Suzy, no hints are given about ghosts until Jong Kook is already eliminated. That first hint wasn't even really a hint. It just said look in lockers. By the time Gary finds the book with the hint, Haha, Suk Jin, and Gwang Soo are all out, leaving it a two on two (Ji Hyo, Suzy vs Jae Suk and Gary). Quite frankly, it feels cheap when the game mechanics are set up in such a way that she does very little and still ends up in such an advantageous situation. Compare that with the first two Yoomes Bond episodes (possibly the 3rd one too, can't remember) where Jae Suk has to squirt ALL the members, giving them a better chance to catch him and win. Ji Hyo's spy missions often end up her vs. 2-3 of the cast, not the whole cast.

Also, the credibility of the show is strained by her winning so often. If I really wanted to win an episode where gold was on the line, I'd make a concerted effort to eliminate Ji Hyo first. The cast never seem to unite against her the way they do against the other strong competitors, namely Jong Kook. Maybe it's because they feel they can take her 1 vs 1 but the best way to increase your personal odds of winning is to eliminate the person with the highest chance of winning and in gold prize episodes, that's Ji Hyo.

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I just want to add I don't really think any of this is Ji Hyo's fault. It's pretty decent strategy, and it works. If I were her, I'd probably do the same thing. I'm more frustrated with the producers, because the game mechanics reward this kind of cautious, slow play. She's "the Ace" for crying out loud. Why cheapen her victories by giving her insurmountable advantages. Let her dominate the guys with her own skill. She's smart, a good liar, devious (seriously, she's much better than any of the betrayal trio) and while she may not be physically as capable as some of the guys, she's got bigger balls than all of them (see her bungee jumping) and she's smart enough to outwit them and overcome and physical shortcomings (see her falling to the ground to beat Haha in wrestling)

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I enjoyed most of this episode but it really fell apart at the end. First, the prince was Gary - not at all a surprise. I know they're Monday couple but you can shake things up a bit with who the special hidden person will be. I sometimes wish it wasn't so planned and that they'd literally pick out of a hat at the beginning of a show which one would be the special or secret identity.

But then the twist? It was dumb. It was anti-climatic. Not everything needs a twist. I felt more cheated out of a good story than anything.

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Yeah the twist is not needed if they can't make the game fair. They will have to involve Ji Hyo in the game in some other ways other than making her the spy.

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I love the opening!

I miss the teatime games in the early episodes with the eggs and lemons and that brown powder thingy... and I keep remembering how fun it was when the guys were village idiots...

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Gummi, thanks so much for always giving us interesting and fun-to-read recaps! I feel that even with the low RM ratings, there are still a lot of loyal fans who continue to show RM so much love!

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Is anyone good at identifying background music? The piece that's played after Kwang Soo is ousted, at around 1:09:15 on Dramafever, is so familiar. It's driving me nuts that I can't place it. It's not Kwang Soo's theme, St. Agnes & the Burning train.

I thought it might be from City Hunter because RM seems to use a lot of BGM from that. But I don't think it is, or at least it doesn't match the City Hunter OST songs I found online.

Any help is appreciated. :)

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I thought this was quite a decent episode until the final mission.

The opening was really funny and was happy to see the members sitting down and banter each other again. In the end I just didnt like how the prince was scripted for Gary. It would have been better if all the dwarfs had that chance to be the prince, it would have been funny and interesting then to see how the male members react to have the chance to give Ms Mong the kiss on her forehead. The twist this time really fails to bring any excitement and just made the end more confusing.

Anyway I'm hoping the PDs will find ways to make RM ratings rise again, really would hate to see RM being cancelled because of low ratings. Running Man fighting!!

Btw, Ji Hyo looks absolutely gorgeous in this episode!

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This is one boring episode to me.
Especially the last game.

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The first part was funny, the show really thrives on witty banter and the great interaction among the cast members, and I'm glad this time they got a guest who's really chatty and comfortable on variety shows.

By the way, the subs where I watched the episode didn't explain how the witch could be eliminated (the final words on the mirror which Gary and Jongkook missed). Can anyone help translate please? Thanks in advance!

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To eliminate the witch, all the boys had to do was tear her nametag. :P

I feel like if it had been anyone other than Gary right at the end, they would've gone straight for the name tag because years of RM conditioning right there. But he got so obsessed with the head flicking. XD

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As in a number of these spy plots, there are clues to follow, even if they are sometimes subtle. Gary seemed to have been too over-tired to think in the last stage of the game, and even as late as JKooks elimination, he had a chance to be cautious and try to figure out what the smarter player was so suspicious of.

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Recently, some episodes became very boring, i dislike the episode in 2014. There are only a few episodes i liked it on along, like episode 182, 185, 188-189, 191, 193-194, 195 and this episode.
The problem i have with the other episode is that they made the mission and final mission too boring.
I would LOVE to see the format of before, we have two to three missions where team compete to receive an advantage at the final mission and the final mission is name tag ripping with some special effect. I would like it if they bring back this format.
Recently they focus too much on missions about nature so it makes the episode boring

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A good episode in the beginning. This is a throwback to the episodes from 60s - 130s. Conventionally, the front part is fun and good, the end mission finishing is bad and leaves the viewer rolling the eyes with a "I knew it", in a bad way.

The end game is so skewed to the "chosen" or spy player winning, the rest of them don't even have a fighting chance. I enjoyed the episode right until the witch thing. Rubbish twist.

It's ok to have a spy character to make things interesting, but the game mechanics should be tweaked. Even an idiot can see how the episode will end and who will win when the game is set up this way.

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I liked this episode better than the last one, even if there was a certain script to follow. ^__^ I'm not hating here, wherever one has writers, there's a script.

I agree with most everyone else, the front end games were better. The last ones where they had to figure out what eliminations went with whom was a bit tedious, but they still had their moments.

The only thing I would mention to the PDs, next time, don't have the witch talking to the mirror wearing the same white footwear as the 'heroine'. Kind of obvious at that point who would be playing the witch.

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When i found out this episode is about snow white and dwarfs and jihyo is the snowwhite. i can tell that she will win this episode . she is . it is very obvious and disappointing . I love Jihyo but i guess she is the most precious member who often receive special treatment as she often chooses as the main character or spy . it kind of upset me because i think it was so unfair to the other members .

She won most individual race, she is great. when it comes to race, the other members always gang up against Jongkook who they said is their biggest threat which made him barely won a single race . how about jihyo ? they always said that she is at the same level at jongkook . but they never really act like jihyo is their threat , is because jihyo is a girl? ....

and about special episode , i really hope there will be special episode for the other members as well.

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I love it when Jong Kook is all ready to be the prince,and all excited too haha Spartace!
Guess that'll never happen on the show.

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i seriously LMAO in the opening~ the theme and cast interaction is so damn funny XD
i don't mind the scripted theme at all..definitely enjoy it better than the last episode..

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Well, again when Running Man came out with a theme, it would be funnier but less action. Sometimes I miss the old Running Man, with the name-tag elimination race, hide-and-seek and those another action games. Well, I'm not saying that I don't like these kind of episode, but then I kinda miss Running Man with only one theme "Don't walk, run!"

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Yet another boring episode and I honestly believe that the idea of making Snow White as the Witch is just a spur of the moment idea. The production team just come up with that during half of the shoot. Perhaps the actress who was booked to play the Witch suddenly bailed? I mean, they can even put PD Dong Wan as the Witch. Where is Dong Wan nowadays btw?

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Glad that most of people who comment here are quite fair in their assessments.
SJH is given much advantage in the eps. Still her winning in 2014 is not so much. Furthermore there were a lot more heroic moments in 2013 - bungee jumping, name tag duel against UFC fighter, wrestling, untying the knots, rowing through Han river, rock-climbing etc.
All other members have grown so much as well. LKS used to be the weakest but now he's very smart, strong, agile & capable not to mention very funny.

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A huge letdown.. Disappointed with the twist...

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