I don’t always do ‘Running Man’ recaps, but when I do, it’s because the episode was extremely entertaining, fun, and hilarious that I felt the need to recap it. The second latest episode of ‘Running Man’ proved to be yet another great episode for me so I’m deciding to recap it in hopes that you too will join me in the happiness and laughter that I personally felt from this episode. I’ve already re-watched this episode many times before, but it wouldn’t hurt to watch it again to recap it. Hang on tight for it’s going to be a great and wild ride~
Running Man: Episode 503 Recap
The episode starts off with our 7 cast members greeting the staff for the intro (So-min is currently on a break from ‘Running Man’ due to exhaustion so she isn’t filming with the members at the moment). However, even without So-min physically with the members, they don’t forget to chat about her. As part of a mission from a few episodes back, Se-chan was selected to visit So-min at her apartment. The show finally recorded the reunion between the two same-age friends along with Kwang-soo who joined as a third wheel Se-chan. The cast then moves on to talking about Haha’s participation in forming a new reggae duo, but the cast can’t help but point out how robotic Yoo Jae-suk sounded when he was bringing up the topic. Kwang-soo points out that he thought Jae-suk was a reporter for a second. LOL.
And so it’s time for the guests to finally make their appearance! The episode is based off of a theme of music festivals and the show has invited celebrities who are usually popular during this time for music festivals. The PD announces the rules of the upcoming mission to the cast: each guest will have a money gun and shoot out ‘Running Man’ money. It’s the cast’s goal to catch and gather as much money as possible for this will aid them in the future missions. The cast are taken aback by the mission: picking up money from the ground? That’s humiliating! But as we will soon see and witness with our eyes, the cast members have no problem picking up things from the floor. Haha.
The first set of guests come out and perform to their respective songs. It’s our hip-hop team which consists of popular rapper BewhY and vocalist/rapper Jessi. BewhY starts off first so he shoots his money gun towards the members. Upon seeing the money, all seven members run as fast as they can and place all their focus on collecting as much money as possible. In between collecting money, they also try their best to enjoy the performance that is being provided to them by the rapper. After BewhY’s performance concludes, Jessi performs her own song with loads of charisma and sexiness. She even joins Se-chan in a short and funny twerking session for a bit before shooting out her money. Just like they did with BewhY, the Running Man members move quickly to grab as much money as possible. The performance by Jessi eventually concludes and the members hold a debrief to discuss how the first round went. Yoo Jae-suk points out how someone stepped on money to claim it as theirs or how fast Ji Suk-jin’s hands were moving to collect money. LOL. So much for claiming that they didn’t want to collect any money from the ground! They collectively agree to focus on the performers more and not so much on the money.
However, it’s a lot easier said than done and the members repeat the same actions once the third musician comes out: it’s Ahn Ji-young from Bolbbalgan4. The cast members are excited to see her, but they’re just as excited for the money that she’s shooting out from her money gun. Ji-young tries her best to perform her hit song, but she ends up running away from the members who are chasing after the money. Se-chan is seen rolling on the floor while Yoo Jae-suk and Kwang-soo engage in a small fight with each other. LOL. They’re like little kids! Our two remaining guests consists of our idol team: Hyo-jung from OH MY GIRL and Lee Jin-hyuk (AKA Il-kwon from ‘Find Me in Your Memory‘). Similar to the three guests prior, they shoot out money while performing. And similar to the three guests prior, our Running Man members sacrifice their bodies to collect some money from the ground.
And so our cast members all formally greet and introduce our five guests to the viewers. First up is Jin-hyuk who is also a member of boy group, UP10TION. As idols, it’s common for them to run out of breath when they perform. However, he has a different way of looking as cool as possible when out of breath and has no problem in showing that to the members. His gaze is intense and his chest smoothly pumps in and out while staring at the camera. Haha. Next up is Hyo-jung who dances to her group’s most recent and successful comeback ‘Nonstop’ (not gonna lie, I didn’t really care for the song at first, but after watching her dance to the song in this episode, I went back to listen to the track and now I’m addicted! Lol). Yoo Jae-suk points out how fans don’t feel as if Hyo-jung is suited for sexier songs in which Jessi claims that it is possible for Hyo-jung. If she just changes her style and maybe even get a tan, she’ll look sexy.
That’s when the cast members drag Jessi into the center to show them what she means when she’s talking about this concept of sexy. Jessi ends up twerking in front of the cameras and harbor attention from the members for her hilarious (and inappropriate) dancing. They urge her to return to her spot and move on to their next guest: Ji-young from BOL4. She too performs her newest track ‘Hug’ which everyone enjoys. Similar to Hyo-jung, Jessi is asked to sing the punch line from the track. It doesn’t seem all that difficult, but for some reason, Jessi can’t seem to recite the line. It won’t stick into her mind for some reason. She’s so frustrated she ends up cursing at one point. LOL. Eventually, Jessi is successful in finally stating out the punch line from the song after many attempts. Kwang-soo points out that he feels like smoke should be coming out of Jessi’s mouth after she finished saying the line due to her “bad girl” image and style. OMG, KWANG-SOO PLEASE! LOL.
After the interview with Ji-young ends, it’s Jessi’s turn to be interviewed. Her last appearance on the show was from five years ago and during that time, she had trouble understanding the rules to each game. When Yoo Jae-suk brings this up to Jessi, she has trouble understanding his question and she simply responds with a, “What?” LOL. It seems as if history will repeat itself again in this episode. Kwang-soo can’t help but notice that it’s been a while since Yoo Jae-suk’s glared at a guest. LOL. When Jessi’s interview ends, they move on to BewhY who they note sort of has a resemblance to both Yang Se-chan and comedian Hong Hyun-hee (mainly due to their protruding teeth/mouth which is often a joke brought up on the show). As BewhY is known for his fast and meticulous rapping skills, he also gives a performance to one of his songs. When his performance concludes, the members acknowledge how easy it is for him to rap. Jessi chimes in that it’s easy because he’s performing to his own song in which the cast members fire back at her. They already know that, why did she need to tell them something they already know? LOL. The interview with our five guests end and they proceed to learning about the concept for the episode.
Everyone will be divided into three teams: idol team, indie team, and hip-hop team. Using the money they gathered from the performances earlier, each member will place bids on the musician they would like to be in a team with. Eventually, the teams are formed: Suk-jin and Jong-kook is with Hyo-jung and Jin-hyuk, Kwang-soo and Jae-suk are with Jessi and BewhY, and Haha, Se-chan, and Ji-hyo are with Ji-young. At the end of each mission, they will play a small game to decide how they will divide up the money they earned from the games among the team. The top three with the most money in the end will win some prizes. The last two will face a penalty.
And so it’s time for our first game: Cutting the Rope. One person from each team will stand on a foothold with a harness on them. They’ll each take turns answering the PD’s questions with the correct amount of syllables. Whoever doesn’t answer within the three seconds allotted or provides an answer that doesn’t make sense will have to choose a random number that corresponds to one of the five ropes holding them up. If they choose the number with the loose rope, they’ll fall down and lose the game. First place team wins $3,000, second place wins $2,000, and third place wins $1,000. Things shouldn’t be that bad or challenging, right?
First up is Kwang-soo, Se-chan, and Jin-hyuk. It’s a rough start for Kwang-soo who fails twice in a row to correctly answer the questions with the assigned amount of syllables. He chooses rope #4 which brings him one step closer to falling onto the floor while he’s given a second chance by the PD during his second mistake. Third time is the charm for Kwang-soo who answers correctly during the third question. It’s Se-chan this time who makes the mistake. When asked what’s the first thing they look for in a woman, Se-chan blatantly answers, “Brea..” only to realize that his word is two syllables instead of one. LOL. He’s reprimanded by Jong-kook while everyone else laughs at his comment and the number to the rope he chooses unleashes him closer to the ground. The pressure gets to Se-chan and he makes another mistake again with the next question. Thankfully, the rope doesn’t move so he’s safe.
After a few more questions, Kwang-soo ends up losing the game so Se-chan and Jin-hyuk each earn a point as the successful winners. Next up on the harnesses are Ji-young, Hyo-jung, and Jessi who Yoo Jae-suk refers to by her real name, Ho Hyun-ju. She feels intimidated by how young the girls are and is hesitant to go up against them, but Jae-suk nags at her to just hurry up and go on with the game. LOL. The two are like siblings with each other. Jessi already shakes things up when she’s the chosen one to start off the game. Her late response triggers her to receive a consequence by the PD, but it’s her strong sense of personality and attitude that persuades the PD to give her a second chance (“she seemed pretty upset” LOL).
Jessi shines once again with the third question of where they had their first kiss. She focuses in on the syllables of the word rather than the honesty in her answers so she responds with ‘on top of the closet’ and ‘bed.’ HAHAHA. She’s reminded that the answers don’t necessarily have to be true, they just have to fit the number of syllables assigned to her. Although the third round is successful, Hyo-jung fails to answer correctly in the next round and her rope pushes her closer to the ground. The final question to ring out the winners is what the three girls think of when they look at themselves in the mirror. Jessi has no problem in confidently blurting out “big breasts” while also successfully answering with the assigned amount of syllables. Hahaha, go Jessi! Hyo-jung eventually loses the round so both Jessi and Ji-young are declared the winners.
Next up are Haha, Suk-jin, and BewhY. Suk-jin is the first to answer incorrectly and the rope he selects is not a good one. He moves closer to the ground. BewhY also struggles to answer correctly and fails to ~freestyle~ while on the spot. Yoo Jae-suk reminds BewhY to just say whatever is on his mind. It’s all about experience, but Jessi refutes Jae-suk’s comment. No, it’s not about experience; it’s about going with the flow. LOL. The two siblings bicker with each other and Jae-suk is frustrated at how he can’t even speak because of Jessi. Hahaha, I’m loving this! BewhY’s rope is loose and he also inches closer to falling. Although he’s a great rapper, BewhY is a rookie on the show and he loses the round.
Yoo Jae-suk strives to redeem his team when he is selected as one of the participants for the next round along with Ji-hyo and Jong-kook. Even the game is challenging for the Nation’s MC as he fails to answer correctly with the first question. The pressure seems to get to him and he also fails to correctly answer the next few questions. The hip-hop team is so frustrated that they unleash all that frustration and anger out on their teammate: Kwang-soo jokingly punches Jae-suk in the stomach while Jessi lists out a bunch of answers that he could have gone with. Eventually, the Nation’s MC prevails as the loser of the round while Jong-kook wins. Idol team is in first place so they win the $3,000 while Indie Team comes in second. Hip-hop team is last.
It’s now time for each team to decide on how they will divide up the money they earned from the game. Each team member is given two cards: a share card and a monopoly card. If everyone on the team chooses the share card, the money will be divided equally among all the team members and everyone will get a share of the money. However, if one person disrupts that peace by choosing the monopoly card while everyone else puts up the share card, the monopoly person will be the only one to get the money in the end. In a perfect world, everyone will choose the share card. Things shouldn’t be that difficult, right?
Except this is ‘Running Man’ and betrayal runs in our members’s blood. Suk-jin is the first to betray his team as he chooses the ‘Monopoly’ card while the rest of his team puts up the ‘Share’ card. He takes the $3,000 alone. Haha, Ji-hyo, and Se-chan also choose the ‘Monopoly’ card during their turn while Ji-young is the only one to choose the ‘Share’ card. She earns $500 as a result of going through with the team’s original plan which was to choose the ‘Share’ card. Hip-hop team goes last and they already start off to Jessi and Jae-suk bickering with each other once again while Kwang-soo tricks BewhY and steals his Monopoly card. Kwang-soo is found with two Monopoly cards instead, but no one finds it surprising. It is Kwang-soo we’re talking about after all. Jessi eventually reigns as a winner when she’s the only one to show the ‘Share’ card while her guy teammates all choose ‘Monopoly.’ Sharing is caring, folks.
It’s time to eat some lunch! Everyone is transported onto a bus to the restaurant. During the ride, a variety of topics are brought up such as BewhY’s weight loss which Suk-jin randomly brings up, the nation’s MC failing to juice up his interview with Ji-young, Jessi and Jae-suk constantly bickering with each other again, or Jessi referring to Suk-jin as “Jee Seok.” LOL. Since the three teams are going out for lunch, they contemplate on who should treat out for lunch. Suk-jin is eventually chosen as the lucky one and the staff takes away $2,000 from his $3,800 account for lunch. OMG, LOL (“he’s flexing a lot!)”.
And so it’s time for our second game: the King of Performances. It’s a simple dodgeball match except there’s paint involved and a banner which each team will use as a shield. Indie team is up against hip-hop team in the first round so they both prepare for the match. Each team feels confident in themselves since they’re playing a physical game now. However, things prove to be a lot more difficult for the hip-hop team once the game starts. It doesn’t take long for Jessi to be eliminated. Kwang-soo too is eliminated when Se-chan throws a ball of paint and accidentally hits him just right below his waistline (in ya know, that area). LOLOL. With two of the hip-hop members out, Jae-suk and BewhY seek revenge. They manage to get Haha and Se-chan out and eventually Ji-hyo and Ji-young as well. Hip-hop team wins the first round.
Indie team battles against Idol Team in the next round. Both Hyo-jung and Ji-young are stand-outs for being great shields for their respective teams. However, it’s Se-chan’s throwing power that will land him and his team a win in this round (he even took out THE Jong-kook). Aside from Hyo-jung and Ji-young’s great performance, Kwang-soo getting hit just below the waistline from the sidelines despite not even playing in the game was another highlight from this round. Poor Kwang-soo, LOL.
It’s time for the teams to divide up the money again. Similar to the first time, Suk-jin is the only one to put up a ‘Monopoly’ card from his team so he takes all the money. BewhY reigns as the winner during his team’s turn when he’s the only one to choose the ‘Share’ card while everyone else selects the ‘Monopoly’ card. Last but not least is Indie team. Ji-young expresses her plans to reveal the ‘Monopoly’ card which Jae-suk found a bit chilling. She looks so innocent, but her answer sounded so scary. LOL. After another bickering session between Jessi and Jae-suk as well as Se-chan discovering that Ji-young switched out his cards, Indie team finally proceed with the transaction. Ji-hyo ends up taking all the money alone when she’s the only one to choose a ‘Monopoly’ card.
With a few betrayals in the books, it’s obvious this has caused a rift in some teams.. or at least in just the Idol team. Se-chan points out how uncomfortable and awkward his team is based on how silent things are. Suk-jin claims things will get better between them eventually, but his patting of Jong-kook’s face only makes things worse. You know what they say, keep your hands to yourself! Haha.
It’s nametag elimination time! Woo hoo! All the members (excluding the captains from each team) will participate in the name tag elimination game and earn $500 for each name tag they manage to rip off. Using this money, the member and the captain will then utilize the ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Share’ cards to decide how they will divide up the money. If members aren’t comfortable participating in the name tag elimination game, they can also opt for a second option: find a microphone and sing a song for a minute without anyone finding them. Ji-young is the first to experiment with this second option and she manages to successfully sing one of her hit songs after she discovers a microphone. However, her luck runs out when both Jessi and Jae-suk discover her shortly afterwards. She runs away from them, but unfortunately gets caught by the both of them. It seems as if she’s going to get eliminated, but Jae-suk pulls a betrayal on his own team member and rips off Jessi’s nametag instead. Hahaha. Ji-young barely survives and Jae-suk runs away with the new nametag.
Haha also rips off Hyo-jung’s name tag so he heads to the room where the three captains of each team, Suk-jin, Ji-hyo, and Kwang-soo, are waiting. Ji-hyo and Haha are the first ones to divide up their money. While Ji-hyo remains loyal by choosing the ‘Share’ card, Haha opts for the ‘Monopoly’ card so he takes the $500. Jong-kook’s hard work and efforts from eliminating BewhY’s name tag goes to waste when both he and Suk-jin select ‘Monopoly’ during their turn. Neither of them get any money. Poor Jong-kook! Suk-jin is so sly. Haha.
Jae-suk shows up to the room next with Jessi’s nametag that he had ripped off earlier. With him and Kwang-soo, it’ll be interesting to watch the kind of antics they’ll be playing against each other. And as expected, Kwang-soo has a few hidden cards up his sleeves – literally. The Nation’s MC discovers the extra ‘Monopoly’ card Kwang-soo had hidden in his pocket so he’s once again at a disadvantage (“wait, how did you know?!”). Although both members want to betray each other as much as possible, they force themselves to choose the ‘Share’ card in the end. Both Jae-suk and Kwang-soo divide up the money equally.
Jae-suk’s betrayal towards Jessi isn’t quite done just yet and she becomes his target once again. Jae-suk manages to rip Jessi’s nametag off a second time so he heads to the waiting room. Jong-kook takes advantage of the opportunity and sneaks up behind Jae-suk to rip off his nametag as well. They both make their way to the waiting room where Jae-suk and Kwang-soo are up first to divide their money. Similar to the last time, Kwang-soo hides a few ‘Monopoly’ cards only for Jae-suk to discover them. Eventually, the ‘Monopoly’ cards are taken out so both members assume all the ‘Monopoly’ cards are out of the way, but Yoo Jae-suk isn’t the Nation’s MC for no reason. He pulls out a ‘Monopoly’ card that he himself had hidden so he takes the $500. Hahaha, omg, I love the Jae-suk and Kwang-soo combo. I can watch the two play games and interact with each other all day long.
A small fight ensues outside of the waiting room after Jae-suk and Jessi make amends with each other. Jong-kook rips Jae-suk’s name tag a second time while Jae-suk eliminates Jin-hyuk who also was a part of the fight. Ji-young witnesses the commotion while in the elevator so she quickly closes the door and stays in the elevator. LOL. She doesn’t want to get involved in all that chaos (hahaha, same Ji-young same! Good choice!). Kwang-soo and Jae-suk conclude with their final round of dividing up money. They ultimately decide to hold hands so as to not pull out a random and hidden ‘Monopoly’ card. Eventually, the duo reveal the ‘Share’ cards so they each gain $250. Haha.
It’s time to reveal the winners as well as the members who will go through the penalties. Suk-jin reigns as the first place winner, Ji-hyo comes in second, while Jong-kook finishes third. While announcing the rest of the ranks, Jessi’s chattiness gains attention and the members can’t help but feel as if they’re watching an American sitcom when Jae-suk and Jessi bicker with each other. Hahaha. I love the dynamic between the two. Eventually, Jae-suk and Jessi are revealed to be the losers to the game so they will have to face the penalty together.
Water balloons are popular at college music festivals so Jae-suk and Jessi are targets to the water balloons that the rest of the members will be throwing at them. Kwang-soo proves to be extra talented at throwing the water balloons as his balloons somehow aim directly at Jessi’s head. LOL. In between all of this chaos, Jae-suk is checking in with Jessi and asking her if she’s okay while Jessi brushes him off jokingly. Omg, so much is going on. LOL. When the game concludes, Jessi joins the rest of the members and is about to voice her thoughts. However, snot ends up coming out of her nose so she runs away in embarrassment while covering her mouth and nose. Everyone watches and laughs as she runs away from a frustrated and angry Jae-suk who shouts out in English, “I hate you!” at the star. Kwang-soo comments that he saw Jessi’s nose running, but he also saw the part where the snot went back into her nose — something he’s never seen before. OMG, I’m dead at this part. This scene was SOOO funny. The episode concludes with everyone bidding farewell.
My Thoughts:
Wow, this episode was so great. So so great. It even made me feel a bit nostalgic with how natural and funny everything was. No complicated games or rules, no over the top editing, funny and entertaining guests, and our Running Man cast members making the most out of everything. This episode felt like an episode from the earlier and brighter days of Running Man. I still enjoy the latest Running Man episodes, but I also hope that Running Man can keep the momentum and energy that was shown in this specific episode in the future.
For Running Man specifically, I think it’s important to note that guests can either make or break an episode. They play an integral role in how the cast members respond to and react around them. As we saw in this episode, Jessi was the highlight throughout the entire run and was never shy or afraid to voice her thoughts or just simply be herself. In fact, it was her being honest, out-spoken, and vocal that allowed for all the jokes, teasing, and bickering in this episode to happen which I was grateful for. She was truly so entertaining and her sibling-like dynamic with Jae-suk was definitely one of the best things to come from this episode. Similar to her appearance from five years ago, she is still the same clueless, easily confused, and out-spoken person, but it’s these traits that make her charming and attractive. I think it’s safe to say that without Jessi, this episode would not have been nearly half as funny and entertaining as it was.
I’d also like to point out that I love with my whole entire heart the Jae-suk and Kwang-soo combo. They’re already so talented, creative, and funny individually, but the levels of laughter and happiness that they emit when they’re paired up together just transcends above anything else I’ve ever felt. They are so great when they’re together and this episode proved once again why Jae-suk and Kwang-soo are such valuable assets to Running Man. They’re so wild and funny and entertaining to watch. They make the most out of every moment together and always have great ad-libs or comments to make (such as at the very end when Kwang-soo commented that Jessi’s snot came out and then went back in into her nose LOL). Yoo Jae-suk and Kwang-soo are two celebrities who I love and respect and support individually, but I also love their ‘Dumb and Dumber’ dynamic even more when they’re together. The two is definitely one of the bigger reasons as to why I’m still following this show. I love seeing Jae-suk and Kwang-soo so much together I’m even watching the appearance that Kwang-soo made on Jae-suk’s other show ‘How Do You Play.’
There were many great and awesome things about this episode, including the ‘Share’ and ‘Monopoly’ cards as well as the first game with the ropes and harnesses. Inviting Jessi onto the show was another great decision from the staff and placing her in the same team with Jae-suk was a match made in heaven. I even liked how there was an alternative option to the nametag elimination game for those guests who might not have felt comfortable with ripping people’s name tags off. That was a refreshing idea and I liked how the staff was considerate of the guests. It’s been a while since an episode has been this entertaining for me so this episode is definitely going to be a repeating one for me. I’ve already watched it so many times, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it. Something inside of me says I’m going to be watching it a few more times (;
Extra screenshots from the episode~
MaryMeKpop 