Run BTS Rewatch Episode 15: Let the Mind Games Begin

다시 돌아온 스파이 3, Once Again The Spy Returns Pt 3

In the final part of this trilogy we will finally learn the identity of the spy (probably) and watch at least one person eat some food (definitely). It’s been a long day of screaming so they’re sure to have worked up an appetite, and I’m sure the production team will be very kind about how hungry they are and not make them wait or play a bunch of additional games or anything!

(The production team cackles loudly in the distance, and none of us are safe.)

Setup:

After playing five competitive games, the maknae team and the hyung team have finally settled out all of the dishes they are eligible to eat, assuming that they can guess who the spy is. In the ultimate cruelty the production team has set this food in front of them so they can smell it before they enter the Thunderdome to find the spy.

They’ll be playing more games to help them figure it out, because in this Run BTS realm games are the only fabric of reality that we’re allowed.

The Moments of Pure Love:

1. Yoongi asks who they think THE SPY might be to start off the discussion

   1. Hoseok says he has no idea

   2. Jin says he’s down to two suspects, Taehyung and Hoseok

   3. Jungkook says he has no idea

   4. Taehyung says he has three people in mind, Hoseok, Jin, and Jungkook

2. Hoseok accuses Taehyung of acting weird, eyes narrow and suspicious

3. Yoongi says round one will be about strength, but round two will be about luck and street smarts

4. Whenever a team wins they get to steal food from the other team, so they immediately start strategizing their thefts until Yoongi points out that they’ll never eat if they don’t play the games because of the rules of this universe

5. Game 1 is a truly infamous game, the game where they have to say irritating things to the other person (generally accusations about their behavior) and the person has to respond calmly with “I see” or they lose. It’s grievance time!

6. Taehyung chooses Namjoon, his current roommate, and the war begins

   1. He complains that Namjoon always asks him to be quiet and turn off his computer even when he hasn’t finished his game yet (with hindsight this game is almost certainly League of Legends which is even funnier)

   2. Namjoon says that this happened at 5:30 and waited until 6:10, and then starts doing math about how many seconds that is to finish a game

   3. Namjoon then complains that he has to know everything that Taehyung enjoys for entertainment (dramas, music, TV shows) because he’s always on his phone

   4. The hyungs say Taehyung isn’t being sincere enough in his “I sees” so Yoongi declares Namjoon the winner

   5. Taehyung gives a speech about how he has learned from his mistakes and they hug it out

7. Jimin chooses Jin, under the logic that if he chooses his actual roommate, Hoseok, he will lose for sure, which is a real glimpse behind the curtain into the Jihope room

   1. Jin starts off with an apology for laying in Jimin’s head with unwashed hair, and he’ll happily do it again

   2. Jimin says he laid in Jin’s bed with unwashed clothes, which is apparently Jin’s biggest pet peeve

   3. Jimin observes that Jin’s ears are getting red but Jin says it’s just hot in there and they start talking in baby voices

   4. Jin says that they tell Jimin he’s not short but he’s actually super short

   5. Jimin says that Jin’s legs are super short and they all start laughing at how Jin is known for having short legs, which is news to me

   6. Jin says that whenever Jimin asks him if he’s gained weight he wants to yell that he definitely has but he can’t because he doesn’t want to hurt Jimin’s feelings, and Jimin laughs so hard he falls over, losing

   7. Jin apologizes after but Jimin says that he’s really not mad, he promises

8. Jungkook does the math and realizes they’ve already lost so he doesn’t have to go against Hoseok, but Yoongi correctly says the fans demand it

   1. Jungkook says Hoseok is too angelic to play this game against, but he does say that he can’t hide his emotions at all especially when he’s angry

   2. Hoseok asks Jungkook if he actually thinks he’s ever polite as the youngest, and he starts to get actually mad as he recalls times he’s been annoyed with Jungkook and Jungkook didn’t care

   3. Hoseok complains he once took a shower and the door opened to Jungkook saying “what’s up?”, checking him out with a sound of approval, then leaving

   4. Hoseok also recounts a time when Jungkook left a cup of cereal next to the laundry basket without cleaning it up

   5. Jungkook claims that’s just his instinct, to leave cereal next to laundry, and I believe him

   6. Jimin jumps up to complain that Jungkook comes into the Jihope room to brush his teeth and he left his similar-looking toothbrush in Jimin’s place and Jimin got his germs in his mouth

   7. Jungkook is baffled because Jimin is supposed to be on his team and also there’s nothing he can complain about with Hoseok so he hugs it out

9. Jin blows the maknaes a kiss as he steals their churros

10. Game 2 is a pirate in a barrel where you shove plastic swords in slots, alternating players, and the one that makes him jump out of the barrel is the loser

11. Jin gratuitously puts his leg up on the table sexily to show off his Puma shoes while he shoves a sword in, and Jimin immediately loses which may or may not be correlated

12. Yoongi questions if Jimin is THE SPY, annoying Jimin who says it’s a luck-based game

13. Jungkook goes against Hoseok, who says he always loses, but they get down to the last two swords and Hoseok does a dumb little dance

14. Jungkook doesn’t even hesitate before he picks one of the two to put it in, gets it right, and forces Hoseok to lose

15. Taehyung goes against Namjoon, and Namjoon loses quite quickly, making me question if this game is really random because it seemed like the losing slot was in the same or almost-same place every single game

16. Taehyung steals the fried chicken

17. Game 3 is a bulldog guarding a bowl of plastic bones that you have to alternately steal without him snapping at you

18. Jimin again chooses Jin, who acts like a total weirdo with dances and wiggly arms and loses very quickly

19. Taehyung goes against Namjoon, who is very very scared of this dog, but Taehyung is the one who ends up losing

20. Everyone accuses Taehyung of being THE SPY

21. Jungkook goes against Hoseok, and Jungkook loses on the very first pull so now everyone thinks he is THE SPY

22. Hoseok takes back the fried chicken

23. Yoongi reminds them if they can’t find him THE SPY takes all the food and they have to beg him for scraps in embarrassing fashion

24. THE SPY discussion resumes

    1. Jungkook thinks it’s Taehyung or Jin

    2. Taehyung thinks it’s Jungkook or Jin

    3. Jimin thinks it’s Taehyung

    4. Jin says he changed from Taehyung and Hoseok to Jungkook after the bulldog game

    5. Namjoon thinks it’s Hoseok or Jin

    6. Taehyung suddenly declares he’s really sure that it’s Hoseok

    7. Jimin says that he can tell Taehyung is acting, and Hoseok agrees that he has a whole acting persona

    8. Jimin metagames that now that Taehyung has acted for real in Hwarang, the producers would pick him for the spy

    9. Taehyung says it’s definitely Hoseok, who laughs

    10. Namjoon accuses Hoseok of talking too much

    11. Jin says that he’s won a lot of games and even came in first so it can’t be him

25. It’s voting time!

    1. Hoseok → Taehyung

    2. Namjoon → Hoseok

    3. Jin → Jungkook

    4. Jimin → Taehyung

    5. Taehyung → Hoseok

    6. Jungkook → Taehyung

26. Taehyung is voted as the spy much to Hoseok’s delight

27. Taehyung refuses to defend himself anymore because no one believes him, and they all are now certain that it’s him

28. But they’re wrong! All of them are wrong!

29. Yoongi gives them another chance!

    1. Hoseok is immediately the #1 suspect

    2. Hoseok says it has to be Jungkook or Jin because he knows for sure it’s not him

    3. Jungkook accuses Jin of looking too relaxed

    4. Jimin metagames again and says that Jungkook was the last spy so wouldn’t it be a great trick if they repeated it… is what he would be saying if he wasn’t so sure it was Hoseok

    5. Hoseok tries to get people to look into his eyes but they’re all voting against him anyway

30. They’re wrong again! And they figure out that it’s Jin but it’s much too late

31. They show a montage of Jin’s spy moments, and specifically say he got away with it because the others were even worse at the games than him which is hilarious

32. Jin eats while they all stare at him, and they all dance, act cute, and sing for his favor

33. Namjoon fails with his dance, Hoseok is rejected out of hand, and Jimin is also unable to be cute enough, but Jungkook wins with an enthusiastic trot rendition

34. Taehyung gives up without even trying, but Hoseok comes through with a sensual Blood Sweat and Tears dance

35. Jungkook tries to make up a dance to Awake but Jin is mostly insulted

36. They end with jin doing an acrostic of SPY while they all snack, and we are OUT of the water park

The Finish Line:

Good god this is a classic episode. It doesn’t have the same self-contained quality of some of the others, being the end of a trilogy, but it does have enough personality quirks and domestic stories to keep us fed for a very long time. My personal favorite will always be Jungkook wandering in while Hoseok takes a shower to give him an approving nod, but the Taejoon roommate dynamic isn’t one we heard much about but sounds like it was fraught with sleep pattern disruption!

I also really enjoyed in this one how Jimin is revealed to be the biggest metagamer in the world. We know this even more now because of his love for competition TV / internet shows like PIXID where he’s sure he’s got it all figured out, but even this early Jimin was trying to get into the mind of the production team to figure out what they would think makes a good show. A schemy little guy all the way, even if his instincts aren’t fully honed yet.

Jin, on the other hand, is a fully-fledged mastermind that you always distrust just enough to believe. This man was born to con, and he cons his younger members so smoothly that I was left a little scared of him but even more in awe. He’s one to watch in these psychological episodes, that’s for sure.

And of course we learn the lesson that we will never stop learning, no matter how long Run goes on, which is again that Taehyung will always be suspected of being the spy because he’s always acting, just a little, to keep himself in form.