Run BTS Rewatch Episode 42: Fly BTS
스포츠 대격돌, Sports Battle
For the first time in awhile we are transported out of the filming studio and / or hotel room and into a real location full of things BTS can scream at. I missed it! While the studio allows them to really let their freak flags fly, being attached to a carabiner and dangled over a three story drop brings out primal things in them that are very entertaining for us.
Setup:
The boys have been transported to an indoor adventure gym that looks a lot like the place I spent my 13th birthday but even more extreme. Here they will do 3 adventure challenges, and the winner will be the Ultimate Sportsman and the loser will put a helmet filled with water on their head and the other members will pull out rods until they get soaked. This gives the sense that the producers were tired of planning filming trips to the mountains and the oceans and wrested back control of the punishments for themselves.
The Moments of Pure Love:
They’re all wearing sponsored Puma tracksuits, which Namjoon comments on immediately, and since we haven’t done an outfit description in awhile here we go:
Taehyung: A cute tennis pro at the country club in a light blue / gray fleece over black track pants and huge white tennis shoes; he is headbanded
Yoongi: A jazzercise aficionado in a pink sweater with a few pastel blocks on it over black yoga pants with black shoes; he is headbanded
Jin: The realest housewife of the whole world in a purple velour matching tracksuit over a white t-shirt with white sneakers; he is headbanded
Jungkook: A monochrome dream in a black athletic zip hoodie over a white tee and black sweatpants with black sneakers; he is not headbanded
Jimin: The protagonist of a sports anime in a bright red matching tracksuit and white tennis shoes; he is not headbanded
Namjoon: The attractive rival of the same sports anime in a bright blue matching tracksuit with black tennis shoes; he is not headbanded
Hoseok: A man who was tricked into doing sports in a camouflage hoodie with black track pants and mustard yellow sneakers; he is not headbanded
Yoongi shadowboxes to himself as he gets hyped for sports
Namjoon stands by Jimin and jokes that they are the Republic of Korea because of their blue and red colors
Jungkook, deadly serious, reminds Namjoon that the Korean flag has black on it too, so they can’t leave him out
Hoseok, also half-serious, asks Jin if his purple velour is some kind of punishment outfit, but Jin is unruffled
This episode Jungkook is the one who transitions them from the opening banter into the episode as he asks what they’re doing
The first game involves riding stationary bikes (though we the audience don’t know that yet), so we get some backstory on their bike-riding history for those who are keeping really detailed dossiers
Taehyung has ridden for 17 years
Namjoon has a similar level of experience
Jin says he rode one every day to school
This is made much funnier by the fact that the bikes are stationary and so require no actual skill to ride
Jimin interrupts this backstory to point to the elephant in the room, which is that Jungkook is really good at all of this stuff so the rest of them are playing for second
No one else wants to look at this elephant, so they start stretching and doing jumping jacks
Game 1 is Screen Bicycle, which is the stationary bicycle controlling a character on screen as they race for 0.8 km
The twist is that they have to count a stack of money as they ride and if they get the amount wrong then they lose no matter how fast they are
This is both incredibly difficult and incredibly cruel and I sort of love them for coming up with it
Additionally they’re going in two groups, 3 and 4, and the people who aren’t going can talk as much as they want to distract the racers
Jin, Yoongi, and Jungkook go first
Everyone goes pretty slow because they need to count
Hoseok says amounts of money at random in his most carrying voice
Vminjoon fucking love this and start their own verbal confusion
Yoongi tries so hard to count out loud and ignore them but his exasperated smile is big
Jungkook yells that he’s forgotten everything!!
Jin thinks he’s nailed it and starts pedaling as fast as his purple legs can carry him
Taehyung has decided to target Yoongi exclusively and count by 1000s at the speed of an auctioneer, but Yoongi finishes his count and then starts pumping the pedals
Yoongi gets his on-screen character lost
Jungkook is still pedaling slowly and counting with his mouth all the way open
Jungkook finishes with his arm stretched out in championship pose before he admits he has no idea how much money he has
At the end, Jin gets his money right, Yoongi gets his wrong by 9K won, and Jungkook gets his wrong by 2K won
Jimin, Taehyung, Namjoon, and Hoseok go next
Jimin is surprised that he’s very nervous, so he turns it into a PSA for safety
Taehyung stares at the front wheel of his bicycle to meditate before they start
Yoonjin start in on their own counting distraction, Jin leaning in to whisper into their ears
Jungkook adopts the persona of a street vendor trying to attract business with low prices until he realizes that no one is bothering Hoseok and he needs to Step Up
Koobi giggle to themselves as Hoseok tries to sort his money into denominations while Jungkook chatters
Jin berates Taehyung for having to start his counting over, switching from distraction to drill sergeant
He also accuses Hoseok of not knowing the value of money
Namjoon announces that he’s going to trust his instincts as he turns on the gas and goes
Hoseok drops his money all over the floor
Jimin, perhaps not grasping the true nature of the game, pedals over the finish line and then realizes he’s not allowed to count once the race is over
Hoseok grimaces his way over the finish line in last after picking up his money
In the end Jimin gets his money right (which means he was just going to double check himself when he was done, which is very Jimin), Taehyung is wrong by 5K (he is very surprised), Namjoon is right, and Hoseok is wrong by 10K
The producers play a trick on Hoseok at the end by pretending he’s really close even though he’s really just guessing, and let him guess again; Jin finds this hysterical
First game has Namjoon first, Jimin second, Jin third, and the rest of them with no points
At the second game Hoseok is much more chipper because they are wearing a lot of safety equipment and he feels at ease
This equipment is dorky white helmets, knee and elbow pads, and safety harnesses to attach carabiners to
They’re still all very hot, but the helmets are unfortunate looks for Yoongi, Jin, and Namjoon
Jungkook has his helmet on the back part of his head like it’s a beanie, though he fixes it properly before he actually goes
Game 2 is Ropes Course, which is just like what it sounds like - they all have to navigate a ropes course high off the ground, fastest wins
The stages are Zig Zag Bridge, Rocking Bridge, Climbing Netted Bridge (which involves rock climbing holds), Plank Bridge, Basket (which is like a bucket you pull to you and then get in to sail across a gap), and Free Fall (which is basically jumping three stories tied to a rope)
Jungkook is sent first because he’s going to crush it no matter how many other people he watches go
Once he’s up the stairs and waiting to start Hoseok asks how it feels, and Jungkook is like “I don’t know I haven’t gone yet?”
Jungkook does tell them the bridge is shakier up there than he thought from the ground
As he starts the rest of them watch him with a blend of fear and awe as he simply moves forward unrelentingly across the rope bridges
Namjoon compares him to a hyena, and Jin compares him to Spiderman
Jimin comments that it might look like he’s going slow, because he can’t simply run across, but he’s going impressively fast
They all agree, and stand up to watch him float through the climbing section and plank section like it’s no big deal
Jin compares him to Odeng
The editors put in a hilarious shot where Jungkook is doing the planks and place the rest of their upward-turned, impressed faces down in the corner in a fuzzy circular cut out over soft background music, like he is an angel they are all viewing
Yoongi compares him to Indiana Jones as he rides the bucket
When he gets to the free fall Hoseok’s anxiety peaks, but Jungkook jumps down like it’s a few inches
He ultimately finishes in 2 minutes and 3 seconds and has set the untouchable standard
He comes off with his face set in a deliberately cool and unbothered expression like he just took a little stroll, and it’s very endearing
Yoongi is next up
He swags his way up the stairs like he’s a tough guy then says “wait this is actually really high???”
Taehyung says he can pretend he’s shooting an MV to soothe himself
On the first bridge Yoongi sways it back and forth wildly with his gait and has to yell to himself to feel better
He chants “one step one step” as he walks much much MUCH slower than Jungkook did
He spends nearly half of Jungkook’s entire run on the first bridge, and the rest of them begin teasing him for his deliberateness
Hoseok is too busy trying to gather as much information as possible about what he’s doing to tease him, and asks him what the climbing wall is like
Namjoon at one point says Yoongi needs to show them that he’s good at something besides basketball; Yoongi responds that he’s not good at anything besides basketball; Namjoon grins hugely
Jungkook says that he’s going to take a nap; nervous Yoongi hears that Jungkook is going to the bathroom
Jin says maybe someone else should start, and Yoongi says he’s almost done (he is not almost done)
Jin says to pretend he’s Odeng on the plank bridge, so Yoongi tries chanting “Odengie” over and over again; Jungkook doesn’t think this is an authentic Odeng impression
Yoongi really wants them to tell him he looks cool in the bucket, like Indiana Jones (he’s obsessed), then requests artistry points which don’t exist
At the free fall Jungkook actually starts to worry and gives Yoongi tips on how to do it without hurting himself
Yoongi says, in an extremely high-pitches voice, that it is too scary????
When he steps off he legitimately screams, a sound I didn’t know Yoongi could make, then yodels like a baby goat all the way down
Jimin laughs delightedly at this
Yoongi steps off the mat with a stone face to cover his embarrassment and finishes with 5 minutes and 4 seconds
Jimin, surprised, says this is faster than he thought it would be
Hoseok asks which part of the course was scariest, because he’s still in panicked information-gathering mode, and Yoongi says it was hard to speed up
Jin comments that it didn’t look like Yoongi wanted to go any faster, and Yoongi does a smiling safety chant because he knows he was kind of a weenie
Jimin is up next, and he climbs the stairs like the hottest guy you know, because he is
Namjoon says that Jungkook is obviously going to be first and the rest of them are playing for second
Jungkook, very seriously, says that Jimin can’t be counted out
Namjoon then tells Jimin he’s their only hope to beat Jungkook, and reminds him of Yoongi’s score
Jimin, grinning, says all he cares about is finishing at least one second ahead of Yoongi, and I believe him
Jimin gives them all advice as he goes across the first bridge, then scolds himself for not following it
Yoongi continues to chant about safety, and Taehyung sings a safety song from some kind of Inkigayo campaign
Jin asks Jimin to make a super jump onto the rock wall; Jimin tells him to be quiet
Taehyung, very softly, tells Hoseok that he’s in trouble because he really hates scary things
Hoseok is like same, bro, then asks who’s next; when it turns out to be him Hoseok;s face drains completely of color
Jimin is doing great up on the course, but Hoseok tells him to be careful anyway
Jimin sticks his leg out behind him in a figure skating pose as he goes across the bucket, and Jungkook says he looked just like Kim Yuna
On the free fall Jimin spreads his legs wide and Jungkook says he looks like a Power Ranger
Jimin smiles happily as he clocks 2 minutes and 28 seconds
Hoseok is next, and he walks up the stairs like he’s being sent to the gallows then stares blankly into space as they get him ready
He steps onto the first bridge and his pitch is immediately at soprano, and he’s too scared to step forward smoothly so he swings back and forth as he howls
He tells himself to calm down, voice shaking
Jungkook advises him to be very careful as he exits the bridge for the next one
Jimin tells him to go hand→ foot, though it’s supposed to be foot → hand
Namjoon says he should set a goal for 10 minutes, and Taehyung thinks the goal should just be to finish
Hoseok, full of confidence on the net bridge, thinks he can beat Yoongi at least
Hoseok, on the plank bridge, places his foot so gingerly on the first step that he looks like he’s trying not to break it
Jimin, quietly, says to the rest of them that he’s not sure that Hoseok will be able to do the free fall jump
Hoseok is like “what did you say?”, genuinely not hearing, and the rest of them immediately are like “we said you’re doing a great job up there!!!!”
Jin tells him he’s going faster than Yoongi to bolster his spirits
Jin asks him to yell like Tarzan as he goes across the bucket, and Hoseok tries but it’s basically just screaming
Hoseok shakes like a leaf at the top of the free fall but eventually squeezes his eyes shut and jumps, shrieking in small, then sinks onto his back on the ground and tries to die
He finishes in 5 minutes and 37 seconds and feels no emotion
Taehyung is next and steels himself as he goes up the stairs
Jungkook tells him that it’s the first three courses that are the trick
Taehyung has adopted the “rip the band-aid off” method for this entire thing, deciding that if he’s going to be scared out of his mind he will make it short, and powers across the bridges like his life depends on it
His knuckles are white, his face is tight, and he says nothing at all the whole time
Jungkook is very impressed with his speed
Namjin also call out tons of encouragement for his awesome performance
Taehyung jumps sort-of-intentionally off of the rock wall and Jin is enraptured with his coolness
Jimin cracks up the whole time at this focused, terrified Taehyung performance
By the time he gets to the bucket Taehyung is happy enough with how it’s going that he sticks a leg out of it as he travels and gets Jimin Artistic Points
However the free fall has him petrified, staring down at in mute terror
Yoongi empathises
Jungkook advises him to yell that he loves BTS to help him be brave
Taehyung hoots a few times and yells “BTS!” as he jumps, clinging to the rope, then smiles bashfully
He gets 3 minutes and 7 seconds and at least a couple of years off of his life
Jimin gives him a big hug for his bravery
Jin is next up, and he bounds up the stairs with false bravado leaking out of his pores
Jungkook says that as the father sugar gliders Jin needs to put on a good show for his sons
Jungkook, who until now has been sitting on the floor idly, stands up and gets hype for the performance of a lifetime
The editors crank up the dramatic background music and give him a placard to announce the highlight of today’s episode: Jin
Jin takes a half-step onto the first bridge and freezes
The rest of them explode in laughter and heckling; Jimin wipes a tear from the corner of his eye
Jin continues to inch forward, saying “oh!” every time the bridge moves even slightly
Namjoon turns this into a game, asking questions where “oh!” will be a real answer, such as what is Jin’s favorite number (“oh” in Korean is 5); this slays at the Bangtan comedy club
Jin apologizes to Yoongi for saying he was slow given how he is inching through this entire course
Jimin starts to film him for future delight
Jin does lift his leg behind him in the figure skating move when in the bucket as they demand, because he is a good team member
At the free fall, Jin says flatly that he can’t jump from that high, then starts to call for an unspecified hyung
However he jump falls very quickly, screaming like a goose falling from a 747 all the way to the ground
Jin stumbles forward, looking at the cameras sheepishly, and gets his time of 8 minutes and 3 seconds which is CRAZY
Hoseok asks Jin if he is drenched in sweat, and Jin is like you have no fucking idea how moist I am
Namjoon is the last participant, and he climbs the stairs so quickly they don’t even get a shot of it
Hoseok immediately tells him not to go to quickly and stay safe
Namjoon learns quickly that saying “oh ya” as he moves is key to his success
Jungkook is surprised at how fast he’s going, though he notes he was a good roller skater as a youth
Namjoon instructs himself in the second person to stay calm and not overdo it
Jin tries to psych Namjoon out by saying the rock wall is scary, which leaves him open to a Yoonkook attack about how slow he was; he has no response
Namjoon, at the rock wall, asks if he really has to do it, but he does so he moves forward
Jikook start a thoughtful discussion about how hot Namjoon’s back looks as he climbs, the harness really cradling his ass to perfection and his overall hugeness lending a horny air to the proceedings
Jimin yells a compliment up that Namjoon has great posture, like a cyclist
Namjoon also does the leg lift as he goes and Jungkook smiles and applauds at his unwieldy hyung
Namjoon is also surprised at the height of the fall but spreads his legs obediently at Taehyung’s command
He ends up on the floor with a respectable 4 minutes and 16 seconds
The last game is Grab Sandbag, where they leap off of a small platform over a gap in space to grab a huge punching bag, yelling a randomly selected phrase as they do
The lines:
Namjoon: I want to go back!
Yoongi: Do you happen to like me?
Hoseok: Glass of Maldives at mojito (this is what the translation says and I thought it was wrong but based on my limited understanding of Korean it is correct)
Jimin: I’ll wait in the future!
Taehyung: That’s a cowardly excuse!
Jin: Does it make you unburdened for taking everything away
Jungkook: Am I shaking?
Namjoon goes first, and he has to climb up the side of a pole using ladder rungs like a video game and it is soooooo tall it’s like fucking Bloodborne (or Metal Gear Solid, if that’s your thing) in here
Namjoon announces that it makes sense that the least athletic people should go first
Jimin is kind of terrified of how big he is when he reaches the top; based on how tall Namjoon is he’s probably 20 feet up
Namjoon breathes out deeply, then screams before leaping across the chasm and gripping the bag tightly; he yells his catch phrase in a very high pitched voice
When he gets to the ground he is suddenly the zen master of this leaping exercise, saying how it’s a sign that he needs to face his fears and overcome obstacles
Yoonjin, in unison, are like omg stfu just because you did it once…
Jimin says confidently that he thinks they can all do it
Jin tries the jump from the ground and doesn’t reach the bag, discouraging himself
Jimin encourages him by saying that jumping from up high is really different, and that’s true because there is more distance to travel since you just have to get your arms to the bag, not your feet, and Jimin wasn’t class president for nothing
The producers add a wrinkle that if the sandbag is moved to the farthest point away (it wasn’t for Namjoon’s turn) then the person gets 2 points for success
This neatly coincides with Jungkook’s turn
Jungkook climbs the ladder, moves it out to the end, and jumps for it like he has done this every single day of his life since he was born
However he forgets to say his line in the exhilaration of leaping, and when he lands on the ground his face is that specific blank he gets when he’s upset with the universe for failing him
Jin goes next and eases his way out onto the platform like a squirrel clinging to a tree, complete with nervous head jerks anytime something moves
Jin is shaking like a leaf on the platform, and when the staff asks him if he’s ready he says No
However when the time comes he leaps beautifully and says his line, though he didn’t put the bag at the farthest point
Jimin is next, and he is not at all worried as he scampers up; he sets the bag to the farthest point and leans forward like a hurdles runner
Jimin then begins doing some kind of newscaster announcement for himself, which might be a reference to something that happens frequently in Korean competitions, screams loudly, and leaps
He catches the bag easily, hugging it tight, and yells his phrase to the world
Hoseok’s turn, and he’s not too freaked out when he climbs the ladder but when he reaches the platform he doesn’t know how to turn around
Hoseok then makes the mistake of looking down and his eyes bug out a little bit
However he does a calm meditation moment, centering himself in his core, and leaps with his body entirely spread out to grab the bag and yell his line; however he gets the line wrong and falls before he can finish it
Taehyung has to go, and is back to his totally silent persona as he climbs and stares out at the bag
Jimin tries to get him to yell out his fear but he is seriously zoned out, double-checking that the bag was pulled as close as possible to the platform
Taehyung finally does a yell to psych himself up, but instead of jumping he just yells and yells without moving until he sort of half goes for it and almost falls off of the platform
He’s shaking even more than Jin at this point, and the rest of the members are laughing but sympathetic to his terror
The editors once again highlight this as a moment for us with very dramatic music, and Taehyung doesn’t leap so much as tilt off of the platform with his arms above his head, missing the sandbag almost completely
He’s lowered to the ground where he kneels on all fours, defeated as he wheezes in laughter
Everyone else is cracking up around him, and as Yoongi would say he did make the show good
Yoongi goes last and does his own theme music as he climbs the ladder
Taehyung, on the ground, plaintively says it really was so scary, and Jungkook comforts him that ARMY will love it
Yoongi can’t believe he’s still climbing this stupid ladder
Jimin helpfully points out that Yoongi’s legs are shaking when he stands on the ladder
Namjoon encourages him to yell out as loud as he can
Yoongi mostly yells about how it’s really scary, hey, it really is, hey!
Eventually he shrieks and goes for it, making it to the bag and saying his line before he cry-screams again and lets go
At the wrap up, Hoseok asks how it was for everyone and, without waiting for an answer, says that he’s losing many of his fears via Run BTS forcing him to confront them over and over again in entertainment format
Jin says he discovered a new part of athleticism; Hoseok asks which one and Jin does not have an answer for this
It’s worth noting that Jin looks soooooooo hot at this point thanks to his sweating experience and very long neck that it’s really distracting
Namjoon points out that they still have one more fun experience, which is torturing whoever lost today, confident that it won’t be him
The final results are revealed, namely: Jimin (17), Namjoon (14), Jin (9), Jungkook (8), Yoongi (6), Taehyung (5), Hoseok (3)
Jungkook was really screwed over by his inability to count money under pressure, as the points for that game basically launched you to the podium
If the producers took notes from me I would suggest that there be a sliding points scale based on the time on the ropes course, because it’s kind of crazy that Jungkook finished in 25% of Jin’s time but still came behind him
The producers do not take notes from me
Jimin actually crushed every single game though, so he was going to win no matter what; Jungkook was right that he’s a dark horse in these athletic competition
Hoseok has traded in one dorky looking helmet for another, as this one is bright yellow and has a water container on top with eight red spokes coming out of it; one of the red spokes releases the water onto his noggin, so each member will pick one and see if he gets soaked
Hoseok gives the final announcement of “Run BTS will continue” with a smile and a demeanor that suggests military precision
We see a montage of each member pulling a rod out and nothing happening, with Hoseok screaming happily and calling himself a lucky guy
By the time five of them have gone and three rods are left, he’s still not wet, and he turns to the producers incredulously and asks if he’s safe
Jin still hasn’t gone, but even after his pull Hoseok is dry as a bone
Hoseok does a dumb little dance all around the gym, which provokes the rest of them, who are now convinced this fucking hat is broken
Namjoon pulls the last two out over Hoseok’s protests, and the last one does indeed release its water on Hoseok’s head
Hoseok makes a face like a peaceful Madonna in a painting and gives his closing words as the rest of them laugh, and we’re out!
The Finish Line:
This was a very wholesome episode, and one of my favorites if you can’t tell from the length! It’s just the seven of them doing vaguely athletic daredevil activities and laughing at each other, and that’s the sort of shit I live for!
In this one I found it very striking how they all mock and encourage each other as befits the moment. Jungkook, who is good at everything, gets nothing but loving praise from all of his hyungs even though he’s whooping their asses. Jin, who is struggling mightily with the boundaries of the rope course, gets absolutely no reprieve from their barbs and doesn’t mind at all. Taehyung and Hoseok, the most scared of them all, similarly get nothing but warmth except for the moments where they can’t help but laugh.
They really do all behave as a lovely familial unit, each of them so attuned to the rest and finding ways to have fun while not being cruel, and this is a great example of it. Bless them all, and I’m proud of them for facing their fears as well as they possibly could. Onto the next one!
I can hear their voices so clearly here. It's like coming home.