This episode kicks off an unprecedented 4 part series of Run BTS, because it takes place partially in the real world and that means that chaos reigns and their inner demons are let out to play in a way that creates a lot of footage. Released from the bonds of the Big Hit studios and rented-out parks, they will journey by van to a vacation house and do activities for our amusement.
This house is the same house they later use for that episode where they all create a film have movie set jobs, so it must belong to an exec or something.
Setup:
BTS are going on a short trip together, and the production team have given them a schedule to follow which is their first mistake. They’re also gave them all matching white long-sleeved shirts, just like the MT episode, but this time the printed picture is of Taehyung when he climbed the mountain with Namjoon wearing so many winter clothes he looks like a grubby hillman.
The Moments of Pure Love:
The first shot we get is of Jungkook in one of his smooth round head hairstyles wearing enormous circular glasses around his enormous eyeballs and saying “Run BTS!”
All of them are riding in a passenger van / small bus, as follows:
Hoseok and Namjoon in the back
Jungkook in front of Hoseok, Jin and Taehyung squeezed into a seat in front of Namjoon
Yoongi and Jimin squeezed into a seat in front of Taejin
Hoseok asks where they are to make sure the production team can explain the concept
Jimin points out that their clothes are unique, mostly so he can say the word grubby a lot
Many of them have customized their shirts by drawing on Taehyung’s face with black sharpie for even more facial hair and / or tears; Jungkook, Jin, and Hoseok are among those brave few
They run down their schedule for this trip, laid out in a wheel fashion
Start driving
Shop for groceries
Arrive
Play badminton (this gets Jungkook hype)
Board game
Free time
Write letters
Dinner
Singing contest
Campfire
Sleep
During the drive they also have to play games on the bus because what kind of show do you think we are running here, we have limited content creation time
The reward for these games are snacks because you also don’t eat on Run BTS unless the producers will it
Yoongi draws a paper to see what the first snack is, and they’re all rooting for dried squid but it comes up gummy bears, which they’re very disappointed about
The game is Cham Cham Cham, and after a brief struggle for who doesn’t want to do it least, Hoseok and Jungkook decide to try out
Hoseok asks if they believe in him, and Jimin says no
Hoseok demands that they say “fighting” to him, and they do dispiritedly
Hoseok goes in hard and overly energetic and wins easily
Jin tells Jungkook that he wants to eat gummy bears to motivate him; it works as it always will
Jimin is excited they’re batting a hundred, and Hoseok is like “this could be the last thing we win for the rest of our lives”
Yoongi picks again, dried squid again fervently wished for, but when it’s fried chicken the van air becomes thick with longing
The game is for a staff person to touch a Bangtan and they have to guess which finger it was that touched them, which everyone agrees is too difficult to support their chicken dreams
Yoongi goes first, and he closes his eyes while a hand touches the back of his neck for a picosecond, and he is dumbfounded at how he’s supposed to guess
Hoseok comforts him that he’s got a 20% chance no matter what
Taejin touch each other lightly on the head and hand with different fingers to see how it feels
Yoongi gives a speech about how it felt, stalling, until he goes with ring finger because the pressure was gentle; it was the index finger
The rest of them say he should have known because only the index finger is dexterous enough to control into gentle pressure
Yoongi calls this nonsense
Jimin goes next, and when he’s touched he flinches because he’s very ticklish
Hoseok says he has to get it right
Jimin says it’s not the thumb or pinky
He guesses the index finger in a sort of metagame situation and he is wrong
Jungkook laments for the all the chicken he will never have
Taehyung, kind of interested to know if he’s the one true finger knower, smiles and says he wants to try
Yoongi says that they all underestimate how hard it is
Jin says he can feel the spirit of the chicken
Jungkook is the spirit of the chicken, as he stares with his whole face at Taehyung and wills him to get it right
Taehyung guesses the pinky correctly right away
BTS can’t believe that he really is the one true finger knower, but Taehyung always knew he had the power within him
Taehyung shares his fried chicken out with the group, and the van is happy once more
Yoongi draws beverages next, which they’re pleased about after the chicken
Jungkook decides it’s time to open his eyes very wide and stare directly into the camera that’s providing coverage of his seat
The beverage game is say nonsense, which they’re all very bad at, though that’s mostly because they’re usually playing competitively and everyone argues that the things they say make sense so maybe in a cooperative situation they’ll let things slide
Jungkook, mouth absolutely full of chicken, volunteers Jimin to answer, and Jimin accepts the call
Hoseok, unable to stop himself, questions if one of the answers Jimin said actually does make sense (What’s 1+1? Dangerous)
Jimin wheels around and tries to hit him from 2 rows away because this is supposed to be cooperative
Hoseok, abashed, apologizes for forgetting
Namjoon, unable to stop himself even more, begins arguing from the back of the bus that another answer could have been not nonsense
Jimin despairs at the lot of them for being as pedantic as they are, and he’s given the victory
Jin, when he sees that the beverage is Coke, gets so hype that he’s willing to go in himself, saying he will be amazing
After Jin’s third answer the whole bus comes down on him for it making too much sense
Jin argues passionately that it does, before interrupting the middle of his own argument to say that in the nonsense game you can’t answer the question with a question, which he did
Jungkook seconds this, and Jin apologizes for his failure
Jungkook, invigorated, calls out urgently and dramatically for more chicken, which Jimin supplies him
Taehyung demands a piece, even more dramatically
Jimin, sensing the opportunity to be a hero, volunteers to try the nonsense game challenge again
Jimin takes the opportunity to announce that BTS won an award and will come back soon with a mini-album with their hair dyed black
Taehyung corrects him to say that it’s a full album, because this must be right before the Love Yourself: Tear era
Yoongi says that Jimin is so good at nonsense
Hoseok is genuinely impressed at the people who can simply choose not to answer a question that was asked to them
Yoongi draws hard boiled eggs, and the game is “guess who clapped”
Jin nominates Namjoon to play, even though Namjoon says the back of the bus is too far away
Hoseok, right next to him, says that there must be a reason that Namjoon has chased music for decades, so he should do it
Yoongi objects at the use of “decades” when Namjoon is only 25 years old
Hoseok rolls right past this objection and commands Namjoon to lower his head; he does obediently
Someone claps, and Yoonjin, who were staring at the person who did it, both think this is easy
Namjoon guesses the director, correctly, and they all applaud him for his excellent ears
Jungkook in particular is deep in the part of his heart that is reserved for Kim Namjoon, especially when he is handed an egg to eat
Yoongi quietly says he likes eggs but they’re hard to peel; Jimin offers to peel it for him, just as quietly, and Yoongi accepts
Meanwhile the back of the bus has decided that they will crack them by whacking them on someone’s head, deciding who that is via RPS
Jungkook, Hoseok, Jin, and Taehyung all stick their hands in to compete
Namjoon also puts his hand in but realizes quickly that none of them are paying attention to him so withdraws it to eat his egg in peace
Taehyung and Hoseok win quickly, leaving Jinkook to duke it out
Jungkook wails that he’s not good at RPS
Jin readies the egg on his lap to smash as soon as the loser is decided
Jungkook fails, and Jin immediately smacks him on the crown of the head with his egg
Jungkook winces every time an egg hits him, Taejin going in hard
Hoseok tries to be gentle but then ends up having to hit him multiple times, defeating the purpose
Yoongi, in the front, busts out the factoid that no matter how hard you squeeze a hard-boiled egg it won’t break
This is patently ridiculous, but BTS is nothing if not gullible
Jungkook sticks his thumb directly into his hard-boiled egg
Yoongi clarifies that is has to be with the fist
Jin squeezes the life out of his egg and squirts the innards all over his hand; he cries out in agony
Yoongi looks at him with a mixture of glee and pity as Hoseok laughs
Yoongi draws dried squid, eliciting joy from the crowd, along with the Timing Game
Jimin is still patiently peeling Yoongi’s egg; when he’s finished he hands it over, and Yoongi scolds him for saying it was easy when it took so long
The Timing Game starts, and I’m gonna be honest that I don’t really understand it, but I think the rule is that they have to count up to a number, probably 7, with each of them saying a different number, but if they say it at the same time as the staff or each other they lose
Hoseok immediately loses the first round with the staff on 1
Something happens where BTS feel like the staff jumped the gun in their eagerness to win, and they get loud
Vmin say 1 together on the next round, which is another loss
Taehyung tries to explain how he didn’t hear some part of the rule so it doesn’t count, and he is very earnest about it
Something about his phrasing cracks Yoongi up in the front seat where he’s eating his egg
They decide to blow a whistle for the start so that it’s not the “1” that starts them off
Next round they make it to 5 until they lose for a mysterious reason, possibly Hoseok saying it with the director
They argue for a last round, and Namgi say 1 at the same time
Yoongi screams like he’s been stabbed in the kidney for a very long time
Jin argues that they need another round because Jungkook never got to say a number
Jungkook, startled, looks over at Jin and says that he did say one
Jin shushes him urgently, and they play another round
They get all the way up to 7, where Taehyung and the staff have a heated staring battle, and then BTS lose somehow
Yoongi draws chips, and they have to play the game where they get two characters and have to name words with them
Hoseok announces that Yoongi got a 95% in his Korean language class
Yoongi wants to know what that has to do with anything at all
Jimin volunteers for the front rows to start
The first symbols are ㅇㅇ, and they all have to say a word that starts with it
Taehyung has a brief moment of panic when he uses an onomatopoeia for “ouch”, but Jin feeds him a secondary word
Jin then says the word Yoongi said, so Taehyung feeds him a word back in this instance of Bangtans helping Bangtans
They all “succeed”, or enough for this, and the chips arrive
Jungkook chews his chips and stares vacantly into space
Yoonmin chew their chips and stare directly into camera
The last snack is kimbap, though the staff up it to gimbap and the lost squid, because they’re soft touches and also they brought all this squid
The game is RPS minus one, which is where you throw two hands of RPS then take one away strategically and see who wins, adding a little extra psychological component that only Koreans can truly master
Yoongi goes first and loses immediately, screaming like his other kidney is also perforated
Jinkook practice with each other until Jungkook understands the game
Jimin goes next, and the staff member fully lets him win because Jimin throws two papers for some reason, and the staff member puts forward his rock
Yoonjin complain that this is blatant Jimin favoritism
The staff, sensing unrest, change this from an individual reward game to a group, where if 3 members win everyone get the kimbap and squid
Taehyung goes a couple of rounds, using his most penetrating stare, but loses
Jin claims to be the god of RPS minus one, so Jungkook says his disciple (Jungkook) will go first
Jinkook rub their hands together ridiculously because Jungkook has learned from Jin that this helps him win
Jin, somewhat surprised, says he did not teach him this
Jungkook loses
Hoseok tries to negotiate for just one of them winning, but the outlook seems bleak
Jin, in superhero mode, says he will encourage them all after he shows them how it’s done
Jin loses
They have Jimin go again because the staff member kind of fucked up, and Jimin tries to do some seductive faces to curry favor
Jimin wins
Yoongi, next to him, is like “they still let you win you demon”
Namjoon loses instantly
They’re now out of the running for prizes, but Hoseok says if he wins he should get kimbap
Jin argues for the squid instead, because they’re craving it
Hoseok wins, much to his own delight
Jinmin are pretty sure that the staff member just took pity on all of them, and they dislike this Pyrrhic victory
They still eat their squid, because they’re no fools
Next up is grocery shopping, where they have a 10kg weight limit of what they can buy
This grocery store (which seems sort of like a cross between a gas station and a corner market) is a real place with potentially real people inside of it, so anything could happen
As they entire, Jin is drinking chocolate milk out of a box with a push-in straw like an elementary schooler
They try to decide what to buy as a group, which is a real shitshow all around, and while all of them have opinions and suggestions it roughly breaks out into the following responsibilities:
Hoseok: Pushes the cart / spokesman
Jimin: Mental checklist maintainer
Jin: Stand-up comedy
Yoongi: Actually shops
Namjoon: Pushes the cart / compliments Yoongi
Taehyung: Errand boy
Jungkook: Meat evaluation
Hoseok suggests espresso, since they learned how to make it, and Jin makes fun of him and his brownnosing about past Run activities
Jin quizzes him, asking what’s on top of the coffee (crema), then self-guesses magma and stigma because he can’t remember
They make it to the meat counter to get some pork belly, and Koobi do the talking, which nets them 2.1kg of meat plus an extra free chunk because the guy likes them
Hoseok shouts happily in the guy’s face
Taehyung’s eyes are roundly terrified behind him for no real reason
Taehyung yells for shrimps
Jin yells for ice cream
Jin tries to sneak a package of beef brisket in the cart while Namjoon twirls it away from him like an eternal ballerina
Jin thinks it’s delicious; Namjoon thinks it’s too heavily
Hoseok comes in with the compromise that Jin can put it in but they’ll take it out if it’s too heavy
Yoongi, on task, gets salt for the meat
Taehyung shops for fireworks, which is probably fine
They decide against beverages, which are heavy and they can win from games, but go for rice puffs, which are very light
At the scale they suddenly realize they’re in a real pickle as they have to ruthlessly cut things for weight
The producers do them a kindness and say the free meat they got at the counter will not go towards their 10kg total
Namjoon urges them all to make reasonable choices
Jungkook negotiates for one less rice so they can add more things, because if there’s one thing he takes seriously it’s food
Once they’re done, everything they couldn’t buy goes in a basket for game rewards
Hoseok, on the way out, suddenly gets a hankering for ice cream that spreads to the rest of the group
When the director asks what they’ll do for the ice cream, Jungkook offers Jin as barter
He tries to trade away Jin’s dinner, but they settle on Jin walking the rest of the way, which is like 8 kilometers???
Jin agrees as long as two staff people go with him
Hoseok, cautiously, asks if it’s an uphill journey - it is
Jin, suddenly, is like wait a second why am I the one doing this????
They start in on a potential round of RPS until Jin, reversing himself, says he wants to walk so he’ll do it
Hoseok asks who will go with Jin, in a manner that suggests it’s not gonna be him
Jimin, the king of support, says he will also battle and go with Jin if he loses
Jin, despite a close match, loses the game and everyone is sad
Jimin comes in much more dramatically, full of tricks, and also loses
Bangtan decide there will be one more challenger, and that challenger is Jungkook, because he’s the one who got them into all of this
Jungkook is like wait a second, is this the consequences of my actions
Hoseok gives him a backrub to pep him up
Jungkook again gets in a tight match, and Jimin is so annoyed that this staff person is so good at RPS
Jungkook takes it, meaning that they all get ice cream but Jinmin are walking a ridiculous journey to get to the house
I need to stress that none of this was something the staff asked them to do, and was entirely created by Hoseok wanting ice cream and Jungkook bartering Jin’s life for it
Namjoon welcomes them to the mountain climbing club
Taekook dance joyfully with their ice cream
Namjoon recounts, full of awe, how cool Jin was when he said he would walk
They do drive Jinmin to the base of the hill to walk up it, since they don’t actually want to be filming them for 2 hours
Jungkook waves to Jin as he and Jimin get off, a slight expression of guilt on his face
Hoseok eulogizes them from the back of van, thanking them for their sacrifice
Yoongi is mostly excited he can stretch out and take a nap now that Jimin is gone
Jungkook says he feels so empty without them (it’s been less than five minutes), but Hoseok agrees that BTS needs 7
Jungkook helps the editing team by doing a little promo about cutting to how they’re doing
Jinmin take a selfie to start their walk, then see a waterfall
Jin abandons Jimin who keeps taking pictures
Hoseok, worried about Jimin, sends him a supportive text
Jinmin, literally walking on the side of a road, start singing a children’s song to cheer themselves up
Jimin lies on the ground in some leaves for Jin to take pictures of him
Hoseok is still remembering their brave, fallen members, exhorting the rest of them not to forget; Yoonkook are sleeping
Jinmin continue their photo shoots and compliment each other about how good they are at taking them, even though the beauty of their shots are somewhat marred by the Taehyung shirts
The van crew arrives at their vacation house exactly as Jinmin are playing with a dog they found
The van crew move into the house, exclaiming over things like the swimming pool, Halli Galli, the karaoke machine, and the refrigerator with a camera in it
Hoseok reminds them that they need to consult their schedule of activities, which means badminton is up next
Jinmin walk past a cafe and consider purchasing sustenance, but Jin left his credit card in the van
Jimin offers to give Jin a piggyback ride up the steepest last part of the hill, which Jin thinks will be more tiring than just walking but then gets super into it
They swap places halfway up but Jin doesn’t have Jimin’s thighs and is much more grunting and groaning
Jinmin decide to make really obnoxious crow noises as they get closer to the house for reasons passing understanding
Yoongi, inside, swivels his head to the left like a bloodhound and says “Doesn’t that sound like Park Jimin?”
Namjoon is like, it is Jimin, going “gah gah gah”
Yoongi, puzzled, takes a small interval to realize that it’s not a bird that sounds like Jimin but rather Jimin trying to sound like a bird
When Jinmin finally enter the rest of them fall on them like they’ve been apart for 40 years instead of 40 minutes
Jin beelines for the karaoke microphone the better to answer questions about how it was
Jimin reprises his crow impression, and Hoseok demands that Jungkook harmonize with it
Jungkook does, and Hoseok is DELIGHTED
But not for long, because the schedule calls to him, and he gets them moving to their badminton schedule as we’re out!
The Finish Line:
God this episode was so long and full of dumb and wonderful moments that I couldn’t stop typing! This rewatch took me like, twice as long as most of them, but I don’t regret an instance because it filled me with so much joy. All they’re doing is playing games in a van, grocery shopping, and hiking, and yet it’s the best thing I’ve seen all year. How do they do this???? We may never know.
A four part series is kind of an insane one, but the schedule is packed full of activities and I know I will be crying at least once from laughter and once from sentiment if I’m remembering them all correctly. This era must have been so busy for them in every way, so I hope at least some of this was relaxing to them even though it was still work!
Coming up next we will watch them attempt sports (always fun) and cooking (ditto), so we’re on the cusp of greatness yet again. See you there!