Run BTS Rewatch Episode 56: Bangtan Poets' Society

방탄 야유회 4, BTS Short Trip 4

We have reached the last episode of the quatrology (not a word), as BTS’s time in the luxury mountain house comes to a close. A series of episodes that has a lot of foreshadowing of the future In The Soop that hasn’t yet even been envisioned, we really got to stretch out with these guys as they were weird in public, weird in private, bad at sports, good at cooking, and full of penalties they made up entirely on their own. But all things must come to an end, so let’s see how we go out this time.

Setup:

Dinner is over, which means it’s time for karaoke (as always) and poetry readings around a campfire (which is new)! The karaoke competition will end up being done to see who has to clean up the dishes, but the poetry has no winners or losers, unless you count us!

The Moments of Pure Love:

1. Hoseok says that even though he and Jungkook cooked the dinner, they will also submit to this competition

2. Jungkook, looking far less certain of that, agrees reluctantly

3. Jungkook adds that everyone except the winning team should clean up

4. The teams are:

   1. Team A: Namjoon, Jimin, and Taehyung

   2. Team B: Jin and Yoongi

   3. Team C: Hoseok and Jungkook

5. Yoonjin quietly try to decide on a song, with Jin suggesting Emergency Room and Yoongi begging for anything that’s not a ballad

6. Jin begins to serenade him, hoping this will be persuasive, and against all odds it kind of works

7. Hoseok relates an old wives tale that people who sing this song at karaoke end up going to the Emergency Room for real so it’s banned

8. Taejin begin singing it to each other with soulful feeling in their hearts

9. Jimin proposes that they change teams around to align via song taste, but VHope veto this

10. Team A are going first with “Let’s Go On A Trip” which is uptempo

    1. The prop box is back, and Taehyung has found his favorite rainbow colored clown wig and is very happy with it alongside leopard print bowtie

    2. Namjoon has opted for a tiger striped cat ear headband

    3. Jimin has a massive red sequined bowtie for his look

    4. They start out with a hands in and a bunch of really stupid dances that result in Namjoon losing the mic pack out of his clothes

    5. 2seok cannot resist the rhythm of the night and dance like drunk birds as the singers wail

    6. Jungkook runs up to the machine to adjust some setting, possibly to make the music louder, then goes back to his place on the couch to eat snacks and look vaguely embarrassed

    7. Yoongi, who has not moved a muscle since the beginning of this very loud song, just looks embarrassed

    8. Taehyung high kicks his way around the room with his hands behind his back, his eyes wild

    9. Namjoon takes the high note to end the song, kneeling on the floor like he’s in the endzone, then lays on his back like a turtle

    10. Taehyung attempts some b-boying on the floor, and Jimin kneels between them both with his arms out as if to say the prophecy has been fulfilled

    11. They get an 83

11. Jin begs them all to look at Yoongi’s face, which is frozen in a rictus of fear at whatever Jin is going to make him sing because he doesn’t know any of the songs in the book

12. They show a flashback of Jin singing a bunch of classic karaoke songs at him and Yoongi being like I don’t know that one

13. Yoongi realizes that for a music producer he doesn’t go to karaoke enough

14. Team B go next

    1. Hoseok intros the song to say they’re filming in April, but by the time it airs there won’t be cherry blossoms so they’ll sing Cherry Blossom Ending

    2. Hoseok asks them all to put their hands in the air, then he forgets to sing the opening and has to start the song over again

    3. He starts again and he still misses the timing but this time he keeps going despite Jin’s helpless laughter

    4. Hoseok keeps talking into the mic when the song is in the instrumentals, which I imagine isn’t great for the final scoring

    5. He sings like an angel however, and only the fact that Jungkook is his partner stops him from being the best singer of the night

    6. Namjoon decides to do a little scooty dance across the floor and almost bites it on some discarded item from the prop box

    7. Jimin, Namjoon, and Jin all galloping back and forth across the floor with each other like a bunch of dorks

    8. Hoseok and Jungkook exhort everyone to clap during the instrumental section, which they all do, even Yoongi from his cross-legged couch perch

    9. Koobi begin a harmony section that has Namjoon completely tantalized, and everyone but Yoongi gather around them like entranced creatures as they build into the last chorus

    10. Namjoon has a tambourine and is shaking it to within an inch of its life

    11. Taehyung begins trying to seduce Hoseok before he enters into the galloping across the floor crew

    12. Yoongi sits on the couch and frets

    13. Hoseok, never not at a concert, asks them all to clap for him at the end

    14. They get an 81

15. Jungkook realizes they’re going to have to clean up after doing all of the cooking

16. Yoongi pads up to the front and says he doesn’t know any karaoke songs but they’re going to do Travel To Me

    1. Jin has donned the rainbow colored clown wig

    2. Yoongi has the cat ear headband

    3. Namjoon, in the audience, has decided it’s his destiny to wear a headband with a huge sparkly yellow bow

    4. The music starts with some unrelated intro and Yoongi feels fear strike his heart as he has no idea what the song is

    5. Once the actual song kicks in, which is sort of like a vague pop punk sound, he screams into the microphone at a pitch that could shatter glass

    6. Everyone head bangs fervently except for Jungkook who can’t take part in something so millennial

    7. Taehyung is dancing his heart out directly in the camera shot and Yoongi is basically impossible to see

    8. At the chorus everyone jumps up and down with very small hops, in Namjoon case travelling across the room enthusiastically

    9. Jimin can’t handle Namjoon’s entire vibe right now and can’t stop laughing

    10. Hoseok has found another tambourine and gets on the couch to go nuts

    11. Jin cannot keep the wig on his head and has to grip it like he’s in a strong wind

    12. It’s at this point I realize that most of them have been acting out the lyrics with their dancing and I’m now on Jungkook’s side, though he’s bouncing around gamely

    13. Jin calls for dance time, and he begins a violent sort of mating dance that Jimin has to flee from

    14. Yoongi comes in for his patented crouch and arm wiggle

    15. Taehyung sinks to the floor to do the air guitar solo, his white baseball cap turned to the side for authenticity

    16. Yoongi continues to sing his little heart out, Jin coming in for the glory notes

    17. Taehyung collapses onto the couch, spent

    18. They get a 97

17. Yoonjin are in disbelief, but pleased they don’t have to clean

18. Jimin wants to sing Superman with Jungkook

19. Hoseok says they’re too tired and should wait

20. Jimin turns on Superman

21. Hoseok, along with Jin, Taehyung, and Jimin, start doing the running man around the room

22. Hoseok travels into the stairwell to throw ass

23. Namjoon stands in the middle of the room and stares at them in bewilderment

24. Jungkook is not going to sing but Jin takes up the mantle of karaoke in his absence

25. Yoonkook watch them from the couch, entranced

26. Taehyung puts the clown wig on again to do some hype dance steps

27. Hoseok has been reduced to exhausted side steps in the back but he can’t bring himself to leave so he collapses in a chair next to Jungkook

28. Namjoon joins the couch crew while the other three continue their encore

29. Taehyung takes the microphone from a spent Jin, who is now on his own couch, drained

30. Vmin stop singing to come join him, but Jin cannot handle this silence and gets his second wind

31. Jimin and Namjoon are enticed into the dance break, where Namjoon loses his mic pack again and stomps it into many pieces; his face shows fear as he looks at the production team

32. This ends the karaoke in its tracks

33. The production team, magnanimous and grateful for the footage, say they will clean up while Bangtan eats ice cream and finishes their poems

34. Yoongi says he will do his poem before he indulges in ice cream

35. Jungkook eats his ice cream first, then sits on the couch and asks Hoseok how lines in poems end

36. Jimin also joins the writing session as Hoseok serenades them into the karaoke mic with an original song about how everyone else is done and you shouldn’t procrastinate

37. Yoongi has gone to his room to sit at the TV stand and stare at the wall blankly until he pulls out his notes app for inspiration

38. They cut to a campfire and the seven of them ringed around it, and we recall from their MT thing that this is apparently a common school activity in Korea

39. They’re startled by the size of the fire, though Jungkook says he saw one this big when he was in elementary school, drawing it above his head cutely

40. Hoseok says that for retreats the fires are usually bonfires

41. As reading time approaches, Jimin loses his shit with nerves and starts stamping on the ground rapidly to eject them, then stands up and spins in pointless circles

42. Jimin wants to throw his poem in the fire, and Namjoon says it’s not too late

43. Jimin begins punching the air, needing all of his limbs involved

44. Taehyung fans himself with his poem and represses all emotion

45. Hoseok says it might be embarrassing but this is currently their jobs so they should suck it up and be sincere

46. They try to decide order, with Jimin wanting to rip the band-aid off

    1. Jungkook suggests he and Jin play RPS and the winner goes first then going by age

    2. Jin, once again, is like how did I get involved in this

    3. Hoseok says he’s in the middle no matter what, except that he’s not because Namjoon is the middle, but they don’t figure that out yet

    4. Jungkook wins, and he’s like wait a second I didn’t realize I would go first, even though that was the whole idea

47. Jungkook’s turn starts with an announcement that he’s embarrassed, and a truly weird, strained laugh that makes them all embarrassed too

48. Jimin has to stand up again to get out his nerves

49. Hoseok says they should stand to read their poems

    1. Everyone is against this, for nerves, comfort, and the physical shakiness of their legs

    2. Hoseok said the director asked them to stand so they’re going to stand

50. Jungkook stands to begin reciting, sighs, and screams a laugh as everyone else cracks up

    1. Yoongi smiles at him with a look of such sweet fondness that you will cry

    2. Jungkook reads the title, “Gold”, and Jihope giggle and lean into each other like schoolgirls

    3. Namjoon mishears it as Refund, and Jungkook has to clarify while the rest of them are like what kind of poem title is Refund

    4. Here is the entirety of the poem:

       When my mother had me, she dreamed about golden rain

       Wherever the rain goes, things turn into gold; I could not do anything

       I met you in the golden time

       I find myself starting to shine

       At first I was gold

       I looked around after some time, and everything around me turned into gold

       I don’t want to lose this precious light

    5. Jin, Hoseok, and Jimin are very impressed with this entire poem, and think he is a master of poetry

    6. Jungkook sits down and thinks about evaporation

51. Taehyung is next, and he announces that while he talks to them in the poem he didn’t use hyung because it sounded awkward, and he begs their forgiveness

    1. Namjin agree that they’re fine with that

    2. The title is “It’s No Big Deal”:

       Seokjin

       Don’t be mad when you make a mistake while dancing

       It’s no big deal

       You don’t have to make the same mistake

       Cheer up, cheer up

       Namjoon

       Don’t panic after blowing a kiss

       It’s no big deal

       Your blowing a kiss makes a lot of ARMY’s hearts pound

       Pound pound

       Yoongi

       You want to be a stone in your next life, but don’t worry

       It’s no big deal

       I’ll bring you to a lot of beautiful places

       Stone stone

       Hoseok

       You give us a scary look when we make a mistake on stage; don’t do that

       It’s no big deal

       A slip of a wise man - everyone makes mistakes, so understand it with a warm smile

       Boing boing

       Jimin

       Because of a diet and singing out of tune, or making a mistake on stage, don’t be stressed out

       It’s no big deal

       No matter what you do on stage, it won’t change the fact that you’re the coolest performer I’ve ever seen

       Gasp gasp

       Jungkook

       Stop exercising to tease us more

       It’s no big deal

       The more you act cute, the cuter you look; you’re not cute anymore

       Goo goo

    3. Jimin is annoyed at the blatant Yoongi favoritism in the middle of the poem, though he’s completely won over by his section, repeating “it’s no big deal!”

    4. Hoseok loves the onomatopoeias at the end of all of the lines and anxiously awaits them all

    5. Jungkook thinks it’s hilarious that Taehyung thinks he works out too much

    6. Everyone is really impressed with the effort and structure, Yoongi saying that it sounded like a real poem

52. Namjoon is now anticipating Jin’s poem heavily, and Jin’s eyes are full of regret for his past choices

53. Jimin is next, and he’s wearing a blazer, which Namjoon finds very fitting for a poetry reading

    1. Jimin says the title, “To Be Together”, but he can’t say it with a straight face and collapses into Hoseok

    2. Yoongi’s like, we didn’t even say anything bro! so Jimin begins

       To be together is very hard

       To meet a stranger, to meet different people

       I worry if I will make a mistake, or what might be wrong with someone else

       To be together is so hard, it seems

       But without them I feel empty

       When I’m happy, sad, or want to be comforted, to my surprise they come to my mind

       Those who were with me then are with me now as an “us”, and I’m grateful

       We’ve started to share small things together

       I hope they stay healthy and don’t get hurt

       Today again we are together as night falls

       I think that’s what being together is like

    3. A few eyes are slightly shiny as Jimin reads this, especially Jin

    4. When it’s done, Namjoon said he loves this one the most so far, and Jimin’s face is so bright and pleased it looks like the sun itself as he gives Namjoon a hug

    5. Hoseok says it was one that was easy to understand and very sincere

54. Jungkook, excitedly, says it’s Namjoon’s turn

55. Hoseok, dismayed, realizes he has to go after Namjoon, who has been writing poetry since birth

56. Namjoon disclaims that it’s not as serious as they might be worried about, but Hoseok’s face doesn’t believe a word of this

57. Namjoon stands up and announces his title, “I ‘Giyeok’” (ㄱ), which is the first letter in the Korean alphabet and also the word memory, so I might call it “First Memories”

    I remember Taehyung’s half buzz-cut

    Jungkook’s deer-like eyes and stone-washed skinny jeans

    Hoseok’s grey padded jacket

    Yoongi’s blue sweatpants

    When Seokjin wasn’t yet into dad jokes

    Jimin’s thicc body

    I remember

    Our Han River

    Our bikes

    Our G— v-necks

    Our G— chinos

    Our showcase

    Our bulgogi

    Our chairs in the waiting room

    And our blood, sweat, and tears

    All those memories are in the corner of a drawer in my head

    All those memories are like the Korean consonant ㄱ, my precious beginning

    So again today, I remember the firsts

    1. Everyone is fucking blown away by this entire experience, correctly, as it’s not even really translatable

    2. For reference Namjoon censors Gucci himself in the poem which is very funny to me

    3. Hoseok is like fml I don’t want to go next

    4. Seokjin is impressed by the wordplay, thinking they could become a song, and he hasn’t even heard Trivia: Love yet

    5. Taehyung gives Namjon a big ol’ hug

58. Hoseok stands, full of annoyance, and gets ready to recite

    1. He claims that it’s going be a fun poem

    2. Jungkook predicts that it might be a Nieun poem, after the second letter in the Korean alphabet

    3. The title is “Seed”, but can also be translated as the form of address, ssi, used for people you’re not close to - this is sometimes translated as Mr. but I’m just going to leave it as is because it looks weird

       Namjoon-ssi

       Seokjin-ssi

       Yoongi-ssi

       Jimin-ssi

       Taehyung-ssi

       Jungkook-ssi

       And Hoseok-ssi

       These seeds became pretty flowers

       They bring beauty to someone

       They bring joy to someone

       They bring the smell of memories to someone

       Namjoon-ssi

       Seokjin-ssi

       Yoongi-ssi

       Jimin-ssi

       Taehyung-ssi

       Jungkook-ssi

       And Hoseok-ssi

       Like roses when blooming

       Like cherry blossoms when fluttering

       Like morning glories when fading

       Like that beautiful moment

       Let’s stick together

       Seed-love you

    4. Hoseok reads this whole poem with the air of a dramatic hand over his heart, and when he gets to the lines from Magic Shop he starts singing them

    5. There is a point in the middle where they’re all worried the poem will just be their names, though Jin is kind of into it

    6. The filming light goes out in the middle of his recitation, causing some ad libs that I didn’t put above

    7. Jungkook says the poem was just like Hoseok

59. Yoongi stands up to go, but they want to turn the lights back on first so he has to sit down again

    1. Eventually it’s time, and his title is “What A Relief”, though he can’t stop himself from laughing

       It’s already been 5 years since debut

       Just boys with many dreams

       We had nothing, but now we have a lot

       We were only dream, but now we’re someone’s dream

       Life is full of choices and regrets

       I’m scared, and so are we

       We dreamed about flying high in the sky, but it’s too high and too cold

       It’s hard to catch our breaths

       The brighter the lights on us, the darker the shadows

       What a relief that we have seven members

       What a relief that we have each other

    2. Jimin could kiss him as he finishes

    3. Taehyung loved the shadows line, which is good because it becomes the basis for a whole future song

60. Yoongi says it’s time for the finishing touch, but he can’t get it out without laughing

61. Yoongi builds even further, saying what just happened was like an appetizer before the main course that is Jin’s poem

62. Jin is like, no you don’t understand, my poem really fucking sucks

63. Yoongi is like, well, you could write something right now!

64. Hoseok says he’s ready to cry from Jin’s epic poem

65. Jimin says to just do it extemporaneously

66. Jin stands, ready to face his fate, and announces the poem “Run BTS!”

    We worked around the clock, Run BTS! and BTS too

    Everything in the world gets tired

    I want to hope that this is not the moment

    I wanted to go with the flow, but I realize I’m an animal who lives fiercely

    We have become a family

    We were always happy, and achieved anything we wanted together

    But we can’t go against nature

    Looking at myself growing older

    I look back on our dance

    Ah, I’m so tired

    Mr. Seongduk, so many moves are too hard

    I trust you

    Namjoon, fighting

    1. Everyone is a bit perplexed by the journey of this poem

    2. Jimin says it was touching at the beginning but then he started talking about the dances for no reason

    3. Hoseok guesses that Jin worked really hard until the middle and then got tired

    4. Jin admits that he tried super hard for awhile

    5. Yoongi says he was wondering what would come after not going against nature, but he wasn’t expecting that

    6. Jin blames the director for saying it had to be a funny poem since it’s a variety show

    7. Jimin says the director didn’t tell him anything of the sort, and Jin counters that he’s an animal who lives fiercely

67. They applaud for themselves now that they’re finished, and think they did a good job

68. Jimin wants to know what all of their motivations were for their poem

    1. Jungkook explains that everyone calls him gold, and he wanted to say thank you, and tease his album that he will release in 2023 (just kidding he doesn’t say the last part)

    2. Taehyung says he just wants to be a comfort, and it’s no big deal is sometimes all he can say to do that

    3. Jin, while being groomed by Hoseok, says that he knows someday they’re going to get exhausted and quit, but he really doesn’t want it to be now

    4. Hoseok says he thinks that BTS is a bunch of flowers and he loves them for it

    5. Jimin says that he wanted to express his gratitude that they’re together even when it’s hard for them

    6. Yoongi says he put together some of the writing he’s been doing recently, and he’s been thinking a lot about how lucky they are to have each other

    7. Namjoon doesn’t get to talk about his until Jihope have made a ㄱ with their bodies fully bent, then says that people say a lot that the past is gone and the present is now, but he’s been thinking about past and trying to find meaning in it as a mindfulness practice

    8. Namjoon adds that they used to think they were so cool to wear Gucci, and now they’re here, and it’s comforting to realize that past existed

69. Jimin concludes that he almost died of embarrassment through that whole process and now he’s ready to burn his poem in the fire

70. Before they end season 2 and go on a pause, they nominate Namjoon to talk to us directly, and here in 2024 I get some PTSD-style flashbacks to when they announced their Chapter 2 and it sounded like they were disbanding

71. Namjoon says that Run BTS was premiered to promote Dope, which is a billion songs ago, and they’re grateful for all of the memories they made on the program

72. However, he assures us it’s coming back, and the only point of having a show like Run BTS is so that we can run along with them to wherever they’re going next

73. They all stand up and hold hands, though not for any real purpose, until Jimin suggests that they jump into Season 3 together

74. Namjoon gives another short speech, and they jump, and even though for us it will only be clicking to the next episode at the time it felt like a billion years until we would see them again and it was very hard

75. It’s important to note that Namjoon falls over after they jump

76. It’s also important to note that Jin says that even after 10 years as BTS they won’t stop being like this, and he is 1000000% correct as we are out!

The Finish Line:

Ugh, I’m a little teary again even here in 2024. I miss them! I miss them a lot! These poems were ridiculously affecting at the time, and they still are even to this day. Yoongi’s in particular really got to me, though on this pass Jimin’s was also just like… so much. It is hard to be together, but what a relief that they are.

We also know now, though we didn’t then, that this was around the time they were thinking seriously about disbandment. They wrote Outro: Tear, they were under enormous pressure all of the time because of their new US success with DNA, and they felt very alone within all of it. We’ve probably heard as much as they’re ever going to share about what happened then, but it’s not hard to watch an episode like this and see a somewhat fatalistic thread moving through it especially in the hyung line.

I’m very grateful that they found a way to feel comfortable with renewing, that they drew better boundaries for themselves, that we're here now waiting for them to come back as much as they’re waiting to come back to each other. Not only because of the songs we got (imagine if we’d never gotten Black Swan????) and the future Run episodes they filmed but because BTS is a group of people who have brought a lot of joy to a lot of people, and they’re still doing it to this day.

So write a poem to BTS in your hearts, and in the blink of an eye will be in Season 3. See you there!