And so the circus continues: the South Korean variety show “Running Man” coasts leisurely towards its 14th anniversary. I’m not sure that most of the artists that gathered on that rooftop on that rainy summer’s evening quite expected to be doing this almost a decade ago, but here we are, and if nothing else, it’s an achievement to respect.
When we last checked in with the bunch, they were angrily playing futsal, desperately trying to relive past glories, and generally munching their way through the restaurants of Seoul. It made for occasionally entertaining viewing, but there were too many instances where the show felt like it was treading water, trying desperately to recycle ideas that had seemed like they’d worked. Would this continue into the summer? Only one way to find out…
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Episode 703/5 May
Guest: Kwon Eun-bi (singer and actress)
Next stop on our “do a retread of proven hits”, a 2-for-1: the return of the exhilarating “go-stop” race from 2022, and the wild spirit that is Kwon Eun-bi comes back for another round. There is no doubt that the latter is extremely good at doing variety shows: her antics throughout this episode made her unquestionably the funniest guest we’ve had for a while. And it is perhaps because of her electric energy that the other six (especially Jaesuk) give it a good go as well — I slapped the couch giggling so many times watching the “relaxation therapy” bit (or is it the “poo face” bit?). Yes there was a bit of a slow start, what with the repetition of the choice between the funicular and the hike as well as the short edit of the shower game; but the last half-hour was one of those vanishingly rare occasions in 2020s Running Man, the return of the most enjoyable thing of all — a funny and thrilling segment.
Grade: B+
MVP: Kwon Eun-bi
Episode 704/12 May
Guest: Byeon Woo-seok (actor)
A man with a TV show to promote. A recycled concept. Like the jjajangmyeon they had in the beginning of the show, this is all something we’ve seen before. Sure, this week’s guest Byeon Woo-seok is up for a bit of tomfoolery and acquits himself rather well in games, but there’s not much else to talk about in this episode — they have a couple of good skits (particularly the ones in the beginning), have a bit of pleasant banter, but otherwise there isn’t much else to recommend here. The emoting game got tiring quickly, and so too did Haha’s fawning over Woo-seok. At least there was good food on the table to gawk at.
Grade: C+
MVP: Yoo Jae-seok (the man bit into an orange, for Christ’s sake)
Episode 705/19 May
Guests: Yujin and Rei (members of girl group IVE)
How does this keep happening? It should be easy enough: you get some world-famous stars on the show, you have them do things that they aren’t used to and try to wring some laughs out of them behaving normally. But Yujin and Rei of IVE were VERY much in their comfort zone during this episode: throwing out the occasional quip, getting exasperated by the cast members’ (feeble) antics, and then dazzling them with (gosh!) how well they fit the clothes they were trying out. There wasn’t much that was different from a normal episode of Running Man — eating, shopping for clothes, sitting around and bickering lightly in a studio. All of this might pass muster with just the regular cast, but when you’ve got such charismatic guests, it’s a sad waste.
Grade: C-
MVP: Rei (a close thing too, sometimes her flippancy tips slightly into outright rudeness)
Episode 706/26 May
Change to cast: Kang Hoon JOINS
Guests: none
And then there were seven again.
The last time Running Man introduced new members, it was 2017 and they celebrated by hoisting Somin and Sechan into the air while forcing them to bully the cast members. This time round the action is much more subtle, much more casual in its approach to initiation — by which I mean they act as if nothing has happened and shoot a run-of-the-mill episode of the show (as it is in 2024). The elements are all there: the multiple restaurant visitations, the randomised financial penalties, the sometimes-forced jocularity. Perhaps this is deliberate, perhaps this is an effort to make Kang Hoon feel like he’s already part of the normal crew; either way, it’s a pleasant enough episode to spend a Monday evening to, even if you sometimes wish there was an extra gimmick or two.
Grade: B-
MVP: Song Jihyo (if only humans are counted); the seagulls (if all living objects are included)
Episode 707/2 June
Guests: Ji Yea-un (comedian); Park Ju-hyun (actress)
Running Man seems to be finally trying to attract a younger viewership these days: first we had Kang Hoon, and now we have two relatively fresh-faced artistes who feature in things that are reasonably popular (I think, I have no idea how the South Korea mediasphere really works) as guests. And both Ji Yea-un and Park Ju-hyun are not bad at fitting into the show: certainly Yea-un knew how to start up a romantic subplot, even if it seemed to taper off by the end. Whether it had any effect on the cast is, on the other hand, debatable; Jaesuk may have played the first couple of games with almost inexhaustible energy, but towards the end I noted a dampening of enthusiasm — which given that it was supposed to be tailored to Kang Hoon’s signature funny move, was perhaps a bit disappointing. Still, solid laughs all round, and a nice little episode to look at.
Grade: B
MVP: Kang Hoon
Episode 708/9 June
Guests: Hwang Hee-chan (footballer for Wolverhampton Wanderers), Jang Hyuk (actor), Heo Kyung-hwan, Kang Jae-joon (comedians), ZICO (singer from lock B), Oh Ha-young (singer from Apink)
(you know the drill here)
- Seriously, was the futsal thing THAT popular?
- Did NOT expect the worldwide football star to actually take them up on the offer
- Hee-chan started off slow but seems to picked up a couple of skills on the way
- That said it was idiotic how everybody fell over themselves fawning over Hee-chan — he’s a footballer, for Christ’s sake, not the Messiah reborn (actual quote, from noted pedestal-demolisher Yoo Jae-suk nonetheless: “look, Hwang Hee-chan’s cutting his own meat!”)
- Both my parents, on HaHa: “does he only exist to suck up to celebrities these days?”
- The problem was that the fawning was 90% of the humour; otherwise it was just a bumbling bunch of people trying and failing to kick football
- Gross mismatch of talents today: the artist ZICO didn’t get a chance to draw, Hee-chan mostly just sat back and reacted — the only one whom I thought acquitted himself well was Kang Jae-joon
- On that note: they might as well have invited just Hee-chan, almost nobody else got a chance to shine today — Hayoung spoke about a couple times and that was it
- Both my parents, on Sukjin: “his incompetence is starting to become annoying”
- Sometimes when Running Man waffles it makes for good television. This was emphatically not one of those days.
Grade: D+
MVP: tempted to say none, but one must Kang Jae-joon’s accidental genius when it appears
Episode 709/16 June
Guests: for part 1, just read the previous entry, I’m not typing all that again/for part 2, Ji Yea-un (comedian and apparent substitute for Kang Hoon)
(part 1)
- Should mention that despite my HEAVY dislike of the fawning last week I do not doubt that Hwang Hee-chan is himself a mensch; he even let Suk-jin have a go
- The concentration on the match meant there was less obsequiousness on show, which made for much happier viewing
- As with last week Kang Jae-joon shows his natural gift for physical comedy
- Give the most improved award to Hayong, she really did her best
- I was not expecting FC Kook to put up that much of a fight, but they did do quite well
- My thoughts on Sukjin are well-known by now
(part 2)
I’ve been somewhat into boardgames lately — something to do with my recent discovery of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres — and I’ve found the whole concept rather fascinating: people going on adventures together, people having to work together, people overcoming all the constraints that are arbitrarily forced upon them. Of course it’s all very old hat for Running Man, a show that made the connection long ago; that said it’s still very nice to see the cast hunker down like this, and the presence of Yea-un and her don’t-give-a-damn attitude (yes, the Somin parallels are obvious and justified) makes this a pleasant if somewhat low-stakes episode — in fact, if I may be so bold, it’s like 2021 all over again.
Grades: B- (part one)/B (part two)
MVP: Hwang Hee-chan (part one)/Ji Yea-un (part two)
Episode 710/23 June
Guests: none
On the one hand, this is very much another of Running Man’s “restaurant-hopping” episodes: once more the cast lazes about in various restaurants, and once more they try to fill 90 minutes with idle chatter. But perhaps it’s because they haven’t done this for a whole month now that it’s not remotely as irritating as it could be: the banter flows easy, the gags unrehearsed, and the increasingly laboured ways with which the members steal each other’s food are genuinely inspired. And there are some games here that feel like a breath of fresh air: the handcuff-unlocking gave us a tense few minutes, and the part where the cast tries to guess Sechan’s horrendously wrong answers made me belly-laugh for such a long time — so it’s an episode that, unlike most restaurant-hopping episodes, does bring something new to the table.
Grade: B
MVP: Yang Sechan
Episode 711/30 June
Guest: Ji Yea-un (apparent substitute for Jonathan Yiombi)
On the face of things this is really just a subtle twist on the “go/stop” motif from earlier this year and before, only now we’ve replaced that dichotomy into one with human faces. That said everyone handled it solidly, even Yea-un (who might as well be their eighth member now), deftly stepping into the role of “lovestruck girl” with aplomb. My problem with this being the central conceit is that it ultimately remained not much more than a gimmick: nothing was made of the difference between the two Jis, and there was plenty of room for them to capitalise on that. Instead, I (and presumably the cameras) found more interest in the saga of Kang Hoon and Sechan screwing each other over, and the sturdy athleticism/sidemanism of Kim Jongkook; they’re not bad, of course, but I did feel it was sidetracking me from some evidently missed potential.
Grade: B-
MVP: Kim Jongkook
Episode 712/7 July
Guests: Ji Yea-un (undeclared eighth member), Nam Ji-hyun (actress), P. O. (rapper and actor)
Every once in a while you get a Running Man episode that’s very clearly split into two halves. I don’t mean the type where they play the denouement of last week’s episode and then go onto the next: I’m referring to the sort where the games or banter between the first and the second half are vastly different in quality, where a rather amusing 45 minutes or an hour is balanced out by a half-hour of deathly boredom; to the point where it feels like two distinct episodes that have been somehow glued together. This is one of those: perhaps those who follow K-dramas will find the first half-hour an interesting one, but I really could not care less about who had done what to a fictional whom, even if Jaesuk sold the bullshit very well. On the other hand, there’s no doubt that the latter hour had the team (and especially the impossibly smooth Kang Hoon) in full flow, and it was very good indeed. Ultimately it all evens out — but I do wish they could be a little more consistent.
Grade: B-
MVP: Kang Hoon
Episode 713/14 July
Guest: Ji Yea-un (basically a cast member now, say so you cowards)
The show reached its 14th anniversary this week, and in many respects, it’s same old same old. The cast was the same as always: the six core members, plus the two lovebirds. The premise was also the same: “some people get to do fun things while some others don’t” is basically the show’s template nowadays. Yet in spite of all this repetition, I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun watching an episode: the improv scene was so hilarious that I found myself literally gasping for breath so many times; Sukjin(‘s character) is very love-to-hate for me, but this time I found his inappropriate non-sequiturs astonishingly endearing and comedic; likewise Jihyo, not normally a person used to thinking quick on her feet, took to this task like a fish in water. It’s very rare that a segment becomes an instant classic, but I’m ready to place my bets here and now: this is a sketch that will make its way into the annals of RM history.
But what made this episode so good was how scenes and jokes just flowed more or less perfectly into one another: the drawing game was very well complemented by the vox pops, the market scene juxtaposed very well with the classic-but-still-amusing “Jongkook finds he’s good at something that’s not stereotypically masculine” bit. By the time they sat down to count RM coins on the sand, I found myself hoping that this show would last more than its allotted 100 minutes — a sentiment I have honestly not felt for a very long time. Nothing in today’s show was able to provide the high-octane thrills of Running Man from 14 years ago — but this episode makes the case that sometimes, high-octane thrills might just be overrated. On to the next 14, then?
Grade: A
MVP: Ji Sukjin
Episode 714/21 July
Guest: Ji Yea-un (honestly though, I’m just glad to see her get work)
This is not the first time Running Man has done an Olympic episode, but the last time they did this was many years ago — a time when the budgeting allowed for huge sets and elaborate games. For Paris 2024 the members’ enthusiasm feel as diminished as a fire inspected by the PDs, but the games throughout show a bit of verve: the pickleball-football hybrid was fun, and HaHa’s suggested game delightful in its simplicity yet ingenious in its many twists; even if this is a somewhat low-energy week compared to recent entries — people standing still and shooting water pistols at a cauldron just doesn’t scream “EXCITEMENT” — it’s still a diverting 90 minutes.
Grade: B
MVP: Kang Hoon (look, the guy knows when to butt in, and he’s funny)
28 July/4 August/11 August
They’re off for the Olympics! Go and watch ’em instead, they’re fun.
Episode 715/18 August
Guests: Ji Yea-un (still hanging on), Park Sung-woong, Yoon Kyung-ho (both actors)
The murder mystery has a special status in Running Man: many of the show’s most famous/funniest episodes are detective thrillers, and they’ve always inaugurated new eras with such episodes (Hyeongin PD’s first episode was one of those late-era classics). So it’s only natural that they used another detective thriller for their return from summer hiatus — and while it doesn’t hold a candle to Sherlock Holmes or Yoomes Bond, it was all very well-executed and the hour of comedy that preceded it was excellent too. After all these years, “Running Man” still knows how to strike that excellent balance — yet another excellent statement of intent from a show that just keeps on haunting our screens.
Grade: A-
MVP: Yoon Kyung-ho
Episode 716/25 August
Guests: Ji Yea-un (I note they’re not even commenting on her frequent apperances now), Kim Min-jong, Kim Ha-yun (both judo practitioners), Park Hye-jeong (weightlifter), Oh Sang-uk and Park Sang-won (fencers)
For me, one scene in this episode particularly stood out. The teams pay a visit to judo practitioner Kim Min-jong’s family store — perhaps the most flagrant example of nepotism this show has ever deployed in 14 years — and his whole family comes out to meet him, basking in the glory of multiple Olympic winners; meanwhile Jaesuk, a fixed grin on his face, complains about all the artists around him getting ignored for a fencer. I think Jaesuk’s words sum up my feelings toward this episode pretty well — the cast have been completely sidelined as they bend over backwards to welcome these Olympic medallists. Perhaps this’d be much more of interest to the average Korean viewer (the show had its highest ratings in years with this episode) but to someone like me, sitting in the comfort of my home in Hong Kong, it’s pretty hard for me to get worked up about a bunch of athletes who don’t fit into the variety format very well (some of them do alright, and I did laugh a lot at their antics, but people like Min-jung VISIBLY struggle). At least they tuned down the fawning a bit after the first half-hour, and the end result was classic eleventh-hour heroism. That’s always nice to see in athletes.
Grade: C+
MVP: Park Hye-jeong
Episode 717/1 September
now on a new page!
Inkpot Shuffles in the Twilight 
2 thoughts on ““Run, Don’t Walk”: Running Man’s 2024 Episodes Reviewed (May-Aug)”