 |
| My final picks at the end of episode 1 with picks from episode 2 |
Welcome to my episode two review of Make Mate 1.
If you have not read my introduction post yet to this reality survivor competition show, please go back and read it to get a great idea of what to expect from this show.
If you do not want spoilers, please do not continue reading because I will not hide anything in my review. Besides, this episode already aired a while ago.
After episode one, I began to like songs that were performed such as Breathless from Astro. I may be becoming an Aroha myself.
We begin the episode with the online mid-votes results. It was pretty crazy that they didn't bother announcing who was in last place, rank 36, which is Kim Se Gon from the Miss Right team, but did this contestant leave the show? Signs point to him leaving the show. I'll explain more about him later as there were some unfavorable scenes towards him.
How did my favorites do in the online rank at the time of the start of episode two?
1. Jo Min Jae -->ranked 7th - Why so low? Did the voters not see his talent? I don't know how many members will be in the group, but seeing how we can vote for 7, that's putting him on the brink of elimination. I don't think I can enthusiastically support the group if he is not in it.
2. Jeon Joon Pyo --> ranked 21st - What? I admit I didn't pay attention to him the first round, but I hope he will be noticed soon.
3. Shin Won Cheon -->ranked 32 - Oh my God! That's such a low rank for a talented individual. I hope the votes flood in for him.
4. Kim Shi On --> Ranked 3rd. The public seems to be on my side for this one. However, being ranked third is a bit high for him in my opinion, but it remains to be seen if he can convince me that he should be a top rank.
5. Jung Hyun Jun --> Ranked 4th. Wow, this contestant is not to be underestimated. His eagerness has paid off.
---
6. Jia Hao --> Ranked 5th
7. Bing Fan --> Ranked 2nd
Sideliners:
Jeong Hyun Uk -->Ranked 19th
Choi Han Gyeol -->Ranked 26th
What really surprises me is that most of the Chinese contestants are in the topish ranks. I think there must be a lot of Chinese voters out there. Normally, I have no problem with that, but the person with the most votes is Lin from the Growl team. He is not terrible, but being number one would be overbearing for him. I'll have to keep a radar on him to see if he deserves such a rank. The public has spoken.
Bing Fan is ranked second, which is fine for me, but I still need to watch Bing Fan closely in future performances to see if he can be one of my "mates" or not.
As I mentioned in my last episode, there's only two contestants that I would give a permanent spot to in the final line up: Jo Min Jae and Jia Hao. Everybody else is not safe with me.
We start episode two with our fourth performance, Fiction team:
Kai
Yoon Jae Yong
Ki Hyeong Jun
Lee Do Ha
This song is special host Lee Gi Kwang's group's song so the contestants of this song will have that added pressure of performing in front of one of the original performers of the song. Special host Lee Gi Kwang was gracious enough to perform the main moves of Fiction for the audience with the condition that the audience sings the song. This song is one of the permanent representation songs of K-pop.
The contestants hype themselves up to believe that they can show a performance that can match the energy of the crowd's cheers. When the contestants first saw the special host being introduced at the beginning of the show, they were obviously shocked and I liked how Lee Do Ha told his teammates to "put their life into it [a high stake into their performance]"
Special host Lee Gi Kwang mentioned that during their mid-assessment performance, the feedback that they received was that they were writing "four different fictions." That sounds so hilarious. During their mid-assessment time, the show revealed that they had no Mate Picks. Ouch. I guess they are somewhere in limbo when being compared to other teams.
After their performance, Yoon Jae Yong was praised for his solid performance while the other three seemed to be floundering in their performance, making Yoon Jae Young look like the weird one. C mates Vata and Ingyoo made up a story that Yoon Jae Young is the human while the other three teammates are from outer space.
Yoon Jae Yong revealed a backstory that the other three contestants have never sung or danced before coming on the show. This, to me, is the true definition of regular people who join a reality survivor competition show. This is what I would expect from regular people who do not have any performance experience. The team is so lucky to have Yoon Jae Yong who explained that he would transfer his knowledge to the members and to help them grow as performers.
The team started off very slow and with the basics of dance. Yoon Jae Yong gently drilled his teammates to re-practice any wrong moves.
Yoon Jae Yong honestly revealed in his self interview that at first, he felt kind of hopeless, but when the other teammates followed his lead so well, he was able to feel growth. I'm glad that this show has some actual everyday people in it because how can they advertise this show's concept without actual people with no experience in performance? I was spoiled with better than expected performances so far.
Conclusion: When I watched the performance for the first time, I thought Yoon Jae Yong had potential. I was also impressed by Lee Do Ha, whose rap was nicely delivered. Watching it a second time leads me to believe Kai gave a good performance as well, but not enough to impress me to give him a spot in my final lineup. I honestly would not press the button to vote for Ki Hyeong Jun because he underperformed in my opinion. This will be that rare time that I won't be pressing the vote button if I were in the audience for Ki Hyeong Jun. However, I will press the button for the other three contestants. Great as it is, it was not at top level performance and my final lineup remains unchanged. Kai, Yoon Jae Yong, and Lee Do Ha have potential though so I will look forward to their next performance.
My personal group rankings so far:
Growl Team
Growl Team
Breathless Team
Fiction Team
Be Mine Team
Proposed Lineup:
1. Jo Min Jae (no question)
2. Jeon Joon Pyo (very stable performance)
3. Shin Won Cheon (surpassed my expectations with matching the concept and falsetto singing)
4. Kim Shi On (he is still too memorable in my mind)
5. Jung Hyun Jun (this is going to be tough as Jung Hyun Jun is now on the brink of elimination from my top 7)
Special host Lee Gi Kwang offered to dance Fiction with the group and that would be fun to see. I hope they do it and post it on Instagram. For my one pick, I would have to go with the glue that holds the team together, Yoon Jae Yong. However, my first impressions of Lee Do Ha rapping won't leave my mind.
Lee Do Ha won the most votes and honestly, I am happy for him because if the final line up needs a rapper, he seems to fit the part. I should keep this thought as I think about the final lineup.
Lee Do Ha promptly started crying, but also trying to hold back his tears, which made him look so cute to the audience. He mentioned that he was the oldest member and also never knew how to dance if not for Yoon Jae Yong who taught the three of them how to dance and not be looked down on as the weak team. Robot Ki Hyeong Jun teared up beside Lee Do Ha. I think it was Do Ha's rapping skill that made the entire performance so memorable so that is my guess why the audience picked him the most.
The fifth performance is the Miss Right team:
Kim Sun Yub
An Xin
Kim Se Gon
Chen Shiau Fu
The group walked out on stage with a simple greeting, pointing at the audience. Special host Lee Gi Kwang mentioned that "Miss Right" is a song that the group had to dance to without a break. Lee Gi Kwang asked the group what was the hardest part of their practice. An Xin mentioned that controlling their facial expressions was that hardest part given the difficult choreography.
Special C mates Lee Mi Joo (formerly from the girl group, Lovelyz) and Choi Hyo Jung (leader of the girl group, Oh My Girl) noticed that the boys lack confidence and Choi Hyo Jung even thought the members look like they possibly fought backstage. Surprisingly, the other C mates confirmed it.
Back when the team had their mid-assessment performance, their greeting did not sound unified and lacked energy. Their Mate Pick result was that they were picked as the team with the worst teamwork. Ouch. Even their peers felt that they lacked communication during practice and they don't seem to practice a lot.
During his solo interview, An Xin disclosed that two of his teammates fought, but he used the term "衝突 (Chong1 Tu1), which is the word for conflict so it wasn't really a fight in a physical sense. It seems An Xin freely expresses his thoughts in this group as I have yet to heard from other member yet. Initially, during practice, Kim Sun Yub asked leader Kim Se Gon if they can practice the "to me" part again as Kim Sun Yub noticed something that he didn't like. Kim Se Gon curtly told him that there was no time. That comment sounded like an easy way out. If there is no time, I think I would make the time. I guess it all comes down to how badly they want to achieve success, but if Kim Se Gon didn't want to practice, he shouldn't sabotage the rest of the group. I would have accepted it more if Kim Se Gon explained why he wanted to concentrate on a different aspect of practice, but he never went into any details.
Up to this point, I didn't see exactly any "fight" happening between Kim Sun Yub and Kim Se Gon. Later on, Kim Sun Yub brought up the topic again of more practice and Kim Se Gon shut down the conversation by stating that they can't do it. Kim Sun Yub made his last comment by stating that they can do it before walking away. I'm not exactly understanding why Kim Se Gon had to feel upset over the need to practice as this is a basic thing to do as an artist and performer. I wish Kim Se Gon explained himself in his solo interview.
The group ended up asking another group to film their dance practice without Kim Se Gon as he was absent from practices and yes, I wrote "practices" in plural. I think Kim Se Gon is definitely not aiming to debut in this show. I have never seen somebody so unmotivated on a reality survival competition show. At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that his name is removed from the online vote. I honestly think this guy's heart wasn't in it and he left the show. It's amazing that he showed up for the actual performance. He basically made the decision for me not to vote for him. Initially, I thought he was in last place because he practically didn't care about the performance or his teammates. It was so sad for me to hear Kim Sun Yub telling Takuma from the Ace Growl team that the "leader won't practice." This team is in serious trouble.
From the way it looks, Kim Sun Yub seems to have appointed himself the leader due to the absence of Kim Se Gon. I think that is probably for the best as the other members were Chinese, passive, and they didn't seem to speak much so it was better to have a Korean member as their leader to guide them. At this point, communication and teamwork is critical.
After their mid-assessment performance, C mate Ingyoo explained why he thought their teamwork was the worse. When the team switched formations during their dance, they looked very unstable and not relying on each other. "Miss Right" is supposed to be a fun song according to C mate Ingyoo and the team needs to show the audience that they are enjoying themselves together on stage.
Back in the practice room, Kim Sun Yub convinces himself that is fine after the harsh feedback and they will continue to do well as a team. I admire that he is still positive, but they also have a lot of work to do.
Suddenly, without explanation, Kim Se Gon is back in the practice room for practice sessions. I guess he pleads the fifth in not revealing what was the deal and why he was so unprofessional. In his solo interview, Kim Se Gon explains that it might have been a stigma, but they focused more on teamwork without discouragement. Stigma? Well, I don't think that stigma was unfounded.
A good way to bring the group together is to play a game, so the team played blind tag for fun. An Xin also had the opportunity to receive feedback for his facial expressions to improve his performance. I thought it was for his performance, but in the next clip, he is practicing hearts in front of a camera with a mild smile and that doesn't seem related to his performance.
In subsequence practice scenes, I still don't see the group dancing to look relaxed or to have fun. I am not feeling too confident about them.
During their actual live performance, the first thing I notice is Chen Shiau Fu's high kick. Woah! This entire time, Chen Shiau Fu did not get any screen time at all, but he managed to capture my attention early in the beginning. Of course, I had to rewind many times because I didn't know who the high kicker was in this team. Chen Shiau Fu also has some groove to his dance. Kim Sun Yub's performance was very stable with vocals and dance. I can tell An Xin has some breath control difficulties while singing his part. I'm not fully convinced on Kim Se Gon's rap skill. It didn't have a big impact like Lee Do Ha's performance in "Fiction." Kim Se Gon's rap flow was a bit off as if he is struggling to stay on beat. I don't see why everybody was excessively complimenting An Xin. Although I know he practiced his facial expressions, he has a long way to go. Kim Sun Yub is definitely the glue that holds the team together. I am starting to like Chen Shiau Fu's performance every time he shows up on screen. I need to put him on my radar. It was a really bad choice to give Kim Se Gon the killing bridge part of the song and he totally missed the mark. Perhaps Chen Shiau Fu should have taken it over. It's sad that Kim Se Gon wasn't particularly good at rapping or singing. I guess he shouldn't have wasted time not practicing for this performance and it shows. Sadly, Kim Sun Yub couldn't save the rest of the bridge as he didn't have enough breath to convey his part. Missing the chance to "kill" the killing parts is a real shame in this performance. Chen Shiao Fu should have taken the entire killing part. When he sang his solo part during the next chorus, I felt relieved. I complimented Kim Sun Yub at the beginning of the performance, but he started to lose steam as the song went on. For the "Oh baby, you got me crazy" part that An Xin is responsible for, I felt that he could have put in more energy to explode that craziness onto the stage, but he felt kind of timid. Dang! This was a tough performance to watch.
Conclusion: Deep down, I still had hopes for this team, but the performance felt mild. They would be crushed if they had to go against the Ace teams. I really can't add any of the members to my final lineup, but I will keep an eye on Chen Shiau Fu because he is definitely worth looking out for in future performances.
My personal group rankings so far:
Growl Team
Growl Team
Breathless Team
Fiction Team
Be Mine Team
Miss Right Team
Proposed Lineup:
1. Jo Min Jae (no question)
2. Jeon Joon Pyo (very stable performance)
3. Shin Won Cheon (surpassed my expectations with matching the concept and falsetto singing)
4. Kim Shi On (he is still too memorable in my mind)
5. Jung Hyun Jun (this is going to be tough as Jung Hyun Jun is now on the brink of elimination from my top 7)
Special host Lee Gi Kwang asked the team how they thought about their teamwork for this performance. Leader Kim Sun Yub wisely explained that they had the best teamwork, and not the worst. I think Kim Sun Yub is good at being optimistic. Kim Gi Kwang mentioned that he debuted 15 years ago (around the time Breathless team's Jung Hyun Jun was born) and he believed that teamwork was his team's best asset as they were also able to work together and create memories together. He mentioned that he hopes all the teams are able to create harmony and enjoy performing together.
For the most favorite Miss Right team member, special C mate Choi Hyo Jung guessed right again: An Xin. If I had to vote, I probably would have voted for everybody except for Kim Se Gon. Kim Se Gon had two very important parts, the rap part and the killing bridge part and he was underwhelming at both. I don't want to discard the efforts of the other three performers, so I would have voted for Kim Sun Yub, An Xin ,and Chen Shiau Fu. It wouldn't have mattered anyway as Kim Se Gon dropped out of the competition afterwards.
The sixth performance is the Very Good team:
Han Yu Seop
Seo Yun Deok
Jia Hao
Kim Hak Seong
The "Very Good" team walked on stage looking manly. C mate Lim Han Byul mentioned that Han Yu Seop was a former trainee. For Kim Hak Seong, C mate Hanhae mentioned that there has never been a defector trainee in audition show history.
Special host Lee Gi Kwang suspected that the "Very Good" song is all about being mischievous. Can a team with no experience (really? No experience?) pull it off? With Jia Hao on the team, I'm not that worried, but I haven't heard him sing.
Back during the mid-assessment performance scene, the group performed in front of the C mates with energy I liked how Han Yu Seop was able to hold the "good" note all the way to the end without losing his breath and dancing at the same time. That, to me, is not a rookie skill. Jia Hao's high notes sent me into a mini-shock. Not only is he a fluid dancer, he can sing really high notes!
After their performance, C mate Lim Han Byul had only compliments to give the team. He thought Jia Hao was tall with long limbs, his face is looking like that (I take it to mean handsome), is the number one dancer, and one who can hit high notes. Jia Hao is basically an all rounder. He even rapped decently in this performance. Could he be the only all-rounder in this competition? An all-rounder is a artist who can sing, rap, and dance well, basically seeing no weaknesses in those areas.
C mate Hanhae thought Seo Yun Deok mocked him during the performance with his Joker-like antics. Honestly, I found Seo Yun Deok's actions a bit too much. I don't think the crazy look suits him.
C mate Ingyoo thought the team was balanced, but C mate Vata thought they didn't act like professionals, but they managed to draw C mate Vata in with their bubbly charms. Charms? Maybe. Bubbly? That's a strange description for a song like "Very Good."
C mate Kim Sung Eun's advice is the one that the "Very Good" team will work on, which is to keep the energy going during the performance and to look like they are having more fun.
Back in the practice room, the entire team thinks of ideas on how to improve their performance. Jia Hao thinks of a brilliant idea to change the choreography and spin like a traveling tornado. The preview of them showing the traveling tornado looked very cool actually. The best part is that all the members seemed to enjoy it as well. Do I need to add another bonus talent to Jia Hao as a choreographer as well? It's also funny to see other trainees looking in on them doing the traveling tornado and looking confused.
We are back to their performance stage again where they will perform in front of the audience. Seo Yun Deok attempts to hype the crowd before they start their performance. Han Yu Seop is already in character with his starting pose. While Seo Yoon Duk tries to get into the mischievous character, I thought his introduction part felt weak. I don't hear his pronunciation clearly and powerfully. Han Yu Seop has stable vocals and I notice he paid a lot of attention to his angles. It is details like this that impresses me. It's no doubt that when all four members dance on stage, it is Jia Hao who is standing out with his flexible movements. I didn't expect Kim Hak Seong to rap in this song, which he does decently, but I feel he could improve more by accenting more important words and giving it life with some acting gestures. The guys behind him were dancing with power while Kim Hak Seong barely made any gestures when he was in the spotlight. Jia Hao raps right after Kim Hak Seong and Jia Hao showed me how it should be done with powerful and vigorous rap delivery and he adds his special dance move in the end that complements the rhythm of the drum. Seo Yoon Duk's raps skills are still not clear and he almost speaks rather than raps, but I can tell the audience still loves him. Jung Hyun Jun from the Breathless team mentioned that Seo Yoon Duk is constantly smiling during his performance. He basically said what I was thinking when I first saw this performance. Seo Yoon Duk was too smiley for me. I don't think it's good to smile throughout the entire performance. He should learn to switch it up for full impact to do it only at certain moments. Han Yu Seop performed the climax part of the song well. He is a very stable performer so I feel like I don't need to worry about him. After the climax, I finally get to see their traveling tornado, which didn't seem to have the full impact that I expected when they did it in the practice room. They had a huge stage, but they didn't utilize it. Unfortunately, Kim Hak Seong's part had pitch problems. I am not sure if he also had pronunciation problems, which is something I wonder about as he was North Korean so he might have a different Korean accent. He sang with a style that is between singing and speaking. I see him as the weakest link of the group. Jia Hao sang his high notes very well. I appreciate Seo Yun Deok's efforts to act crazy with his head spins. I wasn't impressed with Seo Yun Deok the first time I watched the performance, but he started to grow on me. This performance gave me different feelings the second time I watch it so I felt like I appreciated this performance more the second time around.
Conclusion: I wasn't impressed with the performance as much as the second time watching it, but what remains the same is that I was blown away by Jia Hao's performance. He will have a top spot on my final lineup. The problem is that I didn't pay much attention to Han Yu Seop the first time around, but he was so stable that I feel like he deserves a position in my final line up so I'll keep an eye on him. He is someone I need to watch out for in the future. I have mixed feelings about the other two team members Seo Yun Deok and Kim Hak Seong, so they will not have a position in my final lineup.
My personal group rankings so far:
Growl Team
Growl Team
Very Good Team
Breathless Team
Fiction Team
Be Mine Team
Miss Right Team
Proposed Lineup:
1. Jo Min Jae (no question, best vocalist)
2. Jia Hao (all rounder plus, meaning beyond an all rounder)
3. Jeon Joon Pyo (very stable performance)
4. Shin Won Cheon (surpassed my expectations with matching the concept and falsetto singing)
5. Kim Shi On (he is still too memorable in my mind)
6. Jung Hyun Jun (this is going to be tough as Jung Hyun Jun is now on the brink of elimination from my top 7)
During the voting phase, Han Yu Seop mouthed the words vote, but special host Lee Gi Kwang mentioned that Han Yu Seop can also speak out loud too. Han Yu Seop proceeded to ask the voters to vote for him. Seo Yun Deok knew how to do cute fan service by shooting hearts and pulling his cheek out, which is super cute and unique. Special C mate Choi Hyo Jung thought that only people who debut can do that type of gesture. I think it really depends because as long as a person can act youthful, I think they can do it too.
Special Host Lee Gi Kwang told the "Very Good" team that he thinks they can debut at this stage, which is a very high praise. I am very torn between rating the performances of Growl and the Very Good team. Lee Gi Kwang asked Kim Hak Seong what he thought about his first stage. Kim Hak Seong couldn't believe it, but now that he has done it, he feels that he can improve with his next performance. Kim Hak Seong's answers always sounds so wise.
Personally, I would have chosen Ji Hao as my top pick among the group, but Seo Yun Deok won the top vote. I think I would have voted for everybody except for Kim Hak Seong because his performance was a bit underwhelming compared to the other three members. I think Seo Yun Deok won because he put effort into communicating with the crowd. He tried his best to appeal to the crowd. Yes, Ji Hao was talented, but he did not do much to specifically attempt to earn the voter's interest other than showing his talent. With more experience, it will be easier for them to communicate with their audience.
Backstage, I thought it was touching that Han Yu Seop wanted all his members to consider them as a team even if they are separated. Seo Yun Deok suggest they practice dance every day together (especially with Ji Hao, haha). This shows that this group bond was strong and that is also an important factor to forming a successful group. The Very Good team seems to be the definition of "Make Mate."
Showing us the seventh performance is the "Hello Future" team:
Bing Fan
Jeong Hyun Uk
Midori
Kim Seung Ho (06 - because there are two Kim Seung Ho contestants in this competition)
Lee Jang Hee
The "Hello Future" team entered the stage with their cheer of "안녕 미래" (Annyeong Mirae, which is the exact meaning of Hello Future in Korean. Each contestant had a chance to introduce himself. When it was Midori's turn, everybody was surprised as they seem to recognize him. I think everybody recognizes Midori except me because I haven't seen that viral video.
Special guest Lee Ki Kwang mentioned that the "Hello Future" song requires the contestants to be bubbly and dreamy. C mate Vata mentioned that this is a difficult song. C mate Hanhae replied back and stated that the chords in the song are unconventional and the melody is unusual. However, unconventional chords are totally my style of composing. I tend to create dreamy and unconventional chord progressions, which is why "Hello Future" is one of my favorite songs. I would hate for the team to butcher it up on stage. I think I will cringe if that happened. Special C mate Choi Hyo Jung added that the choreography is hard too. Well, it is NCT and SM Entertainment we're talking about here. It cannot be basic or non-experimental.
During their mid-assessment performance, I could definitely hear some unrefined harmonies. I know Bing Fan was doing his best to hold the team's vocal skill together, but there was a lot to be desired. Midori was okay. I believe it was Lee Jang Hee who even ran out of breath while singing his part, which C mate Lim Hanbyul definitely noticed. C mate Hanhae admitted to fellow C mate Lim Hanbyul that Hanhae could only see Bing Fan (Bin Fan's talent). C mate Vata told his fellow C mate Ingyoo that the group's balance was off. Just by these limited clips, I can already tell there is only person (hard) carrying the team.
C mate Vata started off on providing his thoughts that Bing Fan has a lot of presence and not because he was handsome, but because he presented himself like a star with good facial expressions among others. C mate Ingyoo bluntly told all the members to match up to Bing Fan's level. The pitch that Bing Fan left before the pre-chorus needs to be picked up by Midori at the same level, but Midori was lacking in strength. Ingyoo urged Lee Jang Hee to become more three dimensional. If Lee Jang Hee's teammate raised the ball to a certain point and level, Lee Jang Hee needs to also start at that level for continuity. Ingyoo used volleyball as a metaphor that if Lee Jang Hee's teammate sets the ball up for Lee Jang Hee, then Lee Jang Hee needs to go for the spike hit.
In his solo interview, Bing Fan worried that receiving such negative feedback will make his teammates lose confidence on stage. Therefore, in the practice room, Bing Fan led the team by trying to refine their details including Lee Jang Hee's weak part of the choreography. They definitely seemed to have way more energy in the later practice scenes so I might have some hope for the team.
Jeong Hyun Uk explained to the camera that they shout out during the key moves of the choreography as their strategy for mastering the song. I feel like the way Jeong Hyun Uk speaks in these practice room scenes seems to be in a very confident and clear voice. That aspect makes me pay attention to him. One thing I cannot handle is if a singer is mumbling or unclear in speech.
Bing Fan had to practice his singing as well as the choreography because he has a lot of parts in the song and he thought this song was hard. He felt a lot of pressure to do well. Unfortunately, I couldn't see much consistency in his practice scenes as his voice didn't seem too stable and he started losing his voice towards the end. When Bing Fan couldn't his his high notes anymore, Midori became concerned.
During the rehearsal scenes, while it was in some ways better than their mid-assessment performance, Bing Fan sounded weak. C mate Lim Han Byul became vicious in his comments. Since the team's ending pose is to look up at the sky and point at it, Lim Han Byul asked what they were looking at and if it was their lost pitches. Ouch. Lim Han Byul continued with stating that Midori sang the beginning of the song rather strangely, constantly going off pitch. Lim Han Byul moved on to the Korean contestants on the team to also be aware of their pitches as well as their singing skills are letting them down. C mate Vata mentioned that the team lost their charm a bit since the mid-assessment performance. Unfortunately, I didn't see their full performance so I have an uninformed thought that the Hello Future team did better than their mid-assessment performance as I saw more confidence in their dance, but I didn't hear too much of their singing parts. This goes to show that one can't work too much towards any one aspect. They should focuses on aspects of singing, rapping, dancing, and performing to minimize their weaknesses, but I am not sure how much they could have improved with limited time.
Back in the practice room after their rehearsal, the group discussed their thoughts and there was a screen caption of whether their future will be bright. Ouch.
In the next scene, the Hello Future team was back on stage for the live performance. Bing Fan started Hello Future with confidence, good energy, and smiles. Jeong Hyun Uk continued that same energy. I can still hear weaknesses in Bing Fan's high notes. Kim Seung Ho lacked a bit of power. I felt that Lee Jang Hee improved every time I see him perform, but he needs to do more unfortunately to be ranked higher. Unlike during the rehearsal, Midori brought his professionalism back, performing his part decently. I hear clear singing from Jeong Hyun Uk so I was really impressed by it. I agree with the C mates that the group singing parts are definitely more harmonious than their first mid-assessment performance. Bing Fan attempted the high notes, and while I appreciated it, it did not impress me like Jia Hao's high notes from the Very Good team.
Conclusion: I have to admit that my first impressions versus my impressions when I wrote this review are very different now. My first impressions was send Bing Fan to the final lineup because he was the only member who distinctively shined in the team. I wanted to give honorable mention to Jeong Hyun Uk who impressed me as well with his clear voice and solid performance. I did not think Midori was special enough to bring into my final lineup as his vocal skills are still possibly unstable. Kim Sung Ho, for me, remained in the background and based on my first impression, Lee Jang Hee also did not stand out and blended with the background, but after watching this performance again, I wanted to give him more acknowledgement as I was able to see him improve a little bit with each performance.
My personal group rankings so far:
Growl Team
Growl Team
Very Good Team
Breathless Team
Fiction Team
Hello Future Team
Be Mine Team
Miss Right Team
It is getting harder to rank teams.
Proposed Lineup:
1. Jo Min Jae (no question, best vocalist)
2. Jia Hao (all rounder plus, meaning beyond an all rounder)
3. Jeon Joon Pyo (very stable performance)
4. Shin Won Cheon (surpassed my expectations with matching the concept and falsetto singing)
5. Kim Shi On (he is still too memorable in my mind)
6. Jung Hyun Jun (this is going to be tough as Jung Hyun Jun is now on the brink of elimination from my top 7)
7. Bing Fan (He was the best in his team.)
During my first impressions, I only really had a top 5, but because we have to vote for seven contestants, I had a hard time choosing the last two contestants, so I ended up choosing who was memorable for me. In reality, I only had a top five in my mind that I can reveal with confidence.
If I had to vote again with the feeling and knowledge that I have upon writing this review, I would have traded Bing Fan for Han Yu Seop. It was too bad that I didn't remember a lot of the contestants names and my thoughts about them at the time of needing to vote. However, I will keep true to my first impressions. I can tell my mind will be changed by the time I see the next round of performances. This is why it is important to do our homework, review everything, before we honestly vote and change people's lives. I know this is a show and not presidency, but either way, we are changing the world with one vote so we should make it an honest, well informed vote without regrets. The world wants us to be hasty, but we don't have to be hasty.
After the performance, the C mates thought the performance was flawless. I think they were being nice because I felt the performance was far from flawless.
In the end, Bing Fan won the popular vote. Out of the whole team, I agreed. If I were in the audience, I possibly might have voted for everybody because the performance itself was decent, not extraordinary, but decent. I think NCT Dream's performance would have been at extraordinary level so NCT Dream originally set the bar high.
At this point in the show, I honestly thought we were done. However, we have a final invisible team that needs to perform, the eighth and last performance, the U team:
Jo Jae Hyeon
Yoon Ho Hyeon
Kim Seung Ho (07 - because there are two Kim Seung Ho contestants in this competition)
Aki
Choi Han Gyeol
The team entered the stage looking very elegant with their suits on. They all bowed silently with a flourish on stage, which is a bow with a hand twirl. All this adds to the mystery. Before this moment, I know nothing about them since they had no screen time and they remain mysterious.
The C mates mostly commented on their looks. Special host Lee Gi Kwang stated that their introduction looked stiff. Were they nervous? Yoon Ho Hyeon followed by Jo Jae Hyeon answered for the team to confirm that they were nervous. The C mates started discussing that the team is "blanking out" at this point. How will they impress the audience if they appear uncomfortable on stage?
We finally get to see the scene of their mid-assessment review. They also seemed nervous then. When Yoon Ho Hyeon attempted to start their greeting, he ended up being the only person bowing and speaking so the team lacked unity. Therefore, the team had to redo their introduction.
When they checked the team for mate picks, the team had two mate picks: Number one in looks and the bottom team (worst team?). That was insulting as it means that they have looks, but no talent. Aki and Yoon Ho Hyeon were not surprised as they expected such an outcome. With a shocking confession in his solo interview, Choi Han Gyeol confessed that he picked their team as the worst team as well. During the Mate Pick survey time, team mate Ki Seung Ho was contemplating picking his own team as well. Just how bad is this team? Maybe the producers decided to spare them by giving them limited screen time to save their image. I'll give the U team credit for their honesty and they were realistic unlike Kim Sun Yub from the Miss Right team who can be potentially overly optimistic in my opinion. It's good to have a balance of both honesty and optimism in my opinion.
The U team proceeded to perform for their mid-assessment performance. Aki started off strong in the middle, but the U team's kalgunmu moves or "razor-sharp group dancing" moves eventually became ununified. Soon, I heard two different voice techniques during harmonization and Choi Han Gyeol sort of forgot the choreography and his spot on stage. They seem to be singing for the sake of singing and there was little convincing the audience of the main point of the song. C mate Vata scrunched his face. The producers definitely spared us from seeing the whole performance.
C mate Lim Han Byul thought the performance was at talent show level. He even went as far to say that if he were the producer of this show, this team wouldn't be allowed to perform. It would not have been fair to the audience is what Lim Han Byul thought. C mate Ingyoo mentioned that whoever is doing the reading must fix all the mistakes such as hand, foot, dance positions, and timing. I never heard of the term, "reading," but maybe it is the person who is checking the dance performance during the practice to point out all the improvements that need to be made. It was clear that they need a lot more practice.
Kim Seung Ho revealed that out of the entire group, Aki was the only person with dance experience. This explains a lot. They spent a lot of time simply learning the choreography. It was sad how they were watching the Breathless team perform so well in the practice room. I guess the U team were also demotivated in a way that they can't do as well as the Breathless team.
Leader Yoon Ho Hyeon decided to take a different strategy and discussed it with Kim Seung Ho. Kim Seung Ho started taking detailed notes. Kim Seung Ho explained in his self interview that the group started having a routine to dance to the basics. Their strategy is similar to the Fiction team who also started with the basics. It's too bad that Aki couldn't take a more prominent role as he had the most dancing experience. Their kalgunmo scissor hand practice moves also naturally became more precise in pose and angles.
The U team is now seen back on stage for the live performance. The C mates think the U team looked too nervous. Special C mate Choi Hyo Jung enthusiastically stated that sometimes a lack of skills can also be appealing. I will have to differ that a lack of skills just shows me that the person and or group needs more practice. This is a competition so I don't really want to see lack of skills anywhere. Also, K-pop is a very cut throat business so if they are not the best, it's hard to survive in the industry.
As the performance starts, it is really a good thing to put Aki in the middle as he was the strongest dancer and he was also the shortest so visually, the group looks balanced. It's also an added bonus that he fits the concept so well with some sex appeal as special C mate Choi Hyo Jung mentioned with the sex appeal comment. I was immediately let down by Kim Seung Ho's pitch problems as he sang. Jo Jae Hyeon sang better than Kim Seung Ho, but unfortunately, Jo Jae Hyeon's dance movements were very weak in strength. It's a very good thing that Choi Han Gyeol's part was next and he did what both Ki Seung Ho and Jo Jae Hyeon lacked, which is vocal clarity and power as well as stronger dance movements. Choi Han Gyeol immediately captured my attention and stood out as a result. Choi Han Gyeol also had time to improvise after his part, blowing a kiss, which was genius. Unfortunately, Kim Seung Ho sang again afterwards for the pre-chorus and well, he seems to have a hard time singing most of the notes accurately. During the chorus, I could hear Choi Han Gyeol saving the group and masking the vocal problems of the other members. To his credit, Kim Seung Ho sang slightly better during the chorus part. I loved and appreciated that the U group attempted the gravity defying tilt (like the Michael Jackson move) after the chorus, which is something that U team during the NCT Universe: LASTART show didn't exactly do for their performance. Yoon Ho Hyeon began the next verse with a fan prop to match the original singer, Super Junior's Heechul's signature move. Unfortunately, Yoon Ho Hyeon's vocal skills were lacking. Jo Jae Hyeon starts to falter a bit in being vocally stable, but Kim Seung Ho started improving with his more advanced vocal part. I think this group lacks consistency in skills overall. I shouldn't have to worry whether somebody can sing or not. Speaking of consistency, Choi Han Gyeol makes me feel relaxed as he was stable in skill. I can see Kim Seung Ho had a shaky start in the beginning of the song, but maybe that was a fluke and he began singing better every time I saw him. Aki had a chance to sing part of the chorus as well, but he sang it weirdly. In fact, it seems that Aki only had one line in the entire song. If Aki had more lines, I wouldn't have remembered him except at the strong beginning part of the song where he danced in the front. During their last chorus, special C mate Lee Mi Joo complimented the group on their really good kalgunmu. Aki had another small part again in the chorus, but this time, it sounded great, but he had only four words to sing. The group's ending pose was very nice and I saw Kim Seung Ho attempted the gravity defying tilt and Choi Han Gyeol was the only person to attempt a cute pose or actions like aegyo. He reminds me of a shy version of Kim Shi On from the Breathless team.
I think C mate Lim Han Byul stated the truth after their performance that it was clear who has talent and who did not have talent in this performance. The C mates agreed that this was U team's best performance yet. Special C mate Lee Mi Joo stated that she wouldn't have believed that the U team was worse than this performance.
Conclusion: This performance was also hard to judge. In my mind, from my first impression to now, I had my interest set on Choi Han Gyeol. He was the most consistent, sang loudly and strongly, wasn't the best dancer in the competition or for the image of the U song, but I still need to consider him a potential final lineup pick, and initially, he was my number seven pick or somewhere around there, but I had decided to add more Growl members to my final lineup, so therefore, Choi Han Gyeol never made my cut. While watching the performance for a second time, I started to also see Kim Seung Ho's potential as well, but I'll keep an eye on him for now.
My personal group rankings so far:
Growl Team
Growl Team
Very Good Team
Breathless Team
Fiction Team
Hello Future Team
Be Mine Team
U team Team
Miss Right Team
It was a bit difficult for me to rate the teams, but in the end, I concluded that the U team was better than the Miss Right team simply because I mentioned that Miss Right was tough to watch.
Proposed Lineup:
1. Jo Min Jae (no question, best vocalist)
2. Jia Hao (all rounder plus, meaning beyond an all rounder)
3. Jeon Joon Pyo (very stable performance)
4. Shin Won Cheon (surpassed my expectations with matching the concept and falsetto singing)
5. Kim Shi On (he is still too memorable in my mind)
6. Jung Hyun Jun (this is going to be tough as Jung Hyun Jun is now on the brink of elimination from my top 7)
7. Bing Fan (He was the best in his team.)
I still think sixth and seventh place is hard to judge as there are many contestants with potential.
The audience started voting for the most popular contestant in the team. I thought Kim Seung Ho's bear pose was adorable and Choi Han Gyeol shooting excessive hearts probably convinced the audience.
Special host Lee Gi Kwang asked Jo Jae Hyeon whether he had any words for the contestants that looked down on their group. Jo Jae Hyeon mentioned with a hint of cuteness that they will get hurt if they look down on their team again. Lee Gi Kwang also asked Aki if he learned any favorite Korean phrases lately and Aki responded with "배고파요" (baegopayo) meaning "I'm hungry." He mentioned that he was hungry all the times.
The audience, contestants, and C mates were all divided when it comes to who they think is the most popular contestant. I agreed with special C mate Lee Mi Joo and "Very Good" contestant Kim Hak Seong who picked Choi Han Gyeol. I'm surprised that there were so many divided opinions. I only saw Choi Han Gyeol who was the most consistent in performance and the person who had the most potential in the group. He shined in the group. If I were an audience member, I would probably give everybody a vote just because I didn't think the team did terribly.
Choi Han Gyeol was announced the winner. He was super elated to hear that he was picked as the most popular contestant of the group. He was quickly moved to the brink of tears. To everybody's surprise, he confessed that he was honestly very worried. He had a dream during the night before that he messed up his performance. He showed the audience that his hands were shaking. I was surprised that Choi Han Gyeol lacked confidence because he never showed it until after the most popular contestant was announced. That, to me, is a professional, even though it might have been unintentional. Sometimes, dreams can have the opposite effect of reality and I read some dream interpretation books back in the day. I started to have a warm spot for Choi Han Gyeol.
Choi Han Gyeol's teammates started to tease him backstage about his shaking hands. I think his group really has a strong bond with him.
In the last part of the episode, I was really confused, because we are back to showing the "Growl" team. I already reviewed their performance in episode one, but I realized that the performance was the only screen time that they had with no back story or continuation. However, it was strange to put their story at the end of episode two instead of at the beginning of episode two. In a way, the team received double exposure for appearing in both episodes. My other thought is whether the producers ran out of content and needed to kill some time.
Their interim assessment or mid-assessment performance was shown. I didn't think that they would have done badly and if they didn't show this scene, it would not have made any difference in my opinion of them. C mate Lim Han Byul explained that Jo Min Jae carried the parts of all three EXO singers D.O., Chen, and Baekhyun. C mate Ingyoo praised the group for having the best performance out of all groups.
Back at the practice room, the Growl team worked on refining details with leader Jeon Jun Pyo leading them in the dance practice. Jeon Jun Pyo thought Shim Won Cheon looked too aggressive and deadly so Jeon Jun Pyo recommended that Shim Won Cheon tone it down and have a more gentlemanly image. The Growl team was already intimidating other team members with the Growl team's talent. Jo Min Jae started working on adlibs, which I didn't see much of in the mid-assessment performance, but I'm happy to know that he was improving it. As effortless as it may seem, Jo Min Jae was worried that he had to take so many important vocal parts. The Growl group took pride in having Jo Min Jae and because of his vocal talent, the group has the ability to sound like the original group who sang and performed the "Growl" song, EXO.
Unfortunately, during the rehearsal, Jo Min Jae's voice wasn't doing well and he lost his power and pitch. C mate Lim Han Byul worried that if Jo Min Jae doesn't sing the alarm part well or if he made one mistake, that will be all the audience would remember. This type of incident reminds me of Miraku's voice crack in the Breathless team. Jo Min Jae admitted in his solo interview that he became greedy with the adlibs.
The Growl team's actual performance was shown again, but I won't review it again so please go to my episode one review for my thoughts. Watching the Growl performance for a third time makes it hard for anybody to not like this team.
Jo Min Jae was picked as the most popular contestant and I'm happy for him. He deserves that type of fame for his extraordinary performance. If I were in the audience, I would have given all five members my vote. The performance was close to perfect for me if Lin was able to harmonize well with the group.
Jo Min Jae only let himself go backstage and released his tears. He specifically went to leader Jeon Jun Pyo for comfort. Even more surprising was when the Growl team rejoined the contestants in the contestant waiting room, Jeon Jun Pyo and maknae Shim Won Cheon started crying. Initially, Shim Won Cheon tried to hold his tears in by closing his eyes shut with all his strength, but he couldn't hold his tears back and the tears eventually bursted out while other contestants called him a baby and tried to comfort him.
The only thing left is for the round one rank announcements, but we won't see that until episode three of "Make Mate 1." I can't wait to see the rankings of each member.
At this very moment after the comprehensive review of episodes one and two, I have sixteen contestants on my radar in order of appearance on the show (and not in a particular rank):
Growl Team
Jeon Joon Pyo - He did well
Jo Min Jae - Already a final pick in my opinion so my vote for him is stabilized.
Shin Won Cheon - I want to see more of his performances.
Hello Future
Bing Fan - I'm not so sure of him just yet.
Jeong Hyun Uk - He has confidence and a stable performance.
Breathless
Jung Hyun Jun - I'm not sure about him in the final lineup so I want to see more.
Miraku - I believe he will rise up again because I believe in his potential.
Kim Shi On - For me, it was my gut feeling that he would be special enough for the final team, but I'm not fully sure yet.
Jung Jae Young - Initially, I was impressed by him, but a second check made me think twice.
Fiction
Yoon Jae Yong - I have a soft spot for him so I'm watching for his potential.
Lee Do Ha - He also has potential so I'm watching him.
Very Good
Han Yu Seop - This guy grows on me and I was blind to his true potential.
Jia Hao - I feel confident that he can join the final lineup based on the first performance.
Miss Right
Chen Shiau Fu - I want to see more of him because I think he is hiding a lot of his potential.
U
Choi Han Gyeol - I can see his rank rising higher. He was memorable.
Kim Seung Ho - Initially, I didn't see his potential, but after this review, I want to see what he can do.
I feel like I'm starting to recognize and get to know a lot of these contestants. The first two episodes are always hard because I'm struggling to get familiar with all the contestants and it's hard to judge based on initial impressions. I'm excited to see what the next episode will bring us. If you have thoughts on this episode that you would like to share, please also comment and let me know what you think.
No comments:
Post a Comment