I found today an early upload of episode 4 with english subs so here I am with a quick review.
The format of this show is so weird, with very questionable rules and editing. It's really frustrating. But I'm already a bit invested into a few contestants so I guess I'm gonna keep watching. Plus, Soyeon really improves the overall interest of the show. At this point, JSY Entertainment looks only like a matter of when.
The episode started by an attempt to redeem Yuri's rep who got flak last week for an alleged favoritism towards visuals. Additional footage shown this week revealed that the decision to save Lee Jiwon over Lee Seungeun was mostly the trainers' rather than Yuri's.
The climax of the episode was a 1-on-1 showdown between Choi Yoonjung (3rd grade) and Yoon Chaewon (4th grade), two of my faves, with each of them carrying the burden to save from elimination a fellow groupmate. Evil editing left us viewers on a questionable cliffhanger as the final result of this battle of grades will be revealed in the next episode. The seniors under Soyeon's guidance should most likely win it though.
Other questionable decisions in this episode:
- Starting with a whole bunch of eliminations of girls we saw basically nothing of.
- Announcing the full rankings of the 40 trainees following the online voting that took place before the 1st episode even aired.
- Setting up a 1v1 "dance battle" against a champion from each group but not leaving to the groups the choice of their champions. So poor Yoon Chaewon had the heavy task to outdo Choi Yoonjung's geat performing skills even though vocals are her forte, not her dance moves; and she had to save a fellow mate in the process! If not for Soyeon's coaching and support, she might have collapsed under the pressure and lack of confidence. But she did well and may have won this duel, thanks to her high note (and Yoonjung's poor attempt at imitating it).
So yeah, that's basically it for this episode. My list of favorites remain basically the same; we didn't see much of Lee Yumin though, so I don't expect her to stay much longer. And I think I might add Kim Inhyee; she's really good.
Kim Hyunhee - 3rd grade
Choi Yoonjung - 3rd grade
Yoon Chaewon - 4th grade
Lee Yumin - 4th grade
Kim Inhyee - 4th grade
For those interest, here's a recap of Ep. 4 by Doyouram:
