MBC My Teenage Girl Ep. 7 review

Episode 7 aired last Sunday and showed the first half of the 2v2 battle between the 1st/2nd graders alliance versus the 3rd/4th graders alliance. This battle is of the utmost importance because each winning grade will secure two spots in the final group, which means four spots will be decided.

As if it was not enough already, the stage performances were preceded by the results of the 2nd online voting, ranking all the remaining from #43 to #1. And my favorite Yoon Chaewon got the 1st place, thus securing a spot for the seniors grade in the final group. So it's almost set: three spots have already been secured, and the final four will be revealed in the next episode.

And that's what's very intriguing. The final seconds of the episode teased a dramatic conclusion to the battle; Soyeon is even shown saying "the audience won't accept this". In my mind, the most likely explanation is that the juniors and seniors grades won the battle and the four final spots, thus depriving the 2nd graders of any spot in the final group. That would be dramatic indeed since the sophomore trainees have at least one fan favorite, namely Kim Riwon who ranked #4 in the first online voting and #2 in the second online voting. Won Jimin and Minami also are high profile sophomore trainees. All these girls would be de facto eliminated in Episode 8, even though the show would have 4 more episodes to go.

In this scenario and based on the latest online voting results, the final group would be something like this:

Of course, that's rather cruel for the 2nd graders but the alternative wouldn't be fancier: if the 1st & 2nd graders were to win the 2v2 battle, the final group would end up with 3 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 1 junior and 1 senior. So, a group of kids basically. That would be quite awkward. I wasn't opposed to the fact that 11-12 yo girls may enter the show, if only to give them a chance to make a name for themselves, but putting them on an equal footing with other contestants and giving them a legitimate chance to qualify for the final group was bound to lead to questionable results.

--------------------------------------------------

This episode's stage performances:

3rd/4th grade vocal unit (song: Taeyon 'I')

1st/2nd grade vocal unit (song: Mamamoo 'Decalcomanie')

3rd/4th grade dance unit (song: Little Mix 'Power')

1st/2nd grade dance unit (song: NCT Dream 'Hot Sauce')

--------------------------------------------------

Doyouram recap:

Quote from bartkun

how it is for now by grades?

which one already "secured" a spot for their own grade?

because from what I've seen if for example first years won some battle then it means they have spot for one trainee from 1st grade secured

For now, three spots have been secured:

• 3rd grade (juniors), after Kim Hyunhee got ranked #1 in the first online voting

• 1st grade (freshmen), after the freshmen trainees won their battle against the seniors (these two grades were the victors of the previous round)

• 4th grade (seniors), after Yoon Chaewon got ranked #1 in the second online voting

Next week the final four spots will be secured. It will be either:

• 2 spots for the freshmen (1st grade) and 2 spots for the sophomores (2nd grade)

or

• 2 spots for the juniors (3rd grade) and 2 spots for the seniors (4th grade)

The most dramatic result would be the victory of the junior/senior alliance because it would mean no trainees from 2nd grade would qualify.

On the other hand, a victory of the freshmen/sophomore alliance would mean A LOT of kids in the final group and honestly, I don't think the public wants to see that.

Quote from bartkun

but are we also sure that 7 is final number of members? won't mentors add someone to it like they've did, you know after that initial round of performances with 'opening door' and live audience votes??

The number seven is set since day one.

Of course there's always a possibility that they change it last minute because they can do whatever they want basically. We'll see how it goes.

Quote from emanresu

I haven't watched any of this show.

I forgot it was going on.

Is it exciting? Any future superstars?

Display More

I think it is exciting but it's clear some rules and selection processes were designed to maximize suspense and drama rather than fairness. I guess it's true for all survival shows. The editing also is frustrating sometimes. But there are talented contestants for sure; plus, the mentors play an important role in the program whick kinda sets this show apart from other survival shows I think. The fact Soyeon is one of the mentors is the reason I started to watch at first.

Now, as for future superstars it's hard to tell right now. Some have great potential. We'll see who ends up in the final group. I guess the members will be picked by the audience but I don't really like that. I think there should be a creative mind behind how a group is built, rather than being a mere collection of fan favorites and biases. We'll also see where the eliminated contestants end up in the future. It's possible some contestants who become the more successful aren't gonna be part of the show's final group.