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Recapping QUEENDOM 2 EPISODE 6



TLDR for QUEENDOM2 EP6: Clocking in at the longest episode thus far at "140 minutes", Episode 6 of Queendom 2 essentially is a mix of WORKSHOP and PERFORMANCE segments - specifically all three VOCAL Units on stage (while all DANCE Unit Performances are NEXT EPISODE / Ep7).

WORKSHOP segment features both dance workshops and practices, and "Interim Assessment" stages for the Dance Units' (Last episode was for Vocals), where winners of both Units were awarded the chance to set the Cue Sheet (*This was not told before they started their stages). But before that happens there were "fun" activities and votes conducted, somewhat continuing the feel-good vibe from Ep5. The workshop cycle ends in Ep6.

For the rest of the episode, we are next presented with the VOCAL Units' stages, with each behind-the-scenes journey chronicled, leading to said performances. The show ends before showing the DANCE Unit stages.



ABOVE: The trailer posted for "Ep6" is a partial fake-out! LOL

COMMENTARY: As of this post, I have watched the episode via three different sources, during different times. And while all footage remained the same, the differences are:

#1: Beyond the live stream / broadcast by Mnet on their YouTube channel, whatever "instructions" (example: Timeline of "tracking for videos") remains only with the live stream, and will has not been repeated elsewhere.

#2: There is a noticeable difference between English subtitles of the show(s). Screengrabbed and posted here is a mixture of "live stream" subs (smaller text), and screengrabs from my watch on VIU.com (larger text). And while I cannot authenticate based on my non-existent Korean language skills, the marked difference might not necessarily take away the story it was trying to show+tell.

I don't dare claim to be anything near being a "wordsmith", but the subs do actually make a difference, in not just "expression" but also "intent", although I am grateful I mamanged to watch the difference. But these needn't be anywhere "deeper" than I might make it sound to be, as it could be something as basic as "Names".

A prime example being the Dance Unit for BRAVE GIRLS X LOONA - labeled as "QUEEN IS NA" in the original stream (which still makes zero sense to me, even as I retweeted and hashtagged lol), but on VIU they are subbed as "ENVIOUS QUEEN", with their track named "ENVIOUS", instead of "TELL ME KNOW".

ALSO, you will notice the inclusion of YELLOW COLORED TEXT, which will essentially be my own personal opinions and commentary, so you can easily scroll thru for the episode recap, without needing to read my rambles, cheers. With that said, now let's get into it!



WHERE TO WATCH
The show was streamed live via "Mnet K-POP" YT channel on Thursday May 5th at 9:20PM KST, subject to select regions (Singapore is not one of them). This is not VOD / "Video On Demand", and was "Free To Watch".

As of this post, Ep6 is watchable here on viu.com (VOD / Watchable free with ads), and will air on tvN Asia cable channel (in Singapore) on Sunday May 8th starting 6pm / 5pm in Jakarta and Bangkok. I am interested to see if the English subtitles will be different here too... Will try to catch this and update, but then again it's Mother's Day today, so time to spend with mum and family instead of focusing on this, sorry :p





RECAPPING & WORKSHOPPING
We start with a RECAP of Episode 5 (Which I had RECAPPED HERE too, cheers), and delve straight into Workshop, with a fun focus on a "game" of finding out the "pecking order" (or so the subtitles read lol) of the contestants - which in South Korean culture, is heavily influenced by "seniority" (so this was an interesting and fun aspect of that option, IMHO) - where they were to "identify" the persons' whose earliest "debut date" was.



OPINION: I actually liked this segment, as it essentially shoves a wet cloth over folks expectations of "seniority", and at the same time timed perfectly with "Children's Day" in Korea (designated on "May 5"). I'm sorry but I rewatched the above video over and over again to hear Dayeon's embarassed "HAI" deep-sigh ...! :p



The next two games are VOTING based - with the questions being (paraphrased): "Who is the prettiest?" And "Who Would you want to recruit into your own team?" And the results where:

#3: Xiaoting from Kep1er
#2: HeeJin from LOONA
#1: SeolA from WJSN

#2 + #3 are tied: Chayeyun and Hikaru from Kep1er
#1; Hyolyn.





The first 20 minutes of Episode 6 was devoted to the above-mentioned.



OPINION: Compared to the earlier episodes where the story pointed towards confrontation and competition, this particular aspect retold a story that felt more wholesome and where everyone sat together and had fun, beyond the staunch and serious studio atmosphere when they first met each other in the earlier episodes ("edited" so, anyways), slowly easing out the tension that even the previous Episode 5 ("Queendom Workshop") held ... the "story" has since evolved. And a welcomed breather, before we head back into the "competition", but this time with a more informed decision, at least knowing folks' personalities more, and what is "at stake".



DANCING UNIT PREVIEWS
After the intermission, we delve straight back into the workshop, with a distinct focus on the individual DANCE Units, with the reveal of their mentors from Mnet's previous survival show "Street Woman Fighter" (whom we saw in Ep5) dance crews and teachers. As well the Dance Units' name were chosen and announced.

VIVIZ X Kep1er were named KeV1Z, and they'll perform "Purr", choreographed by HOLYBANG.

Hyolyn X WJSN were named "Ex-it", and they'll perform "KA-BOOM!", choreographed by LA CHICA.

Brave Girls X LOONA were named "Queen in Na", and they'll perform "Tell Me Now" (named "Envious" as seen in VIU's broadcast), choreographed by Monika of PROWDMON.





COMMENTARY: I have a distinct emphasis on the QUEEN IS NA/ENVIOUS QUEEN unit because (A) I am biased to LOONA, and as importantly, (B) their story being told is slightly different from the other two teams, where it is not about their "ability and skill", but of their mindset stepping into the theatre of dance combat (as it were), which in Monika's case, is elevated to another level of intent, IMHO.

Also, I was so proud of Olivia Hye, for sharing her initial apprehension for the choreo, and reflection that no doubt would lead to her crushing the stage. Whether this was a version of the producers "evil edit", the ultimate destination was to evoke a "triumph", where we will see the "victory" in the next episode, IMHO. HWAITING, indeed!

Moving on.







40 minutes into the episode, we were next brought back to the "Interim Assessment/Review", where each of the Dance Unit performed a very short clip for everyone.

COMMENTARY: It did take me a minute, but I realized that while WE as the audience might have heard and saw all three units and their songs, the other (Vocal) units and members of their teams are hearing these songs for the first time. So this is as fascinating as the earlier episodes had the teams choose tasks so that they could choose to preview other teams' song/choreo/props etc.




OPINION: I initially mixed feelings about watching all the obove-mentioned, on one hand intrigued to find out more about the other contestants other than LOONA... and at the same time, what we might have been "used to" for the first 4 episodes had since changed starting from Ep5, when the Workshop started. But soon realized that whatever "misconceptions" I might have the contestants (no doubt due to "editing" lol), were replaced with understanding a bit more about folks, away from the competitive stage. The producers might have started the show off pitting one against another, but now with the combination/pairing situation, it feels more "fruitful" now, somehow... at least for me LOL

Everyone were next tasked to choose/VOTE for their favourite performances in both VOCAL and DANCE Units. The chosen winners of each unit will next CHOOSE the Cue Sheet for the next round of stages! This "advantage" was not told to the teams until after they'd voted. Now THIS "twist" I liked LOL





POSITION UNIT BATTLE CUE SHEET ASSIGNED
After the intermission, the chosen winners were "33" for VOCAL (Hyolyn X WJSN), and "Queen is Na/Envious Queen" for DANCE (Brave Girls X LOONA), and the cue sheet was set:

VOCAL STAGE:
Sun and Moon (LOONA X Kep1er)
Universe in Eunha (VIVIZ X WJSN)
33 (Hyolyn X Brave Girls)

DANCE STAGE:
KeV1Z (VIVIDZ X Kep1er)
EX-it (Hyolyn X WJSN)
Queen in Na (Brave Girls X LOONA).






WORKSHOP ENDS ON A HEARTWARMING NOTE
One hour into the program, the "Workshop" era/segment comes to an end, with a happy heartwarming story told. Alas I am only able to clearly(ish) recognize Chuu's voice at the beginning of the sequence, but alas did not recgnize the voices afterwards. Shows how much of a "pedestrian" I am to KPOP, which is not wrong to say :(



OPINION: Sometimes we forget, the industry is both a dream-making machine, and as well a dream-crushing one, where economical failure or human relations could lead to disbandment or being cancelled. Is being "pretty" or "talented/skilled" enough to keep one in the KPOP-game? "Fame" is never a given, or a "right", isn't it? But of course I am just a "consumer" in the scheme of things, watching on the sidelines of blissful-ignorance, streaming my fav's videos, and indulgently "sharing my impressions" in a hobby-blog, cheers :p



WELCOME TO THE NEW NEW
We return to the filming studio, and are shown fandoms cheering for their favs, and are ushered into their seats, holding a "Queendom 2 Light Stick" (with show logo printed in pink tinted acrylic), which even the contestants were holding in their green rooms.

The audience were turning on their light sticks and cheering using them too. Will we see "merchandise" soon? Or will any disgruntled fan hawk it off online afters the show? LOL



There is a new stage "design" (layout is somewhat different from the earlier stage seen in Round Two (Which I'd dissected previously)... I might have screen grabbed more images of the stage (than the contestant themselves :p) that I would not burden this blogpost with, so ...



INTRODUCING ROUND 3 & VOTING SYSTEM
Hosts Taeyeon and Lee Youngjin take to the stage, and introduce the Voting System and points given. "Special Guests" in the live audience were introduced but not specifically by name (as they did last time with IDLE and AOA).



The audience were given an explanation of the 2 Parts of "Round Three", amd specifically in this "live audience voting"-cycle, they would only have to vote for ONE of their favourites (instead of the previous "two"), and the results of which will be announced to the individual units...!



COMMENTARY: Whether this was all "part of the plan" from Day 1, or evolved thru the earlier episodes and the results of voting situations (both online and offline), might well be oblivious to the viewers (you and me), which no doubt would affect the "voting / streaming" habits of folks and fandom, which ultimately keeps folks on their toes, and program interesting enough to warrant attention, versus watching ripped clips online instead.



SUN AND MOON
The first VOCAL Unit were introduced on stage: "SUN AND MOON" - which comprised of members from LOONA (HaSeul, Kim Lip, Chuu and JinSoul) and Kep1er (Chaehyun and Youngeun). I took a deeper delve into their stage earlier, but this time we take a cloiser look into their pre-stage scenes, cheers.

Before their performance, we were shown a filmed and edited segment of the girls preparing for their stage.





SUN AND MOON was such a wholesome and positive presentation of their pairing - from Kim Lip driving (!), to picking up Youngeun from school, still in her school uniform, visiting the Butterfly Garden etc. There are actually polaroids of their times together posted on socials, but perhaps I shousd stay focused on "Queendom 2"-proper, cheers :p







The performance stage is shown next (below), followed by the version we saw in the program, which includes reactions..



ABOVE: Video to be tracked (Go HERE to LIKE the video)
BELOW: Edited program footage (video is off-sync tho) with reactions from other artists.







OPINION: One thing which somewhat enraged me (but why allow myself to be "enraged" with a show OMFGH lol), was that "tracking" for the videos were not announced clearly, but for the text supered on-screen during their stages. And from reading comments on the video itself, folks did not know or are unsure that there'll be tracking.

I remembering seeing and noting that tracking'll end "May 9 at 23:59hrs KST" as per previous tracking instructions, but folks were perhaps used to the previous episode (Ep5) not needing to stream.

And in subsequent airings or broadcasts on other channels (*Legit or otherwise), there are no instructions for so, as per previous broadcasts (*and there would not be, as the programs might be rerun afters the tracking date(s), or V.O.D. and folks might be confused, IMHO).

ADDED: To be clear, "Live Audience" voting had been done and concluded, with the results already made known, and will be revealed in Ep7, but voting/streaming within the designated timeline would count towards the final tally, right? This timeline tracking is in place and has been in place for all other videos as well, so this would make sense - All my own persona speculation, of course :)

Be that as it may, I also recognize I am but not even a spec of dust in the fandom, so all I can do is be a madman ranting about this in my lil'corner of the www :p

That said, it is an interesting development this round, especially when it comes to rankings. I'll delve further into that when Ep7 comes into play, I reckon...






UNIVERSE IN EUNHA / GALAXY EMBRACES UNIVERSE
We are next introduced to the VOCAL Unit comprising Eunha of VIVIZ, and Yeonjung and Soobin of WJSN. We begin with a behind-the-scenes preparation, which included recording their voices in a audio recording studio, and a rooftop picnic get-together bonding session.



OPINION: The thing is, this format was mirrored exactly with Hyolyn and Minyoung of Brave Girls in their own segment ("Rooftop at night" tho :p). We are shown them performing like "pros" in a recording booth, where instead we are shown LOONA and Kep1er engaging in "fun bonding activities"? You can argue "but they had a studio scene and rehearsal too"...

Are we supposed to figure out the "sincerity" in each group? Gauge their "professionalism" in their set tasks? LOL - We absorb what is shown to us - sometimes with a grain of salt, as we might feel we "know" our biases "more", but for non-fans and general viewers, folks might take in what they are shown at "face value", and in a "survival show", this might not be wholly "fair", is it?

Naaaah, the audience has brains to figure things out for themselves, and all I am doing is "over-reacting" LOL

Regardless, we witness the "UNIVERSE IN EUNHA" stage (I gave up trying to confirm their actual name for now, sorry lol), this time featuring their chosen song "Hold My Hand" by IU (which I previously previewed HERE), that was apart of the "The Greatest Love / My Last Love" OST from 2011.



ABOVE: Performance Stage Only
BELOW: Edited show footage with Reactions from other teams







THIRTY-TREE
The final VOCAL Stage for this episode, was Hyolyn X Minyoung of Brave Girls, and with the story presented since Episode 5, we were anticipating a "victorious" ending to Minyoung's worries, and both the production and the performers gave us what we had been waiting for.





OPINION: Although I did mention their behind-the-scenes-format were the same, one key aspect of this combo, was Hyolyn taking the lead in mentoring and directing Minyoung. And the sharing on the rooftop made so much sense, story-wise, it was a well-orchestrated tale to share indeed, so kudos.

Not saying this was "fiction" in any way shape or form, but that they were able to delve deeper into what has thus far been about "talents and skills", but for what I imagine would be the mental stress of everyone involved.

I can personally wish everyone had fun and have fruitful experience, but cannot deny it might also be a "proving stage(s)" of their own abilities, to not just the viewing public, but to their peers.




VOCAL RESULTS & DANCE UNIT TEASED FOR EP7
The results for the Live Audience voting were tabulated, and representatives from each Vocal Unit were informed of their rankings, to which the audience were instead left with a cliffhanger for next episode LOL

As well we were previewed for the DANCE Unit stages in Episode 7.





ENVIOUS QUEEN BRAVE GIRLS LOONA Queendom2 01
ENVIOUS QUEEN BRAVE GIRLS LOONA Queendom2 02
ENVIOUS QUEEN BRAVE GIRLS LOONA Queendom2 03


The resulting visuals previously seen HERE were not as "poignant" (for me personally), as the message Monika had for the girls. Whether the "resulting rank" mattered no doubt to the participants, I can only hope it stokes the fire and passion within them, to give themselves the satisfaction that otherwise fans and voters (like myself), could give them.

Cheers,
Andy TOYSREVIL



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