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Recapping Queendom 2 Episode 8



TL;DR: Episode 8 of QUEENDOM 2 essentially started on the 2nd Part of Round 3 - namely "FANtastic Queendom" - where the first three teams in the Cue Sheet performed their stages: Kep1er, VIVIZ and WJSN.

This episode of QUEENDOM 2 was first streamed on Thursday May 19th at 9:20PM KST.



Do note that there are now prompts for tracking of streams for videos uploaded on Mnet's YouTube channel, ending May 23rd at 2359hrs KST.



EPISODE RECAP
The episode starts with a recap of VOCAL and DANCE Units from Part 1 of Round 3, before we head back to the studio recording, and (re)introduced to the second part of "Round 3" and what the "FANtastic Queendom" round entailed.

We are next shown each team interacting with their fans, to find out WHAT song to perform. Not all the footage concludes with an "answer", as it'll continue to each teams individual feature before their stage performance.



Hyolyn met her fans during a dedicated open air busking event.

LOONA went to a cafe locale and watched Orbits showing their love on a feature wall, and subsequently letters on a projection screen.

Brave Girls did a Live Stream where they asked their fans directly to choose songs (I think I saw a bit of that "live" too...!)

The other three teams' interaction will be described in slightly better detail below :)

It is revealed that all the above happened right after their Round 2 Stages (unsure if this was before or after their Queendom Workshop episodes, which I suspect to be before, but...).

The winner of the Round 2 Stages was Hyolyn (she performed LOONA's "SO WHAT"), and it was revealed that the Cue Sheet for this Round was chosen by her during their sit down evaluation stage.





Hyolyn was given the Queen's Service for winning the second round, and she shared her service with two of her dancer buddies (Sorry I do not know your names), where they flexed their fashions at a boutique "Nerdy" - which you might recognise from the multiple rims the name is shown in the white bar at the end of the episodes before the credits flashed on screen.





SCORING ROUND 3
Heading back to the studio, here are screengrabs of the Scoring System for ROUND 3.







THE BOYS BY KEP1ER
Before their stage performance, we are shown the days leading to said stage, where Kep1er played a "prank" on their fandom, by organising a "dance session".



Two 2 members (Mashiro and Yeongeun) sneaked into amongst the fans - wearing hats and facemasks - to dance their choreo to WA DA DA, while the rest looked on the monitor hidden in another room away from the dance studio ... both Members exposed who they were once they were tasked to dance, and the rest of the Kep1er members came out to greet their fans.



Emotions ran deeper during their sit-down discussions with Kep1ians, while suggesting songs, and where Kep1er poured through their sadness. People might choose to forget, but they are a rookie group amongst and competing against established groups, and regardless of their skills and talent, is also learning to equipment themselves with the experience and emotional development and fortitude thru their experiences. Even after QUEENDOM 2 has ended, they will still continue their journey - which don't forget comes with a finite timeline too - which I do not know if it's a boon or dread, but still everything they do, they will only gain from, IMHO.

But nobody's throwing in the towel yet!



Based on their fans' suggestions, which featured 3 song choices from SNSD ("Mr Mr", "The Boys" and "Genie"), Kep1er performed SNSD's "THE BOYS", and pulled off an impressive stage, which includes the largest expenditure of props and sets yet! With Girls' Generation just announced their comeback to celebrate their 15th anniversary, I won't be too surprised if this song might well go viral...! Or mayne it;s up to their fans to makr that happen...?



Through Queendom 2, and their interaction with LOONA in the SUN AND MOON Vocal Unit, Kep1er has endeared themselves to my attention, and I am rooting for their evolution and journey ahead!

UPDATED with Full Cam:




BOP BOP WITH VIVIZ
VIVIZ cooked and made food for their fans, meeting them in Kundal (turned out to be a major sponsor, plus the previous CF-fueled reviews here). You'll see their products appear again during WJSN's segment too.

VIVIZ choose to perform their debut single "BOP BOP!", and frankly I was elated for them! Having performed GFRIEND's track and a suitably similarly vibing song with WJSN's UNNATURAL, I felt it made perfect sense right now to perform their debut single. "You've told them where you were from", and shwed what you were capable pf doing, now show everyone what'll happen next, moving forward as VIVIZ!



For this incarnation of BOP BOP!, VIVIZ incorporated cheerleading into the choreo, executing a "high teen" concept, that fit their song, and images very well, which I'd felt essentially did not revert themselves "back" to GFRIEND-days, but to perhaps carve out a new future in their music-journey ahead.



Only through Queendom 2 that I was clued in into their GFRIEND-connection (not having been familiar with the now disbanded girl group), and learnt more of said-connection, and at the same time proud to see them preserve and power thru, and continue with their career, AND reminding folks - such as myself - about their "NOW", after sharing with us "BEFORE", so we can head towards the future "together" ... HWAITING, VIVIZ!

UPDATED with Full Cam:






PANTOMIME WITH WJSN
Billed as the "Hidden Card", the 9th member known as "Bona" returned to the folks, performing alongside WJSN for Part 2 of Round 3. A clip of this was released by Mnet earlier today prior to stream too. Fresh from her acting stint in KDRAMA "Twenty Five Twenty One", she greeted UJUNGS alongside WJSN in a meet-n-greet, where suggestions for songs to perform were heard from their fans.

As revealed in my previous blogpost, WJSN went with "Pantomime", and we were given a look into their preparation and eventual performance on stage.



UPDATED with Full Cam:




An hour and 50 minutes in, we were shown Brave Girls' stage performance getting into an undetermined problem, and climaxed out into the ending preview for Episode 9.

You know it was to be a fake-out, as technically it was LOONA's turn to perform after WJSN, so...



All in all it felt to be an underwhelming episode, but for the stage performance itself, with everything else an edited emotional journey thru their preparations for the stage. Undeniably, through the episodes thus far, having "known" some of the girls, and the investment I had for the show - beyond LOONA - does create a emotionally vested viewing experience, but also realising the edited narrative now shifting to showcase more "negativity" amongst the favourites of previous episodes (But I'll not ramble further beyond my personal apprehensions ... just don't do my girls dirty, Mnet).

One thing I must opine on, is the boradcast/streamed presentation of the stages. Understandably the stage performance are now more visually wider, where the teams utilise the entirety of the breath of the stages more (not that they have not before, but), with multiple killing points by multiple members, sometimes happening at one - prime example being WJSN's stage, that a single camera focus might not be enough, and the three stages presented reflected that lack, which a full fancam would be able to showcase the stage better this time around.

And the smoke effects though ... especially for Kep1er's stage - engulfed in fancy lighting, sure, but the girls somehow "disappeared" within it more than expected, IMHO. But yes, I am just a "consumer" at the end of the day, with whatever wannabe-"critical ananysis" being unwarranted commentary, innit? LOL
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