I must say that watching this past episode had my heart racing the whole time. I think I've come to realize that I do want Team B to win, BUT that will not affect my review whatsoever. I completely understand why Team A won this 2nd Battle Round; I was just a bit worried for Team B considering all the problems they were having preparing for this battle. But enough about how I felt about the episode itself, let's move on to the actual performances!
So I've cut this episode into two review posts, the dance portion & the self-composed song performance, because both are going to be full (aka lengthy) reviews. & First off, we have....
Team B:
I thought the concept was very cute, not necessarily fresh like their other performances because "the nerds versus the bullies" concept has been done before, but it was well executed. Their idea to incorporate a story into their routine was a very smart move because it adds a whole other element to the performance, & their acting was done very well, especially Jinhwan & B.I.
The two songs they chose were mixed well, providing fluid transitions for the concept, but the songs themselves, Picasso Baby by Jay-Z & Gold Digger by Kanye, didn't seem to fit the storyline. Touch the Sky by Kanye did make some sense to me though, seeing as it is a song about rags to riches. You can say it ties into the model students being cooler than the bullies see them to be or Team B's journey from trainees to being the winner. The song choices also had similar tempos, which kept the flow of their choreography.
They were probably inspired to try tumbling after the battle with JYP's trainees since they had a lot more acrobatics in their choreography than actual dance moves, which I thought was a smart move. Who isn't entertained by flips & tricks? Their choreography in this round was also more focused, taking into consideration T.O.P oppa's critique in the last battle. There weren't too many critical points trying to be showcased, which is a good thing. My favorite moves were Jinhwan dancing on Bobby's shoulders, their hip action during "get down girl, go head, get down," & Jinhwan's little shimmy during "lemme see ya dance." (Jinhwan's shimmy was so adorable, seriously my favorite part. Haha) & Of course, they did their signature Bernie dance move as well. (I say signature because they always do that move. :p Haha) The cleanliness of the choreography as a group was pretty darn perfect as well. (As expected of Team B.)
In relation to what the judges had to say:
- Lee Hyundo had nothing but compliments! Just as he said, their performance was lively & charismatic. They came out with a great storyline. Their movements were quite synchronized despite different costumes & body types. He said Kim Jinhwan suited his own personal preference, which I don't blame him for. I'm not exactly sure what type of "feel" he was referring to in his preferred style, but Jinhwan is a very charismatic performer. (As I've said before, he's so adorable. ^ - ^ )
- JYP, being super constructive as always, talked about two points, feel & accuracy. He called out B.I on his need for some stretching in order to make his movements bigger, which will result from stretching. Now whether or not B.I really needs to have bigger movements is still a question in the air for me because I couldn't get as accurate of a read of the choreography that I would have liked since the cinematographer wanted to do a little too much with his camera angles & zooming... But with that aside, they seemed pretty on point to me. I will admit that there were moments where the cleanliness wasn't perfect per say, but that's just me nitpicking. & Of course, we can't deny Bobby's undeniable swagger when he's in his Hip-Hop comfort zone. JYP particularly mentioned that individually they were great, but his scoring was based on their work as whole. His 88 was somewhat of a fair score in my books since I can see how he wasn't feeling it as a group performance. There was just a slight, slight something missing...
- Judge Yoon Jongshin admitted that he wasn't that experienced in the dancing world, but really enjoyed the energy & performance Team B gave. We all know that if there's one thing Team B can do, it's to give an energic & charismatic performance.
Next up...
Team A:
First & for most, can we point out what an adorable nerd Seunghoon was! Haha He was absolutely great & very into his character! Surprisingly, they all were. Team A really got into their concept, & even though it was a school concept just like Team B, I'm happy they stuck to it. I don't have much else to say about the concept itself, since it's pretty self-explanatory, but I was quite impressed with how much effort they put into the acting portion of it. & Because this was the most relaxed I've ever seen them perform, their charisma really shined through. Truly daebak!
Next, their secret weapon. The only other time I've seen someone dance to beat-boxing was during one of the audition episodes for an American dance competition show called So You Think You Can Dance, so seeing it done in their performance definitely caught me by surprise. Granted, it wasn't perfectly executed, where their movements matched Minho's beats exactly, but it's probably not that easy to do & was done pretty well nonetheless. I thought it was a very unique idea. & I don't know if they intended on it matching their song choice, but I found it ironic that they used Jay Z's D.O.A, which discusses the use of too much auto-tune in the industry where, in turn, the beat-boxing kind of relates to that old school music making vibe. I'm probably looking too much into it. Haha
As for the judges:
- Here goes JYP again with his thoughts: idea, feel, accuracy, & amount of practice. He said the fluidity of their movements wasn't executed well, which I can agree with. There were moments during the beat-boxing where the synchronization could have been showcased, but the accuracy just wasn't there. Despite that, it was very good. He also complimented them by saying you can tell they practiced more than Team B did. I couldn't say who practiced more or less, but I concur with the fact that their performance really showed how much effort they put into it. *thumbs up* He called out Jinwoo for finally looking relaxed & cool. Haha He pointed out that Jinwoo was no longer looking around here & there, which made me realize that's why he always seemed so nervous to me!
- I completely agree with everything Yoon Jongshin had to say. One, Taehyun is super charming. He stuck out to me the most, as well, during this performance. & Second, because Minho was injured & couldn't participate fully in the dance, it did take away from their performance as a whole. It wasn't a big factor, but I feel like having Minho come in & out & not dancing detracted from their stage as a group.
- One thing I didn't understand was how Lee Hyundo commented that the dancing portion with the beatbox would have been better if they propped something up at the time... I'm not sure if he meant using a prop while they danced or something else? Although I completely agree that they would have left a much greater impact if their movements were precise & sharp during the beatbox. & I also agree that despite what they could have done better, they left a deeper impression than Team B did, & for me, it was because of that unique beatbox dance portion.
Overall, it was a pretty close battle between the two. I think what put Team B over the edge was their accuracy compared to Team A. Since this was a dance battle, I definitely preferred Team B's performance over Team A because of the intricacy & breadth of their choreography. If we were just going off of concept, charisma, & performance, I did like Team A better. I felt as though their charms were much more appealing.
Once again, thank you for reading! Sorry for posting it late, I know it's not Sunday, but bear with me. I will have the last portion of the review for this round's battle up tomorrow! See you then. :)
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