Ep 7 was amazing, and had the best segment of the whole show so far:
With
awesome dancing and priceless moments like
this and
this, it was just gold through and through.
Wait a minute. Let me take you there. Bang Bang was the definitely THE performance.
SPOILER ALERT
Such a great rollercoaster of an episode overall. Action, excitement! All the dance perfs were enjoyable, although the raps left something to be desired. Although props to the "You Look Happy" team for their
Produce 101 themed, pretty heavy lyrics that had everyone moved. So Kim Hyeongeun winning overall wasn't surprising at all.
The dance contest had a somewhat predictable outcome. Mina had me weak in the knees with her transformation and the audience agreed. Her styling, expressions and dancing... it was all perfect. Nayoung was amazing, but I think her styling was maybe a little off and she just couldn't quite match the impact Mina had. (Nayoung apparently choreographed the whole thing, which is pretty damn cool). And as I anticipated, the Bang Bang team was just too good for their own good. While Mina only had to seriously contend with Nayoung for the victory, Bang Bang had 7 girls in the top 22 duking it out.
It was a contest with strange rules and it basically served Mnet's purpose. Outrage, noise and publicity. Just what they're always looking for. It was a contest to find the best dance performer (emphasis on performance), yet it wasn't, because the "brackets" were all fucked up. Just for kicks, some specifics:
Let's start with Bang Bang. While it looks like the votes drop quite fast (191, 189, 101, 70, 41, 25, 19) it actually adds up to quite a lot (636). The performance actually got the most votes (forgetting Say My Name, where all votes weren't revealed) with 636. That speaks probably to how good it was. But there were just too many master chefs in the kitchen. (Chungha's fourth place actually doesn't surprise me. Unless you specifically pay attention to her, Yoojung and Somi steal her thunder in almost all of the group moments.)
There was a similar problem with Growl, and while it wasn't full of heavy hitters, it had some good dancers and a ton of people taking votes (190, 91, 84, 62, 60, 51, 29) so P.Soyeon wasn't able to run away enough with the points. The total votes were also only 567, which is the least of the (known) bunch.
While Full Moon had the least amount of performers, it was three top 10 girls, so the 568 votes divided quite evenly (225, 204 and 139). Now, consider if you replaced Pinky or Chaeyeon with a less popular or skilled person... poor Sohye could now be in the shit-storm of her life.
So with Mina stealing 269 votes, Nayoung ~196 (she was #4 overall, so between Pinky and Yoojung) and rest of their team only 100-150 votes between them (estimates, as the full result wasn't revealed) the end result just seems logical.
If you asked me who the best dance performer was overall, I'd say Yoojung easy. But this was a contest with more complex (and silly) rules.
SPOILER ALERT OVER
Next week, concepts! (and eliminations :/) The girls seem to have numbers corresponding to their ranks in the position evaluations.
And apparently,
current girl group members will be coaching them: Yubin & Yeeun (Wonder Girls), Yuri & Sunny (Girls' Generation), Hyorin (Sistar), Gayoon (4minute) and Chorong & Hayoung (A Pink) are mentioned.
Reaction award of the week goes to Stone Buddha and her beyond excited "omg".