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queendom puzzle recap/review: ep 3

july 15 2023

Mnet's Queendom Puzzle is slowly chugging along, beginning to pick up steam. In episode three, we get the results of the performance video evaluations and start to see the team cover battles. They cover a LOT of ground with this episode (it honestly felt like it went on forever) so let's get right into it.

Mnet flies past the practice/performance of the two "signal song" performance videos. Normally, they would've dragged this out into three episodes full of practice drama and false tension, but perhaps because both the performance videos aired before this episode did, they don't feel the need to drum up hype around it. Which is honestly for the best, in my opinion.

The Charismatic teams are shown first, and much of their screen time revolves around Chaeyeon quickly taking control of the Pick team before unexpectedly dropping out of the show. It flusters the Pick team, especially because the other team now has an advantage over them by having 7 members to their 6. They quickly rally and rearrange their formations and choreo to cover Chayeon's absence. Meanwhile, Haein drops out on the Drop team, which evens out the numbers.

Here's where I put on my tinfoil hat— I think the production team went over to the Drop team and asked if anyone would be willing to voluntarily drop out, in order to keep the numbers even (and keep the Pick team from being at an unexpected disadvantage). Last episode, I talked about how unlike Chaeyeon (who dropped out because her song went viral in Korea and she no longer needed to suffer through Queendom for the exposure), Haein really had no reason to drop out, and gave a vague "personal reasons" excuse as to why she left the show.

I theorized that perhaps she just misinterpreted how hard the show was going to be and dropped out when she realized how serious it was, but I think this theory might be just as likely. Obviously, I could be way off base and maybe it was an extenuating circumstance like family/health issues, so I don't want to insist this has to be what happened. Honestly, even if she just didn't feel like doing the show anymore, that's just as valid as any reason to drop out.

Moving onto the filming of the performance videos, Drop team's filming goes off without a hitch, while Pick team struggles to find their footing. The team keeps flubbing their formations and Jiwoo keeps missing her mark for her rap position, which delays Pick team until they're caught in the dark in a rainstorm. Yeah, remember how last episode I was confused about the rain "special effects" because I didn't think they fit with the song's concept? Well, that's because they weren't special effects at all. It was a freak weather accident instead. They finish off the Charismatic segment with a clip of the Pick team miserably shivering in the rain. Poor girls.

Snap team is up next, and mostly follows the journey of Hwiseo and the Drop team as they struggle to come to terms with being the rejects, stuck in the shadow of the more popular and seemingly more "talented" Pick team. Hwiseo is very upset at first, even starting to cry. She apparently said on Bubble that she didn't care about being dropped and only was sad to be separated from Riina, and I don't think she's lying, necessarily, but I think she was definitely also a little sad to be dropped. Especially after she performed really well during the up-down battle.

But Hwiseo quickly snaps out of her funk and begins running the practice room like the navy, pointing out a choreo mistake that the others have been accidentally making and taking over the dance practice. She steps a little bit on Dohwa's toes, since Dohwa is kind of a natural leader that had been running things before that. At first, Dohwa looks like she just thinks Hwiseo is being difficult because she doesn't want to be there, but it turns out she's right about the choreo mistake. Like all good leaders, Dowha realizes when someone else is better for the team, and she graciously steps back so Hwiseo can lock down their choreo.

Meanwhile on the Pick team, Bora struggles to learn the choreo and keeps getting notes from the choreographers and performance directors that she simply looks "too cute." And really, I get what Bora was going for by choosing Snap, even though she fits Charismatic's concept better— she wants to show off her range and surprise people, show them that she can pull off sexy concepts too. It's a smart idea, in theory. But in practice, it's simply too much of a departure from her comfort zone and what naturally fits her image and style, and she struggles to pull off this concept. Despite dropping all the other vocalists so she stands out more, she ends up not standing out at all amidst other members who naturally suit the song more, like Yeeun, Yeoreum, and even Riina.

There's a funny little segment where both Snap teams are in the recording studio to record their version of the song, and Kei asks shyly if she can take the final chorus' high note up a couple steps, to which the producer agrees. Bora, sitting with the Pick team outside, hears Kei's note change and visibly panics. She runs off to the bathroom and starts trying to take the note even higher. Then, in the booth, she starts doing all kinds of crazy shit, while both her members and the producer side-eye her uncertainly. Oh, poor Bora. She's really trying her best here.

They begin filming the actual performance video, and the Drop team makes a couple mistakes, while the Pick team pulls off their filming first try. Sangah and Yeeun from the Pick team sneak over to monitor the Drop team and return feeling confident, even saying to the rest of the Pick team that they don't have anything to be worried about (it was at this moment my "Mnet Editing" alarm bells started going off and I realized the Charismatic Pick team was going to win and the Snap Drop team was going to win). The Drop team is bummed out by the fact that the Pick team seems so much better than they are, but Dohwa keeps their spirits up by reiterating that if they give up and just try to copy what the Pick team does, they'll lose. They're not as skilled in terms of raw dance/rap talent, but they each bring something unique to the table.

We move on to the judging, and it's kind of strange. Some of the points come from online fan voting, some of it comes from "expert judges," and then the contestants also get to vote on who was better from the song that they didn't perform. Mnet tries to make it seem like the "expert" judging and the contestant ranking was done simultaneously, but that can't be true, since they already have high quality cards printed out with all the girl's faces and their results for the next round…? That aside, the expert judges are a mashup of random idols that Mnet has pulled out of nowhere (like Hyolyn and some BTOB members), the choreographers/performance directors (like the three La Chica members that choreographed Charismatic), the composers of the songs (like MY ENEMY Ryan Jhun), and a bunch of random K-Pop "industry professionals" (journalists, music directors, producers, etc).

It's hard for me to take any of these people seriously, especially after they kick off the "expert voting" with a long, drawn out Queendom Puzzle propaganda piece. They gush about how this show is a fan's dream (not really?) and how the idols themselves really get to experience what it's like to be a producer/creative director (also not really?) and how lucky they are that Mnet is giving them this chance. It's all very overblown and annoying and takes up way too much time. But after that, they get to work judging, watching the performance videos together and discussing them before voting on which was better. They also will vote for an "MVP" from the winning group, and the two MVPs will win the right to puzzle (God, that phrase never stops being funny) for the next round.

Like I said earlier, the contestants also get to judge the other song's teams, although I'm really not sure it matters much. The draw here is mainly that all four performance videos are played in front of all the contestants, so we get to see everyone's reaction to both their own performance and everyone else's. The Charismatic videos are up first, starting with the Pick team. The judges are very impressed with the Pick team and spend a lot of time complimenting Jiwoo for not looking like a weak link despite one of the choreographers commenting that she was a weak link at first (brutal). For this team's MVP, they float around either Nana (for her dance skills and natural charisma) or Jiwoo (for… being tall).

The judges are much less impressed with the Drop team for seemingly no reason at all. They just say the Pick team is "more stable" and "works more as a team." But they pile compliments on Suyun, Yeonhee, and Zoa, basically saying that the Pick team was overall a better and more cohesive team, but the Drop team's individual members stood out more. One of the song composers also says that the Drop team fit the vibes of the song better, considering they brought a little bit of seriousness into it that the Pick team didn't.

Moving onto Snap judging, this time the Drop team goes first. The judges are super impressed with this team, to the point where they're surprised to learn that they're the Drop team (at this point, I'm convinced these "expert judges" just prefer whichever team goes first, lol). Hwiseo receives a lot of praise for her vocals and her aura, as well as Dohwa for looking like a queen. They're also pretty impressed with the Pick team and think they're more stable and have neater dance skills. They have a hard time picking an MVP for both teams, because they think everyone looks good.

Next it's time to finally reveal the final results for both teams. Charismatic Pick team wins with 21 out of 27 votes, and the MVP is Nana, with 7 out of 13 expert judge votes. Snap Drop team wins in an "upset" with all 13 judges voting for them over the Pick team! No idea where those other 14 votes went, though (I think it has to do with the fact that Haein and Chayeon dropped out, meaning that even if every single other contestant voted for the Pick team, they would still only end up with 12 votes). Snap's MVP is Hwiseo, winning by one vote (fellow H1-Key member Riina looks really excited and happy for her, which is cute). I can honestly say that I feel like both these results and both these MVPs feel fair (I think I said I personally preferred the Charismatic Drop team, but only by a very small margin, and I stick by that).

They move on immediately to the next round, which is the "Remix Battle"— aka the cover song round. This round will actually be evaluated live on site, which makes me wonder why the first round had to be pre-recorded performance videos… moving on. The song choices are Boa's Only One (a duet), Twice's Dance The Night Away (for 5 members), Blackpink's Shut Down (4), Seventeen's Fighting (6), Shinee's Don't Call Me (4), and Gidle's Nxde (4) . Hwiseo and Nana are the Puzzlers, and they will assign every contestant to one of these groups, starting with the winners of the performance video round and then moving onto the losers once everyone else has been sorted. Winners can "object" to their placement, but are not guaranteed to be moved. Losers have to sit there and take it. Ouch!

Nana and Hwiseo get right to work, Hwiseo putting herself on Shut Down and Nana putting herself on Nxde. Right away, Hwiseo tells Nana to save two spaces on the Shut Down team, since she knows for a fact she wants Riina and Sangah on her team (who are stuck in the loser's bracket and can't be sorted until the winners have been completed). Nana is totally on board and meanwhile, drafts Dohwa, Suyun, and Jihan onto her own team.

Unlike the last round (where basically everyone got to do the song they wanted), more songs & less spots = more people aiming for the same spots. Basically everyone wants to do Nxde, so the members who get picked are very happy, and everyone else who wanted to do a powerful and/or sexy concept looks like they want to die. Yeoreum especially seems like she's on the brink when she's assigned to Fighting, but she has no choice but to sit there and take it, since she lost the team battle. Luckily for Yeoreum, Juri formally objects to being put on the Don't Call Me team, saying she wants to perform Fighting to show off her "onion-like charms," and the Puzzlers swap her for Yeoreum. Not her first choice, but Yeoreum definitely seems happier with this.

All three Cherry Bullet members get shuffled to Twice's Dance The Night Away, which basically no one wants to be on. And can you blame them? It's not particularly one of Twice's best or even more popular songs, making it a weird choice over something like Alcohol Free, What is Love?, or Likey. Jiwon especially doesn't want to be there, trying to spin it as "it's bad if three CheBul members are all on the same team," (why is it bad? It just is!) but it's obvious the real reason is just because she wanted to use this time away from Cherry Bullet trying to break out of their cute/bright/fresh image and doing sexier, darker songs. She auditioned with Gotta Go, for God's sake! She doesn't want to do a fucking Twice song! Jiwon files her formal objection, but unlike Yeoreum, the Puzzlers don't come through for her. Nana doesn't want to take Jiwon to Nxde, so Hwiseo puts her back on Dance The Night Away.

The final teams end up being:

Each team gets to pick the concept/staging/arrangement for their song, giving them a taste of what it's like to be a creative director. They each get "ideation meetings" with their groups and then meet with a group of Mnet executives. This stage mainly shows which groups are passionate and excited about their song versus which groups mainly consist of members who were shuffled onto a song because they didn't fit anywhere else. The Nxde team are all super happy and have a lot of ideas, whereas the Fighting team all seem depressed and demoralized minus Juri, who is the only one who actually wanted to be there.

The Only One team has great chemistry and get along super well, Kei at one point joking that they must have been married in a past life (Queendom Puzzle yuri?????) Don't Call Me team all would have rather been in Nxde or Shut Down, but seem satisfied with what they got ("At least we're not on Fighting or Dance The Night Away," they seem to be repeating to themselves). Shut Down team are also super happy, Sangah and Riina feeling grateful that Hwiseo strategized specifically to get them on her team. Fye is lowkey just happy to be here. I think she understands Korean better than she speaks it, because she seems to mostly get what's going on and doesn't look like a lost sheep 90% of the time, although she might just be a very good actress. Dance The Night Away team also range from ambivalent to very unhappy with their song and Jiwon specifically looks like she's miserable.

We speed past a dramatic practice monologue, filled with strife and drama. The exception is the Only One team, who seems to be having a beautiful love story and going on dates to look at flowers while the other teams stress over choreo and stage disasters (lesbianism always wins!). The show flashes forward to D-Day, and each team has a mysterious board in their green room. Earlier, each of the teams got to hear a little one minute vocal-only teaser of the other performances, and each ranked the performances accordingly. Those were averaged out and are now revealed in their green rooms, It honestly feels kind of cruel to spring this on them right before they go onstage. Sure, it's great for the first place, but for last place it must be demoralizing.

The pre-performance rankings are Only One > Fighting >Nxde > Shut Down > Dance The Night Away > Don't Call Me, which definitely bums out the Don't Call Me team a lot. They attempt to boost their morale and self esteem back up, but Yeoreum specifically seems really discouraged. Nxde is performing first, and now they go into a more in-depth view of their practice and rehearsal.

Nana comes up with the idea to have rope choreo, Jihan has ideas for the song arrangement, Suyun decides the backstory/story concept, and Dowha has the idea to use dolls as stage props. They even have a little PowerPoint presentation with reference images to show to the Mnet executives. You can tell the girls are really excited to participate creatively in the stage, which they don't often get to do as rookie and/or less popular idols. I wish more idols got the opportunity to participate creatively in planning their concepts and songs, because they clearly have lots of ideas and passion.

The rope choreo ends up being harder and more confusing to deal with than they imagined— they keep having to space out more and plan every detail of their movements so they don't all get tangled up in ropes. They have a disastrous stage rehearsal, but Dohwa's calm energy soothes everyone here too. She talks about the common performance superstition that if you have perfect rehearsal, the performance will be terrible, but if you have a terrible rehearsal, your performance will be perfect. Dohwa was the youngest member in AOA, so it's great to see that she's grown into a natural leader who knows how to stop her younger teammates from freaking out whenever the slightest thing goes wrong.

And it works, because the rope choreo goes off without a hitch for the actual performance! Nana is a star, and Jihan emerges as a sleeper ace here. When they were forming the teams, Hwiseo asked if Nana was sure she wanted Jihan on the Nxde team, since she has more of a cute/smiley image. But Nana was sure that she wanted Jihan, and it seems to have really paid off. Unlike Bora, Jihan really can pull off a darker and more mature concept, and she has a lot of natural charisma and great facial expressions here. She also pulls off a dance break with Nana that includes a lot of heavy rope choreo.

Normally for Mnet competition shows, the live audience votes for which team they prefer, or two teams are pitted together and they choose the best out of the two, but for this round Queendom Puzzle is (perhaps wisely) doing away with all the fluff and simply presenting a stage and having people vote up if they think it was good and down if they think it was bad. THE REDDIT UPVOTE RETURNS! So the goal here is just to take and maintain first place, not to specifically beat another team. Two blocks rise out of the floor, and only the performing team (and the teams backstage) are shown 1) the current highest results/first place and 2) their current score. Because the Nxde team are the first to go, they automatically take first place with 222 votes. Because they have nothing to compare it to, the Nxde team can't tell if their score is good or bad, and neither can I, because Mnet hasn't told the audience what the highest possible score is, either.

Next up, we switch abruptly from the dark and mature Nxde to the bright and energetic Fighting team. Juri, as the only one who chose to be here, is running this team like the navy. Side note, Mnet's subtitles are inconsistent at best, and it's at this moment that they get really bad. Entire conversations will just go completely unsubbed, so forgive me if I missed anything. From what was subbed, this team's main struggle is that they feel demoralized and don't have any creative ideas. Their meetings mostly end up being Juri frantically throwing out ideas hoping to get a reaction while the others stare at her blankly. Eventually, Juri gets them hyped up for their stage and begins whipping them into shape.

They put a lot of thought and detail into this performance, and it really shows. I ended up liking this performance a lot! It reminded me conceptually of Loona's Shake It stage on Queendom 2, with a musical theatre vibe. They have this story concept about all being burnt out office workers and having a team lead who comes in to hype them up. The stage starts off with a little skit where they each have a "character": Juri is reading manga, Jiwoo is sleeping on the job, Elly is taking selfies, Soojin is stressed out and overworked, Yuki isn't paying attention, and Jooe is their fearless leader. They have an intricate set, a table dance, handmade props like handwritten resignation letters, and interact directly with the audience with confetti guns. Jooe does a great job hyping the audience up! Unfortunately, the hype doesn't translate to audience votes, and they only get 209 votes— not enough to snatch first place from Nxde. #ROBBED

They end the episode with a little preview of the Only One team, who call themselves the "Soulmates" team… Mnet also makes a big deal over this being the first time two women have performed Only One, which I have a hard time believing, but whatever. I too believe Soeun and Kei will win through the power of YURI. I'm actually pretty excited for this performance! It's been hyped up a lot, but for good reason. Kei is an amazing vocalist and I think she can do a lot with a Boa song like this. Soeun is a good dancer, and she does have really good chemistry with Kei, which is necessary for a song like this. In the preview, they're rolling all over each other and giggling about how warm their stomachs are when they touch… which I don't think everyone would be comfortable doing or able to pull off.

It's still difficult to tell how firmly in first place the Nxde team is, since we don't know the total number of possible votes. Like, was the audience just not impressed with Fighting? Did they sound bad live? Or are they both on the lower end and the audience wasn't impressed with either of them? There's just no way to tell. Apparently word from onsite viewers is that filming took 12 hours, and many audience members chose not to leave to eat or use the restroom, since Mnet told them they wouldn't be allowed back inside. I definitely expect this to impact the votes and think that maybe Nxde will win simply because they went first, before people got super hangry and uncomfortable.

But we won't know until the next episode, so see you then!