Miranda Rodriquez
First Posted | 6/18/19 | 10:02 PM PST
Reality Show Review | Produce X 101 Episode 1 [Produce 101 season 4 episode 1]
Hey guys, so this is
my first episode reaction ever. I don't really know the things that I should or
should not say. I didn't even know how to really start actually. I kind of
watched the episode and wrote down any thought that came into my head. I have to
say that while I love the Produce 101 series, I was a little disappointed with
the full package of the first episode. I'll be going section by section and
naming off things that I loved and hated, and what I felt at certain times. A
lot of stuff I seemed to note down were after thoughts that made me kind of
think about a few things in previous seasons. With that in mind, lets get
started.
Opening: Hey! You
make me a, you make me a believer! Believer! The first thing I noticed was the
Imagine Dragon's music overlay in the opening credits. I really like that they
use western in a lot of Produce 101. It could be openings like this or actual
performances, and I find it neat when the trainees burst with joy at hearing
them. It really shows a global connection. The opening is very suspenseful, and
full of imagery and metaphors.
I have been trying
to stay away from all Produce X 101 information to the point that I did not
even know that actor Lee Dongwook was the next host. When I saw him, my literal
thoughts were "Hey look the reaper." And after the saying that kickstarts
the episode "It's Showtime!," I couldn’t help but question why he
would have been chosen as a host. As an actor, I could see a few tie-ins,
however, I could not think of any vocal, rap, dance, etc. knowledge that he
could address to these trainees. I later found out that my thoughts were
correct and wrong at the same time. But more on that later.
The chairs were set
up differently than usual, and the main chair had it's annual makeover as well,
which I really love. Though I did notice there were only ten big chairs set up.
And although I tried not to read much about the show, I did know that eleven
would still be the magical number. Que the flashing lights and we get a shift
to the start of the actual show, introducing the trainees.
Introductions: I
always love seeing the beginning of Produce 101, because the trainees give of a
'first day of school' vibe. And I tend to laugh a lot at the reactions the
trainees have to seeing all the chairs as well as when each trainee enters the
room. Saying that however, there were quite a few times when I frowned and
tilted my head. I felt as if the mood was kind of bland in the beginning, not
even having to do with the trainees themselves, but with the actual production.
Things started to get better and we were shown better cuts later on, however,
while I watched I felt like there was a thick air. It's kind of hard to
explain/put into words. I felt as though we were starting to get to the point
of been there done that. There was no flare or drama because I've seen the same
thing happen again and again in the last few seasons.
For trainees, my
frequent thought was "young." So many of them look like babies. And
many of them have not even trained for very long. And then you get the ones
that have, and are either so good they should have debut a long time ago, or
they seem to fall under even the three month trainees. Another thing I noticed
was a drastic change in visuals. There are a lot that in my own personal
opinion, do not yet have very good visuals (could be the age thing). Most
trainees who do have visuals, have the cutie-pie version, and very few have the
sexy or regular version.
Things started out
with Woollim Ent. Six very nervous and excited boys look around and even head
up to the top spot. Kings for a second before traveling down and taking their
seats below. I expected a lot of trainees to do this. I mean, who wouldn't want
to see what it would feel like to be at the top? C9 Ent. was next, throwing in
two trainees, bowing a lot. Flashbacks to their Wanna One hyung telling them to
have confidence, causing them to sit high up, though nervous, defeating their
fears in honor of their hyung.
As things go on and
trainees start filing in, I notice that the bland feeling I'd been having
stemmed from trainees immediately taking lower level seats, having little
confidence in themselves. The higher seated trainees seemed to have more
confidence and tried to shine through a lot more, which made for some
entertainments like when the Mario trainee practiced winking.
Another not of this
is when a trainee (forgot to write down name/company) listed his grade as
"A, unless I get nervous." He continues to sit down in his high up
chair, slapping himself and mumbling under his breath. "But, I'm nervous
now."
Later on we get the
first battle for the #1 spot, one handed pushups! The trainee already in his
seat kind of just stared in shock and amazement, and all hope was gone from his
eyes after seeing the other do several before standing up. The next trainee took
for the battle, but fell after just two, with a loud thunk that made everyone
laugh. The new #1 took his seat, and trainees whispered "He's a man."
Adding to my already tearful eyes as I laughed.
The next shots were
of trainees who looked like artists that have already made their debut,
including one that looks a LOT like Onew from SHINee. I even had to pause it.
Afterwards we get a
trainee named Nam Donghyun who has a brother for an artist, and my laughing
continued as Nam Taehyun starts berating him! "Since when did you want to
be an idol?" He asks. He seems to want to simultaneously encourage and protect
his little brother, all while scoffing and being seemingly dumfounded.
After that we get
Esteem SM Ent, a modeling company that obviously does NOT have the same feel as
previous' years YG Kplus models. They seems derpy and goofy and I couldn't help
but roll my eyes a few times at how blatant they were about it.
Lots of pressure
from Around Us Ent trainees. And then BOOM! Kim Dongbin from the previous male
season pops up! Other trainees recognize him and I just gape in shock and
immediately feel nervous for him. Later on trainees from Brand New Music pop
up, just as cute as with season 2. (Daehwi <3) Followed by 5 adorable
Starship trainees all holding hands. So many baby faces!!! And then he arrives
. . .
A Jellyfish trainee
walks in, easily one of the most handsome/mature looking so far, and the entire
section of trainees just awes at him! Even before he is fully out of the
hallway! One trainee even goes as far as to say, "I might fall in love
with him." Another says, "I'm already captivated." This visual
reminder in turn makes many trainees start looking at themselves and trying to
fixe themselves up. They also go as far as to have conversations, trying to
cheer each other up for believing they had such bad visuals! Didn't really work
all that well though.
We then get a
glimpse at the NINE individual trainees as they ascend the hallway.
Yet another battle
for #1, though apparently a different trainee. The two rap for their rights
with the other trainees cheering for the final decision, causing me to frown as
the one who should have won lost. Rapper vs. vocal, but the vocal won with an off-beat
rap that had good lyrics, but not as much heart as the rapper had.
Up10tion members
appear to my shock. They have not yet plummeted in fans as far as other idols
who have appeared on the show, and yet they were there. Trainees didn't know if
they should stand or sit after a while until one of them told them, "Please
sit down." Someone even said, "scary." After that the two idols
walked up and down the stairs, just to get a view of everyone's faces and greet
them. It made me go awe so bad as they skipped the #1 spot and went low to the
bottom.
Trainees start
murmuring to themselves about SM, YJ, and JYP, and if anyone from there would
be joining this year. Causing the Esteem models to snap back "We're from
SM." I loved that. Defend yourselves! You ARE from SM, you're just not
part of the idol part of SM, and even then, we don't know if they went through
the same training or not.
And when YG popped
up, everyone laughed it off that Kplus would arrive, and when it didn't change,
everyone became scared!
And then a JYP
trainee appeared last, making everyone even more nervous! The trainee took his
chances and walked up to the #1 spot, competing in a left armed arms wrestle,
winning after just two seconds!
The ending was farm
more entertaining than the beginning, after more trainees arrived, but there
were still things missing from the production side.
Representatives:
Enter the Reaper, Lee Dongwook, causing
sea of swooning trainees to stare and gasp excitedly. Leading him to
saying that he is their supportive big brother.
The X in Produce X
101 is explained, and so are the grading systems. X standing for a mystery
person who gets the last spot for having the most points accumulated over the
series. ABCD and X are the new grades, with X level trainees not even being
able to attend practice. To me, this is not fair. X level trainees are the ones
who need the most work. This is a time when they should be building them up and
helping them, not making them struggle to survive. This is a survival show
where a person's talent is not set in stone, but can grow from F to A, and when
I heard about this I just shook my head and crossed my fingers that these boys
would get the help they deserved from the A-D trainees. I have not yet seen
episode 2 as I am writing this, though it has been released. So I do not know
what the X level trainees are really going through yet.
Judges/Trainers/Representatives
enter. Killer line-up as always.
Grading Begins: I
have to say that the grading portion of the series is always my favorite. There
are so many talented trainees, and it is always fun to see what they can bring
to the table.
Source Music and DSP
each start things off, both companies choosing EXO's Kokobop, with only DSP
nailing it. These cute trainees matured in an instant when the music started.
And when a rep asks what else there was/could they see, the response of "What
would you like to see?" was pure awesomeness/confidence! And then trainee
danced to Momoland's BoomBoom. So cute!
Even said "I was hitting on you." Source gets all D's while
DSP get BBC.
Starship has five
members. All stumbled and started falling apart quickly. Ended up receiving 2D
& 3X. Next was Qui Ent trainee who had only trained for 3 months.
Representatives spoke with each other and said not to expect much from him. To
their surprise, he started rolling around in wheeled shoes. His "secret
weapon" as he put it. I thought his vocals were basic, but better than
expected. He also danced to a random song which lead him to receiving an A
grade.
Park Sanho was
later. He says "I started in this field. I dreamed of often when I was a
kid." I thought he had Good presence and was fun to watch. Though his
facial expressions needed some work and he was obviously nervous. Received a B.
Kim Dong Bin enters,
making a joke/not really a joke about keeping hands down. He ends up doing
chewing gum again. He seems much more confident this time around. Redeeming
himself from the second season. He even adds in a dance break this time, making
me pleasantly surprised by how much more confident he seems in his abilities.
He gets a B which warms my heart. I'd always felt so bad for him after his
audition the first time around. I'm glad he picked himself up and came back for
this season. Hopefully he goes farther.
The trainees from
Brand New were who I was most looking forwards to. Daehwi became a bias of mine
after his groups audition in season two, so seeing more trainees from the same
company, I had high hopes. I was NOT disappointed! Their song, also self composed,
"Go Get Her!" was absolutely amazing! I actually liked it more than
"Hollywood"!!! The episode showed off a trend of self composed songs,
most of which I really enjoyed.
The first episode
closed before all the performances, obviously since there are so many trainees,
and allowed the JYP trainee who'd obtained the number one spot to have a one
minute benefit at the end. I was a little off put by this. I thought it was cute
and all, but I believe that showing off a talent of some kind would have been
more beneficiary. Not that he in particular needed it . . .
