Reality Show Review | Produce X 101 Episode 1 [Produce 101 season 4 episode 1]

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 . . .

NOTE: This was written up in the beginning of May. Due to personal reasons, I was unable to post until now. Nothing has been re-written or changed since, even though I have now seen more episodes. So statements made were made before viewing future episodes.