~ Episode 1: Meet & Greet ~

Hello everyone, and welcome to the debrief of Kingdom's first episode! Finally, the legendary war has begun. The first episode was dedicated to the first interactions within the participants (Ateez, Stray Kids, SF9, BtoB, The Boyz and Ikon) as well as their introduction stages (short stages of roughly 2'30). I'll divide this article in two parts: First, some general comments about the MCs performance, the interactions between the groups, and about the rehearsals footage. Then, we'll move on with the ranking of the performances.

Disclaimer: Keep in mind that the ranking I made is my personal ranking. I tried to base myself on rational points as much as possible, but emotions will come in the way at a certain point. When a performance gives you chills, to me it means that it's on another level.

So, let's dive right into it!

I. General Comments

1. The MCs performance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Queendom and Road To Kingdom, the MCs were really acting as a support. You could feel the compassion they had for each participants even when they were on stage doing their Job. I suspect that Mnet couldn't put focus on Yunho because of the current controversies surrounding him (you can read this Soompi article if you want to know the details), but Changmin seemed uncomfortable. I think it's because it's his first time being an MC for this kind of program, and I believe (and hope) he'll be more relaxed in the further episodes. There's one moment that I adored and want to highlight, it's when IKON was performing and bobby's part came, and Changmin had this big smile on his face. It was really cute to see. 

2. The interactions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The atmosphere was, to say the least, very tense at first. When Ateez came on stage, The Boyz and Stray Kids were already there, and the atmosphere became really awkward. Ateez being the youngest group, I think they felt really pressured at this point. You could even see them breathing heavily.

BtoB played their role of "sunbaenims" (seniors) really well by helping everyone relax with their humour. Eunkwang of BtoB engaged the conversation with Bang Chan of Stray Kids, Big Chan answered in English and Eunkwang's reaction was hilarious.

Then, SF9 came in and it was like a fashion show and everyone was shocked of their handsomeness (I will come back to this because I really didn't appreciate what was said when their performance ended). SF9 didn't have enough screen time though. Mnet is the only one to blame, there is obviously some unfair treatment going on here but please still support them, they deserve it.

Lastly, when Ikon came in, everyone was impressed by their aura, including me to be honest. Ikon's aura is no joke. Plus, they're used to survival shows, so I think it's a strength as they know how to manage the pressure and to be relaxed on stage. 

But then, when all the teams gathered on stage, the real fun began. When the groups performed everyone was cheering for them from the bottom of their heart. The reactions of IKON's Jinhwan, The Boyz's Sunwoo and Ateez's Wooyoung are priceless when Changbin uses some kind of firecracker during Stray Kid's performance. And everyone was just so hyped up for Ikon's performance, Han from Stray Kids couldn't believe he had just heard Rhythm Ta lived he was like "Oh my god I finally saw Rhythm Ta with my own eyes". This was priceless. 

3. The rehearsals

Some rehearsal footage got me laughing so hard, some others made me really angry. When they showed Ateez's footage, there was this part where Jongho was supposed to run forward and it turned out really awkward and the editing made it even funnier. It was really a "WTF" moment that I enjoyed. We also could see some interesting details of their performance, how it was going to be shot, where the camera would be, and this is also an aspect of the performance I enjoy learning about.

However, some footage was only concentrating on "mistakes" made in the rehearsals (e.g Stray Kids Felix and The Boyz Juyeon). This led me to, unconsciously, pay more attention to the specific mistakes rather than just enjoying the performance. Plus I'm really bad at Mnet for showing the "mistakes" Juyeon did in RTK. This was really unnecessary. 

II. The performances

All the performances had their good and bad sides, all the groups worked really hard to pull off amazing stages, and all the groups deserve a praise for that. Now here's my own ranking:

#6 SF9 

Good Guy is the song that gave SF9 their first win, and so it was logical that they would perform it. What I liked in this performance was the scenery. They started with a sort of crystal ball with the SF9 logo on it, and they returned it to make it seem like water dropped. This was nice. What I didn't understand is why it took them so long to actually start dancing (and they didn't even do the key point move of the Good Guy choreography). They spent a good 45 seconds just walking around. Plus, they said that they wanted people to recognise their skills other than their looks, but here they're just putting focus on their looks. The real question now is to know if it's their company who decides on this (by the mean of an appointed choreographer or something like this), or if they had 100% liberty in creating their performance. As if this was not enough already, the other contestants added another layer of "this is unfair they'll win with their looks". I mean, I just hope people will acknowledge them for their real skills at some point. 

#5 Ateez

It breaks my heart to put them at the fifth place, but I think it's justified. In my opinion, they chose the wrong song. Wave is a very chill song with heavy summer vibes. I get what they were trying to go for, but the random "Hakuna Matata" before the music kicks in, and the "screams" (well, something positive here is that they seemed to be done live) kind of ruined the mood. However, I do want to praise their energy (which I think they will have to control a bit more in the future), and the ending "figure" that was pretty awesome with San standing on top of everyone with the torch. 

#4 BtoB

The live vocals is what's missing to all the groups of the current generation. I'm not saying that performance doesn't matter (hence why they're only placed 4th), but live vocals matter too, and they're just so good at it (I mean, it's BtoB afterwards). I didn't know Minhyuk had such a beautiful singing voice, I was really amazed by his voice and his facial expressions as well. However, they did not include any sort of dancing (which is hard to do with a ballad I agree). It was a strategic choice of choosing something they're good at, I just hope they get out of their comfort zone at some point because they've got strong contestants in front of them.

#3 Stray Kids

 

It's hard ranking those 3 groups because they each have such a different aura and their performances were all incredible. For Stray Kids, I think their performance was quite complex. A lot was going on, to the point that I couldn't catch important details (e.g the movements with the knives). Plus, the lighting was dark so it was hard to see the details. However, the performance was really energetic, powerful, and very creative. I loved their tattoos on their hands, and the way the small spheres were glowing. And that firecracker thing Changbin held? I was so scared that someone would get hurt, but it was really impactful.

#2 Ikon

This performance proves that you don't need to have fancy clothing, fancy choreographies, tons of props and a big number of members to put out a cool performance. Ikon has their own aura, and because they have participated to previous survival shows they are really relaxed on stage (Bobby was literally smiling during his rap part). Rhythm Ta is one of my favourite song of theirs, and I really appreciated how they arranged the track. Plus, the ending fairy pose was hilarious (I mean... only Bobby could do that). I hope we'll see another side of them for the next performance (I hope they try other genres than Hip Hop because I know they are capable of it and are really good at it). 

#1 TheBoyz

It was really hard for me to choose between Ikon and The Boyz, but I had to give it to The Boyz for one simple reason: They keep trying to prove themselves when they have already did. The constant feeling they have of not being recognised enough and having to prove themselves every time is what pushes them above and beyond their maximum capacities. As usual they used the stage to their advantage, they had incredible formations, and they succeeded in implementing various styles into their choreography. Plus, the song arrangement was perfect. The transition from the powerful dance to the contemporary portion was seamless. Once again, they have exceeded my expectations. I really hope that people will view them as strong contestants from now on.

Lastly, I ran a poll on my twitter account to see how the ranking would look like according to general public's opinion. I received 112 votes in total which is not representative of the whole community and the results were the following:

#6 with 11 votes: ATEEZ

#5 with 14 votes: SF9

#4 with 16 votes: Stray Kids and BtoB (tie)

#2 with 20 votes: Ikon

#1 with 35 votes: The Boyz

Now, to conclude this article, I want to talk about the ending of the episode. It was announced that Ateez ended up fifth place, SF9 fourth place, and BtoB third place. There are 3 groups left: Stray Kids, The Boyz, and Ikon. These 3 teams had the best performances according to me, so it's heartbreaking to think that one of them is in sixth place. However, knowing that the ranking is based on the public's votes, and knowing that The Boyz and Stray Kids have a fanbase that are hardcore voters (and when I say hardcore voters I mean they really stress about numbers), I would not be surprised if Ikon ranked last. This is particularly the reason why people are angry for the public to have such an important voting power, and I totally understand your frustration. However, nothing's played in advance and nothing is predictable. 

That's it for Episode 1! I'll see you next week for episode 2. Until then, take care!

Love, Swan

 

Source: Mnet's official YouTube channel, Soompi, Nautiljon.