Juniper

“The time of hot chocolaty mornings and toasty marshmallow evenings.”

**Spoilers warning

As more episodes pass, the more I’m starting to dislike this voting system lol. At first, it was a nice idea that the I-Landers would get to pick their teammates, but now, it’s just too un-objective, ugh. The original 6 I-Landers that have never left just seem to stick together, which seems increasingly unfair.

Grounders Fire Performance

They had a solid performance. I agree that they seemed to have more consistent facial expressions and feeling of the song overall. Glad that Jay brought them together and they did well! :) Everyone looked so fired up and serious. The Grounders are coming for you, I-Landers! >:)

Jay was a good center! He fit the vibe of the song really well. 

Niki’s facial expression was awkward during his part when he shrugs and says “gwaenchanha” (괜찮아). The first part he sang was good, but then when he said gwaenchanha, that smirk looked so awkward. I think that’s the reason or part of why he didn’t get picked to go up.

I’m surprised Hanbin took the vocal part (part 4) that Geonu did. He didn’t seem like he’s a vocal position. Mm I feel like he hit the notes and his voice was powerful enough, but the pronunciation still sounded a little off.

Voting/ Changes in Teams My prediction was right that all original grounders got voted back to ground. Poor Taeyong who got stepped on got sent back. I thought Yoonwon had decent facial expressions when I watched his fancam, so I didn’t expect him to get voted off, but the I-Landers got the impression that he didn’t work hard enough. Man, it must really suck being the one with 11 votes because that means everyone voted for you :(.

Sunoo got in the Top 5 and still got voted out. These people need to stop voting Sunoo out because he’s just going to keep coming back lol and he deserves to be there. I kinda don’t think he should debut with them anymore because wow, they do not deserve him if they keep treating him like this! lol. The same thing with Daniel haha, they both seem more cheerful and have a friendlier vibe than some of the other Islanders. I think they should just debut together with some of the other grounders at this point. Can the grounders just debut a group too? Because they’re winning my heart more than the I-Landers >_<. I think the I-Landers keep voting Sunoo out because he has a more bubbly personality and doesn’t really match the others. But I think it’s good to have more variety in the team and he seems like someone who could boost the mood. Maybe he rubs the I-Landers the wrong way somehow that we’re not seeing, since he keeps getting voted out even though he does well.

Such a cruel twist of fate that K used his exemption card to save Jungwon, but then caused Taki to go ground :(. K got a good edit here and we got to see his human side of feeling guilty for sending Taki to Ground, even though unintentional.  I think Taki is too young, both in age and maturity to debut though. He still seems and looks like a little kid. Even though he’s talented and likeable, I think the Company just sent him there to get some exposure/experience. 

On a side note, I thought it was funny when “everyone” was surprised that Jungwon got voted out initially. Obviously some of you voted for him, why are you surprised?? lol probably it was the grounders that voted for him. I like Jungwon, but it would’ve been nice to see one of the Original 6 to go down to ground. That alliance is really becoming too powerful. And it’d be nice to see Jungwon interact with diffent people and experience the friendlier environment of Ground. I’m pretty sure he’d be able to go back up.

I was completely off on my prediction on who’d go up to I-Land lol. I was right about Jay, but wrong about everyone else.(Edit: oh I was right about Jake too haha, so 2/4 right. Better than I thought). It’s hard to guess who will go up without seeing the performance though. I’m glad Jake went up and got to be reunited with Sunghoon :) and I was surprised, but happy that Youngbin went up! Glad to see him improve :). He only had 1 line again, but he always does his one line really well.

The Vocal/Dance Choreo and Reps

I’m surprised that the Grounders Dance video seemed to be made specifically for Nicholas and (kinda) Taki to be in. It’s possible that someone else could do the locking part, but really no one in the show can do the bboying part except Nicholas. There’s an airchair to nike part in that dance, which is probably impossible for someone with no bboying experience to learn and perfect in 5 days.. Are the producers giving Nicholas a chance because they want him in the group? So far he hasn’t really stood out much. Or maybe that was like a “suggested” dance break and they can change it? haha I guess we’ll see.

When Niki thought Hanbin was a better dance rep than Jaeho, omg I got so excited. I was like yes, Hanbin, show them!! I thought it was nice that he thought about Jaeho’s feelings, but Niki was right that he should also consider the good of the team. I liked that Jaeho was accepting of the results and what was best for the team. He didn’t take the change personally and continued to work hard. He really wanted that part.

When Zico asked who was the dance rep, Hanbin had such a big, proud smile on his face when he raised his hand. Aww he looked soo happy :)).

It would’ve been so hype if the Jopping team was reunited! But it seems like Hanbin originally picked to join the Vocal Team, so during the mid-evaluation, I don’t think he had enough time and he hadn’t memorized all the choreo yet. What a shame :(((. I hope Hanbin gets his confidence back and makes it to I-Land! He has that personality/vibe that I just want to root for >_<. I think he might get into I-Land from the global vote, I don’t know if he’ll make it to the final group though.

Sunoo and Daniel for the vocal reps!! I loved this team :). It was a blessing in disguise that they both got voted back to Ground. If they were in I-Land, they probably wouldn’t have been able to perform because Heesung automatically takes up a vocal spot lol and Geonu has shown more of his vocal ability to the rest of I-Land, so would’ve been more likely to be voted over them. And like I said before, the I-Landers don’t seem to appreciate them -__-“.

Funny moments:

In I-Land, the 2002 team (Sunghoon, Jake, and EJ) was so cute. The caption was something like "they’re not really in sync, but they’re having a good time” hahah. It would’ve been nice if we saw a clip of them perform.

Mnet is on the Sunghoon and Jake ship, and same lol. There’s a dedicated 5 min clip of them just arm wresting on Mnet’s youtube channel. I really hope these 2 debut together. Sunghoon has a pretty high chance, but I’m not sure how popular Jake is / his skills, since he hasn’t been a trainee for that long. He seems popular internationally, but not sure about in Korea.

*Taki thinking about doing the vocal position* Niki: “We need to do the dance position :)”  hahah Niki’s so straight forward and  honest xD

Rain after hearing Seon and Jaebom: “Nothing can happen to Heesung and Geonu” me: *ded*

Predictions:

Both vocal performances were solid. I don’t have much to say about them and I’m not good at judging vocals. I think the I-Landers will probably win the vocals round though.

From the previews, it seems like the Grounders will win the Dance portion and maybe overall. From the demo videos, the Grounders choreo seems .. more difficult and flashy? They have the bboy part and they have the flip that Niki does. The I-Landers video didn’t seem to have any stunts like that, the only part that I remember/stood out was that there was krumping. I liked K’s intro that he made for One of a Kind, that had a chill/cool vibe.

It will be interesting to see Sunghoon krump next week :0. He seems soft and his dance has been more chill/graceful from the first two performances. So we’ll see how he’ll pull off krumping.

After the last test (test 4), the producers will pick 3 and the I-Landers will pick 3 to go down to Ground. FINALLY a chance for some objectivity and to break the Original 6 alliance (and for Seon to go to Ground lol). 

Even Seon admitted that he knows that he’s probably not there because of his skill. For someone who was on Produce 101, he is doing a bad job of not being evil edited. You’d think he’d know better.. I think because he’s older, he’s just really desperate to debut and maybe this is one of his last chances. He’s probably also not confident of his skills and thinks his skills aren’t good enough, so he’s been doing these kinda manipulative/sneaky things. If he worked/focused on his skills and showing a better personality more, I think it’d be harder for them to evil edit him so hard. I hope Mnet stops evil editing him tho, I feel bad for him. I read some posts that said he’s actually really nice and would make a good leader, but Mnet just hasn’t showed that on the show yet :/ so idk.