I-Land Ep. 8
Added 2025-05-27 12:00:11 +0000 UTC
Comments
NI-KI's lower register is actually kind of indulgent these days, almost like a guilty pleasure. There are certain songs that I can seriously listen to on repeat for an hour or so before I let the spell end, because I just adore his parts in them. Daniel's anxiety shows how big of a difference there is between global votes and knowing the judges gave you high scores - it's one thing to be likeable and have fans, another thing entirely to know industry leaders think you're doing a good job. And since the eliminations alternate between the two types of voting, it's entirely understandable to be so anxious... a fan vote can't save you if you've already been let go by the judges. The K and NI-KI interaction in this episode was another point that garnered K a lot of hate, I'm afraid, primarily because people think K was too harsh on him... and in Western views he may have been. The thing is, NI-KI made a single-minded decision to change choreo that was set, and because he never bothered to discuss it with his leader and/or team this threw off the group dynamic and balance. K pulled him aside to speak with him privately rather than continuing in public, though we could still hear what was said. As both leader and an older member of the team, K was right to correct him. I think the reason he phrased things the way he did was because he needed to break through to NI-KI, who even explained that he was seeing this as a personal/solo competition without regard for the group - so K had to remind him, strongly, that performing well as a group contributes to a better personal score. NI-KI's still a baby here and K is a full 8 years older, but in this instance it isn't an adult being harsh with a child... it's a leader holding his member accountable and bringing him in line. ^^ All of that is my opinion, of course. I personally thought the interaction was far harsher on my first watch-through as well, but 100+ dramas and survival shows deep (and more than a handful of re-watches in pocket for this one) changed my mindset on it, especially when you take into account how much respect K and NI-KI obviously have for each other during the course of the show (and K's apology that rings sincere to me). Anyway. Yes, it was harsh, but wake-up calls usually are. The thing about the rankings is that the global vote ranks are only based on global votes, and the judge assessment ranks are only based on judge assessments. So you could be ranked 12th by global vote and end up 1st by judge assessment, since the two really aren't connected at all - the judges aren't giving points and adding it to the global points or using the global ranks to adjust based on their assessments, they're just using only the points from this test to determine new ranks... and the next test will use global voting again, so the whole thing can get turned on its head once more. Geonu went on to be the first member revealed for the group JUST B (just a day before the reveal of Jimin, who left I-LAND with the Part 1 elimination group). They took part in the show Road to Kingdom: Ace of Ace as part of The Crew One (combined team of JUST B and another smaller group; the two groups are back to their usual schedules now instead of continuing as a larger unit). I don't follow them well enough to give any good places to start if you decide to check them out, but they do have some songs that have made it onto my seemingly endless playlist. Looking forward to next week's episode! :)
Nikole
2025-05-28 00:48:28 +0000 UTCYou missed the last little bit where they all came outside to say goodbye to Geonu. He has gone on to debut now, in a group called Just B.
Clare π
2025-05-27 23:39:03 +0000 UTC
