CBS – A Piece of the Sky

Sangmin (상민) Oppa (오빠) and Hongchul (홍철) Oppa swore revenge on Doohee (두희), since Episode 2, when Doohee betrayed their alliance, in the Wang (King) Game. They let Jiwon (지원) and Yuyoon (유영) take hold of and hold on to Doohee’s ID plate token (sinbunjeung). I find it hard to believe that Jiwon and Yuyoon didn’t know that Doohee’s ID tag wasn’t the hidden immunity item – taken out of the safe, behind the James Dean Blvd. sign.

The hunt for the hidden immunity item was so all-consuming and the hidden immunity item was so overpowered – spring-boarding Yohwan into the Semifinals, and then Finals – that The Genius never used such an in-game mechanism ever again.

Sangmin Oppa was on the periphery of the Season 2 majority alliance (that’s why he was working with Jiwon, Yohwan (요환) and Yunseon (윤선) Eonni (언니), during the Blackout episode). The hidden immunity item was his only path to the win.

The Episode 6 Main Match was completely obscured by the desperate hunt for the hidden immunity item. Production probably didn’t like that, even if it made for an exciting edit, at the time. Jinho (진호) Oppa was always in the majority alliance. He was the one to beat, just like in Season 1. But the hidden immunity item gave that win to Sangmin Oppa.

Jeonghyun-ssi (정현-씨) led the charge, for justice for Doohee, but he was only one person, with limited social capital, in the young people’s game, himself. Earlier, in the season, Jeonghyun-ssi gave Sangmin Oppa the part of his die, with six pips on it, without even thinking about how valuable it was, or could be. Sangmin Oppa went on to win the die roll Main Match, of Episode 7.

It’s like when Esau sold his birthright, to his twin brother, Jacob, for a pot of stew. What’s ironic is that Jeonghyun-ssi was following Sangmin Oppa and Yohwan around, looking for an advantage, with the die. He knew so little about his own die, that Sangmin Oppa was able to easily relieve Jeonghyun-ssi of his one, actual advantage.

Sangmin Oppa acted like Doohee’s savior – but then he just lied to Doohee, and gave him a fake hidden immunity item. Doohee was hurt all over again. Insult to injury. No one was on Doohee’s side. And then he was simply evicted. I was so happy when Sangmin Oppa went to save Doohee, with his hidden immunity item. Turns out it was just the immunity item’s case – not the item itself.

Doohee, thought he was immune – so, he blew up his game, and targeted an actual ally, Jinho Oppa, for the Death Match. Doohee, was a Cochran; he played both sides, but Sangmin Oppa really played him – after the group already played him – completely destroying the poor guy. During the Blackout Death Match, Jiwon lies to Doohee, getting him eliminated. Three people told three major lies to him, in one episode. They all really ganged up on him.

Jiwon was such a bad liar too. But Doohee wanted to believe, needed to believe. His life, in the game, was on the line. This was the worst one reality TV game episode, for an individual, ever. It is a historic The Genius episode.

Kyeonghun (경훈) got a crack in the case, but the bandits were determined not to be found out, and no one believed Kyeonghun; they just dismissed his hunch. Even when Dongmin (동민) Oppa (오빠) correctly guessed Jeongmun (정문) was a bandit queen, the bandits were determined to survive, and win, while the villagers were just content with not losing.

Jeongmun was just fighting to survive. Kyeongran (경란) Eonni (언니) wasn’t innocent. She was also a bandit. Jeongmun didn’t sell her mentor out. She won legitimately – bandit queen vs. bandit queen. I empathized with Jeongmun so much, at that moment. You have to survive. Hyunmin’s (현민) reaction was mine: big time relief.

Jeongmun’s face, when she found out Kyeongran Eonni was a bandit, was just the best. I was blown away. Jeongmun could at least hide it better. Kyeongran Eonni had zero poker face. That’s how Eonni ended up on Exile Island. Kyeongran Eonni couldn’t stop smiling, for the entire episode. There was no hiding it: she was a bandit through and through. Obvious bandit is obvious. I was Jeongmun, in this video game.

Episode 5 is definitely the best episode, of Season 4 – if not, the entire series. You know a show is a winner, when every time you re-watch it, it gets better and better. I love The Genius. The stage was set for there to be so much drama over whether one bandit would escape, while one innocent person would be sent to the Death Match. Thankfully Kyeongran Eonni was indeed guilty. But that was such a good Main Match and hence, such a good episode. It was true catharsis – like medieval Korean dance, with folk masks, or ancient Greek theater.

Nobody got it right, so the viewer wasn’t the only one fooled. Literally no one, in the house, knew for sure, 100%, that Kyeongran Eonni was a bandit, until the reveal. It’s so ironic that Dongmin Oppa was legitimately the villagers’ king, but by the end of this tumultuous Main Match, half the village put him down as the main suspect, for the bandit king. Dongmin Oppa and Jeongmun got the evil edit and Kyeongran Eonni got the crystal clear, innocent person edit.

Thankfully, like in real life, it was a bit of both: Dongmin Oppa and the villagers weren’t so smart to figure out who all the bandits were – but they weren’t so diabolically self-interested to sacrifice innocent people, just to get ahead in the game. Kyeongran Eonni actually being a bandit queen saved everyone from being forced to go over a pretty steep moral event horizon. The group could have voted out an innocent villager, and maybe justified it or rationalized it – but what would that say about them? What would that say about society?