Kingdom Episode 3 PT2

Can't be doing that

KpopPrince

Dude. Get off Twitter. Unfollow the groups, unfollow everyone. Drop social media during the show.

I_KPOP_Fan

I started appreciating sf9's performance a little too late. When I first watched it, I really enjoyed it, had goosebumps multiple times. However, it didn't end up being a top 3 performance for me. After hearing more about the concept they went for though, I wish I'd voted for them. They used the book/movie Perfume: the Story of a Murderer as their concept. It's basically about this man who kills women to get their scent and turns it into perfume (because he loves the scent of women so much). You totally caught on to them killing the women, and the perfume at the end. It was soo cool to see and so very well done, I'm getting chills writing this again. They deserved a MUCH better ranking if you ask me. My ranking would be: 1. Ateez 2. iKON 3. SF9 4. BtoB 5. Stray Kids 5. The Boyz

Juuls

My personal ranking: 1. ATEEZ 2. SF9 3. iKON 4. BTOB 5. Stray Kids 6. The Boyz I think top3 performances were one head ahead of others. Absolutely loved both ATEEZ and SF9 performances. (Though I didn't like kraken, it looked very odd). iKON one was solid too. As for others, BTOB made a beautiful performance. While Stray Kids and The Boyz... I just honestly didn't "feel" their performances. Or maybe it is the same reason you named and I am being too strict to skz (the only group I knew well at the beginning of the kingdom). Can't explain better. Also, I know it is only first round, but I'm starting to get the feeling of being "fed up" with all those epic performances xD as for now, RTK seemed to be funnier. Just thoughts out loud. Hope they'll bring something interesting later. Thanks for your reaction, it is very interesting to watch this show along with you.

I try to stay away from that shit as much as possible. Who has the time to start fights over kpop groups, I'm here to enjoy the entertainment not get fumed over it. The budget may have seemed higher to me in ATEEZ's performance, yet that definitely isn't what gave them a first place ranking this round for most people

KpopPrince

The more I rewatch the stages, the more the SF9 stage grows on me. This stage kind of encompassed what I envisioned them doing when they were first announced for Kingdom. I think: 1. Ateez (I thought their 100 second performance was the best as well, they are the apex predators of zoomer boy groups). 2. Stray Kids. That damn mashup was amazing, would like to know if that was entirely Bang Chan's work or if he had help. 3. SF9. Just gorgeous overall, terrific concept that felt appropriate for Kingdom without being try hard, which has been an issue for me throughout the series. This one hit the sweet spot for me. Perfectly executed despite their hectic schedule. 4. BtoB. Tasteful remix of the original, beautiful concept that managed to fit in a hypebeast Kingdom dance solo that didn't derail the performance. Missing You is a very indulgent and melodramatic song, and I feel like that needed to be milked a little more. 5. iKon. Two amazing performances smashed into one, the segue into Killing Me felt a little heavy handed though. If JYP is willing to put that much effort into helping SKZ make a banger stage, then YG certainly can. 6. TBZ. Super dope/Flawless vision for the stage, but the orchestral rendition of the track took the air out of the song for me (sorry). While SKZ and iKon came out with remixes that built upon the elements of the original songs, they decided to diverge from the bouncy tropical vibe that the original had, and I just didn't get hyped. Sort of the same vibe that the Kill this Love cover gave me in RtK, I just struggle to find an angle to rock with it.

LUC_Rambler

Just spent my evening binging all these Kingdom videos to catch up haha. I've gone into this show 100% unbiased since I barely know any of the groups, and this is my ranking for this round: 1. iKON 2. ATEEZ 3. SF9 4. THE BOYZ 5. Stray Kids 6. BTOB I absolutely loved iKON's performance and the way they connected their two songs through their concept, so I was really disappointed to see them place so low. I have a strong feeling that they're going to be my favourites throughout this competition since I love their sound/vibe so far, but like you I don't have the highest hopes for them in terms of rankings. And I do agree that ATEEZ deserve the win this round, regardless of the clear budget issues. The way they performed and arranged the song was fantastic. I really hope that girl-group cover round is actually happening by the way, I'd love to see it. While I'm enjoying Kingdom, it is solidifying that I'm definitely more of a girlgroup kind of person. After watching boygroups all evening, I got such a rush of happiness seeing Miyeon for that split second 😂

Steph M

ATEEZ was definitely my fav performance, the grandness they bring without it seeming over whelming is just what i enjoy most! SF9's performance was the hottest i've seen in a while and i absolutely loved the concept! i personally think their emotional expression was the best and i really enjoyed hoe artistic their stage felt! BTOB and IKON are my secret favs just bcuz their performances appealed more to me despite them being on lower budget like sf9 but thats something we'll see for sure in the next episode once the situation is evened out.

hi_k99

I didn't know about this either -_- then again MNet drops major spoilers on YT the day before new episodes drop so whatever

LUC_Rambler

The thing with Jaeyoon (SF9) and his injury broke my heart. I know how frustrating it is when you're injured and your body isn't doing what you want it to do and you feel like it's letting you down. I really wish he gave up with the jump as soon as he got injured, it's not worth making it worse. SF9's performance was actually one of my favourites. I think it was elegant and clever and the song flowed well without disjointed breaks. And the fact they brought it together despite having separate schedules is super impressive. I hope they do well in future rounds.

Nicoleirl

Wanted to jump in with my thoughts around the budget fiasco. Some of it is still speculation but from what I've managed to glean from social media and translated articles from Naver, yes three groups (the ZZZ line) were informed that they were allowed to go over the original budget and three groups were not, which is Mnet being terrible at their job. With regards to ATEEZ specifically, they've been used as a bit of a scapegoat for fanwars on the internet, which is heart-breaking to me as a die-hard ATINY. As I understand from the articles, most of their staging/props (e.g. the ship’s framing, the treasure map etc.) were reused from MVs and their world tour - even the inflatable Kraken tentacle was said to have been lent to them free of charge! This gave them room to budget for things like specialist dancers and a smoke machine. KQ is the smallest company on the show and therefore HAVE to be very budget conscious because they can’t compete with companies like YG or JYP for money. Their stage was maybe worth over the budget but it wasn't an overspend - Mnet admitted they'd never considered that companies might be thrifty in this way and therefore didn’t make any specific rules for/ against doing so. As someone who has followed ATEEZ since pre-debut, I have never needed sets and props from them - their songs, their dancing, their stage presence has been more than enough to captivate me. I mean, nobody gets into a group for their props. But even if you look at their past MAMA performances and those huge end-of-year award shows, they’ve never had elaborately constructed stages, probably because KQ couldn’t afford it. So, to have this moment where ATEEZ are finally given a bit more creative and monetary freedom do make a stage like this, is such a wonderful sight for an ATINY like me. And then to have it made less by the controversy… is just hurtful. As if money bought that epic Wonderland arrangement, as if money bought their execution of the dance break, as if money bought Jongho’s crazy high note. For real though – it’s a good thing you’ve muted a bunch of key phrases on twitter. I know you did it so as not to get spoilers but honestly the amount of vitriol between groups right now is a little overwhelming and a lot ugly. Hasn’t been great for my mental health, that’s for sure…

The Real Jules

I was so excited to hear everyones opinions and have so many thoughts of my own and now I have too much to say so I have to split it up haha Stray Kids/Ateez I was definitely a little surprised at how you were a little disappointed with Stray Kids' stage but hearing your reasoning definitely makes sense because although performance is big at the end of the day the music can make or break it. Because of that, arrangement and musical wow moments are what change my ranking a bit like music alone I felt that Ateez did the best in developing their song as a whole while maintaining the essence of Wonderland's power so it was more of the music making the performance work instead of editing up the music playing a supporting role in the performance. Without the music I dont think Ateez' pirate/battle performance would have been as impactful as opposed to other performances where the impact of the performance stands whether or not the song is there. iKon This is also one of the things that had me ranking iKon lower (last) because although they did change up Love Scenario to like a more upbeat musical theme and that had me excited, the music just cuts, throws in some stormy sound effects and then just pastes Killing Me to the end with a special dance break remix which I felt could have had so much more impact. As soon as i saw in the intro that they were picking these two I was excited thinking about how they're gonna make it work. Are they gonna mash them up somehow for one brand new song, are they gonna switch the vibes for each are they gonna add a connecting story but then it's just like an awards show "cut and move to the next" type of thing. Like we could've had a "falling out of love" dance scene or some acting to make more sense as to why we're heart broken now but Donghyuck just lays on the floor and gets back up now Sad. iKon/BtoB/the Boyz Along with this is my worry for iKon as soon as i heard that they were in the show because I've been with them since WIN and I've seen what they were capable of. They are amazing performers and can move an audience for sure but I knew I had never seen them do something like what Ateez, Stray Kids and The Boyz have done (and I never watched RTK until after Kingdom's first episode so this is based off of the random clips I saw of tbz perfomances). Mnet definitely has some evil editing moments and they come off as super confident and like they got this in the bag but the face-off performances went just as I had expected with a good performance but nothing compared to what others did or anything from rtk and I think that reality check hit them really hard which sucks because YG's whole isolating themselves from the industry because we're so cool and hip didn't prepare them for what Idol group performances has evolved to. Their first round performance was better but not too different from anything they put together on WIN of Mix and Match and they can't fly anymore because this isn't a survival program with trainees vs trainees anymore, they are going against extremely experienced and talented professionals (seniors or not). I am also worried that fan voting shocked them so much because they dont realize how much damage YG's throwing out of B.I. hurt them in the public eye (even though its not their fault). It's the same issue with Pentagon after Edawn "left" but even worse. Believe me I love iKon to death so im not hating (i want to hear anyone else's opinions because i don't know if its just me) but just look at Donghyuck in the first couple of episodes. I feel like he, as their strongest dancer, immediately got a hold of the situation and realized that they are in two different worlds which explains why he wasn't expecting to rank high in the face-offs and why thinks so much because he has his own pride as a dancer and knows they have to step it up (and they have the skills to do so). So far i just don't think ive seen them challenge themselves whether it's busting a sweat on choreo or going outside of the usual in terms of music. With the talk about the difference in budgets, even if you look between them and BtoB (whose performance i LOVED) their sets were extremely different so I don't think money is ever an issue with ikon its just that there is so much to catch up on in terms of the evolution of performance that "having fun" and "being comfortable on stage" just isn't cutting. SF9 I actually really liked and appreciated their take on the song and performance so i was sad they were ranked so low. When i saw the intro i was super stressed and rooting for Jaeyoon to just make it safe but I just could not understand for the life of me why they still had that boy jumping with his knee bashing so much. Like I understand everyone is busy with their own dramas and musicals and such but as soon as he hurt his knee there immediately should have been a replacement and if no one is suitable then take the bit out as a whole. It might be because the results were so disappointing with the camera missing the jump ENTIRELY but it just didn't seem worth it (even if he did land fine with no injuries all he does is walk into place while distracting choreo is done in front). I also feel like consideration for others has it's limits because I know Jaeyoon is such a sweet heart who took the part because everyone is so busy but that risked his safety and his career like as soon as you destroy your knee you will never be the same, dancing or not. I understand that it was for the drama but it just seemed irresponsible. Lastly I feel like although I liked it when I looked at the intro I definitely worried for them because they are doing okay with getting jobs and being seen as performers but only individually and Kingdom was supposed to be what unites them and lets people know "actually we're the group SF9 before anything" but with everyone being so busy it definitely took a toll with stress levels, injuries and being able to really go above and beyond. I understand that they have so much on their plate but if they want to solidify their team they have to prioritize being SF9 because I feel like I saw Kingdom being 2nd place on priorities a lot with so many schedules preventing them from even practicing as a whole and I would hate for them to not do well and be emotionally beat down because they couldn't give their best on the show. Sorry if this sounds all negative, I enjoyed all the performances so far its just that after I watched your reactions to Road to Kingdom and how amazing every single performance was I can't help but compare when this is supposed to be the final goal of RTK which also doesn't make sense to me since they kept saying in RTK that Kingdom was supposed to be the real battle between the true Kings aka the seniors in kpop and yet they added two groups younger than the Boyz, one senior group with about the same if not less popularity and then two senior groups who made their names through personality, music skill/style and not necessarily performance heavy. Like how you said you're not sure how seniors could give advice, I can totally understand because I love 2pm they are the second group I ever got into but they could not follow the idols today. However if you want real battles with seniors get groups like Shinee, Seventeen, VIXX (if they were still together) NCT, Infinite shit even TVXQ in here and this would be the battle of the century (I actually think BtoB is a good choice too so im glad they're here to spice things up).

I mean I avoid Twitter and Youtube tries to spoil but I avert my eyes so fast lmao even though youtube ruined what cover a group is doing in episode 4 already ugh

KPOP Stan Sara

SPOILERS EVERYWHERE

KpopPrince

Wait girl group song covering? Did you just spoil stuff for me?!?! Ahhhhhh lol damn it

KPOP Stan Sara

sf9 is their company's (FNC) first male dance group. their first ever dance group was AOA (i believe) and they are known for their bands like ft island and n. flying. they have another male dance group which is p1harmony who just had a cb (they debuted in 2020) !! yah seeing everyone in their individual schedules really is like insane cause they have to learn seperately than all the other groups there but it was nice to see that they are doing their individual schedules and then practicing kingdom. bomin from golden child isn't in FNC but he very close with chani from sf9 cause they are both 00 liners. hes in Woollim with infinite, Lovelyz, and Rocket Punch to name a few. the yellow things on their heads when Inseong was talking to his two costars i believe are microphones for the musical he was in (it just ended but he gonna be in another one so he can't even have a break). it was nice to see everyone in sf9 come together and perform and that jaeyoon (the member who jumped) still nailed in the end. it was very heartbreaking see sf9 last but then seeing atz first was literally whiplash for me ngl cause i love them both omg. literally everyone ik and saw on twitter were about to cry when they saw Inseong speaking after he heard the ranking for sf9 cause in sf9 he is very happy and like very confident. so seeing the one member that no one has ever seen sad and feel like he and sf9 didn't do well did make me cry cause he is one my ult of ult biases in all of kpop. atz getting first tho. that was so well deserved for them and they literally gave the best performance of this round like huh everything about it was fantastic. I definitely think when round 2 comes, and you see the rest of the rankings things are definitely shocking. that's all imma say.

kinara

I loved the SF9 choreo and atmosphere!! however... I didn't know anything about the storyline. I don't know SF9 or any of their music. I saw some comments days later about the perfume/killer stuff which sounded cool, but didn't know any of that at the time :((((( so I wasn't connected to the story at all and the sniffing made me laugh out loud bc it was so unexpected and I had no idea what was going on lol

Kris

I think SF9's intro actually was fitting. The beginning part you didn't like was because of the chaotic feeling it had. I think they were representing well that with all their schedules going on how chaotic of a week it was for them setting up for the show. It was done with a timeline through a day of how the individuals just stop by to learn their parts and practice when they have breaks in their day. It stressed me out just watching it lol I also REALLY enjoyed their intro because I felt like I got to know the group better (I'm new to SF9) and they kind of started pulling on my heartstrings. This episode was really tough for me :( really hurt my heart. I also think they avoided filming the jump well because they were anxious it would end badly so they didn't take a clear shot of it and cut away fast. His jump wasn't great. He landed but it wasn't impactful. I'm just glad he's "okay" as he can be and didn't get hurt worse!

KPOP Stan Sara

I think the yellow things on their heads that you asked about for SF9 pre-show were microphones? The guy said they were in a musical and I know sometimes they put the mic through their head and on the forehead. That's my guess lol.

KPOP Stan Sara

P1Harmony is from FNC!

Kris

Around the 12 minute mark, the things on their foreheads are microphones. For theater, musical they use those instead of something handheld or those you see idols perform with. Later on they let their hair down or have props so the mic isn't that visible. And they are that shiny bc the yellow thing probably is something to protect the mic before the actually have to use it, probably will get rid of the yellow thing before the performance starts so the mic is "free".

Metalstryke

You're spot on in regards to FNC entertainment, they are a label that is mostly known for pop-rock bands (all of whom are really great). SF9 was their first foray into textbook K-Pop male groups. Also, I'd reckon that the number one spot would've stayed the same regardless of the prop usage. That performance was by far the best stage from any Queendom/RtK/Kingdom group yet.

LUC_Rambler