EXO's Showtime Ep 8-9 - The Progress

After over 2 months of airing, EXO's first variety show EXO's Showtime is slowly coming to an end. I have watched almost all the episodes, except the earliest ones because those were really slow and non-eventful, and have decided to do a recap/review of two of my favorites so far; episodes 8 and 9.

Why on earth do I even watch this, you may ask, and that is a perfectly qualified question considering my general opinion of the group. I guess I just wanted to give them a chance to win me over, because not stanning EXO has become quite boring, in a way. I feel like I should just jump on the bandwagon too because how nice wouldn't it be to have a favorite group that's always winning something?

First off, episode 8 starts with the whole gang gathered to share a meal (not a surprising sight for anyone who has followed the show) and they talk about their new year's resolutions and other plans for the upcoming year. Both D.O and Lay wants to get their driver's licence, Xiumin wants to become a barista, Sehun says he will do lots of self improvement which the other members happily encourage and Chen fills in; "You need to come to your senses". Galaxy hyung Kris says he's envious of Tao's martial art skills and would like to learn some moves, whereas the pro himself wants to become an action star. Baekhyun and Chen find this particularly funny and make fun of his insect phobia that could defeat him quicker than any kicks or punches.

That's basically the premise of this episode; the boys get to fulfill some of their wishes and we watch them succeed and fail along the way. Maknae line Sehun and Kai are first to visit an old Korean house to learn how to serve tea the proper, old fashioned way. Sehun is really excited and talks about how he never could sit still in school and Kai says something along the line of; "Oh, so you were that kid!"
It's not all too thrilling to watch them try to get the technique of holding teapots and measuring the correct amount of water, but I enjoy the banter between the two.


Next up, we're at one of the practice rooms and Suho, Chanyeol, Kris and Tao are stretching and
warming up, so it seems they will try to master the martial arts. They are accompanied by Tao's teacher who makes them pair up and perform various exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups. Kris and Chanyeol loose by quite a margin, mostly thanks to Kris' athletic inabilities. They also do some more stretching, spreading their legs wide open to the camera, and it's both awkward and hilarious at the same time. Suho is surprisingly flexible, and also very competitive as it shows later when they practice kicks and jumps. Kris isn't very good at either and tried to excuse himself by saying; "This is not my style" (his signature quote really) and Suho frustratingly answers "What on earth is your style then?"

Chen and Xiumin also visit a coffee shop to learn some coffee making skills. In the process they almost break the roasting machine and the teacher flies out of his chair in panic. In the end, Xiumin does the better job while Chen's coffee turned out too bitter.


Next episode is number 9, and is my favorite episode so far in the series. It's very basic in premise, but sometimes that's just what it takes to make it funny and interesting. The boys are all at different practice rooms in SM's building, with maknae line putting together a choreography, vocal line doing some singing and guitar line(?) jamming out on their instruments. Vocal line test out who can hold the longest note (Luhan wins over Chen by a few seconds) and who can go the lowest (Chen wins and no one is shocked). It's always funny to have these kind of competitions, because someone always messes up in some way. Here Baekhyun goes off pitch the first time and when he tries again he only holds the note for about 5 seconds before he says he wants to redo it because he started out wrongly.
Later the rappers Tao and Kris (and Xiumin) joins to decide who of the vocalists is a better rapper. Tao laughs hysterically at D.O who raps with his whole body, Chen is actually not too bad and Baekhyun wiggles his butt for some extra points.

In another room, Chanyeol and Lay practice some guitar together. This segment was absolutely amazing because it's just completely random and no matter how hard Chanyeol tries to do something useful Lay just keeps being his strange self. He says he's in a particularly gloomy mood today and complains about his injuries (poor baby) and even though Chanyeol tries to play him a happy song the mood goes right down again within seconds. They also make a song about the show, singing "Showtime" over and over again in various tones. It's probably the most fun this show has been, like ever, and the best thing that Lay isn't even trying to be funny.

In the end they all gather to practice for an upcoming concert, but later decide to order some food (wow, didn't see that one coming) and talk about how they decide things between the twelve of them. They also get a fan question asking them how long they can stay quiet for. Challenge accepted!
So the silence begins, and I literally spent I think like 10 minutes watching them being dead quiet. Not that they don't do anything though, as they start to mess around with each other and the captions tell us about the struggle for attention seekers 1,2 and 3 (Baekhyun, Chen and Chanyeol). So to lighten things up, Chanyeol decides that they play 007 Bang, a game that I had never heard of before, and neither had the Chinese members. It's amusing to see the confusion on their faces whenever they mess up on the rules and are dragged into the middle of the half-circle and gets hit on by everyone else. After getting punched several times, Kris has finally had enough and shouts annoyingly; "What is this?!". The look of utter betrayal and embarrassment on his face is just magical, because he gets humiliated again. Well, he also humiliates himself on a regular basis too (do you all remember when we thought he was cool?), and it's spectacular watching his "cool city guy" image go down the drain.

So yeah, that was a pretty long post but there was a lot happening too, and I even left quite a few funny parts out. I think there has been a drastic improvement from their first episodes (starting from 6 and up) and you can feel that most of them are now more or less comfortable in the format of the show. There are those who are always talking (Chanyeol and Baekhyun) and those who hardly ever say a word (Xiumin and Luhan) but you can at least get a grip on everyone's personalities and friendships. It doesn't feel as scripted and unnatural anymore, thank goodness, and everyone can be themselves a bit more.
I absolutely love Lay, Kris and Chen, because they all stick out with their different yet lovable characteristics. As a whole I've also grown to appreciate them more since before, so hopefully the next time they win a huge award I can feel happy rather than irritated.