With the second elimination complete, the remaining girls gather in their assigned training rooms. Some teams, such as Shoot and Snake, remained intact while U+ME=LOVE was decimated after the elimination, losing ten members.
The producers informed the girls that with the number of members in each group uneven, those who could not secure a position would be kicked out and added to U+ME=LOVE, who desperately needed the main vocalist and killing part members.
Team Snake was first up to make cuts; they were over by two members and had the most drastic cuts to make amongst the other teams. This revelation raised concerns for Suyeon, who barely survived the last round of cuts and was saved by the planet pass.
To make things fair for everyone, another audition was held for each part. Suyeon tried for everything, but the main vocal and was shut out every time, sealing her fate.
The battle for the main vocal came down to Su Rui Qi and Yougeun. Confident she would win, Youngeun went all out. Sadly she lost by a vote of four to three.
Youngeun was greeted cheerfully by the U+ME=LOVE team but was still sad over losing the main vocal part. However, that sadness didn’t last long as she perfectly filled in one of the team’s holes after the elimination and was gifted the main vocal role.
Suyeon followed shortly, much to the surprise of everyone who thought she was perfect for Snake.
Team Utopia believed they were safe, with six of them surviving. However, the producers told them their team limit had been dropped to five, and one of them had to get the boot.
Their parts were also reset, and another round of auditions was held. It was so stressful that Huang Xin Qiao suffered a mini-meltdown. However, she had no reason to be worried as she managed to secure vocal two.
On the other hand, Nonaka Shana had renewed confidence thanks to her rank and tried to take every opportunity available. But, unfortunately, luck was not on her side, and she ended up as the odd girl out.
She walked into the U+ME=LOVE room as its final member, receiving a joyous welcome and slamming down her former team’s lyrics in the corner of the room.
With their team completed, it was down to finding the person to fill the killing part role. Shana and Yeyoung volunteered immediately. Suyeon was hesitant, thinking she did not fit the song but eventually raised her hand because she still had the hunger for the role.
After that, Shana withdrew because she wanted to try a different part, leaving Snake’s outcasts to battle it out. To her surprise, Suyeon won the part. She vowed to do her best and make the Snake team pay for dropping her.
Team Shoot had seven members survive, and funnily enough, those who made it didn’t have to change positions. Still, to be sure, Yujin asked if anyone wanted to change. Everyone decided to keep their parts which allowed the team to get back on track and practice without worrying about formation changes.
Of all the teams, this one had the smoothest transition post-elimination.
The middle portion of this episode contains a bonus mission that can be considered filler. It’s all about team building. Since it has no real bearing on the final results of this mission, I’ll gloss over it in point form.
Team Shoot went to Dayeon’s house, went through old photo albums and performed for her mom. After that, they had a meal at her parent’s Sushi restaurant.
Team U+ME=LOVE lived it up in luxury with massages and fancy meals capped off by performing a suspension bridge while Mashiro cried her eyes out due to her fear of heights.
Team Utopia went on a hike where they performed on a hilltop before paragliding down to the ground.
Team Snake ended up at a farm where they did manual labour picking sweet potatoes and chilli peppers. Once done, they performed their song for crusty old folks and left on a high note by covering Love Battery.
This part of the program focused on two things: Pushing Dayeon to the moon and sticking it to team Snake for our entertainment.
The final third of the episode showed all the girls at rehearsals being surprised by Yeo Jin Goo. He was there to give them their interim rankings. For this round, 17 girls will pass, and those ranked 18th and lower will go home.
The interim ranks are:
- Shen Xiaoting
- Kim Dayeon
- Ezaki Hikaru
- Sakamoto Mashiro
- Kawaguchi Yurina
- Choi Yujin
- Su Rui Qi
- Kim Chaehyun
- Nonaka Shana
- Fu Yaning
- Kang Yeseo
- Seo Youngeun
- Huening Bahiyyih
- Wen Zhe
- Huang Xingqiao
- Ikema Ruan
- Nagai Manami
- Chen Hsinwei
So there was a lot of movement, with several popular members dropping rank. The most notable being Cai Bing, who fell out of the top nine hard. She must have turned a lot of people off with her poor leadership. It looks like Fu Yaning has taken her place, which is a good thing in my mind.
The mega push of Dayeon might backfire on her if viewers consider it a bit of overkill. We shall see after the end of the Creation Mission.
I still don’t get Huening Bahiyyih at all, but she seems to be sticking around for the foreseeable future unless she screws up or the viewers find someone else to give their votes to.
The last part of this show is a mini-sports festival filmed before the elimination. It was nice to see the girls have some stress-free fun, but it wasn’t worth writing about for me.
We see the fruits of the girl’s labour as the Creation Mission performances begin in the next episode.
