Episode 8 of Queendom started with the results of the unit round.
The first team to reveal their ranking was Aa who placed in third. Hyejeong tried to play off the disappointment by stating that rankings don’t matter. Minnie could not hide her sadness as she did care a little more than her partner about where they ended up. They hugged each other saying they did great regardless.
When Hyejeong announced her ranking to her fellow AOA members Jimin immediately grabbed the card from her hand and slammed it on the ground. Hyejeong then followed up by stomping on it. Jimin then fired up and told Hyejeong to forget about it as she was amazing out there.
(G)I-DLE were also eager to see how Minnie ranked and eagerly gathered around the table in their dressing room while Minnie hung out far behind them. Once they saw third place they were fine with it. Soyeon said if Minnie were in the Olympics she would have a bronze medal. After hearing such encouraging words from her leader Minnie was determined to go out and kill the stage for their next performance.
Hwasa played a few mind games with Kei asking her to guess their rank based on her non-reaction. Having no clue how the placed Kei just asked if they could open the envelope together. When she saw the results she asked the producers if what she saw was real. Hwasa showed the card in the envelope to the camera indicating that they had placed first.
Kei started to tear up and hugged Hwasa thanking her for being her partner and accepting her gimbap.
Bom and Jung were unwilling to open their envelope due to nervousness. They decided to play rock, paper, scissors to decide who would do the honours. Their card revealed they ended up in second place.
This had Bom lamenting over when she would ever reach the mountain top of first place while Hyojung laughed at her. Bom begged to everyone watching let her win just once because she was pathetic.
The final results of the unit round saw Lovelyz and MAMAMOO receive 2500 points, Park Bom and OH MY GIRL receive 1500 points and AOA and (G)I-DLE receive 500 points each.
With the vocal units out of the way it was time to reveal the individual results of the performance group members. AOA’s Chanmi was first up to reveal her ranking. She had a sad look on her face as she apologized to her group and showed them where she placed. Hyejeong then grabbed the envelope out of her hands and slammed it on the ground.
The camera zoomed in on the floor to show that Chanmi had placed in 5th.
Eun Ji and Park Bom were up next. Eun Ji thanked Bom for the opportunity and then told her she got 6th place. She apologized but Bom said not to worry about it as she appreciated her efforts to help her.
The members of (G)I-DLE eagerly gathered round to see how Soojin did. She also placed third and stated that she was very satisfied with where she ended up. Soyeon gave both Minnie and Soojin a hug to congratulate them on a job well done.
Moonbyul asked Solar and Wheein to open the envelope. Once they did she screamed in excitement for her 2nd place finish. MAMAMOO gave out hi-fives all around for their high rankings in this part of the competition.
Yooa could not hide the look of satisfaction on her face as she revealed her ranking to the rest of OH MY GIRL. She tried to bluff but they could see right through her as she happily revealed her first place ranking. She felt she had redeemed herself for not being able to contribute fully in the “Destiny” performance.
With the vocal and performance unit scores combined the leaderboard showed MAMAMOO at the top of the pack with AOA bringing up the rear.
Once the recap of the unit rankings ended it was time for the first of the group performances. The total number of possible points for this round was 10,000. The fan votes account for 7000 points, the special evaluator votes worth 2000 points and the self-evaluation votes 1000 points.
These scores combined from the those of the two units will make up the final rankings for the third round of the competition.
The special evaluators for the group performances were determined by the winner of the Queendom Quest. The game for this particular quest was to read a scrambled lyric puzzle to guess the name of the artist and song.
The person guessing also had to perform part of the song with the right lyrics and choreography. Lovelyz dominated the quiz thanks to the quickness of Su Jeong. Their selection for this round’s evaluators were housewives. Which they believed would be a strategic advantage for them.
(G)I-DLE were first up. Having tasted the disappointment of last place they were determined to not let that bring them down. After going through the fan suggestions they decided on “Say No” with the concept of doing something grotesque.
Soyeon wanted to change it from a ballad to a dance song to give them more options for their presentation on stage. There were some concerns that performing a lesser known song might not be the best direction to take but if it was arranged properly they would be still be able to reach the audience.
Come performance time the members of (G)I-DLE came on stage barefoot and dressed in blood red dresses. They explained that through their performance they will express anger within sadness and the story of a woman who has gone crazy.
The other artists were eagerly awaiting what (G)I-DLE would come up with for their performance. What they got had several of them watching in awe. The Nightmare Version of “Say No” had plenty of dramatic, theatrical movements and some very interesting choreography from their backing dancers.
When the performance was over Lovelyz felt intimidated while OH MY GIRL gave them a sign of respect. Moonbyul commented that their acting skills on stage were very good and delivered the emotions of the song.
“Say No” was a definite improvement over (G)I-DLE’s second round performance. The housewives could probably relate to this performance or think that “These bitches need serious help.”
MAMAMOO had a lot of songs for their fans to go through. The ones that were mentioned the most were “My Star” and the “Immortal Songs” medley. Their interest piqued when “I Miss You” was suggested. Given that the range of the song is quite high there was some concern as to whether their vocal chords could handle the load.
After trying a quick run of the song at the table they decided to go with it. Rather than go with the original they wanted to re-arrange it into something that would convey how much they miss the time with their fans. The idea of playing a touching video in the middle of their performance was also tossed around to emphasize their theme.
Unlike in the previous rounds the atmosphere backstage was different for MAMAMOO since they were in the unfamiliar position of performing second. In their onstage interview with Sung Kyu they mentioned that they prepared something special that will allow them to communicate with their fans and connect on an emotional level. They hoped that people could see their sentimental side with this performance.
After the opening video flashing back to their trainee days the song started. MAMAMOO immediately had those watching entranced with their soft vocals. Once Wheein and Solar started to ramp up into diva mode the music stopped and they turned to the screen behind them.
A video of their history as a group started to play bringing back fond memories for their fans. The video continued to play as Moonbyul completed her rap verse. Then it was back to diva mode for three vocalists of MAMAMOO as they brought the song to its crescendo with their vocal gymnastics.
Whenever the camera cut to the crowd audience members could be seen getting emotional. At the end of their performance MAMAMOO hugged it out on stage.
Their fellow competitors applauded them for a job well done, with some getting on the verge of tears themselves. The clips of the trainee days brought back their own memories of those times and had them getting those feels.
AOA were at a disadvantage with Seolhyun being unable to join them due to her filming schedule. The added pressure of living up to their previous performance had them under the gun to come up with another great stage.
Since they were basically AOA Cream and Jimin they decided to change up their style as to not repeat the same thing from the last round. Rather than perform together they would break their sections up to satisfy fans of their sub-unit and Jimin’s rapping.
On performance day they confidently hit the stage. In a pre-show interview Jimin said she was not worried and only wanted their fans to like the performance.
Seeing AOA Cream on the stage had the members of OH MY GIRL marking out a little and calling their part of AOA’s performance refreshing. (G)I-IDLE commented that this might appeal to the housewives.
However, Jimin rapping with a rock band behind her probably would have the opposite effect on them.
She did have the crowd hyped and Seunghee showing some stank face over her swagged out performance. Near the end of her time Jimin’s special guest was revealed to be N. Flying’s Lee Sung Hyub, who did the male part for “Puss”.
If there’s one AOA song that housewives love it’s got to be “Puss”. Their group performance ended with Jimin alone on the stage after rocking the crowd. The other competitors mentioned that AOA was full of many charms to be able to pull of two different performances like that.
With AOA closing the Episode 8 of Queendom on a high note one has to wonder what the remaining three artists will come up with? Will they be able to step up with more great stages? Lastly, who will win the third round of the competition?
