going seventeen | don't lie: the chaser
premise:
seventeen play a version of don't lie where, rather than a scavenger hunt, each member must run to a checkpoint where the next round of mafia will commence. however, every mafia has chosen someone to be chased by a "villain," and if the member they chose gets tagged by the villain, they are executed. and ALSO, the members who survive to the end of the third round are ranked not on whether or not the mafia was executed, but on how much physical money they are carrying in the form of coins.
combining this episode, surprise don't lie and don't lie: clue, the member with the most points over the trilogy is awarded at least 3 million krw, or about 3,000usd.
comments:
somehow, i think this episodes the 'implosion of mafia dynamics' better than the first don't lie. but i'm getting ahead of myself.
i like episodes where seventeen get chased around, as laborious as it probably is for the members and their cameramen. while i actually remember the tag and mousebusters, some of the first episodes including tag, as being slightly boring, i really like the adrenaline it provides and just how exciting these episodes can be! now, mixing this in with the game of mafia underlying the chaser and we have something really special on our hands. i love how the members can't truly tell who the villain is after until they get repeat encounters, and thus everyone is running for their lives. i love the repeat opportunities the members get to backstab each other on top of this, like seungcheol slamming the door shut on someone getting chased; the opposite is also true, like with seungcheol holding the door shut so a villain can't get jihoon. the addition of having to carry a heavy bag of coins also pumps up the adrenaline, so you get sightings like vernon dragging a bag across the floor because oops he got too many coins, or dino surviving pretty easily because he got 1 coin each round. but what i like most is 1. the reveal of the mafias and 2. the replay value from knowing who the mafias are.
hoshi's mafia reveal in don't lie 1 is legendary because he throws mingyu under the bus, claiming he's the mafia and that mingyu outed him, yet mingyu wasn't a mafia at all and everyone gets fooled by hoshi. spoilers but instead, minghao's mafia reveal here is legendary because he starts throwing all the other mafias under the bus for the promise that they'll kill the next mafia he reveals, and he does so with the weak-willed dokyeom. poor dokyeom. at the same time, though, poor minghao! they accuse minghao of not being loyal to his people, and he goes, "he isn't my people! he never trusts me during these games!" LMFAAAAAOOOOOOO. and then dokyeom gets fooled by the same trick and the last remaining mafia, wonwoo, with no one else to betray, falls to his knees and goes, "MY GRANDIOSE DREAMS~~" which is an image i keep playing in my head nonstop. and the thing is? aside from wonwoo, who actually does keep his head down pretty well here (the same strat that kept him last man standing in clue despite being quite talkative in his other roles through don't lie), you can see a lot of these coming. joshua (PRETTY NONCHALANTLY BTW??) reveals himself as the policeman to the people sat next to him, including dokyeom, and guess what? he's one of the next people chased. the frontrunners for points of the trilogy are minghao and jun, and, while it seems like both are getting chased, minghao is able to hide safely, seemingly tricking the villain, while jun gets cornered. HMM.
anywho, the episode boils down to wonwoo versus everyone else because minghao and dokyeom get voted out in that order for their betrayals, except woozi becomes a clear frontrunner after he collects a bunch coins (which is a great upset and strat given the game!). i like how it ended up being a battle between the last mafia standing from surprise don't lie and the last mafia standing from clue as well, and, even though woozi has to transport his coins on wheels, he actually does make it and it's down to the physical counting of points for who wins! that's pretty cool that it keeps you nailbiting until the last second. and with the reveal of wonwoo being the winner and wonwoo resolving to buy dinner for all the staff and members? how sweet :')
ranking:
concept: 9; i wouldn't say it's as good as the original don't lie, but it sure rivals it depending on what you want to watch. it's hella laborious though getting from checkpoint to checkpoint, but they're nothing but ambitious.
chemistry: 10; i can't complain with this one being too high concept when we still get moments like MY GRANDIOSE DREAMS
enjoyment: 9.5; i remembered woozi pushing his coins around on wheels and minghao sacrificing his teammates and that's it. but man this was still fun!
overall - 9.5/10