going seventeen | ttt (camping ver.)
premise:
seventeen go on their second mt ("member training," or a bonding retreat), this time at a campgrounds.
comments:
OH HOW I LOVE TTT (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) there are SOOOO many great member moments in this episode -- the mingyu sleeping compilation, everyone fawning over the dog and the kitten, the on-the-knees volleyball game (with lots of haikyuu references LOL), everything about jeonghan and hoshi's bug hunting chronicles, joshua's fear of bugs (which has persisted into THE PRESENT DAY into jxj era, seven years later), and the heartfelt comments they make about loving each other as a group at the very end. it's all so sweet and sentimental and makes me feel all fuzzy inside! one of the downsides of the serialization of going seventeen is that i feel like they permanently feel this pressure to always make things feel more fun and to have adequate screen time, but i feel like they achieved that so much more in this episode with practically no concept (i'll get to this later) where they weren't really trying to be super funny. it's probably because they're younger and more energetic, but something about this episode just feels more real (or as real as you can get for a kpop variety show tbh, i don't know seventeen irl as we All Probably Know) and, as a result, it's much more funny and entertaining because of it. there are so many members who are just doing nothing for a lot of this episode since they're resting (network love w/o minghao team being that way because minghao was reading in the corner). LIKE jun gets a SOLO CAM in this episode and minghao TEMPORARILY EMCEES. that's INSANE. it just feels more natural to the point where i wondered if seventeen knew how funny they were being just ... being themselves during this episode. (would going seventeen count as documentary filmmaking...?)
anyway a lot of this is also because of the distinct editing style! it's surprisingly stylistic especially in comparison to the lower stimulation ttt 2018 episode that had a much more relaxed editing style -- this one is so much more tonal whiplash with the editing really having its own voice and even making a lot of jokes outside of the members; it gets even more stylistic than even some of the episodes from 2020 onward! there's the wonhui sleeping ctrl c + ctrl v gag, the repeating of seungkwan's voice going "in an edgy way" when he completely fails, the hearts on the flicks when s.coups gets a punishment, the dubbing over voices while wonwoo/dino/vernon/scoups are playing board games b/c of copyright, kinda everything about the mini volleyball game (the caption on jun "this is truly net work"). but the most hilarious thing about this episode is that not one. but two members. get hit in the nuts. and the editing makes these so much more memorable even if the scenario is hilarious already. the freeze frame on joshua followed by joshua collapsing. the preemptive ending credits on seungkwan. it's perfect.
but remember when i said the best part about this is that there is no concept? the thing is there ends up being a concept. i really love the idea of just having seventeen take a break ESPECIALLY BECAUSE this episode released in 2019, around the time that HIT THE ROAD was happening. AKA the series that gave carats ptsd because of how overworked the members were that they were constantly getting injured and passing out. something i haven't even watched because i am afraid of the emotional toll it may take on me. and it just makes me upset that the episode was a lot less entertaining when the staff kinda stepped in and there was this whole bit where "if they take a bite out of the macaron, we take the food away!" and like. okay. i guess. i know they're trying to add tension, but the best part of this TTT was everything before the staff stepped in (and the parts that were OUTTAKES TO THE EPISODE). it is just entertaining to watch seventeen freely do stuff. i liked seeing the games (the snapshoot part surprised me the most by how i liked it actually), but nothing is as fun as when the members are doing it themselves. really, the most fun parts are the outtakes because they're when a lot of the things go off the rails and off script! a staff member falling and seventeen all herding around him to win the game is funny! their plan to cheat accidentally going wrong and failing disastrously is hilarious (minghao's "swallowtail butterfly!") the mafia games are SUPER fun (sorry mingyu... u really did shoot urself in the foot in this episode... from henceforth with don't lie around the corner mingyu's never going to have a great advantage with these mafia games), and the try not to laugh competition is the most ICONIC PART where parts are still getting quoted on the regular to this day (GRANDPA JUN and KOREAN TRADITIONAL MUNGBEAN PANCAKE). plus we got jun being funny by just existing and eating his sweet potato!!
but if there's one thing that was clearly organized and i think was OK to keep even if a lot of the funniest moments are in the parts that got edited out, it's the night time camping barbecue session with our dawn is hotter than day playing over it -- because our dawn is truly a beautiful song that encapsulates everything i love about seventeen. i've mentioned it sometimes but i stopped keeping up with seventeen about 2018~2020 and got back into them because of gose. our dawn is one of the last songs i heard but didn't really get familiar with when i stopped listening to seventeen initially, and one of the first songs i really got attached to when i began keeping up with them again. i've seen it twice in concert now. hearing it in this episode really took me back especially now that seventeen are 5 members until next year, yet it's not even sad because they all resigned their contract. they all promised to stay together. IDK, watching the members have fun all those years ago and looking forward to the future even if they're a bit older now and aren't the same as the youthful boyish group i became a fan of is just so exciting. stepping into this new chapter of my life as i've grown alongside them is so meaningful to me! sorry to take a sentimental detour after complaining. but next episode is one of my favorites -- TTT hyperrealism version.
ranking:
concept: 5; legit 50/50 on this episode lol
chemistry: 10; i love you seventeen
enjoyment: 9; only hampered bec of the meddling i've alrdy complained about
overall - 8/10