#it was hilarious (in a bad way) to see hanbin out of first place tho ahdnshf

[sherlock-is-ace]

You'd think the preliminary rankings worried me, but here's the thing, I'm pretty sure that once again it's all completely out of our control and it's all in the hands of the producers/whoever gave the biggest bribe so... ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[pikapikarawr]

I-Land Ep 7 Thoughts

**SPOILERS WARNING**

I’m returning with my brain dump of I-Land thoughts again lol after not writing about ep 5 and 6. Anyways, I-Land came back after their 2 week break and ooh boy, I have many  thoughts.

The 6 Grounders

There weren't really any surprises for the grounders that were picked. Daniel, Sunoo, Niki, and Geonu were basically fixed. So I felt like I was really only picking 2 people. I liked Youngbin, Hanbin, and Nicholas. Youngbin needs more practice, so I'm ok if he just debuts later. I'm sad that Nicholas didn't make it, but Taki's good too, so it's ok.

I thought it was kind of cruel how they called the last 3 people up to announce the last saved. I felt bad for Nicholas and Kyungmin :(, even though it's a TV show, so they did it for suspense.

I really like Kyungmin's positive mindset. I hope he continues to be optimistic and keeps on training! I hope to see him debut one day.

I hope the eliminated trainees don't take it too hard and just take it as a learning experience, and keep on going. Hopefully, we see them all debut one day, even if it's not together.

The Initial Ranking This initial ranking seemed unfair. Because during the first round of voting, we knew that Sunoo, Daniel, and Niki were already in Ground. So people knew to vote for them.

I wasn't surprised that Sunoo was 1st because he seems really popular in Korea. Pretty surprised that Daniel scored 2nd, but both Sunoo and Daniel had an advantage of being in ground at the time of the voting. Niki was too, but he's not as popular as those two. And it's likely that people kind of paired Sunoo and Daniel together when they were voting because they performed the vocal test together and they kinda give off the same cheerful and youthful vibe.

Heesung and the I-landers were surprised that he was "only" #3. We all know he's #1 in everyone's heart and debut list though :(. If they knew how the voting was, they'd understand though. I'm actually surprised that so many people voted for him because it was really likely that he was safe from elimination. From the edit this week though, a lot of people will vote for him. So I wouldn't be surprised if he got 1st or 2nd this week.

I did think it was weird during the first round where they included everyone, instead of telling us the 6 that got sent to ground. During that voting, I consistently voted for Sunoo, Daniel, and Niki. Then for the others, the first few days, I voted for my 3 favorites - Heesung, Sunghoon, and Jake. Even though I knew Heesung and Sunghoon were probably safe, just in case Sunghoon somehow gets sent down or these votes affect the challenges later. Then near the 2nd half of the week I voted a mix between some others in ground.

I thought it was fair that K didn't understand why Sunoo and Daniel got such high rankings. He didn't see how the voting went on. And Heesung is definitely more talented than them, so I think they also felt kind of awkward about it and kind of guilty. Why is K getting evil edited tho?? I'm pretty sure his spot is fixed in the final group.. He's basically the best dancer there and can choreograph well. whatismnetdoing? I'm confused. Maybe they're just milking drama as usual.

Dance Battle

Jungwon is good at everything?!? I really liked his freestyle

Sunghoon: I'm not good at freestyle Also Sunghoon: But I'm not bad at it either *giggle* that clip was soo cute hahah

I don't really know locking, but I feel like Taki had an advantage because he's the only one that locks. He did have good energy and expressions during the round though, and the crowd was hyped during his round. So his round was solid

Sunoo LOL. His dance was very "him" haha, it was cute/charming and even though, he couldn't freestyle well, he just went with it and did whatever. The cartwheel to just jumping and spreading his arms and legs was hilarious xD

K and Heesung as expected were good too. K's expressions were really good.

BTS!

The gifts were really nice and thoughtful

I think the hanboks that Niki got were probably the best? I also liked Jin's food bowl, but I'd probably never actually use it because I'd be afraid to break it or wear it out haha.

Niki finally showing his age that he's the 2nd youngest of the group. Aww he was such a baby this episode, so excited about the gifts :')

The segment about the trainees concerns was so sweet. Heesung worried about what it takes to have good leadership and I liked Hanbin's question about confidence (I relate, bro lol).

K saying that he wasn't handsome, and Suga and J-Hope saying, "we debuted, you can too!" hahahah XD.

*All the trainees ask sincere questions* Geonu: How do I look up without getting wrinkles? *Jimin eyeroll*

I'm surprised that Sunoo had bad health. It doesn't show on the show. But that could be the reason that the I-Landers kept voting him out before? Maybe because he couldn't practice as much?

Daniel saying that he wanted to be a rapper came out of nowhere lol. But if it makes him happy, I support it :). I really like his singing voice too though. He just needs to become an all-rounder haha.

I wish the trainees could have actually met BTS, but maybe they were afraid of covid?

I'm actually surprised how long the BTS segment was. I thought it'd just be like a quick 5 min clip of giving the mission. I'm glad they included all this extra stuff and we get to see more of the trainees personalities and behind the scenes of what they're thinking.

Teams Fake Love - Taki, Heesung, Sunghoon, Sunoo DNA - K, Niki, Hanbin, Jay I Need You - Jungwon, Jake, Geonu, Daniel Side note: Super glad they got rid of the internal I-Land voting nonsense lol. It was a good idea in theory, but truly terrible in reality. Maybe they heard feedback from it and changed it. Plus this way the producers have more control of who’s in the group too. 

I actually kind of wish the audience votes didn’t completely decide the fate of the group because even if all the popular trainees make it, the group might not be good if they’re missing an essential member..Like what if all the popular members were rappers, who’s going to sing the songs?? That’s not relevant in this case, but that’d be an example. 

It’d be better if the producers just pick the group and take the audience vote into consideration? Or do a point system like 1/3 from producers, 1/3 from bang pd, 1/3 from audience, which I think they mentioned something like that at the beginning of the series.. but they haven’t mentioned it since then.

Predictions Hmm so from each team, I think Taki, Hanbin, or Geonu will get eliminated first.

Fake Love has a really good team, but that song is really hard. Also, I don't know if Taki realized that if his team doesn't place first.. he's highly likely to get eliminated. I'm hoping they turn it around, but mm I feel like they would all struggle with that song. Who's going to sing all the high notes other than Heesung?

DNA is the Dance representative team omg. This performance is going to be so fun to watch :), I'm excited for this one.

I don't know why, but I feel like I Need You will win? I feel like this song highlights vocals better and the dance isn't as intense as the other 2? And I feel like Jungwon, Geonu, and Daniel are all really good vocals to carry the song. Hmm I feel like Jake would've fit DNA better? There probably wasn't enough spots though. He'll probably do ok here.

Man, time is passing by so fast. Only a month until the finale! And there's only 5 episodes left.

Picks It's hard to narrow down my picks to 7.. : Heesung, Sunghoon, Jake, Jungwon, K, Jay, Daniel

I like the inital 6 I-Landers that made it to Part 2, but ahh, I don't know who the last spot should be. I really like Sunoo too and he's probably more likely than Daniel, Jake, and Jay.. but uhm, Idk who to kick out :(. There's no way Sunoo doesn't make it though unless Producers kick him out. He's so popular. I think he'll take Jake or Jay's spot.. maybe Daniel(?). I feel like the group is better though if Daniel and Sunoo are together though, and not if only one of them makes it. Idk why, but I kinda just naturally pair them together haha.

And Geonu seems to be the "main vocal" pick, but the producers seem to have abandoned him and the editing hasn't really shown much of his personality.. so.. I think Heesung is just going to have to carry the songs as main vocal and center.