#511 - Big Bang Special #1/ Santa Academy #3

Aired on: 17-12-2016

Guests: Yang Se-Hyung, Big Bang (G-Dragon, Taeyang, T.O.P, Seungri, Daesung)
AGB Nielsen Korea Rating (nationwide): 12.9%
- up 0.1% from last week
- 4.4% higher than the nearest variety competition (1.0% drop from last week)

Episode at a glance (minor spoilers):

Big Bang joins IC as both groups celebrate their 10th year in 2016!

Staying in a studio setting, they had a dance battle, showed their acting chops and did an anonymous vote over certain questions pertaining to their group (e.g "did you think a member would not have made it without Big Bang").

The last segment was a follow up to last week's Santa Academy. They just sat around with the newly crowned santa to talk about people who did a good deed.

My Review (minor spoilers):

I said it last week and will say it again. Very often the best episodes are those where the members just talk and poke fun at each other. 

Nothing much happened during the Big Bang segment but time flew by. The talk show format worked because Big Bang were spontaneous and funny in nature. 

The acting between Seungri and Yang Se-Hyung was so funny that i watched it a few times. Se-hyung's gibberish when it comes to foreign language has been used so many times, but this is seriously the funniest yet!

I look forward to part 2!

The Santa Academy part 3 was a surprise because i thought this episode would focus solely on Big Bang. The segment, though meaningful, is a little boring.

Not looking forward to part 4.

Backstory, Reference, Inside Jokes:

1) Hae-soo is Jun-ha's character as Myung-soo's servant that appeared in episode 503 when Myung-soo had to be a natural man.

2) The last time Big Bang appeared on IC as a whole was in episode 248-249 during the "Gangs of Seoul" special.

3) The last time any Big Bang member appeared was in episode 495-497 when G-Dragon appeared as Mr. Kwon in Infinite Company. 

4) The last time any Big Bang member other than G-Dragon (because he's practically part-time IC member no?) appeared was in episode 435-440 & 442, when Taeyang joined G-Dragon as part of the bi-annual music festival.

Entertainment Rating: 5/5

Meaningful Rating: 1.5/5 (comes from the eventual delivery of presents)

Episode Rating: 9/10 

510 - Santa Academy #2

Aired on: 10-12-2016

Guests: Yang Se-Hyung
AGB Nielsen Korea Rating (nationwide): 12.8%
- up 1.1% from last week
- 5.4% higher than the nearest variety competition (1.7% rise from last week)

Episode at a glance (minor spoilers):

The members continue to train as Santa. 

Their first mission is to guess what the kids are drawing. 
Second is to wrap presents. 
Third is agility test
Fourth is the test of climbing onto chimneys as individuals
Fifth is test of cilmbing onto chimneys as a team
Last is to deliver presents on sleigh.

The one who gets most silver bells from wins will become the santa.

My Review (minor spoilers):
After watching the first part of Santa Academy last week, many were saying this episode will be a "filler", "bottle" or boring. 

Turns out not! Very often the funniest episodes are those where the members have no agendas. In such episodes, they are not so pressured about the episode flow, the screentime, etc. They just have a jolly good time.

I especially enjoyed the 2nd, 3rd and last mission the best. I totally LOL at all the ridiculous presents that the PDs made them wrap. I also always enjoyed the ad-libs that they say, and it this episode there were plenty (the random christmas carols, etc)!

All in all a pretty funny episode.

Backstory, Reference, Inside Jokes:

N.A

Entertainment Rating: 5/5

Meaningful Rating: 1.5/5 (comes from the eventual delivery of presents)

Episode Rating: 7/10 

509 - The Tears of Polar Bear #2/Santa Academy #1

Aired on: 03-12-2016

Guests: Yang Se-Hyung
AGB Nielsen Korea Rating (nationwide): 11.7%
- down 2.3% from last week
- 3.7% higher than the nearest variety competition (0.9% drop from last week)

Episode at a glance (minor spoilers):

Myung-soo and Jun-ha continue from where the previous episode left off - looking for more wild polar bears! They then failed to see aurora at night. Next day, they continued to find wild polar bears. After which they learned how the villagers dealt with polar bears who entered the village. Jun-ha also dressed up as Nora to recite some poem, in a parody of a viral video by Ludovico Einaudi. The message is clear, save the earth, save the arctic!

The two of them came back to some fanfare and is being mock-interviewed by the members in a studio setting. It was a segment they called, Yoo Jae-Suk's sad day. Jae-suk also took the opportunity to announce one of 2017's project, people's cabinet special.

The last part of the show was "Santa Academy". It looks like it will be a christmas special where the members have fun and play some games among themselves. They also showed a calendar with graphics of the key events they participated in this year. The calendars were sold, with the receipts going towards funding of a IC scholarship.

My Review (minor spoilers):
I was disappointed with the 2nd part of the polar bear special. It felt like they had to drag the special into at least another episode to make the trip "worth it". 

The middle part was pretty much banter that is weak by IC's standards. 

The last part (yes there were 3 different segments and the episode felt a little disjointed) where they talked about the scholarship was meaningful though. Like what the netizens are saying, IC is doing more than what some politicians are doing. The quiz part was pretty entertaining though.

Anyway, it looks like the Santa Academy special will be a low-budget special that is not so taxing for IC, financially and physically. After months of hard work, i think they deserve a less hectic special for once!

Backstory, Reference, Inside Jokes:

1) The polar bear special is made because of the "Letters of Fortune" special in Ep 464. In a gist, the members had to write letters earlier in the year and send to a mail that only posts out a year later. Jae-suk wrote a letter to Jun-ha saying that he enjoyed watching him interact with Polar Bears in 2016. 

2) Jae-suk wrote that because it became a running gag that Jun-ha had affinity with animals. In 2015, he was sent to Africa (Ep 430/431) to take care of elephants. His interaction with the elephant named "doto" was very well-received. He wrote a song with a line about doto and even became ambassador of Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation. He then visited "doto" again that was shown in Ep 441 and 445.

3) Myung-soo accompanies Jun-ha on both the trips to meet elephant and polar bears.

4) With the completion of this challenge, they have finally concluded the challenges that were mentioned in Ep 464. They were:
- Jae-suk to dance with Exo (Ep. 498)
- Myung-soo went back to "nature" and sat under a rainfall (Ep. 503)
- Jun-ha became a slave of Myung-soo (Ep. 503)
- Jun-ha rode one of the world's scariest roller coaster (Ep. 493)
- Jun-ha auditioned for Show Me The Money 5. (Ep. 472)

5) Nora is a character that Jun-ha always appear as when he cross-dress. I won't be listing the episodes because there are way too many! I am not too sure of the origin though, would appreciate if anyone knows!

Entertainment Rating: 2/5

Meaningful Rating: 3/5 

Episode Rating: 3.5/10 

508 - Tears of the Polar Bear #1

Aired on: 26-11-2016

Guests: Yang Se-Hyung
AGB Nielsen Korea Rating (nationwide): 14.0%
- down 0.9% from last week
- 4.6% higher than the nearest variety competition (1.5% drop from last week)

Episode at a glance (minor spoilers):

The episode starts with a summary of the year's event, highlighting that visiting of the polar bears was the only challenge not yet completed. Two PDs who produced documentaries about the north and south poles were brought in to give them an understanding on polar bears, weather, etc.

Myung-soo was chosen to accompany Jung-ha for the trip. They first flew to Winnipeg, Canada where they visited the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre which housed 7 polar bears.

Then then flew to Churchill and sat on a buggy to see if they can encounter a polar bear in the wild.

My Review (minor spoilers):
I really like how Infinite Challenge follow through on everything that they say, even if it sounds ridiculous at first, and then proceed with delivering subtle messages. Through the this polar bear special, we as viewers got to know how global warming is screwing with the ecosystem. We also got to know more about polar bears in general.

There are plenty of funny moments in the episode to ensure that viewers are not just loaded with information. Heck, even the 2 PDs and buggy guide were funny!

Backstory, Reference, Inside Jokes:

1) This special is made because of the "Letters of Fortune" special in Ep 464. In a gist, the members had to write letters earlier in the year and send to a mail that only posts out a year later. Jae-suk wrote a letter to Jun-ha saying that he enjoyed watching him interact with Polar Bears in 2016. 

2) Jae-suk wrote that because it became a running gag that Jun-ha had affinity with animals. In 2015, he was sent to Africa (Ep 430/431) to take care of elephants. His interaction with the elephant named "doto" was very well-received. He wrote a song with a line about doto and even became ambassador of Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation. He then visited "doto" again that was shown in Ep 441 and 445.

3) Myung-soo accompanies Jun-ha on both the trips to meet elephant and polar bears.

4) With the completion of this challenge, they have finally concluded the challenges that were mentioned in Ep 464. They were:
- Jae-suk to dance with Exo (Ep. 498)
- Myung-soo went back to "nature" and sat under a rainfall (Ep. 503)
- Jun-ha became a slave of Myung-soo (Ep. 503)
- Jun-ha rode one of the world's scariest roller coaster (Ep. 493)
- Jun-ha auditioned for Show Me The Money 5. (Ep. 472)

Entertainment Rating: 4.5/5

Meaningful Rating: 4/5 
Educational Rating: 5/5

Episode Rating: 8.5/10 

507 - History Hip Hop #2

Aired on: 19-11-2016

Guests: Yang Se-Hyung, Dok2, Gaeko, BewhY, Song Min-ho, Zico, DinDin, Seol Min-seok
AGB Nielsen Korea Rating (nationwide): 14.9% (up 2.6% from last week, 6.4% more than the nearest variety competition)

Episode at a glance (minor spoilers):

The episodes continue where it left off..... which is the second part of history lecture with Mr Seol Min-seok. They then discussed in their own pairings, which history topic to use for their song. Yang Se-Hyung, Jun-ha, Ha-ha and Kwanghee were shown to sought help from other experts to find out more about a particular topic. 

My Review (minor spoilers):
More Korean history were dished out this episode. I think IC wanted to let the viewers know that the members and rappers are really doing their research before producing a song. With South Korea facing a difficult time now, it was also necessary to deliver the history lessons in a more serious and formal manner. 

As much as i appreciate learning abit of Korean history through my favourite show, i am glad that we are almost done with the history lessons!

Backstory, Reference, Inside Jokes:

1) Jung Jun-ha auditioned for SMTM5 earlier this year and BewhY is the winner of that season.

2) Zico is Infinite Challenge's official hip-hop teacher of sorts, having appeared on episode 472 to help Jun-ha with his hip-hop challenge. He then appeared during the LA Special to help arrange and record a hip-hop song.

3) Korea is currently in the midst of a political scandal, which is possibly why IC is doing this special. Like Mr Seol said, the solution lies in history.

4) I am sure Mr Seol Min-seok has appeared in the past too, will update with which episode once i can find it.

Entertainment Rating: 0.3/5

Meaningful Rating: 4.5/5 (in terms of the potential)
Educational Rating: 5/5

Episode Rating: 1.5/10 

505 - Gravity Special #3

Aired on: 05-11-2016

Guests: Yang Se-Hyung

Episode at a glance (minor spoilers):

It is a continuation from the previous episode on the zero-gravity flight. They did some missions, like spinning in air, posing as superman etc. The next day (without Myungsoo, who disappeared), they carried on their training on this machine that could simulate different levels of gravity. 

They then when to goof around in a real spacecraft before meeting a real astronaut. The astronaut brought them around the retired space station and showed them how astronauts lived in space. 

The last segment was a supposedly space-related quiz to test the member's knowledge.

My Review (minor spoilers):

Every part of the zero-gravity flight was interesting and made you wish you could experience it for yourself. Se-Hyung is really witty thoughout, creating moments for himself such as the tricking of Jun-ha, random russian-babble and the $100 gynmast-pose bet. I think he is a natural fit for variety and his official addition will come soon enough.

Overall, the space special was nicely done. Carefully executing humour while retaining the serious nature of the project. This project certainly made the ordinary-viewer (who probably wouldn't watch a space documentary) in me more interested in space. 

Backstory, Reference, Inside Jokes:

1) The space special was first announced in Ep 419 (March 2015) with the expected execution date to be end of 2015. Due to some complications, it was delayed, and in Ep 463 (Jan 2016), they did a parody of Martian to tie in with the space special. 

2) With the completion of this project, they have finally completed the 5 challenges announced for the 10th anniversary of IC in 2015. 

Entertainment Rating: 3.5/5

Meaningful Rating: 5/5 

Episode Rating: 7.5/10

504 - Gravity Special #2

Aired on: 29-10-2016

Guests: Yang Se-Hyung

Episode at a glance (minor spoilers):

The IC members trains to be an astronaut. The first training is to eat while being flipped upside-down, the simulate the eating process in space. The second training is to be tied to a horde of helium balloons, to simulate different level of gravity in space. They then fly to Russia, had a little sight-seeing and then went on the zero-gravity flight.

My Review (minor spoilers):

I watched the start, was bored and skipped the rest of the episode.... until a week later. After "eating" training, the rest of the episodes were just wow, woah, wow, WOW. IC really know how to reduce your expectations first and then give you the wow factor after. Never even knew some of these trainings could be done/existed.

Backstory, Reference, Inside Jokes:

1) The space special was first announced in Ep 419 (March 2015) with the expected execution date to be end of 2015. Due to some complications, it was delayed, and in Ep 463 (Jan 2016), they did a parody of Martian to tie in with the space special. 

2) With the completion of this project, they have finally completed the 5 challenges announced for the 10th anniversary of IC in 2015. 

3) Jung Jun-ha is now the ambassador of Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation. LOL. He was sent to Africa twice during IC in recent years, first in Ep 430/431, and then again in Ep 441,445. The first time, his arc with the elephant named "doto" was very well-received.

Entertainment Rating: 4/5 (would be a 5/5 if not for the slow start)

Meaningful Rating: 4/5 

Episode Rating: 8/10