Kingdom: Legendary War – Episode Three Recap and Ranking

Warning: This recap is not spoiler-free. Proceed at your own risk!

Other Recaps: Episode One // Episode Two

THE FINAL THREE PERFORMANCES

This week completes the first round of performances, with the final acts added to last week’s trio. And, the show wastes no time getting to the first performance, which means I’ll waste no time getting to my personal rankings! These are not based on anything beyond my own opinion.

ROUND ONE: MY RANKINGS

Disclaimer: I’m watching the full episode, not the unedited clips on YouTube. I’ll be embedding the full YouTube performances in these posts, but my ranking is determined by what was shown in the episode itself.

6. SF9 – Jealous (Now Or Never)

Putting SF9 last in the running order was an interesting move from Stray Kids, and one that I don’t quite understand. The group doesn’t strike me as the climax of a show like this, but that might just be my ignorance showing. Come to think of it… I’ve actually seen them perform live on two occasions (more than any of the other groups on the show), so I guess I have some point of reference!

SF9 debates whether to try something new or focus on their strengths. And, they opt to perform one of their representative songs. I think this is smart, because their group has a different color than their competitors, and that’s how they’ll stand out.

On a personal note, they get extra points for including Golden Child’s Bomin in their behind the scenes package. I can’t believe Bomin wanted to go near this series again, but it’s always great to see him popping up in any show he wants to be in! Also, who is this kid not friends with in the idol industry? I think he’s close with at least one member in almost every Kingdom group!

Back to SF9, the guys take us behind the scenes of a few of their individual schedules, asking coworkers about their strengths and what they should show as part of the competition. Of all the groups, I feel like this introductory video didn’t really reveal much about SF9’s concept. I’m worried that Kingdom will focus more on their height and looks than their creativity, while at the same time lavishing praise on how creative some of the other groups are. Oh, that MNET editing! Don’t we just love it?

They wring all sorts of drama from a particularly difficult jump stunt during the rehearsals of this performance. I’m sure the producers were just salivating as they watched Jaeyoon struggle with this moment.

As for the performance, I thought it was solid. I’ll always enjoy an orchestral arrangement, though I don’t know if this was the right song for that treatment. It stole most of the groove from the usually light-on-its-feet Now Or Never, slowing whole segments to a crawl. This allowed for some striking moments, and a greater sense of build than many of the other acts.

The arrangement improved as it went on and SF9 gave a great, dramatic performance. But in the context of this show, coming after so many over-the-top acts, it lacked some impact. I thought this was strong, but it’s not going to be one of the performances I remember most from this round.

5. The Boyz – No Air

Read my thoughts as part of last week’s recap.

4. BTOB – Missing You

Read my thoughts as part of last week’s recap.

3. Stray Kids – Side Effects + God’s Menu

After coming out on top during the introductory round, these guys have a lot to live up to. Like The Boyz, Stray Kids struggle to figure out how to live up to the precedent they set. And the fact that they pulled out my favorite song for their introduction means that they can no longer count on Miroh as a trump card. Yes, that’s my personal bias speaking 100%!

To choose the song for this round, the group consults with employees within their agency. To be honest, I’m sure all the groups are doing this, but Stray Kids centered the bulk of their behind-the-scenes package around a video conference with JYP employees.

As they were practicing for the performance, I kept getting distracted by the fact that the light fixtures in the JYP practice rooms are actually carved out to spell “JYP.” His agency is literally a fortress celebrating his own legacy, isn’t it? It’s so ridiculous. I love it.

Wooyoung from 2PM comes in to have a meal with the guys, and I swear this behind-the-scenes package has been running for at least thirty minutes by now. Maybe that length is a hidden reward for coming in first place during the introductory round? Or maybe it’s just the benefit of being from (whispers dramatically) JYP.

Or… maybe it’s my warped perception of time. Probably that last one, to be honest.

By the time the actual performance rolls around, that long-winded pre-show turns out to be worth it. The staging of this was great. The ever-changing set really gave it the look of a music video, and I loved how interactive everything was. I thought the audio arrangement drained some of the unique character from both songs, but they melded together seamlessly.

Stray kids were always poised to do really well on a show like this. They’re so creative, and that creativity was on full display this round. However, if you took away all the sets and gimmicks, I didn’t find this as impressive from a strictly audio standpoint. I don’t know that I’d want to listen to this mix on its own. It really hinged on the staging, which was excellent. So, I guess your opinion will come down to where you put most emphasis. In a show like Kingdom, staging is… erm… king. So, they probably chose wisely.

2. iKON – Love Scenario + Killing Me

Read my thoughts as part of last week’s recap.

1. ATEEZ – Wonderland

ATEEZ are technically the youngest team in the competition, but for whatever reason they don’t feel that way. I guess it’s due to how fast and intense their climb to popularity has been. They’re hanging out with the big boys, and certainly capable of it.

Leader Hongjoong also seems to take the lead when it comes to production and brainstorming, and much of the pre-performance clip focuses on this. Whenever one member has such a big role in this way, it always makes me nervous that they’ll burn out or become overly frustrated. Luckily, he has production team Edenary to bounce ideas off of. In fact, it seems like their whole agency has been divided into smaller teams to help with aspects of this performance.

The group decides to stick with their trademark pirate theme for this round, and part of me is hoping that concept will have its final hurrah as part of this show. I’m very eager for ATEEZ to move on to a completely different idea, even if their music doesn’t end up changing that much. I mean, I love pirates, and their Treasure series is nothing short of epic. I just think they have the potential to stretch themselves and do some really cool things in the future.

I’ve got to say, I was impressed by how this behind the scenes package actually focused on some of the work that went into the music arrangement. I’ll always embrace awesome arrangements more than visual aspects of a performance, so I appreciated the inclusion.

And, this was my favorite song arrangement of all the performances. It retained everything wonderful about Wonderland, but gave the track even more drama, befitting the Kingdom stage.

Some of the staging was a bit hokey, but that was totally fine for a theme as silly as pirates. Overall, I think it was smart to go with an easily identifiable concept and perform it in such a cinematic way. The huge Kraken tentacle was a showstopping highlight, and easily my favorite effect during this first round. I love how this was theatrical rather than angsty. It felt like a celebration of the song. It was just so much goofy fun! And then, they capped it all off with a way over-the-top vocal flourish from Jongho. This is my kind of ridiculous theatre. It’s an easy number one for me.

THE FINAL(ISH) RANKINGS

The mysterious experts ranked the groups like this:
5. BTOB/iKON (tie)
4. SF9
3. The Boyz
2. Stray Kids
1. ATEEZ

The teams also ranked each other, but the show didn’t linger on these scores. When everything was added together, here’s how the final ranking turned out:
6. SF9 (zero votes from the competing teams, poor things!)
5. iKON
4. BTOB
3. The Boyz
2. Stray Kids
1. ATEEZ

Of course, there’s still the fan vote to come, which means this ranking isn’t yet set in stone. Who do you think will come out on top when all is said and done?

Original Article