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

EPISODE ONE RECAP // EPISODE TWO RECAP // EPISODE THREE RECAP // EPISODE FOUR RECAP

We’re in between rounds at the start of this episode, which means a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and a fair amount of filler. It’s entertaining to watch, but there’s not much for a blog like this to write about.

The third round will consist of two parts: Position Unit Battle (vocal and dance units) and Fantastic Queendom (fan-selected songs).

First up is the Position Unit Battle. A large chunk of this episode involved the groups choosing who to send to each unit. Being the only soloist in the competition, Hyolyn could participate in either or both. Like the boss she is, she chose both.

Watching members arrive at the dance and vocal camps was pretty fun. I love seeing the awkward interactions. I don’t know why this is so entertaining, but I could watch a weekly show consisting solely of idols entering rooms and awkwardly interacting. It’s so relatable!

Unlike the first season of Queendom, the dance units will be performing original songs. They listen to previews to get the vibe of the choreography. None of the songs sound all that great to me, but the dances themselves are pretty different in style.

The girls choose their units Produce 101-style, with the lowest vote-getter choosing first and the highest vote-getter having the option to bump them out. Though this makes for good TV, I’ve always thought it was an unfair way to pick songs. It further punishes contestants who are already in need of a boost.

Weirdly, all members of the same group have to pick the same song, preventing this challenge from being the complete mix-and-match it should be and rendering the units very uneven when it comes to the number of performers in each.

After some shuffling around, this is how the units ended up:

Ka-Boom
Members from: Hyolyn, WJSN
(Hyolyn, Eunseo, Yeoreum)

Greedy / Tell Me Now
Members from: Brave Girls, LOONA
(Eunji, HeeJin, Choerry, Yves, Olivia Hye)

Purr
Members from: VIVIZ, Kep1er
(SinB, Unji, Xiaoting, Kim Dayeon, Hikaru)

I’m curious what the ladies saw in each different dance – especially since they got to watch a full minute of it before choosing. To me, all three songs sounded “meh” and the dances seemed like they’d either hit or miss depending on what the performers brought to them.

Unlike the dance units, the vocal team gets to put forth their own choices for songs they’d like to cover. Baekhyun, 15&, Taeyeon, Chen, Ailee, BOL4 and Nu’est are all invoked as options. It’s interesting that some of the girls mentioned not preferring “high pitched” songs. Are you listening, K-pop producers? I’m not the only one who wants to hear them sing in a comfortable register!

Selection is done in the same way as the dance unit, except the groups are heading to random rooms (A, B or C). So rather than the song, they’re essentially choosing the act they want to perform with. This is very similar to my favorite episode of Season 1, where Mamamoo’s Hwasa and Lovelyz’s Kei made a highly entertaining odd couple.

This process also resulted in my favorite (translated) quote of the episode:

“Here is such an animal kingdom.”

I feel you, girls.

After some shuffling around, the units ended up being:

Sun and Moon: (Members from Kep1er, LOONA performing EXO’s Don’t Go)
*HaSeul, Kim Lip, JinSoul, Chuu, Kim Chaehyun, Seo Youngeun

Milky Way Who Embraced the Universe: (Members from WJSN, VIVIZ performing IU’s Hold My Hand)
*Eunha, Soobin, Yeonjung,

33: (Members from Hyolyn, Brave Girls performing BOL4’s To My Youth)
*Hyolyn, Minyoung

I mean, we haven’t seen the stages yet but I’m already living for Hyolyn + Minyoung (even if Team Sun and Moon picked my favorite song of the three)

Yep, this was primarily a bonding episode. The girls eat some food together and reveal rough versions of their songs before next week’s performances. But, bonding is good and this (*checks notes*) 108 (!) minute-episode wasn’t completely filler.