Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
What’s this show about again? Oh right, dancing.
WayB is gone now and it’s time for a new mission. The MEGA CREW mission requires each squad to recruit a gaggle of guest dancers and organize a big chungus dance performance. Again, both the judges and online votes will contribute to the results.
Each team immediately brainstorms who to invite to their soiree. WANT all turn to Chaeyeon as she opens up her contacts list, seeing which other idols are down to clown. She ends up recruiting Weki Meki‘s Yoo Jung, LOONA‘s Yves and High School Rapper champion Lee Youngji.
Meanwhile HOOK invites all sorts of martial artists, krumpers and cheerleaders to practice. They also make a phone call to Lee Hyori.
YGX gets a massage and think that inviting too many people isn’t the way to go.
HolyBang goes the other way and recruits the max number of dancers. It doesn’t matter if they’re famous, HoneyJ just wants bodies on the floor. No surprise, leading a practice for ~50 dancers of various skill levels starts to become a frustrating affair.
Prior to the main rehearsal, the filming schedule is posted for everyone to see. The crews are all impressed by the size of HolyBang’s team. They also react to the celebrities in WANT’s crew, most remarking how it’s “Street Woman Fighter”, not “Celebrity Woman Fighter.” CocaNButter comment how they don’t have any famous friends, and stare at their phones sadly.
The teams then get to watch each other’s rehearsal recordings, and then get to vote on who they think did the worst. As the crews watch, reactions are mostly positive, but YGX, with the smallest number of participants, seems to be the most underwhelming by far.
The teams submit their votes. HOOK votes for CocaNButter, saying their song isn’t memorable. Prowdmon gets no votes. YGX gets 5 votes. Leader LeeJung appears unfazed but begins to think about adjustments.
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Fast forward to the results announcement. Gone is the old dance stage with the VIP booths; this time we get a bona fide square circle (everything is wrestling).
Each team checks on their social media scores. Compared to the Queens of K-Pop mission, the range of totals is much closer this time around. YGX and WANT are the leaders, but HolyBang and HOOK aren’t far behind.
Kang Daniel enters and prepares the crews tp view the first performance, LACHICA.
Their stage for Beyonce‘s “Run The World” combines step team action with guest dancer Love Ran‘s vogue performance. The killing point is using every team’s flag, as a shout out to all the women involved in the competition. The other teams are impressed by the rehearsal video, and no one chose LACHICA as a team expected to drop out.
They receive 267 out of 300 points from the judges. Even though they’re proud of their stage, they know that their relatively low number of views has them in a precarious situation. Leader Gabee bursts into tears.
HolyBang’s performance is next. It’s revealed that both YGX and WANT think that HolyBang might be eliminated. YGX’s reasoning is that there is too much focus on HoneyJ.
During practice, HoneyJ and her teammates confer on whether to redistribute center parts. HoneyJ, who designed most of the choreography, admits that when she watched the other performances she noticed the center positions were more evenly distributed. After some consideration, she gives the closing highlight to Jane, who was last seen battling her way out of the bottom in the Class Mission.
The adjustments work, as they receive 281 points, and a near perfect score from Hwang Sang Hoon. HoneyJ, after so many losing rounds, finally feels like a winner.
CocaNButter go full SoundCloud for their stage, picking trap cuts by Gurf and Ape Drums, and “Go Down Deh”, a banger by Spice, Sean Paul and Shaggy. The result is a refreshing change of pace, featuring a well-coordinated fusion of twerk, dancehall, and hip-hop dancing.
They also achieve excellent results, getting 281 points and tying with HolyBang.
Prowdmon goes all in on the krump concept, enlisting the Monster Woo Fam to help out. Leader Monika is determined to win, using her experience and connections to get the perfect song arrangement and the perfect dancers for the performance.
Monika is also the one to take the most issue with other teams enlisting celebrities, vowing to beat them all. These emotions pour over into rehearsal, with a visibly frustrated Monika demanding even more from her teammates.
Prowdmon get the highest score so far, with 285 points. Also they show the leaderboard and somehow HolyBang has an extra point? (I went back and checked)
HOOK, in addition to their acrobats and cheerleaders, is one of two teams that roped in a celebrity guest: SNSD‘s Sooyoung (What happened to Lee Hyori, huh??). In addition to a celeb center, their performance has a lot of prop work and moving parts.
HOOK scores 282 points.
YGX’s practice highlights focus on LeeJung’s past experience and YELL‘s hearing impairment. They do a performance set to a medley of some of YG‘s biggest hits.
The judges can’t help but notice the smaller number of dancers in their performance, and their scores bear out as much. They score 267.
The last to performance to be exhibited is WANT’s. Leader Hyojin Choi conceives of a performance featuring many different genres and skill levels, thus, her idea of inviting idol dancers to participate. But during practice, it’s her own crew that ends up giving her the most trouble; attention and time is divided and only Moana really helps her out as a sub-leader. Four crews vote them for most likely to lose.
The judges are underwhelmed. They understand the egalitarianism of their concept, but the skill wasn’t high and the polish isn’t there. They score 265, in last place (PS: they fixed HolyBang’s score).
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Now it’s time to calculate the global vote.
Prowdmon, in the lead after the Judges score, places 3rd overall. HOOK places 2nd. YGX places 4th. And first place goes to HolyBang.
The bottom 3 end up being WANT, CocaNButter, and LACHICA. HolyBang get to decide who will battle LACHICHA for the elimination match. HoneyJ selects WANT. The teams retreat backstage to prepare.
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This battle is a best of seven, with a group vs group to open up, followed by two 1 v 1’s and a 2 v 2. LACHICA take the first round.
2nd round is Peanut vs Rozalin in a waacking battle. Both did well in the 1v1s during the first episodes. Peanut’s battle experience shows through and she beats Rozalin.
3rd round is Gabee vs Emma. Gabee does nice vogue-work, including a dip. Emma’s freestyling impresses BoA. Emma takes the win.
For the 2v2, H1 and Simeez are up against Moana and Emma. WANT shows a lot of body control and energy, while LACHICA’s performances is highly synchronized and clean. WANT takes the judges decision. It’s now all tied up 2:2. The rest of the matches will be one-on-one.
After Rian wins a unanimous decision over Moana, WANT leader Hyojin Choi steps in vs Simeez to defend her team’s chance for survival. Despite hurting her knee during her turn, Hyojin’s cool hip-hop style and confident performance win out in the end.
The final battle is between H1 and Chaeyeon. Chaeyeon’s fortitude and determination are at an all-time high. It’s a close decision, but H1 takes the round and LACHICA is saved from elimination.
The rest of the contestants bid the WANT crew farewell, commending Lee Chaeyeon on her growth and Hyojin Choi on her leadership. Mnet gives her a farewell montage, her teammates thanking her for guidance and care.
The end of the episode reveals the next mission: making a choreo for Jessi‘s new comeback.
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Miscellaneous Thoughts
- This was the best round of competition so far, just for the fact that each squad could actually properly showcase their unique concepts and styles. LACHICA’s penchant for modern club dancing, HOOK’s visual storytelling, Prowdmon’s formation-work, the contrasting hip-hop styles of HolyBang and CocaNButter, YGX’s professionalism, WANT’s populism. The weaknesses of each crew also bore out. This should’ve been the first mission to be honest.
- Chayeon’s trial by fire comes to a dramatic conclusion. Of course they wanted to give her a fitting conclusion, and sending her off on a close-call battle result is more than apt. Her appearance on SWF has always been an extension of her “no confidence” storyline from Produce 48, and it was executed fairly well by Mnet. Judging by the attention it got and the success of SWF, this could just be Chaeyeon’s shtick from now on; an endless quest for acknowledgement from every corner of entertainment, as viewers empathize with her through their own feelings of insecurity and impostor syndrome. What a protagonist.
- I didn’t think very much of idols vs no idols, obviously inviting celebrities isn’t much of a cheat code since WANT got eliminated. But even philosophically, it’s an Mnet competition, there is no morality here. What’s more important is that Monika’s character requires her to be indignant at things that disrupt the spirit of the competition. Which is fine! That’s good protagonist behavior. But conceptually, it’s like complaining about Steve Austin‘s beer truck in WWE.
- In addition to getting a bad edit during the last episode, Emma is being sued by her agency for wanting to break her contract. I wonder how many of the participants on the show are secret trainees? I know KayDay was a former trainee.
- Rozalin is under fire for scamming a student. Honestly, it sounds like the student and her parents are insufferable, so more power to her lol.
- WayB’s Noze is reportedly projected to earn about 800k USD for her endorsements this year. Sometimes the trophy is just a trophy.
- Jo Kwon (and Jay Park) are going to appear on SWF. I give it 5:2 odds Jo Kwon puts on the heels.
- A sequel titled “Street Girls Fighter” has been announced for later this year. The dance crews will be teens only, the leaders of Street Woman Fighter will be judges.
- Tired of Chris Brown still being put on a pedestal.
