English Dub Review: Viral Hit “Humiliation”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Munseong’s arrival leaves Hobin feeling like a third wheel, so he makes his excuses and leaves.  But after a pep talk from Snapper, he returns with the intention of telling Bomi exactly how he feels.

Our Take:

Hobin once again gets himself in another pickle when he discovers that Bomi’s childhood friend is the famous MMA fighter Munseong.  Even worse, Munseong showed up to Hobin’s date with Bomi just after he lied about him and Munseong being friends.  But, in reality, Hobin hasn’t spoken a single word to him due to his fear of Munseong’s intimidating expression.  I don’t blame Hobin.  I, too, would’ve been nervous if Munseong had looked at me like that.  Fortunately, Munseong classified himself and Hobin as classmates, which somehow counts as friends.

Sadly, that doesn’t prevent him from being the third wheel of the group, as he believes that Bomi and Munseong are dating, resulting in him making an excuse to leave.  Frustrated, Snapper encourages Hobin to get back out there and tell Bomi his true feelings.  Of course, being the absolute asshole he is, Snapper only used his pep talk as a ploy to embarrass Hobin live on stream.  However, his plan is immediately foiled by the biggest prick of the bunch, Pakgo, who humiliates Hobin on his own channel by having him take off his clothes in front of the world.  Fortunately, Munseong arrives in time to give Pakgo and his lackeys a painful lesson, but that doesn’t ease Hobin’s humiliation of being a weak and easy target for Pakgo, who has been beating Hobin up for no reason.

This episode really elevates Hobin’s character arc in ways that make me and the viewers root for his success.  While Hobin may have figured out how to defend himself, his latest confrontation with Pakgo made him realize that he should’ve watched the rest of the secret channel’s videos, adding to the humiliation.  As a result, Hobin vows never to make the same mistake again by isolating himself from the world to train with the secret channel, leaving Snapper to become the puppet for Pakgo’s despicable videos.  The episode also showed a bit of Snapper’s empathy toward Hobin after seeing him beaten up, which could pave the way for Snapper to redeem himself for the pain he caused Hobin.

Overall, “Humiliation“ packs plenty of emotion in Hobin’s pain, both physically and mentally, to avoid the show’s own humiliation.  Like the previous episodes, this one can be pretty frustrating to watch because of the bully characters, mainly Pakgo, who deserves a one-way train ride to Hell for plenty of reasons, including calling Bomi a whore.  However, regarding its concept and themes of depression and bullying, its intent to evoke that emotion was more rewarding than alienating due to its narrative.  As a result, it became the show’s best episode so far, which is enough to get me ecstatic to see Pakgo get his just desserts once more.