Korean Media Felt Pity For Jennie Due To ‘Apartment 404’’s Resemblances To Various Hit Variety Shows
TenAsia’s article even said the show was just a follow-up to an old-fashioned "Running Man."
On February 24, Korean media outlet TenAsia posted an article pointed out the resemblances of tvN’s “Apartment 404,” which BLACKPINK’s Jennie is a cast member, to many hit shows.
“Apartment 404,” which first aired on the 23rd, showed the cast Yoo Jae-seok, Cha Tae-hyun, Oh Na-ra, Yang Se-chan, Jennie and Lee Jung-ha digging into the truth surrounding an 1988 apartment. The six members were divided into tge variety team and the actor team. They moved into rooms 406 and 407 and began looking for clues. The secret to the apartment, which was revealed through games and props, was gold bars, and there was a twist that Cha Tae-hyun and Yang Se-chan were construction workers disguised as residents. Cha Tae-hyun collected all the gold bars, but at the end, it was concluded that Yang Se-chan stole the bag of gold bars.
The episode lasted nearly two hours, but in fact, there was no big twist and fun, as the article claimed. The chemistry of the familiar “Yoo-line” members guaranteed laugh would be created from the first episode, but Lee Jung-ha, who newly joined, only showed his inability to get along with the members.
Jennie stood out the most in the first episode. This is her first regular variety show in five years and she was very active from the beginning. She garnered all of the members’ attention from the start, and continued conversations even in moving cars. She moved harder than anyone else when searching for clues, and caught important clues, showing off her reasoning skills. Jennie’s adorable appearance was enough to make viewers mesmerized.
The article, however, pointed out the problem of the show’s settings. “Apartment 404” feels like an episode of “Running Man.” It is not only because of the existence of “Running Man” members Yoo Jae-suk and Yang Se-chan, but also because it has a familiar format of finding spies within a certain background. The games used to find clues were also similar to other hit shows, as producer Jung Chul-min also directed “Running Man,” “Six Sense,” and “Village Survival, the Eight.” The games “Red Light Green Light” and “Say backwards” were so childish that the fun went vanished. Yoo Jae-seok as the main member created a familiar atmosphere. The role-play setting dedicates that “Apartment 404” is similar to “Running Man.” Finding clues from “Six Sense” is also shown, and clues being hidden everywhere has been seen before in “Village Survival, the Eight.”
The public’s opinions on “Apartment 404” anre also mixed. Some say that the chemistry between the members and the freshness appearance of Jennie and Lee Jung-ha were interesting, but many also say that it is no fun as the format is similar to “Running Man” and it is not new. It is up to the production team to decide whether “Apartment 404” will be able to overcome harsh criticism or just end up as Jennie’s wrong choice.
Source: TenAsia
