I felt angry (spoilers coming).
I agreed with Lexie who quit when she realized this wasn't what she signed up for. It started with recruiting 20 girls to train and compete to become the next KPOP girl band. They would be trained by some of the same people who trained and created the famed BTS KPOP boy band. The girls jumped at the opportunity to be trained by the best dance instructors and vocal coaches. What they didn't realize was that the training would take 2 years and at the end they would have to compete against each other in a survival show where fan votes would count more than their instructors' votes. They didn't realize that their nationalities would count more to the fans than their talent or dedication.
One of the values of the KPOP training was to learn how to work together as a team and to support each other. That's why Lexie was devasted as the showrunners began pitting the girls against each other to get more viewers on the survival show. They asked the girls who they thought would be in their top 6 and who they would choose to be with them in the band. Many of the girls had been living together for two years and became family. I felt angry that the showrunners didn't realize or didn't care about the girls' emotional wellbeing, and they cared more about getting viewers for the survival show. In one sense, it seemed like they cared about their mental health since they had a staff psychologist, but on the other hand, they only cared about getting viewers. It was hard to watch the girls' confidence get torn away once the survival show began. Up to that point, I thought it would have been a positive experience for the girls getting feedback from the experts and improving their skills. But once the showrunners decided to have the girls tell them who they would choose to be in their top 6, that was the last straw for Lexie. At least one of the girls didn't get any votes from her friends. What made things worse, and Lexie said this part too, was that the results were read by a faceless black hole on a TV screen. It was heartless.
The showrunners were manipulating us to care for Emily and feel horrible when she wasn't picked at the end. That part worked. I felt horrible that Emily wasn't picked. I felt horrible when they started the fan voting and she was judged for her looks and her Texas accent. She was one of the originals who gave up two years of her life for the project. She was always the number one dancer according to the judge's evaluations, and she was the most improved singer. "Say Emily, say Emily" could be heard from her dance mentors in the audience right before the final reveal. I feel bad that she couldn't work as a dancer during those two years and she was deceived about the true purpose that she would be a contestant in a survival show.
I was left not caring about the six who were picked for the Katseye girl group. I agreed with one of the KPOP execs who had second thoughts about letting the fans choose the band members.
I agreed with Lexie who quit when she realized this wasn't what she signed up for. It started with recruiting 20 girls to train and compete to become the next KPOP girl band. They would be trained by some of the same people who trained and created the famed BTS KPOP boy band. The girls jumped at the opportunity to be trained by the best dance instructors and vocal coaches. What they didn't realize was that the training would take 2 years and at the end they would have to compete against each other in a survival show where fan votes would count more than their instructors' votes. They didn't realize that their nationalities would count more to the fans than their talent or dedication.
One of the values of the KPOP training was to learn how to work together as a team and to support each other. That's why Lexie was devasted as the showrunners began pitting the girls against each other to get more viewers on the survival show. They asked the girls who they thought would be in their top 6 and who they would choose to be with them in the band. Many of the girls had been living together for two years and became family. I felt angry that the showrunners didn't realize or didn't care about the girls' emotional wellbeing, and they cared more about getting viewers for the survival show. In one sense, it seemed like they cared about their mental health since they had a staff psychologist, but on the other hand, they only cared about getting viewers. It was hard to watch the girls' confidence get torn away once the survival show began. Up to that point, I thought it would have been a positive experience for the girls getting feedback from the experts and improving their skills. But once the showrunners decided to have the girls tell them who they would choose to be in their top 6, that was the last straw for Lexie. At least one of the girls didn't get any votes from her friends. What made things worse, and Lexie said this part too, was that the results were read by a faceless black hole on a TV screen. It was heartless.
The showrunners were manipulating us to care for Emily and feel horrible when she wasn't picked at the end. That part worked. I felt horrible that Emily wasn't picked. I felt horrible when they started the fan voting and she was judged for her looks and her Texas accent. She was one of the originals who gave up two years of her life for the project. She was always the number one dancer according to the judge's evaluations, and she was the most improved singer. "Say Emily, say Emily" could be heard from her dance mentors in the audience right before the final reveal. I feel bad that she couldn't work as a dancer during those two years and she was deceived about the true purpose that she would be a contestant in a survival show.
I was left not caring about the six who were picked for the Katseye girl group. I agreed with one of the KPOP execs who had second thoughts about letting the fans choose the band members.