The Genius 4 Finale Episode 12 Review

Hey fellow readers! :) Thank you all so much for reading through my reviews these past few weeks!
I am so sorry about the delay for this last one, maybe I just wanted to lengthen my time with The Genius and not be done with it...

Alright, for now let me get on with the review!
So it's Jang Dong Min vs Kim Kyung Hoon, the King and the King Slayer.
The introduction was pretty awesome, I liked how it started the last episode with this excellent story. However, I can't help but feel that the intro arc was making viewers feel more compelled that Dongmin should win. It was as if it was attempting to make Dongmin appear like an underdog again, and make us want to support him more. When in fact, he never was the underdog this season, plus Kyunghoon was more of the underdog/black horse. Haha I wonder... Winner's edit?

Then we saw all the returning players from this season! :) So nice to see all of them again! They had to choose who to support and it was pretty even.
Moving on, 2 new games! 1. Number Janggi 2. Mystery Sign (They never got to the last game Black and White)

1. Number Janggi/Chess
Like Kyunghoon, I don't really play chess, but I thought that the game itself was very interesting. Pity Kyunghoon couldn't read Dongmin's play too well. Dongmin had a good strategy to reveal 2 of the opponents tiles at once. I also really like that the narrator was guiding us along and explaining the situations (or possible scenarios). It really helped in quickly increasing my understanding of the game. I thought that receiving guidance from the eliminated guests for this game was also really cool. It was cool to see the players showoff their understanding and strategic side like that. :)
This was like a mix between Battleship and Chess, and looked super fun to play. This is definitely one of the games of The Genius that I'd love to play myself. ^^

2. Mystery Sign
This game to me, paled in comparison to Number Janggi... Players had to figure out how the equation was formed using hints. It wasn't exciting as it would have been boring to watch if you didn't play along and it was slightly frustrating when you couldn't get it/not good with calculations.
At first I thought that Mystery Sign was going to be a super Mathematical version of 5:5 but it wasn't really too similar, and lacked the excitement, compared to other math games like season 2 Final's Truth Detector(secret code). Kyunghoon was a mess, maybe he wanted really badly to win and he placed himself in worse situations numerous times, by becoming overly anxious. Like what Youhyun said, Kyunghoon gave his answers way too fast/soon; and I thought that he lacked the composure that Dongmin had in all the solo matches.

So yep, the winner is crowned, and he is Dongmin!! Again... haha ><
I am super happy for him! :D Okay, sure I didn't exactly supported him this season but it was really cool to see him outperform himself and win again! Dongmin is really an all rounder. He is so smart and doesn't back down in individual matches. Woah, who can beat him?
Plus, I wanted to add on that I always thought of comedians as super smart and creative people, because they are often really witty and always coming up with new ideas. Dongmin winning this definitely make us not look down on comedians anymore. :)

And as for Kyunghoon, it was such a good ride with him in the game all these 12 episodes. He outperformed the viewers' expectations and made such good progress with a lot of the games. :)
Crazyyy smart player that I will always admire but be like I can't bear to look at your performance in the first 2 main matches this season haha.

Alright, so it's officially the end of my reviews for The Genius Grand Final.

As for whether this is the end of The Genius, we don't know. I read somewhere maybe another producer will take over, but who knows... They said "till next time" in their exit speech so as a fan, I am hoping with all my heart that this show will continue and I will see players competing again next year. :/
If not, maybe I could watch the franchises. Or maybe they will make Liar Game Korean Season 2. That will be cool too. Oh man I am so sad that my fave tv game show has ended its season.

Hopefully I will get to see you guys again next year with a brand new season! ;)
In the meantime, find me on twitter @raycherr :D
Once again, thanks for reading! Appreciate all your comments and interactions! <3 <3 <3

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The Genius 4 Episode 11 Review

Woah woah woah! XD The Semi Finals are over.

This is super exciting.

But first, ep 12...

Kim Kyunghoon really did such a good job understanding this game which let to his victory and direct entry into the #GrandFinal. I am super impressed by his skills throughout this season and how he climbed all the way to the top from a troll/crazy character. :) 

Okay, I must acknowledge that both Dongmin and Hyunmin probably knew the last amount too but they fell short with the mind games all the rounds(especially the last) and they went straight to the death match. 

While I enjoyed this game How Much, it was a newer concept and fun to watch, I thought that it lacked certain elements that could have made it the most memorable. The last round was for 4 points, to me it was way too much, granted that all the players understood the game really well. If it was played again with more players and they had more time to share information (perhaps even within players themselves) and a few more modified rules, this, I feel would be an even better game. Also, it was rather lacking with the SNL guests and their vague replies, but their humor made up for it haha. 

So Dongmin decided to go against Hyunmin, as he thought that he probably was going to go into the DM and wanted to pick his opponent. Finally, we witnessed a rematch by the same players this season! I was waiting for something like this from the start! :) At first, I was like 12Janggi is going to be an easy victory for Hyunmin but I guess not... Apparently everyone else practiced it, as expected of The Geniuses, so it made for a different kind of game where everyone was prepared. It was a tough match too but ultimately Hyunmin was defeated. (Dongmin! How can you be so good at all the games? haha) This was not exactly the best season for Hyunmin to play on after watching the past episodes, he fell into the shadow of Dongmin way too much and was read by him too when he strayed. I find that a little upsetting but sadly it's the reality. ):

So... There we have it our 2 finalists. *claps claps*

Side note, Dongmin never gave way to players who haven't won before... (haha sometimes I wished he did though as he was a little overpowering heh... ><) 

It will be really cool to see Kyunghoon to go head on with Dongmin. I liked both of them a lot in Season 3 and now they are rivals at the end game, woah. Though, I can't see Dongmin show any weaknesses in the final. Kyunghoon is very right about Dongmin, Dongmin is really an all rounder and probably a perfect player in The Genius. Kyunghoon, on the other hand, is someone with a lot of potential, if he can misguide Dongmin in the final games, he will stand a chance at the title and grand prize. Looks tough though. :/

I don't really want to admit this but I am rooting for Kyunghoon haha, let's fulfill your role as King slayer and become a King yourself! He showed great versatility and abilities this past few games, thus while his chances don't look promising, I do hope that he will put up a great fight and somehow win it! ;)

#underdog #troll #kingslayer

Alright, next episode will be the last one for this season! ):

Keep the conversation going on twitter with me @raycherr or in the comments below!

See you next week when we will see who wins, plus all the players this season! ;)

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The Genius 4 Episode 10 Review

Woah. And then there were 3. Next week will be the semi finals already!!!

This episode, they played a new game with Mini Games and Hold'em Poker.
Edit: Sorry for the delay! Here's my review! :D

All Players had to bring in a guest of their choice to play together. I thought that it was rather interesting to see Hyunmin bring in a past guest brought by Kyungran; I thought that he would have people of his own capabilities from perhaps the KAIST the Genius, but I guess it could be that they hit off well enough to play together. Furthermore, they did really well! Okay, his guest not so much in the minigames as compared to some of the rest of the players, but overall they were a pretty good team! I would like to point out that it is rather interesting to see how in different seasons they could have different games that would benefit bringing in a certain type of guests. This time round it was more on the IQ side, which definitely made Kyunghoon’s guest do very well in the minigames. (23 and doing his PHD, wow) Back to the players, OMG Dongmin was so good at the sticks challenge, he is really a hidden gem in the IQ arena, not only is he sociable, but also good at this kind of visual games. :D I will say I wouldn’t mind him winning this time round anymore, after all he has proven himself way more than he did last season too! :)

However, overall this main match felt a little underwhelming. Not too much was going on and the minigames got rather boring after like 2 rounds haha. Also, just like Seed Poker, winning just 1 round got you quite a significant number of garnets, and it’s tough to change up the game more easily. It was wonderful though, to see Hyunmin convince others to go his way, he is definitely stepping up his game too, very deserving win for him this time round. Too bad, all went the wrong way for Jinho with his bolder moves.

Moving on to the Deathmatch, ”Practice Bug” Kyunghoon is totally killing it. I am almost certain he could beat someone else in the last deathmatch, 12 Janggi if needed to too. He was so good in so many of those deathmatches, and I guess practice does make perfect. How he knew that by giving up his low cards when the card holders showed a low number card on top was beneficial to him was daebak (fantastic) too. Too bad, Jinho fell short, but YES they played such a great game.

I felt so sad that Jinho felt quite a lot of pressure to perform and give us Genius moments this season. He never did perform that well despite knowing the games pretty well and deep. Quite a pity... Ah, I still love Jinho though, for all that he has contributed in the Variety/Reality TV game shows in Korea. <3 #IconOfTheGenius

Also FYI, I saw spoilers on twitter before I watched )::: It totally killed the mood for me to root for Jinho to win, because I knew that most likely he was going to be eliminated. Haiz. (note to self: I need to stay clear of Facebook/Twitter from Saturday night till I finish watching the episode.)

Next Episode, we have guests again! Woah. I can't help but feel like Dongmin is going to get an upper hand with his social skills. However, finally there is a more calculative game which definitely will be more for Kyunghoon and Hyunmin. (hahaha the joke about Dongmin's calculation in chain auction last season...) I am picturing a tough fight, we shall see, I'm looking forward to it! XD

Thanks for all your comments in the last episode's review! :D 

For now, you can tweet me @raycherr or comment below. 

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