The episode this time takes a moment to orient itself, flashing through a series of images, from Seonwoo and Jiae sitting in of coffee shop, to Jaeno and U.Jin sitting awkwardly in an empty practice room, and finally to Ollie rolling his eyes at a confused Lai, before the show's title scrawls itself over the screen in the familiar pink found on most SM Entertainment merchandise.

The show begins at the stage where the contestants had introduced themselves, and all eighteen are now present, standing proud and prepared before a music cue is given and a song starts to play.

The contestants freeze and allow the audience to cheer the opening song. Once the applause has died down they step back and the two MCs take center stage to renewed cheers.

Taeyeon smiles and raises her microphone, waiting a moment so she can be heard over the audience. "Hello everyone! Welcome back to Media Play! Now that you've met all our amazing contestants, it's time to reveal the rankings! But there is one last thing we need to tell you. Leeteuk?" The soloist steps back to allow the other MC to take center stage.

"Our show is going to have a special mechanic when it comes to eliminations." Leeteuk announces, causing the contestants to begin shifting nervously. "Each female contestant is going to have a compliment, if you would, among the male contestants. Essentially this means the two of you will be working together in every episode except for the challenge rounds, and if one of you is eliminated, so is the other."

The contestants look stunned at the news, but the MCs don't give them time to process as Taeyeon steps forward again.

"But don't worry! We have precautions set in place so that no one who's doing well is dragged down by a partner scoring lower in the rankings! And now, without further ado, let's see what the rankings were for this episode! Starting with the girls," She waves the female contestants forward. "It was very close, but in ninth place with twenty three votes is Ryuwon!"

Ryuwon's lips quirk down for a moment before she nods and replaces the disappointment with a more neutral expression.

"In eight place with twenty four votes we have Diamond!"

Diamond merely tilts her head in acknowledgement, less obviously affected by her low ranking that Ryuwon had been.

"Now fifth, sixth, and seventh place all received twenty five points, so you three have been randomized as to who got which position." Taeyeon smiles apologetically. "In seventh we have U.Jin, sixth is Alexis, and in fifth place we have Hwajin!"

Hwajin grimaces slightly, but then grins. Alexis looks quite pleased with her rank, and U.Jin just nods uncertainly.

"In fourth place with twenty seven points is Lucy!"

Lucy looks thrilled at the high placement, but her grin is nothing to the shock on Saerom's face, who's standing next to her.

"I'm in the top three?" The rapper stutters in a quick cutaway to an interview. "I can't believe I made top three!"

Back on the stage, Taeyeon has already announced Saerom as the third place contestant, and a note onscreen states that she earned twenty eight votes.

Jiae and Sujin are both standing at attention, clearly hoping to be the one placing first.

Taeyeon takes a moment to check her notes, and then grins at the camera.

"It was close, but with thirty three points Sujin is first place! Jiae, you got thirty one so keep working hard!"

Both girls grin, though Jiae's smile is a bit dimmer than Sujin's.

"I actually think it would be less painful if I'd ranked lower." Jiae admits in an interview. "Now all I can think is what I could have done different to get just three more points."

Back on the stage the ladies have lined up according to their rankings, and Leeteuk has beckoned the men forward.

"Alright guys, there was a much bigger discrepancy in votes for you guys, so you'll need to step your game up in a big way to knock out our top rankers! Starting at the bottom with only fourteen points is Lai!"

Despite his ranking, the singer still looks cheerful.

"If I'm at the bottom then there's nowhere to go but up!" He says in his interview, still grinning.

Back onstage Leeteuk looks pleased by Lai's easy acceptance and quickly moves on. "In eighth place with twenty two points is Eunjae!"

The singer smiles awkwardly when the camera focuses on him.

"In seventh with twenty four points is Jaeno!"

Jaeno is the first person to look a bit disheartened by his rank, but he quickly fixes on a smile when he notices the camera.

"Sixth place with twenty five points is Kurozu!"

The independent idol nods briskly, his expression calm and confident.

"With thirty points, fifth place is R!"

The rapper looks surprised and a bit teary upon hearing his rank.

"I really didn't think I'd rank so high, even if it's only the middle really." The rapper says with a still-stunned smile in a cutaway interview.

Back onstage Leeteuk moves on to the top four.

"In fourth place with a jump up to thirty four points is Jo!"

Jo laughs and shoots finger guns over at Lucy, who raises a confused eyebrow but grins back.

"Both band kids made fourth place." Jo explains in his interview. "I found it funny."

Back onstage Leeteuk is looking excited. "Our third place, with thirty five points, is Ollie! And now for our top two ranked people, it was an extremely close race."

There's a cutaway interview to Hwajin, who looks bitterly amused. "Everyone is acting like it's some big surprise, but Seonwoo is absolutely going to win. He's from a third-tier group and actually has fans and regular comebacks unlike the rest of us. It's completely unfair that Sujin is tied to him now and basically is guaranteed a spot in the final showdown." She sighs. "That's media play though. It's not like we haven't suffered through it before."

Back on the stage, Woncheol and Seonwoo both look excited, though only Seonwoo looks nervous.

"I know I'm second, I'm just excited I managed to make second!" Woncheol grins in his interview.

Finally, Leeteuk clears his throat and sets the cue cards aside. "Our second and first place scored fifty and fifty one points respectively."

All eighteen contestants look absolutely shocked, and the two top ranked males naturally look thrilled.

Leeteuk grins and lets the anticipation linger for a moment before clearing his throat.

"Seonwoo, Woncheol, congratulations on your scores. But only one of you can be first, and that person is Woncheol!"

Woncheol looks absolutely bowled over for a moment before he breaks into a huge grin and begins jumping up and down in excitement. Seonwoo offers him a high five which is enthusiastically given, and in the back Hwajin is sporting a grin as well.

"Good for Woncheol. I hope he goes far." She says in her interview.

As with the girls, the boys line up according to rank and wait for the MCs to proceed. Leeteuk steps forward.

"Earlier we discussed compliments. Well, the person you'll be working with is the person who has the same rank as you." The MC grins as the contestants look over at one another. "So go on and meet with your partner. We'll be providing lunch for you all to get to know one another before you start working on this week's performances!"

The contestants walk over to one another, some excitedly and others with more reservation.

"Having our fate tied to the girls feels cheap." Ollie announces in his interview. "Like, I got way more votes than Saerom did so if she's eliminated I still get cut even if I'm doing really well? It doesn't make sense to me."

On the other end of the spectrum, Jo seems quite happy by the compliment system. "Lucy and I are totally putting together a rock performance!" He grins.

The girls are similarly divided on the elimination mechanic.

"I get the thought process behind it." Diamond says. "But it does seem like it could be unfair to people who would otherwise have survived in the show longer if not for a weak partner. That said," She adds with a glimmer in her eyes, "I do quite like my partner. I think we'll be able to do some pretty amazing things if we get the chance - he is the best singer among the guys after all."

Ryuwon is less optimistic about her partner. "Lai only got fourteen votes. That's almost ten less than I did. We're going to have to work pretty hard to stay in..." She notes rather dispassionately.

The camera cuts away from the interviews to show the pairs having lunch together and getting to know one another - for the most part. Saerom and Ollie are sitting in an awkward silence as the rest of the contestants chat around them.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jiae and Seonwoo are hitting it off like peas in a pod.

"How did they convince you to dress up as a girl though?" Jiae is giggling as Seonwoo tries to keep his own laughter restrained.

"I give in to my friends way too easily. But it was so funny seeing everyone's reactions when I took my mask off!" He responds, his voice squeaking a bit as he tries to contain his mirth.

The two keep laughing and chatting as the camera shifts to another team that are getting along pretty well.

"So you write  songs? Awesome! I never got the hang of it myself, but I can play guitar." Jo is still grinning as he sits across from Lucy. "I wonder if they would let us bring in our groups for a huge rock collaboration? That would be crazy fun!"

Lucy is smiling as well, nodding along eagerly to everything Jo is saying. "I play as well! I think this will definitely be fun." She agrees.

Diamond and Eunjae are among the quieter pairs, eating mostly silently though Diamond is attempting to engage her partner in conversation. She eventually gets him talking when she asks a very simple question.

"Okay, cat person or dog person?"

Eunjae lights up. "Cats. I really love cats, we have on at home."

Diamond perks up. "I love them too! I can't get one though, our apartment is too small for pets, but I know I'm definitely adopting one as soon as I'm able. What's your cat's name?"

The two proceed to coo over pictures that Eunjae has on his phone, and the camera moves on to the first place pair, who are quite relaxed as they converse.

"So you guys could have been the next BTS?" Sujin questions before taking a bite of her noodles.

Woncheol nods, a bit sadly. "I was friends with Jungkook for a while, but he doesn't talk to me anymore since he's really famous and busy now." He says. "But I don't really like talking about that."

"Oh, sorry." Sujin frowns. "Didn't mean to aggravate old wounds. Um, which of your songs is your favorite? I bet you can guess mine." She jokes lightly, and Woncheol immediately perks up again.

Eventually the MCs return and the contestants stand, leaving their food whether or not it's been finished.

"Alright teams, in order to build trust and really get to know each other's capabilities, these next two weeks we'll be doing what we like to call trust fall performances." Leeteuk grins, and Taeyeon rolls her eyes good-humoredly.

"Only you call them that." She teases. "But what these performance entail is quite simple. We'll be breaking you up into two groups based on the sorts of performances you're most comfortable with. This week the girls will be the ones performing."

Leeteuk nods. "However, there is one catch. You won't have any say in how the performance goes or even what it is. Instead, you'll be relying on your compliment to do you justice!"

The contestants exchange glances as the show cuts away to commercial.

"This is ridiculous! I haven't managed to tell R anything about my skills yet!" Hwajin sighs in her interview when the show returns. "They really should have told us this before the 'get to know you' lunch so we'd know what to talk about. We mostly discussed our group mates, which really isn't going to be helpful."

"I don't know how confident I am in doing a good job, but Ryuwon is counting on me!" Lai declares in his own interview. "So I'm going to do my very best to make sure she shines!"

The show skips the actual division of the groups, and instead starts right in on a group of six girls, who are noted to be better at y and girl crush concepts.

Present in the group are Hwajin, Diamond, Ryuwon, Lucy, Sujin, and surprisingly Saerom, who's standing awkwardly a little ways away from the group.

Their compliments are huddled in a different corner, talking about the performance.

"So first things first, which song should they use?" Jo has taken control of the group, standing tall and gazing over the group with a clear authority.

Ollie rolls his eyes. "Well given that it's and SM hosted show, probably an SM song?" He points out bluntly, grinning sarcastically when Jo looks over at him.

The band member is unphased as he grins back, completely genuinely. "That's a great idea! Pay some homage to our generous overlords." He jokes, though the other guys just roll their eyes.

"We should ask the girls who their favorite groups are! Then we can pick a song most of them would like too!" Lai volunteers, and Jo nods.

"Sounds like a plan to me! Any arguments?" He gives the group a few seconds before clapping his hands with a grin. "Great! Then let's go talk to the girls!"

"I hate not having any say in this." Sujin admits with a sigh over where the women are sitting in a circle on the ground. "I'm used to being in charge of things with my group, I'm really sort of a leader, you know? It's weird letting a guy I barely know make these decisions for me."

"They've been really good about consulting us though." Lucy points out. "I mean, they could have just done whatever they wanted to."

Hwajin laughs. "Sure but that would have screwed them over as well. When we're doing this for the guys next week you can bet I'm making sure I know every single thing R knows and likes doing to make sure he shines."

Just then the boys walk over, proudly holding up a disc.

"I managed to shorten the song a bit so we can focus on making sure it looks awesome!" Jo looks incredibly proud of himself. Behind him Ollie rolls his eyes.

"If you'd let me try it would have gone faster."

The rest of the guys ignore the youngest and instead walk over to their partners to start talking.

Jo and Lucy are shown first.

"Okay so, crazy idea, I'm thinking maybe you could rap? I mean, you definitely had some skill with that in your Up and Down cover, but it's up to you. What would you be more comfortable with? We can easily give Saerom all the rap parts - there really aren't too many."

Lucy tilts her head thoughtfully. "No, that actually could be cool!"

"I think people really see me as a singer so rapping in this first performance could be a great way to show how diverse I am!" She says hopefully in her interview, beaming at the camera.

Woncheol and Sujin are shown next, the latter of whom looks quite pleased.

"Yeah, I'm a great singer. You really convinced them to let me be the main vocal?" Sujin asks curiously.

Woncheol grins. "Well I mean, we are number one, so putting you up front will make people like our group more, right? And then we'll get that immunity the MCs talked about."

"There is a chance at immunity up for grabs in this showdown." Leeteuk confirms in his own interview. He's sitting beside Taeyeon and both still have their gaudy Media Play mics with them.

"The winning performance will earn one group in it immunity, as determined by in-audience votes." Taeyeon explains. "The performer deemed to be the best in the group will be safe from elimination in the next challenge round. Naturally this means their compliment will be as well."

The scene switches to show the other three girls. A note on screen says these three prefer lighter, cuter concepts.

They seem to be a bit more integrated with their male counterparts' work as well. Kurozu is sitting at a mixing station, with Alexis leaning over him and watching curiously. Jiae and Seonwoo are doing vocal exercises by the piano, which U.Jin is playing while Jaeno dances around them cheerfully.

"Alright, done. Can you stop that now?" Kurozu sighs over at the four playing around.

Alexis grins. "That's so cool! I've tried my hand at remixing stuff like that but I'm really only just a beginner. Think you could show me some tricks in the future?" She looks at Kurozu eagerly, and he seems a bit caught off guard.

"Um, sure, maybe. We need to survive the first round though so we should start actually practicing the song." He says, sliding back into professional mode. "Jiae, you said you're fine sharing the vocal parts with U.Jin?"

Jiae grins. "If my compliment wills it I can do it." She confirms lightly, and Seonwoo grins.

"I will it! Jiae was telling me she likes rapping for more intense concepts and singing for lighter ones like this." He says proudly, clearly happy with himself for remembering that bit of information.

Kurozu nods briskly. "Great. I worked out a rough line distribution. We'll go through it and edit what we need."

Jaeno is quite optimistic in his interview. "Kurozu is really good at keeping things in line, and the song is great! I think we're going to win for sure!" He makes a fighting sign and then laughs. "Honestly this is a fun group to work with. I'm sad we're only a team for one episode!"

The next scene is clearly a few days later as the trio has moved on to learning the dance. It's cute and simple, but they seem quite confident with it.

"Okay, no, stop." Jaeno, a distinct shift from his interview, looks rather discouraged. "Something is off. This looks weird. Can we add something else? Jiae is a great dancer, why can't she get a dance break or something?"

"Because if we did that we'd have to give Alexis one as well, and I'm already done modernizing the song." Kurozu replies flatly. "We already agreed to keep the dance basic so that U.Jin - your partner if I might remind you - could keep up. Now quit complaining."

Seonwoo looks between the two bickering men helplessly.

"They started like this after two days." He says sadly in his interview. "Both of them really like getting things done their way. I mean, it's great, I think we're ahead of the other group because of it, but yeah. They fight a lot. I don't really know what to do when they start." Moments later he perks up. "But things were great at the beginning so I know they'll get better soon!"

His optimism seems misplaced when back in the practice room Jaeno and Kurozu are still arguing while the girls and Seonwoo proceed to work on the dance in the background.

"Yes, you keep saying that Jaeno but I'm yet to hear any actually useful suggestions on how to fix this supposed problem you're seeing." Kurozu sighs in frustration. "Look, why don't we take a break? Take a breath, clear our heads, maybe actually think of something useful to say."

Jaeno opens his mouth to keep arguing but Kurozu is already walking away.

"Break. Alexis come on. You want to see how the mixing booth works, right?"

Alexis perks up instantly and bounds after her partner. "Really? Awesome! Thanks Kurozu!"

"He's really a nice guy under all that bluster." She confides to the camera in her interview with a smile. "He acts the tough guy but he's a big sweetie. I'm glad we're partners."

In the practice room, U.Jin sits next to a pouting Jaeno, looking uncertain as to what exactly she should do. Seonwoo and Jiae are nowhere to be seen.

"Um, I'm sorry I'm a bad dancer. You're right that the dance is too sparse." She offers awkwardly.

Jaeno shakes his head. "No, it's my fault. I can't think of how to fix it." He grumbles.

U.Jin bites her lip and both fall silent.

Meanwhile, Seonwoo and Jiae have made their way outside to a coffee shop.

"Best way to spend break." Jiae toasts her partner with a grin. "The only downside is I'll probably have to pee in the middle of rehearsal again." She notes as she takes another sip from her cup.

Seonwoo makes a face and puts his own mug down. "Right. But it's good to take bathroom breaks anyway! So it will be good for everyone." He smiles and Jiae grins right back.

"Exactly!"

The scene cuts back to the group of six, who look to be as happy as the trio though they're at least all still in the same room.

"I just think we could give some of Sujin's lines to Diamond?" Lai is bouncing happily next to Jo as the two watch the girls working on their dance. "I mean she has such a nice voice! And Sujin can't really belt well, I think it would-"

"It's not your place to vouch for other people's partners. If Eunjae wants Diamond to have more lines he'll say so." Ollie interrupts, sound extremely annoyed. "Seriously, do you even understand that this is a competition?" A moment later he pauses the music. "And speaking of, Saerom come with me, we're going to work on that rap. You sound way too cutesy."

Saerom stares at her partner with wide, nervous eyes as she nods and scurries after him out of the room.

Jo laughs awkwardly. "Well, why don't we all work one-on-one for a bit? Lucy, I can show you some rapping techniques as well if you like."

"Ollie is a huge brat." Hwajin announces in her interview. "I get that sarcasm and being the 'evil maknae' or whatever is in right now, but seriously we're working here. There's a time and place."

"It's amazing how unprofessional everyone is being." Ollie notes in his own interview. "I mean, Lai is trying to promote contestants that aren't his partner, Jo is pretending he's the leader like this isn't a group project, and Hwajin absolutely made R push for her to be the center of the dance. There's no way that awkward guy grew a spine all on his own - Hwajin is breaking the rules."

Back with the trio, all the contestants have returned to the practice room, and Kurozu immediately grabs his phone and makes a call.

"Hey guys, you think you could come in? Yeah, it's about that show I'm on. Great, be here in the next half hour. Thanks. Bye." He hangs up sharply and then turns to the others.

"I'm calling in backup dancers. That should fix the stage problem."

Jaeno is grinning again in his interview. "It fixed the staging problem." He confirms happily. "We're back on track to easily winning that immunity!"

"Watching the teams figure out their dynamics has certainly been interesting." Leeteuk grins in his own interview.

"I can tell some of the girls aren't used to taking orders." Taeyeon adds with amusement. "I look forward to seeing how things will shift next week when the girls are in charge."

Leeteuk nods. "But for now I'm looking forward to seeing what the guys have come up with!"

The scene returns to the stage, which has a small but enthusiastic audience in the seats.

The two MCs enter the stage to loud applause, and both grin and wave until the noise dies down.

Taeyeon raises her mic first. "Hello and welcome to the first competitive performance of our show! This week the ladies were split into two group based on the sort of performances they perfer giving. However, it was the guys who created the performances for them!"

Leeteuk nods as he steps forward to speak. "Tonight we'll be seeing what the guys came up with, and how the women do in their performances! First up we'll have those ladies who prefer the more sensual and girl crush concepts! We'll let their partners introduce the stage." The two MCs step to the side as the six boys in charge of the performance enter.

Jo steps forward immediately. "Well, since SM was kind enough to give us this chance, we thought it would be fun to cover one of their songs!"

"And since Sujin immediately started shrieking that we had to cover Red Velvet we're doing that." Woncheol adds with a laugh. "As it turns out she's a huge fan!"

Jo glances at the others to see if they want to say anything, but at their silence he shrugs and turns back to the audience with a grin.

"Well we'll let the performance speak for itself then! Ladies, the stage is yours." He bows dramatically and all six depart the stage as their female compliments enter and take center stage.

Diamond - Half Ponytail; Hwajin - Brown Shirt; Ryuwon - Short Hair Singer; Lucy - Long Hair Rapper; Saerom - Short Hair Rapper; Sujin - Ponytail

The audience applauds, whooping and cheering as the girls bow and head offstage.

"And that's why Sujin shouldn't have been the main vocal." Hwajin shakes her head in her interview. "The most frustrating part of this entire thing was not being allowed to mention that she was attempting to use her head voice to sing stuff that's meant to be belted. And since her partner isn't a good singer either it was never fixed thanks to Sir Only-Help-Your-Partner-Instead-Of-The-Whole-Performance." She grins a bit. "Okay, sarcasm is fun, I get it. Still think it has a time and place though."

"It wasn't that obvious, was it? I've never had that happen before." Sujin frowns sadly. "I'm an amazing singer, really! I guess I was just nervous - it's been so long since I've been onstage, and we only ever performed one song. I guess debut nerves haven't gone away yet."

Saerom is the next girl shown and she's practically vibrating. "That was so fun! I mean, completely terrifying too but wow! Ollie showed me some new rap techniques and I think I did them well? I don't know, what do you think?" She looks past the camera nervously, though her eyes are still bright with excitement.

"It was fun. I would have liked more lines but I understand the benefit of putting someone of a higher rank out front." Diamond says simply in her interview. "Though how Hwajin being the center helped I'm not sure."

"It... kind of hurt actually. That no one applauded when I sang." Ryuwon says quietly. "I really did my best out there today, but I guess it wasn't good enough. Well, at least Lai got me lines." She adds, attempting a confident smile. "I have a good partner. I'll have to repay him next week."

Finally Lucy's interview is shown, and of the group she seems the most pleased with the performance. "Wow! Rapping like that was great, and I got so much applause even though it was only a couple of line!" She beams happily. "It feels really great to finally get noticed for our hard work. Is this what it's like for popular groups?"

The scene returns to the stage, where Kurozu, Jaeno, and Seonwoo have entered to introduce their partners.

"I rearranged a song from 1999, Cleo's 'Good Time'. It's a cute song but now with a more modern arrangement." Kurozu states calmly.

Seonwoo nods. "The girls have been working super hard, and I think the performance is super cute! We hope you'll agree!"

Jaeno grins as well, bouncing on his toes. "And we brought in some backup dancers, so get hyped!"

The three exit, with Jaeno and Seonwoo waving excitedly at the crowd as they do.

Their female compliments hurry on and like the group before them take center stage and wait for their music cue.

U.Jin - First Singer; Alexis - Rapper; Jiae - Second Singer

Again the crowd cheers, clapping along with the girls and their backup dancers. The three bow happily after the final note ends, and then head backstage as the MCs return to the front.

However, their interview are shown first.

"It was kind of exhilarating being onstage again, with a new song too." U.Jin smiles shyly. "Well, maybe not new, but it was rearranged especially for us by Kurozu. Alexis is really lucky to have him as her partner. Though I'm happy to team with Jaeno too, he's quite an optimist!" She adds quickly.

"That was awesome! I'm really glad we had just the three of us, I think it made it so much easier to stay focused." Alexis says excitedly. "And Kurozu showed me some basics of mixing! I really hope we get to stay on the show a bit longer, I could learn a lot from him!"

Jiae smiles serenely in her interview. "I think that went well. I really love singing for cute songs like that, and I think Alexis handled the rap really well, and U.Jin sounded great on the high notes. I don't want to jinx things, but I think we might have this immunity in the bag."

The show returns to the stage with the two MCs, who are smiling broadly.

"Well everyone, there you have it! Who do you think did the best? Vote for your favorite performance, and find out next week who won the immunity!" Leeteuk waves as Taeyeon raises her microphone.

"Until next week, this has been Media Play!" She says, and joins Leeteuk in waving as the curtains close and the credits roll.