At this point I'm so obsessed I pledged that I will go to Korea next year to see them. They are too young for me to stan but they are so adorable akdfhaskfjdashlkjdf. I've never followed a group from their birthing process and I'm super nervous/excited/impatient about their actual official debut.

Okay so. Episode 2. As much as I think it's sweet to see them getting together, assigning rooms, cooking, playing games, and being charming in general, I... would rather see more of their creative process and or other efforts for debuting, tbh. I understand that some stuff are company secret, but I felt like the playing part was too long, and the part showing them actually choosing the tune, creating the lyrics and melody, practicing choreography to the song - which are crucial parts of this whole debuting process - felt too rushed. All of the sudden they had to perform in front of JYP with the whole ensemble, we don't even get to know why and when Felix changed his hair color. I would want to know how they choose outfits and hair colors and such. I mean yes the stylist did those but still. Like also they couldn't show us them discussing the name "Stray Kids"? It's such an important part of this all! It's a name they choose for themselves, which probably is a first in the idol industry. I like the reasoning behind it and it sounds like something young boys would come up with. Also, I want to see recording part? Or is it coming?

That said, it is important for the company that viewers had a lot of chance to get more attached to the boys to ensure ~fandom loyalty~ after debut.

ANYWAY! It's hard to see them kind of failing to meet JYP's expectation because... I totally could see what he's saying. Chan is too kind & nice for his own good. We can see in this episode that the 3RACHA kids are definitely the leader in EVERYTHING. They're so good! Chan has been composing and making his own music, Changbin and Jisung are kind of geniuses. Changbin has a very clear aesthetic and artistic direction, what concept he likes, what kind of music he wants to do which is very good. Jisung is the youngest of 3RACHA and he is so good!?!?!? He raps and sings and his performance is the most stable of them all. He writes crazy long rap lines which is so good for someone his age???? So much talent confuses me.

As for the rest of the kids .... hmm. I know the show had to show some vulnerability for TV appeals but they looked so shaky in this episode it's kind of unsettling. The first Hellevator performance in front of JYP was so raw most of their vocals sounded weak. All members are very adorable, good looking kids, but lacked confident (and skill). Jeongin was very very worrying. He is a cute a bubbly, lovable maknae but his singing is not good and his dancing... he's so slow in picking things up. Now I could see why BTS Jeongguk is called Golden Maknae. He's good looking, really good in dancing he's even teaching his hyungs, he's also smart, very good in singing, can rap, can draw well, very clean, obedient and well-mannered. Very talented and likable. His weakness is probably just English and he's not the most articulate when talking but it's because his RL personality is actually shy and quiet.

Back to Stray Kids! Felix is good at dancing and his voice is very distinctive, but as a foreigner he probably will have difficulties if he is given the task to rap many lines in Korean. He is cute and I love him, but I couldn't see his strong point, really?

Seungmin is super cute and good at singing, not the strongest personality though. He's a good kid.

Hyunjin IS GORGEOUS. His face is just stunning. I love his rapping in Hellevator MV, but once he had to do it live while performing, it was not as stable as Jisung. Haven't seen enough to judge other skills of him.

Minho is a nice, kind, caring kid. Doesn't stand out enough though, personality wise? Good at dancing but that's... it. All these kids are too nice.

Woojin... also doesn't stand out. This is a very bad thing to say, but I kinda could see why SM didn't debut him as NCT member... Like, I want to root for him but to be frank he's just average.

Hopefully all of them will grow and learn as an artist, gain more confidence, and with JYP's push they could be a strong, solid group. Can't wait for episode 3! Can't wait for all episodes to air and the kids to actually debut, actually.