Hi! It’s Annie!
I finally just finished watching all of ‘Bon Voyage’ as well as the equivalent this year because of quarantine; the COVID safe ‘BTS in the Soop’. Obviously, the year of 2020 made it difficult if not impossible for anyone to travel anywhere and it wasn’t safe to do so either, so the producers of ‘Bon Voyage’ came up with this safe alternative. They rented BTS a house in the middle of scenic trees and by a lake for them to just hang out in for a week. This show feels like it’s the most unfiltered we’ve ever seen BTS. Because there is nowhere to go and it isn’t safe to film them with a giant staff, they film most of it themselves and are pretty much alone together in this one space. This means that rather than seeing how each member travels, we got to see more of how each member spends their down time and sometimes even who the members prefer to spend their down time with. So I’m going to go through each member and talk about how they spend their time in this gorgeous house of isolation.
Kim Namjoon (RM):
Namjoon was one of the people who requested the most things to do from the staff. He really wanted to try out wood working, tie-dyeing, painting, building legos, and a bunch of other stuff on the trip. The reality was that he really only got around to two of those things. He spent some of the time building a ‘Stranger Things’ lego house with Hobi, but ended up spending most of his time painting. Seriously, he probably spent more than half the show painting. This was probably because Namjoon decided that he wanted to paint the view from his room using a dotting technique, which would of course take a really long time. It ended up coming out gorgeously though. It seriously looked like a real artist had created it. I guess his frequent visits to art museums are really paying off. Namjoon frequently spent time with all of the members in a group, but spent most of his one on one time with Hobi. Hobi and Namjoon went hiking together one morning and often talked (or sometimes sang) to each other while Hobi kept building legos and Namjoon painted. Namjoon also spent a fair bit of time with Jungkook because Kookie was often painting as well. But I think my favorite side to Namjoon here, was his plant dad side. The boys left briefly to do some work and then came back to the house. Namjoon decided this was a good time to bring his plant with him and lovingly water it every day. We even got to see him talking to it. It was adorable!
Kim Seokjin (Jin):
Unsurprisingly, Jin spent most of his time on this trip cooking or fishing. Jin requested that a large fish tank full of fish be provided for them so that he could try his hand at making sashimi. Jin and Yoongi cooked most of the meals and Jimin often joked that the show was more like a cooking show than anything else because of how often they were filmed cooking. Jin’s fishing did not go as successfully as his cooking, however, because instead of fish his line kept getting caught in the bottom of the lake. I don’t think he caught anything but weeds for the entirety of the show. But he made up for this by being spontaneous (such as hitting the punching bag every morning with various objects) and sometimes this also had an effect on the other members. For example, one morning after they had all gotten drunk and everyone was trying to sleep off a hangover, Jin decided to set off fireworks. The members were, understandably, not too happy with him. In that short amount of time he also choked on a mango. Jin spent most of his time that we saw with Yoongi, either cooking with him, attempting to fish, or trying to instruct him on how to play a game. He even gave Yoongi some advice about not working himself too hard. He also spent a fair amount of time messing with Jungkook.
Min Yoongi (Suga):
Yoongi early on in the trip chose to sleep away from the other guys in the camper van. At first glance it seemed as though Yoongi was just trying to give the rest of them the bedrooms, but privacy probably also had something to do with it. Yoongi spent quite a bit of time on his own working or reading. There was even one time that he decided to go out and read and ended up reading in the rain. Yoongi rushed to get his equipment when the rest of the boys began to create the theme tune for the show and actually worked on that alone in the camper van for a bit of the series. But that didn’t mean we saw any less of Yoongi. As Jimin said, the show filmed a lot of them cooking. As Yoongi is one of the main chefs, that meant we saw a lot of him. But that wasn’t the only thing we saw from Yoongi either. He tried woodworking (which he hated), fished with Jin for a bit to no avail, and gamed for a bit of the show while taking turns listening to Jin’s advice and not listening to Jin’s advice. He was a little annoyed by it sometimes, but he he also didn’t want Jin to feel left out. Because of this Yoongi definitely also spent most of his time with Jin. Yoongi requested the painting stuff because painting is his hobby, but he only spent a little time painting. There was one interesting moment where Namjoon at dinner expressed his idea that it’s dangerous for them to see each other as brothers, which Yoongi quickly refuted by saying he felt Jin was like a brother to him these days. It really made me wonder about their professional lives and how Namjoon being a leader might put more pressure on him than we think. But I honestly can’t say.
Jung Hoseok (JHope):
Hobi absolutely hopped around everywhere during this show. If there was something to do, Hobi probably did it. He built the lego ‘Stranger Things’ house with a little help from Namjoon, he painted a picture with Namjoon and Kookie, he flew a kite with Jin, he set off fireworks with the maknae line, he went on a drive with Tae, he went on a hike with Namjoon, he frequently helped out with cooking dinners, he frequently woke the other members up in the morning, he had a water gun and balloon fight with Tae and Jimin, he painted shoes with Jimin; seriously is there anything this man can’t do? It was especially cute to see Hobi go out on a drive with Tae because Tae really didn’t want to go alone and that’s what made Hobi decide to go with him. He’s seriously so sweet it’s almost unbelievable. Hobi was definitely the hyung that spent the most time with the maknae line. Though Namjoon and Jin were more likely to play ping pong with the maknaes, Hobi did almost everything else. He only really stayed away from going out on the water, which is understandable considering he easily becomes sea sick. Hobi probably spent most of his time with Namjoon as he spent a considerable amount of time building the legos while Namjoon was painting just outside and they went on a hike together; but a very close second was Tae who Hobi was constantly making sure was happy as well. Really, Hobi was constantly making sure that everyone was happy.
Park Jimin (Jimin):
Jimin was another go with the flow personality here. Jimin was really up for doing what anyone else was doing, so he spent time doing a lot of different things. Jimin set off fireworks with the rest of the maknae line and Hobi, tried out woodworking, gamed quite a bit with Yoongi and Jin, helped out with cooking or did dishes, went out on the canoe with Jin and Namjoon, painted shoes with Hobi, had a water fight with Tae and Hobi, played the piano and made up songs, sung karaoke with Tae and Kookie, and played quite a lot of ping pong. He and Yoongi also managed to fix the screen door when Namjoon broke it (which isn’t very surprising). One of the major stand out things about Jimin though, didn’t necessarily have to do with all the activities he did. Jimin did several small things that were both hilarious and loveable. Jimin was always the latest to wake up and slept until far into the afternoon. Many episodes included downright adorable scenes of Jimin waking up (including one where Jin made him hold a spoon for no reason at all). Jimin also wore a hanbok to the house in the first episode so that he could act cute for the other members and helped Tae trick Jungkook out of the house so that those two could have a serious conversation. Jimin spent a lot of time with everyone, but he seemed to spend the most time with Jungkook. There was even a piece that we didn’t see where Jimin and Jungkook stayed up very late basically running around the yard while drunk and Jimin ended up breaking the mosquito net for Jungkook’s bed.
Kim Taehyung (V):
Tae was just adorable throughout the show. He seemed to be absolutely happy the entire time he was there. He couldn’t stop smiling. Tae was another person who jumped around a lot and completed various activities, but not as much as some of the others. He loved making up songs and doing karaoke with Jimin and he did spend some time in the yard with everyone else. Tae really shined when he was doing the things it looked like he had wanted to for a while though. He went on a drive with Hobi where they walked around a little bit, picked up burgers, and danced behind the car for a bit. This was an adorable trip that felt so personal to him. He liked going out on the water and just sitting in the canoe, listening to songs like “Blue and Grey’ or loudly serenading Namjoon who beamed at him from his painting station. Tae also felt it was important to talk to Jungkook. The purpose behind this is widely disputed. Some people think that it’s because fans noticed that they were distant while others felt that the constant shipping might have put a damper on their relationship. Maybe it was all of that or something entirely different, but Jimin tricked Jungkook into going out and then they had a really deep conversation. They talked about things like how close they used to be and how Tae was getting a bit more reserved as he was maturing. But they both seemed to be happy to talk things out. Tae definitely spent most of his time with Jimin and Hobi on this trip, but his talk with Jungkook really stood out to me.
Jeon Jungkook (Jungkook):
Jungkook also did a little bit of everything. He was another one of the cooking party (which often included everyone but Namjoon and Tae who were clean-up crew because they don’t cook), he played ping pong, and he painted often. Jungkook is insane though because everything he does he seems to do well, and this really came across here. Jungkook’s paintings looked like they had been painted by Bob Ross himself. They were that good. I could just stare at his paintings forever because they were all so beautiful. Jungkook was another one who kept to himself a little bit, though not as much as Yoongi. I would say it was probably as much as Namjoon, who often secluded himself to read as well. Though Jungkook was more often in the lake house attempting to learn guitar or sleeping in. Jungkook was Jin’s main helper when it came to the sashimi and after that both Jin and Yoongi seemed to rely on Jungkook’s skill with helping them cook. As the series went on it seemed like he was spending more and more time cooking with the others. He could seriously become one of the main chefs of the group if he keeps this up. I’m sure Jin and Yoongi would appreciate a little help. Jungkook spent a lot of time with both Jin and Jimin, though considering how often he seemed to stay up with Jimin, I would say that he spent most of his time with Jimin. It seriously looked like it was very difficult to get those two up in the morning after they had stayed up so late.
There you have it! That was everything we got from ‘In the Soop’ which was definitely the most unfiltered we’ve ever seen the boys. So much so that they often didn’t put on makeup, which is pretty unusual for them. If you want to see the boys just being themselves, this is for you. It’s such a peaceful series and it really does feel like you’re hanging out with them. Just be prepared to be bias wrecked by pretty much all of them and maybe even change your bias list. This is the realest we’ve ever seen them, so that’s definitely a possibility here.
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 