[REVIEW] Mnet’s “Launch My Life” - 1st Episode

"Launch My Life" Mnet Friday 11 p.m.

“Launch My Life” which is actor Yoo A-in’s first-ever reality show, begins with the narration “I'm sick and tired” from the producer's point-of-view. It then shows Yoo spitting the words, “I’m so sick of this, I wanna throw up,” into the camera. Unlike the show's previous season where songstress Seo In-young was handed a responsibility in society, Yoo's episodes will observe the actor, making viewers wonder what kind of person he is. The conflicts or incidents that he will bring about will occur simply because of who he is, not because he is visual director. Yoo stays awkward with Maxine Koo whom he did not have a good first impression of and will hang out with her but not open his heart. He talks in the casual form in front of camera and in the way he usually does for which the production team then inserted subtitles such as “Yoo A-in is finicky” or “Yoo A-in is mature.”

This process shows that although Yoo’s episodes are completely different from Seo’s, the show has made the same mistake. The crew is reinforcing Yoo with the image they have of him, just like how Seo had to deliver only the existing image the public has of her. Interestingly, it is Yoo that reverses that attempt. Though he acts like he is not conscious of the camera, with his plain way of speaking and all, when he went to a club in Las Vegas which was meant to prove the proposition that 'Yoo A-in likes to go out and have a good time,' he quite precisely pointed out he went wild because that was the idea behind that. But will his true character continue to be accepted and prevail on cruel reality shows which welcome conflict, sometimes to the point of cooking it up themselves? “I’m not worried about Yoo A-in as the model. What worries me is Yoo A-in as himself” was probably not what that official at the brand company had meant but it truly is worth worrying about.

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