“Queendom Puzzle” Episode 3: The Plot Thickens And The Battles Heat Up!

Today we’re diving into another action-packed episode of Mnet‘s thrilling survival show Queendom Puzzle, where 28 idols face off in a fierce competition to form a 7-member project girl group. Episode 3 rolled out the exciting “7v7” Team Battles and gave us a sneak peek into the upcoming “Remix” Battle.

First things first, the 7v7 Team Battles had the idols split into four teams to perform either “Charismatic” or “Snap.” Despite the intense competition, two teams shone the brightest, with the not-so-surprising twist of a DROP team being one of the winners.

“Charismatic”‘s PICK team saw Lee Chaeyeon take the lead and assign the members their parts. While this strategy worked perfectly at first, PICK team had to regroup and rethink their performance after being informed that Chaeyeon had decided to leave the show for personal reasons. Despite this being a hard obstacle to overcome, the members saw success in the end.

The “PICK” team, featuring Jiwon, Nana, Wooyeon, Jiwoo, Soeun, and Jihan, bagged the victory in the “Charismatic” battle. The panel experts picked Nana as the MVP — and honestly, who could argue?

Meanwhile, the DROP team, consisting of Elly, Shiroma Miru, Dohwa, Kei, Hwiseo, Fye, and Juri, nabbed the win in the “Snap” battle. Here, H1-KEY‘s Hwiseo was crowned MVP, a well-deserved accolade for her more than eye-catching performance.

As we caught our breath from the 7v7 battles, the show transitioned into the Remix Battle. Idols had to remix and perform iconic K-pop songs live on stage, with the winning team scooping up a whopping 20,000 points. Hits like TWICE‘s “Dance The Night Away,” SHINee‘s “Don’t Call Me,” (G)I-DLE‘s “Nxde,” BLACKPINK‘s “Shut Down,” SEVENTEEN BSS‘s “Fighting,” and BoA‘s “Only One” were up for grabs. The number of contestants for each song was also pre-determined, adding another layer of challenge for the competitors.

The episode hit its dramatic climax when Nana and Hwiseo (the MVPs of the previous round) were granted the power to allocate contestants to songs. Notably, Jiwon from Cherry Bullet and Juri from Rocket Punch challenged the MVPs’ decisions. While Juri managed to get reassigned to “Fighting,” Jiwon’s plea to be placed in “Nxde” was declined, marking an intriguing moment in the show.

Only two of the six performances were shown during this week’s episode — a choice that most viewers understandably aren’t fans of, as it worsens the show’s pacing issues even further.

First, we were able to watch Nana, Jihan, Dohwa, and Suyun perform their own rendition of “Nxde.” A performance that, despite matching the sexy vibe of the song well — with each of the team members excelling at the facial expression aspect — had more than its fair share of awkward moments. Though, it seemed more of an issue with the choreography than the execution. Dohwa’s experience shined through, while Nana undoubtedly gave the best performance.

Next, we were treated to an adorable rendition of “Fighting” by Elly, Jiwoo, Juri, JooE, Soojin, and Yuki. Though the girls had the burden of having to pull off a performance we don’t often see done by girl groups, they definitely did well enough. The performance lacked a bit of energy, and the added “concept change” in the end wasn’t the best touch — however, some members managed to show their charms perfectly. Yuki’s rapping skills and Elly’s high notes in the ending chorus were some of our favorite highlights.

Though “Nxde” team (222 votes) was able to gather 11 votes more than “Fighting” (209 votes), both performances were pretty equal in quality, despite their stark differences in concept.

In the end, the episode also shed light on the current rankings, with the current top 7 based on global votes being as follows:

1. Woo!Ah!‘s Nana

2. Cherry Bullet‘s Bora

3. Cosmic Girls‘ Yeoreum

4. CLC‘s Yeeun

5. Cherry Bullet’s Jiwon

6. Weeekly‘s Jihan

7. Lovelyz‘s Kei

With all that said, Queendom Puzzle is starting to live up to its hype. Each episode is a roller coaster with intriguing performances, strategic moves, and heart-touching moments. We’re eagerly awaiting the next episode, are you?