Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Are You Sure?!’ on Disney+, A Hangout Reality Show Featuring Jimin And Jung Kook of BTS

Are You Sure?! , now streaming on Disney+ , captures BTS members and good friends Jimin and Jung Kook as they take a globetrotting trip together in 2023, on the eve of their mandatory service in the Korean military. The lighthearted eight-episode series is part of a BTS content diaspora that’s followed in the wake of the superstar boy band’s hiatus, as all of the members fulfill their enlistments and develop solo material; throughout, Jimin and Jung Kook will travel to New York City and Connecticut, Jeju, South Korea, and Sapporo, Japan. “Aren’t you curious how this show will turn out?” JK asks as they drive through NYC. But Jimin is taking it all in stride. “It’ll just be us playing around.”

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Opening Shot: It’s July 17, 2023, and Jimin is waking up in New York City. Jung Kook is performing his new single “Seven” on Good Morning America , and they’ll begin their trip after the show.

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The Gist: Jimin says the whole idea for the show was his. He wanted to make use of their time off from BTS before their respective 18-month military stints, so he hopped a flight to NYC, and pretty soon the pair are driving a Jeep Wrangler through Manhattan. “Wow, I’m driving abroad, everyone,” Jung Kook says to the dash-mounted, reality show-style camera. “This is really exciting!” Later episodes of Are You Sure?! will take them back to Korea and onward to Japan. But for now, they’re heading out of the city and up to Connecticut, where the fellas eat delicious food, goof off on shopping trips, and try their hand at some outdoor activities. There’s a chase crew filming them. But Are You Sure?! gets most of its best material from the handheld cameras carried by Jimin and JK.

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An “American burger” is high on the list of things they want to eat on this trip, so once in Connecticut, the boys tuck into the outdoor area of a local restaurant. Jung Kook loves his California burger with avocado, and says he wishes he could get it back in Korea, while Jimin thinks the gorgonzola on his “black and blue” burger is a little too stinky. It’s off to a sporting goods store next, where they’re recognized by a member of BTS’s ARMY fandom – “We’ve still got it!” – and then to High Nine Brewing in Deep River, CT. (Jung Kook digs the mango hazies.) The day’s main activity is kayaking on a marshy, scenic inlet, their cameras mounted to the decks of the boats. While Jimin takes to it immediately, Jung Kook has a capsizing mishap a few yards from the dock. “As long as my phone is OK!” he calls to their support crew as the kayak guides fish him out.

Are You Sure?! forgoes any kind of narration or heavy bits of structure, instead letting the guys’ conversation guide the series as they eat, drink, and go on adventures. Onscreen titles in Korean provide light commentary to the proceedings, as do the plinking and blooping video game sound effects, like this is all one big Instagram story. Back on dry land and wearing promotional “Salty to the Core” T-shirts, Jimin and Jung Kook repair to a campsite for the evening, where JK marinates pork for the grill – “Jimin likes it spicy” – and BTS’ers Suga and V both make cameos via FaceTime.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? In the Prime Video docuseries Hope on the Street , BTS’s J-Hope traveled to hotspots for street dancing around the world. Disney+ also features In the Soop: Friendcation , a reality show featuring the adventures of V from BTS along with rapper Peakboy and entertainers Park Seo-joon, Choi Woo-shik, and Park Hyung-sik. And the loopy energy and random activities of Are You Sure?! is similar to the BTS variety show Run BTS! , all episodes of which are available to stream on YouTube.

Our Take: Is it enjoyable to watch Jimin and Jung Kook experiment with cooking ramen and pork in a camping trailer because it demystifies their status as global pop stars, or because Are You Sure?! features two guys with natural charisma and true friend energy just chilling and being themselves? It’s probably a little bit of both, and both sides are welcome, in that we all love a “Celebrities! They’re just like us!” moment, and it’s somehow very cool to watch these guys as they order artisanal burgers at a typically American outdoor cafe. In this way there’s some of the energy here of The Trip films that Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon made in the 2010’s, where we followed them around as they ate and bickered and impersonated Michael Caine on their way through England, Italy, Spain and Greece, or even travelogue series like Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal . But really, the central benefit here is for BTS heads, who will be starved for content before the boy band’s planned 2025 return. “Our fans can watch this while we’re serving,” Jung Kook says of what Are You Sure?! is supposed to be, and maybe that’s all it really needs to be.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: In a preview of upcoming scenes from Are You Sure?! , we see the guys riding motorcycles through Connecticut, making “I’m on a Boat” poses at sea, and getting into more antics, like trying to ditch each other in department stores.

Sleeper Star: “Confidence is key to speaking English.” Jimin and Jung Kook both use English words and phrases frequently in Are You Sure?! , but we gotta give it up for the perfectly polite, identically-pitched “Thank you” Jimin offers every time he interacts with anyone while in New York and Connecticut.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I’ve never traveled like this,” Jung Kook offers early on. “You know, like going with the flow,” which feels like a descriptor for the entire show.

Our Call: STREAM IT! Are You Sure?! is a fun hangout reality series, more interested in featuring Jimin and Jung Kook just interacting and being themselves as friends than it is with any kind of promotion of BTS. Obviously it’s still platforming them as global K-pop stars. But the feel of Are You Sure?! is as casual as Jimin and JK’s frequent mugging for their handheld GoPro cameras.

Johnny Loftus ( @glennganges ) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.

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