Rapunzel’s Tower
Seon-Gyeom is berated over his social media profile as episode 5 of Run On begins. Assemblyman Ki’s secretary warns him not to trust Mi-Joo but Seon-Gyeom sees sense and tells him he’s the bad person here. As we jump back in time, we see Seon-Gyeom forgiving Mi-Joo for taking the bribe as she explains it’s not the first time this has happened. Mi-Joo tells him to forget everything between them and asks for her gun back. Seon-Gyeom agrees to give it back… if she takes back what she just asked. Exasperated, she eventually agrees to his request and heads home. In the morning, Seon-Gyeom gets dressed and heads out for an early morning run. On the way, he rings Woo-Sik admitting that he drunk the night before and now he’s out running. Afterwards though, he heads to a supermarket and drops off a chocolate bar for a crying child while taking off with a trolley full of food. That trolley is brought all the way up to prospective track athletes he’s sponsoring who are all out practicing together. Unfortunately, thanks to the bad press circulating the facility no longer want Seon-Gyeom associated with them. Instead, he settles on changing his name and going under an alias to keep up the funding. Assemblyman Ki attends Wonil Church for a service with his wife. Both of them are simply playing along but meet the young Assemblyman No there. Together, they sit down to eat after the pastor prays with them. There, Ji-Woo takes Dong Kyung aside to talk outside. With a table read at 3pm, she speaks to Dong-Kyung about the agency and in particular, how Seon-Gyeom is getting along. Given the estranged relationship between her and her son, she asks Dong Kyung to check up on her. At the Academy, Dan-A receives a list of prospective husbands to secure her marriage… including Seon-Gyeom. This gets her thinking but for now decides to keep the idea on the back-burner. At school, Lee Yeong-Hwa falls asleep midway through his lecture. Ye-Joon draws whiskers and a button nose on him, which certainly doesn’t have its desired effect. He plays along with being a cat and thinks over his “Rapunzel”, that being Dan-A of course. As he heads out to draw with the kids, he finds inspiration and draws Rapunzel’s tower. Yeong-Hwa learns that Ye-Joon’s Mum is connected with Dan-A and intends to show up and make a big impression. Only Dan-A is obviously the ice queen and blanks him completely. When he offers to pay for the bracelet with 500,000 won, she simply laughs it off and walks away. Dan-A continues her hot streak when she runs into Myeong-Mun, calling him out for being an illegitimate son and not the rightful heir. Meanwhile, Mi-Joo throws herself back into work, learning with horror from Hui-Jin that rumours are spreading about her. They conclude that she only got the translating gig because she dated Seok-Won. Thankfully she’s distracted by a message from one of her friends confirming that they’re getting married soon. In order to discuss the details, she’s invited to attend a lunch date at the very same hotel Seon-Gyeom is staying at. Mi-Joo attends but things quickly turn hostile when she disagrees about marriage. A cheap shot about Mi-Joo’s foster family eventually sees our translator leave. When she does, she runs into Seon-Gyeom who heads out and smoothly cracks a joke about the smoking area. He also invites her out to attend a dinner with Woo-Sik, a thank you for translating Woo-Sik’s statements to the press. Both of them have great chemistry together as they discuss their changed fortunes. Mi-Joo and Seon-Gyeom head out to dinner as Woo-Sik has invited them both individually. Only… it turns out this was all a ruse to have the two reconcile their differences. Woo-Sik is not actually showing up! Eventually they talk about their careers and what’s going on in their worlds. Eventually they let down their guard and actually start to have a good time together. After saying goodbye, Mi-Joo heads home and checks the news where she sees the truth has been reported on the sports page. She quickly gets to work translating the English words into Korean. News of this spreads all over Korea as Mi-Joo heads to the internet café to help give this a push into going viral. Seon-Gyeom sees the same news and quickly heads out in his car. With the rehab centre shut, he tries his best to find Woo-Sik but struggles to do so. Instead, he finds Mi-Joo who confirms that Woo-Sik is quitting track. Mi-Joo knows this is breaking his heart and throws her arms around the boy, hugging him tenderly.
The Episode Review
The chemistry between Mi-Joo and Seon-Gyeom is easily the strongest element of this drama. Both of them have some crackling dialogue and their scenes are easily the strongest of any couple going into 2021. The show has done an excellent job building both characters up while showing Seon-Gyeom’s loyalty to stick by his strong morals no matter what. Even if that means tearing away from his family to do so. That’s to say nothing of Mi-Joo though who clearly has a soft spot for Seon-Gyeom while staying passionate and dedicated to her job. The show has done a great job building both characters up and the ending certainly leaves the door open for the future episodes. With Woo-Sik quitting and lots of unanswered questions, thankfully we don’t have to wait long for the next episode.
