Overworking
Episode 8 of Run On begins with Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo walking away as Assemblyman Ki struggles to control his anger. Anyway, inside the theatre Lee Yeong-Hwa eagerly awaits Dan-A showing up. Instead though, Ji-Hyun takes his place next to a sulking Yeong-Hwa. After the movie, a teary-eyed Yeong-Hwa arrives and asks why Dan-A didn’t show up. Now Mi-Joo realizes that he was the guy Seon-Gyeom was drinking with the previous night. As they all head out for drinks together, Mi-Joo and Seon-Gyeom touch fingers like in ET (a running joke here of course) but he quickly pulls away when Yeong-Hwa returns. Back at the bar, he asks for Dan-A’s number from Seon-Gyeom, complete with audio evidence to prove she’s allowed this. On a roll, he even asks for Seon-Gyeom and Mi-Joo’s number. While Dan-A is trying to read, she’s interrupted by a text from Yeong-Hwa and deliberates over his profile pictures of paintings. Anyway, she has more important matters to attend to when she talks to Director Dong later that day. She believes it’s in her best interest to try and help Seon-Gyeom. When Dan-A heads home, she immediately comes under fire from her family too. In fact, more of the truth comes spilling out here. It turns out Myeong-Min forged his birth certificate and her Father wants Dan-A to get married. Even worse, Dan-0A has taken her frustration out on Tae-Woong and pushed her brother away, forcing him to rely on superficial love from his fans rather than that of his own family. Seon-Gyeom shows up at Dann’s Agency where Dan-A immediately asks to marry him. Seon-Gyeom however sets her straight, nonchalantly telling her he doesn’t like her. After a hard day at work, he heads home and begins doing the housework while Mi-Joo and May are out. Eventually they head to their apartment and find the place less than hospitable, complete with ghastly covers and damp on the walls. Myeongbinjang Inn is less than ideal for our couple, as Mi-Joo awakens to find May sleeping with her eyes open on her leg. Seon-Gyeom heads out and sees his Mother on the movie set. After a touching heart to heart, he messages Mi-Joo and the pair exchange messages. At least briefly anyway. Eventually Mi-Joo heads back to set and does her best to try and translate the English. It’s pretty tough work but she does a good job translating the English into Korean – apart from one crucial detail about blood on the wall. She apologizes for the mistake but asks for a bit more time between James’ sentences to properly translate. Thankfully the Director agrees to do this. It’s a tiring day and one that ends with Mi-Joo worried she’s getting a cold. However, that’s the least of their problems when Gang-Sun bursts into their room later in the day. The translation was lost somewhere as James wanted a bus driver that doesn’t speak English. Only, the one they’ve got most certainly can. Mi-Joo wakes up the next day as her worst fears are felt – she’s really ill. She heads to a nearby hospital where she’s told she’s overworking herself and making herself ill. Hooked up to an IV drip, Seon-Gyeom shows up at the hospital and begins talking to the two ladies next to her, allowing Mi-Joo gets some sleep. Afterwards, he heads back to the apartments May and the others are staying at. Seeing the state of the accommodation, he decides to help everyone move to a decent hotel nearby. There, he drops off Mi-Joo’s suitcase and eventually sits with her, holding the girl’s hand while she sleeps.
The Episode Review
Run On returns with another episode, this time slowing the pace slightly as Seon-Gyeom comes to Mi-Joo’s aid while she’s ill. For the most part, there isn’t a whole lot of plot development here and there’s parts of this episode that definitely feels a little too slow. In fact, at times these slow slice of life segments remind me of Record Of Youth, as our characters go about their day but with little advancement in their actual character arcs. Having said that though, the best moment of the episode comes from Dan-A, whom we learn more about and finally start to understand just why she’s so cold and hostile. The dysfunctional family unit she’s stuck with is a clear indicator as to why she’s like this and it seems likely that Yeong-Hwa is going to be the one to thaw that icy heart of hers. So far though, Run On has been a pretty good show and while it’s unlikely to win any awards anytime soon, it’s a pleasant enough series to watch.
