ibisfeather
Clever cute, funny and sweet
Clever, cute, funny and sweet. Every fan has a favorite light romedy and Run On is mine, my 'Paris' drama -- the romantic and sentimentalized view of Paris in light midcentury comedy is so like the image of Seoul now, a city made solely for lovers....4 lovers wander in and out of one of those great cafe settings where artists could meet patrons and lovers can eavesdrop jealously; no one suddenly develops a fatal illness and lovers' misunderstandings are honest mistakes, not willful blundering.
All 4 have intense and very different professional lives -- when love calls them out into each other's worlds, all four are clueless for awhile. Bridges have to be built, concepts have to be translated, lovers struggle to understand. A grown-ups' world where lovers can be childish with each other and men weep when they are sad instead of going all morose. Wonderful and fully developed supporting characters fill out the main leads' narratives.
Siwan's character, Ki Seon Gyeom (SG) at first seems very slow on the uptake. A sprinter on the national team, a compliant child of an actress mother and an awful hypocrite of a father, we see him through the eyes of Shin Se Kyung's xcharacter, Oh MiJoo (MJ). MJ is the heart of this piece, the real POV, a film translator and subtitler who sometimes does some live interpreting. Shin Se Kyung's voice is so wonderful, both warm and sarcastic with a wide range of emotional expression, and her portrayal of MJ is of an active, hardworking intelligent woman. She always keeps on running metaphorically forward towards a life she has chosen, with a great mane of auburn hair rippling like a flag behind her.
MJ's changing descriptions of SG inform our own view of him, at first 'odd' (seen. even by his teamates as distant/arrogant), then bafflingly restricted verbally, (she of course is very verbal with her friends). Suddenly in civilian clothes a real beauty, and slowly more expressive as bit by bit as he and she work their way to understanding the close tie they feel almost from the beginning. She and the viewer finally see him as adorable and his constant steady attention to her as the faithfulness of a true romantic lead.
Luckily so, because the second couple generates enough steam and smoke for a whole other drama. Written in classic point/counter point with the more realistic and careful OTP, Kang Tae Oh as Yonghwa (YW) and Choi Soo Young as Seo Danah (DA) are nearly equal to them in screen time, action and arc. This is a deliberate move because the underlying theme is an exploration of the poisonous remnants of a once rigid, systematic ,and highly detailed mostly male social hierarchy.
The longest arc in the story are the individual results of a scandal involving really violent bullying in the national team, where one member turns his anger and jealousy of SG upon a more vulnerable teammate. SG's life is changed by his solid moral compass and refusal to hide the scandal. MJ serves as interpreter for an interview the victim gives to the international press and she translates the subsequent English article for online publication. SG embarks on a journey of self-discovery with MJ, while his real personal strengths and abilities become clearer to the viewer.
The script contains many funny gender reversals and commentaries on the concept of hierarchy and power, some subtle, some played more broadly for laughs. A JTBC show with Kim Se Jin as composer. Writer -- Park Shi Hyun.
On a first watch I recommend looking forward to a real debacle of a birthday party, SG and NJ's first two meetings, and Dan-ah's and Younghwa's last fight.
Hope y'all enjoy Run On as much as I do!
On my top ten best ever kdramas list as of 12/24: Goblin, Hwayugi, Because This Is My First Life, Just between Lovers; the K2, Run On, Doom at Your Service; Tomorrow, Alchemy of Souls (earliest to latest) and Mr. Plankton .
All 4 have intense and very different professional lives -- when love calls them out into each other's worlds, all four are clueless for awhile. Bridges have to be built, concepts have to be translated, lovers struggle to understand. A grown-ups' world where lovers can be childish with each other and men weep when they are sad instead of going all morose. Wonderful and fully developed supporting characters fill out the main leads' narratives.
Siwan's character, Ki Seon Gyeom (SG) at first seems very slow on the uptake. A sprinter on the national team, a compliant child of an actress mother and an awful hypocrite of a father, we see him through the eyes of Shin Se Kyung's xcharacter, Oh MiJoo (MJ). MJ is the heart of this piece, the real POV, a film translator and subtitler who sometimes does some live interpreting. Shin Se Kyung's voice is so wonderful, both warm and sarcastic with a wide range of emotional expression, and her portrayal of MJ is of an active, hardworking intelligent woman. She always keeps on running metaphorically forward towards a life she has chosen, with a great mane of auburn hair rippling like a flag behind her.
MJ's changing descriptions of SG inform our own view of him, at first 'odd' (seen. even by his teamates as distant/arrogant), then bafflingly restricted verbally, (she of course is very verbal with her friends). Suddenly in civilian clothes a real beauty, and slowly more expressive as bit by bit as he and she work their way to understanding the close tie they feel almost from the beginning. She and the viewer finally see him as adorable and his constant steady attention to her as the faithfulness of a true romantic lead.
Luckily so, because the second couple generates enough steam and smoke for a whole other drama. Written in classic point/counter point with the more realistic and careful OTP, Kang Tae Oh as Yonghwa (YW) and Choi Soo Young as Seo Danah (DA) are nearly equal to them in screen time, action and arc. This is a deliberate move because the underlying theme is an exploration of the poisonous remnants of a once rigid, systematic ,and highly detailed mostly male social hierarchy.
The longest arc in the story are the individual results of a scandal involving really violent bullying in the national team, where one member turns his anger and jealousy of SG upon a more vulnerable teammate. SG's life is changed by his solid moral compass and refusal to hide the scandal. MJ serves as interpreter for an interview the victim gives to the international press and she translates the subsequent English article for online publication. SG embarks on a journey of self-discovery with MJ, while his real personal strengths and abilities become clearer to the viewer.
The script contains many funny gender reversals and commentaries on the concept of hierarchy and power, some subtle, some played more broadly for laughs. A JTBC show with Kim Se Jin as composer. Writer -- Park Shi Hyun.
On a first watch I recommend looking forward to a real debacle of a birthday party, SG and NJ's first two meetings, and Dan-ah's and Younghwa's last fight.
Hope y'all enjoy Run On as much as I do!
On my top ten best ever kdramas list as of 12/24: Goblin, Hwayugi, Because This Is My First Life, Just between Lovers; the K2, Run On, Doom at Your Service; Tomorrow, Alchemy of Souls (earliest to latest) and Mr. Plankton .
Was this review helpful to you?
