Run On – K-Drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

What’s Your Why?

After their kiss last episode, episode 3 of Run on begins with Seon-Gyeom collapsing into Mi-Joo’s arms and passing out from drinking too much. Tae-Ri immediately confronts the reporters in their car and tells them not to say anything or it could come back and see them sued.

Seon-Gyeom awakens in the morning and gets dressed up. Only, the clothes Mi-Joo has for him include a leopard print shirt and tight jeans. As they eventually sit down to eat, Seon-Gyeom promises to do the dishes afterwards. As he asks how he came to be there, we cut back in time to a hilarious flashback involving Seon-Gyeom clinging to Mi-Joo’s back in his drunken state.

After eating, Mi-Joo gives Seon-Gyeom a lift to the hospital. Only, on the way he decides to pick up a stuffed toy for Woo-Sik. That stuffed toy comes from her perfect sharpshooting skills at the arcade. She wins him a large teddy and hands it over as the conversation turns to their kiss. He brushes it off as nothing but Mi-Jo takes offence and eventually leaves.

Seon-Gyeom shows up at the hospital and meets Woo-Sik, handing over the teddy while he chuckles at Seon-Gyeom’s flamboyant clothes. Eventually though he thanks Seon-Gyeom and bows deeply. Leaving the hospital, it’s clear that Seon-Gyeom is caught up on Mi-Joo but has a family arrangement to attend at 3pm the following day, which serves as enough of a distraction to keep his mind off things.

Along with his sister, Seon-Gyeom shows up at his Father’s house as pictures are snapped of their reunion. Seon-Gyeom tries his best to look happy in their family portrait but it’s clear that he’s anything but.

Mi-Joo meanwhile, checks the news and sees the pictures uploaded of Seon-Gyeom. Deliberating over his previous words, she wonders when there was a time he wasn’t comfortable with how public their family’s life is.

Anyway, Seon-Gyeom is immediately berated by his Assemblyman Father, Ki Jeong-Do, at lunch. Seon-Gyeom’s transgressions reflect badly on him and he makes a point of reminding his son of this. As Seon-Gyeom fights his case, Ki smashes a plate and eventually walks away, wishing them a happy anniversary. Eun-Bi follows him outside and hands over a bag of food to say goodbye.

Mi-Joo meanwhile winds up watching La La Land and cries at the ending. As she curses her friend for picking such an emotional film to translate, she heads out afterwards and admires the beautiful sunset. The same sunset, as it turns out, that Seon-Gyeom happens to be eating Japchae too.

Dan-A speaks to Eun-Bi and informs her that she’s managed to sort out the situation with the assault. This all goes away as the two boys from the track team drop their statements to the track team committee. They chalk it up to a simple misunderstanding and decide against condemning Seon-Gyeom for assault.

After a run-in with the track team members, Seon-Gyeom gets a taxi home while Mi-Joo is summoned to see Congressman Ki. He tasks Mi-Joo with keeping his son under control, handing over an envelope of money and telling her to report to him over everything Seon-Gyeom gets up to. With an envelope of money, Mi-Joo walks away with a lot to think about.

The next day, Eun-Bi and Seon-Gyeom show up to an interview where Mi-Joo is working as a translator. She immediately calls out the interviewer for speaking English and only questioning Eun-Bi. It’s a brief moment but one that helps Seon-Gyeom look at her more favorably before she hurries off, unable to look at Seon-Gyeom over what she’s been made to do.

Later that evening, Seon-Gyeom startles Mi-Joo as he heads out for a run and taps her on the shoulder in the park. Eventually he manages to calm her down and encourages Mi-Joo to wait while he goes back on the track circuit and continues practicing.

Deliberating over Woo-Sik’s words, Seon-Gyeom eventually walks with Mi-Joo and talks about his dreams. Her doesn’t have a clear reason for running and is really struggling to find his spark.

In the morning, Woo-Sik returns to training to watch Seon-Gyeom and the others run. Seon-Gyeom sits with him where Woo-Sik admits that he’s not happy he can’t run. He’s also wondering whether to forgive Gyu-Deok or not. Seon-Gyeom simply shrugs, telling him he doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to.

The first day of off-training begins and Seon-Gyeom immediately confronts his Father as he realizes to his dismay that he’s paid off the bullies. Seon-Gyeom’s obviously not happy and Mi-Joo can sense something is up when she watches him train.

Seon-Gyeom eventually makes a bold decision not to run and walks away after the first race. Unlike Woo-Sik who’s clearly driven by this, Seon-Gyeom admits to the press that he didn’t run because, well, he couldn’t. He openly admits to assaulting his juniors and promises to face whatever consequence may come his way. Mi-Joo can only watch in shock as the episode comes to a close.

The Episode Review

Run On’s latest episode tackles the current internal turmoil Seon-Gyeom is facing over assaulting the two bullies. Even more troubling than that however comes from his inability to find a reason to run. Like anything competitive like this, you need to find your why to drive you forward when times are tough. If you don’t have that then any and all progress melts away.

The chemistry between Mi-Joo and Seon-Gyeom is great here though and the one element that really stands out brightly against the rest of the show. While the supporting characters are given a bit more screen time, this episode is really all about Seon-Gyeom’s family and understanding the lengths at which his Father will go to keep Seon-Gyeom on the straight and narrow.

With lots of unresolved conflicts and plenty of drama at the end, Run On concludes with a story that leaves the door wide open for tomorrow’s follow-up.