Run On midseason recap: romantic K-drama still finding its feet

When we left Seon-gyeom and Mi-joo (Shin Se-kyung) at the end of episode 12, they appeared to be on the cusp of breaking up. As the next episode opened, their conversation outside Mi-joo’s house continued and our fears were realised. What’s more, for the first time in the whole series, Seon-gyeom had a genuine emotional reaction. Having internalised his emotions for decades, he seemed genuinely surprised by his own tears.

Viewers may also have been taken aback by his unexpected outburst, but as with most things in life, the moment something is taken away is the moment you realise how much you cared about it.

Seon-gyeom and Mi-joo’s relationship developed in fits and starts, but concrete changes to their status were seldom announced. Seeing the pair call it quits was the significant moment the relationship needed to announce that it was, indeed, a real thing.

Of course, they are soon back together again, but it feels natural. Now they’re really together, committed to one another. They know it and we know it too.

Dan-a and Yeong-hwa (Kang Tae-oh) have remained the more interesting pairing throughout the series. Over the course of their darling courtship, Yeong-hwa’s irrepressible boyish charm and exuberance have steadily worn down Dan-a’s detached stoicism.

Towards the end of the series, Dan-a tries to bring an end to the relationship, something she’s long threatened to do, and this is symbolically represented when Yeong-hwa finally drops off his painting – their contract thereby reaching its natural conclusion.

Dan-a has had her rich-family woes, some of which we were let into after one of the funniest set pieces in the series, when Yeong-hwa tried to stage a surprise birthday party for Dan-a, which she had expressly said she didn’t want. The failed party brings most of the main characters together and its deadpan denouement, which sees them awkwardly standing under raining confetti, is a delight.

She has her reasons for thinking they can’t be in a relationship, but curiously, by the time she pulls the plug on their union, it seems as though she’s reached a stage in her life where she can finally be in control of her own destiny.

In any case, the show pushes everyone to a happy ending in its closing moments, thereby making the brief rupture even more of a headscratcher – a light blemish of the show’s strongest asset.

Beyond the romantic fates of the four leads, the show revealed a few aces it had up its sleeve in its final run. One of these was Seon-gyeom’s mother, Ji-woo (Cha Hwa-yeon), who refreshingly stood up to her husband’s greedy political aspirations, wanting to put her own career as an actor first.

Another was a rare K-drama allusion to sex. After making up, Mi-joo invites Seon-gyeom over for ramen. Similar to “Netflix and chill”, this has long been a euphemism for sex in Korea – one popularised by Lee Young-ae’s famous pick-up line in Hur Jin-ho’s classic melodrama One Fine Spring Day.

By far the most impressive element in Run On’s closing stages was the coming out of Yeong-hwa’s barista friend Ye-jun (Kim Dong-young). His mother, Dong Kyung (Seo Eun-kyung) – who has been trying to recruit Seon-gyeom into Dan-a’s agency – initially rejects her son, but she eventually has a heart-to-heart with him. Here is a realistic portrayal of a conflicted mother, good-hearted yet conservative and bigoted.

Run On may not have put its best foot forward straight out of the gate, but it has proven to be worthwhile in the long run, with plenty of rewards for viewers who stuck with it. After Mi-joo talks about happy endings, that’s just what we get, as the show treats us to a closing montage where everyone gets a quick, bright and very pat send-off.

Run On is streaming on Netflix.