run on

gee.. me postponing the reviews means either the drama is bad or weird or not interesting, or i'm just lazy. anyway, i'm currently watching vincenzo, which means i had to finish the other two dramas i've watched before. the first one should be run on. honestly i don't know anything about the drama when i watched it. i never watch any shin se kyung's drama before, so this is the first time i watch hers.

title: run on

cast: im si wan, shin se kyung, kang tae oh, choi soo young

genre: romantic drama

ki seon gyeom (im si wan) is a sprinter. but he was no ordinary sprinter. his mother is the famous actress yook ji woo (cha hwa yeon) while his father is an assemblyman ki jung do (park yeong gyu). his sister is professional golf player, ki eun bi (ryu sun young). just like other rich and famous family, his family is a bit dysfunctional. his father was too focus on his political career, while his mother didn't want to get dragged by her husband's career and decided to make her name known to the world, thus she kept accepting acting jobs. he was in good relationship with his sister, but since she was busy with tournaments and stuff, they didn't get to meet often. especially now that he is in the national track team.

while oh mi joo (shin se kyung) is a struggling translator. trying to get jobs here and there, her latest translating job worked well as the film goes to international indie film festival. however, people only talked about the director, which apparently was her ex-boyfriend. she then got annoyed by her former professor since he was quite sexist in comment. couldn't resist herself, she got back to the professor and ran away from the gathering. she bumped into seon gyeom whom strangely helped her get away from her ex who chased her so she could say sorry to her professor. unfortunately, she regretted her impulsive action and she was begging to her professor since she needed some translating job to keep make some living. he then appointed her to become the assemblyman's son' translator.

however, before her official meet, she met seon gyeom again by accident. she was chasing a deceptive fake gun seller when the thief bumped lee young hwa (kang tae oh). seon gyeom was there as well and he borrowed tae oh's painting tube and threw it to the thief. tae oh immediately ran off since he didn't want to get in trouble with the police. while seon gyeom had no choice but to be the witness for the case. wanted to thank seon gyeom, mi joo asked for his number and promised to buy him meal to show her gratitude. things became a bit merrier when seo dan ah (choi soo young), seon gyeom's agency director, found out that the assemblyman hired mi joo behind her back. intrigued to find out what kind of person mi joo was, she met mi joo only to bicker one another. however, she approved of mi joo to be seon gyeom's translator.

long story short, things became interesting when seon gyeom decided to stand up against his fellow team mates who have been bullying their junior, another fellow team mates, kim woo shik (lee jung ha). he assaulted the bully with hope that his case would end up in disciplinary committee table so he could give hope to woo shik so woo shik got some courage and stood up against them and brought all the evidence to their coach. then the bully would be punished. however, assemblyman decided to make a stop to the case which enraged seon gyeom. with the help from mi joo and dan ah, seon gyeom managed to let the case out in public. however, he decided to retire from the team and the coach fired woo shik at the end. the assemblyman was angry at mi joo for not obeying his command, and fired her as well.

well, you can predict the rest. seon gyeom got kick out of the house, so he stayed at mi joo's place for awhile. both became interested in each other. later seon gyeom's father found out about their relationship and confronted mi joo to leave seon gyeom. they broke up for awhile but seon gyeom begged her and won her heart back. at the side, we could see another story about dan ah family. she was the original heir to her father's dynasty, but her father had two other sons from other women aside from her mother and made the first son legally older than dan ah so he could inherited the company. however, dan ah had been fighting him tirelessly and at the end, she could beat him with the help from her second step brother, seo tae woong (choi jae hyun), an idol that adored dan ah. 

dan ah saw young hwa's painting at a cafe and became interested in young hwa's work. initially she wanted him to paint her something so she could beat her first step brother. but young hwa was falling in love at the first sight. he cutely and slowly made dan ah fell for him. however, when dan ah's father died, young hwa decided to step back from their relationship so dan ah could focus in winning her father's inheritance. when dan ah finally got her place, somehow they met again. at the end, both couple got back together, but there were no clear explanation about young hwa-dan ah relationship, while seon gyeom and mi joo's was official. 

i forgot to tell you that in the process, assemblyman ki tried too hard to keep his position and even used eun bi to portray that he was a good father. however his plan fired back at him and he lost his position. seon gyeom's mom for the first time stood up against her husband and asked for divorce to protect her kids. but at the end we saw ex-assemblyman came to ji woo's movie premier and wanted to make amend with her. 

what i like:

- well... at least it is a happy ending story.

- i like the second couple chemistry better. it's cute watching soo young and tae oh together. 

- at least here we see seon gyeom is fighting against bullying even though it meant he would lose his position. he knew he had some privilege and he used it to do good for other. and he didn't mind to work when he got kick out of the house. 

- at least shin se kyung can really talk english fluently without korean accent.

what i don't like:

- some actors and actresses are stiff. like seon gyeom. maybe they wanted him to be a bit weird and stiff. but still... too weird. and most foreign actors were stiff as well.

- weird conversation. i don't know if this is only translation problem, but in the first episodes you would see that seon gyeom and mi joo's interaction were weird. like they are talking in their own languages but still connected somehow. 

- another hierarchy problem. like how mi joo at first stood up against her professor but later took back her comment since she had to get some work, and the professor is powerful enough to not give her any translation job. 

- another political/family dysfunction. can't assemblyman's family or rich family be a real happy family for once?

- slow pace story. and what kind of problem is that? mi joo asked for break up just because his father told her to back off and hurt her feeling. it's kind of lame.

rating: 6.5/10

binge worthy: no

recommended for: fans of im si wan, shin se kyung, kang tae oh and choi soo young, those who like slow pace drama and a bit flat climax.