K-Drama: Why Do We Fall? So We Can Pick Ourselves Back Up 😌

Run On | 런온 (2020)

As cliché as they can seem, I love dramas that are big on standing up for yourself and going against the status quo. Going against the status quo is hardly ever easy - judgement, misunderstandings and doubt will inevitably follow. However, to be aware of this and STILL continue forward is what makes it such a great act of courage.  

JTBC | Run On

Something interesting that we often see K-dramas do is match different career professions, complementary or conflicting, with the romantic leads. A good example of this is Descendants of the Sun, where a soldier and a surgeon fall in love. In Run On, we see a national track and field athlete, Ki Seon-gyeom (Im Si-wan), falls in love with a film translator, Oh Mi-joo (Shin Se-kyung). Mi-joo is honest and hard-working but falls into trouble after defending herself from a professor. Seon-gyeom’s father is running for the presidency in Korea, so Seon-gyeom has grown up in a household with high expectations. He has learned to live bottling up his emotions as a result, in the name of keeping up a good public image. After some conflict of values with the people involved in running his sport, he realises he needs to retire completely from his athlete career 🏃‍♂️ When they end up working together for his international press tour, Mi-joo helps him to further realise that his life is his own and nobody else’s. This leads him to pursue being a sports agent instead, which ultimately gives him more fulfilment.

JTBC | Run On

We also see Girls Generation Choi Soo-young making an acting appearance as an important side character, Seo Dan-ah. Dan-ah is a strong-willed CEO of a sports agency who faces limitations in further advancing her career because of her gender. She is contrasted with Lee Yeoung-hwa (Kang Tae-oh) who is a free-spirited art student 🎨 She first falls in love with one of his paintings as he falls in love with, well, her!

JTBC | Run On

A big theme in this drama is communication. Despite our four characters mentioned above having some of the most honest personalities, many of their problems arise from a lack of it or miscommunication. In a similar vein, it is well portrayed the realities of the hardships that each of them face, despite working towards or having achieved their dream jobs. The most unexpected troubles are what get to us most, and it can make a person feel like they’re stuck in rock bottom 😢 As long as you give it a try, learn from it and keep running forward, nothing will be as bad as it seems.

JTBC | Run On

Run On is not an intense or action-packed drama, so it is recommended more for those who are looking for something cute and feel-good, but still gets you thinking about deeper issues. It starts off a little slow, but every episode pulls you in more and more, eventually leading to a satisfying and worthwhile finale with a breakup, a makeup and a coming out! If you’re into witty dialogue, good character development, amazing chemistry and uplifting themes, then Run On is for you 👀 

Run On is available to watch on Netflix, so check out the trailer here!