Vrinda Bachchan
‘Run On’ is a Netflix Original South Korean drama series that follows the romance between a national level track athlete and a Korean-English film translator. Actor Im Si-wan stars as the male lead, Ki Seon-gyeom. Opposite him is actress Shin Se-kyung (of ‘Sensory Couple’ fame) playing the role of Oh Mi-joo. The first episode of the series premiered on Netflix and the cable channel JTBC on December 16, 2020. As is usually the case in most K-dramas, the first episode is dedicated to introducing key characters and setting the stage for the story. Our protagonists also have their “meet-cute” in this episode. Here is a recap of ‘Run On’ episode 1.
Run On Episode 1 Recap
Oh Mi-joo goes to a film festival, where she is excited to see the immensely popular Director Yook Ji-woo. Oh Mi-joo is clearly a super fan. Ji-woo’s son Ki Seon-gyeom does not look too happy to be there and is evidently not enjoying the attention. Ki Seon-gyeom, along with a few friends, watches a film at the film festival. Oh Mi-joo is on the credits of that film as the translator. Her job is to translate Korean movies to English. Her ex-boyfriend, Director Han, attempts to speak to Mi-joo but there is obviously bad blood between them.
Mi-joo goes to dinner with Professor Hwang, who assumes that she is still dating Director Han and starts making inappropriate remarks about them. When Mi-joo stands up for herself, the professor insults Mi-joo by pouring a drink on her head and tells her that she shouldn’t act so superior just because she is pretty. He also says that being pretty doesn’t automatically make her a good translator. Oh Mi-joo gets understandably upset and accuses the professor of being sexist, asking him what her face has to do with her job. The professor claims that Mi-joo embarrassed him by saying that he couldn’t even “get up” (which he assumed meant erectile dysfunction) when all she really meant was that he was too drunk to get up from his chair. Of course, this does not excuse his horrible behavior and Mi-joo leaves the scene in a huff.
While going back home, Oh Mi-joo crosses paths with Ki Seon-gyeom for the first time. Director Han appears and tries to make Oh Mi-joo come back to the bar. Ki Seon-gyeom steps in and points Oh Mi-joo’s fake gun at Han to stop him from making a scene. And that’s basically how our protagonists meet each other.
The next day, Mi-joo learns that she has lost a translation job in Han’s film to Professor Hwang. They’re both ganging up on her clearly, but it was an important job that she could not afford to lose. On the other hand, we see Ki Seon-gyeom training on the track field. It’s a pretty harsh training and he finds that his friend is getting bullied by two other athletes. Seon-gyeom advises his friend to take photos of his injuries (inflicted by the bullies) and then go to the doctor.
Mi-joo swallows her pride and apologizes to Hwang and he gives her a job to translate for a national track athlete. Oh Mi-joo gets mugged later in the park and somehow, Ki Seon-gyeom is there yet again to help her. They both have an awkward conversation where Mi-joo offers to buy him dinner as a thanks for helping her. The next morning, while heading to work, Mi-joo sees Seon-gyeom on billboards and assumes that he must be a model. At work, Oh Mi-joo is surprised to find out that Ki Seon-gyeom is the athlete that she will be translating for.
Read More: Best Korean Dramas on Netflix
