Netflix series Run On: romantic K-drama starring Im Si-wan and Shin Se-kyung lacks logic or charm
- Ghost Detective director Lee Jae-hoon brings us a romantic drama about a male athlete and a film subtitle translator
- The dialogue is snappy, but the leads, Im Si-wan and Shin Se-kyung, lack chemistry
Actors Im Si-wan and Shin Se-kyung share the screen for the first time in Run On, the latest show from The Ghost Detective director Lee Jae-hoon. Im plays Ki Seon-gyeom, a top sprinter on the national team who is admired by his colleagues for his speed and cool demeanour. Shin plays Oh Mi-joo, a passionate young film subtitle translator.
Ki visits a film festival with his mother, a top actress dubbed the Queen of Cannes, and Oh attends the same festival, having worked on one of the films in the line-up, made by a rising star director who happens to be her detested ex.
One evening, Oh crashes into Ki on the street, her handbag spilling on the ground. Ki picks up her gun (actually a lighter) and Oh tries to hide behind him when her ex-boyfriend director comes chasing after her. When he starts tugging on Oh’s arm, Ki levels the fake weapon at his head.
Standard romantic K-dramas are built within a fairly constrained framework. Typically, this involves a handsome, aloof and rich young man and a determined young woman without power or connections. A meet-cute ensues, where the woman is usually flummoxed by the man’s arrogance and the man is intrigued by the scrappy woman.