So Hye-jin has swallowed her pride and confessed her feelings of love to Chief Hong. What at first seemed out of character quickly makes sense through, of all things, an incredibly jarring personality transition on Hye-jin’s part. What it boils down to is, some women will seem perpetually defensive, yet practically overnight once their guard is down become uncharacteristically clingy. That kind of behavior is cute, even from a woman Hye-jin’s age. Although it can also be rather annoying.
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And within the confines of an eighty minute episode, the annoyance can get to be a bit overpowering. It wouldn’t be so bad if anything else was going on whatsoever. I was so desperate for something approaching an alternate plot hook I actually got a little excited when Choon-jae tried to beg Seong-hyeon to send his name up to a variety show about singers. I find Choon-jae’s desire to be respected as a musician considerably more interesting than Seong-hyeon’s desire to…not really do his job?
Despite not acting like a bad guy at all, Seong-hyeon is rapidly starting to turn obnoxious. He was introduced as a passionate if absent-minded producing director for a travel variety show. But he does so little work on that variety show it becomes a plot point here, since the guy just mopes around the office while Ji-won does all the work. Ji-won seeming to pine for Seong-hyeon is also not especially romantic. In addition to Seong-hyeon not acting at all attractive, screenwriter Sin Ha-eun should know better than to fetishize such imbalanced relationships between production staff.
The weird part is that Seong-hyeon actually starts the episode out on a pretty strong note. He accepts Hye-jin’s rejection with remarkable maturity and hindsight. There’s a lot to be said about the importance of timing being critical for romantic relationships, and “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” communicates that well. Then there’s the adorably passive-aggressive scene where Seong-hyeon and Chief Hong do handywork together, both pretending not to know that Chief Hong is the object of Hye-jin’s affection.
Watching people react to the relationship is funny, since characters have been gossiping about it forever. But “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” even takes away that minor joy, as we’re instead left with a dreadfully unfunny secret relationship storyline that really understates how disturbing it is that Hye-jin has such a knee-jerk propensity to intense violence. Chief Hong is showing a lot of patience here- frankly too much, considering how he resisted Hye-jin in the first place.
Review by William Schwartz
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“Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” is directed by Yoo Je-won, written by Sin Ha-eun, and features Shin Min-a, Kim Seon-ho, Lee Sang-yi, Gong Min-jung, Seo Sang-won-I, Woo Mi-hwa. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/08/28~Now airing, Sat, Sun 21:10 on tvN.
William Schwartz
Staff writer. Has been writing articles for HanCinema since 2012, having lived in South Korea since 2011. Started out in Gyeongju, then to Daegu, then to Ansan, then to Yeongju, then to Seoul, lived on the road for HanCinema’s travel diaries series in the summer of 2016, and is currently settled in Anyang. Has good tips for utilizing South Korea’s public bus system. William Schwartz can be contacted via william@hancinema.net. He also has a substack at williamschwartz.substack.com where he discusses the South Korean film industry in broader terms and takes suggestions for future movies to review.
[HanCinema’s Drama Review] “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” Episode 11 (2021/10/02)
Source: Laban Lang Philippines
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