melonatures:#RUNONWEEK | Day Three: OTP ↪ “When hungry, bang!”Mij
melonatures:#RUNONWEEK | Day Three: OTP ↪ “When hungry, bang!”Mijoo and Seongyeom have so much of what I love in a romantic pairing—hurt/comfort, teasing, caretaking, cuteness; long walks and long talks; sharing meals and hand holding. Their romance is one continuous conversation where they each explain to the other who they are, what has hurt them and made them, how they’ve worked to heal themselves, and they each listen. They witness one another.There’s something about the physical interplay between them—it’s about how Seongyeom makes himself as small as Mijoo is when she feels frightened or weak, and how he falls in step with her when they walk. His immediate attraction to her is palpable—his visible interest in her (his gazes and how he does the absolute most in their initial conversations—“Are you a pervert?”; “I’m not crazy, I’m Gi Seongyeom.”), how he goes out of his way to spend time with her. Mijoo’s attraction to Seongyeom is at first sparked by how good-looking he is, but is quickly animated by how much fun she has when she’s with him, and how interesting she finds him, and how she wants to help him and take care of him. I didn’t realize it until their breakup in episode 13, but their romance actually follows the tried-and-true “will they, won’t they” formula; in kdrama romance discussions it’s usually referred to as “push and pull.” Many dramas don’t have the skill to pull this off for more than 8 episodes. The reason it works in Run On, the reason it isn’t immediately apparent, is because the “push and pull” is rooted in the particularities of the characters as opposed to simply resorting to arbitrary reasons for keeping them apart, and Mijoo and Seongyeom always, always put in the work to both understand each other and make themselves understood. That’s why their lines are so swoon-worthy. “To me, your story is the most important.” “Usually you run towards the finish line but today it was you.” “I did well to wait here for you.” “I came because you’re here.” All ways they say “I love you” to each other before they say those words in the finale.I saw a snippet of some behind-the-scenes footage of Shin Sekyung and Im Siwan filming the kiss in episode 2, and Shin says “I have to make sure the audience understands that Mijoo likes/welcomes this.” She succeeds—Seongyeom surprises Mijoo with a kiss, an act that’s usually a big turn off for me, and Mijoo is wide-eyed and still like so many “fish” kdrama kisses. But when Seongyeom pulls away she chases after him just the slightest bit. That’s what romance is. Desire communicated. And so in the last few minutes of the show, the camera narrows in on them as they watch a movie surrounded by their friends, family, and colleagues. Mijoo looks over at Seongyeom. He looks at her questioningly and she shakes her head no. She looks away, but Seongyeom reaches over and takes her hand. He smiles, she grins. He knows what she wants. They understand each other. -- source link
#run on#kdrama