Simmering Subplots
Episode 4 of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha begins with Hye-Jin shocked over Mi-Seon managing to get herself ready in 3 minutes. The transformation is pretty impressive, and the conversation soon turns to work. In fact, the pair have a patient who wears designer gear but seems to have a pretty awkward and shady manner about him. Hold that thought, we’ll be back to discuss what’s really going on in a bit. For now, Jo Nam-Sook invites the pair out that afternoon for a town meeting. The pair initially decline until Hye-Jin learns that Du-Sik will be there. She soon perks up and decides to go after all. Once there, Hye-Jin decides it would be a good idea to be a member directory. However, Du-Sik already has this, and he shows up fashionably late. In doing so, Hye-Jin learns that Du-Sik is actually the chief treasurer of the group too. Hye-Jin starts to regret showing up though, deciding to pretend being drunk…until Du-Sik steps up and fills in for Dr Yoon on singing duties, who claims to have laryngitis. Hye-Jin’s idea backfires as all the residents completely ignore her at the end of the meeting – apart from Du-Sik. In fact, he decides to give her a piggyback on the way home. Halfway up the road, Du-Sik realizes she’s faking it and calls her out for her charade. Speaking of bickering married couples, Yeo Hwa-Jung and her ex husband end up walking the same way home, where the latter tentatively hands over an old kimchi container for Hwa-Jung, which is pretty cute. In the morning, Hye-Jin heads back to see Ju-Ri, the kid calling her out for lying about treating a celeb. Later on in the day Hye-Jin wins the girl over, showing off the picture and causing them both to gush over his good looks. Bak at the dental clinic, that shady guy shows up again to get treatment. Gam-Ri recognizes him from somewhere, while Mi-Seon is left alone for a while with the man. Hye-Jin eventually catches him leaning over and immediately calls him out for it. Given how powerful his parents are, Mi-Seon decides to drop the accusation completely. However, his berating riles Hye-Jin and a returning Du-Sik up, who both assault the man and knock him out cold. Meanwhile, Yeong-Guk ends up seeing Yu Cho-Hui out in the street and immediately tenses up. It’s been 15 years since they both saw each other, and she’s going to be staying in Gongjin for the time being. It turns out this was Yeong-Guk’s first love back in the day. As we soon find out, she’s not actually married either, and with Yeong-Guk now divorced, it certainly doesn’t look “very, very good” (an inside joke there for fans of Homemade Love Story!) when his ex wife Hwa-Jung shows up and sees them together. At the police station, Gam-R shows up to drop off the predator’s phone. Only, Du-Sik takes hold of it and shows up to see the patient. He antagonizes the man, calling him out for being a peeping tom and saving the dental clinic in the process. Later that day, Hye-Jin joins Du-Sik over at his place where she notices the photo album. It turns out Du-Sik’s parents died when he was younger. It’s a somber moment but one that passes quickly, as the pair sit together and drink wine and eat together. Despite Hye-Jin’s best efforts, she ends up sputtering and coughing while drinking. After polishing off the whole bottle, we learn more about Du-Sik’s past. Honestly, is there anything this guy can’t do? Superman has had an award for bravery awarded twice, saving a guy from being hit by a train and chasing after a robber. This explains why he’s looked on so favourably at the police station. As the wine goes straight to Hye-Jin’s head, the girl admits that the day she came to Gongjin was actually her Mum’s birthday. She’as been feeling like her Mum has been slowly slipping away from her, but before she died they went on a family trip to Gongjin. This explains just why she was there, although she’s quick to put her defences back up again. Just as she does, Du-Sik holds her face with both hands and looks deep in her eyes “It’s so hot,” He comments, as the temperatures goes up for Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha!
The Episode Review
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha slows down for its latest episode, with a small episodic issue involving the shady dental patient but mostly working on developing the different subplots. We’ve got the ever-lovable Yeong-Guk involved in this will they/won’t they with his ex wife and first love, while the old ladies each have their own issues going on. That’s to say nothing of Chun-Jae’s singing, Mi-Seon’s cute romance with Eun-Cheol and the kids with their hedgehog. There’s a lot of different moving parts in this but the episode work well to balance out both comedy and romance. There’s a few reflective, somber moments (like Hye-Jin discussing her Mother) while the comedy is generally on-point right the way through the show. It helps too that the show has a very talented and stacked cast, with many faces having shown up in some of the bigger dramas over the past couple of years. The result is one of those rare k-dramas that just seems to get every single element spot on – and the growing ratings only reflect that. I don’t know about you guys but I can’t wait for next week’s episode!
