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Writer's pictureJon Lui

A Comedy Or A Melodrama/Thriller? "Red Balloon" Has Us Confused!

Coming off of its best performance of the season, TV Chosun's Red Balloon starring Seo Ji Hye has reached a new high! It's latest episode that premiered on February 19 drew an astonishing 10.057% nationwide viewership rating, the highest yet, according to Nielsen Korea! After watching this episode, it got us thinking as to what type of drama this was since it has many confusing scenes. Let's break down what happened!


Seo Ji Hye and Lee Sang Woo heat up the screen in the latest episode of "Red Balloon". (TV Chosun)
Seo Ji Hye and Lee Sang Woo heat up the screen in the latest episode of "Red Balloon". (TV Chosun)

**This contains spoilers!


Following a painful discovery that both Go Cha Won (Lee Sang Woo) and Ji Nam Chul (Lee Sung Jae) are both cheating on their wives, they decide to get drunk together and console each other. As Nam Chul drops Cha Won back at his house, Cha Won drunkenly calls Jo Eun Kang (Seo Ji Hye) to apologize for his behavior. Since Eun Kang is sick, her sister, Jo Eun San (Jung Yoo Min Red Shoes 2021) picks up the phone and is disgusted by Cha Won and tells him that she will see him.



The next morning, Han Ba Da's mother, goes to check on Cha Won and imagines that he and Eun Kang are making out on the living room couch. Much to her deliriousness, she is just imagining things and apologizes to Cha Won for acting poorly towards him and asks him to stop the divorce to get back with Ba Da.


Meanwhile, Eun Kang's uncle, Jo Dae Geun has been found out by Nam Chul that he has been cheating his wife, Ko Geum Ah. Nam Chul asks Dae Geun to quietly stop seeing Geum Ah and Dae Geun is torn with the decision.



There is some good news as we find out that Eun Kang has passed her teacher's exam! Her family is estatic and celebrate the good news! The weird thing about this situation is that Cha Won decides to make their relationship official and tell his parents. As soon as they find out that she has passed her teacher's exam, they accept her? Before, when she had no job and was working part-tim gigs they didn't even respect her as a human being, so we're kind of torn about this part in the story.




As Ba Da soon begins to hear rumors that Eun Kang and Cha Won have officially begun dating, she hatches her plan to get back at both of them. Bringing us....


To the car scene!


This scene is both hilarious and disturbingly weird at the same time! Ba Da decides to call Eun Kang up to go on a girls trip to the ocean. On the way in the car, Eun Kang decides to break the tension by turning on the radio where the announcer says,"The suspect threw the victim into the ocean and strangled them to death. They have been friends for 30 years. The suspect and victim decided to go on a trip and the victim was drugged." Hilariously stating the obvious parallel situation, Eun Kang is hesitant when Ba Da asks her if she wants a cup of coffee. Ba Da tests Eun Kang's trust by asking her to drink the coffee which she brought. The episode ends with Eun Kang bringing the cup to mouth with shaking hands.




What did you think about this episode? We thought it was a little crazy at times and couldn't figure out what direction the story was going! Maybe the director decided to try a new style of drama combining both comedic and thriller elements? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!


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