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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" Episode 7

Now that I've finished up with "Squid Game" it's back to "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" which is certainly the lesser-known South Korean Netflix property at the moment, but also the more grounded one. When last we left off, our lead dentist Hye-jin had finally met up with food show director Seong-hyeon (played by Lee Sang-yi). By a coincidence so outrageous it's commented upon, Hye-jin and Seong-hyeon knew each other in university- and now they meet again in Gongjin.

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The storyline involving the food show has now emerged as the main driving plot point of the drama, with a whole gaggle of new characters on the film crew, So far, only chief writer Ji-won (played by Park Ye-young) appears to be all that important. Seong-hyeon has the central character traits of getting easily lost, easily hungry, and easily driven to stubbornness. Ji-won just cleans up really nice, being almost completely unrecognizable if she doesn't put effort into makeup.

The narrative structure in "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" isn't exactly dynamic. Increasingly, every action taken by Seong-hyeon seems to be a thinly veiled excuse to show off more local food- and to a lesser extent local scenery. He becomes obsessed with Gam-ri's house, and her initial reluctance to allow him to use it as a filming location transitions to a sad reflection on her empty nest syndrome. Gam-ri likes being appreciated, and it's already well-established that her own family has little direct use for her anymore.

Coming back to "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is an awkward adjustment, because it's hard to understate just how dissimilar it is from "Squid Game" at the Netflix number one spot. "Squid Game" is blunt, unsubtle, and wears its pretensions of commentary on its sleeve. "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is very slow and subdued, with such nuance it's still easy to miss stuff. The entire cleaning scene is a commentary on how even now she maintains a full household, with once valuable blankets now just collecting dust from disuse.

It's only right at the very end it's actually confirmed that Seong-hyeon is probably a rival for Chief Hong in obtaining Hye-jin's affections. For their overt role in driving the voyeuristic tone of "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" Seong-hyeon and Ji-won are ultimately likely to serve more archetypically romantic roles in the drama's actual plot. Yet gossip isn't the actual focus, as we instead watch characters grapple with what they want out of life, and for the most part achieve it with a fair amount of satisfaction.

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.

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