A Love Triangle?
Episode 6 of Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha begins with Hye-Jin reflecting back on her kiss with Du-Sik during her drunken night. Mi-Seon is there too, teasing her friend over her true feelings. On the back of this, Hye-Jin takes the bold claim of deciding not to get involved with Du-Sik anymore. In the morning, Hye-Jin begins by telling Du-Sik to stay away and stop prying so much into her business. Instead, she turns to Chun-Jae and decides to get her coffee order from him instead. As Du-Sik leaves, he realizes Hye-Jin remembers what happened that night between them, explaining away her standoffish behaviour. Hye-Jin does have second thoughts though, which are only exemplified later on in the day when Hwa-Jeong comes in for her check-up. Thankfully there’s nothing too wrong with her but she discusses how it was fate that Du-Sik and Hye-Jin ended up together. Du-Sik inevitably comes in for his check-up next and immediately asks Hye-Jin about the kiss they shared. She begins coughing and sputtering, unable to control how taken aback she is. Although she decides to stay as friends, Hye-Jin immediately feels jealous when she notices pictures snapped of Du-Sik and a mystery woman together around town. Du-Sik continues to comment how his ear is burning (a symptom that someone is talking about you) but is distracted by someone causing a ruckus at Gam-Ri’s place. It’s Sung-Hyun, what a surprise! With the mix-up cleared, Sung-Hyun gushes over how beautiful Gam-Ri’s house is and how nice the old woman is. Well, this pure soul eventually goes off to stay at the Parang Guesthouse…but his sense of direction is honestly awful and he walks in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, Ju-Ri steals her father’s safe with all the money inside. She immediately heads over to see Hye-Jin, where disaster strikes when Du-Sik appears. Eventually things are straightened out, with Ju-Ri staying over Hye-Jin’s for the night. However, Chun-Jae continues to send over numerous messages fussing over his daughter. The reason for this though, stems from their past. It turns out Ju-Ri’s mother died before the girl got a chance to grow up with her, which explains why he’s so attentive and fusses over her a lot. Well, Hye-Jin finds common ground with the girl through this, discussing her own past. In the morning, Hye-Jin exerts some wisdom on Chun-Jae, showing off her sketchbook and how talented the girl is. As the pair begin talking, Hye-Jin heads outside and notices Du-Sik walking with his new lady friend. She tries to push it to the back of her mind but it’s clear that it’s affecting her. In fact, at the town meeting Hye-Jin speaks up and lashes out against the gossiping. It immediately puts them all on edge, and even Du-Sik’s encouraging words do no good. It seems the relations between Hye-Jin and Du-Sik are hanging precariously on-edge right now. The town decides to spruce things up with a singing contest. The whole place is abuzz and with Chief Hong acting as the officer overseeing everything, each of the different contestants get up and begin singing and dancing. Nam-Suk is pretty bad and ends up making children cry. Gam-Ri serves better, singing her heart out, while Du-Sik urgently calls on Hye-Jin’s help regarding Ju-Ri. While they help fix up Ju-Ri, it’s actually Bo-Ra who steals the limelight. She’s an amazing singer and actually ends up winning the whole contest. Ju-Ri comes second, and off the back of this Hye-Jin agrees to get her braces fixed up. However, the night isn’t over yet. A special performance from K-Pop group DOS ignites the place. Ju-Ri is in tears and after the performance, does her best to catch up with JUNE, one of the members. Although her legs are hurt, Ju-Ri’s father gives her a piggyback all the way over, abandoning his own instrument to make sure his daughter sees her idol. Off the back of this, Ju-Ri decides to use her money to help her father instead, especially given JUNE recognized her by the snaggleteeth she has. Seeing the pair together jogs Hye-Jin’s memory of a time gone by. As we jump back we see Hye-Jin greeted by her father outside, throwing his coat around her shoulders and taking her home. This memory sees Hye-Jin phone home and speak to her father. It’s a nice call, one that’s just a friendly catch-up, but one that’s immediately cut short by seeing Du-Sik out and about. He admits he doesn’t befriend just anyone (using Hye-Jin’s words against her!) but the pair are distracted by the fireworks from afar. Only, what’s this? Du-Sik slips, Sung-Hyun jumps in to save him…and locks eyes with Hye-Jin. Speaking of love triangles!
The Episode Review
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha returns with a solid episode this time around, continuing the good vibes while focusing on the father/daughter vibes of Chun-Jae and Ju-Ri. These two have been focal points for much of the season but now we actually get to see a lot more of their relationship. Hye-Jin is a big part of what’s going on here, reminiscent on her own memories with her father during this time. It’s a great way of deepening both characters and it works wonders for this show. However, trouble brews for Du-Sik and Hye-Jin too, and despite spending the whole episode intentionally avoiding one another, find themselves drawn back in at the end. Having said that though, we’ve got the makings of a love triangle on the horizon, especially if this ending is anything to go by. Quite how our couple will react to this though remains to be seen. Roll on next week!
