Race (레이스) is the latest K-drama addition to Disney+ Hotstar’s catalogue of Korean content, and it has been directed by Lee Dong-yoon and written by Kim Roo-ri. Starring Lee Yeon-hee as Park Yoon-jo, Moon So-ri as Goo Yi-jung, Hong Jong-hyun as Ryu Jae-min, Jung Yun-ho (TVXQ’s Yunho) as Seo Dong-hoon in the titular roles, the workplace drama premiered on May 10, 2023, with its first 2 episodes.
Race Episode 7 has a runtime of 54 minutes.
The closer-to-life workplace dramedy and its fun ensemble follow Park Yoon-jo’s drive and professionalism at a PR agency. Despite not pursuing a formal education, her undeterred work ethic is her biggest strength. After landing a job at a Korean conglomerate, she believes that she’s finally on her way to achieve great things until the truth of her employment is revealed and brings her down again. Nevertheless, she keeps treading on the same path, charting a journey to prove she’s right where she belongs and deserves to be. Yoon-jo’s Race will stand as a testament that hustling through hardships does make a difference and that one’s worth can’t be defined by their CV.
– Race Episode 7 Review Contains Spoilers –
Race Episode 7 Recap
Race episode 7 starts with Yoon-jo getting the shock of her life after Jeong Su-hwan makes a cold entry and demands to see her about her proposal. He screams at both Eun-jeong and Yoon-jo, and the core of it boils down to the fact that his ego is hurt at Yoon-jo calling a spade what it is. This starts the “Celltics-Jeong Su-hwan War”.
A few days before that, Yoon-jo and Dong-hoon sit down to discuss the possible reasons behind customer dissatisfaction and the dwindling sales. They think about whether or not to change the entire thing and realise that it might be the only way to work through this mess. She eventually gets in touch with everyone in charge of overseeing the Celltics project and tries to make them understand that without a complete branding revamp, the product simply won’t sell.
Eun-jeong and Yoon-jo run from pillar to post to make this happen, and after running into a ton of roadblocks, they finally get Yi-jung to listen to them. Yi-jung stands up for them at the board meeting, but of course, that comes with its own set of challenges at an orthodox workplace like Seyong.
Back in the present, Su-hwan threatens and demeans the two women and then makes an exit, leaving Eun-jeong to seethe in anger, and then she threatens to go to HR about it. Meanwhile, Ji-hyeon is extremely pleased with the way things are going – she wants the campaign to fail in order to pin it all on Su-hwan and get rid of him. Although Yi-jung wants to redo the campaign, Ji-hyeon is completely against it and wants to run it to the ground to secure her place as CEO.
Later on, Yi-jung gets into a verbal spat with Yeon-soo and shows him his place once more while Su-hwan watches their interaction from a distance. However, in spite of the internal politics, it seems like the general consensus regarding the situation is positive, at least when it comes to Yoon-jo’s role in it.
Also Read: Race Episode 6 Recap and Review: An Ominous Presence Makes a Chilling Entrance
Either way, Yoon-jo feels guilty about the number of people who have to resign because of the situation and decides to talk to Su-hwan on her own. She asks Su-hwan to let her take the blame since she is the one who came up with the report, but he calls her a nobody and a narcissist and then asks her to leave after mockingly laughing at her. Su-hwan comes across Yi-jung in the parking lot and egoistically mentions that Yoon-jo’s lack of experience is getting in their way. Yi-jung, before leaving, simply asks him who will take responsibility if the Celltics project truly does fail, leaving Su-hwan to his thoughts.
Eventually, the problems get solved – the rebranding goes through, much to Yoon-jo’s excitement, and she furthers the plan forward with Yi-jung. Meanwhile, Yoon-jo also meets Ji-hyeon to take care of her personal social media and eventually gets tasked with taking care of the company’s social media and coming up with a plan for Ji-hyeon to post and its frequency.
Interestingly, at work in the breakroom, Jae-min makes fun of Dong-hoon’s affection towards Yoon-jo and continues to ask her to ask him out if she is interested. All of a sudden, Yoon-jo asks Jae-min out, who, after the initial shock wears off, jokes that they should pretend to date so that he can forget his loneliness. However, Yoon-jo isn’t having any of it and mentions that she is seriously interested in dating him. Jae-min continues to feel confused but then tells her that she shouldn’t ask him out in the breakroom. His demeanour makes her visibly sad, resulting in them having a rather awkward time at work.
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That evening after work, Jae-min confesses to Yoon-jo that he likes someone else, someone he met at Santiago. Yoon-jo is understanding of his situation, albeit sad, and the two of them end up travelling together on the bus. On their way, she confesses that she has had a crush on him since they were kids, but she never confessed because their worlds were too different back then. Either way, although she wants to cry after getting rather brutally rejected, they both seem to be cool with each other in a devastatingly awkward way.
Either way, Jae-min goes to meet Yi-jung that night to talk face-to-face.
Race Episode 7 Ending
The next day at work, Yoon-jo joins the R&I Task Force and is annoyed to learn that Jae-min is a part of it as well. In an awkward turn of events, Yoon-jo realises the woman Jae-min is interested in is the person she admires the most and is confirmed by Eun.
Race Episode 7 Review
I think the most enjoyable part of Race is its office politics, and episode 7 doesn’t give us enough of it. The emotional moments of the characters fall short, in my opinion. Plus, as I mentioned in my previous review of the series, I just can’t wrap my head around Jae-min and Yi-jung’s relationship. There are simply so many moving parts in the series that it is getting just a bit overwhelming, although I am constantly on the brink of wondering what will happen next in the office.
Another thing that I personally want to see in the series is Yoon-jo being stone-cold and assertive instead of the pleading look that she constantly makes. Sure, her actions are quite headstrong, but it’s the way that she gets her point across that annoys me somehow. It’s just that, this episode just seemed a little all over the place and I didn’t engage with the romantic storylines at all.
Race is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Finally met someone who watches this drama.. It kinda felt like I’m the only one watching which is kinda bad… I am so glad that I am not the only one who is kinda annoyed with Yoonjo reactions and not believing on herself and forever living room to be trampled on
Was also so down on the fact that her idol is her crush’s love but to be very fair I have always rooted for Yoonjo and Donghoon #IMO they’re a great match and he works extra hard to impress her.