Once Upon a Small Town episode 7 recap & review

Episode 7 of Once Upon a Small Town sees Ji-yul and Ja-young trying to overcome the awkwardness of their last encounter and helping Seon-dong with his troubles of love.

Recap

Episode 7 doesn’t pick up immediately after the events of the last episode. However, the anticipated meeting between Ja-young and Ji-yul is shown in bits and pieces throughout the episode, until the very end when the viewers see the entirety of what transpired.

Meanwhile, Seon-dong visits the hospital with his friend Hui-won and her pet rabbit Judy. Ji-yul takes a look at Judy and while he diagnoses the problem with the rabbit, he also notices that Hui-won keeps glaring at Seon-dong.

Later on, Ji-yul asks Seon-dong if there has been a fight between him and his friend, to which he replies affirmingly. He’s sad and tells Ji-yul that Hui-won is mad at him ever since he forgot the gift she gave him a year ago.

Ji-yul asks if Seon-dong has apologized to her, and the kid says he has. Ji-yul then tells him to let things be the way they are for now and not talk to her for a while. Seon-dong follows the advice, which doesn’t go well for him.

Hui-won isn’t too keen on talking to him anyway, so she keeps the same energy up. A troubled Seon-dong is then advised by Ahn Ja-young, who tells him to not pay heed to Ji-yul’s advice and apologize for his fault, making it clear to Hui-won that he’s sorry.

However, this doesn’t go well for him either, as Hui-won is annoyed by the frequent personality switch-up Seon-dong keeps exhibiting. So comes a crying Seon-dong, back to Ji-yul, telling him how he and Ja-young have ruined his chances with Hui-won altogether.

Ji-yul reassures him that in due time, Hui-won will go easy on him and that he should now follow his advice a bit firmly. A determined Seon-dong takes his leave.

Unsurprisingly, the situation worsens even more and Seon-dong goes missing after sending a message to Hui-won. In the message he tells her he’s going away and she shouldn’t look for him. Ja-young and Ji-yul set out to look for him.

Meanwhile, it’s clear that Seon-dong’s apology for forgetting about his friend is an uncanny parallel to Ahn Ja-young and Han Ji-yul, both of whom are well aware of this too. Ja-young questions Ji-yul’s advice and says it’s appropriate for a kid. Ji-yul disagrees.

In codes, hints, and sarcasm, the two debate their own situation wherein Ja-young wants Ji-yul to apologize for not remembering her while Ji-yul thinks it shouldn’t have to be uttered out loud, as it’s understandable on its own.

At last, they find Seon-dong and take him back to his home, with Hui-won now also open to talking to him. But Ji-yul and Ja-young’s resolution remains. This is when we see their encounter by the lake following Ji-yul’s refresher of his childhood memories with Ja-young.

The meeting wasn’t anything special at all. If anything, it was awkward and Ja-young fled the awkwardness before Ji-yul could apologize to her for not recognizing her sooner.

However, after sending Seon-dong to his home, Ji-yul corrects his mistake and holds Ja-young’s hand, apologizing her not being able to recognize her sooner. He also says that she was the only good part about the time he spent in the village back then.

Review

• We finally get the episode when the two leads encounter each other following the realization dawning upon Ji-yul. And it was kind of a dud.
• There is a similar pace to things and a similar wholesomeness here as in the previous episodes, but the plot progression is really sluggish at the moment.
• Granted the subject matter doesn’t really allow the story to introduce the contents of the next chapter sooner but there has to be more to chew on in one episode. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in episode 7.
• Given how much stuff happens at a breakneck speed in Huidong, there could be a more creative way to edit and present the events and reactions that allow for more comedy.
• The episode could have been better had Seon-dong’s implementation of the contradictory advice he received been shown.
• However, there are still nuggets here and there, of the tone and the cheesy comfort of ‘Once Upon a Small Town’ that fans have become familiar with.

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