[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Road to the Airport" Episode 7

As Do-woo has to deal with the fallout from a second funeral, I do find myself wondering whether "Road to the Airport" is taking matters a bit far in the whole "make Do-woo sad" department. In order to maintain sympathy for the lead characters as they edge into an affair, Do-woo really has to break down completely with regards to emotional support. Given how unresponsive Hye-won was when it came to her own daughter, it's little surprise the woman is similarly unhelpful with the death of her mother-in-law.

Advertisement

The mysteries regardng the more defective aspects of Hye-won's personality are the high point this episode. The whole scene in the car was fascinating, because we see Hye-won justifiably freaking out, realizing who Soo-ah is, yet Hye-won's main motivation seems to be acquiring blackmail material. Hye-won seems to enjoy being a proper wife more than she does the actual intimacy that's supposed to come with being a life partner. Bear in mind that even before Soo-ah was a factor Hye-won clearly did not trust Do-woo.

For that matter, no one has ever seemed to trust Hye-won. Eun-hee's letter is rather unnerving, because all the context behind Eun-hee's borderline senile mental state appears to indicate that even she thought Hye-won was a major drag on the household now that Annie is gone. Likewise, Min-seok is nonplussed about the fact that he is now an unrelated man living in a married couple's house, and for good reason. Somehow his presence makes matters less awkward.

But right now "Road to the Airport" is doing a better job making Do-woo and Hye-won look wrong than it does making Do-woo and Soo-ah look right. It's rather unnerving how Jin-seok, general jerk that he is, does do a good job erecting scarily tight boundaries between potential extramarital liasons. If something ever happens between him and Mi-jin, it will not be very easy to justify.

Although right now I'm much more worried about Hyo-eun, who unexpectedy loses her main coping mechanism for dealing with Annie's death. On one end Hyo-eun comes off as fairly whiny. On the other I really wish Soo-ah was more proactive when it comes to finding some sort of solution. This is Seoul, after all, and I find it fairly difficult to believe that the situation is as impossible as Hyo-eun thinks. Soo-ah should have learned that much from Annie's death- a daughter can disappear in an instant, and should not be taken for granted.

Review by William Schwartz

"Road to the Airport" is directed by Kim Cheol-gyoo, written by Lee Sook-yeon, and features Kim Ha-neul, Lee Sang-yoon, Shin Sung-rok, Choi Yeo-jin, Jang Hee-jin, and Lee Young-ran.

Watch on Viki