[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" Episode 4

With most of the set-up out of the way, "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is now more firmly establishing itself as an ensemble work, where any given episodic narrative has more to do with the side characters than Hye-jin and Chief Hong directly. The story is still framed around them, as is seen in the rather cute opener where a montage establishes the passage of time by having Chief Hong repeatedly greet Hye-jin on the street on the way to work. Hye-jin dresses with a new fashionable outfit every day, while Chief Hong is always on his way to a new job.

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It's quite clear at this point that Chief Hong's exact community function will never be explained, mostly because the neighborhood locals take him so for granted that the generic descriptor of Chief is all he really needs. I liked Hye-jin's bewilderment at Chief Hong's being the head of the local small business association despite his not actually being a business owner. Since Chief Hong knows everything, he is the best possible mediator.

Unfortunately this is less than satisfying in terms of the main developed storyline here, of a dental patient with sinister motives. I was disappointed to see "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" reference the corruption of small-town governments, but not meaningfully address how official authority would clash against the informal authority of Chief Hong. The whole business with the bad guy's phone was especially annoying. Technically that whole bit was a crime.

I would have much rather had a character show the presence of mind to pick it up as soon as the bad guy dropped it. This would solve the technical issue of how the phone was unlocked. It would also work better as comeuppance, because while searching the phone of an alleged perpetrator would be illegal, searching the phone of an alleged victim who is currently unconscious would make sense. He was, after all, the one who called the police in the first place.

I honestly don't like nitpicking this plot point that much, but this episode was so breezy atmospheric in general there's not much to talk about. Something is obviously being set up with village chief Yeong-gook (played by In Gyo-jin), who divorced his wife Hwa-jeong (played by Lee Bong-ryeon) three years prior for deliberately ambiguous reasons. But without having any idea where screenwriter Sin Ha-eun is going with this story thread, I can't exactly criticize it.

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.