Castaway Diva (2023) K Drama Episode 5

Episode 5 of Castaway Diva starts with Ki-ho’s father following Mok-ha all the way to the train station. Above ground, Bo-geol scolds Mok-ha for losing her head whenever Ki-ho is mentioned. Mok-ha struggles to hold back tears, until Bo-geol wraps his coat around her and points out that Ki-ho is safe. Bo-geol is confident, saying that he’s hidden well.

Eventually, the pair end up getting a taxi back home. Woo-hak rings on the way, worried and wanting to know where she is. After a catch up, he recognizes Ki-ho’s father with the bouquet of flowers and looking about suspiciousky. Woo-hak follows him back to his house, which happens to be a seedy, dilapidated building. This brings back memories for Woo-hak, especially the flickering lights that go on upstairs.

Tear-stricken, Woo-hak goes home and rings Mok-ha outside. As the pair talk, Mok-ha comes downstairs and sees Woo-hak crying. She’s taken aback, especially when he drops his head on her shoulder. After, he heads inside and thanks Bo-geol for helping out Mok-ha. He’s also vehemently against getting the police involved here too. Instead, he’s adamant that Mok-ha will be protected – by the two brothers.

In the morning, the parents are protective over Mok-ha in a really sweet scene, and decide to put their number into her phone. A warm smile crosses her face as this takes place.

Meanwhile, Ran-joo is still reeling over President Lee’s bombshell reveal about shutting her out of the sales. Ran-joo though is determined, and decides she can still succeed without him. While she tries to formulate a plan, Mok-ha passes her driving test and even has a car to boot too. She is not happy when she learns what Lee has done though and decides to confront him.

That is, until Park Yong-kwan shows off a video he’s recorded of Mok0ha backstage at the show singing on Ran-joo’s behalf. If she doesn’t stop this, he’ll spread the video…so she has no choice but to follow him. However, Yong-hwan shows off his intent, as he decides to keep the video as leverage and not delete it.

Ran-joo meets with President Hwang and tries to sweet-talk him into allowing her to join back up with Sugar Agency. She even offers him all the profits too. He plays his cards close to his chest, pointing out that he wants her to sing at a wedding to show off her worth. He likens it to a “give and take” deal, leaving her with a big decision to make.

That night, Mok-ha sees more of Ki-ho in Bo-geol, especially with his replies that mirror that of Ki-ho in the past. Before she gets a chance to contemplate this though, they stop by the side of the road, where they find a drunk Ran-joo hopeless and bemoaning her luck. She points out the conundrum she’s in with the wedding and lashes out at Mok-ha, claiming she’s made things worse.

Mok-ha is not about to give up though and she takes the pieces of the invite and tapes them all together again. While she works to help out Ran-joo, Bo-geol arrives to pick her up. He even has a plaster for her heel, thanks to the blisters she has.

When they arrive at the parking lot, the pair discuss the albums. In particular the rights to the master copies of the songs. Even though President Lee has collected Yoon’s albums, he can’t collect those prior to 2007 as Hwang has the rights to these given the contract deal. This would explain why Lee has shown up at the wedding. He’s nervous and is trying to pay him off from taking Ran-joo on as a client.

Woo-hak does his part by tailing Ki-ho’s father. He watches his every move, including putting a key under the flowerpot. When he heads to work, his mannerisms soon change when a nosy customer asks about his past. Tellingly, he mentions bees and the whole thing is just rather suspicious. Jung Bong-wan leaves the office with enough time for our reporter friend to snap a picture of the monthly schedule. This way, it will allow him to break in.

Dae-woong speaks to Ki-ho’s father and learns about what happened at the station. He shrugs off the idea that Ki-ho is still alive, claiming that he’s mistaken. He’s nervous, and his mannerisms certainly tell a very different story. Jung Bong-wan though is adamant that he’s found his son and eyes Dae-woong suspiciously.

Mok-ha, after seeing President Hwang, rings Ran-joo and encourages her to come and sing. It turns out Hwang quit his job to help her but in doing so, he ended up separating with his wife. This makes Ran-joo’s betrayal, to leave him and go with President Lee, hit that much harder.

Mok-ha encourages Ran-joo to step up and do right by Hwang, making him proud of her commitment. The speech is a good one, and as he starts playing to saxophone for the bride, Ran-joo does in fact show up at the wedding. She does so alongside Mok-ha and the pair sing together. It’s so good infact, that people cheer and chant for an encore.

After the ceremony, Hwang speaks to Ran-joo privately. He apologizes for being a bit harsh on her in the past, explaining about his family and how he took his anger out on the “kindest target”. This is similar to Ran-joo’s behaviour toward Mok-ha, and it certainly strikes a chord. 

As it happens, Hwang never signed the deal with President Lee. He throws the contract back and believes that he’ll betray Hwang just like he did Ran-joo. This throws a big spanner in the works for the RJ Entertainment President. Instead, he rings Mo-Rae and decides to use his trump card.

After the wedding, Mok-ha returns back and gives Woo-hak some food. However, the latter suddenly turns and claims that he’s confident they can find Ki-ho. He’s still alive, and he’s confirmed it already.

Meanwhile, chaos strikes Dae-woong. That night, he ends up in a big car accident, where hornets have been spewed out in the car. According to the police at the scene, he seemingly tried to roll down the windows, but he ended up crashing. Is this Ki-ho’s dad at work? We did hear about these bees earlier in the episode so it definitely seems likely.

Woo-hak, unaware of this, shows up at Ki-ho’s father’s place. Alone. He grabs the key and lets himself in. There’s a whole bunch of different mugs on the side in the kitchen, while Woo-hak finds a family portrait that changes everything. There’s Ki-ho with his mum and dad… along with someone who looks a bit like Bo-geol too!

Unfortunately Woo-hak lingers too long, and who should show up? Bo-geol. The latter tells him they need to leave, but as they look at one another, we cut across to Mok-ha. She speaks to the boys’ mother and asks about Ki-ho. Before we get a reply, the episode comes to a close.

The Episode Review

Castaway Diva is just starting to get interesting here. There have been a few curveballs thrown into this, including the real identity of Ki-ho. However, it seems like that portrait is a red herring because Bo-geol is really exhibiting more signs that he’s Ki-ho. Not only is he trying to keep his identity a secret, but he also has the same mannerisms and way of speaking to.

As for Woo-hak, he’s an absolute doughnut when it comes to his reporting and “investigation”. Not only is he chasing after a psycho cop, he’s doing so on his own, in the middle of the night, and breaking into a house that he knows nothing about. And that’s before mentioning the foolhardy way he’s tailing Bong-wan. Not only that, but he’s leaving fingerprints everywhere too! It’s surprising that he wasn’t punished for that foolishness.

This whole subplot involving Ki-ho’s father is likely to come back later on in the series in dramatic fashion, but there’s a danger that the tone could become conflicted, depending on how much they lean into the comedy angle. However, one thing that is well written here stems from Ran-joo’s redemption story involving Hwang, which is really nicely done. Either way, this is definitely shaping up to be a fascinating K-drama! Roll on tomorrow’s episode.