Recap Korean Drama "Navillera" Episode 5

Episode 5 of Navillera picks up with Eun-Ho being betrayed and Deok-Chool seeing all of this take place from the doorway. When Eun-Ho races away, Chae-Rok follows and offers to talk to her. He finds her at a bridge, where Eun-Ho happens to be watching the skyline.

Chae-Rok listens patiently to her story, eventually retorting and mentioning the pursuit of happiness. He gives her examples regarding his own upbringing and encourages her to keep fighting. It seems to do the trick too and definitely makes her feel a little more positive about her future.

When Eun-Ho heads home, she has the courage to confront her Father, who tries to hand over a list of companies for her to sign up to. Eun-Ho refuses, telling Seong-San she’s unable to do this anymore.

Bringing up moments of her past suffering, Seong-San finally hears from his own daughter the same words that Chae-Rok asked her – what makes you most happiest. Well, Eun-Ho refuses to be shackled to Seong-San’s plan for her and wants to find her own path going forward.

That path brings her to Seong-Gwan, who reveals a story about moving forward under the guise of his days in the operating theatre. He’s now determined to make a documentary – and happy too. This is something Eun-Ho needs to strive for too.

While she leaves, Deok-Chool gives Eun-Ho’s employer a piece of his mind, telling her she should be ashamed of herself for reinforcing the  porverbial glass ceiling holding these young men and women back.

When he leaves, Deok-Chool heads back home where Hae-Nam hands over a whole stack of medicine for him, fussing over her husband and telling him to bring his ballet teacher (Chae-Rok) over for dinner.

Later that day, Chae-Rok rings Deok-Chool and reschedules their ballet lesson. Believing that his time is running out, Deok-Chool decides to go and practice on his own. That turns out to be a bad move, especially when Joong-Sik arrives and notices his hips are out of alignment. Lying in his clinic, Joong-Sik encourages Deok-Chool to seek medical help otherwise it could mess up his joints.

Chae-Rok meanwhile, pushes hard and shows Ki Seung-Joo that he’s ready for his competition. After arriving at the clinic late, he runs into Deok-Chool who happens to be on the bed next to him.

The following day, Deok-Chool arrives to watch Chae-Rok perform. He watches with awe, only to see him upstaged by Sang-Su and Bom’s dual performance.

Atfer the show, Deok-Chool asks Chae-Rok for guidance,. Only, the boy snaps and leaves. When he does, Ki talks to Deok-Chool about his impatience. Specifically, he mentions the basic moves he’s been learning and just how crucial they are to the craft of ballet. Deok-Chool realizes the error of his ways and apologizes whole-heartedly to Ki, bemoaning his own foolishness.

Speaking of which, Mu-Yeong eventually plucks up the courage to phone Chae-Rok. Only, our boy is too busy setting his cameras up and dancing, deciding to ignore his Dad for the time being. After, Chae-Rok heads downstairs and sees Deok-Chool sitting on the stairs.

Deok-Chool apologizes for his hastiness and eventually leaves, especially when Chae-Rok questions the man’s heart and commitment to ballet. Mr Ki overhears all of this take place and tells Chae-Rok to apologize to his manager. Regardless of his talent and skill, his heart is every bit as big as Chae-Rok’s when it comes to ballet.

Deok-Chool however, isn’t at home when Chae-Rok shows up. He’s actually in the park with Eun-Ho, enjoying the sunshine. Chae-Rok shows though after talking to Eun-Ho, apologizing to Deok-Chool and encouraging him to head back into the studio. He’s still struggling with his triple turn, determined to nail it before the competition.

Things are not looking good though and worse, he winds up cutting his foot. Deok-Chool patches him up though, encouraging Chae-Rok by telling him he can do this and that he just needs to keep trusting himself. Eventually Chae-Rok nails it – with Deok-Chool filming the move.

With the qualifying results coming up, Deok-Chool invites Chae-Rok over for dinner. In fact, they even encourage him to have a nap to take the edge off his nerves.

The day goes really well, with Chae-Rok spending the entire day with Hae-Nam and Deok-Chool. On the back of this, Deok-Chool encourages Chae-Rok to phone his Father. As he leaves, Chae-Rok gets confirmation that he’s passed the qualifiers and he’s moving on to the next round.

Chae-Rok rings Mu-Yeong and breaks the good news about the ballet contest. He tells his Father he’s passed the first round, who in turn agrees to watch the competition online. When Chae-Rok heads back downstairs however, he finds Ho-Beom waiting for him.

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The Episode Review

The big theme this week revolves around family and happiness. The age old adage “money can’t buy happiness” isn’t strictly true, but you also can’t have a fulfilled life without happiness.

If you’re happy then you’re winning this game of life. If you’re not, then you owe it to yourself to make meaningful changes and do your best to be happy in this short and blessed time on this beautiful planet of ours. It’s not easy (or simple) but it is very rewarding.

Navillera perfectly exemplifies this through its fifth episode, with Eun-Ho encouraged to chase after her own dreams rather than living up to someone else’s expectations. Her courage to stand up to Seong-San and chase her own path in life is pretty inspiring and something that can’t have been easy for her.

Meanwhile, Deok-Chool and Chae-Rok continue to learn from one another, with the former learning to be patient and humble. The basics in any sport are incredibly important and without that, everything can easily come tumbling down.

This episode nicely exemplifies this lesson of patience while leaving the idea of Father/son relations on the table through this heartwarming drama about healing and following your dreams.