Castaway Diva season 1 episode 3 recap & review: Cooler Box vs. Drone

Open Go TV / November 5, 2023 / Reviews

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In the third episode of Castaway Diva, Mok-ha becomes Ran-joo’s manager and resolves to make her succeed, no matter what it takes. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.

Recap

Before Mok-ha sang for her, Ran-joo was living at her old fans’ house. They asked her to vacate the house, as they were no longer her fans. Lee Seo-jun, also known as President Lee, her old manager who started RJ Entertainment with Ran-joo, does not respect her and only gets her small gigs.

The village festival is one of those gigs. The audience loves Ran-joo, not knowing that it is Mok-ha who is singing. The applause makes Ran-joo cry, and she realizes that she cannot give up now.

Ran-joo’s videos go viral, and YGN decides to book Ran-joo for Heyday Again, which is currently the most popular variety show; all songs featured on that show top the charts. However, Ran-joo’s temporary manager makes excuses and does not let Bo-geol meet her.

Mok-ha and Ran-joo talk after the show, and Mok-ha tells her about her life. Ran-joo still remembers Mok-ha’s music video. When Mok-ha did not show up, Ran-joo worked with her substitute, Eun Mo-rae, and turned her into not only RJ Entertainment’s top singer but a global superstar.

Woo-hak wants Mok-ha to do something about her situation, as he believes that it is Mok-ha who deserves Eun Mo-rae’s stardom. Furthermore, as Ran-joo has nowhere to go, she starts living with Mok-ha at Woo-hak’s house.

Woo-hak accidentally reveals to Bo-geol that Mok-ha and Ran-joo are living in their house, but instead of getting angry, Bo-geol allows them to stay there. In exchange, he wants Woo-hak to forget about his past, and Woo-hak comes to the conclusion that his past must have been traumatic.

Mok-ha tells Ran-joo that she tried to end her life when she was living on that uninhabited island. She had started thinking that she would keep living a meaningless life without anyone ever finding out about her and decided to end it.

She almost drowned herself, but she saw an icebox floating and swam to the surface to retrieve it. She found a packet of ramyeon in the box and realized that she would not have found it if she had killed herself, so she decided to keep living and wait for another icebox to show up.

This prompts Ran-joo to tell Mok-ha about what happened to her. Ran-joo’s voice was affected by vocal nodules, and due to that, she could not perform well in front of a live audience. With time, she lost her fans. She was thinking of ending it all, but then Mok-ha came into her life.

Mok-ha hopes that Ran-joo will be saved the way she was saved by Bo-geol and Woo-hak. The two women spend the night drinking with Bo-geol and Woo-hak’s parents, and Ran-joo uses everything that she has earned to pay the rent.

A drunk Ran-joo becomes Mok-ha’s mentor and promises to make her a global superstar. She even calls President Lee to get Mok-ha an audition. However, the next morning, she regrets making that promise, as President Lee does not value her and might not agree to audition Mok-ha.

Ki-ho’s father is still looking for him. He meets Ki-ho’s childhood friend, Dae-woong, and asks him to inform him if he meets Mok-ha, as he thinks that Ki-ho might contact her. Dae-woong relays the information to Young-ju, Mok-ha’s old friend.

Ki-ho’s father is told by the people of his hometown that Mok-ha came looking for Ki-ho. When they describe Woo-hak, Ki-ho’s father wonders whether Woo-hak is Ki-ho. He even goes to Woo-hak’s workplace.

Mok-ha, Bo-geol, and Woo-hak overhear Ran-joo talking to President Lee on the phone. She begs him to give Mok-ha a chance, as she does not want to disappoint Mok-ha after promising to be her mentor. President Lee agrees to audition Mok-ha.

It turns out that after her performance, a lot of people want to book Ran-joo for various events, but President Lee has been sabotaging her career. When Ran-joo joined his company years ago, she had asked him to give her half of the company shares once she sold 20 million albums.

Ran-joo needs to sell less than 100,000 albums to get company shares worth 17 trillion won, but she must do it soon, as the agreement expires in 6 months. That is why President Lee has been sabotaging her career.

He even changes the company name, which used to be Ran-joo Entertainment. Ran-joo introduces Mok-ha to President Lee, but he refuses to audition her because she is too old to be an idol. He offers to make her Ran-joo’s manager instead.

The incident makes Mok-ha understand that President Lee is scared of Ran-joo. She figures out why he is scared of her because Ran-joo had told her about the possibility of getting the company shares.

Mok-ha accepts his offer to be Ran-joo’s manager. She tells Ran-joo why President Lee is disrespectful and mean to her. This gives Ran-joo the confidence to barge into President Lee’s meeting with potential investors and challenge him.

Mok-ha is determined to do everything she can to help Ran-joo be successful again. When she tells Bo-geol and Woo-hak about this, Bo-geol asks her to bring Ran-joo on Heyday Again.

Later that night, Ran-joo tells Mok-ha that she will continue performing live, but she wants Mok-ha to sing for her. She also tells Mok-ha that Ki-ho came to meet her years ago. He gave her Mok-ha’s photograph and requested Ran-joo to help Mok-ha if she ever gets to meet her.

The request moved Ran-joo, and she ended up writing a song about it. Mok-ha sings that song and is then seen waiting for someone, possibly Ki-ho, with flowers in her hand.

Review

Ran-joo goes from being a forgotten star with low self-esteem to a woman who is confident enough to fight for what she deserves. She doesn’t change entirely in a day, which makes her character development as believable as it is satisfying.
The episode first familiarizes the audience with Ran-joo’s character and then depicts what has become of her. It is easy to sympathize with her, and that is why her growth is satisfying.
Ran-joo and Mok-ha become friends and roommates in this episode. The two women support each other in every way possible. Now that Mok-ha is Ran-joo’s manager, the audience will get to see more of their sweet relationship.