12 hours ago
I Am A Running Mate – K-drama Episode 7 Recap & Review
Final Statement
Episode 7 of I am Running Mate starts with the red team taking another hit when a video of Won-dae losing his cool over a football match surfaces on the internet. His popularity drops to 39 per cent while Sang-hyeon's increases to 48 per cent.
However, the talk and bickering between the red and blue teams caused more students to boycott the elections. Ui-jun and a few members of Won-dae's campaign team chose to quit active participation in the campaigns.
The final rally begins on the day of the elections. Both teams are bummed out because of the recent fights and personal jabs at other students that are potentially harming their academic lives.
Ji-hun is called to the disciplinary committee because of the forgeries. Simultaneously, Gyeong-tae is banned from participating in the election campaigns. Emotions and tensions run high during the final rally.
When Won-dae's team sneakily posts his campaign poster over the blue team's posters on their dais, a fight breaks out between the two teams. Due to the physical confrontation, statistics show that a significant percentage of students, 25 per cent, chose to boycott the elections, 48% supported Won-dae, and 47% supported Sang-hyeon.
The police show up and pick up Jae-won. It turns out that the previous night, Hyeon-jin had traced the IP address of the anonymous social media account to the college student Hee-chan.
Jae-won, Sang-hyeon, and Hyeon-jin had confronted Hee-chan and offered to buy his phone and laptop, but he refused. Hee-chan picked a fight with them, and Jae-won was forced to fight back. At the police station, Jae-won's mother tries to plead with Hee-chan, but they refuse to listen to Jae-won and his mother.
Tensions remain high in the school as they prepare to listen to the final speeches from the candidate. The first to give a speech is Won-dae. In his remarks, he apologises for the bickering, the slander, the fights, and the fake news that his team was involved in during the election campaigns.
Won-dae chooses to throw Gyeong-tae under the bus by promising the school that, if elected, he will hold him responsible for all the destruction and the wrongs he committed during the elections. Won-dae says that Gyeong-tae did everything alone, and only he will be held accountable. Gyeong-tae breaks down and runs out of the hall in tears.
Won-dae's underhanded tactics continue until the last minute. When Sang-hyeon takes the stage, he is well-dressed and intelligent, which catches the students' attention. Two students egg him just as he starts his speech. Sang-hyeon panics as the students had knocked a water bottle over his tablet, and it shut down. Without a speech, Sang-hyeon wants to quit.
Se-hoon goes on stage to help Sang-hyeon, but he scolds him. He is angry because Se-hoon being on stage embarrasses him further. Earlier, Sang-woo confessed to Se-hoon that their meeting at the café was not a coincidence, but he had it all planned, including Joon-gyu and his mother, talking him into believing Sang-hyeon needed him. Therefore, on stage, Se-hoon gives Sang-hyeon an idea.
For them to win the elections, Sang-hyeon has to let it all go and seem crazy. Se-hoon advises him to confess to everything and show his two-faced character. Sang-hyeon crashes his expensive tablet and speaks what is on his mind.
Tae-oh explains to the students watching from class that Sang-hyeon took a different approach from Won-dae. While Won-dae chose to paint himself as a saint and push all the blame to Gyeon-tae, Sang-hyeon embraced his narcissistic character by taking all the responsibility upon himself for all the underhanded campaign tactics used by his team.
In this regard, Sang-hyeon thanks his supporters for standing with him even when he scolded them and got angry. He apologises to Jeong-hui since he chose her as a running mate, knowing she was smart and could win over the teachers.
Sang-hyeon tells the truth about the party and adds that he has held a few like those. He says that he secretly recorded Se-hoon's conversation about Ji-hun, leaked it, and apologised to Ji-hun.
At the end of the episode, Sang-hyeon takes the blame for all his team did during the elections. He asks the school to hold him responsible and let him atone for his sins by serving them diligently for the following year.
The Episode Review
Sang-hyeon is so good at manipulation. He got all of us, and the surprising thing is that his speech almost felt sincere. Wow! Won-dae might just end up losing his election because he betrayed the one person who stood by him through everything.
From the perspective of the voters, they might lose trust in him after seeing how fast and coldly he threw Gyeong-tae under the bus.
At this point, the voters will be choosing one of the lesser evils between the two. If you were a student, who would you vote for? Well, let's jump into the finale and see who will win!
