Race Episode 2 Recap and Review: Quick

Race (레이스) is the latest K-drama addition to Disney+ Hotstar's catalogue of Korean content, and it has been directed by Lee Dong-yoon and written by Kim Roo-ri. Starring Lee Yeon-hee as Park Yoon-jo, Moon So-ri as Goo Yi-jung, Hong Jong-hyun as Ryu Jae-min, Jung Yun-ho (TVXQ's Yunho) as Seo Dong-hoon in the titular roles, the workplace drama premiered on May 10, 2023, with its first 2 episodes.

Race Episode 2 has a runtime of 56 minutes.

– Race Episode 2 Review Contains Spoilers –

The closer-to-life workplace dramedy and its fun ensemble follow Park Yoon-jo's drive and professionalism at a PR agency. Despite not pursuing a formal education, her undeterred work ethic is her biggest strength. After landing a job at a Korean conglomerate, she believes that she's finally on her way to achieve great things until the truth of her employment is revealed and brings her down again. Nevertheless, she keeps treading on the same path, charting a journey to prove she's right where she belongs and deserves to be. Yoon-jo's Race will stand as a testament that hustling through hardships does make a difference and that one's worth can't be defined by their CV.

Once it's PR Joa's turn to present their campaign, they’re constantly rebuked by the Seyong PR team leader for one reason or another. Ultimately, Hee-young has no other choice but to complete the presentation instead of Yoon-jo since she's the CEO. The PR team leader continues to interrupt her and disparage her about how she's presenting for a cosmetics company without makeup. Since the previously presenting CEOs were all men, Yoon-jo hits him back with a sharp response to stand up for her CEO.

The two ladies later ease off their minds by sharing drinks at a restaurant, where they’re also joined by Dong-hoon, who's introduced as Hee-young's old acquaintance. While she seems to have swallowed all bitter thoughts of the day for the time being, Yoon-jo can't sit back quietly and vents her frustration. She soon walks out alone in the heavy rain as Jae-min reaches out to her. Not taking his calls, she leaves him a message to meet her at their mutual friend, Eun's bar – Utopia.

On meeting him there, she loads off her emotions and blames him for pretending he knew nothing about the scheme. However, she later acknowledges that he was equally helpless in the situation, and the two make up.

Going back to official business, the Chief Strategy Officer, Lim Ji-hyeon, comes into the picture and is introduced as the only daughter of Seyong's founder, the later Lim Chang-soo. Since the news about Seyong's PR department being bribed to accept Earth Comm as its partner was leaked in the previous episode, the department was obviously under fire. Ji-hyeon is reminded of the same issue by the company's Vice President, who hints at absorbing the PR department under his jurisdiction if the issue persists.

To clean up the mess created, Ji-hyeon calls in the leading members of the PR team, and so, Jae-min is dragged into the mess as well. On the other hand, their new proposition faces more counters as the company chooses the campaign prepared by Yoon-jo instead despite knowing that Seyong has no choice but to bring in Earth Comm. This creates an even more unfair situation as the planning department decides on swindling PR Joa of their strategy and passing it down to Earth Comm instead.

Jae-min again faces another conflict of interest but finds a worthy opportunity to make amendments upon being summoned by Ji-hyeon. While his higher-ups in the PR department aren't able to come up with a way to bury the news of their power abuse, he introduces the shiny proposition of "non-discriminatory employment", which would allow for candidates to be hired based on their experience, in turn letting the employees pick the people they want to work with. At the back of his mind, Jae-min already knows that Yoon-jo would also apply for this opportunity.

Ji-hyeon's plans of bringing in the PR consultant, Goo Yi-jung are also revealed, further shedding light on their past interactions. As she goes on about her plans to get the veteran back to Korea, on the other side, Yoon-jo has plans to acquire a new client for PR Joa. She's already had her eyes on the up-and-coming bakery ‘Ang's Bread’, which had become a local hit in their community, especially among high schoolers. She dives into negotiations with the owners to crack a deal with their agency. Being low on funds, they can't even think of paid promotions, but Yoon-jo assures them that the payment issue can be resolved once they start gaining good profits through her campaign.

She helped rebrand the bakery, which became a rising phenomenon until it reached famous celebrities’ ears. ‘Ang's Bread’ makes it big, and Yoon-jo takes pride in her work. This brings us back to Jae-min's proposition of the non-discriminatory hiring process, as his team leader only decides the earned positions to be granted to the candidates temporarily. Nevertheless, accepts his small win for the time being, and the news of the same is propagated through all means of communication.

Dong-hoon visits his senior, Hee-young, aka PR Joa's CEO, to relay how he's been tasked to plagiarise the campaign mapped out by Yoon-jo for their initial presentation at Seyong. However, she eventually gives in since he's equally conflicted about playing the bad guy in this situation. She decides that Yoon-jo would be better off at his agency instead, making it easier for him to use the strategy she devised as well.

Yoon-jo studies the ways of the PR veteran Goo Yi-jung during her time off. This eventually flies us off to New York, where she's been living for a while as a consultant but is incessantly receiving offers to return to the Korean scene. However, Ji-hyeon knows not how back down and is willing to beg to get her way.

Meanwhile, Jae-min and Eun also plan to bet on Yoon-jo applying for the Seyong job. As they discuss the issue, he receives an e-mail confirming the final shortlisted candidates’ names, including Yoon-jo. In a parallel scene, Dong-hoon offers Yoon-jo the opportunity to step in as a team leader for Earth Comm.

With episode 2, we realise that Jae-min is equally professional with his work; he's just been rattled by the ongoing ceaseless instances of workplace politics and discrimination and has been morally put down by the whole rigmarole. As soon as he's done sweeping up one mess created by his higher-ups, a new one comes knocking at his door, and he has no choice but to submit. On the other hand, Yoon-jo is drawn out as a character in stark contrast with him, as we also see her voicing her concerns even if it requires her to go up against a conglomerate's employee in the higher stands.

The upcoming episodes are also bound to map out banters between Ji-hyeon and Goo Yi-jung, and it will make for a refreshing trip once Yoon-jo joins Seyong in the future too. All three of them have been introduced as individualist women in the workplace environment who hold their own, so seeing them all in action together will be a sight to behold.

So far, the series has kept up its pace and mood as a light-hearted dramedy, which may be different from everyone's piece of cake. However, suppose you desire to watch something that can help you wind down and be easily digested without putting a lot of thought into it while presenting you with a realistic slice of life. In that case, this K-drama should undoubtedly be your new pick.

Race is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

Also read: Our Reviews of Race Season 1