Tag: racket boys

Week in Review (Aug 15 – 21, 2021)

~ colourfulgranny ~ Leave a comment

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

Racket Boys (2021) – Ep 9-16

Do you ever come across a show where you look forward to watching it each week, but you also can’t bring yourself to watch it too quickly for fear it will be over soon? That’s what Racket Boys was, a weekly dose of fun, humour and heart, all rolled into one perfect show. When I found out that the show was only going to be once a week due to the Olympic preemptions, I decided to wait until it had finished airing, because I didn’t want to drag out my viewing experience. I’m glad I did, because I don’t know how I could have waited through those cliffhangers each week.

The show managed to build incredible tension in its final few weeks, with the girls and boys competing in the National Competitions. Each week seemed to bring out a new facet of our players’ personalities, and it was such a delight watching not only the kids grow, but also the adults take it upon themselves to do better and be better. It was nice seeing the invincible Coach Ra (Oh Na-ra) have a moment of struggle when she was without her star player but have her juniors show her the way back. Coach Yoon (Kim Sang-kyung) was similarly self-reflective, apologizing to the boys for his shortcomings as a coach and promising to do proud by them in the future. Even some of the veteran coaches were shown that just because they’ve seen everything doesn’t mean there aren’t some more surprises waiting around the corner for them.

That is exactly what the our Racket Boys showed them, with their dedication to teamwork, training and even letting their pride take a backseat for the greater good of the team. Woo-chan (Choi Hyun-wook) in particular displayed this last quality greatly; rather than insisting he wanted to play knowing he wan’t on the same level as the others, he gave in to sit on the sidelines so others could shine. I’m glad that Coach Yoon managed to take everyone’s prejudice against him and found the perfect opportunity to let him play the final game with Hae-kang (Tang Joon-sang).

Hae-kang had the most difficult journey as a player, with his injury seemingly career-ending, but even there they found a solution. In-sol (Kim Min-ki) was the true hero in Hae-kang’s journey, providing strategic advantages and encouragement, finding solutions to unsolvable problems. Those two boys could not have been further apart in personality, but when paired together they were virtually undefeatable. The writers definitely excelled in this arena, taking two extremes and finding a happy middle ground between them.

They also did fabulously when it came to showing the struggle on identity that several of our players felt during the show. Yong-tae (Kim Kang-hoon) in particular was so caught up in trying to imitate his idol, that he forgot to be himself in the game. However, once he met that idol, and realized that there’s more to him than just what he can emulate, it opened up a whole new dynamic to his game. Han-sol (Lee Ji-won) similarly struggled with figuring out what she was, using Se-yoon (Lee Jae-in) as a crutch to her gameplay. I liked that they showed that she could have just as much confidence in her game by having Se-yoon there with her in spirit as her being there in person. (I also liked the misdirect of having us think that she would think of Yoon-dam (Son Sang-yeon) to cheer her up just because he’s her boyfriend, when really girls always stick together.)

By far my favourite part of the show was its tongue-in-cheek style of humour. Whether it was characters breaking the fourth wall for product placements (with confused onlooker wondering who they were talking to) or it was the adults trying and failing miserably to relate to their kids (like Coach saying the boys were better than BTS and the boys instantly distancing themselves for fear of backlash), the show always managed to make me laugh. This was mixed in with plenty of heartwarming moments too, from the tribute to the village elder to Coach Bae (Shin Jung-keun) introducing his protege, Tae-soon, to the girls and boys to help boost his confidence and show him his worth.

I’m genuinely upset that I have to say goodbye to the show, but I’m glad to say that I got to see it off so well. The Racket Boys (and Girls) in this show were some of the best characters on TV, and I’m sure I’ll end up revisiting these characters very soon.

Week in Review (Jun 20 – 26, 2021)

~ colourfulgranny ~ Leave a comment

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

Hospital Playlist 2 (2021) – Ep 1-2

The Yulje crew is back!

And they are just as good as ever. The show picks up exactly where it left off, and it feels like the cast hasn’t missed a beat since they ended the last season. With a few meta jokes about how Ik-joon’s (Jo Jeong-seok) kid seems to have grown overnight, the show returns to all it’s usual shenanigans.

The first episode seems intent on wrapping up all the cliffhangers it left us with at the end of the first season, and staying true to her signature style, most of them turned out far less dramatic than they seemed. Seok-hyung (Kim Dae-myung) goes to see his ex-wife after he learns that her father is admitted to the hospital. Jun-wan’s (Jung Kyoung-ho) returned ring was cleared up with a quick phone call and it turned out that Ik-soon (Kwak Sun-young) just wasn’t home when it was delivered. Jeong-won (Yoo Yeon-seok) and Gyeo-wool (Shin Hyun-bin) are officially a couple, and Song-hwa (Jeon Mi-do) neatly turns Ik-joon down on his hypothetical offer to date.

I like that the show continues to give us interesting doctor-patient interactions. It can often get quite boring when you have a case-of-the-week format, but Hospital Playlist has always excelled in making us connect with the patients that visit Yulje, because they aren’t there just for the week.

The most interesting patient so far was Kim Su-jeong (guest star An Si-ha), who comes to the ER after she realizes that her water has burst before her baby has even completed half its term. Not only does she serve to provide an interesting medical situation, but it also helps to show us the contrast between the different doctors at Yulje. Min-ha (Ahn Eun-jin) notes how the same patient examined within the space of a few hours by two different doctors completely changed the outlook. It also gave us an incredible insight into how Seok-hyung works as a doctor, something that did not get nearly enough attention last season. I want to know more about the inner workings of his mind, since he seems like the most thoughtful of the group.

On a personal front, they all continue to have various levels of struggles and success. Jun-wan and Ik-soon are going strong, and it makes me happy to see them communicating with one another. Song-hwa’s mystery coffee fairy on the other hand makes me nervous for another one-sided crush, much like we were teased with Ahn Chi-hong (Kim Joon-han) and the shoes last season.

I have no doubt that the show will continue to be insightful and heartfelt, and I’m excited to see what Writer Lee Woo-jung and Director Shin Won-ho have in store for us. I’m equally excited to see some excellent covers by our in-house band, Mido and The Parasols.

Racket Boys (2021) – Ep 1-8

This show is so wholesome it’s killing me with cuteness! It’s not everyday that we get to see a show about competitive middle school badminton, but Racket Boys is about so much more than that. The show manages to encompass the financial struggle of family forced to move from the city to the countryside, and how they try to fit in with the people around them. The school itself is looking for someone to turn their team around and bring back their former glory. Finally, it deals with the stresses of being a teenager, especially teenagers that have adults constantly pushing them and relying on them for their own glories.

After having watched Prison Playbook, and knowing that the same writer was in charge here, I was sure that the ensemble dynamic would be excellent. What I wasn’t expecting was how I would love each one of them. From the hot-headed Hae-kang (Tang Joon-sang) to the reserved Se-yoon (Lee Jae-in), I have yet to find a character that I dislike. The coaches may seem strict and the townspeople prickly, but ultimately those are just facades they put on to protect themselves, and you understand where they might be coming from.

By far my favourite character is Hae-kang. I love how he so many dichotomies in him. He’s competitive but carefree, walking with an air of confidence that only a fourteen-year-old kid can. However, he often shows a maturity far beyond his year, whether it’s towards his sister (Ahn Se-bin), Se-yoon or the kindly halmoni Ome (Cha Mi-kyung) next door, that I sometimes forget that he’s just a middle-schooler who likes playing video games and wants his mom (Oh Na-ra) when he’s hurt. I was already blown away by Tang’s acting prowess in Move to Heaven, but Yoon Hae-kang is a masterful character when placed in his capable hands. He is absolutely slaying it, and I love him even more every time he smirks and says “It’s me! I’m Yoon Hae-kang!”

When the rest of the kids are added into the mix we get true magic. Each of them brings their own brand of charm, whether it Yoon-dam’s (Son Sang-yeon) leadership, Se-yoon’s cool-headedness, or the optimistic dynamic duo of Woo-chan and Yong-tae (Choi Hyun-wook and Kim Kang-hoon respectively). They really take Coach Bae’s (Shin Jung-keun) words to heart: “We win as a team. We lose as team.” And they do pretty much everything else as a team too, including being embarrassed by Coach Yoon (Kim Sang-kyung) and protecting other teams from Hae-kang’s violent outbursts.

Going forward, I’m looking forward to see how the team continue to bond. Now that they know Hae-kang isn’t going anywhere, the Racket Boys seem much more at ease. I’m also loving the lovely innocence of the way that the writer is developing the lovelines between Se-yoon and Hae-kang, as well as the more direct approach with Han-sol (Lee Ji-won) and Yoon-dam.