2 Outs in the 9th Inning

2 Outs in the 9^th Inning

4.5/10

2 Outs in the 9th Inning 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2007

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Hong Nan Hee and Byun Hyung Tae have been friends for as long as they can remember. They have an uncommonly close friendship where they can always call each other, drink together, and support each other. Their close friendship has often been the cause of trouble in their relationships. As Nan Hee turns 30, she realises that she is running out of time, and may only have one chance left for love. She is currently dating Kim Jung Joo, a talented baseball pitcher whose dream is to play in the American Major League, who is eight years her junior. After a disagreement with her mother, Nan Hee moves out of her family home. With hardly any money and nowhere else to go, she moves into Byun Hyung Tae’s house. As the two grow even closer, they realise that their friendship may be the reason they have never had a successful relationship, and that they must choose- love or friendship?

Cast:

Soo Ae (Hong Nan Hee)

Lee Jung Jin (Byun Hyung Tae)

Lee Tae Sung (Kim Jung Joo)

Hwang Ji Hyun (Yoon Sung Ah)

Lee Sang Woo (Lee Jun Mo)

Jo Eun Ji (Kim Chun Hee)

Park Hye Young (Park Ji Sun)

General Thoughts:

Don’t be deceived, apart from a few wild analogies- it has nothing to do with baseball. Seriously though, it’s not a bad drama, it just moves incredibly slowly. There’s basically nothing going on besides the gradual development of feelings between Hong Nan Hee and Byun Hyung Tae.

Most baseball action in the whole drama

Apart from our two main leads, hardly any characters get any development. A significant portion of the drama was devoted to Kim Jung Joo, and then he just sort of disappears. Besides Kim Chun Hee, we actually don’t know much about anyone else in the supposedly tight-knit group of friends. The drama could have been so much more heart-warming had it focused a little more on the friends as a group, rather than Nan Hee and Byung Tae as a couple. While there were definitely cute moments between our main couple, a lot of the time it felt like rehashing what we already knew. “I want to move out” vs. “I want you to stay”, “I want to love you” vs. “Don’t risk the friendship”. I originally started out watching the episodes back-to-back, but had to change pretty quickly to leaving at least a day’s gap between them, because I was just getting so frustrated at how slowly things were moving.

Cute snapshot of life over 30

The characters themselves were very realistic and believable. No one made big, bold moves that really created a sh*tstorm, because no one wanted to mess up their lives. Unfortunately though, this did contribute to the plot moving at a snail’s pace.

What Was Great:

Noona Romance:

Long live noona romances. They are just adorable. There are few things better than watching a young man battle against the odds to claim the affections of the woman he wholeheartedly loves. And Jung Joo is such a great character. He’s got our typical younger male puppy-love, immature jealousy, and burning passion. All must-haves for a good noona romance.

Can you get any cuter? 

He has that little bit of uniqueness as through all his actions, he constantly holds that tiny piece of fear that he will lose Nan Hee because he is not man enough.

Sad reality of the noona romance

This drama delved into some big, realistic problems with noona romances: the simultaneous pride and embarrassment of your partner, family objections on both sides, and loss of time. It was heart aching to watch the two circle each other, with Nan Hee feeling both like she was running out of time, and as if she was stealing time and youth from Jung Joo. My favourite parts of the drama definitely involved Jung Joo. It was after his disappearance that I felt the plot started to lose steam.

Questionable Friendship:

The relationship between our two main leads was pretty great. They were so comfortable around each other that gender didn’t play an important role- but then we got those awkward moments when our character would think ‘Oh, he’s handsome’, or ‘She’s like a woman today’.

Adequately amusing shenanigans

The friendship also laid the groundwork for mass-jealousy. We had jealousy from the outside- those romantically involved, jealousy from within- when they felt the girl/boyfriend was closer than them, and jealousy of each other- when one had a partner and the other didn’t. It was relaxing and easy to watch the dynamics constantly shift around, but again, not a lot actually happened.

What Wasn’t:

Slooooooow:
I’ve basically said all I need to on this. The plot was slow. Nothing actually happens. There’s some things that happen in the workplace, and a few things that happen with outside relationships, but not much. Nothing is given even close to the same amount of development that is given to Nan Hee X Jung Joo and Nan Hee X Hyung Tae.

That sexual tension though

There were a lot of half-assed side plots that never really found their feet- they just kind of lurked in the shadows debating whether or not to emerge.

Friendship Circle:

What little glimpses we got of all the friends together were actually really nice. But we were never given enough information on anyone. Supposedly Lee Jun Mo was a major contender to become Nan Hee’s husband- but did any of us believe he actually stood a chance? No. Because All we knew about him was that he dated Nan Hee a while ago, and they broke up because of Hyung Tae. We all KNEW our main couple would end up together- but a little contest would have been appreciated.

Everyone loves a bit of boy biffo

It was the same sort of thing with Yoon Sung Ah. She and Hyung Tae dated. She and Hyung Tae broke up. She and Hyung Tae dated again. That’s pretty much all there is to it. Oh, and she cheated with the dead guy. Speaking of the dead guy- what up with that? It was as though the writers only thought of this development a minute before they put it in. It could have been a MAJOR development, but it was just swept under the rug.

Oh I'm sorry, who are you?

The impact of his death on his friends was interesting to watch, but would have tugged a whole lot more heartstrings if, you know, we actually KNEW any of them. Also, why would Nan Hee not tell Hyung Tae that guitar-girl cheated on him? The dynamic between the two girls was a tad wishy-washy, I could barely even tell if they were openly competing against each other for Hyung Tae or if they just enjoyed saying snarky things every now and then.

Honestly, as much as I hate flashback sequences, I feel this drama may have needed some, or at least something to develop the group of friends beyond ‘our main couple’s mutual friends’.

Friends or Love?:

Similarly to many points in this drama, it just dragged on for too long. Really, as soon as it got to the point where Hyung Tae was ready to walk away from their friendship because it wouldn’t survive their marriages to other people, Nan Hee should have been on board. She had nothing to lose at that point anyway.

Ha Ha

While it was great to have all the awkward of slowly realising their feelings, and questioning their intentions- there was just this lull from about 2/3s in.

This guy knows what's up

Everybody knew they were ending up together. Legit everyone. It was charming for a while have our support characters chuckling from the sides, knowing how their relationship would play out but it was a little overused and bordered on irritating after a while when our main lady didn’t respond. Because, let’s be honest, Hyung Tae really did all he could.

Holiday:

It was adorable. The whole scene was pretty picture perfect and played out quite nicely. The casual confession and suggestion, begrudging acceptance, giggly honeymoon phase. I was expecting when our main couple returned from their getaway that they would be smacked with some real-world problems, and watch them slug it out together (similar to Nan Hee and Jung Joo at the start). But alas, Nan Hee turns into a big chicken and backs out of everything, and we’re back to square one- but this time with a very frustrated Hyunng Tae and a very frustrated audience. It’s understandable that she doesn’t want to ruin the friendship- it is. But when Hyung Tae was ready to walk away from their friendship anyway, and Nan Hee STILL didn’t suck it up and dive in, I wanted to smack her. Smack her hard.

What's not to like?

Development for Nothing:

I was so invested in Jung Joo’s character. Not gonna lie, when he was around vying for Nan Hee’s heart I was rooting for him- even though we all know he wouldn’t get the girl in the end. His determined passion was just so inherently likeable. He goes through so much struggle and development, and is such a driving force in the beginning stages of this drama, so I couldn’t help but feel a little gypped when he vanished off for America with no return. It makes sense storywise why he went- it was his dream, and Nan Hee would have been constantly looking towards him wanting to go back to him that it would have made things difficult to progress.

Come back Jung Joo!

While I suppose that this rings true to real life- after a serious breakup that’s the end of the role that person will play in your life, I just so desperately didn’t want it to be the end of Jung Joo’s role in this drama. At least we got the 10 second video at the end, so we know he was smashing it in American baseball.

Re-watch?

No, once was definitely enough. The development of feelings was cute to watch, and Nan Hee and Hyung Tae were both likeable characters- but everything just moved far too slow. Not every drama has to have a racing plot, but it does need at least a little forward momentum.

It may have taken 16 hours, but we got there in the end