Thumping Spike

Thumping Spike

4.5/10

Thumping Spike

Genre:                                Episodes: 20                          Year: 2016

School

Comedy

Romance

Synopsis:

In order to dodge a potential lawsuit, top volleyball star Kang Se Ra decides to coach the floundering Daehan High School volleyball team. She is helped by the Team Captain, Baek Woo Jin- however the team’s star player, Hwang Jae Woong, dislikes both the new Coach and the Team Captain.

Cast:

Song Jae Rim (Hwang Jae Woong)

Hwang Seung Eon (Kang Se Ra)

Lee Tae Hwan (Baek Woo Jin)

Son Ho Young (Kim Ki Joon)

Ha Seung Ri (Son Soo Bin)

Shin Hyun Soo (Lee Han Sol)

General Thoughts:

It’s cute, it’s fluffy, it’s a typical web-series. It starts off pretty average as initially the character of Se Ra is a bit of an entitled brat, but once the romance gets going it becomes much more enjoyable. Plot-wise the series is a little weird. The writers chose to focus on Se Ra and Jae Woong as our main characters, with hardly anyone else in the series getting much development or characterisation at all.

No one else reeaaaally matters

Woo Jin and Ki Joon are given a fair amount of screen-time, but are not really given much story of their own. Instead they only seem to be important because of their feelings for Se Ra and how Se Ra views them in return- but not really as characters in their own right. The rest of the volleyball team are really nothing more than goofy, archetype characters who are only there because you need more than two boys on a volleyball team.

I know the names of maybe three guys on the team

Looking at the way the characterisations are set up and how much importance (and screen time) is given to our leading couple, you’d think that the main storylines would be about their developing relationship and obstacles that get in the way of that relationship. But instead, the plot circles the volleyball team’s journey to winning the main tournament. Which is satisfying as this means Se Ra succeeded as a coach and Jae Woong would get to go to the university of his choice- but it didn’t really hit the super satisfying note that it would have if we had spent a little more time getting to know a few of the other boys on the team. What would have been super satisfying would have been seeing the cute, adorable love-line between our leads come to complete fruition. But that doesn’t really happen. Se Ra gets surgery and goes to Germany. Really? That’s how you’re going to wrap this up? Screw that- all I wanted was them having a good ol’ snog at the end of the tournament and ending it right there. That would have been great. But no. Instead we get Germany.

Should have just ended the series here

In regards to acting it’s all satisfactory for a web-series. The character of Se Ra was pretty bland so Hwang Seung Eon didn’t really have a heap to work with. Thankfully her chemistry with Song Jae Rim was pretty rocking, so once her character stopped being a whiney brat you could really let yourself get swept up in the cute whirlwind between them.

Not as annoying as she could have been- so that's a plus

Song Jae Rim was awesome. He does aloof and superior so well, and it was great to see his chilly exterior melted (very quickly I might add) by Se Ra. There’s basically nothing to say about anyone else in this drama, as no one else (character-wise) really matters. It could have been 20 episodes of just Jae Woong and Se Ra and it would have achieved the same results, just in a slightly different way. The volleyball boys were there for the occasional laugh or to say/do something that couldn’t be said or done by either of our main leads. Lee Tae Hwan didn’t give his most convincing performance of the year, but it wasn’t outright bad. And really, if he had to give a mediocre performance in anything this year, at least it was this drama and not his others. I tend to prefer him in more bad-boy/tough-guy roles (which is what he seems to be good at), so I found his character here to be a bit too smiley for my taste. In regards to music, I can’t actually remember any part of any song from the soundtrack, so it’s safe to say that it was pretty unremarkable. The only camerawork that left any lasting impression was ‘jeez I think I’ve seen this transition shot of the empty running track about ten times now’. It’s not that the editing or cinematography wasn’t good- it was just pleasantly mediocre. 

What Was Great:

Our Main Man:

Song Jae Rim really smashed it out of the park as the leading man. Having a weak male lead would have destroyed this series, as it was basically the only thing that was keeping it entertaining. Jae Woong falling for Se Ra and trying to win her over (while also trying to fight off every other guy with more than 5 seconds of screen-time) was basically what made this drama. He was endearing and easy to root for.

Good grief that boy's good lookin'

His character didn’t really get much in the way of backstory. He was once injured and has a sick sister, but after being told that neither of these facts really come into play later down the track. Song Jae Rim gives a strong and convincing performance, and it was easy to fall in love with him and his character. He also made Se Ra seem much more likeable. While she started out as a rather irritating character, through her interactions with Jae Woong, she became much more tolerable- and even a little likeable. 

Pretty darn adorable

Cute Factor:

The main love-line was super cute- which is just as well because that’s really all there is. While it’s nice to see the volleyball team doing well and starting to step it up, it’s the romance between Jae Woong and Se Ra that kept us all moving on to the next episode. Song Jae Rim and Hwang Seung Eon were adorable together and sold the romance well. While it was easy to forget that Jae Woong was supposed to be four years younger than Se Ra, in the end it didn’t really matter. 

What Wasn’t:

No Other Characters:

Beyond our two main leads, no one else really matters. They’re kinda there just because this story wouldn’t have exactly worked with only two characters. The writers seemed to give them as little development as possible in order to squish in more scenes of Jae Woong and Se Ra. Which is fine. In a longer, more serious drama this lack of characterisation would be a huge downfall, but ‘Thumping Spike’ is able to get away with having hardly any characters in it. We have to see development between the leads in every episode, and as the episodes were so short this meant that most of every episode was given to our leads.

Some guys who are here for...wait...why are they here?

It’s not a gaping black hole in the series- it just might have been nice to have a smidge more on the other boys sprinkled throughout the series rather than just in the final speech after the tournament victory.

Re-watch?

Maybe. While it’s definitely not the greatest drama out there, it’s short, sweet and straight to the point. Song Jae Rim really rocks it, and it’s a good drama for a small bit of fluff you can watch and enjoy without having to think too hard (or at all).

All I know is: I <3 Song Jae Rim

Uncontrollably Fond

Uncontrollably Fond

6/10

Uncontrollably Fond

Genre:                                     Episodes: 20                         Year: 2016

Romance

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Shin Joon Young and No Eul have known each other since high school. Now in adulthood, the two meet each other once more. Joon Young has become a famous celebrity while Eul has become a PD. Needing work to pay off her debts, Eul convinces Joon Young to let her be the PD in charge of shooting a documentary about his life. 

Cast:

Kim Woo Bin (Shin Joon Young)

Bae Suzy (No Eul)

Lim Ju Hwan (Choi Ji Tae)

Lim Ju Eun (Yoon Jung Eun)

Yoo Oh Sung (Choi Hyun Joon)

Jin Kyung (Shin Young Ok)

Lee Seo Won (No Jik)

General Thoughts:

I really wanted to like this drama more than I actually ended up liking it. While watching it I found myself constantly making excuses for the situations and the characters because I so badly wanted this to be a series that I loved.

Uncontrollably Attractive 

But as the show sloooooowly unveiled (and I mean slowly), it became more and more apparent that this drama just wasn’t quite up to scratch. There were aspects of the drama that were amazing, but also aspects that were infuriating. The general idea is fantastic- a man has only a few months to live and wants to spend that time with the woman he loves. Awesome. There’s more than enough in that situation alone to make a sweet, swoony, yet heart-breaking story. Throw in a birth-secret (because it’s a melo, of course there’s a birth secret) and things get a little more heated when our hero’s father turns out to be a man involved in the death of our heroine’s father. It sounds wounderful, and on paper it looks like a drama that should work beautifully- but it doesn’t. And the reason it doesn’t is because the writer just plain didn’t know how to tell the story. It’s a typical 20 episode series where the writer aims for more episodes than the story can actually cover, so things started getting spread pretty thin in the middle there. I think I watched about 5 episodes of Joon Young quietly acting like an ass while Eul quietly stood outside his house looking sad, and not much else happened. Yeah, yawn.

Nobody in this drama makes any sense

The story just collapsed under it’s own melodramatic weight, try as Woo Bin and Suzy may to keep the whole thing from crumbling around them. Which is really such a shame as they both put in pretty fantastic performances (despite what people say about Suzy).

I'll have him in my family if you don't want him

I found all the acting to be believable- from our stars to our support cast, and the actors did a great job at keeping me invested in the story when I actually came to not really giving a poo about the plot- because they acted their characters with such sincerity and depth that they always had an underlying likableness about them. Some characters did drive me a bit batty though (namely Joon Young’s mum- because who doesn’t want Woo Bin as their son?). I found both the mothers in this drama to be pretty incomprehensible at times. Joon Young’s mum basically disowned Joon Young because he quit studying to become a prosecutor and instead became super rich and super famous. Yeah, don’t really see the problem there, but whatever. Her character did come around as she started to care for Eul, and Joon Young through Eul, but unfortunately she returns to the realm of the incomprehensible once she decides to avoid her dying son rather than actually spending any time with him. Because what’s better than being ignored by your mother in your final dying days? And Ji Tae’s mum was just straight up evil. I mean she hits her own son with a truck in order to maintain her own status and power- need I say more? 

What Was Great:

The Acting:

Everyone was fab. Yes, even Suzy. Sadly, I feel as though Suzy copped a lot of the criticism for the drama being such a flop as she was such an easy target, but she actually did a great job.

I thought Suzy was pretty fab personally

Eul wasn’t the easiest character to act as she was a character who mostly kept her feelings hidden- which doesn’t give the actress a lot to work with. Frankly, while there were some moments when I thought Suzy’s acting could have been a tad better they were few and far between, and I’ve seen worse acing from actual actresses.

The chemistry was pretty solid too

I thought Suzy did a brilliant job, and really brought Eul to life in a warm, likeable way. Woo Bin was just phenomenal. He gave Joon Young a depth I’m almost positive wasn’t there on paper. He shredded my heart in the best melo way, and I was blown away at what an incredible actor he was in this series. Even in the long middle portion, Woo Bin was able to keep Joon Young from being a dislikable character. Sure, he was frustrating and I kinda waned to slap him a bit, but I never hated him and could always tell that there was a reason behind his actions. Even though I didn’t know what that reason was. And even though it turned out to be a pretty crummy reason. Lim Ju Hwan was awesome as our second male lead- he never really outshone Woo Bin (which is what you want in a second lead), but was likeable enough in his own right. Yoo Oh Seung was wonderful as Ji Tae’s father, as you were never quite sure how far along the villainy scale he really was. Yoo Oh Seung perfectly displayed Hyun Joon’s conflicted feelings, and his gradual awakening to what a monster he was becoming. He made it seem totally plausible that Hyun Joon would have a change of heart, and presented it to us in a natural, believable way.

Though I would have just shown the video my dying boyfriend spent a month of his life on to get myself

And Lee Seo Won was adorable as Eul’s baby brother. Jin wasn’t the most complex character to act as he mostly just had cute scenes, but it was a great way for Lee Seo Won to get his face out there and I look forward to seeing him in more dramas.

The Pretty:

Everything was pretty. Kim Woo Bin- pretty. Bae Suzy- pretty. The cinematography- very pretty. The whole show was shot in a very melancholy, broody way that reflected the sadness in the plot. Throw in an amazing soundtrack and you have the makings for a very appealing drama.

Snow makes everything better looking

The Death:

What would have killed this drama (even more so that the writing) would have been if Joon Young had somehow made it out alive. I did have a fear of this happening as they seemed to stress a little that our hero was avoiding treatment, so I thought they might swing for him deciding to get treatment at the end and somehow having a miraculous recovery.

I was a tad surprised when our dying hero actually died

Thankfully that did not happen. Sad as it was, Joon Young needed to die. We’ve known right from the get-go that the whole point of this drama is that this beautiful man is having an unfair, early demise. The wrap-up for Joon Young’s illness was handled extremely well- his symptoms became increasingly worse as the drama went on, and the last two episodes were a heart-tuggingly sad look in on the final stages of this man’s life- his gradual memory-loss was particularly emotional. It was a nice, clean finish for the star after he got the justice for Eul he so desperately wanted. He worked hard in his last months to reveal the cover-up of her father’s death, then moved himself away to live out his last days with the woman he loved (and only occasionally remembered). The start and the finish were truly wonderful highlights of the drama, and I don’t think they could have handled Joon Young’s death any better than they did. 

What Wasn’t:

The Drag:

While the start and the end were brilliant, the middle section of the drama was basically its death. Nothing happened. Joon Young was sad. Eul was sad. I was sad. For five hours. The great part about the set-up of this drama was that it had all the angst it needed- our hero is dying. That’s all that's necessary.

What the f*ck is goin' on here?

It made every aspect of the series have an underlying sadness, because even if our main couple were being very cute and very in love, we knew it couldn’t last because our hero’s days were numbered. It’s all you need. But then the writer threw in all these unnecessary complications with Joon Young hatching plan to woo the woman who ran over Eul’s dad, but fails to tell Eul anything about it.

So snoodly- but so terminal

So Eul is sad because she doesn’t know why Joon Young is acting all aloof. And Joon Young is sad because he can’t be with Eul. Only he could be with Eul if he wanted- he’s just never given her a heads up that he’s running a scam mission to get a confession. I wouldn’t have minded the whole wooing thy enemy thing if there’d been some cute couple cahoots on the side- you know, like how Jung Eun thought there was anyway. The worst kind of angst is angst that is brought on by our leads being idiots- and that’s all this was. We had wonderful, heart-wrenching melodrama in the form of finding ways to tell people that Joon Young is dying and how to cope with the fact- but it was all overshadowed by the never-changing, unentertaining miscommunication and self-destruct antics of our hero. The worst part is that it took SO LONG for his stupid plan to come to fruition. He’s just assing about being mean to Eul and pushing her away (which drastically decreases Eul agency- what’s she supposed to do when she has no information on what’s going on?). There’s also the plot line of Ji Tae standing up to his parents, but that also moves at a snail’s pace and in all honesty- do we really care?

♫ Aaaaaallllll the evil ladies, all the evil ladies ♫

I would have much preferred we spend that time going into the past relationship between Eul and Joon Young (because I feel like there was room for more exploration there) and that we have flashback episodes like episode 2 that would help explain the current personalities of our leads. Alas, that flashback episode only really seemed to be setting up the whole Eul’s-dad’s-death-cover-up plot line thing. Or better yet- they should have just axed five or so episodes. Having 20 was just overkill.

Re-watch?

No. It was uncontrollably long, uncontrollably frustrating, and uncontrollably slow. 

But Woo Bin and Suzy rocked it

Age of Youth

Age of Youth

8/10

Age of Youth

Genre:                               Episodes: 12                         Year: 2016

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Five university students live in a share house, and each girl lives with their own dreams and struggles. The story follows the five girls and their friendships as they learn about each other and the secrets they each keep hidden.

Cast:

Han Ye Ri (Yoon Jin Myung)

Park Hye Soo (Yoo Eun Jae)

Hwa Young (Kang Yi Na)

Han Seung Yeon (Jung Ye Eun)

Park Eun Bin (Song Ji Won)

Shin Hyun Soo (Yoon Jong Yeol)

Yoon Park (Park Jae Wan)

Ji Il Joo (Go Doo Young)

Son Seung Won (Im Sung Min)

Yoon Jong Hoon (Seo Dong Joo)

General Thoughts:

While in no way perfect, the drama still manages to capture hearts, tug at your emotions, and leave in a sadly satisfying way. It’s not often that I find myself sad to watch a drama go (especially not with those longer ones that drag on for more episodes than necessary), but it was a tad sad having to say goodbye to these five wonderful girls.

Our glorious heroines

The writer did such a great job with these characters, as did the actresses who portrayed them. While each girl was distinctly different and had their own quirky characteristics, they never fell into a typical K-Drama heroine category. While the girls definitely had overarching qualities that you could use to label them (studious, shy, glamorous, bubbly, loud) there was so much more to every one of their characters.

Girl friendships are where it's at

To add to how amazing our five heroines were, we had the splendid friendship that was shared between them. The show really hit the nail on the head with the way it began. We enter into this share-house with Eun Jae, who is as new to the situation as we are, so it gives us time to observe the other girls that will be in our story. Then as each episode goes by we have a different main narrator for the hour, with one girl taking centre stage for that episode. Yet the other girls were always present, sometimes coming in with snippets of their own story, sometimes being completely involved in another’s story as either a support, a friend, or an obstacle. As for each girl’s story, they were all unique and different. While most of the stories were a little too dramatic to be considered ‘everyday’ stories, there were always aspects of our characters and their situations that felt similar and relatable: feeling isolated, lost, confused and scared as you try to make your way through the world as an ‘adult’. While none of the storylines were exactly new, the writing and characters were like a breath of fresh air, and completely invigorated the story, making it seem totally original again. I loved that the show felt very ’20’. I haven’t watched a heap of shows that focus on this stage of life, so it was nice to have a drama that was so focused on this period.

Welcome to the 20s- where we drink away our problems

Most dramas tend to go for late 20s-30 and focus on an everlasting love, or on the teens and first love. But ‘Age of Youth’ focuses itself on that weirdly messy period of time in between. Our characters have all made mistakes and have pasts that they have to deal with, but they also have such a question-mark over their futures. Plot-wise I do wish we’d got into some of the stories a little quicker, as while the pacing of the show never felt drawn out (yay for 12 episodes), it did feel a little rushed at the end in regards to Eun Jae’s story, and Ji Won didn’t even really get a story at all.

There were some great love-lines flying around

And while I love that the series focused mainly on the relationships between the girls, I do wish we’d had just a smidge more on the boys. Jae Wan and Doo Young had the perfect amount of screen time and story, but I wouldn’t have been mad if the other three boys were given a little more attention. Jong Yeol had a cute love-line, but did disappear in the middle there as the drama only focused a lot on Eun Jae in the beginning and then at the end. Our other two boys, Sung Min and Dong Joo, were hard to catch a glimpse of. Blink and you might miss them. I do wish that a little more effort had been put into Dong Joo and Yi Na’s relationship, as I found Dong Joo such an interesting character. It’s pretty common to see the ‘sugar daddy’ card played, so I enjoyed that this drama branched out a little and had a male gold-digger. It’s not a new or unheard of concept, but it is rarely seen on screen. His feelings for Yi Na were pretty heavily hinted at, and I dearly wish we could have seen some sort of reciprocated feelings on Yi Na's part. Son Seung Won caught my eye as the young version of the villain in ‘Healer’ and I’ve eagerly anticipated seeing him in more roles since then. Sadly, his character here is pretty blasé and relatively unimportant- but he did sparkle nicely in those scenes he was given.

If you'd made some moves on her maybe you would have gotten more screen-time

The cinematography was beautiful and really gave the whole show a melancholy, reflective feeling. The shots and angles were lovely, but what really caught my attention was the colour of this drama. It’s very soft and clean and gives off a bit of a dream-like, nostalgic quality that was simply stunning. The music helped support this weird (yet totally likeable) melancholy but heartwarming vibe, and really gave the show a sense of endearment. 

What Was Great:

Our Girls:

The characters were great and the actresses were great. If you have both of those things, it’s pretty hard to dislike the characters. Every girl had both likeable and dislikable aspects, and the show really capitalised on that, showing how relationships must overcome these less than wonderful parts of a person in order to be able to continue enjoying all these other wonderful things about them.

You can't not love these girls

What was really sweet about the relationships between the girls is that it wasn’t super in-your-face that they were making a drama that focused on female friendships. While the heart and soul of this drama was definitely all the gal pals, the lovely friendship moments came about in beautifully unforced ways. It was sweet and natural and never overplayed, which only made it that much more rewarding to watch.

Oddly dark for a slice-of-life drama

Rather than having great acts of friendship to display the love between the girls, the show opted for rather mundane, everyday, yet totally heart-tugging ways for the girls to show that they cared, and this made all the relationships feel wonderfully real and authentic.

Our Stories:

I was thoroughly invested in all the different stories going on in this drama. The romances were adorable and you couldn’t help but root for our heroines in all their endeavours- romance or other. The drama shined light on every one of our girls (though Ji Won definitely got less light than the others), and as each story slowly played out, we learned more and more about our different girls, their pasts, and what shaped them into the people they were in the present. It’s a wonderful example of beautiful, fluid writing that keeps the series completely engaging from start to finish. 

Our Visuals:

It’s so pretty to watch. Obviously the girls are all gorgeous and stunning (especially Hwa Young- I mean really, how can anyone be that attractive?), and the boys aren’t bad to look at either. But what really set the drama apart from others visually was the beautiful way it was shot. Even in the funny moments the drama managed to snag a rather thoughtful, pensive tone. The whole thing was just so, so pretty.

It was so nice to look at

What Wasn’t:

Some Unanswered Questions:

While all the stories were loveable and engaging, there were some aspects to them that left me wanting a little more explanation. My main question-mark after the series ended was what the deal was with the ballerina ex-roommate.

Please give me my answers now

It felt like the drama had more mysteries it wanted to go into regarding her character- it felt like she was going to be used for more than just a tool to have Eun Jae suspect that her roommates weren’t very nice people. I kept expecting her to make a reappearance (maybe as a part of Ji Won’s story as she was rather story-less, and is ballerina the Hyo Jin that Ji Won called out to in one of the epilogues?). But alas, she never returned. I felt a little disappointed that this question wasn’t answered- simply because the drama had set her up like some big secret. None of the girls seemed comfortable talking about her and it just seemed like one big lie that she left because she got knocked up. After learning more about each of the housemates, I seriously doubt they’d cut ties with someone just because she got pregnant. But unfortunately for us, we’ll never know. Another unanswered question was the ringing in Ji Won’s ears. Seeing as she was supposedly lying about seeing ghosts and reading auras, I wondered if maybe she did have some supernatural power she didn’t know about yet. But that seemed to eventuate to nothing, and the drama ended without really explaining Ji Won’s ringing ears. And then there’s Doo Young. While we do get to see occasional instances of him being a giant jerk, he mostly just came across as a boyfriend who took his girlfriend for granted.

From uncaring to crazy in one fell swoop

While I appreciate that the show did go into domestic violence, I would have liked to see a gradual buildup to Ye Eun’s kidnapping, as it just seemed to be a bolt from the blue. I think it would have had more effect if his violent behaviours started of small and we saw Ye Eun ignoring or explaining away his actions until it climaxed at the kidnapping. As it was, it was a tad random to have him turn into a deranged, psychopathic kidnapper when he’d really been played as a disinterested boyfriend who cheats for most of the show’s run.

Re-watch?

I would love to go back and revisit this drama when I have the time. The relationships (both friendship and romantic) were just so sweet, and the drama has managed to snag a rather unique niche for itself where there’s nothing else quite like it around. It’s truly a very, very enjoyable drama.

Super satisfying