Thumping Spike (2016)

'if im not a athlete does that mean I serve no purpose?'
~Se Ra
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Story: I really enjoyed the story. It also reminded me a bit of the drama sassy go go. I enjoyed it mostly because it focused on the team being better at volleyball and working towards what they really wanted. Se Ra who at first didn't care to coach the team to help them be better eventually grew to care for them as a whole and continue her love for the sport. In addition, there was drama but none that was outrageously put to further the story line. Furthermore, this drama kept me wanting to watch from episode to episode. (Usually I take a break after some time)

Cast/Characters: When you put the characters together, there are some that shined more than others but altogether it was a well-built cast. Keep in mind, upon watching this drama for the first time, majority of the cast members were people i also was seeing for the first time.

My favorite amongst all characters is Woo Jin/Lee Tae Hwan. It was my first time seeing him in a drama or anywhere else for that matter. I think I fell in love with his character once I saw his smile.(I promise he's more than just eye candy though) I could feel the emotion through his character as he was affected by his father not believing him and as a second lead character.. well you know how that goes so I won't spoil it for you. His character did what he could as a leader to make sure the other players had the residence and even as a friend tried to protect Se Ra. The only small tidbit that I didn't like about his character that his feelings for Se Ra weren't explained that well.

Jae Woong/Song Jae Rim, also caught my attention as someone who cared deeply for the sport,for the team and for Se Ra. This was my first time seeing Song Jae Rim in a drama(i've only seen him in WGM) and I am so impressed that I need to go find his other dramas as well. I saw chemistry between him and Seung Eon (Se Ra's character) and I liked how the romance flowed throughout the drama. There wasn't any dragging as far as I was concerned.

Kang Se Ra/Hwang Seung Eon was a memorable character to me and im pretty sure ill be checking out her other dramas. I think she was perfect for the role of being sort of a spoiled celebrity or goddess of volleyball as they put it and then slowly becoming a part of a team again and letting go of that exterior.

With the secondary characters I really like the unity among them. Like a brotherhood with one sister that they have to look out for. I also really really liked the secretary. In the beginning she is perceived as a heartless human being but towards the end she gets better and a funnier addition to the group. At first you could tell she didn't care for Se Ra and it was just a job to her but towards the end she became someone who looked out for her sincerely.

Music: Not much music in this drama besides the theme song and the ending/cliff hanger song. But I think that even without the music the drama was still really interesting. Music creates excitement but the actual drama itself had enough excitement where the lack of music was barely noticeable.

Overall: Should you watch? Yes. Although the drama was short and you'll breeze through the episodes, it was a really good way to spend my time. It's a light drama with some sports action and some romance all together. I think the fact that it is short also adds to the reason of why you should watch :D The end was a bit lacking but altogether it fit nicely.

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I really enjoyed this little series. The acting was realistic, cute, even heartwarming at moments. The story was fine and basic, your average underdogs story with a little reverse harem. I love Hwang Seung Eon she is one of my favorite up and coming actresses. She nailed this role with all its emotion and sass. Song Jae Rim has definitely made it onto my 'nicest smile' and 'great on screen kisser' list. Their chemistry was really good.

The only problem I had with it was when the phrase 'I Love You' was thrown around. And then you realize the chracters are high school students and not college students. I went into thinking the actors and the characters age were similar, but I was wrong. There were also some moments where the acting was a little too much. Song Jae Rim has a tendency to yell while expressing anger and there were some moments where I think it wasn't necessary. Son Ho Young also had some awkward moments on screen but for the most part they both did well.

I wish they would have written the ending of this story differently. It was a let down compared to the rest of the story and probably the only reason this story didn't get a 10 out of me. Great, easy watch that I would recommend as a inbetween while your waiting for you favorite series to air.

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wooooot! Well this is rare- a 20 episode drama usually makes me wary since a seasoned veteran knows that a long drama= a lot of plot dragging; however I was pleasantly surprised to find out that episode episode averages a 15 min which is the reason for a slightly longer drama!

I was happy to find that this drama wasn't your typical melodramatic twisted love story with dozens of plott wists thrown in as this drama stays true to its light cheerful genre which made this quite entertaining to watch!

The Good
It kind of reminded me of the drama Sassy Go Go since it involves students needing to work together as a team. It started off with the usual girl who was forced to do something she doesnt want to do, and tried to be distant- however warms up to everyone. It's not the best drama ever since it does have its flaws- however i enjoyed how the topic of teamwork is addressed as you have to work together in order to accomplish your goals. I loved the relationship between each team players and how they mature and learn to work with one another and improve themselves.

I seriously loved all of the actors and actresses as they fit their role perfectly! I especially loved the chemistry between the main leads as they were cute! Soo bin and Representative Kim- oh how much I hate your characters so much in the beginning- but ohh how I love how you two (mostly) redeemed yourselves at the ending. But seriously- props to them for making me hate their characters so much at the beginning since it shows that they did such a good job portraying their characters!

The Bad
Overall there wasn't much to complain about- I know that some people are disappointed that the female lead didn't even seem like a good volleyball player- but i hope they realize that it's a drama, and that of course it wouldnt be realistic. One thing I noticed that stood out at me was the acting- at times it was over-exaggerated and at times it made me sigh as their facial expression was clearly fake or over-exaggerated. I also was non too pleased at how Soo Bin's character was quite shallow as she was portrayed as a psychotic childhood friend that loves the male lead so much- although I did love her at the end since her personality is quite crazy at times.

One other thing that stood out at me was the relationship between Se Ra and Jae Woong. Since this is a sports focused drama- the romance was minimal so don't worry if you think that romance will be the main theme.They're cute together without a doubt- however they're romance had suddenly popped up overnight- and it made me skeptical as their romance seemed a bit too rushed for my liking.

Overall? If you're looking for a light hearted drama to pass time- I recommend this drama! Along with Go Ho's Starry Night as I found that they were similar in terms of being a drama that is good if you don't want something too heavy!

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Has the ability to make your heart 'thump'

Thumping Spike, apart from a few notable cringe scenes and minor plot holes, is a decent and heart-warming sports-themed short-length drama that can easily be binge-watched. When it comes to the typical drama in the sports genre, the storyline isn't too unique but it wasn't predictable either, which is what I think was needed here. When sports dramas are either too unrealistic or predictable, it can ruin the drama for me, or at least the sporting elements and thankfully, Thumping Spike and its' creation of the Daehan Volleyball Team (the name of the volleyball team in this drama) had the right characterisation and chemistry to avoid this potential catastrophe. It wasn't perfect though, I would have definitely liked to have seen more screen time regarding the playing of volleyball - I understand that due to shorter episode length, this is a difficult feat to get everything right, but there was at one point when I told myself while watching "Oh, wait, they play volleyball, don't they? When will we see that again?", which is something a viewer shouldn't really be having to remind themselves of.

Acting was mostly solid, with a few exceptions, which can also be said about the casting choice. Maybe it is just me but when it comes to a school setting, I do prefer actors who actually look like they could be in school. One cast member was purposely chosen to look older, which I did find funny, but there were other members who were put in there seriously, but I wasn't too 'fooled' by it, if that is the right term or phrase. OST was absolute perfection however! Every song made my heart flutter, and I cannot wait to listen to each amazing song on this OST as soon as possible. I was also pleasantly surprised by the production value, I thought the camera work was done perfectly. Re-watch value may be 'low' in your terms, but I am known to have a lower-than-average 'rewatch value' rating so don't look into that too much.

All in all, would I recommend this drama? Absolutely. Check it out right now!

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Good Enough

" Thumping Spike " was, surprisingly, a good drama.

Though short, it manages to cover a lot and built a nice romance. However, the ending was way too cliche for korean drama standards. Still, the main couple had chemistry and many cute moments. I actually don't love student-teacher romances, but this one was well created and explained, so it was easy to overlook. The sport theme wasn't overlooked, which was a plus for the drama as well. The team did a good job with the volley action parts too. Therefore, the series was also a nice sports drama part of the romance theme.

So, overall, eight out of ten.

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Good for what it is

8/10 is my rating.This is a 2016 South Korean sports romantic drama with 20,15-19 minute episodes. 

 First I provide a Unique synopsis then review

 Synopsis

Kang Se Ra (Hwang Seun Eon) is a National volleyball player hoping to be picked up to play professional sports.  She is considered the volleyball diva and is often asked to promote products as she has achieved some fame as a beautiful woman at the top of her sport.  Due to an injury, Sera has hit a slump, but is hiding the extent of the damage for fear it would end her career.  Last thing she needed was a scandal, but she winds up having one when overzealous fans chase her into the men’s room, and she assaults who she thinks is a pervert.  To keep her name out of the newspapers, her manager swings a deal with the victim’s high school sports team for Sera to temporarily coach. The superstar returning member, Hwang Jae Woong (Song Jae Rim), is just returning from an injury himself and Sera is surprised to see him on the team as she met him previously when they battled over a carnival prize.  Turns out Jae Woong is not a minor, he is twenty, so he is more on Sera’s level in terms of age.  As Sera gets to know the team more, she realizes coaching the team may not only help them but her as well.  Can Sera reignite her career options and find love in this unexpected place?

Review

Good as a short, lighthearted uncomplicated romance. I recommend it to anyone that wants some quick romantic fluff but caution not to expect a lot. I might watch it if it was on but would not seek it out to rewatch it.

Spoilers

The largest problem with it to me was simply how short it was. For the length, they did a good job developing characters and telling the story, but I have to emphasize for the length. There was a lot of potential in this basic premise, and if it went into more depth then some of the intricacies of being a volleyball player either on or with potentiql to go to the national team it would’ve been better. I really wanted to know more about how she got to be known as such an awesome player and see her in a coach role really work on skills with the players or develop strategies. It was very minimal on the technical aspects of volleyball. I’m a fan of the slice of life type shows. I think the nest sport dramas are where I get to learn more about a particular sport and I didn’t come away from this feeling like I had learned very much about volleyball in South Korea. I really wanted to see her shining as a coach. A lot of times. I expected her to either train a player or make an important decision that would impact the outcome of the game. There was the one instance where she changed the lineup, but that was pretty minimal. A lot of the major decisions seem to be made by the male coach amd it did not highlight how her presence increased their skill and led them to wins.

Because she was the coach and several years older than the male lead, it made it feel like the teacher student love trope. I would’ve enjoyed it more if there was never a teacher to student relationship.

Her manager was overbearing and did not have her best interest at heart. It showed her catching onto that a little, but not to the degree that I wish she would’ve. I think some of that was because of the timeframe where women did not speak up for themselves as much as they might now.

In the end, the viewer didn’t really get to see what happened with her career. They showed a little bit that she had healed and went back, but not her fully getting back into her sport and excelling. I wanted to see him do great things too, and then see them doing great things together, I know I asked for a lot, but it’s not reality and I want it to be a really good. Happy story.

I think this is one they could pick up at some point in the future, retell it and develop it a lot better. They could make each episode longer and make the volleyball part of it a lot more exciting and suspenseful. All aspects of it have a lot of potential, it just needs to be longer. A longer format would allow more slow build in the romance, more about volleyball and more suspenseful games.

#ThumpingSpike #HwangSeunEon #SongJaeRim

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Stupid screenplay

Series was mediocre up to 10th episode although sport scenes were rather terrible from the beginning, especially on female lead part.
Then 10th episode came and any logic left the screenplay: poor unknown basically homeless kid takes the phone from 4 years older female superstar athlete who is also his coach while looking her in the eyes and tells her agent what the woman will do and then she basically does what she was told. WTF? How does it make any sense?
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2/10

....because she wore ONE shirt for this entire drama, with the the print "Stupid Hoe" .....

***CONTENT***
~ Recommended for ~
- Negatives -
+ Positives +
= Summary =

Recommended for ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People who enjoy sweet romance moments, love triangles, team spirit and light conflict would love this. It's your typical Korean high school flick with all the usual elements that make a child friendly romance drama. If you're feeling tired of deep, dark plots and reality hitting too hard, relax your heart and your mind with this very brainless, bingable, ROMANCE, sports, creation.

Negatives ---------------------------------------------------
- The acting is not very good.
- Even though the plot wasn't original they could have given it an original twist, but they didn't.
- There is a SMALL character development but not really memorable.
- The pace was uncomfortable things were happening in a very hasty manner.
- It's supposed to be a drama focusing on sports but the romance stole the spotlight.
- Some scene cuts were very random
- The characters were hollow

Positives ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ It was ridiculously easy to binge watch.
+ The romance scenes were cute even though they were kind of random.
+ Even though the script could have used more work, the shots were pretty good.
+ This can still be enjoyed if you want to rest your brain and just smile.

Summary ==============================
Each episode is about 15 minutes and there are 20 episodes in total. If this was a 30 min episode drama, it would get cut down to about 10 episodes, which is more than enough to get a good story across and introduce the characters well enough for us to feel and sympathize with them. Sadly, this drama does NOT do that.

For a 2016 drama it is pretty out-dated and it has countless cliché scenes that have been done too many times before. There is a fine line between cheesy re-runs and classic heart flutter.

The acting was not that good but I feel like the writers are to blame for that. The characters were not very well developed and most of them didn't even have a back story, which I feel is kind of sad. A deeper connection with the people in focus would have lifted this series so much.

I will not allow the lack of episodes or time, excuse the fact that this drama lacks in detail. Instead of all the unnecessary romance scenes or unneeded conflict, they could have given the drama more depth.

So this was a review of ROMANCE with a sprinkle of volley boll

ENJOY!

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