I have to agree with your observation that Park Ji-hyun has never played a nice character, lol. Initially, I thought this would be the first time we'd see her show a different side but alas, it looks like we're in for coldness, subtle (or not so subtle) manipulation, and guilt-tripping. She does all these things very well, btw, but I'm not particularly anxious to see it all unfold.

At the same time, one reason I really love this drama is that it's so straightforward and wears its heart on its sleeve as much as the characters do. The story that's unfolding is exactly the one I hoped to get--a straight up sports romance that focuses on relationships. The characters have depth, but things aren't ever overly complicated and although the central secret and subsequent misunderstandings are sometimes hard to take at face value (certainly the sibling connection would not be unknown by so many and I don't buy that Park Ji-hyun would have been out of contact for three freakin' years), the show is so earnest that I've been happily willing to let that skepticism go.

Heartbreak is sure to come, and I'm also worried about Tae-yang deciding it's only fair that she cut herself off from happiness yet again. To that end, I understand exactly why Tae-joon didn't immediately tell her he's Park Ji-hyun's brother; he knows exactly what she's likely to do. I can only hope the writers handle the dark turns as well as they've handled everything else so far.

I hope -- but don't really expect -- the drama will show Joon-young grow past her immature "hate" for Tae-yang. She was a champion athlete and role model, but apparently has spent the past 3 years stewing in self-pity and scapegoating Tae-yang for her injury. I hope Tae-joon and Yoo-min are able to point out what a pathetic waste this is, and how she doesn't deserve to command anyone's attention after disappearing for so long. Joon-young needs to grow up and move on, and so does everyone else. I want to see our Park twins dating and winning games, Jung-whan dating Yoo-min, and Joon-young making a new life for herself while supporting her brother's career. Please, Show!

I'm SO with you missvictrix on your two reasons. I do hope that Tae-joon's actions will influence Tae-yang's decision and not run away once she knows. As for the actress, Park Ji-hyun, I'm expecting she's going to be like all her other characters. Or maybe she'll prove us wrong this time? But her character is the perfect device to break two couples at this time of the show. Anyways, Yoo-min's charms are overflowing that I'm becoming Jung-hwan, you cannot simply ignore her.

Since Tae-yang has a strong tendency to be a martyr, I'm afraid that she will run away again and thus present Tae-joon with a fait accompli.

I like Tae-joon more and more. Even when he learns the full truth, he never doubts his relationship with Tae-yang. Unfortunately, it will come back to haunt him that he kept his kinship relationship a secret. Whereas it's pretty certain that Tae-yang wouldn't have entered into a relationship with him in the first place if she had known about his sister. So it almost doesn't matter what he does, it will come back to bite him in the butt.

I am a fan of Tae-jun with his sweet smile, playful self and swoony lines but he annoyed me soo much for most of episode 8. I was literally begging for him to come clean and tell her the truth rather than all that misplaced anger he was directing at Jung-hwan. Now it's almost certain that Tae-yang will find the truth from someone else's mouth and yeah, given her tendency for martyrdom she's likely to just run off (please show, prove us wrong).
Jun-young is going to be such a pain in the ass from the preview of next week's episodes!
It would have been a good change to see Park Ji-Hyun play a nice character for once but no need to get our hopes up

I could write an essay about everything I felt thanks to this week’s eps but what really shone for me was the dynamic between our Park Couple and just how palpable the depth of their connection was, without the need for grandeur or poetry to sell their love. They way they were able to be vulnerable with each other , said or unsaid, and not push each other away when things hit a low spoke volumes. TJ despite going through the thick of it in ep. 8 didn’t pull away from TY and TY didn’t push him or get frustrated she wasn’t able to solve all his problems, and similarly, TY didn’t push TJ away after not getting selected and he didn’t push her to cheer up either.

Of course it’s not ideal that TJ didn’t reveal his connection to JY but he had a lot to wrestle through, and it’s hard to berate him for it when he’s very clearly suffering over it. Every time he looked at TY with his whole heart and tears in his eyes, knowing things might come crashing soon as he listened to TY go on about how much he means to her , that had me tearing up like crazy too. CJH just moved me with his performance this week honestly, he’s been adorable always but the way he embodied TJ’s angst, without overselling it and instead just slightly shifting the tone in what he did and said - that really authentically gave us an insight into how TJ was feeling, despite him trying to put on a pretence that he was fine. I realised it the most at the end, when he’s running to TY beaming, you could just tell that he really has come to a resolution in his mind and that the spark is coming back, as evidenced by the return of his killer smile and twinkly eyes. And it would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I also love PJH’s manoeuvring of the subtle shift in mood and attitude too. Although never explicitly said, you can tell just by watching TY, the way she moves & the expressions on her face etc, that she feels like a weight has been lifted off her chest after finally telling someone what really happened with the accident and - perhaps most importantly - not have them react by pushing her away for it or add to her guilt.

I won’t lie, I was already tearing up with the end of episode 7 when he said ‘can we just stay like this for a bit’ all teary-eyed, and I straight up started crying at the end of ep 8 when both of them went from being the happiest kids on earth running to each other with love in their eyes, to suddenly looking like their world had turned upside down. I honestly expected the sister issue to put a spanner in the works way earlier when they were just about to get together OR that TJ would withdraw once he found out, but the fact that he didn’t and the fact that they’ve had time to be together proves that they do have each others backs, and that makes me hopeful that they’ll get through whatever next week throws at them, together.

PARK TWINS FIGHTING!

On a small aside - it was nice to see the push & pull of Yumin and Junghwan’s slow build relationship this...

I’m still expecting the angst to be light and the healing to be complete. I just love the chemistry between the Park twins and Jung-hwan. When he fell on the street and they just left him. 😆 He’s deserves all the flack he gets. But he’s such a softie around Yu-min, just adorable. I think he’s going to have a harder time with Joon-young coming back than anyone else.

This drama has 493% of my heart. I’m watching too many currently aired dramas but this is the only one I look forward to the most every week and every week, it never fails to make me cry. There is something about their earnest-ness (is this even a word?) in overcoming those little pieces of their hidden broken selves that gets me. Maybe it’s also because being a mom of a sports person, TJ and TY have a special place in my heart - I cheer for them when they do well, cry when they don’t, and hurt for them when they struggle, just like they are my own children. And how can I not root for them when they are better than the sum of their parts - the way they encourage, trust and stood by each other - such relationship goals. I just hope TY will fight for her happiness to keep her precious TJ by her side after the truth is out - enough of her martyrdom already.

The next few episodes will be rough. I’m just glad that I have the image of TJ dancing so adorably (but also kind of weird 🤣) by the window to sustain me through the angst. I might also make my kids perform that same dance every time I cook a good meal for them haha

WHYYYYYY??? why couldn't she arrive after they had congratulated each other in person. SIGH, she os going to cause so much angst, ughfgweruwnren.

Even the secondary OTP is adorable. Eh
More cheesy and cringey flirting please....

I don't really love standoffish TJ either but he's only human after all and his life is so complicated rn, I think we can cut him some slack. My guy was really going through it this week! CJH really owned ep 8 with the subtle changes in his demeanour, besides the obvious absence of the usual megawatt smile (what a relief when it returned...even if JY's return soon changed that). You could see how conflicted he was about TY, JH, his parents...as someone commented elsewhere, no matter what he does it's always about Joonyoung. It must be so frustrating for him that his closest people are all stuck in the past and in the case of his mum, actually can't see how that's hurting him even when he vocalises it. Despite JY's unwelcome return I think everything is coming together. I can't wait for her arc to be put to rest and see the park twins achieve success on the court. Plus TJ-JH partnership is gonna be epic!

I want my smiling brightly TJ back!

If I understand why it was complicated for him during episode 8, he acted like a kid. I like their couple because they spoke, but it's always TY who told him her problems. Because of his sister, he hide it. When the coach told him he needed to support JH, it wasn't an insult but an opportunity. JH is the most skilled for now and he can learn from him. But he acted like a kidm like he did with JH's partner too by not shaking hand with him. The fact JH didn't have closure in his relationship made him unfair with TY. But on a court, he's always professional and very nice with his partner. He was angry that Hyuk-Bong wasn't selected because of him being hurt.

TJ really needs to tell his parents and TY how he feels because of his sister. He will have to tell Joon-Young too and not let her taking what he gained (his team, his girlfriend, his pleasure to play) back.

JH and YM are cute together. I like how he forgets she's his coach's daughter :p

Really applaud the writing, it isn't often I find the couple remains just as interesting when they've gotten together as they were before they got together.

Kinda wanted Joon-young's return be somewhat different. Maybe that was hopes Joon-young continued to like Tae-yang despite the injury... perhaps the show will surprise everyone (but I doubt it). Find it hard to solely blame Tae-yang when everyone made choices and it was an accident.

After reading all the raving posts by beanies in fan-wall, I started this drama last Saturday and caught up with all the episodes. The lead couple's chemistry is surely the selling point of the drama, but I have grown to like all the other characters, except for the blond girl and Dong Wan who haven't yet shown any pleasant attitude or impressive backstory.

I'm growing fond of Junghwan and hope he starts to get his attitude in check, especially his treatment of Tae Young. Rooting for his romance with Yoo Min and bromance with Tae Jun! Too bad the drama isn't getting more ratings or much online trend because the actors are really emoting well. I love all the flirty lines in this drama. Give us more!

I know Jung-hwan is a jerk and a bully, but I kind of love him. Show has pretty much redeemed the bullies, and he has the potential to be cute as we’ve seen with Yoo-min and in flashbacks with Joon-young and Tae-yang. That's why I love his rivalry turned teamwork turned bromance with Tae-joon.

When Tae-joon confronted Jung-hwan about Joon-young, was it too far-fetched for Tae-yang and Jung-hwan to think that he knew her? I had faith in if he found out Joon-young was Tae-yang's unni, he would've told her the truth, so it was disappointing when he hid it from her. I had hoped Jung-hwan would be the first to find out, but I think Coaches Lee or Joo will let it slip.

I feel sorry for Yoo-min that her relationship is over before it even started, but her threatening Jung-hwan with a breakup every time was a turnoff. I can't believe that she threw herself at him and it worked, but his holding her hand in the car and telling Tae-joon, "I have to win today" were heart-fluttering.

So late joining the discussion but I did miss Taejun's megawatt smile too! It's kinda unsettling watching most of Episode 8 seeing him struggle with his own feelings, and with him not looking like himself with such twinkling eyes, and sunny dispostion feels depressing. Though I would put my hats off to CHJ who breathe life to Taejun's character perfectly. I couldn't see any other actor playing Taejun, as he was able to perfectly execute who Taejun is on his highs and lows. There were so many feels on episodes 7-8, and while we all don't wanna be stressed out I feel that it's the perfect timing for the conflict to actually arrive. I would've hated it if we reached past episode 10 before Jun-young actually showed up, and wreak havoc on Taejun, Taeyang, and Jung-hwan's life. I do want to address how somehow Taejun looks childish on his struggles both professional and personal. Ideally when an adult struggles by default you want to actually deal with it with as much emotional restraint as possible, and not let it get in the way. However, Taejun has always been struggling on his own since he was young, and I figure that's the reason why he also has a bad temper. Before Taeyang, he had no one who actually has faith in him, and greatly appreciates his talent and what he can be if he only have the confidence and motivation to strive for his dreams. In episode 8 we see here how lonely he was, and that the only person whom he can lean on is the same one he loves and wants to protect the most. On top of that finding out the truth about his sister's injury made him more conflicted than ever. To make matters worst, he was forced to be paired with Jung-hwan which he later found out was his sister's ex. He was all over the place, and to be continously looked down on made it more difficult and that made him lose his cool. I know that the Coach has good intentions, and he just wants to see Taejun to try harder. He clearly sees his potential, but I want to double down on his choice of words. Whether in real life or KDramaland it's not hard to get "triggered" when you're treated merely as a "support" rather than an equal athlete to Jung-hwan. To add salt to the wound, Jung-hwan's words were really insensitive and obnoxious, and he was clearly looking down on Taejun. It really is about time he confronts his own struggles since he held back for so long. About coming clean to Taeyang, I guess I did understand his reasons for not telling her the truth about his connection to Junyoung. Imagine the feeling of emptiness and loneliness before he had Taeyang, and how he just lived his life treating badminton as a job. And how he was just resigned to just being mediocre because he can't ever compete be his parents' "goldden child", his sister, and just gives even without receiving anything from them.Trying to make his mom happy at the expense of his own pain and misery. And he knows too well that she will run away from him, and everything once she...