Early Access: Love All Play E2

E2. This felt like a set-up episode, in that, I kind of knew going in, that the main goal for our narrative to achieve, this hour, is the pairing up of Tae Joon and Tae Yang, as doubles partners.

Perhaps because I know it's going to happen for sure, the lead-up to it, with Tae Yang asking Tae Joon earnestly and repeatedly, and then getting turned down, only to have Tae Joon doing the asking at the end of the episode, lands kinda-sorta like filler, in a manner of speaking.

Layering on the fact that we're still getting to know our characters, and this episode works out as feeling a bit more.. scattered, and less tight, than our premiere episode.

What I mean is, I'd been convinced, in episode 1, that Tae Joon would be happy to be Tae Yang's doubles partner, because he basically states that the whole reason he's joining Yunis, is because she's there.

I'd taken that to mean that he'd be happy to team up with her, if the opportunity presented itself.

In fact, I'm still kinda-sorta scratching my head as to why Tae Joon turns Tae Yang down the way he does, this episode.

What he says to her, by way of explanation, that he doesn't like to do extra work unless he's paid for it, doesn't quite ring true to me.

Because, while I do believe that money is important to him, I feel like based on what we've been shown so far, Tae Joon's the type of person where enjoyment is just as important as money - perhaps even more so, since he'd quit badminton in the first place, because he'd found it meaningless.

I'm trying to rationalize that he's being cautious not to get involved in team politics, and perhaps that's why he's not jumping at the chance to pair up with the team outcast, but.. I'm not so sure that I'm buying what I'm trying to sell myself.

The thing is, I see his personality as being the type to not care much about team politics, if at all.

Because of this, I'd actually expected him to accept Tae Yang's invitation, not caring that she's the outcast of the team. Just because he thinks it'd be fun to play and train with her.

Therefore, I found the entire stretch, of Tae Joon turning down Tae Yang's repeated, perky requests more perplexing than amusing - and it seems to me that Show had meant it for comedy.

This disconnect made me feel like the writing in this episode, was less tight than the writing we got last episode.

My big silver lining, this entire episode, is every time Tae Joon is relaxed around Tae Yang, and smiling.

Because - guh - I am loving Tae Joon's smile. Like seriously, he lights up my screen when he smiles, and then all feels right in this drama world, as a result.

And so, our opening scene, where Tae Yang acts kind of flustered around Tae Joon, when he tells her that he's joining Yunis, that smile that plays at his lips, at the way she refers to his racket as "General" just makes me happy, y'know? 🤩

That smile of his basically helps to smooth over all the rough spots this episode - and there are several more that I haven't talked about yet.

For example, the lack of information and context around Tae Yang and her big scandal, is making it hard for me to get on board with not only the way her team is acting towards her, but also, her decision to just roll with it, like some kind of nobly idiotic saint.

Because we don't have any context to support this arc at this point, I can only take it in good faith that Tae Yang has a good reason for admitting to something that she didn't do, and piling on punishment on herself, when her team members prank her or punish her in various ways.

At the same time, I just can't imagine that there's a good reason for her to not only accept the mud that's slung at her, but roll in it, if you know what I mean.

Like, why run that marathon, once she is informed that it's a prank? What good does that do, I'd like to know? Does she think that this will make her team members feel guilty for pranking her? It doesn't seem to be the case..?

And yet, she does it, as if punishing herself makes her feel better somehow, and I just.. find it hard to get behind, because I haven't been given a reason to accept this type of defeatist, nobly idiotic behavior from her.

This same lack of context also makes the behavior of her team members appear extremely childish and petty.

Thankfully, Show doesn't actually endorse this behavior, and Tae Joon's there as our voice of reason, to point out that this is ridiculous, and isn't the norm at all, in professional teams.

I'm just looking forward to getting some context around this, so that I can get my bearings around all the various narrative pieces that feed into this.

Ah, another silver lining this episode, is seeing Tae Joon do well, in anything, basically, heh.

So, him acing that physical fitness test, and impressing his coaches, was a very happy thing for me - especially since it gives us a highlight reel of Tae Joon basically being in excellent shape. I do have a weakness for male leads demonstrating competence in general. 🤩

One surprise positive, this episode, is the reveal that Jung Hwan is really quite the decent human being, underneath that jerk surface.

That beat, where he shows kindness to Son Soo, who's all torn up about the passing of his high school coach, is really nice.

It's kind of Jung Hwan to offer to lend Son Soo a suit to wear to the funeral.

But beyond that, I'm most touched that Jung Hwan tells Son Soo that just because his coach is gone, it doesn't mean that the belief that his coach had in him, is now gone too; that in fact, that belief is now all his to keep, forever.

That is just the kindest, most compassionate thing, and I honestly feel that Son Soo desperately needed to hear that.

And to think that it came from Jung Hwan? That kinda blows my mind, seriously, especially given how Jung Hwan spends the rest of the episode behaving like a privileged brat.

It really makes me wonder what happened with Jung Hwan, that he would cover up his core nature, which looks to be really decent, with all this privileged, snooty, nasty nonsense?

Also, I don't know if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but am I to understand that Jung Hwan was dating Jun Young, the girl who's somehow involved in Tae Yang's alleged bribery scandal backstory?

I mean, it looks like him, but I can't be sure, because in the flashback, Boyfriend Dude is happy and smiling, and Jung Hwan spends so much of his time scowling, or just not smiling, that I can't tell for sure if it's the same person. 😅

I also liked getting that bit of backstory, that Tae Joon's grown up in the shadow of his famous badminton-playing sister.

That flashback of him throwing away his gold medal, because he'd felt it was worthless compared to the gold medal that his sister had just won, is really sad. It made me want to reach into my screen and give him a hug and tell him that he did really well too.

I'm not sure how Tae Yang knows that Tae Joon looks down on his talent, since it's not like he's been performing badly at competitions. And I'm not sure how Tae Yang thinks she's going to help him see his potential, since she's currently playing much worse than he is.

But, I like the idea that she gets him in a way that others don't, which is what eventually makes him turn around and ask her to be his partner - and so, I'm willing to wait for Show to fill in that context for me, hopefully soon.

That last high five, which has Tae Yang filled with spirit, and Tae Joon flashing that adorable smile, put a smile on my face too, so I feel like I'm ready to forgive Show for not being as amazing as I'd hoped, this episode.

Now that we've finally got Tae Joon and Tae Yang playing mixed doubles together (I do like how they've been nicknamed the Park twins, by their coaches; it's cute), hopefully our next episode will feel less like filler, and more like we're actually going somewhere. 😅

Next episode notes will be out on: Wednesday, 11 May 2022!