If youre planning to watch this drama, I'd say do it when you need to pass time. I was under the pretense that this drama was similar to Weighlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. And honestly, its setup of childhood friends, overcoming traumas, motivating each other-- it could've become a kdrama classic.

But what stops this drama from achieving what WFKBJ is the following:

CONS-
1) the entire "incident"- honestly, they could've come up with an entirely different idea. Because rather than focusing on the leads, this plot point made it impossible for anyone to breathe. Everyone was miserable. No one understood the word "accident". This wasn't even a plot hole, this was just...not the right way to add tension.


2) the fl CANNOT catch a break--
--> firstly, i cannot fathom why she has such low confidence. Guilt does not equal unconfidence. The way she was treated by everyone except for the ML....was so heartbreaking and frustrating.

-->secondly, she was too pitiful for me to even remotely hate. Yes, i hated how she accepted a lot of shit and how she never spoke back. I just wanted to hug her and say its okay.

3) the parents-- the fl's father had a slightly better redemption arc.

But the ML's family...oh my oh my. I cannot control my rage. Boys need as much as attention as girls. The concept of equality with the ml's parents ceased to exist. Its funny how this drama portrayed the family on the other extreme spectrum: generally the son is coddled and daughter would be ignored....here its the opposite. To the point where i wondered how the ML is still SO AFFECTIONATE with them.

4) a lot of reasoning did not take place which....put the story out. The pacing wasn't appropriate, which made the pre-post-after the incident coming to light, very messy. We get no explanation, we get only a series of setbacks for our fl and then a 2 minute conversation.

PROS

1) The acting- I'm so sad the story was not it. Because the acting was IT. Even minor characters played their role well. I'm a sucker for pretty smiles and both leads were SO PRETTY WHEN THEY SMILED.

2) the love stories&friendship-- im a sucker for stories where romance is a part of the characters life. Rather than romance being the axis, we had characterisation of the YUNIS members that stood as the backbone, out of which romance was a small, cozy part of it. Every member of YUNIS had their good and bad and so many heart touching moments.

3) the love for sport: i'm no professional player, but i liked that we were able to see a couple of impressive rallies and PARK TAEYANG'S SMASH IS SO GOOD?! I play badminton casually now im all PUMPED to play better. The love for sport unified different people with different mindsets. And thats what is the main focal point of this drama, which never failed to shine till the end.

4) OSTS- i usually skip the intro of dramas, but i didnt. Diamond by Yonghoon(onewe), When the Door opens( intro by JT&MARCUS), There There by Baek A Yeon were insanely pleasing to listen too.

Tldr: had potential, but the story screwed up. Props to everything else. As a drama watcher it was frustrating to see wasted potential. But, do give it a chance when you're doing something monotonous or don't feel anything makes sense in life.