Racket Boys 라켓소년단 [2021]

[mademoiselle]

 

[mademoiselle]

New Teaser

This is bringing back some old memories...

[mademoiselle]

Casts of Racket Boys Play Games

 

[abs-oluteM]

Oh my...I dunno what to think ....ahaahahha I like shorter episodes but apparently 1st & 2nd episode are gonna be 90 minutes. Plot better be good

https://www.hankyung.com/entertainment/article/202105289221I

 

[mademoiselle]

@abs-oluteM Oooh those photos... I can't wait to see them all play.

[abs-oluteM]

Some interesting info  @mademoiselle

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[mademoiselle]

 

[abs-oluteM]

D-Day!

 

[abs-oluteM]

Dunno how I can fit this into my crazy watching schedule ! 

Preview ep 2

 

[bluepebbles]

The show is off to a good start !

 

Episode 1

#RacketBoys : 5.2% | 5.7%
#YouthofMay : 4% | 4.9%

#DoomAtYourService : 3.3%
 

2049 ratings recorded at 3.0 % which is considered high already. 

 

(average ranges from 3-5 for good dramas, some remarkable dramas soared up to 10 % like The Fiery Priest) 

 

 

[stroppyse]

Just caught the first episode, and I'm really charmed by it. The humor was pretty broad at times, but it was an overall fun set up, but with flashes of emotions and glimpses of issues. I'm not expecting this drama to go too dark, for a K-drama that is, but I expect it to get heavier.

 

I was also surprised to see Kim Kang Hoon, the darling boy from When the Camelia Blooms, play significantly older than his birth age since he's supposed to be in his 2nd year of middle school. However, Kang Hoon is so precocious that I have no doubts that he'll pull it off.

 

The other boy I recognized was Tang Joon Sang who seems to be in a number of productions in recent years, and well deserved.

 

Mostly, though I'm eagerly looking forward to the next episode. Now, if only my RL life wasn't so busy so that I could watch this drama in some timely fashion.

 

[stroppyse]

Here is a bit of a recap of the first episode. In the spoiler since it's all a spoiler.

 

Spoiler

Yoon Hyeon Jong is a badminton coach who is having money issues. He accepts a job as a coach in a rural town Haenam that comes with a house to live in as well as a salary. Unfortunately, this also means moving his son Hae Kang and his young daughter Hae In as well. Hae Kang is training as a baseball player and doesn’t want to leave Seoul, and his father doesn’t tell him that he’s been unable to pay the training fees anyway.

 

In Haenam, HJ finds that he only has 3 players on his team when he needs 4 members to be entered into competition. Also, if Haenam doesn’t field a team, then they may get their money for their badminton program taken away since they haven’t had enough players to enter competitions for the past 3 years. The next competition is in a week.

 

The three members of the team are Bang Yoon Dam, their captain and ace player, who is also addicted to social media; Na Woo Chan who is very caring and empathetic making him the team mediator and is addicted to Hip Hop and elaborate handshakes; and the youngest member of the team Lee Yong Tae who has a big mouth and is a superfan of Korea’s best known and most successful badminton player, Lee Yong Dae.  

 

They finally recruit an exchange student Jonathan as their 4th team member, even though he has never played badminton before. The slots for exchange students in Seoul had all been taken, and Jonathan had chosen to attend Haenam thinking that it would be close to Seoul.

 

In preparing for the tournament, HJ finds out that there is no dorms for the students to stay in, despite their long commutes to school. So, he ends up taking them home with him to live while they’re training, to HK’s dismay. Unfortunately, Jonathan quits the team with only a few days left, because he has the chance to go to a GFriend concert in Seoul instead, and he is a major GFriend fan.

 

Desperate for a 4th player, they turn to Hae Kang who is at least athletic even if not a badminton player. HK is totally opposed, but gets provoked into a challenge against Yoon Dam. If HK loses, then he has to be the 4th member. If HK wins, then HJ has to pay to get wifi installed at their house. HK plays better than expected, but loses the match on a controversial call of the birdie dropping out of bounds by Woo Chan who later admits to SD and YT that he didn’t actually see the call that he made because the play had been so fast. HK agrees to play, but only at the one tournament, and would be dropping out of the team afterwards.

 

The boys then find out that HK had been a junior national champion considered a badminton prodigy in elementary school before he abruptly dropped out of view. No explanations are given as yet as to why HK dropped badminton in favor of baseball, but it seems to have something to do with the relative fame and fortune of baseball players vs badminton players.

 

At the tournament, HK manages to run afoul of Han Se Yoon, a female player who is considered a prodigy and a possible pick up by the national team. He manages to do both things that she won't tolerate: 1. he thought that she was a guy at first 2. he ran into her while she had been jumproping as a warm up. She’s coached by Coach Ra Yeong Ja who is c considered to be a dragon coach, nicknamed “Ranos” (e.g. melding Ra and Thanos).

 

HK also loses to a first year middle school student at the tournament, though he’s unaware that the student he lost to was possibly in the top 5 in the nation of middle school players. Still, his pride is hurt enough that HK vows to totally demolish his opponent at the next tournament which would be in Spring. All of the boys lose their matches, however, the other three still have a good time and sing on the way home, even as HK is miserable and upset at their losses.

 

Back home, as they eat a celebratory jjajjangmyeon, they are joined by Coach Ra who turns out to be HJ’s wife as well as her two prized students Se Yoon and Han Sol.

 

Later Yeong Ja and Hyeon Jong talk, and YJ tells him that he did well in taking the job in the countryside. Their daughter Hae In has asthma and the country air is better for her anyway.

 

That night, HK and HI go over to visit the house of a local grandmother that they had come to know, and end up spending the night there. Both HK and HI like that the grandmother has wifi so that they can game on their devices. While sleeping, HK is woken up by sounds, and sees a bear when he finally looks outside.

 

 

I wrote up a recap of the events in the first episode, but I would strongly encourage anyone who might be even a bit curious about this drama to actually watch it. It's actually much funnier and engaging than I might have written up in the recap. Plus, there are loads of curious little details that I expect the drama to resolve, such as HK being afraid of all animals, even tiny puppies.

 

HK is also shown to actually be a very caring and thoughtful person, from looking out for his little sister to helping out an elderly couple without making them feel bad in any way.

 

And, that's the thing about this drama that I really like. All of the kids in this drama are actually likeable and seem normal. So far, there has not been a totally cretinous, hateful kid. Even the confrontations feel like normal kid confrontations. At the same time, it doesn't talk down to them because they are kids. Rather, all of the children are shown to have their own problems to deal with.

 

Not sure if I'll continue with the recaps, but I'm sure that I'll keep watching this drama.

[mademoiselle]

SBS releases Character Chart

 

OST 1 The Boyz - Will Be

 

Bahahahahaha the instagram Yoon Dam used is real!

https://www.instagram.com/bbangminton/

[mademoiselle]

Episode 1 isn't very funny yet but PP didn't become funny until later on so I'm expecting the comedy will kick in more later. There are some fun / funny bits of course. It was a little nostalgic to see Park Ho San making a cameo and literally reprising his role from PP (speech part).

 

I already love the character Yoon Hae Kang played by Tang Joon Sang. You can tell he's a sweet, observant and thoughtful son/person. Knowing that his dad isn't able to pay for his training, he chose not to tell him. Noticing the Halmoni and Haraboji not being able to read, he covers up all the buttons and simplify the TV remote control for them. Seeing how much Halmoni misses her grandson, he shows her how to make video call.

 

Love that he's that hidden gem in the team too. The preview fooled me into thinking he didn't know how to play badminton but being athletic and potentially a nature in sports, I thought it'll be a story about him picking up badminton and become a natural in it. Little did I expect him to be experienced but just gave up and turned to baseball. I suspect either he was too good back then that he got bored (doesn't feel challenged anymore so he lost interest) or he saw that badminton got his parents no where in their career and he decided to switch.

 

Hae Kang is also very cute. Tang Joon Sang did a really good job portraying the character. I had so much fun watching his expression whenever he gets scared by a furry animal or when the girls intimidate him, lol, or him cracking the sh*t that he had lost to a primary 6 player (a bit too tall for primary 6 though). It was predictable that he was going to lose because it was telling in the game he could only play defense and no offense against the opponent and I knew his extremely competitive streak and strong pride would motivate him to continue. Also I don't know why, I really love it whenever Hae Kang says, "It's Me. I am Yoon Hae Kang." - just love love love the way he says it. LOL. Cracks me up each time.

 

I had not expected both of his parents to be a badminton player. So it was a surprise that Oh Nara walks into the house and was called Omma! I wonder if there's going to be a loveline between Hae kang and Se Yoon because it felt like that's what the drama is setting them up to be.

 

I am still getting to know all the other boys (other than Kim Kang Hoon which I'm already acquainted in many other dramas). One of the girls is So Mun's bestie in The Uncanny Encounter so she is no stranger.

 

Overall, a good start for episode 1. I do wish there was more badminton playing scenes.

 

P.S. I notice the kids are literally swearing in the drama and Netflix didn't censor it. LOL

 

---

@abs-oluteM Finish one homework (i.e. Taxi Driver), now start a new one and have to remember the character names all over again!!

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by mademoiselle

[mademoiselle]

 

 

[stroppyse]

4 hours ago, mademoiselle said:

P.S. I notice the kids are literally swearing in the drama and Netflix didn't censor it. LOL

 

Korean stations will censor Korean swear words but not notice if a character swears in English. Netflix doesn't censor any swear words in Korean or English since it's not a free broadcast station anyway.

[im0202]

4 hours ago, mademoiselle said:

Overall, a good start for episode 1. I do wish there was more badminton playing scenes.

 

P.S. I notice the kids are literally swearing in the drama and Netflix didn't censor it. LOL

I’m hoping for more badminton scenes too! As much as I loved Hot Stove League, I wished we could have seen a few matches thrown in there. 
 

I actually did a double take (just saw the first ep on NF) and replayed the swearing part cos I didn’t believe it was not censored!! Too used to the beep when it comes to kdramas 😂

[mademoiselle]

@im0202 Hahahaha same! I thought my ears heard wrong. I was expecting the beeps too. Too used to watching live (recorded) TV version from the dark side xDDDD

 

@stroppyse  I notice that since on NF Vincenzo's swearing in Italian wasn't censored. I also thought it could be because the general Korean viewers couldn't tell which is what. So like im0202 it was a surprise to actually hear it in dramas.

[bluepebbles]

Racket Boys 

Filming Locations

 

There is no specific mention of the locations for this drama yet, but based on naver blogs, the setting for Haenam village was filmed in Gangneun and Miryang--places that are remarkably far from Seoul.

 

Gangneun is famous for its beaches, where Goblin 's first meeting of Kim Shin and Euntak was filmed. 

 

You can check this blog for more interesting places to go. 

 

Meanwhile ,Miryang is known city around Korea for the Miryang arirang and for the view from the Yeongnamnu pavilion, subject of numerous poems from the Joseon Dynasty. Other noted landmarks include Eoreumgol and the temple of Pyochungsa. Famous people from Miryang include 15th-century Neo-Confucian scholar Kim Jong-jik and 16th-century warrior-monk Songun Yu Jeong. The city government works actively to maintain the memory of these figures, and of other local cultural features such as the tale of Arang. 

 

 

 

[bluepebbles]

SBS Now update

 

 

 

Team Sweet Potato display the current trend today with social media 's endless hashtag craze. It's cute to see them being updated on social media 

 

Spoiler

 

I really like their cheer song 

[mademoiselle]

For episode 2, we have Gobaksa, actor Jung Min Sung from PP making an appearance as a new couple who moved to the village. I'm not sure if he's going to be a permanent cast but from the plot, it'd be weird to introduce them and dedicate a fair amount of screen time to them if it is just a cameo. We'll see how it goes next week. Now I'm curious if all of the main PP casts would make a cameo. We also have Kim Min Seok making a cameo too!

 

The whole episode I hadn't seen Hae Kang practice badminton once, naturally I was worried if he was being too complacent and overly confident when the competition began. *Worried Noona*

 

I was literally on the edge of my seat praying he is able to exert his true abilities this time!!!  Boy was I disappointed I have to wait for another week to find out if he beats Jae Seok or not! Gaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. I want more badminton scenes from Hae Kanggggg.

 

Looks like he and Se Yoon have something going on there...maybe...perhaps. Hehehe, so cute.

 

Have to say when we reached the competition scene and the camera gave an overview of the players on court smashing/hitting the shuttlecocks, it's evident they were the real players. Even the sound of the shuttlecocks being hit was different. @SnowBlob It's a fun drama. Are you sure you don't wanna check it out?

 

 

@JenL @abs-oluteM Please come join meeeeeeee!

 

 

[ktcjdrama]

I am here for Kim Kang Hoon....  

but will only start next week after Youth of May is over, haha....

[mademoiselle]

7 minutes ago, ktcjdrama said:

I am here for Kim Kang Hoon.... 

but will only start next week after Youth of May is over, haha....

Oh yayyyyy! Can't wait to see you here sooooon!

[abs-oluteM]

@mademoiselle I will definitely watch.  I need to finish up 3 dramas . Dark Hole & YOM will be done soon as well as Sell Your Haunted House . 

[SnowBlob]

@mademoiselle no promise made... But let's see.. If i decide to watch i'll let you know  i just found out from Lala that the writer is PP's writer.. Unfortunately i'm not really a big fan of PP  Oh and btw...apparently in certain scene..not sure which one.. There's a poster on the background of the men double Indonesian team...known as Minions. Hahahahahahaha.