Moo-kyeol confronts the harsh reality that his three gold medals do not mean a thing when he hit rock bottom in the 4th week of Mental Coach Jegal.
Just as Ga-eul sincerely welcomes the treatment she needs; Coach Jegal, unfortunately, has to halt his sessions with her.
abbyinhallyuland watches Mental Coach Jegal on Viu
Episode Recaps: 01 – 03 | 04 | 05 & 06 |
The Striking Building Featured In “Mental Coach Jegal” Is In Futuristic City of Songdo
Mental Coach Jegal Episodes 7 and 8 Highlights
Pouring out her frustration, Ga-eul is comforted by Coach Jegal and the No Medal Club.
Unknown to Ga-eul, her mother is also in pain for putting up with the cruelty of Coach Oh so that her future can be secured.
In contrast to Ga-eul’s progress, Moo-kyeol is still hindered by his inability to accept that it’s okay to fail.
“The world treats you differently the moment you fail.”
Club No Medal proceeds to trap Coach Oh for good. So, they find ways to get a definitive reason for him to be kicked out for good.
Enter Moo-tae who reveals that Coach Oh is in fact a broker in an illegal gambling den.
Learning he receives special treatment, and another weak swimmer receives the same preferential treatment for SEA games, Moo-kyeol declares to leave the team.
At that same moment, Ga-eul who was about to be punished by Coach Oh makes a stand and leaves the practice. Thus, they found each other sneaking outside the center.
Coach Jegal was alerted of what happened and picks up the athletes. He brings them to the club where Moo-kyeol gets a round of lessons about losing.
Setting up Coach Oh, Team No Medal catches him in the act of gambling. But their feat is apparently furtively initiated by Gu Tae-man who made Moo-tae deliver the bait to his friend.
To protect Ga-eul, Moo-tae agrees to Tae-man’s evil plan that involves a higher-up in the national swimming team.
Choosing the best decision that benefits all, Coach Jegal hands his resignation since Moo-tae wants him out of his sister’s life and Tae-man promises to cut Coach Oh if he resigns.
“You’re exhausted because you tried to fix their problems. Just accept the problems as they are and hold out right next to them. That’s the best thing we can do. We can’t change the world anyway, you can only change yourself.”
After resigning, Coach Jegal perfects how to be lazy at the No Medal Club hideout. Meanwhile, Ga-eul struggles with her mental coach’s sudden departure. Good thing she reconciled with Moo-kyeol so he’s helping with her emotional struggles.
Subconsciously, Ga-eul has been relaying the pep talks she got from Coach Jegal to Moo-kyeol, and in a way helping him with his slump.
Seung-ha visits Jegal to snap him out of his “life strike” and makes him understand that his sulking will lead nowhere. Change can only be initiated by him because the world won’t stop to apologize for the unfairness it brings.
Resigned to leave his job at the national training center, Seung-ha pulls her trump card by sharing how she lost him back then and she worried a lot. She warns him that leaving the students he’s coaching will haunt him incessantly.
Unfortunately, Coach Oh finds a way to escape his predicament through Seung-Ah’s mother who met with Chairman Go of the Olympic Committee. She relays Coach Oh’s message that Gu Tae-man joined hands with Assemblyman Park Seung-tae.
Through Tae-man’s assistant, Chairman Go makes a move about the overlooked call from Yeon-ji, the athlete who committed suicide previously. He uses it as a chip card for Coach Oh to be released. Meanwhile, Tae-man’s assistant whom he battered resigns from his job and goes to the NMC hideout.
Learning that Coach Oh got released for insufficient evidence, Jegal rushed to meet them. Exposing the recording of Yeon-ji, he subdues Tae-man with his acquired knowledge and a media backup ready to capture Tae-man’s crudeness.
After dropping the bomb meant to trouble Tae-man, Coach Jegal crashes on the national archery team’s trip with fellow mental coaches. He also announces his return to mentor Ga-eul and Moo-kyeol.
Mental Coach Jegal Episodes 7 and 8 Musings
They say that to unload an emotional burden, you need to have someone by your side. That holds to be an emphasized message in Mental Coach Jegal.
Bearing problems alone is not a sign of strength because piled-up problems often result in depression. When you get used to it, it becomes a habit, and the demotivation that comes next would be hard.
Despite Coach Oh proving he has nine lives in week 4 of the series, we are on a happy note because Ga-eul is finally making a real move to win over her scattered emotions. Reconciling with Moo-kyeol, hopefully, reignites their burning passion to end their respective slump. Who knows love in sports drama can also do the trick?!
Interestingly, while the healing is progressing among the key characters in the story; the war among the higher-ups involving the athletes is also heating up. Seung-ha’s move to ask her father to sponsor Moo-kyeol might become a double-edged sword.
There’s no doubt that the oddballs of No Medal Club and Coach Jegal can find a way to work things out in case things won’t go out as planned.
Can the healing activity aid Coach Jegal’s mentees’ state of mind? Will Jegal patch things up with Cha Moo-tae?
Be inspired to succeed after accepting failures and setbacks as seen in the beautifully captured characters of Mental Coach Jegal. International fans can watch it on Viu and tvN Asia.
Photos: tvN Drama
[wpedon id=”2271″ align=”center”]
