As the nationals draw near, our rugby captain’s insecurities push him into a tight corner, prompting him to take some extreme decisions. Will he focus on the short-term goal? Or is the bigger picture more important?
Reflecting on our captain’s predicament, our head coach revisits his dilemma, highlighting how far he has grown from the person he was three years ago.
Bunny S. watches The Winning Try on Netflix
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 |
The Winning Try Episodes 9 and 10 Highlights
“Physical assault against a student can’t be justified.”
Badly injured, U-jin needs treatment for over 3 weeks. The principal orders an investigation into this incident. And during that time, Yi-ji will fill in for Coach Jeon. As it turns out, Coach Jeon didn’t write Seol-hyeon a recommendation letter but was brazen enough to put her name on the recommendation letter Yi-ji wrote for U-jin. Worried about his upcoming promotion, the vice principal washes his hands of Coach Jeon, urging him to sort this matter out himself.
Frustratingly, Coach Jeon makes a deal with U-jin’s mother. In return for covering up this matter, he will help U-jin join a pro team after she graduates and secure her a spot at college the following year. Discarding U-jin’s feelings, U-jin’s mother gladly accepts the offer. Painting the assault as an unfortunate accident, Coach Jeon returns to his post. The first thing he does is fire Yi-ji, and she readily succumbs to her fate, resolving to focus on the nationals since her career as a coach is over and she only has one chance left as a player.
Not only does U-jin have to train in the same space as her attacker, but she also experiences dizziness and blurry vision. She almost falls off the stairs if not for Ung helping her and carrying her on his back to the nurse’s office. Walking in on the two of them, Seong-jun gets the wrong idea. But U-jin says nothing to explain the situation.
“I will be a puppet. From now on, I won’t see or hear anything.”
Visiting a hospital secretly, U-jin learns she can’t keep her balance because of an ear injury. Confiding in Yi-ji, U-jin asks her for help. If her mother learns of her condition, she will make U-jin quit, claiming it will be pointless if she can’t be the best anymore. Yet U-jin wants to continue shooting.
Choosing U-jin over her dream, Yi-ji gets on her knees and begs Coach Jeon to take her back, promising to be obedient this time. After a bout of humiliation, Coach Jeon allows Yi-ji to return to her job. But spotting that scene, Ga-ram loses his temper and almost punches Coach Jeon, prompting the vice principal to become even more determined to kick Ga-ram out, scheming with a trashy reporter to dig dirt on Ga-ram.
For now, Yi-ji researches ways to help U-jin with her rehabilitation, comforting her and assuring her that she only needs to do her best and not worry about anything; Yi-ji will take care of the rest. Which is a far cry from how Coach Jeon treats the shooting team minus Seol-hyeon.
“Do you really think I would dope them just to get good results?”
Meanwhile, Ga-ram gets into a fistfight with the aerobics coach, Bang Heung-nam (Jung Soon-won), after the latter goes through Ga-ram’s things and snatches his medication, accusing Ga-ram of doping the students to achieve better results. Since the aerobics team won no medals at the Presidents Cup, the vice principal mistreated Coach Bang and banned his team from using the gym. So he wanted to use Ga-ram’s secret to regain favor. But the vice principal was too occupied with the mess Coach Jeon caused to listen to him.
Fighting on the school grounds grants a punishment, so the principal has Ga-ram and Coach Bang switch teams to experience things from the other person’s perspective. It goes as well as one might think, and the rugby and aerobics teams can’t wait to return to their normal training schedule, joining hands to lock up their coaches together until they make up.
Luckily, the plan works, and Ga-ram and Coach Bang reconcile after the former has another seizure and opens up about his illness. Ga-ram and Coach Bang used to play rugby together as students, but Coach Bang switched to aerobics following a misunderstanding. Having cleared the air on both past and present issues, Ga-ram and Coach Bang are back on good terms. Also, the rugby team and the aerobics team decide to share the gym, so all is well.
Switching teams might have looked funny on the surface, but Ga-ram and Coach Bang wouldn’t mess up the students’ training to annoy each other. Noticing the rugby team was stiff, Coach Bang helped them get more flexible, while Ga-ram used a little ball game to get the aerobics team more in sync.
“I want to take Seong-jun to Spain.”
Now that our rugby team can train as usual, Ga-ram takes them to observe the training of the pro team they played against in week 3. The pro team coach also offers to watch our boys play. The first one to play is Ung, impressing the pro team coach with his natural talent. The next one is Seong-jun, who screws up and injures his shoulder after his envy emotions get the best of him.
With a little time left until the nationals, Seong-jun keeps his injury a secret. But he can only hide it for so long before Ga-ram learns the truth. At the hospital, they learn Seong-jun has a tear in his right shoulder and needs to be hospitalized and undergo some tests. Seong-jun claims he is fine and can train, but Ga-ram refuses to listen to him, asserting Seong-jun should stay in hospital until the test results are out.
Still, Seong-jun cheers up when U-jin drops by to check on him. She tells him about her ear injury, and he freaks out, forgetting about his own injury and only worrying about her. They have lunch together, and Seong-jun is ecstatic after confirming nothing is going on between U-jin and Ung. That guy is a hopeless romantic!
Getting discharged, Seong-jun takes off his shoulder support brace and tries to join the training. Yet Ga-ram stops him, remaining firm about how Seong-jun should focus on his recovery. Adding more pressure, Seong-jun’s mother drops by the school to see Ga-ram. Since Seong-jun has no future in rugby, especially after his injury, she wants him to quit and become an agent for his twin brother.
Hearing about his mother’s visit, Seong-jun snaps that she never cared about him. Not even once did she watch him play. She just wants a sidekick for her more successful son. Diffusing the situation, Ga-ram has Seong-jun leave first, and then he states that only Seong-jun gets to decide when to retire. No one, even his parents, can force him to quit. And Ga-ram will support Seong-jun and help him recover.
“If you lie now, there is no turning back.”
Once more, Seong-jun pleads with Ga-ram to let him play in the nationals, as it is his last chance to get into college or join a pro team. But Ga-ram remains steadfast. He can’t have Seong-jun ruin his career. If his injury gets worse, Seong-jun might have to quit rugby for good.
Pushed to the edge, Seong-jun considers taking steroids and sneaks out of school to get some. Yet the trashy reporter captures him on camera and releases an article, causing an uproar. The vice principal jumps at the idea of getting rid of Ga-ram and disbanding the rugby team. But Ga-ram couldn’t care less about him, pulling Seong-jun aside while the rest of the boys stand guard. Having confirmed Seong-jun didn’t take steroids, Ga-ram feels relieved. Then he sacrifices himself to protect Seong-jun, claiming that the bottle is his and disclosing his condition.
The Winning Try Episodes 9 and 10 Musings
Coming full circle, Ga-ram faced the same dilemma as he had three years ago. But this time, he is no longer a player but a coach. The words he uttered to Seong-jun are the same ones he wanted to tell his past self after regretting ruining his career. And the scene where he teared up after confirming Seong-jun didn’t dope was a highlight.
In a drama teeming with terrible adults, Ga-ram proved to be a decent human being, worthy of coaching young students and ensuring they don’t make the same mistakes as him. If it were Coach Jeon, he would scramble to save his own skin and perhaps sacrifice his players as well.
That being said, this week highlighted the already existing issues with the show, having multiple superfluous side plots, and amping up the drama for the sake of raising tension. There is too much to wrap up in the finale week. And as things stand, it will be difficult to give Ga-ram and the rugby team a happy ending and send the vice principal and his clique packing in just the span of two episodes, making us worried about getting a rushed and unsatisfying finale.
The drama had a golden chance to get rid of Coach Jeon this week, or at least weaken his authority. But it traded this for U-jin’s injury and an uncomfortable scene of Yi-ji being pushed around. Which makes us wonder about the purpose of Yi-ji’s character, since we barely got any character growth for her. It is as if she only exists as a romantic interest for Ga-ram, though she could have made for an interesting character, and we can see her potential as a coach.
Likewise, instead of a random love triangle, the drama could have used that time to explore the rest of the boys. Only Seong-jun, Ung, and somewhat Yeong-gwang got to shine while the other four boys were mostly sidelined. This was billed as a story about a rugby team striving to win the nationals, but what we got was some rugby and a hefty dose of terrible adults, evil machinations, and unnecessary drama. What is done is done, and the story has already lost its way. So, we can only hope for a satisfying ending, though it might be unlikely.
Photos and Videos: SBS Drama
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