Thumping Spike 2 (2016)

As a second part of Thumping Spike, I was expecting some nice and catchy story like the first one. But it doesnt happened.
It was refreshing to see the old volley guys inside of an university right now, and their parts always made me laugh. But the main history is boring and its not deep enough.
On the other side, the actors was the reason I keep watching until the end. Their skills are amazing and I will follow the main characters into their new dramas for now on.
This is not a drama I would like to rewatch, but its a good small history when you just want to relax a little bit.

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Extremely Disappointing

Thumping Spike 2 is the perfect example of an unneeded and irrelevant sequel that unfortunately tarnishes the 'Thumping Spike' name so much that I'm not surprised there hasn't been a third season. This second season felt so forced, and with the removal of the three previous leads, was destined to fail. Maybe it's just me, but the chemistry between the ML and FL in this season felt non-existent, perhaps the least amount of chemistry between a ML and FL I've seen so far in my life. I could go on and rant about how disappointed I have felt over Thumping Spike 2, but, I need to give credit where credit is due. There are a couple of things that I liked, even more so compared to the first season (if you haven't seen my review for the first season of Thumping Spike: spoiler alert, I actually genuinely enjoyed the first season and gave it an overall score of 8/10).

The most notable thing I liked, in fact I think it actually did better than the first season, was the focus on the volleyball/sport aspects. The story was definitely focused more on the playing aspect which I enjoyed, and I quite liked the camera angles and how they filmed the volleyball sequencing. I also loved the OST, which I prefer, only slightly, compared to the first season (although they are both a 10/10).

However, weighing these things that I like, and the things that I disliked, Thumping Spike 2 is a seriously disappointing sequel that I wouldn't recommend. If you haven't watched the original however, I still suggest you to watch that, just do not watch this abysmal of a sequel that feels like a chore to watch by the end.

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Good Enough

" Thumping Spike season two " is not as good as the first, but it has its moments.

First of all, the second lead is very entertaining and makes up for most of the enjoyment of the drama. He also steals the thunder from the main lead, who is pretty cookie-cutter good guy material. The girl is cute at first, but gets way too annoying towards the ending, especially when she kind of double dates both guys. Also, for a 'geeky' girl, she was too toned down. We only get to see her study alond with the male lead for like two episodes. And her wearing glasses does not make her a 'geek'.

Other than that, the drama focused more on the romance than the sports, which was disappointing, but they did add some scenes towards the end with a game of two. The performances were pretty good as well.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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Overall pass for me

I went into this drama based on the premise and have not previously watched the first "Thumping Spike". It sounded like something I would be interested in. The story does contain the standard FL, ML, SML triangle you find with many K-drama romance stories. As I continued to watch it, I found that the romance storyline was much more of an afterthought and the story should have been listed as a sports drama.

I didn't find the ML/FL/SML chemistry at all romantic. As the romance felt like more of an afterthought, the romance was rushed between both MLs. The story could have dropped the whole romantic aspect in general and just focused on a sports drama about a former professional volleyball player, the main male lead, leaves the pro team to go back to university. Ultimately, he joins the university team, that isn't a very good team, and helps them become a winning team. During his time in university, he meets the female lead and falls in love with her.

The side characters weren't very memorable, especially the 2 females who were obsessed with the main male lead, to a point where one of them stabs the main male lead in the hand creating the "drama" if the main male lead will gain use of his hand back and play volleyball at university and possibly moving back into the professional team. There was even a plot point of the main female having a twin sister, who was definitely a side character and was just used for stupid plot points. The sister tries out for the dance team because the main female lead hurt her ankle. The sister also was used as a device to have the second male lead accidentally kiss her as he couldn't tell them apart.

I became bored halfway through and by episode 15, I was skipping through the chunks of the volleyball games to lead to the romance scenes. The episodes aren't very long, so when a good 2/3 - 3/4 of the episode is focused on the volleyball, the romance scenes definitely were rushed.

I can say for certain, I will not rewatch this show and most likely not watch the first "Thumping Spike". Nothing was very memorable and as I move on to the next show, will completely forget about it. My recommendation is a skip, unless you want to watch a show about a university men's volleyball team and very little romance involved.

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If you do not have high expectations, it is good for what it is

8.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2016 South Korean sports romantic drama with 20,15-19 minute episodes. 

 First I provide a Unique synopsis then review

 Synopsis

If you watched thumping spike 1, this is more of the elements you enjoyed but with a whole new cast of characters.  Han Da Woon/Han Ah Reum (Kim So eun) falls almost instantly for star volleyball player Dong Hae Sung (Lee Won Keun). 

Review

It is a light, short, very predictable romance.  Good for what it is. If you want a lighthearted break from more intense storylines then this would fit the bill. I would watch it if it was on but would not seek it out.  It is a stand alone from the first one with only a time or two they even reference characters from the first one.  There are some characters that carry over from the first series but it is some of the volleyball administration and a few of the more side characters on the volleyball team.  You could watch the second season without ever having watched the first and still understand it without missing any important details. 

 Spoilers

My biggest complaint about both series is just that it is so short.  I wound up liking this second series just slightly better as there was more of a love triangle, a bit more intrigue around lead guy’s career and injury, and I felt the chemistry between the leads was a degree more than the couple in the first season.  I did have a hard time getting into the story.  Some of it can be quite “cheesy” at times.  The music is a bit overbearing and the intro, review and then closing takes up a significant portion of what is already a very short episode.  But, this was 2016 and I think it is why the more current series moved away from this model. 

 I was pleasantly surprised they could tell the story as well as they were able in such a short amount of screen time.  That success was due to the simple story lines where more time could be spent on character development and the relationship aspects.  What severely lacked was any slice of life on volleyball, the technical aspects of the sport were very minimal.  They showed games a little but there was no time spent on aspects of different skills for the different positions, nor showing intense one on one coaching.  What I enjoy most about series that focus in on an activity, is learning more about the details of that activity.  I didn’t come away feeling like a knew more about college and professional volleyball in South Korea. 

#ThumpingSpike2 #KimSoEun. #LeeWonKeun

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