Love All Play (2022)

Easy to digest with some very little angst

July 3, 2022

Waw another Kdrama that I finished. As an avid badminton enthusiast and a player, this drama really hits close to home. Sure, I may not have pursued badminton as a career, but it really made me wonder if I followed this route instead of going to college. I really miss badminton and sure maybe I was on the high school team but those years spent were really memorable for me.

Back to the review, the main characters were not perfect and I love how they showed their flaws. It makes them more human if you know what I mean, as for the second lead couple. HOLY FAWK. I love and live for their scenes. There are points in the series where they were the ones I was looking forward to. The dynamic of both couples was just adequate. As for Taejun's mom, literally was the biggest eye sore. I still can't believe her actions or the way she thinks. It literally boils my blood.

Anyway, I think this drama is perfect for those who want the easy to digest with some very almost none existent angst to spice it up. If you are an avid fan of potato boy (if u get the reference then ur my bestie now), make sure to watch this ?

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sport romance, with some family drama

Love All Play (2022) -9/10 kdrama

very nice sport themed romance drama with nice comedy vibe. Vibe is little alike to 2521.
Story goes around friendship, sport, some past trouble drama, overcoming mental and phys problem etc. Overall this drama didnt really have any slow of literally boring part at least for me.
There was always something happening, when main leads stagnated, side characters story picked up and their story was quite interesting too.

plot - FL was golden medalist and well known badminton genius, but she left this sport in hurry under unclear reasons leaving behind just bunch of gossips. Now 3 years later she couldnt take it anymore and decided to return to her loved sport knowing she will have to face the past.

genre - sport, comedy, romance

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Please don't watch it if you are feeling DEPRESSED!

Hmm so I kinda dragged on the drama in the middle and finally finished it today watching at X1.5 speed... Not trying to discourage anyone from watching but I think I know why this drama ended up recording a low viewership in Korea.

First of all, the overall story and the ending is definitely great if you are looking into a comfort/healing drama. All things eventually got wrapped up nicely although there were some parts that I couldn't really agree on. There are many lighthearted and sweet moments during the start of this story, FL and ML clicked really well together as they delved deeper into their relationship and their past! 2nd couple is super cute as well!

Another point that is good is that it's a relieve the characters made up and resolved their past regrets and the hurt caused. This part will sit very well for anyone who had watched 2521 and felt immensely disappointed with the ending. For me, I felt both dramas' ending are well made and logical given that both of them had quite a different story setting. 2521 was more focused on the process of growing up to adulthood and facing common issues outside of their career/lifestyle, which is why after the all the characters made it as adults they still miss their old days together. Love all play on the other hand, mostly focused on untangling what happened from the accident 3 years ago that tormented everyone who were involved. Eventually, Junyoung moved on from her pain and regrets, reconcile with Taeyang.

So for the parts that I felt really draggy and kept me in low spirits was the fact that because of the unspoken accident, Taeyang always seem drowned by her guilt... Though she tried to walk out of it but as usual there are always things or people that hinders her way back to normal life. It's understandable that her team mates could not accept her at the start since there were rumors flying around about her but I'm speechless how a pro-athlete team can behave so childishly for so long... I know such things do occur in real sports organisations but honestly I don't think such behaviors is suitable to keep emphasizing for a drama. Junyoung and her parents as well kept delving themselves in victims' mentality, this part really made me skip it every time they show it... It is true that she was a victim but what's done is already done and they have made their own decisions for it too.

I hate TaeJun's parents the most! I'm sorry to say this but if I were the ML I would have left the family already. The parents are literal hypocrites...

Thus, I guess if you are experiencing some depressing times yourself, I would not recommend it to watch as the negative parts does go on for quite a few episodes. If really want to watch, maybe you can skip the middle episodes when the JunYoung returned to Korea. Skipping to almost last few episodes won't make you feel lost as the story plot is kinda predictable.

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Complicated Past, Character Development

I started this drama expecting a light romance with sports just like everyone else. Three episodes in I realised it was anything but light. The pace was slow, the plotline was heavy and complicated, and a lot of it was about the characters.
I could see people getting frustrated with not just Park Taeyang but all of the characters, but I found that my frustrations were towards the situation, where each character despite trying their best could not manage to make the bad situations go away. I liked how they dealt with it all. Overall, it was a nice drama, I might have to rewatch as it was not a drama to be digested weekly on air. If you're into character development, this is the drama for you. If you're looking for a light drama with sports at the center, this might not be the drama for you.

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Had higher expectations, but this drama fell a bit short

I was so excited to start to drama because, from the clips I saw on TikTok, it seemed like everyone loved it and once I started it, I was completely obsessed. The chemistry between the two main leads were off the charts, and they were so cute. But like how many of these other reviews said, the beginning of this drama started off so well and so strong, only for it to be more of a let down in the later half of the drama. The later half of the drama got a bit draggy and angsty and once they resolved it, it really felt like all that angst was for nothing. I also thought the focus was going to be more on badminton and winning championships but nope. As for our second couple, I liked Yook Jung Hwan enough, he seemed like a good enough guy who was just very hurt and angry but all he could do was channel that anger and frustration on Park Tae Yang. But I found Lee Yoo Min to be annoying and I was waiting for her to have a more significant role in this drama but nope. I would say my favorite character in this drama would be Park Tae Joon, he was adorable and he really loved Tae Yang. But yeah, sorry this review feels a little all over the place. Overall, this was an alright drama, I just feel like the first half of the drama set such high expectations for the rest of the drama, but it turned out to be disappointing because of those high expectations. Oh well, it was a short and quick ride.

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My fav kdrama for this year!!

I won't write so much about this drama 'cause it didn't end yet but I hope it has a very good ending!

I started this kdrama after watching some tiktok videos and I find it cool and funny to watch after finishing my exams.

When I first saw them , I knew this couple will have a great chemistry together. They always made me, even if I was crying or depressed from life, happy and motivatedto do my best in life . They're like my saviors . I liked also the OSTs in this kdrama. It was so cool .

I liked the second couple too . I really loved Jeong-hwan with Yoo-min more than him being with Jun-young. She left him without saying a word and she didn't even respond to his messages through the 3 whole years she was gone.
He don't deserve her. He deserve someone who really love him and care for him like Yoo-min .

I don't understand people who admire Jun-young . I think that she's a little overrated . I don't have any problems with the actress but her charater's personality realy sucks . That's just my opinion .

I watched 5 sportive dramas and this one is n*6 . I think it's my number one sportive dramas :)

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Love All Play: not as good as i hoped it would be but still a good experience

7.5/10

If i were to grade the first 8 or 9 episodes of the show i would give this show a solid 8.5/10 but the last 7 episodes fell short for me for some reasons.

Things i loved:

-The plot overall is very engaging and kind of refreshing. Its nice to follow Taeyang and her struggle with her past actions and overcoming her guilt with what she did to Taejun's sister.

-The romance as friend to lovers: The progression from friends to lovers between Taeyang and Taejun was so beautiful, realistic and new.

-The subplots worked: the second lead couple, the other Yunis players.

-The cinematography was beautiful and i felt like it reflected well the themes of the show.

-The emotional and more serious tone of the show was when it was at is best. The characters felt real when dealing with different things.

-The relationship between the captain of Yunis and Yeong Shim, they felt so realistic and mature it was so refreshing.


Things that didn't work for me:

- The comedy: the comedic timing of the show felt very force, cringy and sometimes even annoying. the show falls kind of flat when it comes to the scenes were it tries to be this weird youth comedy.

-The acting: It was actually good in the serious moments but a lot of the times the acting was bad or very forced.

- The actual romance of Taeyang and Taejun: It came to a point were their romance felt a bit annoying and dragging. The same issues came multiple times and they took a big part of the show. The chemistry started lacking in comparison to the friends to lovers arc.

-The pacing of the second half of the show: Honestly, the show would've benefited from a shorter run like 12 episodes.


Overall, it was a really good show and when you look at it as a whole it does feel fresh and comforting. however, when you start paying attention to the details, you start seeing the faults and bad parts. It was a good watch and i do recommend it but some people make it look like it was a 10/10 when it sure wasn't.

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My personal opinion on whose side you should be on

Taeyang isn’t at fault for making Junyoung quit her career. If junyoung didn’t tell taeyang to lie about the incident. They would have taken her to the hospital asap and treated her leg. Instead, She asked taeyang not to say anything and play dumb and innocent. At the hospital also, she said that she could get rehab and her leg would be fine. Until they found out the truth that she couldn’t play badminton anymore. All of it was junyoung’s fault, did taeyang play a part in it? Yes, but taeyang is not at fault. No one can control an accident. Also, junyoung is a bitter person. Because you had an accident doesn’t mean your whole life is ruined. The accident didn’t only affect her, the victim. It also affected taeyang. Taeyang lost her privilege to play badminton also for three year. And she has been beating herself up mentally for what happened that day that it’s affecting her athletic ability. Why is junyoung holding on to the pain she felt in the past? Because of that, taeyang can’t let go of the past either. When you let go of what keeps hurting you, only then will you heal. Holding that bitterness in her heart is doing everyone around her harm including herself.

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Drama Rom-sport (badminton), realistic & sweet to watch

PLOT: ML, brother of a fallen badminton star, is an excellent player, not passionate. He wants to retire, but finally joins the YUNI team, where he finds a childhood friend, FL, a passionate player but sidelined following a scandal 3 years earlier. They will join forces, play doubles and try to rebuild themselves by confronting the traumas of the past.

PROS:
+ A CL with great chemistry, unfailing love and total trust.
+ excellent actors, all of them! We live this story with them. The characters are endearing (almost all), well developed.
+ The 2dary romance is very cute. And I really like this couple's interactions.
+ The production is excellent: realistic settings, credible sports scenes and context, rhythm without length.
+ Well-constructed story, with clues at the right time and coherent character development.
+ Very good OSTs (we are in the land of Kpop :)

My two cents: As is often the case in sport (and sometimes in the artistic world), this story underlines the ambitions of the parents.
My own children played sports competitively, and I saw this behavior in many parents, even at a very low level of competition.

This drama shows abusive parents, perhaps unintentionally, but they want achievements and pride through their children, without realizing the pressure they put on their child's shoulders. The ML's mother, in particular, is toxic: unequal and discriminating love, emotional blackmail, selfish decisions, focused on herself,...All this, under the pretext of maternal love and protection Щ(◣д◢)Щ

=> An excellent drama which retraces the careers of athletes in a realistic way.
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Drama rom-sport (badminton), réalistic & sweet to wtach

PLOT: Le ML, frère d'1 star déchue du badminton, est un excellent joueur, pas passionné. Il veut prendre sa retraite, mais intègre finalement l'équipe YUNI, où il retrouve une amie d'enfance, la FL, joueuse passionnée mais mise à l'écart à la suite d'un scandale 3 ans plus tôt. Ils vont unir leurs forces, jouer en double et tenter de se reconstruire en affrontant les traumas du passé.

PROS:
+ Un CL avec une belle alchimie, un amour sans faille et une confiance totale.
+ d'excellents acteurs, tous ! On vit cette histoire avec eux. Les personnages sont attachants (presque tous), bien développés.
+ La romance 2aire est très cute. Et j'aime beaucoup les interactions de ce couple.
+ La réalisation est excellente : décors réalistes, scènes de sport et contexte crédibles, rythme sans longueur.
+ Story bien construite, avec les indices au bon moment et une évolution cohérente des personnages .
+ Très bons OST (on est au pays de la Kpop :)

Rq : Comme souvent dans le sport (et parfois dans le milieu artistique), cette histoire souligne les ambitions des parents.
Mes propres enfants faisaient du sport en compétition, et j'ai pu constater ce comportement chez beaucoup de parents, même à un très faible niveau de compétition.

Ce drama montre des parents abusifs, involontairement peut-être, mais ils veulent s'accomplir et être fiers par le biais de leurs enfants, sans se rendre compte de la pression qu'ils mettent sur leur gamin. La mère du ML, en particulier, est toxique : amour inégal et discriminant, chantage affectif, décisions égoïstes, centrée sur elle-même,...Tout cela, sous prétexte d'amour maternel et de protection Щ(◣д◢)Щ

=> Un excellent drama qui retrace la carrière des sportifs de façon réaliste.

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Love (the first half) Play

As my title suggests, the first half had me and I was thoroughly enjoying it to the point that I convinced a moot to start watching it ongoing too. The cinematography and soundtrack were brilliant, but I loved the honesty that oozed from the ML (Park Tae Joon - Chae Jong Hyeop) with regard to his intentions and feelings for the FL (Park Tae Yang - Park Ju Hyun) and equally loved the awkward reactions she offered, however, after Ep 8 things felt a little forced and disjointed in terms of plot progression, which in my opinion, held back what the cast could have really done to knock this one out the park.

One of the biggest flaws that got to me was how much power was given to Park Jun Young (Park Ji Hyun) and her mother (Lee Ji Hyun) throughout the drama. In fact, I'm still holding my breath waiting for Park Tae Joon (Chae Jong Hyeop) to healthily release whatever he was holding onto/carrying his entire life because of their behaviour towards him and everyone around them. Practically EVERYONE in the drama enabled PJH and her mother's egos while allowing PTJ (Chae Jong Hyeop) to receive the short end of the stick around EVERY turn.

Secondly, with regards to the above, they could have easily cut down PJY (Park Ji Hyun) and her mother's drama and put more focus on the player's lives (MLs, SMLs and more of the teammates), which would have made an even better and more interesting melodrama plot line, in saying that the other alternative would have been to make the drama shorter, which in turn would have left fewer plot holes and concerns to cover.

It had many other flaws, but those were my two main concerns, which pretty much took up most of the drama. It's a pity because the last five minutes really made for a great ending, I just wished we had some more substance that was on par with it.

In saying that both, Chae Jong Hyeop and Park Ju Hyun did a great job as the leads, but for the love of badminton can someone please give Park Ji Hyun a non bitchy role sometime? I really want to like her at least once! ?

- foxx

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First half: Amazing - Second half: Crap

I watched this one right after it aired cuz everybody was saying it was one of the best, the couple was cute and so on... They were cute indeed. But only in the first half of the show. From the moment they break up that's when things start to crumble.

- When the series begins taeyang made up her mind as to stop pitying and punishing herself for what happened between her and taejoon's sister. So she decided to come back to badminton. But when junyoung comes back and taeyang has to face her (and this ends up breaking her relationship with taejoon, and consequently her happiness), I thought that at some point she would realize that she's again punishing herself for smth that she had already done what she could to apologize for it. She had asked for forgiveness and retired, what else did junyoung want from taeyang?! So I thought that taeyang herself would stop all of that, just think about herself, and continue her life with taejoon by her side (since he himself wasn't giving a damn for all this drama). But the writers chose to extend all of this drama and made the couple get back together like in the last minutes of the last episode. Honestly, what was that ending really?! Just for the record, junyoung is the most annoying character and taeyang didn't do anything bad. It was just the people around her that made it look that way. And I understand that his parents not supporting their relationship might be smth that could made her uncomfortable. But she had already did what she could've done for something she wasn't even that much guilty for.
- The series also drags A LOT this drama between taeyang, taejoon and junyoung. It's like after it begins it becomes the only story that's being told for some eps. I think all of it could've been wrapped up faster so that other things could be talked about. Like taejoon's problem with his parents, and taeyang's reunion with her mother and sister. But I also think all that drama around taeyang shouldn't have taken too long bc it wasn't that much big of a deal. Like I said, it wasn't taeyang's fault what happened with junyoung. Yeah, it was taeyang who insisted on junyoung going out, and yeah, taeyang didn't immediately take up the responsability for what happened. But it was a fatality still. So I think it was a bit too much that everybody was blaming taeyang for an accident. Especially junyoung who was taeyang's friend and the only one who was there.
- I think that taejoon's problems with his family should've been addressed. It was clear that his parents cared a little too much for their daughter's feelings and not about how taejoon was feeling. Taejoon loved taeyang, but when his family found out about their relationship of course he was considered a betrayer. And taejoon never really said anything about nothing. He never complains or says how he feels. He just understands everybody. That annoyed me. All of them should've had a talk about this. And in the end it wasn't clear for me if his parents would stop putting difference between their children. And since the drama didn't show that, it's my opinion that his parents will just accept his relationship with taeyang because his sister decided to be okay with that.
- One thing that annoyed me a lot was how whenever taeyang was sad (which after their break up was like most of the time) she would ghost taejoon completely and leave him all worried bout her. Like she even spent WEEKS without talking with him, not saying a word if she was fine or anything. And when she decided to come back to training he acted like nothing had happened and everything was okay. It was so infuriating for me! He was too good for her. I remember a scene of them talking about feeling lonely and I thought that they would grow to be the emotional support of each other. But that wasn't what happened. Taeyang avoided everyone whenever she was sad and he just hid all that he was feeling. At least that's how it felt for me.
- But I admit I liked taeyang and taejoon as a couple in the first half. They were cute, supporting each other in the challenges of their career. Taejoon is just perfect. And taeyang was light and fun. Unfortunately all of this changed at some point.
- I think the only thing I really liked from beginning to end in this drama was yumin. She was my favorite character! Maybe bc she was removed from all the drama. But she's also not complicated. She's just herself. I also liked her relationship with junghwan. Yeah, he took too long to get over his ex. Yes that's super annoying. And yeah I totally get people not liking their relationship. But they were so freaking cute together! And I liked that she put some limits, not going after him and just walking away when she sees he's taking too long to get over. And in the end he went for her. Idk, I just think they were so cute together.

Anyways, for me this was an overrated drama. The beginning was very promising but all went downhill with their break up and taeyang's past coming back. Maybe if the series didn't focus so much on the taeyang/junyoung drama and more on the messages that were trying to be passed on, the side characters dramas and the romance, maybe I would've liked more. And my rating is not lower than this just because the first half was really good.

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Makes the Top of the Billboard of best Kdrama

On my second watch I have re - rated it to 10.

The narrative structure is so rich - the main relationship so realistically portrayed, the character arcs so believable and not to leave out the awesome sports camera work.

Look forward to seeing the ML and FL in future shows as leads. They are in the top of the league KDrama actors.

She is different from Kim Taeri's character in 25 - 21 as is the plot and themes.
But the feel of richness is the same.

The ensemble cast delivers.

The only weak point if I was to point out would be the weak development of the second couple arc.
It could have been a strong second line (like Park Hyung Shik and FL in High Society as the second couple which got as much heft as the main leads) in the story.. But fell short.
The second arc just felt half baked and that plot line's strong potential was frittered away.

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