I'm Jessica and this is Taba K Rambles, where a couple of friends review Korean dramas and we're back for another sports drama episode review. We're going to be reviewing Hot Stove League and for this episode I am joined by Emily and Raquel from the Play On K podcast. How are you ladies? We didn't plan that. Just like that. Sorry. How are you guys doing? And for those who don't know your podcast, maybe just introduce yourselves and introduce what maybe you're watching lately.
Just just a little primer. All right, Raquel, you go first. OK, OK. Hi, I'm Raquel with Play on K Right now for the podcast. We are watching study group over at Play on K. We watch 2 episodes at a time and review it and so anyone who's interested around the time this comes out, go back to our study group episodes because we are having a blast with that show. It is. It's so weird and off the wall and we've loved it so far and it can be found on Vicki.
What else have we been watching? We've slowed down a lot recently because our schedules are like especially M schedules are super jam packed. But I'll I'll let you, Emily, like see what else we might be watching. What else it have we recently watched in the past? We started Family by Choice because we thought we were going to watch it for the podcast and we both didn't care for it. We decided to avoid that one. Yeah, Before that, we recently finished Youngsung Creatures Season 2.
Season 1 was one of Raquel's all time favorite shows. It's a banger. And season 2 was fine. So that was. OK, yeah, I love your face when you said that. Yeah, I have heard so many great things about Study Group and I can't wait to watch later in the year when the hip hop podcast season is over.
I usually leave about 3-4 months at the end of the year to just binge my way through everything that came out in the current year and study group is on my finish the year 2025 list of dramas, so I'm really excited to do that. And Kyung Song Creature, yeah, I don't think I ended up pressing play on it because it was slated for a season 2. So I was like, that's a back burner drama for me, if that
makes any sense. Yeah. Also, it was like really dark and I'm a mood watcher so I was like, I'm not feeling this right now. But and then what was the other one? Family by choice? I refuse to watch Family by Choice until I've watched the original sea drama, which is Go ahead. I didn't know that it was originally a sea drama. Oh girl, yeah, that was a sea drama. A very famous, well regarded C drama. What? Yes. And so they created Family by
Choice based on that C drama. And I just refused on principle to watch Family by Choice until I've watched Go Ahead. That's so valid. I think that's fair. I'm doing the same thing with Pachinko and the book where I'm like, I know in my heart I am going to read this book. And so I cannot press play on this show until I've read it.
I did get a little bit of inspiration because one of my I like met my high school English teacher for coffee recently and we recommended it to her and she actually reads. She actually reads. So as it turns out, and she texted me the other day and she was like, I finished the book and it's one of the best things I've ever read. I'm enamored. I love it. Yeah, it's a big book. It's thick.
I want to read it. I have not been a reader for many years because I used to work in publishing, and so I used to do a lot more reading and writing and building, like a books, basically. And so I was really jaded after a while and like, didn't read. Yeah, it like, stunted my reading basically for a long time. And even though I've bought books recently, I haven't even cracked them open. So I feel horrible.
I resolved to read Pachinko. In the two years since, I've watched Season 1, and yeah, that still hasn't happened. So I am horrible. I'm horrible. I'm following through on that. But I did watch Season 2. Amazing, amazing. Love that Apple TV Plus show. Highly recommend it. I can't wait to hear from you guys when you finally watch it. But yeah, there's so many shows, so many great shows, so little time. Yeah, yes, 100. Percent and we're going to talk
about 1:00 today. But before we do, if this is your first time listening, go ahead and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. We're on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts and many more. And if you like us, please give us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. That goes such a long way for us to get discovered by listeners just like you. Come and check us out on social media to stay up to date on our latest episodes and reviews.
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OK, are you guys ready? Let's do it. OK, so we're going to talk about hot Stove league like I said in the previous episode, which is the C drama Nothing But You. I love a good sports drama and we have covered quite a few on the Tiba Ki Ramble's show. We've covered 2521, fencing, prison playbook, also baseball. Love all play, badminton, weightlifting, fairy Kimbok, Drew. Obviously weightlifting in swimming run on which is track.
It's at this point that I have to say I freaking love sports dramas and I am so self indulgent. And so I was like, oh nothing but you I want to do and I also want to do hot stove league. Why the hell not do them back-to-back? So here we are. Look at you. Yeah, look at me, look at me. So here's the My Drama List synopsis for Hot Stove League. This is about the preparation period of a Major League
Baseball team. The drama focuses on a loser team that prepares for an extraordinary season upon the arrival of their new general manager, and each episode will focus on a problem they have as they prepare to become a stronger team. Say Young is the youngest head of the management team of Dreams, a cellar dwelling baseball team. Cellar dwelling baseball team. She's highly recognized for her perseverance and intense passion for the team. One day, Song SU is appointed as
a general manager. Although he's been working in sports field, the teams he has led to the championship were unpopular and some of them were even disbanded after winning the league due to the financial difficulties of their parent companies. Would this unlucky new general manager be able to steer Dreams to the championship with passionate Seiyong? And I think I'm just going to
stop right there. This show aired in December 2019 through February 2020. It is 16 episodes long and directed by Jung Dong Yun. And this guy has directed, Wouldn't you know it, Young Song Creature 1 and 2. I was like oh they mentioned Kyung song creature. He's also directed It's OK to not be OK.
This is a questionable 1 though because it's listed on MDL only and so perhaps maybe he was an assistant director on It's OK to Not be OK. So it's not quite confirmed that this director worked on It's OK to not be OK. Also unconfirmed that he might have worked on heart surgeons from 2018. Kind of a weird resume anyway. Fates and Furies from 2018, Exit from 2018, which is a miniseries, but for sure Kyung Song, Creature one and two from Netflix most recently I see Fist Pumping.
Yeah. So you guys have the most experience with this director? Yeah. And honestly, when you said he directed it's OK to not be OK, but that's questionable. I thought you were saying the show is questionable, like that one's OK. And I was like, I'm sorry, are we going to fight right now? Because I think the three shows those top three on his resume to me, bangers. Yeah. Gun sung creature one and two. It's OK to not be OK. This man can do it all for me. He is untouchable at this point.
Right. It's what I'm saying is questionable is whether or not he's worked on the show. We just covered it recently on the podcast like 2 episodes ago by the time you're listening to this. And that was a really crushing recording because the Kim Suhyon drama is still, the scandal is still ongoing. It was very interesting to come back to that drama, rewatch it and kind of unpack that one. So if you want to go back in your podcast feed and listen to it, you can.
This director, Zhang Dong Yoon, is not listed as a director in that episode, obviously. But, you know, hopefully, like, that gets cleared up. Maybe as he does more work, they can kind of solidify what other stuff he's done, maybe as an assistant director or, you know, producer or something like that. Hot Stove League was written by Ishenhua. This is their only project. This is the only thing they've written. Really. One and done. I mean, once you're like.
Why mess with perfect? It is so shocking. Nothing else to compare it to. I, I, I don't know, it's crazy. This show stars Nam Kong Min, who plays Peck Song Soo. He's the general manager that we were talking about in the My Drama List synopsis. He's done about 26 TV shows, including our movie from this year.
I think it's going to come out sometime this year in 2025, but I think everyone knows him best from my dearest that came out in 2023 and there is a big deep dive on the tip out feed for my dearest $1.00 Lawyer. The Veil awakened Dr. Prisoner. Good manager. A girl who sees smells. 12 years promise. In need of romance 3. Chung Dung Dung Alice from 2012 becoming a billionaire. What's your guys experience with this actor?
Incredibly. This is our first time seeing this man I. Know I'm sorry going to hang out she's like you're off my bad fast. 300 Thank. You guys, goodbye. Never. Never. Well, what did you guys think of him? I thought he was great in this role. I really, really liked him in the, like, he's a pretty stoic character for most of it, but he
was, I think, able to outside. Like sometimes when someone plays a stoic character, it can come off as emotionally stunted in like a like, there's not as much range that can be given to the role, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. I feel like he gave plenty of range well, while maintaining the core of the character. So I thought he did a really good job. Yeah. Yeah. Fully agreed. Pakkun Bin plays the Co lead in Isayoung. She obviously has been a child actress.
She's got 33 TV credits to her name. Hyperknife is currently airing right now. In the year 2025 she was in Castaway Diva. In 2023 she is the Extraordinary attorney Wu from 20/22 she was in the King's Affection. Do you like Brahms? And so many more. I have a couple of reviews up, so one is for Extraordinary Attorney Wu and the other one is for Do You Like Brahms If you want to scroll back in your podcast feed. She is amazing. I love her as an actress. What do you guys think of Paco
and Vin? We're going to go 0 for two on this. 1 Yeah, we hadn't. So obviously very aware of Extraordinary Attorney Wu that has been in the zeitgeist. If you're in anywhere near K dramas, as we have been, you obviously know about that drama. So yeah, for sure, I've had some level of familiarity with her. She comes up on my feed a lot. But yeah, we never watched. We never actually sat down and put in the time with Extraordinary Attorney Wu. So we again, yeah, have not seen her before, but.
Loved her. There's so many dramas that I've pressed play on and watched 2 episodes and then said we got to watch this for the podcast and then we never did because our podcast takes so long so. Deep diving every two episodes, it takes so much time and effort, and it is quite a feat. So I completely understand why a lot of dramas don't make the cut for your show. Like, you have to be choosy, for
sure. Well, I love her, and I think that you should definitely give a couple of these a shot, whether or not they end up on your podcast. Do you like Brahms? It's really sweet, really chill. It's a music show. I think she's a violinist. Violinist in that one, and she has dreams of being, you know, a professional violinist, but she doesn't have the talent to kind of back that up. So it's one of those about
pursuing dreams. But, you know, at what cost of what time do you give up, Right, Because it's not sustainable. So plus it's a love story. So, you know, OK, It's good. Yeah, it's good. That is sold. Sold. Really sweet show. I would recommend that one probably over extraordinary attorney boot, to be quite honest with you, even though that one's the bigger acting showcase for her. Oh Jiang Say is to round out our trio here. He is the nephew of the owner of the baseball club.
He plays Kwong Kyung Min. He's got 55 movies to his name, about 37 TV shows he is appearing or has appeared in When Life Gives You Tangerines, When the stars Gossip, both from 2025. Mr. Plankton Sweet Home 3. Queen of Tears as a cameo in episode 1 Deaths Game. Sweet Home 2. Revenant Little Women It's OK to not be OK, which we covered in depth. When the Camellia blooms set your heart missing 9. You throw a rock. He's been in a drama. Yeah. What do you guys think about Oh
Chung say? We did it. We got one. Yeah, we've seen a lot of stuff with him in it. Nice, nice. Yeah, my personal favorite being Little Women, but I'm trying to recall his character even he must have played someone kind of far in the background or I'm self reporting as someone with a terrible memory but like. Usually Raquel's good at this. Though yeah, I feel like yeah, usually I'm really good at. It and him fully for not being that memorable. How dare you do this to me personally.
Rude. Live on air, Rude. Yeah, I don't look. I don't remember who he was either in Little Women. I mean, I can look it up, but I think that's counter intuitive at this point. There is an episode review on Little Women, so you can scroll back in your podcast feed and listen to a much clearer Jessica talk about Little Women right when she finished watching Little Women. But Jessica today does not
remember who Oh Jeong Sei was. I just remember there's a lot of like financial crime in Little Women. That was the whole thing. That was the plot. But. It's one of our favorite shows of all time. It's so good. Yeah, it's really atmospheric. There was like a poison flower or something like that. So that's like broad strokes what I remember. I don't know if you guys no, or if I have ever said on the podcast before, I have a horrific memory. I have the memory of a goldfish.
And so the blog, like the Tabaki Rambles blog and then now the podcast is as much about preserving what I think about a show as much as it is about having fun and talking to people about K dramas. Because I don't remember like after a certain period of time, it's gone. I don't remember specifics. I don't remember characters. I feel so. Sane. I love this. God, so get it while you can get it while it's hot basically is with the the name of the game
here with Tampa gay rambles. But we've come to the end of the cast list. There's definitely more casts that we can talk through if you guys would like. You know, the players, the people behind the scenes, the management, all these people. But I'm just going to skip ahead and ask you guys, what did you guys think of Hot Stove? League you go first time. Oh, OK, I hit you up first. I liked it. I do think I would have liked it
better if it were 12 episodes. I think there were a few storylines that I could have done without, and if they had been cut, the show would have been perfectly paced. I would have been interested from start to finish in every single thing that happened versus the 16 episode format that is pretty typical 4K dramas. I liked it, but there was a few too many storylines that I could have done without and I was kind of half watching those parts being like, it's fine, we'll get through them.
Yeah, but overall the highs were high. Like when we were up, I was fully invested and I was so excited to be part of this baseball team for the short lived time that this drama lasted. I really enjoyed the fun parts of it. There were just some slow bits that I was like cut. Gotcha. I, I am very similar in the sense that like, I guess to specifically identify it because I also I like sports dramas. I like sports shows and stuff, but we don't watch a whole lot for our podcast.
This is actually I think is our first one that I can think of as far as like K dramas go, which was really cool. But I think like there's stuff that have, I mean, they're so popular in Western media like we have Ted Lasso was the most direct comparison I could give as far as. Something that is an ongoing series about a sports team and like the people within it. And I think that where this the what, like maybe what and what have identified as the slow
parts. But for me are just like where the interest fluctuates is the hardcore politics. Sports politics were a little tough for me sometimes where I was like, can we just watch the inspirational people do inspiration? Like, this one's tough, this one's tough when I just want to watch the good boys play baseball and be good boys sometimes.
But I do think that they had a good balance in there where it helped with my focus fluctuation, where all of a sudden they were like, now look at this character, throw an incredible pitch and the people around him that want to help him or whatever. And then I'm like, I'm back. I'm back, baby. Oh, I think we do have different slow parts because I really liked the business stuff. That's kind of my bread and butter.
I, I'm a business student and so I was like, give me all the politics of how to make this trade, what stuff had to be negotiated in what stuff people felt like they were losing in the trade versus what they were gaining. And obviously I did not keep up with the statistics of this person's ETR was .45. And so I don't know what's happening at all here, but the trade negotiations of these people as baseball players was so fascinating to me.
And I liked that they kind of lost me with character backstories sometimes. That's where it slowed down for me. I loved the PowerPoint presentation parts. That's the politics I can get behind. Is a good PowerPoint right? Break it down for us. Yeah, I come from a 4th of July Rocky marathon family. You know what I'm saying? Like, I love sports movies. I love the underdog story.
I was riding high last year with the Challengers movie, The Zendaya threesome movie that was like, Oh my God, Coming from A2 Summers taking tennis lessons kind of person. The Challengers movie was like, Oh my God, it was like a drug. I love sports movies. The Iron Claw, there's so many movies. Jerry Maguire, bring it On. Like so many movies, our sports movies and Rudy Radio. I'm just like reading through here. Stick it. You ever seen stick it? Stick it. Are you, do you know who you're
speaking to? Wimbledon. I love that movie love and basketball. Like I am constantly over here loving sports movie dramas. And so when I realized that this drama was basically Moneyball but make it a K drama, I was like sign me up, sign me up. I was all in. I was locked in. Oh my God, I was locked in. I was like, give me the nuclear codes cuz I'm gonna be here a while like this. This was literally right up my alley and I loved all the business aspect. I loved all of the players
aspect. I loved when they were talking shop and they were talking stats. Listen, I don't know anything about stats. I don't know what means what. Give it to me anyway. Just throw numbers at me. I was living for it. I loved the Wheeling and dealing and there was so much that was entertaining to me, that was surprising to me. And there was something about the team that was really sad and pitiful. Like it was like an Angels in the Outfield team. It was like a Bad News Bears
team. Like they were just goofy. They were awful. They had no talent. And I was like, yes, there's only one way it's up. I can't wait. So this show excited me. It entertained me and I completely understand how you feel Emily, that you were like it was dragging because I was watching at a 1.5 speed and that was the perfect speed to watch it at. How do you do that? Smart. Oh, there's a plug in on Google Chrome OK. Yes, we need the plugin.
We need the. Plugin to add to your Google Chrome and that will change the speed on videos for you. Pro tip. So because Vicki doesn't have that feature, no, to change the speed because they're in the Sony age, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway. I was watching it at 1.5 speed. Wonderful speed to watch it at because I think these episodes should have been 4540 minutes. Yeah, that was a sweet spot for these episodes. And I'm not sure if anything
could have been cut out. I just think they could have tightened it up, you know what I'm saying? So I'm somewhere in between because I liked everything, but they just needed to move quicker. Yeah, that makes any sense. Something that probably impacted my viewing it, it always does. I have this terrible habit of I never read the synopsis of a show I'm about to start. I don't know. I I go only on vibes. I never know what it's actually about.
I hit play and I was listen, smooth brain over here. I didn't know what a stove leak was. I had no clue that this show. Thought I knew what a stove leak was. You're giving me too much credit. You're giving me way too much credit. That was the first Google, that was the first thing, that was the first thing they put on the screen when you press play on episode 1. They defined what the stove league was. And I was still like, let me Fact Check. Let me Fact Check what the stove league is.
So I mean, I'll just give it to you guys. Like right now what? The stove league is a stove league, according to Google's AI overview, refers to the baseball offseason period when teams make trades, sign free agents and discuss the upcoming season. The term originated from baseball and players gathering around literal hot stoves in the winter to discuss the sport. Because baseball is not played in cold months. So OK, that says stove league.
That that last little detail I had completely missed. I also when they gave us the definition, I kind of skimmed it. It was one of those things where it's like Vicki tells you and you're like, OK, OK, context. Cool. Love it. Yes, I spent way too long being like, all right, when are we going to play some baseball? Oh man, that's the thing, They weren't going to play. Baseball exactly because they was the. Baseball. It was the stove league. That's what it was, the stove
league. Is the offseason, Yeah, yeah. They're prepping and changing things around around. Episode 6 I was like, oh. Never. They're never going to play some baseball. Not you getting almost halfway through the show and then being like a weight. We're not going to have any games. Like they're not going to play baseball. Yep, about halfway through when I was like, well, maybe half of it is like the the offseason and half of it they'll like show them succeeding.
No, still no. Raquel, come on. OK, that's fine. That's fine. Yeah, an absolute fool. I love how you brought up Nam Kunmin and his sort of stoic portrayal of this general manager, because that's kind of different to his character in My Dearest, who's very charismatic and he's got like, I know that rizz equals charisma, but like, he's got a lot of rizz. In My Dearest, he doesn't have no rizz in the show at all. Yeah, you guys are shaking your head.
So I was wondering for a little bit of the show if he had, you know, if he was on the spectrum or something like that, and that was going to be some sort of reveal later in the show. But they never do talk about his feelings and how his persona is. Maybe the reason for it is something deeper. I don't know if that was a flaw of the show or if that was a positive of the show. Because you have like this enigma of a man who's just making moves. You know what I'm saying? I don't know.
Yeah, I love doing that with K drama characters because I do actually think that comes up a lot where there's someone who's like emotionally unavailable and sometimes it really is in the portrayal because I've never seen outside of maybe the extraordinary attorney Woo, I've never really seen a whole lot.
Oh, and it's OK to not be OK. There's not a bunch of like identification of if someone's on the spectrum, but there have been multiple instances where I've just the way a character is reading, I'm like, there's no way they aren't. Or if they are, that's very frustrating because I don't
know. It's, it's one of those things where it's like if you're operating outside of general social norms and kind of trampling people's feelings, and it's not that you don't understand the social cues, I think that just makes you a jerk. It's like if you understand the social cues and you're still
being like, kind of right. But if if you're on the spectrum and you're just kind of functioning like with the information that you have, then it's kind of, oh, that makes you like a cool, interesting, diverse character that is not being a jerk just to be mean. But I also think he was a jerk, too. Yeah, because he was very astute and understood why people were upset with him when he didn't. You know, he kept saying, like towards the end of the show,
like, I'm not that soft. You know, I'm not softening anything when I give you things to do, when I say my opinion, when I'm telling you what's going to happen. I've realized that to inspire trust, I have to tell you why I'm making these decisions. And I think it's important for his character's growth as well to see him do these things, change his routine, and it garners trust and rallies all of these team members around him to support him and his decisions.
That's why I was like on the fence about whether or not because there was a complete understanding of what he was not giving these people. That's true. So maybe he was just kind of a jerk, but it's one of those, have you ever seen that chart of the United States where it's like this section acts nice and is nice. This section acts nice is mean. This section he's very like, acts mean, is nice kind of guy where it's like he's doing the right thing. At the end of the day, he's just
a huge jerk getting there. Yeah, he has no bedside manner. Yeah, yeah. And I think my frustration, and I'll try and keep this as non spoilery as possible, came when they introduced his back story in the middle of the drama. And they were like, This is why he's a jerk. He's been through some stuff. And they just kind of left that there. They just dropped it on our doorstep and we're like, we're never going to talk about it
again. I was like, oh, so he's just mean because he's been through some stuff. That's not OK. I put him on the spectrum and I'll like him better. That's where I'm at. Yeah. We could talk about that in spoiler section, because I totally agree that that was like a weird thing to do. And then they didn't unpack it at all. Yeah. But that's why he's mean, because if you go through a hard thing, you can just be rude to people, to your life.
Yeah, pack and bin. A very plucky, kind of average, sort of female lead character in this show. But she loves baseball. That's how. Like, her only shtick is that she absolutely adores this team, has a strong affinity for it, and no amount of money is going to make her leave to go to another team. I'm like, OK, OK sis, like calm down. Look, if I got a call from a rival team and they're trying to scout me, I would at least take the call, OK? I would at least see a contract before.
I'm like, no, definitely not. I love dreams. Don't call me lose my number. But Bakun Bin in this is softening Nam Kun Bin's character Sung Soo, and she just understands it. Like after a few altercations in the first few episodes, she is completely on his side and like, trusts him. She trusts his judgement. What did you think of Paco and Ben's Seiyong? Pretty pretty bland for me. They liked her but I don't think they could have done the show without her.
But also I've got no notes on her. She was just kind of there for me. I think I kind of agree. I almost feel like she was bland in the way that people describe the protagonist of a lot of young adult fantasy novels, where she kind of was the vehicle with which we were experienced or the lens through which we were experiencing the show in a lot of ways.
So I almost appreciate the like anchor that she provided to the show in being very expected, behaving in very expected ways or very like pure do it for the love of the game kind of way where it she is anchoring like all of the moving parts of the politics and everything. And she's like, we're here for dreams and I'm like, we are here for dreams. Yes, exactly. Aujang says character who is
super, super interesting. What would you like to say about this man and the menace that he is throughout? The show I have so many feelings a lot of them I will reserve for the spoiler section because I don't want to rail too hard now and spoil anything so but what I will say is when I first saw him in the show, when I first because again, I read nothing I
reviewed nothing. I hit play and went into it, and when I saw him show up, not knowing, you know, what type of character he was going to play, who he was going to be, all I could think was, oh, they're. For real. For real. With this show, like they, they got the actor, yeah. I have to say, when I resolved to cover the show and also to cover It's OK to not be OK, I had no clue that Ojeng Sei was in hot stove league. Obviously knew Ojeng Sei was in It's OK to not Be OK.
I did not know that he was in hot stove league. So when he popped up, I was like, oh shit, we're doubling up on Ojeng Sei in this season of tebak. He is really brilliant. He's so hateful in the show and we can talk more about all his infractions in the spoiler section. I have to say they put him in like a he's got kind of like reddish hair, almost like Auburn ish hair in the show. And then they put him in like a maroon suit at one point and I was like, are they cosplaying
Joker here or like what is? I don't know why, but it felt very cartoonish but toned down villain to me. But they must have only done it like two or three times that he had this color suit on. It made such an impression on me. All the suits, every suit. So much, yeah. Every suit was a lot. It's giving Korean web comic to me where the villain has like the same color hair as their eyes and their outfit and everything and you're like, OK. This is real life.
Yeah, I agree. Were there any other characters that you wanted to point out right now? Maybe a TE Donkyo In this show he plays you Minho, who is one of the younger pitchers. He has a smile that beams into your soul. He's potato boy from nevertheless, and I also had no idea that he was in this show. So when he popped up, I was like, Oh my God, Dan Dong Heelp is in this because he was the star of love all play, which is a badminton K drama that we have also covered on the feed.
So I was like, Oh my God, doubling up on sports dramas with hey Dong heel. What what is this? What is this? He's precious in this. And I don't think it's much of A spoiler to say like he had, he had yips, which I feel like yips, you throw a rock, you hit somebody who has gone through the yips in the K drama or like a sports K drama, pervasive issue with athletes. So yeah, poor kid, but real cute. Real cute in this. Just such a small supporting role. Yeah, if that's your deal.
If you like Che Zhong help, then don't miss out. You know he's in a baseball. Here he's smiling, he's charming, all of us. He's so cute. I think you guys wanted to talk about the chemistry. Yes. Is that spoiler ific or do you want to talk about it now? I don't think it's spoilery. Yeah. Like Raquel did Google it when she started watching the show. She's like, is there romance in this drama? So.
It was like the first thing. Won't read the synopsis will Google. Is there romance in this drama? OK. Because the chemistry lends itself in our little monkey brains to this is going to turn into a romance. This is going. We found it, the perfect sports meets romance drama as not charismatic, quote, UN quote, as Big Sunsu is. He has the riz like he's. It's so quiet. It's subdued in this drama, but I still think he has it.
Yeah. So we were convinced there's a lot of people with chemistry in this drama. We were convinced there's going to be some sort of love storyline. And maybe it's spoilery. Skip ahead 15 seconds if you don't want to know if there is one or not. There's not one. No romance, dry drama, but the chemistry is still there. Everyone works so well together. These actors just knew each other and we loved to see it. Yeah, and there's like interest between characters without their ever.
It's very ambiguous, similar to us not definitively knowing if Sung Tzu is on the spectrum or not. We also they gave us. Crumbs throughout where they were like, maybe, perhaps, you know, perhaps these two. Yeah. But then they said that's not what this is about. This is about the hot stove league. Write your fanfics on the web, OK? Yeah, we're not here to write them for you. Keep it in your pants.
So the last thing I'll say before we kind of break for spoilers is that this show, as I said, aired from December 2019 to February 2020. And I think it just got overshadowed because I don't know if you remember what happened in December 2019 through February of 2020. A little show, I don't know if you've heard of it, Crash Landing on You aired at the exact same time. So I think Hot Stove League got the short end of the stick here and was just crushed, just crushed by the Crash landing on
you. And I think that's unfair. Completely unfair. I had a wonderful, exhilarating time with Hot Stove League. I don't know if you guys had any thoughts about why it's been so sort of underrated the past few years. I mean you just told me the reason all. Right. Because I feel like if you missed that premiere window, then it's really hard to come back from it. Yeah, it's definitely about timing. And like you said, the crash landing on you was a Goliath.
There was nothing they could have done other than just know that they were going up against something. They couldn't have known what they were going up against as far as like viewers and stuff goes. Yeah, Cuz yeah, I had not heard of it before. You said like, hey, should we watch hot stove league? And I was like, sure, absolutely will not read about it. Can't wait. I have not heard anything.
Yeah. And so, yeah, I that is kind of the only thing I can think that would have kept it out of at least mentions and reels and clips and stuff, is that, yeah, people were sleeping on it. They were. They were busy watching the romance between a North Korean and a South Korean. Yeah, that's all I'll say. There is a big old episode on Crash Landing on you from season 1 if you guys want to listen back to it. That is with Rico, my OG Co host and yeah, Chloe Biggin.
It's a Biggin. And I feel horrible for hot. So bleak. I feel horrible that I haven't watched it because this is this has me written all over it. Like evidently this was made for me. I'm a huge fan of Moneyball. It's like one of my favorite sports movies ever and that is about rebuilding A-Team. It is about the modern era of baseball and statistics and building a team is because of this era of moneyball.
Highly recommend Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, I. Think my boyfriend was watching it just the other day and I was like OK well I'll go up and watch some K. Drones watching it, it's so good. It's so. I love Moneyball, so as soon as I realized I was like, yes, let's get to our ratings and then we'll break for spoilers. I don't know who wants to go first, but how many Soulju bottles would you give Hot Stove League can? We do half. Points. Yeah. Yeah, you can. Give half points.
Yeah. I'm at 3.5. I'm at 3.5. We didn't have to talk about it. It's where we're. At we're up there, all right, 3.5. I'm going to give it a four, maybe even 4 1/2 because I had some a great time with it. It was so, so much fun. It didn't lag too much for me, but again, I was watching it at 1.5 speed. That's not what they intended for us to do. So I'm going to go with four. I'll stick with four out of five. Hold you bottles. And with that, we're going to break for spoilers right now.
Excuse me? I can't, you know I am. I'm sorry, what? All right, we're on the other side of spoilers. We're going to spoil Hot Stove League, so if you care to be spoiled, please stop now and return later after you've watched the show. If you don't care, then welcome. We're going to talk about the chemistry between characters and who were we rooting to be together? Who Who are the ships in this show? Top Obviously big Sung SU, Lisa Young. Yeah.
They were just so good together. She believed in it from the start. It was instant chem. But there was also that little tiny question mark on Lisa Young and her subordinate. Her. The chairman's grandson. Yeah, he where it's like, I don't know, they've got that. Maybe a little too bickery, but could be sort of enemies to lovers, a relationship.
I don't know, It's just there. That one was the one that was hinted at the most, that he had feelings for her, 'cause I think even at one point he said something like I'm here for love and work or something. I take both very seriously. When he followed them to America to do recruiting, at which point I was kind of like, oh, I did not see this coming. You guys were very sibling coded until this moment. And now I kind of I'm kind of feeling it all of a sudden. Oh. I see, I see.
Yeah, I wasn't shipping nobody, and I guess that's just me. Like reading the show, I guess really surface level because I wasn't shipping anybody. I didn't want Pakumvin's character Seiyoung to be with Jehi, who's her subordinate, and I didn't want her to be with Sung SU, her boss. I was like, no, she's by herself, fine. Everyone's just by themselves is fine. So I don't know. I just took a very simplistic. Of a normal person, yeah. Yeah, one of my, I guess, like
my problematic favorite trope. The trope I acknowledge is problematic, but I love the storyline of is office romances because in real life I'm like, stay away from them. That's messy you gross, but in pretend K drama land where it's not real people suffering consequences of power dynamics, I'm like let's go fall in love. Oh. My God, see, I'm like the opposite. Because as soon as you throw in an office romance, I'm like, Jack, please, I don't like it. I don't like office romances.
I have a dark history with shipping characters because I've just been burned so I don't do it anymore largely. Fair. I'm going to switch gears because you one of you brought up the trip to America. I have so many notes on this because I was like, what the hell is going on here? First of all, this is like an episode 4 early episode. They have this business trip to the United States to scout and sign a replacement for in
pitcher. They fly first class, it's a first class flight to America and they land what I think is they land in LAX even though they don't show LAX. So they're in California is what my assumption is because that's the license plate on the Ford pickup that picks them up. It's a California plate. Then they're driving down the road. It's the PCH. Like I'm not crazy. It's the PCH. They're going South on the PCH since the Pacific Ocean is on
their right hand side. So I'm like, OK, if they flew an international flight and they landed in LAX, now they're on the PC. This is several hours, right? I'm like, is this the same day like that? It takes several hours just to get to where they're at, and they're going South on the PCH and it's unclear to me where they get dropped off because now their scout, the person they're scouting, is in some urban area. Yeah. So I'm like, did they go to San Diego?
Like, are they in Baja California? Like I had all these questions. There were just multiple times where I was like, I listen, I've never been to Hawaii. I don't know that this is the case. But every time they were like around the palm trees in the urban area, I was like, that doesn't really look like California. Wait, but it does look like Hawaii. I'm getting there, so just follow me, follow me. So then they stay overnight at this ratty motel. Like ratty what?
I was like, what is this? Is this the same K drama? So then I was like, are they in the boonies? Like where are they that this guy that they're scouting is at? They should have flown business. They really should have like put some of. This like they flew like so high class and then they're staying at this motel. It didn't fit. It didn't fit. The interior shots of the motel that they're staying at comically, in no way, shape or form match up to the exterior of
the motel. I was like, there's no way that this is the same motel. Then cut to the next morning, they eat breakfast outside at a Denny's on Kappa Hulu Ave. Oh, you spotted it. You scoped. It I was like, where the hell is this? This is in Hawaii. Let's go. I've never been, but I know how to identify it visually. This is in Hawaii, OK, clearly. And I looked at the location like Denny's on Kapahulu Avenue. I was like, this is it? This is the Denny's. So I was like, where the what
the fuck is going on here? So bad? I was so impressed. There's another exterior shot in this episode. They're at a restaurant, Blue Point Coastal Cuisine on 5th Ave. This place is in San Diego, CA. It is now permanently closed. I was like OK so it must have closed during the pandemic because they filmed this obviously before the pandemic. I'm not even done. Then they eat ramen at Robert's house. He's the guy that they end up signing, the pitcher that they end up signing.
Robert's house is in no way, shape or form an American house. Yeah, it looks like the shelves, like with the open door. That looked very East Asian architecture to me. It looked like every other Korean house interior and then I was mad because the only thing that differentiated it was the Route 66 metal wall decor that they put in the dining room. That looks so ridiculous. I couldn't believe that they thought that would suffice. They were like America.
Literally, literally, they were like, get some American decor just like whatever, and they got a Route 66 sign. I was like, I am offended on behalf of my whole culture. Then this is the last thing I have about this episode. They run out of gas at the end of the episode and they're in like this valley, That's the fucking Jurassic Park Valley.
Yes 100% it is. The only thing I remember though about that scene is that they're driving on a road and I know they did this for some kind of symbolism where they put a dead end sign. Dead end sign. On a road that stretches for miles in both direct like the dead end, they're actually going like they run off in the direction of the gas station they start. Running at full speed. Away from away from their truck, but like in the direction the truck was going.
Towards the dead end. Toward the dead end, or they were coming from the dead end, at which point it's like, wow, what? It made no sense. And then so this, this valley is the where they film Jurassic Park. It's, oh, I'm going to butcher this Kahawa Valley, which is one of the most iconic locations at Kualoa Ranch, located in the eastern part of Oahu, Hawaii. So I had all these questions. I was pausing the show to figure out where they were because I was angry that they were
location hopping. Yeah, to an embarrassing degree. Where it didn't have to happen. You could have just said, let's say that the baseball player is training in Hawaii and then will go to Hawaii and then there's a million different things they really could have done there. Instead of saying we're going to say it's California, we're going to go from LAX to a place in Hawaii using a clip from someone else driving on the Pacific Coast Highway. Like insane.
I'm like, so in my feelings right now because I grew up in Southern California. I clocked none of this. We had such a different experience. I was like, Yep, looks like California to me. That's where I grew up. That's my home. All of it looks good. We're all above board here. I'm having a good time. I just love how they had the Denny's. I was like, Denny's in Hawaii. You could have done Denny's in San Diego and nobody would have been the wiser. But why Denny's in Hawaii?
I I was. Because I knew I wouldn't clock it. I am the target audience, the dumbest person alive. You're supposed to sit there and not clock any of this. Anyways, sorry I took us on like a wild like chase. I thought it was. I am also obsessed with it. I also feel like. Do you have a career in like set QA for K dramas? No, but I should. You should. They should hire me. Send them this clip. Send someone this clip. Because this is embarrassing.
If you want to have a market in the international sphere, don't do this shit, OK? Please make it believable. Just try at the very least. Have someone look at it and just like take a quick review to say like, does this look like Hawaii or California? OK, so switching gears, I think you guys wanted to talk more about Ho Jung Sei's foul foul company man who just keeps sabotaging the team. Yeah, throughout the series I. So The thing is, is that he's
such an incredible actor. Like I said, when I saw he was in it, I was like, oh, this is a like, we're for, we're doing this, we're going hard, This is serious. And it's going to be a work of art because he's in this. Yeah. And then as time went on, I just. So sometimes I think that the best villains are the ones where there's kind of a Gray area under which they are functioning or, you know, they're not the good guy, but they make some compelling points.
Or if none of those things, then they've got to be the bad guy, right? Like they've got to be like, there's no one up above them making them do this. There's no one. They are just committed to what they believe and it's bad. It's all bad. But he was kind of none of those things.
And I found him to be a very, I, I could not connect with him as a villain because every time they tried to give his kind of pitiable back story of like, well, his dad is poor because he cares so much about the people around him and gives them all of his money. And he had to go to the military like every other non tribal, non like. He's not. A true son of the conglomerate Because he's not a draft Dodger. Yeah, right.
Exactly where I was. Just like, Oh no. Let me play you the tiniest violence. The whole time, every time they were like, look at how sad he is because his younger cousin is a jerk to him. And I was just like, I don't care, quit your job. But he had to ask for money to go to school from his rich uncle. Isn't that sad? He had to beg for his tuition fees. Not me out to pay back. Yeah, not me out here still paying back my student loans 10 years later.
And he's like, my rich uncle paid for my school. And what shame that carries for me. I'm just like, I don't care, man. Like I don't care. But I do feel like his arc was good by the end. It was very believable that he has this turn around, becomes a human and starts feeling feelings again. I I don't know, I like the kind of redemption of his character. It just took 15 episodes for them to do anything with it, it was so long.
Yeah. It took a minute for him to kind of gain a conscience because he knew what was right and wrong. He knew he was agitating people throughout the show. He knew that he was acting on these feelings of feeling inferior, right. He always had this inferiority complex, and I mean flouting his status in front of Nam Kumin's character. He didn't like being disrespected. He hated the general manager, He hated that the general manager was good at his job.
He hated that the general manager didn't take direction, didn't take orders, and he hated that he was lesser in his own house, like in his own family. At one point he says it's much easier to crush those below you than to fight those above you.
And that's in episode 11. And that's like his whole philosophy throughout the show is that he's like, well, if I can't have what I want in a professional sense, it within my own freaking family conglomerate, then I'm going to like bitch and moan and stomp on people below me in this ball club that my father loved. Yeah. That I had a wonderful childhood and grew up around just because. Yeah. Like it's so petulant.
It was so petulant and it was it made him so hard to understand in the sense that it was like, sorry, did you get an immense outpouring of affection from the people that you are now committing You're you became a corporate shill for or like because like his family isn't good to him. His parents seem to want to have some kind of connection with him. I don't know.
There was just like, so many moments where it was just like, I can't even feel like this is entirely believable because he has every reason to want the club to succeed. And he's still like, no, I need to impress my rich uncle.
And it's just, it's a lot. And yeah, his redemption was kind of, there was only kind of 1 moment of it that really sold it for me. And it was when he was speaking with the kind of sleazy scouting, not team lead, but the like Co lead or whatever of the scouting team after he was trying to get him to commit all the different infractions within the company or within the baseball club. And then the kind of the very end, he says, can I just go back
to doing my old job? He being the the scouting assistant Wade, he says, can I go back to doing my old job? I would like to do real work and not sabotage people anymore. And that was kind of the moment where you could see there was like a a little mechanism turning in his head. And that was kind of the only moment that that really sold the he finally had a reason to change because all of the other reasons had always been there. And he was kind of a brat about
those two. They didn't seem very compelling for him to change. But it was just interesting that that there was like that one moment where he was like, oh, I could be a normal person about this. This was after this guy also saved his keepsake which was the signed baseball. Yes, I forgot about that. Yeah, he like pulled it out of the trash and gave it back to
him. Yeah, it's like 6 episodes before that that he was visiting the baseball stadium and an older groundskeeper or something was like, hey, you're that kid that used to come here. Your dad was the best guy I've ever worked for in my entire life. And you think, you think in that moment that Kwan Keung Min is going to change a little bit, that he's going to be like, Oh yeah, my dad isn't just a poor piece of shit, he's a nice
person. Despite what my uncle has been telling me, brainwashing me with for the past 20 years since he got my dad to quit. My dad was a good person and I should be a good person. Nope, no change for like the next 6 episodes. He's like, I'm going to keep being shit. Yeah, I totally understand where he's coming from though, because in the culture, well, first of all, this is a conglomerate family and he is money hungry
the whole show. Like he is constantly putting people down and equating things to money if they they're not valuable because they're worth less money and yadda, yadda, yadda. He's constantly talking about money. And that's what that's all fine and good. You add on to that. His father's poor. His father is righteous but poor, not very educated, was not good as a businessman, and that equals unsuccessful and embarrassing in the Korean culture. Not to mention the uncle is a
successful conglomerate owner. So to to this guy, to O Jiang Sei's character, he's like, yeah, I don't want nothing to do with my dad because my dad is an embarrassment. So it makes no difference that the dad had a wonderful heart for people and he's well loved in the community or that he was well respected by these peasants. Like they don't matter. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like it it made no difference to him. So I totally understand where he was coming from.
To me, the disconnect happened when he at the beginning of the show, he sets up. I want you to create a championship team. I brought you in specifically because I loved your resume. You created a championship team multiple times, and then the owners were able to disband and sell the team. You increased the value of the team. Yeah. So I'm like, OK, me and my business mind, I'm like, perfect. I understand exactly where he's
coming from. He wants to increase the value of the team, make it attractive for when he goes to sell it in a year after the next season. Got it. Except he kept fucking sabotaging every single thing that would lead to a stronger team, a stronger season. So that was when I was like, I don't understand if he was his own worst enemy. Yes, 100%. I was the same where I was like, what does he do? Like what? What do you mean you don't want
him to make them champions? And then kind of near the end, they started doing a lot of him and his uncle and everyone were like, there's no point in selling it. And I was like, that also doesn't seem very business minded in the sense that like obviously they also were like, he's been trying for years and he hasn't been able to do it. But that was, like you said, way later in the show. Revealed that he had. Tried for many years to sell this team and nobody in the region wanted to sell it.
It's worth noting this is not a team out of Seoul. This is not a capital team. This is out of Tongjin City and Dongjin City. I looked it up is apparently the AI overview says it's most likely refers to Chong Dongjin, a town near Kongnun, South Korea, most famous for its sunrise views in the train station practically on the beach. I looked up where that is. It is clear on the other side of South Korea.
So it's on the East Coast of South Korea and that does track with what they say about this team. It is like a provincial baseball team. They already have like three sets of ball clubs out of Seoul. The rest of the ball clubs are out of these different provinces and different regions in South Korea. And this region, they had a strategic interest in putting a ballclub there all those years ago because of their business. They were a consumer first facing business.
And so they were like, perfect, let's create a ballclub and create all this buzz and good feelings towards our chaise on conglomerate with this ballclub, the dreams. And so now that they're stuck in this podunk region, they're like, Oh, no one wants to buy a ballclub on the East Coast, that all that we have is a nice sunset and like, loyal fans. Yeah, and our ball club is dog shit. And our ball club is dog shit. So I can understand like why,
but again, that wasn't a thing. A through line that they had set up that he was like trying to sell it and was unsuccessful. It was like on on the last couple of episodes he was like, good luck selling it because I've tried and no one wants to take the ball club. Yeah. So it's like, yeah. Which it if they made it a through line and that would have explained so much about the desperate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But because they didn't, it was just kind of like a what do you mean you don't want to make it more valuable? This is so weird that you're trying to stop him from doing everything that you wanted. There was 1 episode where they cut the budget by 30% and that wreaked havoc on the negotiations with the players. And I think when we wanted to talk about paying these players minimum wage and stuff like that, like it was wild. They were doing wild things in
the show. Insane things like criminal things. I feel so passionately. I just have. I've had the conversation with my boyfriend recently because he's a huge hockey fan. Our team is the Colorado Avalanche and we watch a lot of Colorado Avalanche games, but a recent this ties in a lot to what's happening in hot stove league. A recent thing that came up was that a long time player ended up being traded because he wanted a higher salary. It wasn't really in the cards for them.
They're kind of strategically like doing stuff with their salary. It was a huge bummer for the team because he was a probably not fully a franchise player, but very like Dong Yu type. People knew his name. He was one of their starters. And so it was a huge bummer. But he also, my boyfriend was telling me like back maybe a year or two before the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, their actual franchise player that everybody loves took a
smaller salary. So a higher salary could be allocated to recruiting high value teammates. And that was very, I kept thinking about that during the salary negotiation episodes because there was elements of that, that there's like a purity in that like do it for the game, do it for the team. And I really loved that. And then I saw how little these people were being paid and I was like, oh, no, I think sports players should get paid a lot less than they do. I don't think that they should
be paid like $5.00 an hour. I think that's really bad. Yes. So they came up with some sort of algorithm to figure out their worth based on their performance from the previous couple of seasons. And I think the worst one was the relief pitcher who was going to retire. He's an older pitcher and they were going to give him like the equivalent of $42,000 for the season. It was like crazy talk. It was wild. He was like, you know what, They want me out. I see the writing on the wall.
They they don't want me here. They I'm going to retire. And it's really disheartening to see how and, and you know, Nanku Min's character says this as well. He's like, I didn't like how I had to play dirty to get all this shit done and get this budget approved. Shortchange all of these passionate players who deserve way more just because you arbitrarily talking to Ucheng's character. You arbitrarily wanted to drop the budget by 30%, which is a outrageous #30%.
Insane. No, no. So there's no way that he could have run the ball club based on a 30% deficit in the budget. I mean, the fact that they even tried, I was like, this show is nuts. Like, yeah. Yeah, I think Human Ho or at least some of the newer players were signing for like $23,000 a year. Yeah, they were getting nothing. Nothing. I don't know what cost of living in dungeon is, but it cannot be. It can't. It cannot be meeting any cost of living that I am aware of.
That's insanity. And he smiled at the end when they upped it from like $23,000 per year to $27,000 per year. And I was like, babe, no. Don't. Don't let them do this. Yeah, it looked like me getting my first salary job when I was younger and it was like not good pay, but I would brag about it because I didn't know about salaried and like how that. It's absolutely true. Yeah, God, painful. But yeah, those salary
negotiations were painful. And the the conversations I would say that happened between Old Chung SE and Nam Gumen are really interesting and powerful because these two guys are disrespecting each other. You can see how Old Chung say even the way he speaks is disrespecting. And he's not talking in the elevated speak. He's not ending his sentences with like, you're the polite you're. He is calling him punk. He's saying like, yeah, like, hey, you.
He's very disrespectful even. He's talking down to him constantly. And I had this conversation in episode 10 that I wanted to go over before we kind of back it up and talk about a couple more things before we get out of here. And it's this tent bar conversation that he has with him. Do you remember this conversation? I don't have it all because it's really long, but Nangu Min says to decide what is important and what is not. Is money the only standard of measurement for you?
And oh, Jiang says yeah, hey, why are you so rude anyway? Why don't you ever listen, you punk? And then he says back, If I do listen, does the way you people treat me change all of these? Like they're constantly challenging each other, Nungumin says. If I listen well, you keep telling me to do things that are unjust in order to keep your hands clean. He's like, you're a hypocrite. He says.
Any organization that is even a little bit proper, even if someone doesn't listen, as long as they do a good job, they leave that person alone. He's saying you're an asshole. You're even, you're messing with innocent people, even if they're doing what you want them to. These are humans. They're people, yeah. All Jiang says, says This is why all you will ever be is a general manager at the main headquarters. I'm managing director and
running hotels, EU punk. So again, throwing his status, his weight around, he's like, I've managed multimillion dollar companies and you're just, you know, managing a ball club. It doesn't even matter. So he again, he's such a freaking elitist, Nam Guman says. So do you know any baseball? Which is in itself and condescending question because he's been running the ball club behind the scenes. He's been acting as the proxy for his uncle, as the owner of the ball club.
So he says, yeah, I ran the ball club for years. How can I not know baseball? You were a general manager of a handball team until last year. How dare you? So Nan Kunmen quotes Barry Swiser and says some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a 000. So good mic drop moment. And then he says, well, I guess this isn't necessary, but seeing you be so prideful, it's embarrassing for me to see.
He said. You're embarrassing thinking that you actually earned all of this shit, that you have your position, and that you're actually good. So proud of him for this. He said you're embarrassing. I loved it. I. Loved it. Felt so.
That was like the moment that was practically a PowerPoint presentation for me. Yes, I loved how they were battling each and every one of the setbacks that they had that whether it was Ultron, say, or some other thing that was going on. Did you guys have a favorite like episode or problem that they had to solve throughout the show? Yeah, I was pretty obsessed with
the Robert Gill arc. Like besides the fact that the location would switch between California, Korea and Hawaii every 30 seconds, the arc in and of itself I thought was really, really good in that it was twist after twist after twist. And they were able to subvert expectations constantly while keeping you interested and keeping that underdog theme that the show was built on of like, we're trying to get Miles.
We want to sign him, but we keep meeting hurdle after hurdle and it just doesn't seem like it's going to happen. And then right when they're at the finish line, they're like, no, can't get him. And you think that's the end of it. And then there's this turn around where suddenly there's a new pitcher in the game and he's
been there the whole time. He's their guy, he's their friend Robert Gill. And not only is he a killer pitcher, he's he can be the foreign player because of all these weird laws, and there's still problems with that because he's a traitor to his own country. But like. He is a draft Dodger and he's. Not a tribal, and that sucks, but for a good reason. He was saving a life and it's like all of it is just.
I liked the intrigue, I liked the twists and that in part, although Nan Kun Min Big Sung Soo says he's not a humanist, there is that feeling throughout this arc that he is a humanist and that he does it obviously because Robert Gill is a killer pitcher, but also because he's a good person and he's like, I want to work with you. I want to work with someone who cares about baseball almost more than anything, but not more than anything, because family is the most important.
Yeah. How big song, Sue? I knew you would say that. You're a big softy. Yeah, softy teddy bear. Something that he says during the press conference also kind of Harkins back to like, yeah, the the draft dodging. I love that he calls it out during the press conference where it was like, I don't know, like looks one of the journalists in the eyes. And he's like, it's almost like if a the son of an owner of a journalism company like didn't do their term in the army as
well, which makes. Me think that specific journalist, yes, some draft dodging or something, has been a draft Dodger, yeah, because he looked down embarrassed. Yes, which I loved. And then I loved that that was, I mean, he just stands on business and I literally love that. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of standing on business, let's talk about the brother that was in a wheelchair. Oh yes, he was a great character. No, you go ahead. No, he was a great character.
He applies for the sabermetrics job, which is basically some sort of analytics job on the team. I think this whole episode is for us westerners. It might be considered rage bait, but it it's tough to get through because the analytics team leader who ends up being like a really nice guy like by the end of the show, but this guy is set in his ways. He's he's a traditionalist. He doesn't think that a person who has never played baseball should be on this analytics team.
He thinks that you need that experience, he says during the interview process for the brother who has been paralyzed and is in a wheelchair. Well, you'll know once you've played baseball. Behind the numbers, there are many different reasons in baseball, period. And I was like, stop right there, stop right there. It is such a condescending and ableist way to say how and when
to use analytics correctly. Even if the tone that he set it in was really even like he wasn't, he didn't say it with any sort of attitude or obvious malice. I was like, this is so brilliant because as an audience member, you're and I think the Korean audience as well. They want you to sympathize with the person in the wheelchair, right? With the brother. They want you to think like Puck and Bin's character is thinking. They want you to think like her, which you shouldn't say that
that's wrong, That's offensive. But the Korean populist probably thinks the way that he does. Right, man, I didn't. Yeah, because like you said, it is very like rage baity specifically for Westerners that are like you can't. That's illegal. Yeah, this is. Very illegal. This is very, like you said, ableist. This is so frustrating that he is able to speak this way in an interview and not immediately go to jail. Or get a suit later on, get a letter in the mail. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it keeps going. That interview is kind of painful. And that guy is so provocative, like offensive and unprofessional and provocative because he doesn't feel period, that this position that they're hiring for that they should even hire for a position in in sabermetrics or whatever the term is. And so he's taking it out on this guy who's in a wheelchair and he's assuming he's never played baseball. Yes, an extra layer of frustration, right?
They're making these just really wild, rampant assumptions that he has never touched a baseball bat, that he have no clue how he ended up in a wheelchair. Right, right. But also they're like, yeah, it's so condescending. It's so frustrating. Yeah, yeah. But you get some flashbacks during this time where you see beforehand what what transpired beforehand. He was playing baseball, he was in high school.
He had this conversation with Nam Kung Min's character, his Hyeong. And Nam Kung Min is rude as fuck. In the flashback, he says you cannot be as good as at your studies as you are at playing baseball. You don't have the brains for it. Yeah, so he got it from both. You're not smart enough to do this, but also flip side, you haven't played baseball enough to do this. And it's like, what do you mean? Yeah.
Can he win ever? Yeah. It. I mean, it's frustrating enough for that character, the brother character whom I loved. But I do feel like I was distracted because this was the start of Nam Ku Min's back story, which was, to me, a heinous mess, a crime against the whole show. But yeah, in his brother's part, it's, I think, kind of written off where his brother's just like, I am smart enough and I have played baseball, so problem solved.
Win, win. And then he gets the job and he does great and he even changes his boss to be a normal person who no longer harasses his employees to the point of quitting. It's a win, win, win, honestly for that guy. Yeah, I mean, in that interview, he even says that he likes Jackie Robinson, the first black player in the MLB. He likes that story. He likes that history and admires that perseverance despite the abuse and discrimination. And his quote is, it sounds ridiculous.
Now, if I were to become a disabled analyst, I will probably be the first. It will be good to release news articles about this touching story. So he's even, like, pitching to them. Hey, this is a feel good story. It's good PR. Yeah, it's good PR and I'd be good at my job. You don't lose. Anything right? Right. Yeah, But it's Puckenben who says the thesis that the writer is putting forward, which is dreams. The ball club won't discriminate based on the fact that you're different.
Hell yeah, our girl, the lens with which we are watching this show. You're a decent. Person. That's the message. Yeah, just be nice. So let's talk quickly about Nan Ku Min's back story. Because I think that we didn't like that they didn't expound upon it and it seems like he had no I'll effects after a while. It was that he lost a child. He lost. Everything. He lost everything this same Saturday. He. Was like.
Hey little bro, Well, good luck at your baseball game because you've got nothing else going for you in life. So play hard. And his brother's like, I'll play so hard I almost die. Does that freak dad almost dies in another freak accident? The what was it the dad collapsed or something? Yeah. Yeah. When his brother had the freak accident during the baseball game and then his wife also had a miscarriage or wife or girlfriend.
I don't know. We. It's unclear all like in the same at the same time then he. Loses his job. Yeah. Oh my God. It's so a lot happening for him and I, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, it seems like giving a character a tragic back story is supposed to serve the purpose of allowing audience members to feel seen within that character. But I think if you give them five different tragic backstories, then people don't
feel seen in that. They're like, oh, I went through this tragic thing as well, and wow, he went through it. Oh, but he went through that and that and that and OK, we're playing the Paine Olympics now, and I have lost. He's winning. He's the most tragic person I've ever seen. And you lose that connection with the audience. So then what's the point? What's the point of making him the saddest man to exist?
I don't get it. Yeah, like, I just didn't see the point of it. It was like hit after hit after hit all in the span of like one or two episodes. They finish it out and then they just keep on going with the rest of the hot stove league and all the machinations and they're just like, yeah, that sucked, right? Yeah. That was it. Like that was it. I think we even got like the final goodbye from his girlfriend before we knew that she had like miscarried and that's why their relationship
was so complicated and heavy. And so it was like, we didn't even get to process her being like, we shouldn't keep doing this on the same day anymore in a way that made sense or like in a linear way where we were like, this is closure. This moment is closure. Because at that moment it's, it feels so like what, you don't know what happening with these two people. Yeah, We just don't know what it means. We don't know who she is. Is she a wife? Is she an ex?
Like, what is she a sister? Like, I don't know because we just don't know her relationship to him. And he's so closed off. So many more questions and answers. And then we finally do get the answers. We're like, I thought this was multiple choices seen, like fill in the blank, like, you know what I'm saying? It was like too much. Too much, too, yeah. Yeah. And then at the very end, they just like his character. Yeah. How do we reconcile where he started and then how it all ends for him?
It's all very ambiguous. It is very ambiguous. They kick him out again. Well, first of all, the last episode, they do find a buyer for the team and it's Ejayan. Yeah, what? I screamed. I like screamed that cameo. Yeah, I don't recognize anybody and I recognized that guy. Yeah, yeah, Tech bro cameo, the tech amazing. So good. Yeah. And he said, hey, I'm going to buy the team. Everybody on my team is saying I shouldn't. It's probably not a good idea,
but I'm fine anyway. But you can't come. Sorry, why? I And then the reasoning was so shaky, like that was so wobbly. It was so shaky. You're too good at your job. He said your history, he said something about your history and I don't know what he meant. The only thing I could think of is the whistleblower thing.
What? And what's crazy to me, though, is that whenever someone is talking about like, oh, you'll never get hired again because you're a whistleblower, to me, I'm like, Oh, no, that's very indicative of are you? Committing crimes. You won't hire a whistleblower because you're committing crimes like anyone who won't hire a whistle you. Have to hide. Yeah, like they should be investigated. I I agree. This is crazy. You just admitted to a crime. Not on my watch.
So I was confused about why he kicked him out. But it kind of goes, I guess, with his flighty nature, that he just comes in, fixes something, he puts something on the right path. He put them on the path to being champions, even though at the end they weren't. They were just kind of like doing better. And I didn't like that either. I was like, where's the trophy? Where's the trophy? You have to tell us he did a good job that you don't have to tell us where he got employed.
He doesn't even have to work on the team anymore, but at least tell us they won the championship. Like please. It would have been such a great moment if they did like a crossover. There's so many sports dramas in K drama land. If they showed, I don't know, weightlifting fairy Kimbok drew, all of a sudden I'd be like, Oh my God, it's a crossover movement. No, they didn't even try and create a sort of a shared universe.
No, he just like, goes through a weird mysterious door and disappears into the sports fear and I I guess he's on to the next shot. Like, on to the next one. OK. Yeah, it again feels like why give him the most tragic back story I've ever seen in any drama, only for his ending to be like, he found a family, he got his place, he's got a workplace with people who absolutely adore him, and he was forced out again. Goodbye. Like. The end just. Give me a happy ending. Yeah, yeah. I agree.
And his speech about it being the first thing he was able to protect and that will give him a lot of strength was beautiful and emotional, but it still was kind it. I'm still in the. Why did you have to do it like this? I was still on where are the prizes, where, where, what sport are you on next? And I was waiting for him to just come back because it had been at least a season, right? They were they at the end of the season? I I couldn't tell if it had been
several years at that point. So because Pac-Man had a whole different style, like she had a style evolution at the Yeah. She took great. Yeah. I was like, is that years? Is that three months? What? What is that? They had to have promoted her to general management. I I was trying to do everything that you did correctly with figuring out the location situation in America. I was the same way. But about that moment where I was like, OK, her hair is longer, but it's also
straightened. So we can't say that it's definitively been that long. They're still wearing coats. Everyone's wearing coats and jackets. No one's in their summertime clothes. Is this just because it's their business attire, or are we still in? Is it the fall? Yeah. Or. Or is it the fall? Yeah. I don't know idea. Who's to say? Not me, I don't. Know not me, I'm not about to tell you exactly when the show ends, but there is a time jump. I just don't know how much time has passed.
That is a little bit frustrating. I I just, I don't think it's enough to again, take points away from the show. But it wasn't exactly a home run, no pun intended. At the end of the show. It was more like we got bases loaded kind of thing, like just general excitement. So can't wait for season 2. I'm just kidding. It's only been five years. Like where's the Season 2? Never do season twos. Oh God. Oh, I have a couple of stray notes here. These are always fun.
So in episode 1, there's a fight in the dugout. They're down by 9 points and there's a fight in the dugout. The Korean children in the stands are crying. And I'll tell you one thing, this makes Korean children look real soft because American kids would be living if there was a fight in the dugout. OK. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. If I went to a baseball game and there was a fight in the dugout, oh, my God, let me tell you, That would be a story I would tell to my grandkids. OK?
I'd be like, I went to a game, and then these players started fighting, and there was, and the coaches got in on it. It was crazy. So no, I was not following the despair that was running through the crowd. When the dream started infighting, I was like, fuck yes. Like, bring it on. Yeah. I the the kids seemed pretty soft. I also like if they had just kept it at the adults were like embarrassed because they didn't want their kids hyping up the violence.
That would have been fine. And if they had kept it at y'all should be embarrassed to be doing this when you're 9 points down right and starting a fistfight with each other. What's happening here? Like that's hilarious like and understandable if they were like that's where the disappointment was coming from. But I totally agree those kids look like such. I was like what is this? This is a great so entertaining worth the price of a hot dog so. You really watch hockey? Exactly, exactly.
They couldn't handle hockey. So any last words before we get out of here? None from me. No, I've had a good time. Thank you for having us on. Yes. Thank you SO. So nice. Yeah, I'm so glad you guys were able to come. We could talk about hot Stove league, a Little baseball offseason show. Opening season was literally like a few days ago, you know? Whoa, no. I didn't and I should have.
I got invited to go to like a local baseball game recently and I didn't realize it was because the season just. Opened when I saw my because my friends are a couple of friends of mine are Red Sox fans and you know, Red Sox fans are crazy. So they were posting all kind of things for Opening Day, and I was like, Oh my God, I just finished watching Hot Stove League and it's opening day. And yeah, so I was feeling all kinds of things, but so timely. So timely that we did this show.
Yeah. We did it in the stove league in the. Stove at the end of the stove league. Yes, exactly. So again, thank you guys for coming on the show. Where can people find you online? We're at a couple of places. We've got our e-mail that we ask people to reach out to us if they, I don't know, just want to say hi or talk about more about the drama that we just reviewed. That's play on k.podcast@gmail.com. Yeah, and we've got a website that has all of our episodes.
You can find all of our links to everywhere that's play on k.com. And then just our Patreon, which is linked on our website, but don't forget about that guys. Yes, please, please support play on K podcast, Emily and Raquel. They are wonderful and that's our show. I'm Jessica and this has been the Tiba Kay Rambles podcast.