Drama name: Hot Stove League
Country: South Korea
Year: Dec 2019- Feb 2020
Stumbled across this drama after Kkhondae Intern re-run ended. They aired it on the same slot and it captured my interest instantly as I saw it was Chief Kim! :D (Nam Goong Min) Couldn't wait for the episodes to be aired so I watched the rest of it online.
So, what's this drama about?
Dreams baseball team was not doing well at all. It was at the bottom of the league and the parent owner wants to get rid of the team altogether to cut their losses. However, the CEO of Dreams decided to hire a new general manager to try to turn the team around.
In comes Baek Seung-Soo, a very capable individual that manages to turn any failing business to a success. Mr Baek has no experience or knowledge of baseball but he was still hired for his outstanding portfolio. CEO Kwon makes a deal with Mr Baek to turn the team around and then disband.
The rest of the show goes on with how Mr Baek reshuffles the team, from the players right up to the operations level. He faces lots of opposition along the way while trying to save the Dreams team.
Overall thoughts
This is my first time watching a sports k-drama and it was really good! Not a typical k-drama as you would expect, no romance just a solid story with lots of good actors. Even if you don't know much about baseball you would be able to follow the story.
Best parts of the drama
Definitely the Dreams team chemistry. It was a mess at first but eventually they all came together and became a real dream team!
The Dreams stadium is pretty impressive too...
The highlight of the drama for me was the meeting of Dreams and the Vikings for a practice match before the season started...
Some of the struggles while trying to get the team reshuffled...
Mr Baek facing opposition from CEO Kwon himself... Seriously I don't get this guy, I mean like you hired him to fix the team but then he goes and try to destroy the team along the way... smh!
For you hungry mukjang fans there are some yummy food in this show as well. If you know the name of the dish below please let me know!
I love the friendship between the Vikings general manager and Mr Baek. Haha, Mr Baek seems to be using him all the time but actually he does care for the Vikings as well.
Conclusion
The parent company of Dreams decided to get rid of it entirely. It was some nail biting moments where Mr Baek tried to get another company to buy Dreams. He finally managed to break a deal with a young IT company securing the jobs of all the operations team. However, the CEO said that his shareholders did not want Mr Baek in the management at all. Nobody knew about this deal until the last minute.
It is a bit of a bittersweet ending... Dreams went on to do very well in the season and became the comeback kid. From last place to the top of the table. The final match was between Dreams and the Sabres. I was very disappointed that they did not show the final game, but I am guessing that because of the Covid-19 situation that was starting to explode during the time of filming. Or that they didn't have enough budget as they spent it on filming in Hawaii earlier. XD
The drama ends with a radio broadcast that the Dreams won the championship and Mr Baek heading to another new job.
I enjoyed watching this drama. Although midway I must say the struggles was a bit tiring and boring to some point. Nam Goong Min nailed this character so well, he seem to have the best comeback lines to slap his critics each time. XD Loved that so much... As I am writing this review, I saw in the comments that there will be a season 2. Not sure if it will be as good as season 1...
That's all for now. Will leave you with this cute pairing... no romance but just a hint that they might end up together... ;D
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