Summary
The Winning Try is superb in Episode 10. The narrative chickens come home to roost, resulting in profoundly powerful character moments.
Since the very beginning, The Winning Try has been a superb show, but here in Episode 10, it reaches its zenith. Several developing subplots intertwine for a key cliffhanger, but that comes after several beautiful character moments. Top to bottom, it’s a genuinely brilliant, impeccably performed hour of television, even by the already lofty standards this K-Drama has set for itself. The penultimate episode and finale promise to be all kinds of dramatic.
The main focus here is the shoulder injury that Seong-jun picked up in the previous episode, but that’s grossly underselling things. The gravity of this subplot requires callbacks to all kinds of previous details and character arcs, since it has far-reaching implications for Ga-ram and the entire team. It’s all masterfully done.
But we pick up where we left off, with Ga-ram on the cusp of assaulting Nak-gyun for profoundly disrespecting I-ji. It’s Heong-nam’s intervention that stops the whole thing from getting worse, paying off the development in the previous episode, and there’s a lovely scene between Ga-ram and I-ji about how she’s echoing his own approach of putting herself at risk to protect her students, which really resonates. But Ga-ram’s behavior doesn’t go unnoticed, and Seong doubles down on finding a way to kick Ga-ram out of the school for good, which involves that creepy journalist, Hui-tae, from Episode 7.
Hui-tae is the journalist who broke the exclusive story of Ga-ram’s doping scandal, and he clearly has an agenda, since he’s trying to push the same angle that Heong-nam suspected — that Ga-ram is doping the rugby players, which would explain their sudden improvement. Ordinarily, this would be a dead end, but Hui-tae just so happens to stick his nose in at the exact moment that Seong-jun is on the cusp of making a very bad decision.
Remember that shoulder injury that Seong-jun picked up? Well, that turns out to be a torn rotator cuff, which he tries to hide until he can’t anymore. The injury doesn’t require surgery, but it does require rehab and patience, the latter of which is running short with the Nationals on the horizon. Seong-jun is adamant about plowing through, but Ga-ram, recognising the same impulses in himself, bans him from training until he is completely recovered from his injury.
To make matters worse, Seong-jun’s mother arrives with transfer papers. She’s still pushing for Seong-jun to quit rugby and study abroad in Spain, and she wants Ga-ram to convince him to do so. She thinks rugby is a dead-end, especially with the injury to consider now, and would much rather he take the safe option and train to be his brother’s gopher. Seong-jun, needless to say, does not like this idea. But it adds a make-or-break quality to the Nationals. His future is on the line. If he can’t attract a professional team or an elite college there, he’s done.
It’s pretty obvious where The Winning Try Episode 10 is going, but I don’t think that’s to its detriment. Instead, the turnaround of Seong-jun, who was initially incredibly hostile to Ga-ram because of his disgust about the doping scandal, reaching a point where he himself is considering doping, is very neat and tidy storytelling. It’s a great way of reiterating that Ga-ram’s decision occurred in a very specific context, and that these things aren’t simply black and white.
It also leads to the big moment at the end of the episode. After Seong-jun meets a dealer to acquire some steroids, news of the scandal breaks immediately, thanks to Hui-tae having been skulking nearby, taking photos. Seong immediately carries out a search of the rugby team’s dorm and turns up a bottle of anabolic steroids. Ga-ram takes charge, getting the team to barricade the door while he speaks to Seong-jun privately. I loved everything about this scene, even though I knew where it was going. Ga-ram’s tears when Seong-jun reveals he didn’t take any of the steroids, and the fact that he’s holding Seong-jun’s hand when he claims that the steroids are his, are perfect little notes to underscore the emotion here.
Of course, Ga-ram admits to having myasthenia gravis, which is sure to have huge implications, since it’s the excuse Seong needed to try and force him out. Despite the fact that Hanyang have drawn a relatively easy first round opponent in the Nationals, without a coach, they won’t be able to play at all (for what it’s worth, everything to do with the draw for the Nationals, which finds Ga-ram and I-ji nominated as the two luckiest coaches and culminates with them both dressed as Bruce Lee from Game of Death, is very fun, amusing, and quietly romantic.)
I’d be remiss not to mention the epilogue of The Winning Try Episode 1o, which shows that Ga-ram politely refused to get in the way of Seong-jun’s rugby dreams and handed his transfer papers back to his mother. He also told her to come and watch him play for once — hopefully she gets the opportunity to do that before the end of the season.
RELATED:
