Summary
The Winning Try delivers oodles of brilliant payoff in Episode 11, a stellar penultimate outing that tees up a finale sure to be superb.
I struggle to think of a TV show in recent years that has charmed and delighted me quite as much as The Winning Try. It’s such a wonderful bit of work, so rich in emotional depth and fist-pumping moments of dramatic payoff and catharsis, and Episode 11, the penultimate installment, finds the K-Drama operating at the very peak of its powers. The finale is sure to be highly moving, but I’m getting the sense it might also provide a truly happy ending, which hasn’t always been guaranteed throughout the season, and certainly doesn’t seem to be for most of this episode’s runtime.
This is because we pick up where we left off, with Ga-ram taking the rap for Seong-jun’s steroid possession by revealing his Myasthenia Gravis diagnosis. Needless to say, this opens him up to immediate dismissal, playing right into Seong and Nak-gyun’s hands, and the rugby team is furious with their captain for putting their coach in such a position. To make matters worse, Ga-ram promptly collapses and finds himself hospitalized. That surgery he was putting off is now mandatory, which means, crucially, he won’t be available to coach the rugby team during the Nationals.
This doesn’t dissuade Ga-ram, though. In the first of several brilliant speeches in this episode, Ga-ram inspires the players to carry on without him, helping them realize their own individual value and the strength they have as a unit. Later that night, Seong-jun sleeps by Ga-ram’s bedside, and he delivers another inspiring lesson about accountability and mistakes.
And this, Seong-jun really takes to heart. When he’s cornered by Vice-Principal Seong, who reveals he knows the steroids were his and suggests he choose another coach, since keeping quiet is tacitly endorsing Ga-ram being fired, Seong goes to the boys and asks them if they want to play under any other coach. None of them do. Instead, they decide to boycott the Nationals unless Ga-ram is granted sick leave. Seong is furious about it, but his hand is forced by Kang, who volunteers to retire in disgrace if it’ll mean him leaving Ga-ram and his team alone. Since all Seong cares about is his own career advancement, he agrees. Kang also gets a great speech here about her noble intentions for the school and its students.
Meanwhile, Jeong-nam, I-ji, Seung-hee, and Seok-bong all resolve to disgrace Seong and reinstate Kang, but we’ll have to wait until the finale to see the proper outcome of this. Nonetheless, though, it’s telling of the general vibe of The Winning Try Episode 11, which really puts the bad guys on the back foot. At the shooting tryout, U-jin comes back and beats Seol-hyeon, and even though her mother is visibly happy about the result, U-jin nonetheless rushes straight to I-ji. When her mother tries to kick up a fuss after, U-jin tells her that from now on her accomplishments will be her own, and she won’t continue to allow her mother to live vicariously through them. Seol-hyeon even kicks off at her father and Nak-gyun for trying to rig the game.
Just in time for the Nationals, Ga-ram puts together tactics for all of the teams Hanyang will face and entrusts them to Seong-jun. He leaves Daesang out, since that can be saved for the final. Seong-jun takes this as a sign that Ga-ram intends to be there, and indeed, the video message he sends the team during the pre-Nationals ceremony implies the same. He’ll see them there. Or so they — and we — think.
This is where The Winning Try threatens to break our hearts. While Hanyang play in the Nationals and the rugby team progresses through each round, Ga-ram goes in for surgery. But complications arise, and his heart stops. While he’s being defibrillated, Hanyang makes it to the finals. By all accounts, it seems very much like Ga-ram is dead. In the locker room before the game against Daesang, the team look at the clock, awaiting their coach’s arrival. Instead, they’re delivered a package from him — the tactics for the game. It looks like he won’t be making it after all.
Naturally, right before kick-off, Ga-ram turns up to the rapturous applause and chants of the audience. He’s still a little tender from the surgery — as he finds out when the rugby team all crash into him in excitement — but he’s there, as he promised he would be. Now all Hanyang have to do is win the final. No pressure.
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