We are pretty into Stove League over here so we want to try and pick it up as a recap! Here is a review of the first five episodes (though it can also be viewed as the first ten episodes) of Stove League.
One thing we have noticed is that SBS is doing a really good job with their shows, so hopefully Stove League continues to be great. So far it is wonderful.
EPISODES 1 & 2
In episode 1 and 2 we are introduced to our lead Baek Seung-soo. He is like a team whisperer. He has managed a Korean traditional wresting team, a Hockey team, and a hand-ball team. Whatever team he manages, they always turn into the #1 team in the league. But, unfortunately, those teams also break apart by the end of the season.
As far as his family goes, he lives with his super handsome brother who is an accountant and is also in a wheel chair. His brother loves baseball and sometimes sneaks into Seung-soo’s data on the teams. But it appears that talking about baseball is taboo in their household.
The owner or the team is Kwon Il-do. His nephew, Kwon Kyung-min, runs Dreams. The CEO, Ko Kang-seon is a figure head and does not run anything. Kwon Il-do and Kwon Kang-seon want to sell Dream but without the publics dissent.
This will be difficult because Kwon Il-do is a chaebol whose company is headquartered and makes their most money in Dreams region of Korea. So it would be like the home town company selling the home town team. They do not want to do that because the public will hate them.
So they hires Seung-soo because he has a track record of making his teams #1 and then the team naturally disbands after that due to other teams purchasing them or something of the like. Seung-soo understands this, but it is not clear whether he agrees with it or not.
Seung-soo’s number one goal when he became general manager of Dream was to get rid of their star player Im Dong-kyu who is the teams franchise player which means he a very talented athlete who started with the team and wants to retire with the team. Im Dong-kyu really wants his number to be retired so that no one else can play with it.
But Seung-soo does not care about that because Dong-kyu is an @**. He is basically a narcissistic thug in cleats. This is proven because after receiving an award for best player of the year (or something like that) he threw it in Seung-soo’s car window and left it there with a bunch of money to repair the window.
He also hit baseballs at Seung-soo after work, as if he would take his head off, and he hired two of his thug friends to beat Seung-soo up. Seung-soo was very non-emotional about the entire thing and called in a friend for back up who was on the Korean wresting team. So when the thugs tried to beat up Seung-soo again, his friend beat them up.
The reason Seung-soo did not want to turn Im Dong-kyu in for all his bad behavior is because he wanted to get the best deal on the trade. So he wanted Im Dong Kyu to look like a million bucks to whatever team might want him.
He was able to talk to the Vikings General Manager, Kim Jong-mu, about a possible trade for two players. One was an old Dream franchise player who left the team due to Im Dong-kyu. His name is Kang Du-ki and he is the best pitcher in the league.
So they make the trade for Kang Du-ki and another younger pitcher. Everyone at Dream who was upset that Seung-soo was trading Im Dong-kyu, is not amazingly elated that they got Kang Du-ki back.
EPISODES 3 & 4
An issue that happened in episodes 3 and 4 had to do with the scouts. One of the scouts, Yang Won-seok, has a heart of gold and really feels for the players that he scouts. He ended up giving a pitching position to a player on Dream who had elbow issues. He knew about the elbow issues but also knew that they would heal after a couple years and that it was the players high school coach who messed up his elbow.
Seung-soo had to tell him that they do not run a charity event here. So stop doing that. But he did not fire him because this scout actually works very hard getting numbers and starts for all the high school players.
He did fire Scout Ko Se-hyeok who was running an under the table bribing campaign in order to recruit players to Dream. We’re talking $50,000 a high school player in order for him to pick them. It is a bit of a sticky situation because Ko Se-hyeok was a franchise player with Dream and then became a scout, but his soul got corrupted somewhere along the way, so he’s out.
EPISODE 5
The next task on Seung-soo’s mind was to find another pitcher to round out their pitching lineup. So in episode 5 they go to America to find him. At first they were going to sign a player named Miles for $500,000 but they got into a bidding war with the Pelicans General Manager, Oh Sa-hun, that upped the price all the way to a cool million.
They end up signing their translator who was a famous Korean player who played for the Major Leagues in America. But due to lots of issues, like becoming an American citizen and missing out on the Korean draft, he is basically hated in Korea. He also feels really bad about that. But he had his reasons for leaving for America which involved finding the best Doctors to treat his wife’s illness. She is all better now and is happy that he can play again.
So Gil Chang-joo goes back to Korea and is swarmed by reporters who ask him all sorts of questions about why he is coming back. They have a press conference to address the issues and Seung-soo tells Gil Chang-joo (also known as Robert Gil) that he had his reasons and this is his chance to play again. So every throw should have the weight of his worries and hopes on them (i.e throw strikes).
And you are all caught up for episodes 1-5 of Stove League! We also Live Recapped episode 5 (I didn’t get a chance to post it) so I will post that today as well!
EPISODE 6 PREVIEW
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
ID – Did he bring someone with trouble from America?
KM – Well, if he is a super star then he would not come to Korea for only $500,000.
VO- The media will not like him
YC – I have a lot of questions
SS – Yes, that is right.
SS – They will think it is journalism by pocking our wounds.
CJ – Why did you bring me here?
SS – No one helps each other, just do your job from where you are
SY – You crossed the line
SS – If you were me, would you think it was not my fault?
ID – Kyung-min, you think you work well because you share blood with me.
SS – How did you pick this without any logical reason?
KM – I am telling you again while wondering why a smart person asked me this again.
KM – That is the will of our group and the owner of the team.
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I have been enjoying Stove League too. Nam Goong min ‘s acting has been good. Been following him over the years. Getting back to the show, I enjoy the storylines and how they reveal the issues and reveal characters. I hope that Han Kae Hee gains Lee Se young’s respect. He does work hard and enthusiastic to help Baek Seung soo.