Open set day at Strike Love

15 May 22, 2009

by javabeans

I haven’t written (yet?) about the latest episodes of MBC’s baseball drama Strike Love [2009 외인구단], but I’m still watching, and I’m still enjoying it. This couple — Yoon Tae-young and Kim Min-jung — is probably the biggest reason I’m sticking with it, because they are so sweet and adorable together, in addition to both being good actors.

The drama isn’t really new or incredibly original, but it’s kind of like really well-cooked comfort food. The romantic pairing is obvious from the start, but acted with chemistry and sweetness, while the athletic match-up is also a little predictable but still enjoyable to watch. The antagonist tends to be one-dimensional — but he’s the kind you love to hate, because our hero will have his day and when that happens, it will be so satisfying to watch.

The production opened up its Kyeonggi province set on May 22 while it filmed “training hell” sequences for the drama.

Apparently the term “training hell” isn’t just for the drama; the actors were put through intense physical workouts as they filmed those scenes, as Yoon explained to reporters who had come out that day.

His co-star Park Jung-hak, who plays one of the baseball players, added, “We filmed underwater training scenes for three hours, and it was so difficult I thought I’d die. It was even more difficult than when I filmed the movie The Warriors [무사].”

Supporting actor Lee Han-sol said, “At first, we used make-up to make bruises, but later on, I had enough injuries to be able to shoot without adding make-up.”

The training session acts as a turning point in the story, which will be shown starting from next weekend’s Episode 9.

Strike Love is based on a manhwa [공포의 외인구단] by creator Lee Hyun-sae, which first began running in 1985. The drama airs its seventh and eighth episodes this weekend on MBC.

(Notice in the photos how Yoon is pitching with his left arm; in the drama, he is noted for his incredibly fast (right-handed) pitches, but after he injures his shoulder, he switches to pitching with his left arm. Incidentally, Yoon Tae-young suffered an injury to his left shoulder recently while shooting, but he filmed through the discomfort anyway.)

Via E Daily, No Cut News

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1 anon

May 22, 2009 at 5:57 PM

I haven't gotten into this show yet, but it looks like a fun formulaic sports drama.

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2 lissi

May 22, 2009 at 6:11 PM

i can't believe noh moo hyun is dead.

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3 ouch

May 22, 2009 at 6:58 PM

Yeah I heard about Noh Moo Hyun.....I'm shocked and sad. He was Korea's president after all. Even with the bribery charges...he reminds me of my grandpa.

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4 lovin it

May 22, 2009 at 7:08 PM

woah. noh moo hyun,,, died when mountain climbing.. suicide?

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5 Arai

May 22, 2009 at 7:11 PM

I love sport drama.strike love can't wait to see

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6 yelibean

May 22, 2009 at 7:22 PM

woah...apparently he left a suicide note

O.O

back to topic..this drama doesn't really interest me...i guess sport dramas are not my thing, but I AM looking forward to Tripple ^^

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7 jdb

May 22, 2009 at 9:14 PM

My kind of thing…cant wait for the full version to get sub…wish I understand Korean word grrrrr this is the time I hate myself not understanding Hangul…(lol). I love the sports pic very manly and full of action.

Condolence to Korean people....that was a big blow...Korean president committing suicide....gosh….

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8 kelly10

May 22, 2009 at 10:55 PM

i watch strike love bcuz of kim min jung~

wat a nice drama!!!!

totally in love wit it~

n imwaiting for the upcoming drama-TRIPLE~

im super fans of min hyo rin :D

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9 lucky_kiss

May 23, 2009 at 4:07 AM

I still didn't get the chance to watch it yet, but I'll soon & hopefully it'll be a good one..

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10 lidge_fan

May 23, 2009 at 12:28 PM

jb, thanks for posting about "Strike Love"!

I adore KMJ and the 1st pic with her making the V-sign is the cutest thing ever!!! Would love to see her in happy-go-lucky roles instead of the serious ones she's had like in Fashion 70's and New Heart. She's great playing dramatic characters, and I think she'll do just as well being goofy.

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11 Biscuit

May 23, 2009 at 10:03 PM

I'm sort of behind, but I'm so far enjoying it ^^
Both are great actors, and I haven't found a character that I dislike yet. It's so disappointing when only one of the leads are good, but the other has no chemistry. But both are really good together ^^

As for Mr. President, he was going under a lot of stress and states he was weak and couldn't support in anything and felt depressed. Apparently the note was like putting his corpse, or tombstone (not so sure) at his house. But this really has nothing to do with the topic :/

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12 bjharm

May 23, 2009 at 10:19 PM

Yoon Tae-young I remember well from the classic Successful story of a bright girl as the kind hearted 'oppa' that looked after and protected Jang Nara's lead character..he was the 'nice' second guy that the lead girl always overlooks for the 'bad' lead guy. Then I saw him in The Legend but this time as the 'bad' guy, witch I think he did well in. It nice to see him now as a lead it been a long time coming, and he worked hard for it and well earned.
I give this show a go once a few more episodes have been done, not to much a fan of 'sport' dramas. I found that Kdrama that have 'themes' seem to really go overboard on it, to the point of undermining the story.

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13 LadyIgraine

May 23, 2009 at 11:37 PM

I'm starting to like the show ^_^...kudos to javabeans for putting the hype on this drama. I almost didn't wanna see it.

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14 Suzy

May 29, 2009 at 4:50 PM

I'm really enjoying this show. The lead couple has awesome, awesome chemistry!

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15 parkerlewis

May 31, 2009 at 4:56 PM

i just finished up episode 10 of Strike Love and now Story of a Man will be pushed to the back burner.

wow, Strike Love is the best drama on korean television right now.

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