퍽! (PUCK!) 2016 Korean Drama Recap - Quick Flash Review #2

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* This review does not contain major spoilers. It does recap events, however.

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Puck! is a new 2-Episode Korean Drama series that premiered at 8:30 PM January 1st, 2016. It follows the story of Jo Joon Man, a loan shark working to pay off the debts left by his selfish ex-wife. Even thought he's a pretty nice guy at heart, it is necessary for him to remain cold and ruthless while working his job.

In order to help pay off his debts, he takes on the job to become a player for a struggling ice hockey team at Hangook University. But because he is well into his adult years, he must disguise himself as a former student player (currently in recovery in the hospital) in order to get past the Head director of the school.

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but the very beginning scene of the first episode takes place in the same exact house that Kwangsoo, Song Joongi and his little sister Choco lived in in the drama An Innocent Man (or Nice Guy).

Anyways, Joon Man obviously sucks ass at playing ice hockey, so he trains endlessly to help the team win and get his reward money. During this time, Joon Man finds himself unable to attack/threaten a girl he is supposed to be collecting money from. She's very quiet and definitely pitiful in the way she moves. It seems that Joon Man is slowly developing feelings for this girl as he is following her around and even bringing her groceries and flowers.

His crush for this girl comes to a bitter end, however, when he finds himself fighting her abusive drunk husband, only to be pushed aside as she cradles her husband and saves him from Joon Man's attack. It seems that every time Joon Man tries to be a nice person, it is rejected and shoved back in his face.

This scene was followed by a soul-crushing scene of Joon Man walking down the street, falling to the ground, and sobbing quietly to himself. At that point, I was ready to throw tables.

To make matters worse, the mother of the student Joon Man was impersonating contacted the school board, claiming she won't stand for someone pretending to be her son just to play ice hockey. Joon Man is hopeless; beaten, broken, and ready to end his life.

Fast forward to the end, the final ice hockey match that will make or break the Hangook Uni team. Joon Man was ready to take his pay-out and leave, but his heart tells him to rush back and finish what he started. The team is more than relieved to see him, but after a while Joon Man's boss and his men come into the locker room and threaten to kill him. This is where Joon Man falls to his knees and begs him to let him have this one day to live (he says hockey is the only thing that makes him feel alive) and that he'd be his personal dog for the rest of his life.

Honestly, from this point, the rest of the story becomes pretty obvious and predictable. Nonetheless, I found myself waiting to find out whether Joon Man would get killed or commit suicide at the end. And I wasn't sure what he was going to do in those last 53 seconds after the game. I won't say what happened, but I will say his reaction confused the heck out of me. I must say I'm pretty unsatisfied with what he did. What are you thinking Joon Man? What happens now??

Rating: 3.5/5; worth watching though

i do give Lee Kwang Soo 5 stars though

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Watch all two episodes of Puck! subbed in English and more here.