Love Penalty – Series Review

Uju and Hanbin are trainees in the school's volleyball camp.

Uju attends Saint Laurence Academy, a prestigious all-boys high school. He's the captain of the volleyball team and plays as an outside hitter. Uju is a generational talent, so everyone considers him the team's ace. Besides being an excellent volleyball player, Uju is also incredibly disciplined. He wakes up early, practices regularly, and likes keeping everything organized. Uju sets high standards for himself, but he also expects a lot from others. As you can imagine, someone with such a strict personality isn't always easy to get along with.

Uju and his teammates are attending the school's three-week training camp. However, this isn't your typical training camp. A huge opportunity is on the line! After it ends, five trainees will be selected to join the national volleyball team. The school's foundation will also help them get into a prestigious university. However, only five lucky players will receive these rewards. Everyone else is out of luck. To determine who gets selected, the school uses an AI evaluation system to measure each player's performance during practice. The trainees receive an A, B, or C ranking based on their results. If you keep scoring a lovely A, you're on the right track.

The training camp also has strict rules. Nobody is allowed to use the gym outside regular training hours. Wanna sneak in early or stay late for some extra practice? Nope, that's forbidden! Anyone caught breaking the rules will receive a penalty on their evaluation, hurting their chances of getting selected. In addition, the coach introduces everyone to Hanbin. This newly scouted player plays as a setter. Obviously, Hanbin must have some serious volleyball skills to earn a spot at this competitive training camp.

Uju and Hanbin get on each other's nerves.

Uju and Hanbin immediately clash. To make matters worse, they're assigned to the same dorm room. Hanbin is a total slob who leaves his clothes everywhere. He also likes staying up late on his phone and snores like crazy. Uju isn't the perfect roommate either. Since he's an early riser, Uju deliberately sets his alarm clock to wake Hanbin up too. How annoying! The longer these guys live together, the more they get on each other's nerves.

Shortly after the training camp begins, the coach announces that another player will be joining them. Sejin is a former student of Saint Laurence Academy. He plays outside hitter and is considered a solid all-rounder. Sejin spent last year studying abroad, but now he's back in South Korea for this training camp. Sejin and Uju used to be good friends, but they're no longer on good terms. What happened between them? Well, their friendship fell apart after the sudden death of Dohyun, one of their teammates. Hanbin learns that Uju and Sejin had a huge falling out after this tragedy. Bad blood runs between these former friends.

Hanbin thinks he's doing well in practice. Unfortunately, the AI evaluation system doesn't seem to agree. When the first results come out, Uju and Sejin both receive an A. Yet, Hanbin gets a lousy C, which puts him at the bottom of the rankings. Hanbin is frustrated by his poor score. He's also annoyed that Uju is doing better than him. One night, Hanbin notices his roommate sneaking out and decides to follow him. He catches Uju secretly visiting the gym after hours! Now that Hanbin knows his secret, he decides to blackmail Uju into helping him practice volleyball.

Love Penalty is a spin-off of Saint Laurence Academy. Remember that series? Ugh, it was terrible! One of the few bright spots was Uju's character, so I'm glad he's back to star in his own BL drama. Let's find him a cute boyfriend on the volleyball team! I enjoyed the first two episodes, which seemed to be on the right track. The story reminded me of a lighthearted high school romance. Uju & Hanbin had funny little moments at the beginning, hehehe~ So far, so good! I was interested to see where their relationship would go.

As Uju and Hanbin spend more time together, there's still no romantic spark. Sure, it's funny when they get on each other's nerves! I chuckle at their antics, but those silly moments don't feel particularly sweet. They also practice volleyball together. Once again, I'm not getting lovey-dovey vibes from watching two guys toss a ball around. Even when the couple shares their first proper kiss, I'm still not convinced they have much chemistry. That said, I noticed Hanbin's ears were bright red during the kiss. Ooh, I like that little visual detail! It makes the scene feel more natural, as if his body is reacting nervously to the physical affection.

Uju and Hanbin's relationship never feels fully developed. I wish we got more intimate moments. Maybe their romance would be better if Love Penalty wasn't so obsessed with Sejin. This guy keeps showing up just to stir up pointless drama. None of his scenes feel necessary. Meanwhile, Hanbin's dead brother is way more important to the plot. He has an emotional backstory, but the series only shows us brief glimpses of him. Talk about having the wrong priorities! All that screen time wasted on Sejin could've gone towards the characters who actually matter.

Uju's actor (Hong Dong Geon) gives a decent performance. I've enjoyed him in FC Soldout and Saint Laurence Academy, so he always leaves a good impression. He also appears in City Boy Log, which I haven't watched yet. I'm tempted to dig through my backlog of older BL series just to see more of this cutie! His co-star (Lee Geon Ho) is fine, although I wish he'd brought a bit more personality to Hanbin. Plus, I'm happy to see Yoo Jin Seok as the shady volleyball coach. The actor has made a career out of playing bad guys in BL dramas. His villain era is iconic!

The second half of Love Penalty takes a weird turn. Suddenly, the story is about school corruption and Hanbin investigating his dead brother's past. Umm… Am I the only one who thought this was supposed to be a cute romance between two volleyball players? How the hell did it turn into Sky Castle!? Worst of all, there are so many ridiculous plot holes. The series isn't clever enough to pull off a complex storyline. In one particularly stupid scene, the villain leaves his door wide open while discussing his crimes on the phone. Uju overhears everything. How convenient!

A part of me appreciates that Love Penalty isn't another fluffy high school romance. At least it's willing to explore darker topics! I tried to give the series a chance, but the plot gets so absurd in the last few episodes. I roll my eyes at all the nonsense. Ultimately, there are too many problems. The story is illogical. The romance is underdeveloped. Even the ending leaves me underwhelmed. I still prefer Love Penalty over Saint Laurence Academy, but neither is particularly good. Let's just shut down the damn school! We don't need another crappy BL drama coming out of there.