Hidden Identity (2015)

Phew, that was fun! And I'm sad to see it ending so soon. It made for a refreshing change from previous spy dramas like Spy which were nothing but romantic stories with a spy-ish flavor. Not that I hate romantic side-stories - I love them, but only as long as they stay on the side.

Story: This drama focuses more on events rather than characters - at least that's the impression I got. It has its pros and cons - there are times you feel a character is dispensable and there are also times when you're not sad when a character dies coz you never felt one with him/her. It focuses on investigative Team Five - "We hide our identities to catch criminals. We don't exist in any records, not even police records." The concept is nothing new - it's been tried and tested over and over again. But its a worthwhile watch. There is a teeny-weeny bit of romance in the flashback scenes, but it doesn't interfere with the story. For those who think that with a young man and woman in the team, romance will bloom eventually - think again!

Acting/Cast: I like how equal importance is given to almost all of the team members. Frankly, I prefer this rather than the hero-worship of one or two persons with everyone else sidelined. I've seen most of the actors in some drama before (but hardly remember) and they did justice to their roles. Most of the times they are seen sporting stoic expressionless faces, so I'm not sure if my judgement is proper. I remember Lee Won Jong from The Girl Who Sees Smells and kinda miss his humor here.

Music: Great OST - loved it.

Rewatch: Why not!

Concluding Thoughts: Nothing new about the story, nothing new about the execution. But if you're a fan of spy/police/investigative dramas, you can try this once. It's better than many others I've seen in recent times.

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I like police procedurals and this one did a good job with it. As has been said, no romance except a past one motivating several characters, which made the focus more on the team working together against the bad guys. But that's fine, since it's rare w/KDramas. I do prefer well-rounded characters w/fully developed personal lives, but in a suspense thriller police who-done-it that's not necessary for me to enjoy the story.
The plot made sense, without many holes, and noone acted so completely stupid that I yelled at the TV. So often in these police/spy dramas, you're just going 'call for BACKUP! Tell someone where you're going' etc - but not so much in this one - maybe one incident. But I have to give creds for tight, consistent, logical story-telling :D
And for really awesome fight scenes! Especially Kim Bum fight sequences, but Team Leader there had awesome moments, and so did our lone girl detective, who was blessedly no push-over!
So I recommend this drama to those who prefer action & suspense. Also, this is one to get your male friends/family to watch if you want to show them KDramas are NOT all soaps LOL

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