Police University (2021)

Love this drama - for its all-in-one genre

I really enjoyed this drama tremendously. It is a genre of all in one with mystery, romance, comedy, comaraderie/friendship/stewardship, bromance and family ties. It is a drama which the entire family can enjoy together for a good family quality time. However, with the spread of genres, it could also be a disadvantage for viewers who liked only mystery, only romance or only comedy etc and felt that they were not getting enough. For me, the drama is realistically depicting that life is a mixed pack of many genres anyway hence I find it thoroughly relatable and enjoyable.

The pace of the drama was also very good. Every episode was so satisfying. The story developed quickly without any feeling of drag since it covered many aspects of life in the police university. I really appreciated a good balance of all the activities a police college student could be exposed to in their studies. Not only the individual growth but the drama also demonstrated their teamwork in the course and outside the course during the investigation. I enjoyed the lessons learnt in the lecture classes too and they were typically the thought-provoking questions that we should mull over.

The professors and students relationship was also very well illustrated. Though the professors were strict, there was a heart-warming side to these professors. Even the professors-professors relationship was interesting. There were both fun moments and serious moments, just like life.

The family ties of Kang Sunho and Oh Kanghee were also instrumental in the drama. It shaped the character development of these two main leads. There was obvious transformation of how the leads felt about their families at the end.

The romance was a great journey with the young couple. There were many memorable moments to reflect upon their cuteness with each other and their recharging love was something refreshing and relatable. The good chemistry between the leads made the romance sweet and admirable. At this point, I must also give praise to the director Yoo Kwan-mo who made good effort to study other foreign movies romances to enhance the romance in this drama. I have particularly watched all the movies he has drawn inspiration from and felt that he deserved a pat on his back for his own original style yet really charming.

The mystery was indeed a mystery.....it was intriguing how everyone could be a main suspect, everyone had their story so it was a great realisation when the real culprit was uncovered. What was even more intriguing was the villian was not the typical villian we knew in most dramas, there was much food for thought in the end.

Finally the bromance of Prof Yoo and Kang Sunho was another amazing journey.....from enemy to frenemy and eventually best of pals! There were conflicting feelings to be resolved and certainly complicated legal issues to grapple with between them. It brought home the point whoever started the issue had to fix the issue.

Despite some brief moments of an almost-disappointing ending which was probably the writer's way of putting the viewers through a roller-coaster ride technique (LOL) , all's well that ended well. It was a most satisfying way how the writer Min Jung tied up all the unanswered loose ends and gave it a well-deserved ending to the good drama!!

Last but not least, I love the OSTs of this drama which happened to be the same music director as "Love in the Moonlight" and 'Descendants of the Sun". I was not aware of this until the end of the release of all 7 OSTs then I knew. It's amazing how consistently good he has been in Police University! Daebak! Treat to the ears plus Jinyoung produced one of the songs! Wow!

I started with only knowledge of the 3 main cast(Jinyoung, Cha Tae Hyun and Krystal) and Hong Soo-hyun(Judo professor, I like her too!) but I ended knowing the writer, the director and the music director of this drama plus many more of the fresh-faced actors and actresses to my delight! This is the impact of this drama for me! Kudos to the amazing team!

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama " Police University " is a predictable, boring, drama.

The story has a nice start and some interesting characters, although the main one is so cookie cutter 'good guy struggling' that it gets the plot cheesy and full of cliches. The progress of the story has few surprises to offer as well and the action part, unfortunately, doesn't aid to the entertainment. The romance, in addition, is boring and tiring. Probably, the only enjoyable relationship is between the mentor and the young trainees.

On the other hand, the performances were decent and the actors and actresses did a good job presenting their characters.

So, overall, two out of ten.

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I just finished watching this drama and liked it. It had some moments where it had me grinning from ear to ear. This is because of the bromance that involved the three main male characters. I don't know what it is about bromances but it seems to make the drama a whole lot better. I also smiled at the fact that a young adult and older adult can get along as equals without looking at the age difference.

There's a lot of comedy which helps move this series along.

It's a slow paced drama so there's no need to rush and watch this all at once.

The plot was a little weak. Illegal gambling...Yeah, there's no suspense, thriller, or espionage to this. I guess illegal gambling is really really huge in Korea. I just didn't understand how this scenario made it to 16 episodes! I have to give mad props to the writer for being able to stretch that out.

The take away that I had with this drama was the teenage sappy romance between the second main ML and FL. It didn't feel real. The reason why I can't stand romance dramas is because there's no where to go. You get a lovey dovey couple who do stupid things for love, end up getting angry, and there's that perverbial breakup scenario. Romance doesn't go anywhere but down.
Plus there were several second lead love scenarios that I hated. I hate seeing two people going after one person and that one person strings the two lovers along. Ugh...I seriously try to avoid dramas like this but I don't want to miss out if it's a good drama.

I didn't think I would like the last episode even though it dragged a bit but it gave everybody closure. Main issues were solved and not forgotten like a lot of other dramas I've seen.
I gave this a low score for a rewatch value but if someone wants to just surpass the time this series will help.

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I actually liked this drama :)

I initially did not want to watch this drama because of the several reviews and comments on here claiming it was a bore, disappointing, and lack luster. Fortunately, I chose to go ahead with it mainly because I really like Cha Taehyun and his acting and I was super curious about Krystal's performance. I was surprised by how much I was able to enjoy this, but of course I can't say this was a technically perfect drama, its a great bromance watch but not an overall deep plot.

What I liked/loved:

-Seeing Jung Jin Young from B1A4 again was so fun! Also his acting performance was superb, I was eating up every word. Also can we talk about the type of main lead he took on, so refreshing! In this drama he plays a uninspired and dreamless high school senior and eventually college freshman with a sad past and many flaws. Watching this character learn and grow was relatable and quite humorous.

-Jung Jin Young and Cha Tae Hyun's bromance was everything, its not "romantic," but the beginning is hilarious to watch and it eventually becomes a touching relationship between sort-of mentor and mentee. I kept going though this drama just to watch their little moments. (Sidenote: Cha Tae Hyun makes a great senior detective, very convincing!)

-I loved to hate the character Park Min Kyu, omg! He was so annoying as the second male lead, but in my opinion I think it fit this role so I included it in this list. I liked that they eventually made him mellow out and become friends with the main male lead.

-Is no one going to talk about the setting? Correct me if I am wrong, but this is the first k-drama that takes places in a police university, which IMO was pretty cool! I love watching dramas that give me a better insight into different areas of South Korea, I realize this drama covers very broad topics and is likely an extremely dramatized and romanticized version of real life police schools and life in this country, but I still find it interesting and new to the k-drama world. (P.S. I know K-movies set in police universities exist, I am talking about specifically episode oriented k-dramas.)

-Despite the sensitive topics it covers like, death, adoption, and just serious crime in general, I appreciate that the drama strayed from creating an extremely depressing and gloomy atmosphere. For example the ML's back story was explained and came up through out the drama, but it was presented as an event that altered his life physically and psychologically but he's accepted it and is able to live on with the scars, and not as this incredibly painful and mentally destructive event. (I'm not trying to be insensitive here, what I am trying to say is that his 'sob story' wasn't milked til the last drop like I see in a lot of other dramas, it was a more realistic portrayal.)


What I did NOT love as much as the afore mentioned things:

- The mysterious corruption gambling investigation plot, at FIRST was fun. I liked watching the ML and his professor investigate, go on little detective sprees, and uncover all kinds of clues. HOWEVER, the mystery eventually became less and less engaging, I ended up wanting to watch more of the ML's school life and love life. Around episode 12 I was kind of over the whole "whodunnit?" bit I was ready for that to be over and to focus on the ML's growth and school problems. I don't agree with a lot of commenters that the drama should have been cut down, instead I think the way that certain clues were revealed should have been done differently. I think they let the viewers in on everything a little too early.

-Krystal's character towards the end made me reconsider the importance of her role all together. Don't get me wrong I loved her and the ML crushing on each other, becoming friends, each of their jealousy over the other and all that lovey-dovey stuff but as soon as she was clued into all the detective drama I started to dislike her. To keep it short, the ML was going to break a lot of school rules and put himself in a dangerous position to save his professor and her mom. Her character decided instead of helping him, she was going to stop him or impede him as much as possible and then eventually in the ML's most trying moments she breaks up with him. I hated this side of Krystal's character, I realized later that this was likely done to push the episodes along, but I was peeved that she literally went out of her way to stop him going so far and sticking Min Kyu on ML and his friends to get them in trouble, and the whole break up while the ML was struggling the most was just down right aggravating!!! They have a happy ending nonetheless but her behavior kind of killed the cutesy romance vibes I was loving between them.

-Lacking in the back story department. What I mean by this is that I felt several areas need further explanation but we never got that. One example of this is the ML's parents deaths, we don't get much more than a couple flashbacks in the beginning and then no further depth, which I thought might have been helpful in understanding the ML's behavior and personality better. I will say that this doesn't detract from the drama, but IMO would have been more helpful. The other place I thought a good flash back was needed was in the end when we find out who was behind the whole mystery corruption/gambling crime, as I write this I don't even remember the entire "why" aspect of it all, like what exactly was the purpose of this entire crime chain?? I wouldn't know. But like I said the school content was more interesting and substantial enough for me.




My Conclusion:

If you want a lighter kdrama watch, that focuses mainly on the ML's perspective and has a good mix of mystery and university drama this is definitely for you. The underlying plot of the corruption crime was great but faltered some towards the end, it was still watchable however. It was not disappointing IMO, I finished it thanks to the bromance, the interesting setting, and the growth of the ML. It was super fun to watch, made me laugh every episode, and didn't force me to think too hard about anything. The ending was also quite happy, if that matters to you, like it does me. Its a good mindless watch, I would suggest taking it slow and just relaxing with this one instead of winding yourself up in all the drama and mystery.

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Police University (2021)

My happy pill for the past few weeks. I could never turn down watching Cha Tae Hyun.

Likes
1. Yu Dongman and Kang Sunho's mentor-student relationship was one of the best things in this drama. Like they said in the last episode, Sunho found his family and friends because of him while Dongman felt young and alive again after meeting Sunho.
2. The romance between Sunho and Kanghee, from their meet cute, to Kanghee imagining Sunho with puppy face, the red bracelet, breakup and getting back together. The only downside is Kanghee breaking up with him during the time he needed her the most and Park Min Kyu's character who was wasted here.
3. Besties Bum Tae and Junwook, the love triangle and how they suppored Sunho and Kanghee during the whole drama.
4. Sunho and his relationship with his father was one of the things that got me emotionally hooked during the first few episodes.
5. Probably one of the best written endings where every one's story was neatly wrapped up.
6. Also loved the OST esp Get Ready and Love Your Everything

Dislikes
1. A few episodes where the illegal gambling story got sidetracked because of the twists and turns but didnt mind because we got more focus on the romance and bromance. I did appreciate that the bad guy wasnt that bad at all. But the end didnt justify the means esp when youre breaking the law and hurting other people.
2. Baekhee was too unnatural and over the top with her acting.

Rating: 9/10 (8.5 for the story +.5 for how this drama made me feel)

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Bored 3/4 way in; spotlight shift from ML and he was the most interesting one

8/10os my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean romance and crime drama with 16, 60 minute episodes.

First, I provide a unique synopsis then review. I provide the synopsis because I find, when I’m looking for a show to watch, some of the synopses do not describe the series very well. So, a unique synopsis is intended to provide another perspective. If you aren’t interested in the synopsis scroll down, the review is labeled.


Synopsis


Kang Seon-ho (JungJinYoung) was orphaned at a young age so when the man who raised him as his son, Yoon Taek-Il (Oh Man-seok), was diagnosed with cancer and needed an expensive operation, he was willing to do about anything to get the life saving surgery for his father. He had neen working in online forums with Yoo Dong-man (Chae Tae-hyun), a 20 year homicide and cyber crime investigator trying to bring down a gambling ring. The detective and Seon-ho developed a friendly relationship and the young man provided invaluable help with cyber crimes. Seon-ha, at the urging of his friend/brother Yoon Seung-beom {Choi Woo-sung), decides to hack the illegal gambler’s account and redirect the funds to their own account. They think it is like Robin Hood, stealing from the criminals to use the money for the surgery to save their dad’s life. But detective Yoo does not see any nobility in the action when he tracks the young cyber criminals down. When their father begs the detective to look the other way, he takes mercy but he gets demoted for it. Not realizing the young man is his online friend/helper the detective tells the young man he better never appear before him again. But it turns out he will see the young man again as he is sent to instruct at the National Police Academy the very place Seon-ho is determined to get in. Seon-ho wants to become a police officer to make his adopted dad proud but also because the girl he loved at first sight, Oh Kang-hee (Krystal Jung), who is pursuing her dream of becoming a police officer, is there.

Review

If you’re looking for a good slice of life police Academy and/or crime drama, it is good for that. I would say it’s just OK on the romance scale at least in my opinion it was very laggy about 3/4 of the way through. I was a little bored the ending was on the softer side. If anyone likes things completely unwell wrapped up, I would not seek out to watch it again I didn’t completely dislike it, but I certainly wasn’t in love with it enough to rewatch it.

Spoilers

At first, I really liked the female lead character. She was very determined and driven and I thought that were,great characteristics for the lea. Until she tattoed on her fellow police offocers because she was afraid ML would be hurt, And thn, when he got in trouble and she broke up with him when he really wasn’t doing anything, but working on a case trying to bring down that gambling ring I changed my opinion of her then too, He even helped her mother out, and she just broke up with him because it was too hard. That made me very disappointed in that character and I wasn’t that into them even getting back together if you can’t be with somebody when some of the chips are down and it is not completely their fault then I’m not sure you’re made for each other. I really liked the male lead character. I thought he was very sweet to a fault and that’s part of how he got himself in trouble in the first place.

I was extremely disappointed when they made it to where the male lead character did not graduate with the rest of the class. It was weird and awkward that he was starting over and we were supposed to celebrate the rest of their graduation. I never understood why the things he did (other than the stealing) was so bad. Cyber hacking is a skill that’s embraced in a lot of other countries including the United States so I didn’t understand why the police force wasn’t using him for cyber crimes. He was never recognized or appreciated for essentially bringing that whole gambling ring down single-handedly, and they never really showed that that gambling ring was completely dissolved. When he came back, they treated him like a junior, which was weird because he was a more skilled investigator than any of them. I thought it was a serious failure in the story and that was one of the things that made me not like it very well.

I thought second guy was too pushy when she told him clearly she wasn’t interested. And the bracelet incident was really dishonest on his part. She didn’t handle it. Well either she acted like it was weird. That mean guy was upset that she was wearing the other guy‘s bracelet. When anybody would’ve assumed that she wore it because she liked it. Knew who gave it to her and was leaving the other guy on I thought her friendship with him was a little too friendly for having a boyfriend.

I did not care about any of the second relationships either. The mainly detective and professor who is friends with the male lead in the other professor was OK, but there just wasn’t that much there, especially after he suspected her of being involved in the gambling ring.

#PoliceUiversity #ChaeTaeHyun. #JungJinYoung. #KrystalJung #YoonTaekIl #YoonSeungBeom

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Not the story I was expecting - uninteresting, unrealistic, illogical

I thought I would be watching a drama about a bunch of young cadets learning and being groomed to become future policemen/women at a police university. But it turned out to be different than what I had expected. The majority of the drama is about a crime investigation into illegal gambling sites and most of this happened at the National Police University, thus the title of the drama.

Usually, it’s not a big deal if the plot was different than expected. But there are all kinds of wrong in the logic of this plot. The drama never explained how Kang Sun Ho became such a skilled hacker, especially when he doesn’t come from a well-off family. Where and how did he learn these skills? Yoo Dong Man as the investigator using unconventional approaches and ways to catch criminals doesn’t make a lot of sense either. I cannot imagine him still having a job by being such an irresponsible and reckless cop. I would have fired him a long time ago. Involving a group of freshmen to help with the investigation and exposing them to danger? Yeah right. They’re so green and can barely throw someone over their shoulder during judo practice (yet they all have black belts!). How could the two other professors join in an unofficial investigation and be as reckless as Yoo Dong Man? Everyone should be fired.

There’s a lot of talk and not a lot of action. I was enjoying this drama in the beginning when the students were still being students and not wannabe investigators. But once the focus is on the illegal gambling sites, the drama runs in circles and becomes repetitive. The last 5-6 episodes are incredibly slow and draggy, and full of fillers of nothingness. I was falling asleep and want to drop this drama so bad (but can't because of a watch challenge).

Romance and love triangles are boring. Kang Sun Ho and Oh Kang Hee were somewhat cute in the beginning but once they get together, the sparks are gone.

Overall, the acting is average. The veterans are definitely better than the younger cast. No one is horrible or exceptional. I do like a couple upbeat songs. Krystal Jung seems to be the sole responsible actor for all product placements - Samsung phones, Subway, Food ordering app, makeup/concealer, etc.

The one thing I like about the drama is the character development of Kang Sun Ho. It was heartwarming to see how his relationship with his adoptive father has changed. I like how he comes out of his shell, and throughout the drama has grown, learned his mistakes, not running away and become a confident person. He’s not the lost puppy who worries about his adoptive father disappearing, or always on egg shells when fighting with his brother/best friend.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this drama. It’s not a good drama about cadets and nor a good crime drama. Unless you are a fan of the actors, I would stay away. Jung Jin Young (though skinny) looks really good in uniform. If you are his fan, you can watch the drama for him.


Completed: 7/2/2024 - Review #455

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its just average light hearted series

first of all, don't watch if you r up to thriller/mystery or crime or action . as far as acting is concerned its not that good.
the entire drama even the plot is just a joke. the female lead is just annoying and ML didnt act that good. comedy is just good.

romance - typical romance where ML gives up or does everything for her and the FL is just arrogantly scolds him for small and stupid things. of course if you are a girl you will like it.

acting- except for yoo dong man I didn't like anyone's acting. its just ok.

plot- everything of this drama is just a joke lol. the characters just don't make any sense.

this is a light hearted and NOT a thriller series. just watch it for fun and no other reason.
man i wasted 6 hours expecting it to be thriller or mystery.

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Sometimes this can be the only positive review you'll find here

Just want to tell you that if anyone wants to start this but doesn't feel like it, because of the negativity here don't mind those!! This drama is good
Overall I won't give 10 out of 10 to the story here but I like it and jin young was so good in this. And specially i love the fact that they cast so many new actors here. We got to know many new faces and they did their job well. I love all characters <3
I don't know y many ppl complain about jinyoung's acting but trust me I rarely complain about actors and I've seen some actors worse than him.
Even there were few scenes between jinyoung and crystal, they looked so good together❤.
The bromance was good too
This drama had bromance, romance and its fun to watch
Tbh I started watching this because of crystal but now I'm head over heels for jin young XD
Give it a try if u haven't watched this
I really want them to win an award this yr

ps: trust me you'll only find this negativity here. If u search the tag on Twitter or go to youtube videos comment section you'll see how much love this drama has <3

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Police?!

It had a good concept and it started off actually decent but it derailed unbelievably hard and quick after episode 2. As If there was a switch flipped. It almost seemed as if the writer lost interest and handed over the wheel to an intern. The drama got seriously dumbed down to the nth degree and the cheese meter got turned to 11. The performance of the younger cast was weak, and the older cast seemed to take the easy way out, delivering lackluster performances for their relatively insignificant and undemanding roles. Cha Tae Hyun is usually good but somehow he's unable to show an expression other than him pouting all the time. The plot surrounding the villain was poorly developed and ended up being lame, as expected. The whole romance in the drama was nothing but childish. The portrayal of the police life was dull and uninteresting. The drama is a strong contender for the worst love triangle out there as well. The last episode was solely dedicated to pair everyone with someone forcefully because reasons?!

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