Force for Good °8.3° °Excellent°
“I'm going to play along with it. You can criticize me for not being a good detective, but you can't criticize me for being human.”
It's raining, it's pouring. The lightning and thunder are roiling up above and the radio is playing a jaunty tune.
TGD is a 2020 release that is rated 92 on AWiki. It is 2 seasons consisting of 16 relentless 70-minute episodes each. It's an excellent cop drama. Is this the best K’op drama I've seen? I won't say that it beats out Flower of Evil 8.9, The Man from Nowhere 8.9, & Tunnel 8.5, but it doesn't owe them anything, either. We're always at the precinct, always fighting between underlings and irrational supervisors, always dealing with public perception and paperwork, and the boys are always working together as a unit trying to do the right thing in a very wrong world. The detective team pushes through to investigate a matter even though they are being pressured in many ways to not do so. It's the most coppie K”op-drama I've seen. Screenwriter Choi Jin Won (Untouchable) & director, Jo Nam Gook (Captivating the King), outdid themselves - the palette is bright at times, but it's overwhelmingly an umber tone: Earthy and slightly dark. It's a perfect match with the writing. I'll watch anything of theirs.
Jang Seung Jo is “I've-never-heard-of-crefit-card-limits” O “Ji” Hyeok. He's from a rich (but quite dysfunctional) family. I've seen him in Chocolate-6.5, Death's Game-7.8, and Familiar Wife-8.5 (which was a surprise treasure - It's wonderful). In TGD he's the /new/ guy. He's been a detective for 9 years, but he took a year off (😬❓) and now he's transferred into their unit (😬❓). Let's get this out of the way. This is a beautiful man. This actor is a 10. It's impossible to be much better looking than this guy, objectively. It just comes down to personal taste. This is the best character he's played out of what I've seen. Cool on the outside, but fiery determination underneath. They've actually mussed him up for the part, so he's not looking his best, here, but he is acting his best.
The new guy looks like trouble to Kang. Kang don't NEED trouble! Son Hyun Joo (Signal-8.6, Spring Day) is “Kang” Do Chang, our truly GOOD Detective. That means he doesn't fit in anywhere. His credits date back to 1993; He's been around. Here, he's a senior detective awaiting the results of his exam and possible promotion. This guy is an Eeyore type. He looks depressed… even when he's smiling. (Did he smile? Now, I don't recall! ). Kang's life hasn't been all strawberries and cream, either. His divorced, alcoholic sister is living with him, which means there's no peace at home. He's been passed by for promotion after promotion because he can't play the politics game. He's a serious cop and he'll do his job, whether he's told to or not. All too often, he's told not to. His juniors are now his seniors. He has no wife or kids, though there's reference made to a past heartbreak. He was dumped practically at the wedding altar, His live-in sister (Baek Eun Hye from Family by Choice & The First Responders is Kang Eun Hee) is a former judo champion, but she's losing her battle with marriage, motherhood, life in general, and sobriety: She's in a nasty divorce, she doesn't have custody of her son which is a constant, relentless source of pain. She's going for custody, but it is an uphill battle. Her closest relationship is with Soju. She takes her anger at herself out on her brother by way of sarcasm, mocking, and bitter complaining. {People do this to family because they can get away with it. I've taken to calling this practice emotional cannibalism. It is disgusting. Most of us don't realize we're doing it, being stuck in a junkie cycle where we're slaves to our emotions. Check yo-self. Really. Tearing apart family is tearing apart oneself! Refuse to get hurt or offended. Don't engage. Separate from toxicity; don't be a part of it. Break the cycle.}
Lee Elijah (The Last Empress, Children of a Lesser God) is reporter “Jin” Seo Kyung. She and Kang get along, but she and Ji did not hit it off. He called her greedy while she called him lazy and self-serving. Ouch. They warm up to eachother eventually. I hadn't seen this actress before. She's beautiful, and she does a nice job, but I got weary of the director's habit of taking long shots of her concerned face.
Oh Jung Se is a fabulous actor. Here he plays Oh Jong Tae, Ji's cousin. My first exposure to him was as a special needs character in It's Okay to Not Be Okay-9 - He's perfect. In Revenant he's a professor of folklore. (Dang, I wish I had majored in that.) He's also in the popular shows Hot Stove League & Mr. Plankton, which I intend to get to eventually. Ji Seung Hyun (Search: WWW, Team Bulldog: Off-Duty Investigation) is Yoo Jung Seok. I've seen him in Why Her?-8 & The Worst of Evil-7.7. He's totally solid.
Shin Dong Mi plays investigator Yoon Sang Mi. She's a wonderful actress. She was fabulous in both Hi Bye, Mama!-6.5 and Record of Youth-5.8, two shows that could have been better. In these roles which skew comedic, she's practically the best thing about those shows. Here she's in a more serious role. Her character kept me uneasy. She discusses how she perjured herself in court once and hasn't been able to sleep since. BUT she would do the same thing again, because that's who she is, “Suffering is optional. Once you admit how selfish you are, you will suffer alot less,” she poses. Well, that's some rarified honesty, but I don't like this woman. Trust a person like that at your peril.
The women are central to this story and they are strong, at least. Lee Ha Eun (School 2021) is drug dealer Lee Eun Hye. She's well casted - super creepy giving off an air of half-rotted + wholly-ruthless. Lee Hyun Wook plays bad guy Park Geon Ho in eps 1-4. He's a nice looking guy and he does a good job. I've seen him in Mine-8 & She Would Never Know-7.3 as a less than respectable citizen. It looks like he's recently been cast into leading roles. I'm looking forward to seeing what else he can do.
Jo Jae Yoon is Lee Dae Cheol, who may have been wrongfully accused of murder, and his execution date is nearing. He has a tearful scene with his daughter and then wirh the guards escorting him back to his cell. He's magnificent. Usually playing support roles in hits like Defendant, SKY Castle-9, Descendants of the Sun-8.3, and Mouse, he is one of the leads in The Escape of the Seven shows. Lee Ha Eun (School 2021) plays his daughter, Lee Eun Hye. She's has a challenging role. Her father was locked up for years and she ignored him. With his execution date imminent, she reconnects with him. She's been scraping by and is connected to the dark side of the streets, but her soul longs for something better. Her performance is excellent.
The entire police team is great. They each have their own ideas, but they work as a team. One reason is due to pressure from the chief, played by Son Jong Hak. His arc in the show is refreshing. This guy is everywhere with 95 movie/drama credits. I've seen him in The King's Affection-8.3, Flower of Evil-8.9, Familiar Wife-8.5, & Misaeng: Incomplete Life-9.1 ~ masterpieces, ALL ~ He's always in a supporting role, but he's the lead in Jinx, an upcoming film. He often plays a somewhat slimy authority figure. Here, that's what he looks like at first, but it isn't that simple. We got a couple pleasant surprises. The team does lots of group jogging. The running comedy bit is the entire team running from or after something or someone. We see it in the first and last episodes and many in between.
TD shows more of the reason that 🇰🇷 has the 3rd or 4th highest suicide rate in the world. The people are under constant pressure. Everyone must act worshipful to their superiors while corruption is rampant. Perhaps it's partially a cumulative effect, but I feel the weight of 🇰🇷 society in this show. “In the end, people only care about themselves.” Self-interest is what keeps the corrupt house of cards standing. We are all complicit, sadly.
“Yes, it's true that my life's important. But sometimes, other people's lives end up determining my life.” None of us act or fail to act alone. There's something I've learned that I was never taught while growing up about evil: Evil people know how to make the problems and then offer us their self-serving solutions. That's exactly what's going on in TGD. Yes, there's a psychopathic villain, but there are even worse villains at work in the shadows.
TD does have good natured laughs. As the pressure from the corrupt leadership weighed on the unit they go full rage-room in the office one day. It's glorious. The root word of corruption just means something rotten; something that's no longer in useful shape. It's the act of turning oneself into a piece of exceement. TGD shows the slow creep of corruption. People make compromises for selfish reasons. Some of the reasons are understandable, but they are still self-motivated. We want our jobs, our security, our comfort, our rewards. Looking the other way once in awhile doesn't seem like such a bad thing, but in the end, people who make these compromises start to change. They become less compassionate. They become more edgy and less understanding. They become more selfish. They start to despise those who try to do good. They don't want to feel icky about themselves, so they try to turn the good deeds and good intentions of others into something else. TDG is excellent in calling this out.
QUOTES🗣
Do you know the best way to cover up the truth? Make the victim disappear.
You do know what makes people happy or sad, do you?
You can't do this job with a sane mind.
It's going to be harder for me to trust people from now on.
IMHO〰🖍
📣8.5 📝8.4 🎭8.5 💓5 🦋4 🎨7 🎵/🔊6.8 🔚8.5 🤗6.8 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡6 😅2.5 😭4 😱3 😯3 🤢5.5 🤔5.5 💤0
Age 16+ Language: R-rated w/ f 💣💣 violence
Re-📺? Possible
⛔Spoiler⛔
⛔
⛔
We watch most characters, many of whom we want to like, pursue self-interest and let a man die. An innocent man. Pursuing self-interest is a form of weakness. It's a moral and emotional weakness. Weakness is just as bad as evil because weakness always enables evil. It stands back and lets wicked people prevail. How is it any better then?
We want to give people a pass if they're weak. They stoke pity in us. We want to scry the motives of people and give allowances to those whom we identify with more, but that's our moral turpitude. Midway through S1, the show becomes heartbreaking. I want to take three of the main female characters and smash their heads into the wall, frankly. (I guess that's my moral turpitude.) Every decision we make changes us for the better or the worse. When we choose self-interest over what is decent, we don't only change ourselves, but we pile on weight that we have to carry for the rest of our lives. These decisions are so hard in the moment that if we haven't already decided to do right, we will probably choose wrongly. The right thing to do it's almost never the easy thing to do. For me, it all comes back to the spiritual. We are physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual beings, yet it seems our society thinks the spiritual side of the square isn't crucial. It is.
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
⚖Spies, ©🅾🅿§ & Robbers (some w/ a fantasy✨️element)
Mad For Each Other-7.7 ~ silly fun,
Crash-7.5,
Vincenzo-8.2,
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Man to Man-6.7,
Bad and Crazy-8.4,
The King: Eternal Monarch-8.3,
Oh My Ghost-10,
Big Mouth-7.4,
Han River Police-7.1,
Bad and Crazy-8.4,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
A Beautiful Life-7.4,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
Vagabond-8,
Prison Playbook-8.4,
Private Lives-8.1,
The First 1st Responders-7.8,
K2-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Parasyte the Grey-6.9,
Signal-8.6,
The Worst of Evil-7.7
Revenge of Others-8.1,
The Good Detective-8.3,
Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing), The Defected-8.2,
Iris-8,
Awaken-8.7,
D.P.-8.4,
The Man from Nowhere-8.9,
Moving-8.5,
Beyond Evil-7.4,
The Defected-8.2,
Gangnam Bs-Side-7.2,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Oldboy-9,
A Shop for Killers-8.7,
Black 9,
The Cursed 8.3,
The Wailing-8.8,
It's raining, it's pouring. The lightning and thunder are roiling up above and the radio is playing a jaunty tune.
TGD is a 2020 release that is rated 92 on AWiki. It is 2 seasons consisting of 16 relentless 70-minute episodes each. It's an excellent cop drama. Is this the best K’op drama I've seen? I won't say that it beats out Flower of Evil 8.9, The Man from Nowhere 8.9, & Tunnel 8.5, but it doesn't owe them anything, either. We're always at the precinct, always fighting between underlings and irrational supervisors, always dealing with public perception and paperwork, and the boys are always working together as a unit trying to do the right thing in a very wrong world. The detective team pushes through to investigate a matter even though they are being pressured in many ways to not do so. It's the most coppie K”op-drama I've seen. Screenwriter Choi Jin Won (Untouchable) & director, Jo Nam Gook (Captivating the King), outdid themselves - the palette is bright at times, but it's overwhelmingly an umber tone: Earthy and slightly dark. It's a perfect match with the writing. I'll watch anything of theirs.
Jang Seung Jo is “I've-never-heard-of-crefit-card-limits” O “Ji” Hyeok. He's from a rich (but quite dysfunctional) family. I've seen him in Chocolate-6.5, Death's Game-7.8, and Familiar Wife-8.5 (which was a surprise treasure - It's wonderful). In TGD he's the /new/ guy. He's been a detective for 9 years, but he took a year off (😬❓) and now he's transferred into their unit (😬❓). Let's get this out of the way. This is a beautiful man. This actor is a 10. It's impossible to be much better looking than this guy, objectively. It just comes down to personal taste. This is the best character he's played out of what I've seen. Cool on the outside, but fiery determination underneath. They've actually mussed him up for the part, so he's not looking his best, here, but he is acting his best.
The new guy looks like trouble to Kang. Kang don't NEED trouble! Son Hyun Joo (Signal-8.6, Spring Day) is “Kang” Do Chang, our truly GOOD Detective. That means he doesn't fit in anywhere. His credits date back to 1993; He's been around. Here, he's a senior detective awaiting the results of his exam and possible promotion. This guy is an Eeyore type. He looks depressed… even when he's smiling. (Did he smile? Now, I don't recall! ). Kang's life hasn't been all strawberries and cream, either. His divorced, alcoholic sister is living with him, which means there's no peace at home. He's been passed by for promotion after promotion because he can't play the politics game. He's a serious cop and he'll do his job, whether he's told to or not. All too often, he's told not to. His juniors are now his seniors. He has no wife or kids, though there's reference made to a past heartbreak. He was dumped practically at the wedding altar, His live-in sister (Baek Eun Hye from Family by Choice & The First Responders is Kang Eun Hee) is a former judo champion, but she's losing her battle with marriage, motherhood, life in general, and sobriety: She's in a nasty divorce, she doesn't have custody of her son which is a constant, relentless source of pain. She's going for custody, but it is an uphill battle. Her closest relationship is with Soju. She takes her anger at herself out on her brother by way of sarcasm, mocking, and bitter complaining. {People do this to family because they can get away with it. I've taken to calling this practice emotional cannibalism. It is disgusting. Most of us don't realize we're doing it, being stuck in a junkie cycle where we're slaves to our emotions. Check yo-self. Really. Tearing apart family is tearing apart oneself! Refuse to get hurt or offended. Don't engage. Separate from toxicity; don't be a part of it. Break the cycle.}
Lee Elijah (The Last Empress, Children of a Lesser God) is reporter “Jin” Seo Kyung. She and Kang get along, but she and Ji did not hit it off. He called her greedy while she called him lazy and self-serving. Ouch. They warm up to eachother eventually. I hadn't seen this actress before. She's beautiful, and she does a nice job, but I got weary of the director's habit of taking long shots of her concerned face.
Oh Jung Se is a fabulous actor. Here he plays Oh Jong Tae, Ji's cousin. My first exposure to him was as a special needs character in It's Okay to Not Be Okay-9 - He's perfect. In Revenant he's a professor of folklore. (Dang, I wish I had majored in that.) He's also in the popular shows Hot Stove League & Mr. Plankton, which I intend to get to eventually. Ji Seung Hyun (Search: WWW, Team Bulldog: Off-Duty Investigation) is Yoo Jung Seok. I've seen him in Why Her?-8 & The Worst of Evil-7.7. He's totally solid.
Shin Dong Mi plays investigator Yoon Sang Mi. She's a wonderful actress. She was fabulous in both Hi Bye, Mama!-6.5 and Record of Youth-5.8, two shows that could have been better. In these roles which skew comedic, she's practically the best thing about those shows. Here she's in a more serious role. Her character kept me uneasy. She discusses how she perjured herself in court once and hasn't been able to sleep since. BUT she would do the same thing again, because that's who she is, “Suffering is optional. Once you admit how selfish you are, you will suffer alot less,” she poses. Well, that's some rarified honesty, but I don't like this woman. Trust a person like that at your peril.
The women are central to this story and they are strong, at least. Lee Ha Eun (School 2021) is drug dealer Lee Eun Hye. She's well casted - super creepy giving off an air of half-rotted + wholly-ruthless. Lee Hyun Wook plays bad guy Park Geon Ho in eps 1-4. He's a nice looking guy and he does a good job. I've seen him in Mine-8 & She Would Never Know-7.3 as a less than respectable citizen. It looks like he's recently been cast into leading roles. I'm looking forward to seeing what else he can do.
Jo Jae Yoon is Lee Dae Cheol, who may have been wrongfully accused of murder, and his execution date is nearing. He has a tearful scene with his daughter and then wirh the guards escorting him back to his cell. He's magnificent. Usually playing support roles in hits like Defendant, SKY Castle-9, Descendants of the Sun-8.3, and Mouse, he is one of the leads in The Escape of the Seven shows. Lee Ha Eun (School 2021) plays his daughter, Lee Eun Hye. She's has a challenging role. Her father was locked up for years and she ignored him. With his execution date imminent, she reconnects with him. She's been scraping by and is connected to the dark side of the streets, but her soul longs for something better. Her performance is excellent.
The entire police team is great. They each have their own ideas, but they work as a team. One reason is due to pressure from the chief, played by Son Jong Hak. His arc in the show is refreshing. This guy is everywhere with 95 movie/drama credits. I've seen him in The King's Affection-8.3, Flower of Evil-8.9, Familiar Wife-8.5, & Misaeng: Incomplete Life-9.1 ~ masterpieces, ALL ~ He's always in a supporting role, but he's the lead in Jinx, an upcoming film. He often plays a somewhat slimy authority figure. Here, that's what he looks like at first, but it isn't that simple. We got a couple pleasant surprises. The team does lots of group jogging. The running comedy bit is the entire team running from or after something or someone. We see it in the first and last episodes and many in between.
TD shows more of the reason that 🇰🇷 has the 3rd or 4th highest suicide rate in the world. The people are under constant pressure. Everyone must act worshipful to their superiors while corruption is rampant. Perhaps it's partially a cumulative effect, but I feel the weight of 🇰🇷 society in this show. “In the end, people only care about themselves.” Self-interest is what keeps the corrupt house of cards standing. We are all complicit, sadly.
“Yes, it's true that my life's important. But sometimes, other people's lives end up determining my life.” None of us act or fail to act alone. There's something I've learned that I was never taught while growing up about evil: Evil people know how to make the problems and then offer us their self-serving solutions. That's exactly what's going on in TGD. Yes, there's a psychopathic villain, but there are even worse villains at work in the shadows.
TD does have good natured laughs. As the pressure from the corrupt leadership weighed on the unit they go full rage-room in the office one day. It's glorious. The root word of corruption just means something rotten; something that's no longer in useful shape. It's the act of turning oneself into a piece of exceement. TGD shows the slow creep of corruption. People make compromises for selfish reasons. Some of the reasons are understandable, but they are still self-motivated. We want our jobs, our security, our comfort, our rewards. Looking the other way once in awhile doesn't seem like such a bad thing, but in the end, people who make these compromises start to change. They become less compassionate. They become more edgy and less understanding. They become more selfish. They start to despise those who try to do good. They don't want to feel icky about themselves, so they try to turn the good deeds and good intentions of others into something else. TDG is excellent in calling this out.
QUOTES🗣
Do you know the best way to cover up the truth? Make the victim disappear.
You do know what makes people happy or sad, do you?
You can't do this job with a sane mind.
It's going to be harder for me to trust people from now on.
IMHO〰🖍
📣8.5 📝8.4 🎭8.5 💓5 🦋4 🎨7 🎵/🔊6.8 🔚8.5 🤗6.8 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡6 😅2.5 😭4 😱3 😯3 🤢5.5 🤔5.5 💤0
Age 16+ Language: R-rated w/ f 💣💣 violence
Re-📺? Possible
⛔Spoiler⛔
⛔
⛔
We watch most characters, many of whom we want to like, pursue self-interest and let a man die. An innocent man. Pursuing self-interest is a form of weakness. It's a moral and emotional weakness. Weakness is just as bad as evil because weakness always enables evil. It stands back and lets wicked people prevail. How is it any better then?
We want to give people a pass if they're weak. They stoke pity in us. We want to scry the motives of people and give allowances to those whom we identify with more, but that's our moral turpitude. Midway through S1, the show becomes heartbreaking. I want to take three of the main female characters and smash their heads into the wall, frankly. (I guess that's my moral turpitude.) Every decision we make changes us for the better or the worse. When we choose self-interest over what is decent, we don't only change ourselves, but we pile on weight that we have to carry for the rest of our lives. These decisions are so hard in the moment that if we haven't already decided to do right, we will probably choose wrongly. The right thing to do it's almost never the easy thing to do. For me, it all comes back to the spiritual. We are physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual beings, yet it seems our society thinks the spiritual side of the square isn't crucial. It is.
In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:
⚖Spies, ©🅾🅿§ & Robbers (some w/ a fantasy✨️element)
Mad For Each Other-7.7 ~ silly fun,
Crash-7.5,
Vincenzo-8.2,
Flex X Cop-8.5,
Man to Man-6.7,
Bad and Crazy-8.4,
The King: Eternal Monarch-8.3,
Oh My Ghost-10,
Big Mouth-7.4,
Han River Police-7.1,
Bad and Crazy-8.4,
Inspector Koo-8.4,
Missing: The Other Side-8.3,
A Beautiful Life-7.4,
That Winter, The Wind Blows-7,
Vagabond-8,
Prison Playbook-8.4,
Private Lives-8.1,
The First 1st Responders-7.8,
K2-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Parasyte the Grey-6.9,
Signal-8.6,
The Worst of Evil-7.7
Revenge of Others-8.1,
The Good Detective-8.3,
Sisyphus 8 (give it 2 episodes, ep1 is confusing), The Defected-8.2,
Iris-8,
Awaken-8.7,
D.P.-8.4,
The Man from Nowhere-8.9,
Moving-8.5,
Beyond Evil-7.4,
The Defected-8.2,
Gangnam Bs-Side-7.2,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
Oldboy-9,
A Shop for Killers-8.7,
Black 9,
The Cursed 8.3,
The Wailing-8.8,
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