SPOILER: Honestly, the whole conflict within the story could have been prevented by Cha Gi Ho in the first episode. With Yoon Dong Hoon / Song Joon Soo dead, why keep the man's role as an undercover agent a secret? Instead, Cha Gi Ho shows up at his former colleague's home looking like a gangster and scares the poor girl to death. He (as well as other officers) fails to show up at the funeral. Then he complains that no one seems to be able to find the daughter.
And because Yoon Ji Woo / Oh Hye Jin is left ignorant of the truth, the ripple effects include 1) Do Gang Jae scarred and set up as a drug lord rival to Choi Moo Jin, 2) Jung Tae Joo's crippling and eventual death, 3) the death of Jeon Pil Do, and 4) the eventual demise of Choi Moo Jin and the Dongcheon.
Also, how is it possible that Yoon Ji Woo / Oh Hye Jin graduated from the Police Academy and her fingerprints weren't on file? Law enforcement officers have their fingerprints in their own system so that when crime scene investigators are running tests, the officers' fingerprints can be eliminated in the event they weren't wearing gloves.
Where is Ji Woo's mother? If Ji Woo was in high school in 2016, graduated from the Police Academy in 2019, and joined the Narcotics Unit in 2020, she should be about 22 years old. Her father's picture in police uniform is dated 2004. Ji Woo would have been about 6 years old and perfectly capable of remembering that her father was a police officer. Let's say she forgets this. Was there no evidence around the house or any friends or relatives to remind her of her father's job as an officer? Where she lives is a "secret" from Choi Moo Jin, so there's little reason for Yoon Dong Hoon to hide belongings. And once Yoon Dong Hoon goes undercover, who is taking care of his child? Just how many years was Yoon Dong Hoon under cover? More than ten?! Unlikely.
How does Detective Cho Jin Se escape any notice from Internal Affairs or his own colleagues? It's made clear that he's a junkie, yet no one ever notices his symptoms or behavior or marks on his body. Don't they have random drug screenings? How could he have pulled that off for so many years?
Surely Cha Gi Ho was in contact with Cho Jin Se at the time of Yoon Dong Hoon's death since Cho Jin Se was keeping Yoon Dong Hoon / Song Joon Soo under surveillance. What's the necessity of Cha Gi Ho telling Cho Jin Se to suppress the murder investigation? Or is this a lie conceived by Cho Jin Se? It would have been a difficult one to maintain.
How was it possible for Choi Moo Jin to 1) find Ji Woo and Pil Do on the morning they were returning from the beach to the police department, 2) identify their vehicle, and 3) pull alongside it on his motorcycle? To me, this whole scene was invented for the purpose of emotionally whipping the audience. If we were meant to understand that Choi Moo Jin is a wreck and desirous of drawing out Ji Woo, there were more logical ways of doing this.
And what was the necessity of killing off Pil Do? If we are to believe that Choi Moo Jin shoots Pil Do to coerce Ji Woo into coming after him, then how does he know that she's lost the "conviction" to follow through with murdering the man who killed her father? He's not aware that Ji Woo and Pil Do are attracted to each other nor that Pil Do had to talk her out of her revenge. For all he knows, she's still in Pil Do's custody. So if he believes this, then was murdering Pil Do his plan to help Ji Woo escape? How dumb is this?
Most action films move so fast that the audience doesn't have time to question what is happening. These are the thoughts that struck me after I finished the series.
What did you all find?
As for acting skills, I don't see Han So Hee's performance as wooden. She was certainly terrified the night of her father's death. She was agonized at discovering she had been used by Choi Moo Jin. She was touched by Pil Do's affection. The emotions are all there. Han So Hee's choice to remain stoic would be consistent with an individual who doesn't want to feel, who doesn't what to make connections with others, who is single-purposed in life. Even the apartment is lacking in any personal details.
Park Hee Soon was mesmerizing as the anti-hero. It was hard not to root for him, even as he became self-destructive. I also like his Number One, played by Lee Hak Joo. I was sad for him.
Ahn Bo Hyun was fun to watch, as well. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of a chance to explore his character until nearly the end and then he dies. Darn! Just when things were heating up.
Wtf was that ending to Han Yang's arc?! Why would the police lay a trap like that?! Also giving someone drug so…
Yeah, that didn't make sense to me either. First, it meant someone was waiting for him to be released at 4:00 AM in the morning and prevented him from getting to the cafe. Second, I thought the drug dealer was a fellow he had met in Japan, so why was he in Korea? Third, after so much effort, how did he cave in so quickly? Fourth, why were the police there waiting for him in particular? He's "small fry." Fifth, even if he had chickened out and not gone to meet his lover at the cafe, why was he unwillingly in this vehicle? We know this from his "F--- you" statement he makes to the dealer. I felt like there was a missing scene that ended up on the cutting room floor.
To screenwriters Jung Bo Hoon and Lee Woo Jung: You truly got the vibe for prison life. I worked in a US correctional institute for six months as the head librarian. I had a staff of about seven or more prisoners who were sentenced for assault, manslaughter, attempted murder, murder, drug abuse, and who knows what else. Some had been in prison for more than 20 years and others for only a few, but the one thing they all had in common was a need to be treated as human beings. The characters in your story and the men I knew are much the same. I don't know how much research you had to do to write the drama, but I appreciate how well you caught the essence of what they most desired in their hearts.
SPOILER: Love the inside joke of Lee Kyu Hyung's appearance in Episode 16! "Guess I need to move the car if I don't want to go back to prison for killing a few carrots." And his character is also gay here as well.
And because Yoon Ji Woo / Oh Hye Jin is left ignorant of the truth, the ripple effects include 1) Do Gang Jae scarred and set up as a drug lord rival to Choi Moo Jin, 2) Jung Tae Joo's crippling and eventual death, 3) the death of Jeon Pil Do, and 4) the eventual demise of Choi Moo Jin and the Dongcheon.
Also, how is it possible that Yoon Ji Woo / Oh Hye Jin graduated from the Police Academy and her fingerprints weren't on file? Law enforcement officers have their fingerprints in their own system so that when crime scene investigators are running tests, the officers' fingerprints can be eliminated in the event they weren't wearing gloves.
Where is Ji Woo's mother? If Ji Woo was in high school in 2016, graduated from the Police Academy in 2019, and joined the Narcotics Unit in 2020, she should be about 22 years old. Her father's picture in police uniform is dated 2004. Ji Woo would have been about 6 years old and perfectly capable of remembering that her father was a police officer. Let's say she forgets this. Was there no evidence around the house or any friends or relatives to remind her of her father's job as an officer? Where she lives is a "secret" from Choi Moo Jin, so there's little reason for Yoon Dong Hoon to hide belongings. And once Yoon Dong Hoon goes undercover, who is taking care of his child? Just how many years was Yoon Dong Hoon under cover? More than ten?! Unlikely.
How does Detective Cho Jin Se escape any notice from Internal Affairs or his own colleagues? It's made clear that he's a junkie, yet no one ever notices his symptoms or behavior or marks on his body. Don't they have random drug screenings? How could he have pulled that off for so many years?
Surely Cha Gi Ho was in contact with Cho Jin Se at the time of Yoon Dong Hoon's death since Cho Jin Se was keeping Yoon Dong Hoon / Song Joon Soo under surveillance. What's the necessity of Cha Gi Ho telling Cho Jin Se to suppress the murder investigation? Or is this a lie conceived by Cho Jin Se? It would have been a difficult one to maintain.
How was it possible for Choi Moo Jin to 1) find Ji Woo and Pil Do on the morning they were returning from the beach to the police department, 2) identify their vehicle, and 3) pull alongside it on his motorcycle? To me, this whole scene was invented for the purpose of emotionally whipping the audience. If we were meant to understand that Choi Moo Jin is a wreck and desirous of drawing out Ji Woo, there were more logical ways of doing this.
And what was the necessity of killing off Pil Do? If we are to believe that Choi Moo Jin shoots Pil Do to coerce Ji Woo into coming after him, then how does he know that she's lost the "conviction" to follow through with murdering the man who killed her father? He's not aware that Ji Woo and Pil Do are attracted to each other nor that Pil Do had to talk her out of her revenge. For all he knows, she's still in Pil Do's custody. So if he believes this, then was murdering Pil Do his plan to help Ji Woo escape? How dumb is this?
Most action films move so fast that the audience doesn't have time to question what is happening. These are the thoughts that struck me after I finished the series.
What did you all find?
As for acting skills, I don't see Han So Hee's performance as wooden. She was certainly terrified the night of her father's death. She was agonized at discovering she had been used by Choi Moo Jin. She was touched by Pil Do's affection. The emotions are all there. Han So Hee's choice to remain stoic would be consistent with an individual who doesn't want to feel, who doesn't what to make connections with others, who is single-purposed in life. Even the apartment is lacking in any personal details.
Park Hee Soon was mesmerizing as the anti-hero. It was hard not to root for him, even as he became self-destructive. I also like his Number One, played by Lee Hak Joo. I was sad for him.
Ahn Bo Hyun was fun to watch, as well. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of a chance to explore his character until nearly the end and then he dies. Darn! Just when things were heating up.
Your opinion?