101 in 1001 - Watch 5 TV Series - Bad Guys (나쁜 녀석들)

For my 101 in 1001 challenge, I've been slowly working towards completing various goals on the list. Lately I've been watching a TV show and calling it part of the goal:

• 067. Watch 5 new (to you) TV series (all current episodes).*

Apparently, Netflix suggested this particular series to me because I like 'Gotham' and 'Hannibal'. Those are two of my favourite shows, so how could I not watch it!

Title: Bad Guys [Korean title: 나쁜 녀석들 / Nappeun Nyeoseokdeul]
Year: 2014
No. of Seasons: 1*
No. of Episodes: 11
Cert: Mature (PG - 12...no sex but lots of violence / mature themes. All the knives and some of the gore are blurred out though.)
Genre: Drama, action, crime
Language: Korean (Subtitles available in various languages on Netflix; I had English)

Cast (main):
Kim Sang-joong as Oh Gu-tak
Ma Dong-seok as Pak Un-Cheol
Park Hae-jin as Lee Jung-moon
Jo Dong-hyuk as Jung Tae-soo
Kang Ye-won as Yoo Mi-young

Plot: Oh Gu-tak is a detective that will use any means necessary to catch criminals and this results in his frequent suspension from the police for using excessive force. Detective Oh decides to bring together a team of "bad guys" to assist on difficult cases and help hunt down other criminals. The plan is approved and the ambitious Inspector Yoo Mi-young also joins the team to keep an eye on them. They release three inmates from jail to form the team: Lee Jung-moon - the youngest member, who is a genius with an IQ of 165 and doctorates in maths and philosophy, but is also a convicted serial killer; Pak Un-Cheol - a gangster who took over the Seoul underworld in just 25 days, and continues to be in control, even in prison; and Jung Tae-soo - he was previously an uncaught hit man who never made mistakes, before suddenly confessing and turning himself in one day.

Overall: This wasn't a show without flaws. The story was mostly, though not always, predictable,  some of the acting was a little over the top and melodramatic in places, and sometimes I disliked Oh Gu-tak so much that it made me not even care about the loss and suffering he'd been through or what he was trying to achieve. However, none of that prevented 'Bad Guys' from being a highly enjoyable, entertaining and watchable show, with great characters, solid, complete narratives for all the characters involved, and interesting storytelling techniques that made even predictable plotlines somewhat uncertain. In short, I loved it! 

Yoo Mi-young at the base of operations

Jung Tae-soo's tattoo

Side note: if you're expecting to see Yoo-Mi-young showing off her legs in short skirts all the time, as on the poster, sorry to tell you that you'll be disappointed (she usually dresses as in the above image, or in a formal police uniform). So don't just watch it for that. Jung Tae-soo does like taking his shirt off rather a lot though (because of his tattoo, naturally) so, if you're interested in that, then it's rife. Don't watch the show just because of that either though. :P

The crime boss (Madam Hwang) in this episode was so over the top

Jung Tae-soo visiting Park Sun-jung

Best Bits: The cinematography - from the framing to the lighting to the angles and colours used - is gorgeous. From a storyline point of view, the way the line between who is a "bad guy" and a "good guy" is extremely thin or sometimes non-existent is great. There are really only anti-heros at best in this show. Also, Jung-moon and Un-Cheol's unlikely "friendship" is fun and gives their characters more depth and the friendly rivalry between Tae-soo and Un-Cheol is amusing as well. All of the characters have relationships/interactions with people outside of the team as well though. It gives insights as to how they ended up on their individual paths and the differences - or lack of differences - between how they act towards various kinds of people.

Inspector Yoo interrogating a suspect

Also, I like that the events that happen are clarified by the end, too. Sometimes I want things left up to my imagination in series, but not in this case. They go a little overboard with explanations sometimes, but I don't think I'm in a position to criticise them there!

Pak Un-Cheol and being shown a photo by his boss, Lee Doo-kwang

Other than that, a certain character getting an apology (more than just an apology) in the end and their reaction to it is satisfying, because they are probably the closest thing to a "good" person in the whole story, but have to go through a lot. There are other "best bits", but they're spoilers (Prosecutor Oh Jae-won is awful, but a fantastic character at the same time), so you'll just have to watch it and find out for yourself. :)

Jung-moon & some douchebag (AKA: Prosecutor Oh)

Worst Bits: There was a lot of music all the time. I got used to it, but sometimes it would have been nice to have a break from it. There were a few too many slow motion scenes as well, to the point that it became corny and during the fight scenes I'm not sure why 30 - 50 guys with baseball bats, golf clubs, and hammers - there's always a hammer! - need to all fight 2 or 3 guys at once. They seem to just fight amongst themselves at some points.

Drama with Tae-soo  (for a good reason here, though)

Then, Tae-soo being so overly dramatic was somewhat mood-breaking at points, although, I admit it was also highly enjoyable in a cheesy sort of way. 

Detective Oh with his daughter

And, last but not least, Gu-tak spitting everywhere or having spit/snot dripping from his face all the time - just, WHY? It's mostly the spitting part though.





Also, I watched this with a friend (who enjoyed the series too) and they want me to tell you that Jung-moon's hairstyle - his face in general, in fact - was one of the "worst bits", but that has nothing to do with the show being good or not. It's true, you see his face a lot in the show, even when he's not in the scenes (that will make sense if you watch), but I disagree with my friend. So I'll end this section with a nice screenshot of Jung-moon and his hair:

Lee Jung-moon...gets injured a lot

Watch It If You Like: Crime dramas with an undertone of comedy; Korean drama shows that don't focus on romance; storylines about psychopaths; hammer and golf club fights; dramatic acting; storylines about serial killers; action scenes; character-focused narratives.

Rating: 8.5/10

*Technically, there is another season (Bad Guys 2/Bad Guys: City of Evil), but it's about completely different characters, has different storylines, features different actors, and only the premise - criminals helping to solve crimes - is the same. I consider it a sequel rather than another season of the same series and so didn't watch it for this goal, but will probably watch it at some point.