‘Good Boy’ Episode 7 Review: Joo-Yeong Bleeds, Dong-ju Breaks
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“When I had the chance, I should’ve beaten you to death.” Dong-ju (Park Bo-Gum) confronts senior customs officer Min Joo-Yeong (Oh Jung-se), the primary antagonist of ‘Good Boy’, once again. But this time around, Dong-ju doesn’t hold back his punches and has vengeance in his eyes. Things get serious, scary, and dramatic.
Recap of ‘Good Boy’ Episode 6: The resourceful Dong-ju recovers a burner phone discarded by Min Joo-Yeong, which could hold clues to his criminal network. Meanwhile, the “Drug Demon” (Lee Ho-jung) remains under surveillance at a police safe house. She cleverly tips them off about the “Drug Demon’s” location, actually the hideout of thugs faking her popular drug-candies, buying herself time to plan an escape. In a twist, Ko Man-Sik’s (Oh Jung-se) daughter is also placed in the same safe house, putting her at risk since the real “Drug Demon” is right there.
Tension spikes when the cops begin to suspect the woman in their custody might be the notorious drug boss and could harm Man-Sik’s daughter. But the episode’s biggest shock comes when Joo-Yeong shoots Jung Mi-ja (Seo Jung-yeon), Lee Gyeong-il’s mother and a maternal figure to Dong-ju. The episode ends at the shipyard, where Dong-ju walks up to a smug Joo-Yeong and lands a punch that would knock most people out cold.
Titled “Par Terre Par Terre” (a wrestling term), episode seven of Good Boy begins with a scene of Min Joo-Yeong overseeing a gold-smuggling operation and brutally murdering two people. Then, viewers finally see the aftermath of that violent cliffhanger, where Dong-ju attacks Joo-Yeong on a rain-soaked night. For a second, some might wonder if he’s only dreaming his revenge, but no, the cop really does go over and beats the living daylights out of the evil Joo-Yeong, who gleefully admits to shooting Jung Mi-ja. A brutal counterpunch aimed straight at Dong-ju’s heart.
Now both Joo-Yeong and Mi-ja are in the hospital, neither dead yet. So, this edition of ‘Good Boy’ largely follows the consequences of Dong-ju’s reckless decision to hit the customs officer in public. The special team faces the possibility of being disbanded, but team leader Ko Man-Sik (Heo Sung-tae) is determined to save Dong-ju from severe repercussions. In-fact, the entire team – crush Han-na (Kim So-hyun), Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi), and Jae-Hong (Tae Won-Seok) – are united in their support for Dong-ju and their mission to expose Joo-Yeong’s connection to the mafia. So, they scramble to work harder and gather evidence against him, before the team is made to call it quits.
As far as the tension over the investigation is concerned, nothing new is offered to the viewers, although the cops do find some new insights to help them push the case forward. The pace of this episode is slow, and the constant confrontations between Dong-ju and the malevolent Joo-Yeong are beginning to feel tiring at this juncture. Given that there are nine more episodes to go (Good Boy is a 16 episode show, in-case you forgot), I am not sure how the writers are going to keep up the tension and excitement in the story. Even the constant bullying of Man-Sik by the corrupt police commissioner is painfully humiliating and also unnecessarily so.
There is some mild progress in the romantic subplot of ‘Good Boy‘, with things moving in a positive direction between Han-na and Dong-ju. The onscreen chemistry between the characters falls somewhere between “cute” and “cold.” Viewers looking forward to romance will be thrilled that the couple moves forward toward the end of the episode – there’s a nice romantic scene, although it’s weirdly timed.
Overall, this episode of ‘Good Boy’ is choppily paced and grim, largely driven by Park Bo-gum’s emotional punches and Oh Jung-se’s increasingly malicious portrayal of primary antagonist Joo-Yeong. Oh Jung-se is so good at playing the bad boy to Bo-gum’s “Good Boy,” it’s easy to imagine him playing an evil entity in a horror movie or a zombie apocalypse film.
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