‘Good Boy’ Episode 8 Review: Special Team vs. Bad Guys – Game On!
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‘Good Boy’ Dong-ju (Park Bo-Gum) isn’t ready to back down or give up anything, neither his professional mission to put the nefarious villain Min Joo-Yeong (Oh Jung-se) behind bars, nor his blossoming love story with crush Han-na (Kim So-hyun). However, arresting the customs officer is proving to be a herculean task for the cops, but at least there’s promising progress in his romantic life.
Recap of ‘Good Boy’ Episode 7: Dong-ju brutally beats up Joo-Yeong while the customs officer is at work for fatally shooting Jung Mi-ja, his dead’s friend mother. The incident is recorded on camera, and Dong-ju could be suspended or even lose his police job. His team leader Man-Sik (Heo Sung-tae), along with the rest of the special team – Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi) and Jae-Hong (Tae Won-Seok) – work hard to gather solid evidence against Joo-Yeong and prevent their team from being disbanded.
Meanwhile, Joo-Yeong’s criminal associates increase pressure on him due to the slowdown of their activities caused by heightened police scrutiny on their operations. A flashback also reveals it was the Drug Demon (Lee Ho-jung) who saved Jung Mi-ja (Seo Jung-yeon) from dying.
Moved by the support he receives from the team, Dong-ju strikes a deal with the evil Joo-Yeong, asking him to beat him up as much as he wants, but to ensure the special team isn’t forced to quit. This deal is especially worrying, because unfortunately, the ending scare from Episode 5 of “Good Boy” wasn’t just a fake-out: Dong-ju is diagnosed with ‘Punch Drunk Syndrome’, a neurodegenerative condition. Although it’s not supposed to be fatal anytime soon. Dong-ju nearly resigns as a police officer, but in the end, he resolves to keep fighting. The episode ends with Dong-ju kissing Han-na at her house.
Titled “The Aimless Bullet”, episode 8 of “Good Boy” starts with a cold open featuring chaotic scenes of violence. Then the scene flips to the romantic night between Dong-ju and Han-na, with the latter letting him crash at her place. The next day, everyone is back to working on the Joo-Yeong case. The team figures out where his smuggling unit might be and comes up with a plan to infiltrate the customs office to uncover the drug stash. On the other hand, Joo-Yeong lays an elaborate trap for the cops who’ve been making his life hell.
Unlike the last episode, this edition of “Good Boy” is fast-paced and expertly balances both comedic and action elements. The comedic parts, as usual, come from the overdramatic Man-Sik’s shenanigans, but also from the rivalry between Jong-hyeon and Dong-ju over Han-na. Increasingly suspicious of the boxer’s growing proximity with his ex-girlfriend, Jong-hyeon practically drags Dong-ju to his flat so that he won’t spend too much time with Han-na.
Park Bo-gum really turns on the cute, pet-like charm in this chapter, especially when his character is flirting with Han-na at work. As Dong-ju spends some time with Jong-hyeon, he can’t help but admit that the former Olympian fencer is ‘cool’, despite his annoyance over Jong-hyeon being Han-na’s ex. Viewers also get flashbacks to Jong-hyeon’s time at the Olympics and why he failed to win gold.
While Park Bo-gum’s character gets the most screen time (and deservedly so, since he is the titular Good Boy) there are still eight more episodes to go in the series, and hopefully we’ll see other characters and sub-plots develop a bit more too. For instance, Lee Sang-yi has great screen presence as Jong-hyeon, a fantastic character so far, someone who is honest, hard-working, and a fighter, just like Dong-ju. But so far, the character feels slightly underutilized. Also, Han-na’s investigation into her cop father’s death hasn’t seen any updates in a while!
Regardless, this episode of “Good Boy” is very entertaining, and the second half delivers intense action, where the cops find themselves cornered and nearly overwhelmed by the bad guys. Will the evil Min Joo-Yeong once again get away with his dastardly plans and leave the cops frustrated?
Watch Good Boy on Prime Video.
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