‘Good Boy’ Episode 9 Review: Team Dong-ju Bleeds But Fights On
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Drug demons, Russian baddies, Japanese Yakuza, and corrupt top officers within their own ranks: ‘Good Boy’ Dong-ju (Park Bo-Gum) and his little team of athlete-turned-cops are practically against the world in the Korean action series at this point.
Recap of ‘Good Boy’ Episode 8: Dong-ju and the Special Criminal Investigation Team disguise themselves as a quarantine unit to inspect shipping containers and track down drugs belonging to villain Min Joo-Yeong (Oh Jung-se). Their mission is a success; however, unknown to them, Joo-Yeong sets a fresh trap, deliberately letting them learn of his plan to steal the drugs back. Han-na (Kim So-hyun) and Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi) are leading the transport operation of the seized drugs when they’re ambushed by armed goons.
Dong-ju and Man-sik (Heo Sung-tae) are also violently attacked while on their way to help Han-na and Jong-hyeon. The same goes for Jae-hong (Tae Won-seok), whose police car is overturned by criminals. The episode ends with lots of action, blood, and violence, with the police officers dangerously overwhelmed by Joo-Yeong’s men. The cops get battered to a pulp, but rise with Wolverine-like grit, because no regular human survives that many punches and stab wounds.
Titled “Allez”, Episode 9 of “Good Boy” begins with a flashback to the Olympic event where Jong-hyeon was injured in his eye, a glimpse of which was shown to viewers in the last episode as well, to explain his fear of needles and knives. This time, the flashback is slightly longer before the scene shifts back to the present, where all the primary characters are fighting for their lives against the bad guys. All the officers of the Insung Metropolitan Police Agency are directed to control a staged protest against the Mayor, an event used as an excuse to deny backup to Man-sik’s team.
Unfortunately, bad guy Joo-Yeong once again emerges victorious, stealing back his drugs right under the police’s nose. However, Han-na manages to sneak into a truck, so the primary focus of this “Good Boy” episode is on Dong-ju and Jong-hyeon teaming up to track her down and bust the drugs. It’s a tense, violent edition, paced well, with plenty of suspense over Han-na’s fate, since she sneaks in all alone into practically the devil’s lair.
While the tone of this edition of “Good Boy” is largely serious, the investigative efforts of the team to find Han-na is also peppered with some humorous moments. It’s low-key funny to watch the love-rivals uniting to fight the villains together, and the onscreen buddy-chemistry between Park Bo-Gum and Lee Sang-yi is entertaining to watch. Both men try to upstage the other, but without any malice, showing a protective team spirit towards each other while dealing with thugs. The quick-witted Han-na on the other hand thinks on her feet and leaves clues for her colleagues to find her, very Hansel-and-Gretel style, which is humorous.
The final minutes of this edition is once again packed with intense action and suspense, ending on a worrying cliffhanger that puts the life of a crucial character in jeopardy. With seven episodes still to go, it’ll be intriguing to see how the team brings down the antagonist Joo-Yeong, who, at this point, seems almost exaggeratedly invincible. Actor Oh Jung-se is pitch-perfect as the ‘Bad Boy’ foil to Park Bo-Gum’s ‘Good Boy’ Dong-ju. With both the Mayor and the Police Commissioner in Joo-Yeong’s pocket, ragtag group of cops have an uphill task of turning the tables in their favor.
Watch Good Boy on Prime Video.
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