‘Good Boy’ Episode 10 Review: Demoted, Dazed, Dong-ju’s Got Plan B
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“I am down but not out.”
The special investigation team consisting of former Olympic athletes is finally disbanded in the action-drama “Good Boy” (this was due for a while, it’s a surprise they managed to last this long). However, boxer-cop protagonist Dong-ju (Park Bo-Gum) doesn’t know how to give up, and his demoted duties doing community service errands don’t stop him from pursuing his quest for justice and vengeance against Min Joo-Yeong (Oh Jung-se), the primary antagonist of the series.
Recap of ‘Good Boy’ Episode 9: Min Joo-Yeong and his ruthless goons manage to steal back the drugs right under the police’s nose after a violent face-off with the Special Investigation Team. Officer Han-na (Kim So-hyun), however, sneaks into an enemy truck and ends up trapped near a dock, where the criminals plan to ship the drugs. Dong-ju and Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi), with help from their team, track her down. More violence follows as the trio is cornered by a horde of thugs. The episode ends with Jong-hyeon being shot in the shoulder and falling into the sea, leaving viewers anxious about his fate. There’s also considerable suspense of Dong-ju’s health, as he keeps getting dizzy.
Titled “Time-Out”, Episode 10 of ‘Good Boy’ thankfully skips the flashbacks and jumps straight into what happened to Jong-hyeon. We already saw he was shot in the shoulder, so despite the scare, death seemed unlikely. Dong-ju and Han-na rush him to the hospital, and the episode, true to its title, largely serves as a filler, focusing on the immediate aftermath of the special team getting disbanded. Everyone returns to their former roles in the police department, except for Dong-ju, who is assigned to special community duties, mostly consisting of menial errands.
In what’s a very small victory for the team, villain Min Joo-Yeong is finally forced out of his customs job, although he continues to be unfazed and has his criminal businesses to run. This episode also features several flashback scenes that add depth to the main characters. Viewers get a glimpse of Dong-ju’s turbulent past as a struggling student and how Man-sik (Heo Sung-tae) played a pivotal role in shaping his boxing career. While Man-sik has mostly served as comic relief in “Good Boy”, despite being the team leader, this episode reveals his more empathetic side as a guiding figure in Dong-ju’s life.
There’s also a brief flashback to an incident from Han-na and Jong-hyeon’s life shortly after their breakup. It feels somewhat contrived, but with these small crumbs from the past, the show seems to be building up expectations for a deeper explanation of why they split. However, since Han-na is positioned as Dong-ju’s primary romantic interest, a full account of her past with her ex seems unlikely, even though Sang-yi’s character is nearly as genuinely nice as Park Bo-Gum’s Dong-ju.
Oh well, “Good Boy” is a Park Bo-Gum show, and deservedly so. The actor is pure charisma as the cute-but-aggressive boxer with a golden heart. He is brave, fearless, cheerful, optimistic, and basically every other adjective you can find for a “nice guy.” But now that it’s been revealed he has a serious neurological condition, watching him fight the bad guys brings fresh anxiety for viewers. Toward the end of the episode, we get more action scenes, all of them unreal confrontations between Dong-ju and hordes of thugs. Like I wrote previously, dude’s like Wolverine, but with a shorter expiry date (seriously, if he dies at the end of “Good Boy”, I’m going to be so pissed).
Overall, this was an entertaining edition, where the primary team of cop characters gets to take a small breather from violence, even if not voluntarily. But towards the end, Dong-ju comes up with a crazy new plan to hurt Min Joo-Yeong and starts causing some serious damage to the nefarious criminal mastermind. The episode ends with an exciting scene of Dong-ju trying to take on an entire ring of baddies, leaving viewers with the promise of more blood, sweat, and hopefully no tears.
Watch Good Boy on Prime Video.
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