Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The Korean series Good Boy is an action-comedy that follows a group of athlete-turned-cops in various departments, navigating their professional lives while tackling violent criminals. They’re all Olympic medalists who join the police force through a special recruitment program for athletes, but they’re often looked down upon by their peers and must work harder to prove themselves.
Directed by Shim Na-yeon (The Good Bad Mother, Beyond Evil), episode one, titled “Our Twisted Hero,” kicks off with wrestler-turned-senior cop Ko Man-Sik (Heo Sung-tae) being saddled with demoted rookie Yoon Dong-ju (Park Bo-gum), a gold medalist boxer who struggles to fit in with other officers due to his over-idealism. Park Bo-gum’s Yoon Dong-ju, of course, is the titular “Good Boy”, an honest officer determined to honor his uniform and catch criminals. Kim So-hyun plays Ji Han-na, an Olympic shooter turned officer keen on doing fieldwork but instead forced to run petty errands in the office by her seniors. Dong-ju has a huge crush on Han-na, although his chances seem slim when her ex-boyfriend Kim Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi), a silver medalist, joins the same division in the office of inspections and audits.
Running almost feature-film length, the 90-minute first episode of Good Boy isn’t laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it amusingly brings the main characters together through intersecting storylines. The primary conflict in this chapter revolves around the police department’s elaborate undercover operation to nab a criminal called “Golden Bunny” and restore their tarnished image in the media. Ko Man-Sik has no interest in mentoring the younger Dong-ju, but the two are assigned as backup for the main operation. Unfortunately, they bungle the mission and let “Golden Bunny” escape, mostly due to accidental incompetence: Man-Sik is busy taking a leak, and Dong-ju isn’t as fit as he used to be.
The final 15 minutes of the episode are the most fun to watch, as the main characters finally get to show off their athletic skills and beat up some bad guys. Park Bo-gum and Lee Sang-yi have standout action sequences: Dong-ju goes up against Golden Bunny’s men in a shady warehouse after a tip-off, while Jong-hyeon is chased through city streets by armed goons before taking them on with nothing but a broken stick. Han-na also gets to show off her shooting skills when she’s cornered in her own home by criminals hunting for incriminating files in her possession, shortly after another officer is killed for the same documents.
The primary cast is fun, and their onscreen banter is entertaining, though the pacing of Good Boy already feels a little uneven. Hopefully, the comedy and action will be amped up in the coming episodes.
You can stream the series on Prime Video.
Read Next: ‘Good Boy’ Episode 2 Review: Olympic Squad Assembles
Also Read: Lost in Starlight Korean Animated Film Review (Audio Version Below)