[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Bad and Crazy" Episode 1

Inspector Ryu (played by Lee Dong-wook) is a reasonably competent and ambitious cop working for internal affairs. Detective Ryu seems to take his job seriously, brutally questioning fellow Officer Kim (played by Lee Hwa-ryong) who claims to have murdered the man who murdered his partner, Officer Tak (played by Lee Joo-hyun). Conveniently, there are now no other witnesses to the alleged first murder.

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Then Inspector Ryu gets dragged into the case of the overzealous rookie Patrolman Oh (played by Cha Hak-yeon), who's investigating the disappearance of Yoon-ah (played by Lee Seo-an), a mother with a shady record. Detective Doh (played by Lee Sang-hong) is in charge of the case and is obviously trying to cover something up. Nevertheless, Inspector Ryu looks the other way despite explicitly stating that Detective Doh is too incompetent to even manage a coverup correctly.

There's not really much of a story there. During the climax, a violent confrontation between Patrolman Oh and Detective Doh, we even briefly pan over to Inspector Ryu, who's not even thinking of attempting a rescue operation. And that's where we get to the crazy part of "Bad and Crazy" with K (played by Wi Ha-jun), a man typically clad in a motorcycle helmet who keeps beating Inspector Ryu up. The implication is that K is a figment of Inspector Ryu's imagination, and possibly his conscience.

The gimmick of "Bad and Crazy" is fairly straightforward- yet far more amusing than it has any right to be. It helps that Cha Hak-yeon is so earnest and determined as a young cop in over his head, completely desperate to find the mom of a sad, adorable little girl. Inspector Ryu isn't really an awful cop except when contrasted with Patrolman Oh, who actually believes in making the world a better place and acts as a much more straightforwardly heroic protagonist.

Then there's Lee Dong-wook himself, who has a surprisingly nuanced performance as a man who's sort of but not excessively unpleasant. Inspector Ryu is just really impatient, despite not really having any interest in actually doing anything. K's presence as Inspector Ryu's surrogate conscience is deeply funny in part because K isn't trying to make Inspector Ryu be a good person as he is trying to make Inspector Ryu into a total badass. Inspector Ryu resists because he's fundamentally lazy- a bad cop in the tradition of "Public Enemy" which is very good as that's my favorite version of the archetype.

Review by William Schwartz

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"Bad and Crazy" is directed by Yoo Seon-dong, written by Kim Sae-bom, and features Lee Dong-wook, Wi Ha-jun, Han Ji-eun, Cha Hak-yeon, Kang Ae-shim, Kim Dae-gon. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/12/17~Now airing, Fri, Sat 22:40 on tvN.