A Busca (2020)

Lost and Found

In a nutshell, this show is about a group of SK soldiers who committed an unspeakable act way back in 1997, then covered up the whole incident with a blatant lie and moved on with their lives (those who survived anyway). Fast forward to the present day, the cover up resurfaces to bite them in the ass. Add in a couple of story arcs regarding a revenge plot aided by rabies mutation, a NK defector baby who grew up to become a SK soldier that happens to be romantically linked to a conscripted dog handler, both of whom get drafted into a Special Forces’ team filled with team mates serving various hidden agendas, for searching the source of mutated rabies infection. This is set in a sleepy village full of generic countryside folks except for an ex-commando housewife with very lethal skill set and a troubled past, situated right next to the DMZ. All this transpires amidst an underlying political conspiracy during the SK Presidential elections. Sounds convoluted? That’s because it really is.

The premise of Search is certainly not new and bears very close resemblance to the 2016 SK movie, Musudan. The main differences being the fleshed out romantic entanglement, involvement of military combat canines, the presence of a highly skilled civilian and the inclusion of the politics. This drama might as well have been designated the sequel to the parent story.

This is a typical OCN drama that deals with a dark subject matter. It’s generally well made with visibly high production values and reasonably good acting by the main cast. I found the show relatively entertaining for the most part over the course of only 10 episodes. There were some really good moments that were off set by certain things that could have been done better.

The Positives
The main cast comprising Jang Dong Yoon (the “pretty girl” in Tale of Nokdu), Krystal, Yoon Park, Lee Hyun Wook, Moon Jung Hee (Vagabond’s Jessica Lee) and Yoo Sung Joo acted their roles well enough, with the script they were given. Yoon Park and Hyun Wook’s portrayal of complex multidimensional characters with questionable allegiances and motives were particularly intriguing. It’s never easy depicting conflicted “semi-antagonists” as opposed to protagonists or outright villains. Krystal did a good job playing a strong and smart female soldier (technically KCST), and I always appreciate strong FL characters being depicted in dramas.

The action sequences, including the confrontation and shootout with the NK border patrol, the hunt for the “target” and the subsequent set-up of the ambush, as well as the search and rescue of a missing person, were well executed with military precision, via the coordinated use of dramatic BGM, frantic pace, (surprisingly) steady camerawork and the sheer display of firepower by the soldiers.

The scenes involving the extremely gorgeous military dogs (Dutch Shepard breed, if I’m not mistaken) Leo and Mac were fantastic and refreshing to see. Most of the time, they steal the scenes from their human counterparts.

The Negatives
For a drama this convoluted and running at only 10 episodes, there were moments where boredom seeped in. The plot and sub-plots were not that complicated to follow but felt dragged out more than was necessary. There was even time for some fillers and goofy humour in between the action and dramatic events. Apart from some induced scare moments, the momentum from the intensity of chasing the target(s) wasn’t evenly sustained throughout and hence sorely lacked any prolonged sense of suspense.

The characters weren’t sensibly written. I could accept the ridiculous storyline and go with it for entertainment sake but the unrealistic portrayal of the SK military is quite annoying. No doubt a conscript is not part of the regular personnel, but repeated insubordination and blatant disregard for the chain of command, and worse still, the tolerance of it makes the so-called Special Forces a joke, even if it’s fictional. Many people have been conscripted for military service and nobody behaves in such a manner, because it is simply not tolerated and tantamount to court martial. Worse case scenario, such indiscipline might even cause irreparable harm during any military op.

SK has one of the most technologically advanced weaponry and combat-ready forces operating in one of the most volatile borders in the world. Instead, in addition to the earlier mentioned insubordination, we also have personnel who wear make up while on active duty in a combat situation, the CO and his deputy frequently debating operational decisions in front of the entire team before/during/ after an op, equipment that either doesn’t function or breaks down in the middle of an op, border guards who fail to prevent a 7 year old kid (at least, that’s what I think her age is) from walking right into the DMZ, among other observations. If the military really was this inept, NK would have no problems launching a successful invasion. But then again, the NK soldiers in this show were depicted as even more incompetent, so I guess that evened out the odds after all.

Episode 3 is a strange one - it is the only episode that attempted a flashback sequence to add to the dramatic effect. This is quite common especially in US sci-fi drama series which usually works well because it is written in a series episodic format (eg a story arc within an episode). The problem here is that the plot is serialized (the story arc covers more than just the one episode) and it attempted one flashback too many. The timeline kept flashing back and forth to the point everything was messed up and confusing as heck. I’m just glad this attempt was made in only one episode instead of the entire 10 episodes.

Overall
Despite feeling somewhat letdown by the weak script, illogically written characters and the predictable outcome, Search still kept me entertained especially once I stopped taking it seriously from episode 4 onward. The key lies in managing your expectations and suspending more than a modicum of disbelief while you’re watching this.

Leia Mais

I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did. It’s truly not the top notch writing and the characters are quite frankly dumb. But the show has a weird excitement to it, I could not resist. It might be the result of a quite well balanced mix of genres: politics, military, mystery and corruption with action sequences on top.

So how were the plot and characters? The whole team is full of silly little potatoes. The decision making would probably be better and more logical if they flipped a coin. They were all supposed to be professionals and specialists in their fields, or at least close to being them. How could Son Ye Rim just walk around like it’s not a big deal after being exposed to an unknown substance? How come in such a small team so many people have ulterior motives that can at times endanger other team members? How come they truly do not care about any military regulations 90% of the time? I think them being such idiots added to the entertainment value. Who doesn’t like watching people make stupid decisions?

That said, even though the dumbassness was frustrating, I enjoyed the characters themselves. The dynamics were fun to watch and slowly discovering any potential connections kept me more focused on what is going on on the screen.

I appreciated how they didn’t dump a massive exposition in episode one explaining all the details, but they also didn’t leave me in the dark till the last moment. Clues, hints and puzzle pieces have been dropped throughout the show, slowly forming a whole picture. In the process I flipped from loving to hating to loving again many characters.

Let’s talk about CGI. Thank god the crazy dogs only happened at the beginning, because they were laughably bad. I always believed that sometimes not showing the monster is better than showing it with the use of shitty CGI. People are creative, they will fill the gaps.

The pacing was well done, I didn't really feel bored during any episode. Keeping them an hour long (compared to the 1 h 30 min. we get lately) and only 10 episodes was a wise choice. This plot is definitely not something that could have been successfully stretched to 16 episodes. The biggest flop was episode 3, which for some strange reason, did not follow linear storytelling, and we jumped around the timeline like crazy. This made little sense.

Overall, it’s not a smart show. I have no military knowledge, but some of the decisions that have been made were simply illogical, even for me. And yet, I liked it. For some strange reason. It was probably because of the characters and the cast. I wasn’t that interested in Dong Jin and Ye Rim, but all the rest truly caught my attention. A girl needs to appreciate the real stakes too, even though it was painful to watch and it broke my heart a few times.

Also, mad respect for including pictures of dogs with other actors in the end credits of the last episode. Let's all appreciate their hard work.

Leia Mais

Search was a great pick for me cause I couldn't find a good drama for a long time...
Anyway I was looking forward to this drama since last year when it was announced and I wasn't dissappointed!

This drama had everything. It made me laugh and cry, it had action and also some cute moments. I wasn't expecting some plot twists but they left me plesantly surprised.
10 episodes was a perfect lenght but I wouldn't be mad if they made it longer.

I would say that cast was really perfect. I loved Krystal and I think she potrayed Ye Rim well. In my opinion she's a good pick for these serious and mature characters. Jang Dong Yoon's potrayed his character Yong Dong Jin so realistically and he was blessing for my eyes (especially in first episode heheh). Yoon Park's character Song Min Gyu was a bit cold hearted but not gonna lie I'm going to love him whatever character he'll be playing. Chemistry in this drama was brilliant plus I loved the dogs!

The ending wasn't rushed and I was satisfied. I just wanted to cry because of Yong Dong Jin's father but he did a good choice. And not everything has a good ending (which I liked cause nothing is just bright and pink in real life).

To sum it up Search is a great drama that leaves you on the edge of your seat. I recommend it to people that want something shorter but thrilling at the same time.

Leia Mais

Drama, but it feels like a movie

This drama is about military missions and conflicts. If you binge-watch this drama, it feels like watching an action movie, feels short yet solid plot. If you're looking for a short yet full of action military drama, this is the best for you.

Pros:
- Strong women in the military. She won't cry or be afraid to do deadly missions. You will love their character.
- Every episode gives you a thrill and makes you curious what kind of target we are facing on.
- Long duration of action scenes, less time-waste caused by unnecessary scenes, no romance. This makes the drama looks so solid.
- Not merely a military drama. There's something mysterious you'll find it out later.

Cons:
- There's, still, a scene where someone is dying in front of the enemy with a pistol in his hand, but his comrades come to ask him "are you okay? hang on, we'll get you out" instead of taking the enemy down first. This is the biggest mistake in every action drama/movie and it's still there.

Leia Mais

Eerie, fast-paced thriller

Search was a well-balanced, perfectly paced, well written, adrenaline rush inducing thriller in typical OCN fashion. It doesn't fall under the horror genre but provides a handful of jump scares and gory character deaths. That being said, it's not scary, so do not be wary of this drama.

The first two episodes were by far one of the most thrilling I've watched in a good while. It was a perfect amalgamation of the eerie ambience, wary heroes, solid characterization and timely scoring. It hooked me from the start and managed to keep me thoroughly fixated till the end. The drama is short and succinct, having only 10 episodes, which means that the episodes are very meaty with almost no filler. Even the romance is briefly mentioned and takes a back seat to the panic-inducing chaos that occurs in the DMZ. There is no OST per se, but the background score is superbly ambient.

The cast did an outstanding job. Jang Dong Yoon's Yong Dong Jin is poles apart from his character in The Tale of Nokdu. Krystal does a good job as the cold, and competent Son Ye Rim. She was a badass from start to end- intelligent, agile and far from a damsel in distress. K-dramas tend to dumb down FLs who are initially intended to be strong, so I was delighted to see a female lead who was equally as capable as the MLs. Although Kim Da Jung irritated me with her nosiness, you can't deny that she's a strong character too. Yeon Woo Jin, despite barely having lines, blew me away and Yoon Bak and Lee Hyun Wook shouldered their roles masterfully. Yoo Sung Joo was undeniably fantastic as the cruel and power-hungry Lee Hyuk because he made me absolutely loathe his character.

JDY and Krystal have excellent chemistry, and while romance is certainly not the focus here, their longing gazes and words of comfort reassures viewers of their lingering affection for each other. Considering that they referenced it multiple times, I was hoping that the writers would have mentioned the reason for their break-up. But it never came. I can't help but wish that their love line had been more fleshed out. Regardless, they seem to get together at the end.
However, arguably the best couple in this show was YDJ and Mac/Leo. I would be lying if I said that Leo's death didn't induce some hurt.

It isn't flawless, however. There are some plotholes and logical fallacies. I could not comprehend why Jo Min Guk was the only one with green eyes. I initially assumed that the red eyes were a consequence of the mutation caused due to radioactive exposure and rabies. However, the finale detailed Woo Sang Min, the first infected, having red eyes. So why is JMG the only green-eyed one?
I found some of the elements poorly explained. For instance, some background about the radioactive material would have been appreciated and better explained how it caused people to turn into "zombies." I also felt that SMG's death was rather pointless. He was a grey character from the get-go, and I was half expecting his demise, but it felt so inconsequential.
For all his barbarity, I think that LH did not receive nearly as much as he deserves. His death was not satisfying. I truly wish that someone would've put a couple of bullets in him and have him publicly persecuted.


It's also a little predictable, but all is forgiven for having given me two days of blood rush and excitement. It was fantastic enough for me to wish I never watched it so I could rewatch and feel the thrill all over again. This genre is unconventional for K-dramas because it often requires quick pace and tight storytelling, a task that does not translate well into episode format. However, dramas like Search, Guest and Kingdom are a testament that it isn't impossible. Fingers crossed for more dramas of this genre.

Leia Mais

Feels like a classic sci fi series

Search is a rare gem of a drama. It's intense but not stressful. No boring moments, not a single weakness. There's action but the relationships between characters (including human-animal) are much more important. There are zombies but they have little screentime, there is a mystery to be solved. Zombie attacks are kept to a minimum so the suspense is more psychological than relying on shock effects. That makes it all the more interesting.

Altogether this has more a feel of a classic sci fi series (like the original Star Trek) than anything else. The characters are on a limited space, they have to fulfill missions, they are tested.

The crew of actors couldn't be better. An all-stars cast such as this is a rare and wonderful thing. They complement each other so well. Jand Dong Yoon is a great natural talent and it's great to see how much effort he has made to learn the dog handling. Krystal, Park Yoon, Lee Hyun Hook and Moon Young Hee - we gradually learn about their characters and backgrounds in a very satisfying way.

I didn't want to pause watching the series, it had me hooked for the full 10 hours. That was the perfect lenght too. The slowly revealed plot was well written. The romance is present as a possibility, it's not really essential to the drama. This is a decision that leaves a lot of room for viewers' anticipation and imagination which is more satisfactory often than showing explicit romance and using breakups as the sole plot moving devices. (The last sentence is a reminder to myself to look for similar OCN dramas).

Leia Mais

Whether it's the pretty poster, the cast or the impressive trailer, "Search" knows how to lure its viewers. And it has only 10 episodes, so even if it's not that good, you at least don't have to put through so many hours.

Watching the trailer, I knew I would definitely start this when I get the chance. Excitement, suspense and the hope of some good mystery (whether it might be supernatural or not) led me to the impression that I wouldn't waste my time with this one. Maybe you're going to watch the trailer now, maybe you already did and just decided to start the drama. Well, sometimes producers tend to put the most exciting moments into those two minute clips to attract a lot of people. Unfortunately that often results in viewers being disappointed because all the already known suspense is getting served in the first one or two episodes. There's a big chance your interest has been piqued by then but the further you watch the more sober you get about the plot and you just know that you won't develop the same gripping emotions you had in the beginning.

Does that make "Search" not worth the watch? Don't worry, it still does. But don't let your imagination and excitement run free, don't expect too much or set the bar too high.

The story itself is still very interesting and most times they did a great job telling it. You can guess one or two things and connect some dots along the road as more details come to light, intentionally or not. I don't think it's a bad idea to show pieces of the puzzle here and there (I definitely wouldn't call it predictable) because I for myself like to guess things and I'm happy when I'm right about it. And I really enjoyed the net that was woven. Even though the drama left me with one or two unanswered questions (I'm still really curious about those - i.e. the explanation for the "cause" was pretty vague), most things were explained in the end.

The cast did an adequate job, some more than others and in the end the acting was good enough for the story. I thought that Jang Dong Yoon (ML) would be my light of the day, but it was actually Moon Jung Hee and Yeon Woo Jin. Oh, and of course the dogs, Leo and Mac! They were trained so well. Makes me wonder whether they really used military ones.

Aside from a pointless romance that already ended before it had even started, the main problem for a plot like this was that they revealed too much physics of the main "thing" too early, which took out all the "mystery". Therefore the main force was pulled down right away and never rose again. That makes you start to concentrate on the side dishes and you discover small details that bother the flow if you put too much thought into it. For example, I'm no expert regarding military behavior, but how can they chat about private things in the middle of an operation. In the dark. With an unknown target. Like yeah, no. But don't worry, those situations are quite rare. And maybe it's just me who noticed those things which happened only once or twice.

Would I recommend this? Yes, I would. Despite its flaws it's still a good watch. And for people who don't nitpick about every tiny crack, it can be quite a show. I did feel entertained by it. My expectations were just too high right from the start.

Leia Mais

Worth the watch.

love it. What a great Drama it's full of excitement that exhilarating to end, it has funny parts 😅and sad parts 😢 A troop of so korean men"owl" where on duty in the DMZ in 1997 when they come across a women with a baby near a baby. They wanted to defect from N Korea with her husband as they were scientists bring a secret but her husband was being hunted. Now face to face with N Korea they wanted her back and so she gave S korea her baby to raise and she went back. Then Lt Lee hyuk got nervous looking at N korea men and opened fire and that started everyone to shot. The Sargeant wanted to report what happened with the north but Lt lee hyuk shot him 3x and killed the rest since he needed to change the story and Lt. Han Dae shek was alive. They went back making themselves hero and stated that Cpt. Jo min gook defected and killed everyone. Now 20+yrs later there is a disturb ment in the DMZ so 5 men & 1 women are sent there to kill the rabbie infected dog(wolf) and from there so many different things happen. It's worth the watch

Leia Mais

Looking for a decent thriller? ‘Search’ no further.

Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this was a “liked”.

Things I liked:
This was a relatively short and to the point thriller, mystery, drama. I found both the premise (radioactive mystery zombie-things) and the setting (DMZ) to be unique (to me, anyway). I had just finished re-watching “Descendants of the Sun” and was in the mood for some more Kdrama set in the military setting. I thought the characters were decently three-dimensional (though they never quite explained why ML was so happy to get out of the military) and those that weren’t did not have a huge role anyway. I liked the fact that our FL was a bad@$$, both at fighting and at thinking. She didn’t suddenly grow all weak just so ML could rescue her. I liked the inclusion of the villagers, including the former special ops soldier (though I kind would have liked her to have a bigger role in the final battle). I liked that it there was mystery, suspense, a decent conspiracy going on behind the scenes, and that the ending was (mostly) happy.

Jang Dong Yoon clearly spent some time working with the dog trainer. It was cute the way the second dog kept looking at him, she’d clearly been working with him a lot and she was always looking for his next command.

Things I did not like so much:
Honestly, there wasn’t much. There were a few inconsistencies here and there as there always are. I would have liked to have known for sure if the FL and ML got back together, but it was open to interpretation. I thought the cascading shot-blocking to protect the (invincible) radioactive dude was a bit cliché. And doesn’t their combat gear include bullet proof vests!? (Yes, I know the politician’s son was not wearing combat gear, but what about the sergeant who was going to get married? That was an abdominal shot, shouldn’t his battle armor cover that area?) And are there really congressman powerful enough in Korea to direct entire military battalions?

Conclusions:
For me, this was a decent, relatively straightforward thriller that had no plot holes big enough for me to give up in disgust. It was nice and short (10 episodes) and I, personally, thought it was worth the watch. Even if I did start because I thought the ML was Kim Soo Hyun, not Jang Dong Yoon (no idea why I thought that at first…)—despite that disappointment, I recommend it. :)

Leia Mais

Awesome

Awesome
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Leia Mais

Good Enough

The main problem with the Korean Drama 'Search' is that it took up a lot of themes and storylines and had so little time to develop them.

The whole illness-zombie-animal-fy was not well explained, served only as a prompt for the search to start and sometimes it was left out of the story, in order for the latter to focus on the mystery. That said, the mystery case was pretty interesting and the drama had the thriller factor on full mode, which aided a lot. Another plus was the lack of romance, which would have shifted the mood of the drama to another, more cliche, level. Unfortunately, the family drama needed, too, more time to be developed, as did the characters, who were only introduced rushly to be thrown right into the action, thus, preventing the viewer from creating bonds with them, caring for them and actually feel the right emotions in the end.

Nevertheless, the performances, the setting, even the fantasy part, were all great, well performed and executed.

So, overall, 7 out of 10.

Leia Mais