A satisfying watch as a standalone drama, but pales in comparison to its esteemed predecessor

Coming out of it, I still can’t really find the right words for Season 2. On the one hand, it’s undoubtedly a unique and engaging crime drama as a standalone, but on the other hand, you can’t help but compare it to its predecessor, and it just lacks the emotional weight and impact of the masterpiece that was Season 1.

Season 2 picks up some time after Season 1 finishes, and follows our favourite prosecutor-detective pair, Hwang Si-Mok and Han Yeo-Jin, as they reunite in Seoul to participate in the upcoming debate over the allocation of investigative rights between the prosecution and the police. A string of seemingly unrelated incidents unfold, revolving around this conflict, and it’s up to the protagonists to make the right connections, solve the case, and save the day.

The premise is interesting and different enough, and the script is punchy and laced with political critique, yet Season 2 ultimately still falls short in two main areas: 1) the fact that it doesn’t stay true to the core of a crime drama and 2) the characters.

Normally, when you pick up a crime drama, you are looking for something that is suspenseful, action-packed, and constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat. Season 1 does this very well, with how it opens with one case, which slowly sprawls out into a web of seemingly unrelated cases and beautifully ties back together in the end. Season 2 focuses heavily on the political conflict between the police and the prosecutors, which is an interesting topic in and of itself, but ultimately isn’t the focus of the drama. In fact, even the writers know that this, as they rarely provide enough context for the conflict to be meaningful to the viewer. The political conflict is meant to be a backdrop rather than a centerpiece of the show, but it consumes so much of the run time that the show barely has a chance to crime. The suspense is still there when you do get to the cases – it expertly leads you by the nose to suspect someone, then follows to immediately blow that suspicion away or cast suspicion on someone else by introducing a new piece of evidence. Despite this, the development is a lot weaker and more confusing as the protagonists are pursuing 4 separate cases simultaneously over the 16 episodes, all of which unfortunately remain largely independent of each other even towards the end. Season 2 tries to employ a similar gimmick to Season 1, but ultimately fails to bring it together effectively.

On the characters though, it’s incredibly comforting to see the protagonists remain true to their original characterization, including their mutual reliance and trust in their unrelenting pursuit of justice, even when they find themselves sitting on opposite sides of the table. Unfortunately, the other characters in Season 2 pale in comparison to the beautifully written byronic hero who carried Season 1 (to this day, I still can’t think of many characters that can hold a candle to his charisma). However, I do acknowledge that Season 2 is a very different type of story at its core. It’s not really about one individual doing superhuman things in the face of adversity – it’s more about a group of very ordinary people who find themselves in bad places in the normal course of life, the decisions they make, and the consequences of their actions. It sounds horribly mundane compared to the story about the superhuman individual, but instead resonates very strongly with each one of us, as I think anyone could easily find themselves in the situations that the culprits / instigators / victims in the drama found themselves in over the normal course of life – food for thought.

That said, I do think it’s a good run overall. It falls short in certain respects, especially when you compare it to its esteemed predecessor, but remains a worthwhile watch as a standalone drama.

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