Chief Detective 1958 (2024) 수사반장 1958
Directed by Kim Sung-hoon, starring Lee Je-hoon as Park Yeong-han, Seo Eun-soo as Lee Hye-ju, Lee Dong-hwi as Kim Sang-sun, Choi Woo-sung as Jo Gyeong-hwan, Yoon Hyun-soo as Seo Ho-jeong, Choi Deok-moon as Yu Dae-cheon.
Watched 4 - 10 August 2024 — 10 episodes (DRAMACOOL)
Directed by Kim Sung-hoon, starring Lee Je-hoon as Park Yeong-han, Seo Eun-soo as Lee Hye-ju, Lee Dong-hwi as Kim Sang-sun, Choi Woo-sung as Jo Gyeong-hwan, Yoon Hyun-soo as Seo Ho-jeong, Choi Deok-moon as Yu Dae-cheon.
Watched 4 - 10 August 2024 — 10 episodes (DRAMACOOL)
*Though this retro series is fairly predictable and doesn't offer anything new to the crime genre, I thoroughly enjoyed it and came to love the main characters.
*Love the sweet romance of Park Yeong-han and Lee Hye-ju and their companionship, ultimately leading to marriage and a baby on the way. Love how Hye-ju supports Yeong-han, she especially lifts his spirits in his moments of doubts when having feelings of failure for not being able to save the victims. She keeps reminding him of the potential victims he díd save and how he contributes to making the world a safer place. I really like the main character of Park Yeong-han and Lee Je-hoon does a great job of portraying him.
*In episode 5 the main couple gets married, from ep. 6 on Park Yeong-han sports a new hairstyle, and it felt like a new start to the show with a new superintendent and with the main villain from the first part of the series (leader of the Dongdaemun Gang, Lee Jung-jae) dead. I thought we would be mainly dealing with the new villain from now on (Kim Min-jae as superintendent Baek Do-seok), but we also get some of show's episodic nature back and unfortunately there was no broader exploration of Do-seok's past with Yeong-han. I love how the episodes are presented against Korea's historical backdrop and its turmoil, but the series loses some of its initial feel-good vibe.
*Love that in the second part Chung Su-bin as Bong Nan-sil (frequent bookshop customer and lover of crime books) has become a cop. Though she has to endure sexist remarks from her male co-workers (from the other units), at least Park Yeong-han's unit 1 takes her seriously and she's shown as a diligent worker, really wanting to help solve their cases.
*I was so happy team leader Yu Dae-cheon didn't die after the brutal attack. I love how in the end he becomes the new superintendent and Park Yeong-han becomes the new team leader.
*The series ends with a jump to the present where Choi Bul-am as senior Park Yeong-han visits the graves of his former team members. He is the last survivor of his group, and the scene has a strong melancholic feel. I read somewhere that actor Choi Bul-am himself is the last surving cast member of the series Chief Inspector, to which this show is a prequel, so this ending is extra poignant. (I was wondering what had happened to Yeong-han's wife Hye-ju, as it seems she's not alive anymore either.)
*The series ends with a jump to the present where Choi Bul-am as senior Park Yeong-han visits the graves of his former team members. He is the last survivor of his group, and the scene has a strong melancholic feel. I read somewhere that actor Choi Bul-am himself is the last surving cast member of the series Chief Inspector, to which this show is a prequel, so this ending is extra poignant. (I was wondering what had happened to Yeong-han's wife Hye-ju, as it seems she's not alive anymore either.)