After charming the audience with roles such as a Grim Reaper, a Nine-Tailed Fox and also a lawyer, South Korean actor Lee Dong Wook is back but this time in the role of a police officer in the drama Bad and Crazy. Actor Wi Ha Joon, who is soaring high after the massive success of Squid Game, also joins Lee Dong Wook. The drama premiered on December 17, 2021.
One of the highlights of the series is the opening credits that give anime feels. From the team behind The Uncanny Counter, the drama tells the story of a cop named Ryu Soo Yeol who does what his seniors ask him to do, and cares a lot for a promotion. He gets caught up in a case involving an assemblyman. The assemblyman asks Ryu Soo Yeol to help him clear his cousin’s name (who is also a cop). K-Pop group VIXX’s leader N aka Cha Hak Yeon is also seen in the drama in the role of a police officer Oh Kyeong Tae. He is young, and a righteous police officer who sets on finding a child’s missing mother. Soon, the simple missing person’s case pans out to a murder case connecting to the assemblyman, and Ryu Soo Yeol is caught up in the messed up scenario as he resorts to right the wrongs. What is interesting here is that, whenever he goes to investigate, soon after a masked biker appears and makes him act a tad bit out of order.
Actress Ha Ji Eun also plays the role of a passionate police officer named Lee Gui Hyeom, who hails from a wealthy family but still chooses to be in the narcotics department. She and Soo Yeol dated for a while, and now they are constantly butting heads. It was her who later helps Soo Yeol find some evidence related to the murder case.
Wi Ha Joon plays the role of a masked biker, K, who is present at various pivotal scenes, especially when things are about to escalate. His reveal scene was easily one of the best sequences in the Korean dramas ever to exist. No one knows where he comes from or how does he get the details about the case. To signal his arrival, there are some signs, like Soo Yeol’s head hurting often, or him going to sleep but ending up in a different place. It was as if Wi Ha Joon’s character is a part of Soo Yeol’s conscious. SPOILER ALERT – The speculations were cleared at the end of the second episode, where it was revealed that it is Ryu Soo Yeol himself who is the masked biker. He is Soo Yeol’s righteous conscious that makes him do the right thing, at any cost. He is crazy, he is spontaneous, and he is a mystery. It remains to be seen if Wi Ha Joon will grace the screens again from the next episodes, since the identity of the masked biker is already revealed.
The drama is more or less like a straight up crime investigative drama with quite a few comic timings sprinkled in between. The first two episodes of the drama seem promising in terms of story and pace, it will be a delight to see what new trouble will Ryu Ju Yeol’s ‘crazy’ side stir up. Lee Dong Wook is his charming self, and carries out his role with ease adding nuanced layers to his peformance. Wi Ha Joon’s plays the role of crazy masked biker with flair. His lunatic smiles or his spontaneous and menacing actions are a delight to watch, for they serve as a slight comic relief and also hint at the next catastrophic happening. The editing is also done with a clear precision, and despite the 80+ minutes run time, the episodes did not seem stretched. Bad and Crazy airs on weekends, at just the right time to watch a drama with balanced parts of comedy and thriller.
