Details

  • Last Online: 29 minutes ago
  • Gender: Female
  • Location: hell
  • Contribution Points: 215 LV3
  • Birthday: March 30
  • Roles: VIP
  • Join Date: February 7, 2013
  • Awards Received: Finger Heart Award108 Flower Award208 Coin Gift Award83
Rookie Cops korean drama review
Completed
Rookie Cops
3 people found this review helpful
by Kate
Feb 12, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 5.0
Story 4.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

Mindless mediocracy with great friendship.

I'm not gonna lie. There were some scenes so dumb I had to pause the episode in the middle of them and stare at the wall in my room trying to prevent the neurons leaking from my brain. The show is made with the idea of kids as the target audience. Lack of realism was not even the worst part, it’s the complete disregard of logic and continuity.

Yes, the writing of the main plot was a pile of trash. It made so little sense and it was presented in such a bad manner, I found it amusing. The villain was a poorly written joke, the twists and the character’s reactions to them were comical and the conclusion to the story was all over the place. Not to mention the last minute redemption arc for one of the bad guys.

That said, the show shined when it focused on more mundane aspects of the police academy and the growing friendship and bond between the main characters. We’ve got a variety of different characters which led to many funny and heartwarming moments when they started to open up to each other more. Learning how to lean on others and ask for help, how to trust your friends, how to communicate with people with different outlooks in life and previous experiences. That was the best part of the show.

The fair share of romance was fine. Personally, I couldn't care less about the main couple and a lot of it had to do with the performance. Thankfully, we’ve got more than enough screen time for the second couple that was far more natural and adorable. I also got a massive second lead syndrome from the female lead’s senior.

As for the performance - I have never seen a more obvious case of someone getting cast for their name and not their skill. I adore Kang Daniel, I do. He is an extremely talented performer and entertainer, but he just cannot act at all. He literally made me cry from laughing from his bad performance. His face was just white wall of emotions and the line delivery was less expressive than Alexa or Siri. He did fine with the scenes showcasing more daily stuff, but any moment that needed to tap into these more raw emotions, he failed miserably.

Others did a lot better. Granted, most characters lacked depth, so these performances were not exactly that demanding, but the cast did their best to deliver a good performance and chemistry. Especially impressed with Park Sung Joon in the last few episodes.

Production value was great, but that’s exactly what one can expect. There were a few editing mistakes and a lack of continuity between shots, but these were small details that are hard to avoid in any drama.

Overall, I had fun for both good and bad reasons. Enjoyed the friendship and characters a lot, and laughed about the poorly written plot and the whole investigation aspect of it.
Was this review helpful to you?