Live

Live

7/10

Live

Genre:                                                   Episodes: 18                                  Year: 2018

Melodrama

Synopsis:

The drama follows the officers based at Hongil Patrol Division, and their joy, sorrow and pain as they attempt to protect justice.

Cast:

Jung Yoo Mi (Han Jung Oh)

Lee Kwang Soo (Yeom Sang Soo)

Bae Sung Woo (Oh Yang Cheon)

Shin Dong Wook (Choi Myung Ho)

Bae Jong Ok (Ahn Jang Mi)

Sung Dong Il (Ki Han Sol)

Jang Hyun Sung (Eun Kyung Mo)

Lee Joo Young (Song Hye Ri)

Jo Wan Ki (Kim Min Seok)

Lee Shi Un (Kang Nam Il)

General Thoughts:

This was an absolute diamond in the rough. I don’t know if there was much talk about ‘Live’ before, during or after it aired in Korea (it seemed to be a pretty big ratings hit for TVN), but it was kinda ignored over here in the West, with other dramas with lower ratings gathering more buzz (eg. ‘Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food’).

It may not look like much, but it's so much better than a lot of other K-Dramas 2018 has offered up

There’s nothing really in this drama that is super eye catching off the bat- no huge names, no specific genre, no promise of revenge or romance or hilarity. But what this drama did, it did well. In previous crime dramas we’ve always focused on the detectives or the victims or the prosecutors.

Just your friendly neighbourhood policemen

The guys standing around in hi-vis guarding the crime scenes were no more than walk on extras with no lines. But this time around it was those previously ignored guys in the hi-vis who were our main characters. Rather than taking place in the Violent Crimes Unit (like ever other crime drama), ‘Live’ takes place at your regular neighbourhood police station. While that admittedly does sound more boring, what this did was allow a lot more room for character growth and development. My usual gripe in crime dramas is that they just focus way too much on the crimes, and the detectives solving them just become these genius machines who do nothing but catch criminals all day every day (I’m looking at you here ‘Voice’). While this drama was decidedly slower in pace, it still had the intensity that other crime dramas had, but also paired this with an amazing sense of character growth. When the drama first started I hated Yang Cheon. He was just the worst. But 18 episodes later when he’s wheelchair bound after getting stabbed and his partner is up for suspension for shooting his attacker, I really felt for him.

Talk about serious character growth

I wanted him to be okay and be able to be a police again, and I wanted him to work things out with his wife and return to his family. And that is a long way to come from wanting someone to smack him hard. I probably would have rather enjoyed seeing him get stabbed around episode 2. While Yang Cheon is definitely the most developed character, the others also had a good, steady progression. Sang Soo came a long way from simply being a police officer only because he had no other choice, and his journey was mostly about finding his sense of duty and figuring out how to become a good police officer.

Before the bromance began

Unlike Yang Cheon, Sang Soo was always a likeable character, but he wasn’t always a good cop. It was an enjoyable experience watching him learn from Yang Cheon on when it was important to stick to the manual and go by the book, and when it was important to trust your instincts. These two men also had a wonderful relationship development, with Sang Soo learning to trust and rely on Yang Cheon as they were put in various,

Nice as Sang Soo was- I was still on Team Myung Ho

often dangerous scenarios. Just as us viewers were learning that Yang Cheon wasn’t as harsh as he appeared, and that he actually always strove to do what was right, so did Sang Soo. Watching the two grow closer and actually start to develop a real friendship was charming to watch, and really made you realise why people in jobs like these love and depend on their partners and coworkers so much. The acting was amazing all round, with not a single weak link in the cast- right down to the victims and the perpetrators who had very minor roles. Jung Yoo Mi did a great job with a character that was very closed off, and despite Jung Oh’s outward lack of affection, I warmed to her pretty quickly. She wasn’t the most likeable character, and as I move on and start watching other dramas I’m sure she won’t be the most memorable character, but in the moment I identified with her emotions and understood her reactions, and that came as a result of both the good writing of the character and Jung Yoo Mi’s excellent portrayal. I always enjoy seeing Lee Kwang Soo in roles where he isn’t being played for comedy or being asked to essentially play his character on ‘Running Man’. I think this was a great project for him as it broke him out of the stereotypical goofy roles that I feel he was starting to get pigeonholed into.

He even got a little bit of romance

He’s a fine actor, and he was brilliant at bringing in the more emotional beats of the show, particularly as the drama neared its final stages and his character was right in the centre of a very fervent situation. Bae Sung Woo and Bae Jong Ok were total show stealers though. They both have immense experience and it really showed here. They were able to bring their characters and their emotions to the forefront of any scene they were in. They completely threw themselves into their characters and as a result we got not only a dynamic pair of characters, but a dynamic, engaging relationship between the two of them.

This was my favourite romance in the series by far

The plot was cleverly developed throughout the series, with the tension rising with each new case. We started out pretty lightly with the struggles our three rookies faced with getting into the police force and then moved on to the tedious, far from glamorous police work that usually goes on at a police station- such as taking care of drunks.

I'm assuming regular officers don't come across dead bodies every day

We then started to move forward into more confronting cases- such as sexual assaults and homicides. Because the drama had chosen to start out so low-key in showing the day to day goings on at the police station, these more serious crimes felt much more dark and horrible, and indeed felt like something people shouldn’t have to deal with. Because there’s so much violence in dramas and movies, we all get a bit desensitised. But because this drama went about in a way where these horrible crimes were shown as something out of the norm, they felt much more confronting than in a crime drama that only shows various serial killings. Because we were going through this drama from the view of these rookie police officers who had never seen or been in these situations before, we too felt like these situations were new and dangerous, even if we have seen a handful of crime shows before. This drama felt unique in the way that it often focused on our characters’ responses to these crimes rather than the crimes themselves. While there was definitely importance put on catching the criminal, because our main characters weren’t from prosecution or violent crimes, we often left these cases before they were completely resolved.

Character focused dramas are so much more emotional than plot-driven dramas

The focus became much more about how the regular police officers have to cope with thinking on their feet and making snap decisions as they respond to emergency calls, and how they have to learn to deal with the highly confronting things they see on the job. As we neared the drama’s close, the plot started to turn more towards the corruption inside the police force and how younger, lower-level officers were used as scapegoats to protect the force’s pride and keep public criticism at bay.

This show certainly made you appreciate the hard work of your regular cops

The way the plot gradually changed course felt smooth and natural, and ensured that there was always something interesting going on in the drama, and that we weren’t just watching a slightly different case over and over again.

What Was Great:

Realistic Development:

What made this drama so much fun to watch was definitely the experience of watching these characters grow and develop. They all came so far from where they were at the start of the series.

Solid 10/10 for character development

It’s not only that the characters simply developed as people, but also that as the show progressed and we started to get more details on the characters and spend more time with them, we also started to understand them more. We saw that Jung Oh’s coldness was just a way to protect herself, that Yang Cheon’s argumentative nagging was his way of showing concern, and that Jang Mi’s apathy towards her husband came from a place of hurt, not indifference. As we started to understand more about our characters, so did the other characters in the drama. As much as watching them grow individually was interesting to watch, watching them grow together was so much more enjoyable. Jung Oh and Sang Soo’s relationship was more of a bonus side-story, but the relationship between Yang Cheon and Jang Mi was one of the most emotional aspects the show.

Before realising he'd been a total jerk

At first it confused me how Jang Mi was suddenly so fed up with her husband and ready to divorce him without telling him why, but as the story progressed we really started to see how Yang Cheon had taken her for granted all those years.

After realising he'd been a total jerk

Not only this, but as I continued to watch, I highly doubted that Yang Cheon’s actions would have changed even if Jang Mi did voice her opinions. I became convinced that abruptly spending time apart with the distinct possibility of never reconciling was the best way for Yang Cheon to realise how inattentive he had been to his wife and children, and how hurt they had been by it. As we learned more about each of their personalities I also came to believe that this was the best way for both of them to move past the hurt and recommit to each other. Yang Cheon realised that he needed to make far more effort with the woman he loved, and Jang Mi realised that she sometimes had to start taking the lead in their relationship rather than always being a passive observer. The two relearned how to communicate effectively and how to comfort each other. The scene of Yang Cheon whispering swear words to Jang Mi after the police used her as a scapegoat really solidified their reconciliation to me, because seriously- how many girls would that work on?

What Wasn’t:

More Characters:

While the development of the characters is something I found this drama did well, I did find that it was pretty laser focused on just a few characters. Namely Sang Soo and Yang Cheon. Which isn’t that bad- I really enjoyed watching these two men grow and mature, but I did find myself wishing that perhaps a few of the others in the precinct could get some more attention.

As much as I enjoyed watching these two, some screen time for the others wouldn't have gone astray

Hye Ri was sidelined for most of this drama, and didn’t actually get to do very much. Most of her screen time was delegated more to building on her mentor’s character and story. Hye Ri quite often came across as surly, and while it was suggested that she was hardened from witnessing and accidentally causing the maiming of her father,

If you break up with the lead, your screen time's gonna suffer

I do wish Hye Ri had got a bit more attention and development. It was a similar case with Myung Ho. He never really moved beyond the sweet, likeable, reliable sunbae. The drama toyed with giving him some backstory in the form of his deceased girlfriend, but it never really got explored to its full capacity. It was kind of thrown in as a way to prevent Myung Ho and Jung Oh from getting too romantically involved. In fact, after Jung Oh and Myung Ho decided it was best to leave their relationship as a sunbae-hoobae relationship, Myung Ho was all but written out of the story. He went from being a character that was so important, and was in practically every scene to someone who was just lurking around in the background as just another member of the police department. While I wouldn’t necessarily say that I wanted a bunch of screen time taken away from our four main leads, by the time this drama came to a close I did find myself thinking that I wish we’d spent a bit more time with characters outside of the main quartet. 

Recommend?

Yeah, I think this drama is a winner for anyone who enjoys crime dramas or slice-of-life dramas.

This drama was exciting and relaxing all at once