Bloodhounds

Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi play amateur boxers who after facing each other in the ring become firm friends. Through family they become embroiled in taking down a ruthless loan shark who kills anybody who gets in his way. Even though they face unbelievable odds against armed gangsters using only their fists they seek to bring down his violent reign. It is a violent, bloody series and the body count is high, well choreographed fight scenes even though they are mostly unrealistic. The story becomes a little disjointed as Kim Sae Ron who plays the daughter of a kind hearted loan shark who was helping them in the earlier episodes was written out due to a D. U. I. Incident. Need to be a fan of the underdog fighting for justice to really enjoy this one.

I mean, if koreans want to do quality you get quality.

This was such a ride. The story and characters hook you from the very beginning and it is so thrilling and upbeat you never get your eyes of the screen ( literally binged it for the whole 8 episodes)

The fighting choreographies are AWESOME and you can tell the immensely amount of work the main leads have put into not only to get in shape but to completely get into the mindset of a boxer and a fighter, they make the characters so believable and genuine.

I have followed Woo Do-hwan for a long time and I just cant get enough of his acting, loved his tender, caring yet fierce character here.

I absolutely loved the two main leads personalities and how well one compensates the other. They have such a strong and beautiful bond and friendship.

If i have to find some faults ( even when this was almost perfect) is maybe the length ( probably 2 episodes too long) and the dragging of the main plot, when the bad guys keep getting away with everything and the good guys make mistakes a bit too obvious, which it gets frustrating at times.

Also I loved the Tempted mini reunion with his old co start and friend Kim Min-jae, shame that they didn't have any scenes together!

Heo Joon Ho needs a special mention as well, as the good guy ( for once!) I love his acting and he manages for me to hate him with passion or love him depending on his role. This guy is absolutely chamaleonic.

Other than that, what an amazing series!!! I really hope it has a second season!

The series is good until the 7th episode, however, some parts of the storytelling are trivial enough. Some examples:

the boys are running away without asking help in a scene;

one of the means of the boys goes faulty and the other protagonist makes nothing to approach the others in order to simplify their escape;

However the plot in general has a strong structure and a good narration at least until 7th episode.

There are many fights which are cruel enough. Some kind of excessive kindness inexplicable in cruel moments which degrades in servility also against villains. In this case the characters seem too much stereotyped unable to change their attitude.

Last episode is sufficient if not mediocre. Just as example: a villain could kill a kidnapped person although wounded but escapes suddenly albeit has the time to kill him. This example highlights a poor script. Indeed, it seems that the story is based on forced circumstances and forced happy moments. Also the involvement of a minor character in the fight seems out of context.

Moreover, last episode suffers a storytelling rather simplified such as the introduction of some sporadic funny moments and funny character as well, which contrast with the brutal context.

I believe that this series deserves a sequel but improving the quality.

What can I say about this Action/Crime/Thiller Series? It just has the right stuff simply put, the right amounts of what makes an Action/Crime movie like say The Raid 2 great, The Bloodhounds story spans 8 episodes with a total running time of about 9 hrs and there is never a dull moment, it trully has a lot of elements mixed into the story to keep you interested throughout, I say the series in 2 days, could have watched it in 1 night if I didn't have to work in the morning, this series pulls no punches but never goes to extreme levels, as examples of Extremes: The Raid 2 & The Night Comes for Us come to mind, this falls a notch below. On the violence scale like say The Man from Nowhere, but it's 85% Fists Fights and Bats with about 15% Knife Fights, Just Perfection in my opinion, This production crew and writters should immediately start producing Season 2, could even use Different actors like True Detective Series did, After Watching Bloodhounds, Imagine that type of story told in the 1400s,1800s, maybe even 1930s because even the same story type completely changes the feel of everything with the era, This Series struck Solid Gold in My Opinion, Thank You, and Can We please another one.

The show is not as simple as you've seen it from the trailer. It has a little bit more complicated stories and characters, but not too far off. It has brotherhood, bloody fight, mukbang, and above all, it's a fast pace show. The choreography of the fights in this show is also well done. It's just as good as another korean show from Netflix, My name. The martial arts or fight actions scenes in modern korean movies and tv shows are arguably better than any other action movies whether it's from hollywood, or outside of hollywood. They has more realistic fights. It's fast and furious literally. They don't have those showy exaggerated moves that look like choreographed dance. Unfortunately, this show also has those typical cliche moments like My Name especially those tear-jerky ones. That's my biggest pet peeve in korean tv shows and movies. Although there's a sudden change of pace (It was quite a ride until episode 6), and the ending is a bit rushed and shortened, overall, the show is quiet entertaining. The fight scenes are worth visit more than once. I give solid 7.5/10.