Police University

It had a good concept and it started off actually decent but it derailed unbelievably hard and quick after episode 2. As If there was a switch flipped. It almost seemed as if the writer lost interest and handed over the wheel to an intern. The drama got seriously dumbed down to the nth degree and the cheese meter got turned to 11. The performance of the younger cast was weak, and the older cast seemed to take the easy way out, delivering lackluster performances for their relatively insignificant and undemanding roles. Cha Tae Hyun is usually good but somehow he's unable to show an expression other than him pouting all the time. The plot surrounding the villain was poorly developed and ended up being lame, as expected. The whole romance in the drama was nothing but childish. The portrayal of the police life was dull and uninteresting. The drama is a strong contender for the worst love triangle out there as well. The last episode was solely dedicated to pair everyone with someone forcefully because reasons?!

The show started decently, promising a lighthearted mix of fun and thrill following the life and development of police rookies. It also raised interesting questions about justice and the use of means, like is it okay to break the rules to catch a criminal, i.e. A murderer escapes by stealing a boat, is it ok to also steal a boat to catch him - and other good questions. However, it became more and more boring, the dialogues flat and stereotypical and the characters unbelievable. A police officer with 20 years of experience answering questions by slapping or stating intelligent questions as irrelevant, acting impulsively as if he were an immature newbie... no wonder he failed to catch the culprits. The chance to cleverly cover the knowledge gap of experienced officers and fresh input of newbies was cheaply given away as were many other good points of the story. The same is true for the dialogues , the pacing, character development. It feels like the writers were in a hurry, briefly touching relevant points, but due to negligence or whatever limited the script to being overly simplistic and moralistic. I endured... and except for the promising start it's a disappointing view. There are far better shows out there.

This Korean comedy drama is centred on a group of students at the titular Police University and their instructors; particularly trainees Kang Seon-ho; his potential love interest Oh Kang-hee and lecturer Yoo Dong-man. The story opens with Detective Yoo Dong-man working to bring down an illegal online gambling ring with the help of a hacker known as 'Yoon'... who just happens to be Kang Seon-ho. When the latter's adoptive father needs medical treatment he uses his skills to steal the money from the gambling ring. This leads to them moving their operation just before their planned arrest. Dong-man arrests Seon-ho but ultimately releases him without charge. After this Seon-ho applies to join the police and attends their university; here he is shocked to find the new professor is recently transferred Dong-man, who is initially determined to get him thrown out! Not surprisingly Dong-man refuses to drop his pursuit of the gambling ring and ends up teaming up with Seon-ho again. Eventually a small group of students are unofficially helping him as they start to fear the ringleader may be close to the University.

I thought this series was a lot of fun. The drama is solid, with plenty of tense moments and a decent mystery concerning the person behind the illegal gambling ring. There are also plenty of laughs to be had, usually provided by secondary characters, and touches of romance. I admit that the title and opening had me expecting a Korean version of 'Police Academy' it doesn't take that route so anybody expecting non-stop gags are likely to be disappointed; similarly those hoping for gritty realism won't be too happy... however if you want a fun show which provides a good mystery, laughs and romance you could do worse. The characters are fun to watch and the acting is solid. Overall I'd certainly recommend this; just don't expect it to be too serious.

These comments are based on watching the series in Korean with English subtitles.

I have to admit, i could only watched the first 2 episodes. I don't think I was the target audience I tried to watch this show after, "Partners for Justice", and this just doesn't compare. Other than Oh Man-seok, I don't think I was familiar with any of the other actors. But it was a little predictable, an orphaned character taken in by a family friend, who grows up and becomes adept on a computer and a try hard police officer, who tries to do things outside of the box which gets him into trouble with his superior, so gets demoted from active duty. But production wise, it was up there with any K-Drama, it was the script that let this show down.

By the 13th episode (almost the end), there are a lot of things that are slightly annoying, but overall a decent plotline.

However, the girl Kang-Hui - oh dear lord. So she breaks up with him when he refuses to give up. Just like that?! What the frick.... 🙄

Maybe it gets better towards the episode ... But you can imagine my frustration levels that mid episode I'm compelled to write a review. Sometimes, they do give us the most irritating heroines who just shouldn't be....

I hope the ending sort of leaves me with a sense of justifying the time spent on this. But if Kang Hui continues to be this daft and selfish and just plain irritating and if kang sun ho doesn't move out of the puppy face for her then I'm gonna really regret investing my time in this. She broke up. MOVE ON. And stop paying attention to what that silly irritating girl does.