Maedeudok

I grew quite fond of Korean crime genre. They tend to provide excellent stories with complicated intertwining plot. What I love about this genre is the never ending give and take and creative schemes from both the fighting parties. Mad Dog is all that and more with shocking reveals and hints of romance between Woo Do-Hwan and Ryu Hwa-young, who really was the undeniable beauty of this series. The ending was really good and a great way to end the series on a satisfying and fulfilling note. It was really cool to watch. A must watch!!!

Following the death of his wife and son in a plane crash Choi Kang-woo, former leader of Taeyang Insurance's investigators team, sets up his own team, called 'Mad Dog' that will investigate fraudsters using methods that bend the law somewhat. Two years later he crosses paths with Kim Min-joon, a former fraudster whose brother was the pilot who had according to official reports deliberately crashed the plane. Min-joon believes his brother was innocent and wants Mad Dog to help uncover the truth. Initially they don't trust him but soon they uncover evidence that something is wrong at the airline and insurance company; something certain individuals will go to great lengths to keep secret.

This was a really enjoyable series. There was a good sense of drama, plenty of twists and turns and a real sense of danger at times. There was also plenty of humour which was unforced and didn't get in the way of the story. The 'Mad Dog' team was full of fun and varied characters. The villains are suitably villainous... if airline vice president Joo Hyun-gi had a moustache I'm sure he'd have twirled it! Instead he made do with wearing his tie in a peculiar way. There is lots of scheming as our protagonists work to uncover the truth and the villains seek to hide it or shift the blame onto somebody else. The cast is solid bringing some humour to their roles without getting silly. Overall a solid series that is well worth watching.

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

I finished My Country: The New Age on Netflix and wanted to watch something else with the fantastic Do-Hwan Woo in it, and this was something that looked promising. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this show, as the premise initially sounded quite boring. An insurance scam? Insurance fraud workers? How exciting could it be? As I said, I watched this purely for Do-Hwan, who was definitely the main draw as his character was irresistibly charismatic which masked a deeper, darker part of himself. The other characters definitely grew on me, and the story kept me interested enough to finish. I think its worth a watch, especially if you are a fan of Do-Hwan. His cocky attitude and the love/hate relationships he has with the members of Mad Dog are definitely the best parts!

If only the team from Leverage drama and Mad dog team join forces... it will be amazing 🙁💘

This series is driven by the machinations of 3 baddies, who successfully keep the heroes and ourselves guessing. In particular, Choi Won-young was very good value.

It is a shame, then, that the goodies did not achieve the same success. Although I have seen the actors playing them elsewhere and appreciate their talents, these did not gel in this series. This may be because the writers were more concerned with sparky dialogue than with believable characters and relationships that you can invest in.

As a result it was sometimes hard to maintain the level of interest necessary to follow the convoluted plot.

Nevertheless I have decided that that is better than a score of 5. It's not scintillating but I did stick with it until the end and do not regret doing so.