The Good Detective

THE GOOD DETECTIVE (NETFLIX) TRAILER
ME GUSTA CHANNEL

This is a pretty standard 2nd world detective show. I say second world because much like Behzat C (set in Turkey), whenever the murder crew goes out on a call they all go in one car. Detectives on Law & Order work in pairs. I suspect this reflects the relative cost of transportation versus manpower. Countries where fuel taxes are the primary source of revenue are going to very sparing of doling out cars to their minions.

Much like Behzat Ç., in every episode we have an ordinary murder that needs to be solved, but we also have the giant, convoluted, case of corruption that continues through the whole series. Naturally, it involves people in the upper levels of business and the government.

There are several paths that can lead to success. You can be diligent, work hard, and earn a living. With a certain amount of luck, you might become successful. Or, you can be a psychopath and just murder everyone who stands in your way. Shoot, since you are unconcerned about other people, you can murder anyone who annoys you. However, if your killings become too blatant, you may need to spread some money around so your killings don't get the attention they deserve, so now you are dealing with corrupt minions of the government's industrial justice complex.

As I recall, there were 32 episodes divided into two seasons, but now Netflix is only showing one season with 16 episodes. WTF the Netflix? Each episode is just over an hour long, in Korean with English subtitles on Netflix.

Beware, spoilers follow.

The story starts with the government's decision to execute a dozen people from death row. The 'good detective' investigated one of these cases five years ago and now evidence comes to light that maybe this guy isn't guilty after all. Naturally, raised on a steady diet of American fairy tales, we expect that our heroes will fight desperately to clear this wrongfully convicted man and at the last second the governor will issue a reprieve. Not here. In fatalistic Asia, he dies. 

While the retrial is going on, the pretty girl reporter comes across a piece of video that pretty conclusively demonstrates the condemned mans innocence, but for reasons, she keeps it to herself. After the man is executed she regrets that she didn't share it with the court. In the standard fairy tale, she would be so overcome with remorse that she becomes so deranged that bad things happen. Not here. Here, the handsome young male detective tells her it would not have made any difference. The powers that be wanted the convict executed, and they were going to execute him regardless of whatever evidence was shown in court. Goll durn it, that sounds just like the law. You misspelled 'this' on your appeal, off with your head.

There were some pieces to the plot that make you wonder whether the writers had backed themselves into a corner and needed to pull a rabbit out their hat in order to tie things together at the end. We have one unsolved murder that has been hanging out forever. Resolving this case involves creating this whole backstory that takes several episodes to reveal. I think this is what the whole second season was about. 

The cute reporter's boss's brother is a new minister of justice. The two brothers had a sister who committed suicide after being sexually assaulted by a policeman who subsequently disappeared. That happened a while back, maybe as much as ten years ago. Five years ago, around the same time as the original murder that got the convict convicted, the editor eventually tracks down the cop who assaulted his sister and discovers he is posing as a pastor at a church under an assumed name. He confronts the guy at night, in an open area near the church. He asks for, nay, demands an apology. The guy pushes him away and turns to get back in his car. The editor falls down, but then he picks up a convenient rock and wacks his nemesis on the head. Ah, revenge! How sweet it is.

Meanwhile, a hundred yards away, around the corner, a couple of detectives are arguing about a bribe one of them has received. The bribed one (Nam) gets a phone call. While he is occupied the other detective (Jang) hears the editor and the priest fighting and runs to see what's going on. The editor has loaded the dead priest into the back of his car. He plays it cool when Jang appears, but when Jang looks in the back of the car and sees the dead body, the editor wacks him on the head and he falls down. Now Nam is coming around the corner and the editor jumps in the priests car and drives off.

Now Nam has decided that he wants to keep the money. Jang has been stunned by the editor so Nam decides to take advantage of the situation and kill him. He can blame the death on the editor. This whole episode, the fight and the two murders, was recorded by a dashboard camera in car that just happened to have a perfect view of the scene. Nam, naturally, pulls the recording from the camera. Bits of this recording come to light whenever the script writers want to stir the pot.

Nam, being the slimy SOB that he is, having this video gives him the confidence to worm his way into the presence of the major scumbag who actually killed the girl the convict was blamed for killing.