38 Task Force (2016)

Have you watched a drama that you want to know how it ends but you don't want it to end because if it ends, you wouldn't find anything equivalent to this? Well look no more. The story of this drama is one of a kind not the regular thief and criminal, cat and mouse hunt. If you're tired of the gooey romance and the common love triangles, and you want something more substantial go for it because this deserves all the praises it can get.

Story : the story is almost flawless and fast paced enough that there isn't a single episode that wouldn't give you a high. The twists and turns that happen are almost realistic and you will find yourself getting slipped into the story.

Acting : Ma Dong Seok and Seo In Gook. DO i need say more? the characters in the drama are played so well, you start believing in them. They take you a roller coaster ride and they do it well!!

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I dont write reviews normally. But for this drama, I had to :D ! Probably one of the best I have watched till date. The writer keeps you on hook until the end. Twistception at its finest. You wont be able to predict anything, trust me ! Not to mention, each of the characters have a special spot in my heart now. Of course, this is only due to the spectacular acting by the stellar cast. Seo In Guk and Ma Dong Seok stole the show :) With shows like these though, re-watch might not be as great an experience as when you watched it the first time. So with a very heavy heart, I say goodbye to these wonderful characters but with the hope that one day I would have forgotten the story enough to return back to it again.

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Despite being the minority with this opinion, I will go ahead and say it: the show was a major disappointment.

WHAT I LOVED:

ACTING:
I mean, it started out great, and I remember thinking that the plot was Robin Hood trope, but was at the same time unique when it came to kdramas. I love Ma Dong Seok, and right from the start I fell in love with Seo In Guk's acting. He really truly makes you believe that he is a con-artist, and a simple look at the various accents he pulls off in episode 2 while calling different people is a testament to his acting prowess. Ma Dong Seok too completely embodied his character, in voice, looks, and gestures.
This was my first time watching Lee Sun Bin act (all I knew about her was that she's Lee Kwang Soo's girlfriend and I saw her on that one episode of I Can Hear Your Voice 2019) , and I have to say I loved it. Of course many other actors were veterans and masters of the craft.

ACTION:
Despite not liking the way the drama turned out, I have to admit that at least for the first half, the episodes were not boring at all, there were cliffhangers and suspense, as well as the right balance of dialogue and action.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
PLOT:
There were loopholes and missing aspects in the plot which at first I had some difficulty pinpointing, and I got this vauge feeling that there was something missing from the drama. I've concluded that among the few things that bothered me were:
(1) the way the whole team got together. Initially, of course they were all in for the money that was promised to them for duping Ma Jin Seok, but what bothered me was that all the con-artists in the team were actually good guys. Wait... what? What are the odds of that? The plot got boiled down to good guys masquerading as bad guys (Robin Hoods), and these "respectable" so-called good guys who are actually bad guys (like the police, the businessmen, the higher ups, their families). I wanted there to be more grey areas, and I also wanted at least one con artist to be actually greedy and selfish. [Yes I know Hak Joo betrayed the team for a little bit but then he went back to being nice in the span of one episode]. I was also waiting for someone to elaborate on how Seo In Guk's character came to save the "Chairman"'s life twice. Idk what that was all about.
(2) how Sung Il's (Ma Jin Seok) family got left behind after the first few episodes and were never heard from again. This guy has joined all these conartists, he's meeting them secretly almost everyday, he's roaming around the entire city, he's been to the police station several times, and he got demoted, but we don't get to really see his relationship in depth with his wife and daughter. I also found his relationship with his brother-in-law in flashbacks to be kind of hollow, so the motive of ensuring that no one else dies like he did was a little flimsy for me.
(3) how the plot twists got redundant and tedious: the plan B's and the counter plans to the plans of the enemy, the feints and the always-one-step-aheads got really boring really fast, because they were really similar.
(4) the fact that Jeong Do was cheated by Sung Il when the latter agreed to give testimony against Jeong Do and send him to jail for ten years, and it wasn't made that much of a big deal? And somehow Jeong Do got let out in 2 years on parole despite having priors? and that he and Sung Il made up fairly quickly? and we don't even know how the other con artists reacted to that whole thing? I was so baffled. I did not know how to react.
(4) how there was one bad guy on top of the other, more powerful than the last, like a final boss in a game except there's a final final boss, and then a super boss, aand a mega-super-awesome boss. Boring? Boring.
(5) the nearly romantic plot line between Seong Hee and Jeong Do was not satisfactory at all. I wanted them to at least get together or have some sort of proper closure which I felt was missing. No, more than that, I wanted them to shake hands and start over to get to know each other. It was just underwhelming.

CHARACTERS:
(1) Let's face it, Seong Hee's character was irrelevant to the entire drama. I guess they wanted a girl in the taxation department, just for a change, but her character added nothing to the plot itself and contributed nothing to any sort of development except in the first 2 episodes. In the start she was really annoying because she kept butting in what wasn't her concern at all, but later on she just became this broken record, always calling her favorite chief and always worrying for him, trying to save him etc. Hers was a very flat character.

(2) Speaking of flat characters, Jeong Do despite being the main protagonist was astonishingly flat. I wanted him to learn something about human nature, about his own self, about this world, but he stayed a good guy throughout, one who is just trying to take revenge for what happened with his parents, who despite having a rough exterior actually cares for his team and for his ex-gf, who never realizes that Mi Joo loves him, and who takes the fall for the rest of them selflessly.

(3) With the exception of the mayor, the bad guys were all greedy politicians who had no driving force, no depth and were very flat.

CONCLUSION: I get that a lot of people love this drama, and I got into it with high expectations, but for the reasons stated above I was unable to join the majority, which is a bummer. Also, I keep wondering why the show is titled 38 Task Force. Hm.

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I've got mixed feelings about this drama. It had aspects I really liked, and others that just annoyed me. Still I got a very satisfying results in the end.

Let's start with the things I enjoyed. I enjoyed the presentation and development of a number of characters. Mainly, Baek Seong Il and Yang Jeong Do. I can confirm the people we see at the end are not the same as the people meet in the beginning. It was very gradual though, and felt organic how each got influenced by the other. As most, I loved the relationship between the two. It's not the usual bromance, but as real partners (in crime :P).

Other characters I enjoyed are a number of villains. The Maire for one is pretty intriguing. He really doesn't see himself as a bad guy, and you know he does really try, but over time he learns why it's still not good enough. There is one scene in the end between the Maire and Sung Il that is one of the strongest scenes in the drama that explores his character deeply. I've mentioned before that I really hated Ahn, but he makes an interesting villain. It's the way he becomes and villain and the things that motivate him that are interesting. Finally, more than Choi Chul Woo, I find Bang Pil Kyu to be a terrifying villain, in a good way. Everyone else served their purpose in the drama, but didn't have a lot of development happening. Sung Hee had a little change where she becomes more flexible, hence less annoying.

Also another plus, the last con was just BRILLIANT! The music was very fitting.

The acting varied from excellent to average, but all were very fitting in their roles. I think those who played the characters I liked are those that stood out in their acting.

As for the things that annoy me, first is Choi Chul Woo. He's such an uninspiring villain. I guess he was just easy to hate and want to go down, but ultimately I just didn't care enough.

Mostly what I found annoying was all the red herring and have scenes that get revealed later the drama gives us. I mean all I was thinking *come on you're not fooling me at this point, this trick is getting old*. Yeah it was pretty repetitive. Also some story threads were left semi-unfinished. What happened to that person who got beat up? We never find out.

Still it was worth the watch for me. I enjoyed it, totally recommend it for the fun of it.

PS: The drama gives us a very interesting surprise in the end so do keep watching until the last minute.

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Overall this drama was not too bad. Originally I begin watching this with very low expectations. Those expectations were slightly uncalled for because the show was much better than I expected. 38 Task Force is a show that is broken down into about 4-5 different arcs. 38 task force is a force that is composed of many people from different walks of life. In each arc the task force is attempting to con people into paying their taxes. I found the show to be very exciting in the first few episodes. However there was one problem with the story that really bothered me. Continue reading the story section below to better understand what I'm getting at. This won't really be a spoiler, but more likely a plot element that I want to talk about. I suggest you read the parts below only after you've finished the show.

Story: [8/10] I really like the story at the very beginning of show. It continuously kept me on the edge of my seat with its' quick-punching action. However, I begin to grow bored as the show went on. One of the reason is because this is not a show where you will see much character development. The show can be literally be summarized into one sentence. Again, 38 Task Force is a show where the task force is conning people into paying their taxes. The problem with this sentence is that these the writers wrote these scams in essentially the same ways. The writers try to trick you into thinking that each con has gone wrong through one way or another. In reality, it's always a part of the task force's plan. The problem with the cons is that they seem too perfect. The writers want you to think something has gone wrong with each con but in reality that is never the truth. This wouldn't be a problem if this plot device/element was used once. It ends up being a problem because the writer used this concept for basically each con in the show. I probably would have gave the story a 9 if the writer didn't make the show predictable by using the same plot driving device over and over.

Acting/Cast: [8/10] Overall the cast wasn't too bad. I was not overly impressed with the acting or cast. At the same I wasn't unimpressed as well. I mostly watched this show for Seo In Guk.

Music: [8/10] The music was pretty average. It really depends on your taste in music.

Overall I thought that this show was pretty average. It was something that was worth watching once but probably not a second time. I watched it simply because of the main actor. This show may be for you if you like a show that has an arc-like story about cons.

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Heist/scam artist shows aren't unique to Korean dramas/movies, what really made this show enjoyable was the ensemble of characters, especially the partnership between a bumbling upright civil servant and a sleek smooth talking scam artist, which was the beating heart of the show. Ma Dong Seok and Seo In Guk had great chemistry and partnership.

At the start, the heists and scams were impressive, logistically and also psychologically. However, with the inevitable escalation of the stakes of the heists, my expectations were raised again and again for what the final heist/scam would be. I feel a little sad to say that I was somewhat disappointed by what was meant to be the final plot or climax of the show.

However, even if the snazzy heist plotlines were taken away, the show would still be buoyed by the chemistry amongst the ensemble of characters, which were lovingly written and assembled, and gave the show a lot of heart.

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I tend to follow Seo In-guk with whatever direction his going so I'm officially on this show once he's signed on. On the more objective reason, I watched Bad Guys and I liked it so I presumed that this will be good too.

The Story
I honestly didn't like this at first sight because the whole setup of the drama is really frustrating and saddening. How lonely is it to do your work properly and still have those with money trample on you? But once my In-guk and the Squad was gathered, it was purely intense and suspenseful project to finish. It's really rare to watch a drama with twists and turns every episode which makes you wonder what will happen to our squad. The schemes, conflicts, and escape routes are all well thought of and executed.

The Cast
I don't think I need to say much about Seo In-guk so I'll skip that *swoons*. Ma Dong-seok is awesome. He really is amazing by acting as the oppressed chief of the tax collection department. The other supporting characters complimented each other during their heists. There is no clear line here as to who is good or evil which makes our characters multi-faceted and deep.

Overall
While watching it, I realized that this is hardcore crazy. This is definitely not fluffy and easy to watch bu5 it's exciting. I found out that I'm so good with the making sounds because it left me saying "eeeeeek", "iiiiihhhh", "aaaaah", "oooooh" and "uuuugh" all those times.

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I have mixed feelings regarding 38 Task Force. It is unique in writing and directing style. It is kind of Oceans 11 type drama. It has a revenge element mixed with the characters' desire to do something for the Korean citizens. I would have given it a higher score, but the ending felt unfinished. I also felt there was some balls dropped here and there along the way. Still it was entertaining and a fun watch.

I know everyone is gushing over Seo In Guk as Yang Jeong Do and he is really good.
But for me the drama is all about Ma Dong Seok as Baek Seong Il. I'm totally in love with him and his way of acting. He feels real to me and that is my favorite form of acting. The other actors are good also, but nothing really stands out.

I enjoyed the music.

I won't ever rewatch this. I think it is boring to rewatch dramas like this.

If you like suspenseful dramas, then this is definitely one to watch.

Lire davantage

Adoro o Seo In Guk, e foi um dos maiores motivos para eu assistir... Acabei demorando alguns episódios pra pegar gosto pelo drama, mas depois que a coisa andou... Achei a "gangue dos golpistas" genial! hahaha O retorno de um dos "violões" para ajudá-los a acabar com o chefão de uma vez por todas foi ótimo também... A retomada da "confusão de identidades" do começo também foi inteligente. Mas queria apenas mais um episodiozinho.... Quanto a OST, praticamente só tem uma música - se não for somente, tô confusa agora hahaha - enfim, ela anima e dá aquele embalo nas ações dos nossos golpistas favoritos. Gostei de ver que cada um deles teve de fato uma importância, não estavam ali apenas pra preencher buraco... Não tenho muito apresso pela Soo Younge acabei não vendo muita graça na personagem dela...

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The Characters and Plot Twists

I really enjoyed this show, one of my favorites! The characters were all amazing and that is what made the whole drama click together. Definitely advise you to check this out <3

>Story--Character driven with a corruption thriller<
If you like corruption thrillers (that aren't too blood or dark) this is the exact drama for you. It is about tax evasion and the sweet fantasy of getting back at those rich suckers.
The character development--another of my favorite tags--is great as are the characters themselves. Their intricacies and bromance really shine through.
You might get annoyed from time to time about where the story is headed, why the people are acting this way, etc. ... , but trust this writer (he wrote Bad Guys). Trust that the story won't fall on it's head.
The plot twists are to die for :))). Enjoy them while you are on your first watch.
There are a lot of people in this drama--so keeping them straight is a problem, but not as bad as a Chinese Wuxia.

>Acting---Average<
What do you expect from this group of actors? That is exactly what they delivered in this drama. A lot of characters to go around.

>Beginning--Phenomenal<
I love the beginning of this drama, just beyond perfect.

>Ending --- good<
Though the ending is 100% worth watching, I felt it was a bit lacking (though I can't put my finger on it).

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