Chronicles of Crime Season 2 (2023)

Binge watch only

I have followed Jang Geun Suk since the beginning of his TV drama career. He's had some dud shows in later years before he enlisted (e.g. the Gambler) and this show nearly bordered on that but it wasn't his doing.

To be clear, it's not the story or his acting which is bad. It's the fact that the drama was artificially cut into two, ironically with the hopes of keeping the audience hooked, but it has done the exact opposite for me. The first few episodes of Part 1 were really interesting but started to taper off by epi 5 or 6, as is normal with any 16-episoder. However, in a normal 16 episoder, there is the rest of the series will carry through usually as the mid season hump passes (usually by epi 8) when they're setting up for a thrilling finale.

However, even though Part 1 was only 2 months ago, that's forever in dramaland. I have probably have watched at least 20 to 30 dramas since. And now resuming Part 2, I have forgotten whatever happened in Part 1. And I have little interest in re-watching it to remind myself of what happened (it wasn't THAT interesting the first time). I'm faced with characters who are strangers to me and we're thrust straight into the action with a recap. "Who's this? what happened last time? What was going? Who was involved in the conspiracy?"

The 2-parter also meant that the story was going around in repetitive circles. However, it got there in the end with some solid twists in the last 2 episodes, and that's the only reason I am still giving it an 8 overall. Because of the intermission between the 2 parts, I was about to drop the series during episode 7 because it was too much mental work trying to work out who was who. If I had done so, I wouldn't have seen that the show redeemed itself in the end.

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All comes to those who wait!

Decoy is a worthy heir to OCN crime dramas: tightly woven gripping plot without giving viewers pause to breathe, dark cinematography, excellent acting and music heightening the threatening mood.

But of course, it is not perfect, far from it because it is also highly predictable using the usual set up. The story follows a former lawyer who became a police detective after the murder of his sister (how novel!). He cultivates a resigned unkempt attitude which keeps his bosses content, thinking they can control him. The bosses are all of course corrupt: policemen, prosecutors and politicians are all just greedy money grabbing lot, sweeping under the rug every illegal act committed by their rich sponsors (in this case a loan shark who became a "businessman" paying the officials for protection which they willingly provide: how surprising!). The victims of this criminal dealings are, as always, poor simple and trusting people who, when they get cheated out of their hard-earned savings, are treated as losers by the above-mentioned officials who do not do anything to right the wrongs ! After the whole drama of playing cat and mouse between the good guy and the bad guys, there is the final showdown where the bad guys are finally punished.

Most of the crime dramas follow this basic plot of murder and corruption. The thing that makes this one stand out is the writing, the characters and the acting.
The lawyer detective hides behind his slovenly attitude, sharp brain and solid moral core, knowing full well the distinction between the good and the evil and through smart remarks, making his corrupt superior find his own as well.
The one who steals the show is the big baddy who unapologetically organizes Ponzi schemes which talk to human basic greed, making people fall for the scam and lose everything. He never accepts the responsibility, and to the end considers he had never done anything wrong: people who he scammed are to blame for believing and trusting him.
The resolution of the murder investigation is disappointingly anticlimactic: there is no police storming in and arresting them: they are just simply murdered by the big baddy. The final chase across the snow covered mountain was breathtaking: the scenery was beautiful but even that was another letdown in spite of spectacular surroundings and the well deserved punishment, I was left unsatisfied. Again, it was anticlimactic!

These kinds of dramas make me wonder if Korea is really such a corrupt country: if you are rich you can get away with anything because the only thing people respect seems to be the MONEY. If you have it, then you can buy anyone and everyone, people holding official positions are will to bend over backwards to keep the rich happy no matter what they do. The law mosly punished those who are poor because it is easy, they are not respected as humans should be, it makes headlines and nobody dares say anything. If you are rich and/or pretty, you can do anything you like. Though, as these dramas show, there is a limit to it: the rich should not be too greedy because sometimes it is impossible to cover up.

What I particularly do not like is the way they release these dramas in two parts but I think it has to do with the platforms. Plotwise, there is no reason for such a release schedule: there is no particular cliffhanger or even two separate plots warranting it! All this to say that MDL should just keep one single page for this drama!

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