Bloodhounds is now streaming on Netflix
The series is directed by Jason Kim (a.k.a. Kim Joo-hwan) whose treatment sets things in motion during late 2020. I can’t quite pinpoint where this fits in the webtoon since I’ve never consumed it, and so I can only gauge the series on its own merits. To start, however, I can earnestly state that the first episode delivers a fine, brisk introduction to both sides of the series.
Kim Gun-woo (Woo Do-hwan) is one of the first characters we meet. He’s humble, virtuous and soft-spoken, and typically a good samaritan whenever a certain situation calls for it. His discipline is characteristic of his upbringing, having spent most of it doing multiple part-time jobs. Nowadays his efforts are attributed to primarily supporting his mother, So-yeon (Yun Yoo-Sun) who is struggling to keep her café open.
To this end, he’s also an aspiring boxer climbing the rookie ladder to the championship. This is where we meet the more bombastic and brash Hong Woo-jin (Lee Sang-yi), each proving their skills one match at a time during an event. When it’s time for the match between Kim and Hong, however, what ensues in the aftermath is only matched by their sportsmanship despite their clashing personalities.
Parallel to this arc of the story are the players of the more chancy business of moneylending. That’s where the cold-blooded owner of Smile Capital, Kim Myeong-gil (Park Sung-woong) comes in, ready to step in and ply his trade for anyone willing to accept. He does this under the guise of benevolence, skimming clients on the details and gutting them with high interest rates.
Opposite the likes of Kim is a man named Choi Tae-ho (Heo Jun-ho), a former loanshark who is now in the business of genuinely helping those in dire financial straits with zero interest. Aiding his agenda, at least in part, is his adopted granddaughter Hyeon-ju (Kim Sae-ron), who is on a mission of her own – one that will soon prove things to be more perilous than she or Tae-ho could expect.
More importantly, the first several episodes establish things nice and firmly as the gears get turning at the end of epsiode one. After rescuing his mother from a squad of Myeong-gil’s goons and barely surviving a scrap with the big and brooding In-beom (Tae Won-seok), Gun-woo, with the loyal Woo-jin by his side, is tasked with finding a way to pay back the loan money his mother took from Myeong-gil. This ultimately leads the two to a job opportunity for both boxers with Tae-ho looking to hire people to protect Hyeon-ju while under his care.
As episodes two and three progress, the show dives into just what Hyeon-ju has been getting herself into, and what it could mean for Tae-ho and their operations. We also see just how well our two mains gel with one another, especially on matters of principle. There’s a scene when following the events of the first two episodes, Woo-jin succors Gun-woo after rejecting both a loan and a job offer from Woo-jin’s unscrupulous moneymonger and former employer, Im (Park Ji-yeol), resulting in a tense moment between Im and Woo-jin.
This scene comes after the two leave to grab a bite at one of Woo-jin’s favorite hole-in-the-wall eateries; it’s during this scene where Gun-woo discovers something even more endearing about his friendship with Woo-jin. At this point, we’re only two episodes in, but it’s pretty remarkable that the synergy between these two lead roles has become so prevalent. This progression doesn’t happen too fast, thankfully. To that end, many other shows plant so much filler that trying to pay attention to any connection between two characters gets to be exasperating.
Money is pretty much the root of everything that’s problematic in the world established in Bloodhounds, between the rich, the struggling, and the rockbottom poor. It underscores the ever-parasidic nature of the underworld Gun-woo and Woo-jin are forced to tread whilst keeping each other on the straight-and-narrow. By episode three, anything they do using their fists is applied solely on anyone who deserves it. That includes the swarm of Smile Capital goons they’re cornered against at the top of episode four.
Of course this applies to the show’s most deserved recipient of said fists, Myeong-gil. From the top of the show, we learn that a condominium project abandoned by a company left bankrupt from the pandemic, is at the center of his latest dealings. Myeong-gil decides to take the wheel as an ancillary investor for another corporation with a few stakes of his own, which then subjects the building’s hopeful clientele, Choi Si-won (Hong Min-beom), to a serious bout with buyers’ remorse when he learns of Myeong-gil’s true nature midway into the series.
Bloodhounds does cut a corner or two at times for its eight-episode run, but the rest of the show is a near-seamless real thrill. Director Kim and his cast have brought forth a stellar action and drama series that gives you a pair of underdog protagonists and a row of supporting actors to cheer for, and a number of villains that are sure to give you plenty reason to do so.
It’s especially smooth sailing with the action scenes, rounds of fight choreography by designated stunt coordinator Park Young-sik featuring our mains in some of the best action you’ll love out of South Korea. Woo and Lee are amazing in the series, and their performance speaks to the level of training they’ve committed to and achieved. Park and Heo also get to throw down for a bit in the series, as well as actors Lee Hae-Young and Ryu Soo-Young who play Choi’s right and left-hand enforcers whose business together dates back years prior to the pandemic.
Even actress Kim herself gets a few licks in playing Hyeon-ju, matching up against henchmen twice her size and compensating with speed and resourcefulness to her advantage. Most of us in the Western world who’ve been following Asian film fandom may come to remember her more nascent screen persona as the award-winning talent who won the world over in her 2010 sophomore outing, The Man From Nowhere. Looking at Kim now, her performance here signals an actress who has come a long way and is clearly ready for tougher and more challenging roles.
Regrettably, actress Kim’s place in the series gets cut pretty short thanks to an unfortunate incident last year, which forced the production to invent as feasible a departure for her character as possible. The production handles it as well as you can expect for a Korean drama as it follows the death of a major character, and the result is a bit of a lapse of time that isn’t really specified by episode seven, followed by the introduction of a few more characters, including actress Jung Da-eun who does a terrific job filling the void left by Sae-ron as someone who is more than a pretty face, or a placeholder for more ephemeral comedy relief.
Bloodhounds brims with bromance and ballistic action from start to finish. It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done with a strong story, admirable protagonists who are easy to sympathize with, and action sequences that’ll have you waking your neighbors, rooting for the good guys at the top of your lungs.
