In today’s episode everyone is having a bad day, but by the end of it, we have some pretty great bonding moments. We learn that when you’re a cop, the most important thing should be your partner. And for Lt. Oh, that seems to be a lesson that is way overdue.

Two of our rookies run, leaving their mentor behind, and try to catch the bad guy. Sang Su is after the young man who is accused of beating up kids at a playground while Jung O tracks down the prostitution ring leader. Sang Su is slashed in the face with a box knife and it seems the cut barely registers. He keeps running after the boy, eventually leading him around a corner and straight into a delivery boy on a scooter. Oh is alerted by the other kids that an officer has been hurt and he runs after them.

When Oh arrives Sang Su is frozen, staring at the two kids who are both moaning on the street. Thank goodness it wasn’t a T.O.D. I was seriously about to freak if the kid Sang Su was following was run over and ended up with serious injuries. We just got over the pregnant woman taser incident. Oh and Sang Su attend to the boys, but then Sang Su calls out that his face won’t stop bleeding. Oh runs over to put a cloth on Sang Su’s temple. You can tell the blood loss is getting to Sang Su because his hand’s shaking uncontrollably. (Major props to Kwang Soo in this scene. He did a fabulous job.)

I haven’t been shy about my dislike for Lt. Oh, but they’ve started pulling back some of his layers, and I can see where he got to where he is. He’s from an abusive household with a father that is horrible at communicating. He’s taken that same lack of skill into both his family and work life. He may care about someone and is trying to do what is right, but the way he goes about it is just all wrong. I honestly feel like he could benefit from a LOT of counseling. With all of that said, you can see that he’s terrified of losing another partner as he dabs the blood off of Sang Su’s face. He stays with him into the hospital and doesn’t leave his side while they stich him up.

Back over to our other rookie, Jung O,  who ran after a suspect on her own. Yeah…. you knew something wasn’t going to pan out right. She should get points for noticing the guy and remembering the plates, but because she didn’t tell her partner what she was doing, and didn’t notify the division she knew was covering the case, she ends up ruining weeks’ worth of staking these guys out so they could find the victims.

The amount of yelling that goes on in this police station is astonishing. I could not cut it as a police officer if I was yelled at as much as they are. Everyone seems to be pissed at someone. A few of the officers are mad because Oh didn’t protect Sang Su from being injured and now they have to work another shift after already pulling an all-nighter. People are pissed at Jung O and her partner for ruining the sting operation. Some are just cranky in general. I was joking around that everyone seemed to be having their time of the month.

When we finally get past the night of crankiness, people are still mad at Oh, and Han Sol takes him to task about worrying too much about catching the criminal and not enough about protecting his partner. Even Han Sol was stabbed when they were partners. Lt. Oh never lets on that he told Sang Su to not run after the boy who cut him, but what Han Sol says seems to ring true to Oh. Han Sol makes mention of a case when they were young officers and the girl died because they didn’t catch the suspect.

He seems to think ever since then Lt. Oh became the “mad dog” officer he is, never giving up and not really paying attention to everything else around him. See! This guy needs therapy. I actually wish it was protocol in all police stations. They have to deal with so many horrible things that talking to someone about it would really help.

One good thing came out of Jung O’s rash action: They are allowed to help with the case. The higher ups suspected there’s an insider helping the prostitution ring out so they kept their operation quiet until now. The units all go out together while communicating over radio. Everyone is still tense because of all the issues going on amongst them, but they still work together.

Officer Choi and his cutie partner Han Pyo crack me up. Han Pyo starts singing and dancing in the car, just because. I had to look him up after that scene and it seems he’s only been in Fight My Way. Maybe he’s another one of those theater majors that is about to bust on the scene like Kim Sun Ho did.

To bring home our partner theme today, we end the episode with Sang Su and Hye Ri going undercover at a club. They’re trying to catch a thief who steals from those at the club and then passes the money off to his boss. While they’re inside their partners are outside on patrol waiting for them to catch the thief in action. We also have the usual team at the station calling out orders over the headset.

It goes about how you’d expect two new cops handle an undercover operation. Hye Ri is noticed because of her earbuds (she’s in a club) and Sang Su gets in a fight with some rando guy while the thief leaves the building. Sang Su ends up maneuvering the guy outside where he tries to find their suspect. He’s totally getting his butt kicked because he’s not fighting back, all while trying to continue doing his job.  Lt. Oh and Captain Eun are both yelling back and forth about not losing the suspect while Sam Bo wants them to diffuse the situation before Sang Su gets hurt again.

They end up capturing the pickpocketing in progress and they’re able to arrest the thief. Hye Ri is back in the club taking pictures of the boss in the toilet. Sam Bo has to run in and tase the guy, but they’re able to arrest him too.

We’re treated to a night at the sauna which is NOTHING like the sauna scene in Wok of Love. There are no angel wing tattoos and most of our guys are on the older side. LOL. But there is male bonding and boasting about taking the bad guys down.

Lt. Oh finds Han Sol later at the station and promises him that he’ll always put his partner’s safety ahead of catching the criminal. I find that funny since they did the opposite during the undercover operation, but I think that was because they knew Sang Su could handle himself.

My Thoughts:

I believe everyone could benefit from working together a little more and not always trying to earn that pat on the back for a job well done. Had Jung O told her partner why she was running off they probably could have prevented ruining the operation and she still would have gotten props for identifying the car and the perp.

Sang Su might have saved his face if he would have listened to Oh and let that kid off. As was pointed out later, they had his address and name and he wasn’t a murder suspect. He was just a bullied kid who finally had enough. Sang Su did say after going undercover that he wasn’t thinking about getting praise for his actions, but just catching the bad guy. Then we have Hye Ri, who has looked down on Sam Bo from the beginning because of his age, but she could learn a lot from him, and I think she’s starting to trust him.

There was a throwaway line from Jang Mi that I hope they come back to. She said that Jung O grew up well. So their lives have intersected at some point in the past. I’d love to see Jang Mi take Jung O under her wing.

It hasn’t been until episode 6 & 7 that I’ve been completely invested in these characters lives, and wanted to press play immediately when the episode ended. I’m looking forward to the continued meshing of the teams and it’ll be interesting to see where everyone ends up.

Until the Next Patrol,

Drama Geek of Dramas With a Side of Kimchi