Good Boy Review
Director: Shim Na-yeon
Date Created: 2025-07-21 20:19
4.5
Good Boy Review: Penned by Lee Dae-il and directed by Shim Na-yeon, and starring powerhouse cast members Park Bo-gum, Kim So-hyun, Oh Jung-se, Lee Sang-yi, Tae Won-seok and Heo Sung-tae. At first glance, the series feels like it is another over-the-top K-drama with dirty police and justice-karma. But as the episodes progress, Gusboi is much more complex — a character-driven, emotionally anchored story of justice, trauma, and redemption. At 16 tightly knit episodes, it is one of the more ambitious, satisfying Korean dramas of 2025.
Prime Video’s Good Boy ( 굿보이) narrative revolves around Olympic medal winners who are recruited into the police force by a special bureau. Trusted heroes of the tracks, they are now working for a violent crimes unit, dealing with the grubby reality of corruption and violence. Their emotional centre is Yoon Dong-ju (Park Bo-gum), a gold-medal boxer with a hardening sense of justice, whose evolution from idealistic policeman to avenger is the emotional centre of the series.
Accompanied by him are Ji Han-na (Kim So-hyun), an Olympic shooter who won a medal whose personal tragedy remains etched in her memory, and Kim Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi), a fencing athlete who became a police officer whose wounds run deeper than pride, among others whose company they share and bleed on the job.
Good Boy Review
The Korean drama Good Boy manages to balance big-action thrills with richly human sequences. It begins with streamlined action and snappy dialogue between buddies, and then slowly the tone changes. Every episode raises the emotional stakes higher — broaching sorrow, loyalty, PTSD, and institutional betrayal. To those in anticipation of a run-of-the-mill action-thriller, caveat emptor: this drama is more emotionally richer than twisty. It’s not about last-minute surprises; it’s about seeing its characters break, rebuild, and rediscover themselves.
One of the greatest things about this Kdrama is the way it gets its cast to call up an assortment of colours of heroism. Dong-ju becoming a vigilante outlaw doesn’t seem ultimately irresponsible — it seems horribly earned. His body might be almost destroyed, but his sense of right and wrong is painfully upheld. Ji Han-na, on the other hand, though poised and talented, never quite receives the complete fleshing out her on-screen time merited. Her romance with Dong-ju is nice enough but half-cooked, being upstaged more often than not by the emotional pull elsewhere on the show.
What keeps Good Boy Korean Drama good are the performances, and particularly Park Bo-gum and Oh Jung-se. Park, best known for his work in When Life Gives You Tangerines, Reply 1988, Encounter and others, gives Dong-ju a vulnerability and raw grit that’s not typical of Korean drama. He’s not some gruff-around-the-edges fighter fighting his way out of bad situations — he’s haunted, emotionally tormented, and stubborn to the point of fault. His hurt isn’t merely physical — it’s psychological and ethical.
And then there’s Oh Jung-se, giving possibly the most unnerving performance of his life as Min Ju-yeong. Far from a one-dimensional cardboard cutout of a villain, Ju-yeong is icily frightening in his cold-eyed ruthlessness and unshakeable narcissism. His exchanges with Dong-ju — usually wordless, strained, and brutally to-the-point — are some of the most powerful in the show. He’s the sort of evil antagonist that you catch yourself needing to be against with every part of your soul, not because he’s evil, but because writing and performing make his ultimate fall so achingly real.
Lee Sang-yi’s Kim Jong-hyeon is endearing and funny. His bromance with Dong-ju is more interesting than the romance sub-plot and a relief to watch amid the dark scenes of the show. Heo Sung-tae’s team leader Ko Man-sik is also wonderful for his understated portrayal of a veteran policeman holding on to ideals in a system that is rotten to its core.
The Kdrama Good Boy prose is lean and forceful, a consistent trait of all the episodes. Every fight, every betrayal, and every moral quandary rings true. With that said, the series definitely had flaws. Some of the battles strain credulity to the breaking point — like Dong-ju bouncing back from near-fatal brawls with no more than a bruise the following day. There are also situations where the description exceeds reality, for example, the ease with which Dong-ju is set up for possession of drugs in the public avenue at high noon with apparently no bystander intervening.
Aside from these nitpicks, the show never stumbles. The pacing makes good on both character development and plotting fare. The emotional payoff is high, especially as the later episodes grapple with questions of justice and vengeance and what it truly means to “win” if the system is stacked against you.
Korean Drama Good Boy Review: Summing Up
If you like your stories with slow tension, dense character building, and a creepily realistic antagonist, then Good Boy Kdrama is well worth your time. This series stands out for its unapologetic blend of action, soul, and social commentary. It’s not just another crime drama — it’s a very personal story about malfunctioning systems, malfunctioning people, and how much courage it takes to fight for what is right.
Also Read: Good Boy Ending Explained: What Happened to Min Ju-yeong? Did Dong-ju and His Team Arrest Him?
