Bad and Crazy is an action-filled K-drama that was released on December 17, 2021, and it aired on the tvN network until January 28 the following year. This twelve-episode series stars Lee Dong-wook as Ryu Soo-yeol, a corrupt detective, and Wi Ha-jun as his partner, K. You can watch this series now on platforms like Prime Video and iQIYI.
In the first episode, Ryu Soo-yeol is introduced as a highly successful but corrupt police inspector. He focuses only on cases that benefit his career, and he’s trying to gain favor with Assemblyman Do Yoo-gon (Lim Ki-hong).
K first appears in the series when Soo-yeol tries to cover up a case involving the assemblyman’s cousin, which prompts K to attack him and forces him to change his ways. Soo-yeol continues to experience K’s attacks, which causes chaos in his life. K encourages him to change his actions on the case, and Soo-yeol’s girlfriend Lee Hui-gyeom shows him the CCTV footage of his erratic behaviour and him assaulting other people.
This is when we discover the true identity of K. And after watching these first two episodes, I didn’t really understand the plot at first, and it was hard at first to figure out the role that K plays in the story.
Not until Episode 3, when Soo-yeol struggles to accept who K is in his life, did I start to realize what is actually going on here. Soo-yeol tries to keep K away from him by using various methods, but nothing really works.
During this conflict, the investigation of Do Yoo-gon intensifies, wherein Soo-yeol and K discover that the Assemblyman has been tied to a drug ring and the manipulation of evidence. Soo-yeol also receives the promotion he has always wanted and is transferred to the anti-corruption unit. A new character is eventually introduced, named Shin Ju-hyeok, played by Jung Sung-il.
Episodes 3 and 4 are the strongest ones, because a lot is happening in these episodes. They both filled me with a mix of emotions, and I was eager to find out what was going to happen next.
In Episodes 5 and 6, Soo-yeol and his team investigate a new murder case involving a brutal homicide that occurred years ago, and the case itself forces them to work with Shin Ju-hyeok, the counselor at the children’s center.
Soo-yeol himself begins to realize that his lost memories are tied to his childhood, including the children center and the murder case they are working on.
This all caused such a huge rollercoaster of emotions for me as a viewer. The revelations during these two episodes made me want to continue and watch the series in one go, because so many interesting events happen at each moment.
This is where I figured out why K has always been acting aggressively around Ju-hyeok, especially when Soo-yeol goes to him for therapy. The puzzle starts to connect together, and we come to understand the true effect that Ju-hyeok has had on Soo-yeol’s life.
Meanwhile in Episodes 7 and 8, the investigation reveals more truths about Ju-hyeok, and Soo-yeol and K work a lot harder to expose his true identity. These episodes for me were not that surprising, especially after everything that is revealed during the previous two episodes, so there wasn’t any “shock factor” here. But it is very interesting that Ju-hyeok is connected to so much in the story.
In Episode 9 and 10, Soo-yeol begins to recall some of his lost memories, which forces him to analyze the traumatic murder of his father from years ago. The return of Soo-yeol’s memories lead him to discover a connection between that murder case and other similar, unrelated cases, all pointing to a single person being involved.
Soo-yeol and the team also start to suspect that the therapist at the youth shelter, Shin Ju-hyuk, may be more involved than he appears. The ninth episode felt like a repeat, and they keep going back and focusing on the same thing over and over, which makes this episode pretty boring in my opinion.
The final two episodes revolve around revealing the true villain of this season. The last episode also reveals K’s true name. The final moments of the series made me emotional, especially during K’s farewell to Soo-yeol.
Overall, this K-drama itself made me feel a lot of emotions, and I honestly enjoyed watching it, knowing it was quite different from the normal romance K-dramas I’m used to seeing. And if you enjoy watching this series, I recommend you also watch Little Women and Tail of the Nine Tailed!
