Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen

As a prominent member of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Police Force, Soo Yeol has made his way up the ranks by turning a blind eye to corrupt officials and powerful allies.  But one day he meets a crazy man, called “K”, who has no tolerance for dishonesty or wrong-doing.  K pushes Soo Yeol  to put aside his bad-boy image and work to become a better person.  And K’s uncanny ability to show up at just the right moment doesn’t give Soo Yeol a chance to slip back into bad habits.  But where did K come from and how does he seem to know Soo Eyol so well?

Wi Ha Joon as K

K is a mysterious stranger who suddenly begins showing up whenever Soo Yeol is in a bad situation.  He continues to push Soo Yeol to do the right thing, even when it means putting his own life in danger.  Even though K is aware that he is really just an alter-ego of Soo Yeol, he leaves Soo Yeol to discover that on his own. Once Soo Yeol becomes aware of who K really is, he and K agree to work together to expose the corruption that has been going on for years between the police department and city officials. But as Soo Yeol gets more in touch with this side of himself and begins to get his memory back, what will happen to K?

K is crazy and loveable.  He does everything with full enthusiasm and sees himself as a superhero.  His job is to step in and protect Soo Yeol whenever he is needed.  This character represents the good that is in Soo Yeol.  Wi Ha Joon was incredible in this role.  I found myself laughing almost every time he was onscreen.  He was funny and yet so sincere.  The interactions between he and Lee Dong Wook were the best part of this drama, and Wi Ha Joon played it perfectly.

Cha Hak Yeon as Oh Kyung Tae

Oh Kyung Tae is a rookie police officer whose determination to help a little girl find her missing mother leads to our villains eventually getting caught.  He is honest and hard working.  He is transferred into the Anti-Corruption Unit to work with Soo Yeol and Jae Seon.  He adopts Jae Seon as his mentor and the two have a very cute relationship.  Some even refer to Kyung Tae jokingly as Jae Seon’s “wife”!

♥ Wi Ha Joon

Wi Ha Joon gave such a stand out performance in this drama.  He is charming, funny, and endearing all at the same time.  There are a lot of ways they could have played this alter-ego, but I loved how they created a whole new character for him.  The energy he put into this role actually made Soo Yeol’s character seem more likeable and understandable.  I love a good bromance story and this one was fun from start to finish. 

 ♥ Separate Actors for Personalities

Split personalities are usually just the main actor with a different hairstyle or glasses.  It gives the lead actor a great opportunity to show their duality but it doesn’t really feel like two individual characters.  The decision to bring in a totally different actor to play Soo Yeol’s alter ego was unique and engaging.  Doing this gave the leads a way to intereact and build a relationship that wouldn’t have been possible if one actor had tried to carry both roles.  

Parade of Villains

This drama took a weird approach with their villains.  As each one toppled, they revealed the next one, like a Matryoshka doll, until they finally got to the final villain, Boss Yong.  Unfortunately, these villains got kind of jumbled together so it was hard to remember who was who and what their connection to the others was.  Also, Boss Yong was such a unique and mysterious character that she could have been a leading role.  I would have liked to see more of a focus on her and her operation.  The other villains and their stories hardly seem relevant in contrast to her strong screen presence.   

Yoon Ho’s Profession

So how did the poor, orphan Yoon Ho suddenly become the esteemed Dr. Shin Joo Hyuk?  Even if he had stolen someone’s identity, he had to learn enough to treat patients and earn a reputation that made the police department trust and recommend him.  That feels like an awfully big jump to me.  It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you can just make happen.  

“Bad and Crazy” ends with the same energy and chaos it began with.  Soo Yeol escapes the mental hospital, with help from K, of course.  He ends up confronting Joo Hyuk and having to pull Jung Hoon out of a burning house.  Soo Yeol wakes up in the hospital, surrounded by his friends who assure him that Jung Hoon is fine and Joo Hyuk, now Yoon Ho again, has been arrested.  Later Soo Yeol walks away from his chance to be reinstated because he refuses to deny that K existed.  We see him working with his brother at the pizza restaurant.  But after a visit from Hee Gyeom, he decides to go back to work and hints that he would like her to stay in his unit.  It seems like the couple are on the road to reconciliation, as if we had any doubts.  Yoon Ho’s lawyer offers to claim mental trauma in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence, but Yoon Ho refuses.  Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like he is able to stand trial, since Yong follows him into the bathroom at the court house and strangles him as revenge for what he did to Andrei.  One year later we see Soo Yeol back at the club where the politicians hang out and do business.  It looks like Soo Yeol is accepting a bribe until he suddenly grabs his phone to snap a picture and his team comes rushing in to back him up.  He is no longer willing to turn a blind eye to corruption.   The final scene mimics the beginning, with Soo Yeol rushing to the corrupt commissioner to call him out.  With a shout, he flies down the stair and launches into a flying kick, straight to the commissioners face.