Chief Detective 1958: Episodes 9-10 (Final)

by lovepark

The prequel to the decades-long series comes to a boisterous finale filled with nostalgic callbacks and a strong sense of justice. From beginning to end, the show maintained its zippy pace and wacky tone. While superficial on some level, Chief Detective 1958 always portrayed itself as a more fun than serious affair, and judging on that metric, I think the drama delivered a satisfying conclusion.

 
EPISODES 9-10

The last two episodes of Chief Detective breaks its mold a bit by devoting both hours to one case. Foreshadowed in previous weeks, we finally delve into the four notorious scions — a group of depraved womanizers drunk on their daddies’ power. Their infamy is widespread in the police department, but their luck runs out when their debauchery catches the attention of unit one. For months, women at a factory have gone missing, and though a friend of Officer Bong reported it a while ago, unit two dismissed it as mere runaways.

As expected, the four scions are behind the disappearances, but their usual bravado means nothing in the face of our incorruptible heroes. Alas, without evidence, arrests are useless since Superintendent Baek releases them immediately. However, the case turns grave when the latest missing person is found dead at the bottom of a mountain. Signs of violence, both physical and sexual, are apparent on the victim, and all clues point towards the obvious culprits.

In hopes of finding undeniable proof of the scions’ sins, Young-han and his crew head over to their usual spot, Mokryeongak: a place where the rich and powerful rub elbows while drinking and reveling in more carnal pleasures. The owner greets them with a smile and a rehearsed lie, but when one of her employees vouches for their integrity, her tune changes. She reveals the truth about the scions’ revolting behavior and asks the detectives to fulfill her dreams of revenge.

Just as our heroes make some progress with the case, an unexpected hitch occurs. Due to Young-han’s meddling, unease spreads amongst the scions, and like all relationships built on greed and exploitation, they quickly turn on each other and vie for control. Of the four, the youngest seems out of place with his glasses and meek persona, but these are simply a mask to hide his true, twisted nature. After causing a scene with his hyungs who blame him for their predicament, Glasses orchestrates an accident to murder the others, but unfortunately for him, one of them survives the crash.

At first, Young-han assumes it was divine punishment, but it seems odd to him that the worst of the bunch was miraculously absent. When it dawns on him that Glasses is the mastermind, he realizes that the surviving member is in danger, so he places Officer Nam (one of the detectives who joins unit one later in the original series) undercover to keep an eye on their witness. The bad guys are predictable as always, but thankfully, Young-han and his team are ready when Glasses swoops in to finish the job. With some blanket rope and brute strength, Young-han crashes into the hospital room and arrests the culprit in the nick of time.

Thanks to their efforts, our heroes learn from the surviving member that Glasses is the killer, but despite nearly dying twice, he still won’t testify in court. With this, the team hits another dead end until Officer Bong comes to the rescue. Investigating on her own, she found the other missing women and set up a meeting for Young-han. Like the surviving member, the victims refuse to testify for fear of retaliation, but when they read a note from the murdered colleague’s mother, they agree to help. However, one of the victims tells Young-han that the superintendent threatened to kill her if she ever reported the incident, so our hero promises to put everyone behind bars, including his boss.

Beyond the typical bribes and blind eyes, Superintendent Baek took things too far this time by actively helping the scions dispose of the dead body in exchange for ousting the deputy director from his seat. He even covered up the crash as an accident, but his partnership with Glasses is short-lived since Superintendent Baek has no desire to fall with his bumbling accomplice. Instead, he goes directly to the dad to strike a deal, but as the saying goes, there’s no honor among thieves.

A chain reaction of backstabs leads to a shootout in the middle of a cathedral, and though the superintendent and his lackey are severely outnumbered, they easily hold back their foes. By the time unit one arrives on the scene — thanks to Officer Nam witnessing the lackey kidnap the surviving member — both sides are at a standstill. In a strange turn of events, unit two joins the fight, assisting Young-han’s team with evacuating bystanders, which allows our heroes to chase after their targets.

Sang-soon and Kyung-hwan team up to fight the lackey whom they’ve had beef with since his introduction, and with their combined effort, they manage to take him down after a few stabs and cuts. To even things out, Sang-soon bites his ear for good measure, making sure the lackey will remember the mad dog and brown bear for years to come. As for Young-han, he chases after the superintendent who takes a pregnant woman as a hostage, and the parallels between this situation and the one from his soldier days aren’t lost on either of them. Like the past, Young-han refuses to let harm befall a civilian, and the superintendent laughs at his naivety.

As Young-han lowers his gun and kicks it towards the superintendent, Ho-jung jumps from the shadows on his leader’s command and knocks him off guard. His surprise attack gives the hostage enough time to escape, but the superintendent is unfazed by the tackle and pommels the younger officer. He then shoots Young-han in the shoulder, but when he tries to finish them off, he runs out of ammo. This hinderance hardly poses a problem for the superintendent who resorts to his fists, and for a moment, he overpowers the two detectives. However, Young-han manages to grab his discarded gun, and in the face of a loaded barrel, the superintendent knows defeat when he sees it.

The surviving member, lackey, and Glasses all end up in jail ready to face their punishments, and as for Superintendent Baek, we see him right before his execution, leaving this world without any last words. As news of their fates hits the airwaves, everyone at the police station celebrates their victory, but amidst the cheers, the camera pans down to an article about President Park Chung-hee (the controversial military dictator) and Young-han sheds a tear. Not very subtle with the dig, but the show has always been heavy-headed with its social commentary.

In the grand scheme of things, our heroes feel the weight of their losses more than their successes since the world never seems to change, but Hye-joo reminds her husband of all the good he accomplished and the potential victims he saved. It’s enough motivation to keep our detectives moving forward — plus it doesn’t hurt that the new superintendent is now Chief Yoo, which means unit one needs a new leader. Donning his iconic trench coat and playing the classic bgm, Young-han steps into his role as chief detective, but before they can party, duty calls.

The show then jumps to the present, and just as it started with the original chief detective, it ends with him, too. After visiting some reformed criminals he once arrested, Young-han makes the journey to a cemetery where his old friends lay to rest. He places a flower on each of their graves, and there’s something extra poignant about this scene knowing that actor Choi Bool-am is the last surviving cast member. He gives them all a salute and then waves goodbye.

Each member of unit one gets a quick montage, and watching these highlights, I’m reminded again of the show’s charm. Absurd and wild, Chief Detective 1958 may not have been groundbreaking, but it was definitely entertaining. The clear black-and-white approach to justice created a fast pace that allowed the show to cover an array of topics and historical events. In place of depth, it chose breadth, yet the lack of nuance didn’t bother me because of the show’s deliberate choice to prioritize variety. It never presented itself as something more, which set expectations right out of the gate.

As a result, even some of the more unbelievable coincidences and situations this week made me chuckle rather than sigh because how can things get more ridiculous than a detective dropping a bag of snakes in a room of gangsters or a newbie officer throwing a stick of dynamite under his boss’s car on the first day of work? Maybe Officer Nam is simply the fastest biker in the world or the lackey is the slowest driver. Heck, if unit two can experience a change of heart in the last hour, anything is possible! Granted, that last one did irk me a little for how it was handled (I kept expecting them to betray the chief somehow), but it’s a minor complaint that, in all honesty, the show is riddled with if you look too closely.

While I would never describe Chief Detective 1958 as a masterpiece, I think there’s a time and place for everything, and in this case, this drama came to me at the right moment. In fact, knowing some of the political climate in Korea and the current image of MBC probably gave the show more grace than it deserved, but I’ve always had a soft spot for underdog tales, especially ones that tackle a corrupt society and government. In the end, the show was an homage to a classic series, but rather than be burdened by the prominence of the original, the prequel paved its own way with a clear message. The world may not have changed much from 1958 and the problems of the past are still relevant to today, but hopefully people like Young-han, Sang-soon, Kyung-hwan, Ho-jung, and Chief Yoo exist in the world somewhere, fighting for justice in their little corners and making a difference one life at a time.

 
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