Seoul Busters: Episodes 5-6

by lovepark

A chicken shop burns down to the ground, and it’s up to our detectives to figure out who did it. With four suspects on their radar, opinions are divided, and complicated personal histories cloud some of our heroes’ judgement. However, our team leader isn’t easily swept away by emotions unlike others, so with his guidance, they may actually solve this case, too.

 
EPISODES 5-6

This week takes a more traditional storytelling route with a dash of absurd humor as our violent crimes unit investigates the case of the chicken shop fire. After gathering some intel, they narrow down the suspect list to four people: the daughter’s stalker ex-boyfriend, a rival chicken shop owner, the landlord, and Joong-ryuk’s old coach. Tan-shik is tasked with scheduling everyone to come into the station to give statements, so the clueless maknae creates a group chat with all four individuals, booking them all at the same time.

Thanks to Tan-shik’s mistake, the group splits up to handle each of their suspects, and Min-seo is in charge of the landlord. He took out four fire policies on the building which seems suspiciously high, but as it turns out, the landlord is a cheating poet who was simply trying to curry favor with an insurance lady. As for the rival chicken shop owner, Tan-shik learns that, contrary to his scary appearance, the man is afraid of fire because of a childhood accident that left his face scarred.

While most of the suspects came in of their own volition, Joong-ryuk had to pull some favors to find the ex-boyfriend and dragged him back to the station with a bit of force. The ex-boyfriend’s lawyer makes it clear that they will be filing a complaint against the department, but Joong-ryuk ignores the threat since he is convinced the ex-boyfriend is their culprit. He explains his theory of that night, but the ex-boyfriend calls them incompetent since they got the story wrong. Losing his cool, he confesses to stalking his ex, but he lost her trail that night and went gambling instead.

That leaves only the coach left on their list, and Joong-ryuk breaks rank to challenge Yoo-bin’s orders. As tensions rise, Min-seo interrupts to notify them that the daughter woke up, so Yoo-bin puts the interview on hold and heads over to the hospital with Joong-ryuk. They hear from the doctor that the daughter may not regain her memories because of her injuries, and while Yoo-bin understands all the jargon thanks to his studies abroad, the English terms fly over Joong-ryuk’s head.

Though the ex-boyfriend kept his word and sent in a complaint, Yoo-bin assures his team to ignore their chief and focus on the case. Alas, it seems they may have to start from scratch since all four of their suspects have alibis for that night, proving that none of them were at the scene of the crime. Despite that, Yoo-bin finds the coach’s behavior odd, noting how he asked about arson before his daughter’s safety during his initial interview and took home his medal from the shop before the night of the fire.

Joong-ryuk feels conflicted over the case, and lost in his thoughts, he knocks over a sand castle two little girls have been working on for six months — intricate blueprints included. He still hasn’t made up his mind by the time the team reconvenes for another meeting (led by Tan-shik who spent way too much time on his presentation), and when Yoo-bin takes him off the case, he doesn’t object. Feeling dejected, he sulks at his mother’s restaurant, but she reminds him to stop overcomplicating things: all he needs to do is catch the bad guy.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team digs into the coach’s history and discovers that he was straddled with debt and paid for all his good reviews. However, Min-seo learns from the insurance company that even if the coach received the payout, the total sum would have barely covered his current loans. They agree that the coach doesn’t have a good enough motive to burn down his restaurant, and Yoo-bin ponders over this conundrum while shaking his bowl of noodles.

Clearing his head, Joong-ryuk puts his personal feelings aside and resumes his duties as a detective. After receiving a tip about the case which turned out to be a trap, Joong-ryuk beats up a gang of thugs and arrests the ex-boyfriend for hiring people to attack him. He then meets up with his old colleague who informs him that the coach invested in crypto, and once he gathers more evidence, Joong-ryuk hands over all his findings to Yoo-bin.

In the midst of the arson case, Jung-hwan has been busy with his own side quest, hoping to procure a T-Rex figure for his daughter’s birthday. Though he found one at the station, another boy took it, so Jung-hwan bargains with the child after fruitlessly searching other stores. The boy initially agrees to hand him the toy if he imitates a dinosaur, and while Jung-hwan puts his soul into his performance, the boy asks for another favor: win him a prize from the shooting game run by a Chow Yun-fat copycat. Thankfully, Jung-hwan is an impressive marksman and saves his daughter’s birthday with his shooting skills.

After multiple cups of coffee and a sleepless night, Yoo-bin finally figures out the case. He pays a visit to the gym where the part-timer trains and asks the young man how he knew the daughter was inside. When he is unable to answer, Yoo-bin brings him in to the station and chooses Min-seo to question him. Her ability to empathize with others proves useful in this situation, and her kind heart makes the part-timer open up about what happened.

Despite being a troubled teen, the coach took him under his wing, and the part-timer felt grateful for everything he did for him. As a result, when the coach dropped by his house drunk one night with a favor, the part-timer agreed to help. Unfortunately, the daughter caught the part-timer in the middle of starting the fire, and during their tussle, they knocked over an oil can and she slipped.

Before arresting the coach, Joong-ryuk calls him out to the gym and asks him to practice for old times’ sake. While throwing some punches, he reminds his coach that he used to say that he loved boxing because there was always a way to make a comeback even when cornered. However, Joong-ryuk admits that he never liked the sport and only made it this far because of his coach. He realized that he never thanked him, so finally, after all these years, he thanks him and tells him not to give up. Once Joong-ryuk leaves, Jung-hwan and Yoo-bin enter to arrest the coach.

With a heavy heart, the case is closed, and in the office, Min-seo removes the commemorative photo they took in the chicken shop given all that has happened. Yoo-bin, however, catches her in the act and orders her to keep it up since it’s their first picture together. Then, taking a better look at the photo, he figures out the real reason she wanted to get rid of it and mimics her face. With a scowl, Min-seo wonders how he figured it out.

If the premiere week felt too wacky and haphazard for you, then I think these two episodes could be a better fit. The tone and the length of the jokes were more subdued, and since the character introductions were out of the way, the case took center stage. In a way, the show became a more typical cop procedural with its list of suspects and investigation, and in exchange for some of its more exaggerated silliness, the show felt more cohesive and well-paced.

While I appreciated the lack of vomit jokes this week, I did find the arson case a bit more cut and dry which made the more emotional beats feel forced rather than earned. It was a bit too sentimental for my taste, and though there were some marked improvements in certain areas, I think the show still hasn’t quite found its sweet spot. A mix of last week’s zany energy with this week’s delivery may offer the best of both worlds, so I’m still holding onto hope that this sitcom will eventually find its footing.

 
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