Seoul Busters: Episodes 11-12
by lovepark
Love is in the air, but so are scams. As our detectives work on a new case, we get a glimpse into their past relationships from the tender moments to the ugly ends. While our heroes might not be so lucky when it comes to romance, the bonds they share with each other grow stronger by the day.
EPISODES 11-12
The theme this week is love, or more specifically, the crazy things people do for it like sending millions of won to a person you’ve never met. The latest victim is a woman caught in a romance scam whom the detectives found breaking and entering into someone’s home. The case strikes a nerve for Min-seo and Joong-ryuk, in particular, so Yoo-bin makes them work together to solve it.
Our hunch-based detective and his junior hothead know the woes of a broken heart since they both experienced a failed relationship. In fact, Min-seo recently bumped into her ex-boyfriend in the men’s restroom and learned that he was getting married. He asked if she was seeing anyone, and in order to save face, she lied about having a boyfriend who may or may not be a fellow detective. As for Joong-ryuk, he was breaking another heart one floor down, claiming that love was like snow: only beautiful when it first falls.
As our two detectives grab a late-night meal after working on the case, they reminisce about their first encounter which happened to involve her ex. While on traffic duty, Min-seo witnessed her then-boyfriend celebrating his 50-day anniversary with her friend (the one he is marrying in the present). Rather than apologize for cheating, the jerk yelled at Min-seo that he tolerated her all these years even though she was the one financially supporting him. Enraged, she shot her taser at him, but Joong-ryuk managed to block it in time, saving her career in exchange for his dignity.
One bottle of soju turns to five, and an inebriated Joong-ryuk shares his love story as well. While chasing a culprit through the streets, he locked eyes with a shop owner and fell for her at first sight. He then crashed a local event to serenade her, but as we all know, their relationship didn’t last, either.
While their romances might have been a bust, at least their latest case goes better for them as our detectives uncover the scammer’s pattern of money withdrawals. They go undercover on the streets as restaurant owners, an evangelist, and a yogurt lady — but some of their disguises are bit too convincing as a group of children and adults demand free food as advertised on the fliers.
Word of the romance scam gets out, and Yoo-bin’s old classmate, who is now a professor at the police academy, wants to feature the case for an upcoming segment on his TV show. Though our captain isn’t thrilled about the idea, he allows them to film his crew, but I doubt any of the footage is useable since all the detectives either stumble over their words or recite them in a staccato voice. The worst offenders, however, are Yoo-bin and the professor who argue nonstop using technical jargon that puts everyone in the room to sleep.
Since their previous undercover plan failed, Min-seo attempts to scam the scammer by creating a fake dating profile, and their target falls for the bait. After a heated debate over texting “haha” or “hehe” — in which old-timer Yoo-bin is overruled — Min-seo catches their prey within a day. They schedule a face-to-face meeting for the hand-off, but at the café, a lackey shows up instead, blowing Min-seo’s cover.
The team hit another roadblock, but undeterred, Min-seo suggests looking into the burner phone the scammer used to contact his lackey. Teaming up once again with Joong-ryuk, they disguise themselves as homeless people to trap the middlemen, but as fate would have it (or in this case, the sitcom overlords), our still-employed-and-not-penniless detective crosses path with his ex-lover.
The reason they broke up all those years ago was because his girlfriend’s mother met a child shaman who foresaw ruin in Joong-ryuk’s future. Despite enduring cold snow for their approval, his girlfriend eventually relented and broke up with him. From that moment, his heart was forever torn in two and sexy Joong-ryuk was born.
In his current state, it appears as if the shaman’s prediction came true, and while his ex-girlfriend expresses a mix of sympathy and relief — her parents weren’t wrong after all — our forlorn detective maintains his ruse for the sake of the case. She hands him some money to buy himself a warm meal, and Joong-ryuk loses his one true love a second time.
At the phone scammers’ hideout, Joong-ryuk knocks everyone out, including their thuggish boss, and then buys the other homeless people a meal while looking through the many stolen ID cards for their target. Thankfully, our detective’s sacrifice paid off since they find a name and a location, but by the time they arrive at the culprit’s office, he closed down his operations. At first, it looks to be another dead-end, but Yoo-bin notices a wedding invitation, the scammer’s to be exact.
The team crash the wedding hall, saving the unsuspecting bribe from losing another billion won to this scammer, and with some impressive plate throwing skills by Yoo-bin, they arrest him and his accomplices. As the crew wrap up the case, they bump into Min-seo’s ex, and he assumes that she is here for his wedding. She tells him that it was a coincidence and introduces her team, forgetting the little lie she told him before about having a boyfriend.
Though Min-seo turns down her ex’s invitation to grab a meal, the rest of her teammates accept since they plan to eat until he files for bankruptcy as revenge for what he did to her, and even logical Yoo-bin joins in on their unrealistic goal. However, eating mountains of food isn’t enough for our crew, so when our loyal detectives each run into the groom, they pretend to be Min-seo’s boyfriend. It’s absolutely glorious and embarrassing all at the same time.
Only Yoo-bin doesn’t lie about dating Min-seo, and instead, he shows her support in his own quirky way. Using his observation skills, he analyzes her ex-boyfriend as an alcoholic with tennis elbow who is cheating on his bride and tells her that she dodged a bullet. Embarrassed, Min-seo pretends to not care, but as she watches her teammates turn food stacking into an art, she finally laughs.
As the episode ends, the show teases a future plot line with Yoo-bin watching his friend’s TV segment on cold cases. It reminds him of his ex-girlfriend — a doctor he dated while studying in the States — and the creepy volunteer who hit on her back then is in Korea, taking non-consensual photos of minors.
This week was about love — heartaches and all — but the true standout was the love between our ridiculous detectives. The camaraderie on the team has always been the highlight of the show, and the way they each tried to cheer up Min-seo, which somehow failed and succeeded at the same time, captured their charm perfectly. Tan-shik’s “I’m her much younger boyfriend” declaration, Jung-hwan’s inability to hide his marital status, Joong-ryuk’s schoolyard note threatening to beat up her ex, and finally Yoo-bin’s scarily accurate observations were all hilariously in-character and such a wonderful way to show how much they care for her. I also like the more throwaway moments like the filming scene where the detectives compliment each other for acting so “natural” because while the audience can laugh at their antics, the characters, themselves, are supportive of each other and unaware of their general silliness.
They’re a wacky but endearing bunch, and with each passing episode, I find the jokes funnier and the characters more lovable. The case solving was fun (still ridiculous but not egregious), and the less violent nature of the crime definitely helped balance the tone. The character driven through lines also kept the plot cohesive, and the delivery of the jokes in these two episodes were more assured creating a tighter pace overall. At this rate, Seoul Busters may actually be more than a decent sitcom. It’s surprisingly heartfelt and witty with a strong sense of its characters’ charms, and somehow, despite my misgivings, the show has found its footing.
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Tags: Kim Dong-wook, Lee Seung-woo, Park Ji-hwan, Park Se-wan, Seo Hyun-woo, Seoul Busters
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1 Kurama
October 10, 2024 at 11:49 PM
The heart of the drama is the team how they care for each other!
The investigations are not so interesting. They were low budget to get one woman doing all the scientic stuff? Does she sleep?
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2 tabong
October 11, 2024 at 1:57 AM
I'll say it again: I loved these episodes. I love this show. It makes me smile. It improves my nights (or days, it depends).
Btw, uri Min Seo's username in the dating app was a reference to her drama So Not Worth It (OG title: I wish the world would be destroyed —or something like that). And that show was directed by the PD of High Kick, so our girl has worked with the whole team (director and writers of the show).
I just have one question: That scene of Joong Ryuk under the snow and his girlfriend with the umbrella... where have I seen that? Which drama? I can't remember. Maybe it was a movie? They love making movie references too... Anyway, it was a fun scene. But my favorite moment of the week was all the boys saying they're Min Seo's boyfriends.
I especially loved the "hi, honey. How are the kids?" that came after JH's turn. 😂
PS. Thanks for the recap lovepark! Nice to see you're enjoying this more and more. Welcome to the club. 😉
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3 hacja
October 11, 2024 at 9:13 AM
The cases and, for me even some of the humor took a back seat in these two episodes--although I did find the heaping plates of food funny--but that's okay, these episodes were still light and enjoyable. I do like the dynamic of the team, and so far only episodes 3 and 4 got too seriously sentimental for me.
My opinion of Kim Dong-wook as an actor has totally changed because of this show. In the 3 previous shows I saw him in, I found him really stiff even when he was supposed to be emotional. In this one, he is playing Yoo bin as funnily nerdy, and a really appealing character. In fact I'd be rooting for Yoo-bin to get together with Min-seo because the actors have such a good comic dynamic together--plus a little romantic chemistry!
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Dylan [Suffering from Judge from Hell brainrot]
October 12, 2024 at 8:52 PM
Glad to see I’m not the only who noticed the chemistry - perhaps romantic - between Minseo and Yubin!
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4 Britney
October 11, 2024 at 9:29 AM
Wow, trash really is just trash to the core. How are you texting your side piece AT your WEDDING?! The audacity. On both sides because why is the side piece even there?! Why even get married if this is how you're gonna be?
I did not understand the stocking up on food. I know it was somehow a show of support but if the place was catered by the bride's family, there was some kind of ticket meal plan, and Seo Min Seo gave money, the bride's family is still the winners here.
The case was forgettable. I don't even know how they went from burner phone to homeless cover.
I was more curious about whether the kid got his free sweet & sour pork.
I think I really am allergic to romance cause I don't care nothin about those arcs. However long the older detective's love story was was too long for me.
I try, at least I think I do, to be understanding how people can fall for these scams but sometimes they just seem so crazy. Like how do you give THOUSANDS of dollars to a guy you've never seen or gotten their name? Or plan to get married.
But sure, I guess it's easy to get caught up and manipulated. Good scammers are good at it for a reason.
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Dylan [Suffering from Judge from Hell brainrot]
October 12, 2024 at 8:54 PM
Yeah, I was so confused. Why was it necessary for them to be homeless again? How did they make that connection with the phone scammers? Ik it was to move characters from A to B, but it was such a wild transition.
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5 jillian
October 11, 2024 at 1:47 PM
I agree that the best part of this show is the growing camaraderie of our team.
I love how this team has come together and support one another each. It culminates to the dinner scene in the end when each member made it a point to eat as much as they can for revenge on the awful ex.
Omg the scene with the stacks of food being carried by JoongRyeok and Jung Hwan. While Tansik follows in the background with a food cart with more plates full with more food looking so happy. It was hilarious. YooBin was sweet in his own way as he shared his own observation and thoughts to Min Seo. I can't help but root for this team.
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6 Samrat Nandy
October 12, 2024 at 7:55 AM
Does anyone know the name of the song played in background when minseo ' s breakup with her ex was shown ?? Please
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7 Dylan [Suffering from Judge from Hell brainrot]
October 12, 2024 at 8:51 PM
Finally caught up with all episodes and it was so worth it. I do feel like the jokes are fewer and less funny from ep. 4 on, but when they hit, they hit. My fav part tho is the endearing bonds between all the characters - I think all her coworkers saying they’re her boyfriend was the highlight of the drama so far.
(Am I the only one who ships Minseo and Yu-bin?)
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