Task Force 38 Episode 1-4 First Impression

Korean Drama: Task Force 38 (38 ????)
Network: OCN
Episodes: 16
Airs: Fridays & Saturdays
Leads: Seo In Guk (Hello Monster), Choi Soo Young (The Spring Day of My Life) and Ma Dong Seok

Synopsis:

A very honest person, Baek Sung Il used to have faith in the government and his job as a tax collector until all the corruption around him forces him to admit that the rich will always treat people like him as lowly bugs.

Unwilling to relent even when it would be smarter to let a particularly powerful tax evader off easy, Sung Il becomes even more disenfranchised as leaders in his own organization freely admit their "close friendship" with the tax evader.
Already having a difficult time at work, Sung Il's life hits an all time low when he is coned by a young kid while trying to use his measly savings to buy a used car.

Furious as he remembers the jeering voice of the conman, Sung Il eagerly accepts his cop friend's offer to catch the man for him. Dejected as he is hauled into the police station, the conman, Yang Jung Do (Seo In Guk) perks up when he overhears Sung Il complaining about a certain difficult tax evader. At first reluctant to accept Sung Il's suggestion that he would reclaim all the overdue taxes from the tax evader in exchange for his freedom, Sung Il quickly changes his mind once he finds out that he has been framed for bribery by the very same man.

With a difficult mission ahead of them, Jung do and Sung Il goes out recruiting for a team of "talents". Feeling like fish out of water as he meets the team Jung Do wants to assemble, Sung Il soon realizes that the young conman is not as simple as he looks.

Faced with the enormous task of using his brand new team to con a very skillful AND suspicious tax evader, Jung Do's mission soon gets even more difficult as unexpected obstacles keep showing up.

One of the most dicey obstacle is our heroine Chun Sung Hee (Choi Soo Young) who not only works with Sung Il as a fellow tax collector but is also Jung Do's ex-girlfriend.
In a flash back we see an impatient Jung Do coldly telling a crying Sung Hee that their relationship was all a con and that he would've never dated her if he realized she was poor. Convinced that Jung Do is pulling another con on her all too honest team leader, Sung Hee is determined to do everything she can to stop Jung Do.
There are hints already that Jung Do's feelings for Sung Hee was real and was most likely lying when he said he was trying to pull a con on her. 

Ninja's First Impression
Oppa!!! I really didn't think Seo In Guk was all that good looking when I first saw him in Reply 1994 but I have since repented my grave mistake. I will admit that the tax collector premise coupled with an Oceans 11 set up really wasn't enough for me to check this show out but once I saw Seo In Guk's face on the promo poster then I knew I had to at least give it a chance. 
I wouldn't call this one a comedy since it could get fairly tense and depressing at parts, but it does have plenty of laugh out loud scenes especially while the whole team takes turn trying to teach Sung Il how to be a conman. 
The first episode was kinda slow and depressing since it spent most of the time setting up the background of how utterly miserable Sung Il's life was. However, from episode two on, Task Force 38 has been getting better and better with each episode. The pacing is quite fast and the con jobs brilliant to watch. The vibe of Task Force 38 is not suave at all (even though it does have it's glamorous moments) especially if you compare it to shows that pattern after Oceans 11 but instead it's gritty and firmly situated in the lowest tier of the society...at least thus far. 

One thing I LOVE about this show is the interplay between the two male leads. Seo In Guk and Ma Dong Seok are so fun together that I don't even really care if we get much of a romance between Jung Do and Sung Hee. And THAT is a high praise coming from me who usually need pretty heavy romance to keep me watching. 

Long Story Short:
Story intriguing? Very!
Bromance? Check!
Romance? Not sure yet, but I think we will get plenty.
Beautiful Cast? Hmm...not exactly but who cares when Seo In Guk is in it!
Too many characters? No, the director does a awesome job on balancing the story.
Will I keep watching? Yap! 

All text copyright @ www.NinjaReflection.com

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