Good Boy – K-drama Episode 9 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

a day ago

Allez
Episode 9 of Good Boy starts with us back in Sao Paulo in 2018. Jong-hyeon has twisted his ankle here, thanks in part to saving Han-na from speeding traffic on the road earlier in the timeline. This is what aggravated the injury to begin with and eventually leads to his eye being hit. Jong-hyeon receives medical attention but he's determined to carry on no matter what.
Back in the present, this fighting spirit serves him well as all our team go up against tough battles. Ju-young has rallied the troops with a lot of men at his disposal and unfortunately Jae-hong is soon knocked out.
Dong-ju speeds off to save the rest of the team while Han-na holds her own with the shotgun, which comes in very handy to stave off the baddies for a bit. Dong-ju races in to save Jong-hyeon, who's in a spot of bother with Baek, who swings wildly with his knife.
Unfortunately, their spirit is not good enough as the group are left to lick their wounds thanks to Ju-young and his cronies coming in and turning the tide. They also take off with the drugs too, with the tracker ripped off the van.
Jae-hong is taken to hospital in the aftermath of this, having hurt his back quite badly, while it appears Han-na has been taken too. In reality, she's in hot pursuit of the truck and clings onto the top, determined to try and stop the group no matter what.
With the team light on manpower, it's up to Joon-hyeon and Dong-ju to find Han-na before it's too late. Han-na throws her shoes and various bits of clothing to help show the way at intersections as the pair race off and eventually track down the truck.
Unfortunately, it's immediately clear from the tyre marks on the ground that the package has been split into different trucks to throw them off the scent. A glove helps give a crucial clue, with Han-na marking the reg plate – 4131.
With this crucial intel, the group head back to the station intent on using the CCTV footage to track down where the truck is. With a potential mole at the police station, Man-sik instead brings them to Insung Pawnshop instead.
With the help of Geum-nam, they track down our bald eagle, Gwang-se. With drugs stashed in his teddy bear, he makes them pinky-swear to protect him before mentioning that Ju-young and his group are dealing with some Japanese guys. The Golden bunny initially frinted this, as he used to head all the deals with the Yakuza.
Jong-hyeon and Dong-ju question Golden Bunny, who has very clearly been visited by Ju-young and forced into silent submission. It's clear from the metal teeth he places down that Ju-young has been visiting his brother, Silver Bunny.
Dong-ju is convinced they need to focus their efforts on finding Han-na before raising hell. He's starting to think a lot more like an officer here, but of course he also has his neurological issues to contend with too, which continue to flare up across the episode.
Ju-young is definitely dealing with the Japanese Yakuza here, as he tries to broker a deal with a Japanese businessman. He wants to send the goods out to him in parts and attempts to try and bridge the mistrust. To prove how serious he is, Ju-young kills the man's interpreter and forces the deal through.
Unbeknownst to the gang, Han-na is actually hiding amongst the goods as it's smuggled onboard the ships. Whilst there, she overhears Leo calling Yeon-ha his 'black cat' and realizes exactly who these gangsters are.
Han-na continues to investigate but while spying on Yeon-ha and Leo, she's blindsided by Ju-young who knocks her out with Baek. They don't find anything on her (given she's thrown it all off the truck for Dong-ju and Jong-hyeon), and they don't kill her either. Instead, they lock her up in a container, with a couple of dead bodies, with the promise of dropping her in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Before she's left to her fate, Han-na speaks to Leo. She brings up the case involving her father, Ji Ho-cheol, and we finally see that he's the one who killed her dad.
Although Han-na is left to her fate, she does manage to smuggle a phone from one of the goons, where she makes a desperate call to the emergency services, despite the bad signal.
Our group thankfully manage to decipher it and race to Geumpo Shipyard, onto a Russian ship called the Victory.
The group race off to try and track her down, using Gwang-se as bait to sneak onboard the ship and bypass all the goons. Dong-ju manages to find Han-na inside the container, thanks in part to Jong-hyeon, as he holds off the goons and gives them time to escape.
Unfortunately, Baek winds up stabbing Jong-hyeon in the gut, slowing them down, while Dong-ju detours and heads on inside the ship with the others. Unfortunately there are too many men surrounding them so Dong-ju decides to sacrifice himself and raise hell while Jong-hyeon gets Han-na to safety.
They don't get too far though as Leo shows up with his men and shoots Jong-hyeon in the shoulder. He's clearly aiming for Han-na but he steps in the way and takes a bullet for her. As he falls and topples into the water, Han-na drops to her knees and is shocked.
The Episode Review
Is Jong-hyeon really dead? The preview for tomorrow's episode cleverly disguises this and makes it difficult to tell. I don't think he is dead (it just doesn't seem like that sort of show, does it?) Good Boy could throw us a curveball and raise the stakes dramatically by killing Jong-hyeon off.
As for the episode itself, there's a really nice ebb and flow to this one, with a lot of action, a sprinkling of comedy thanks to our bald eagle, and some good investigative work too.
Han-na throwing her items of clothing off the truck is quite a clever tactic and I was thinking at one point they may have doubled down on the humour and found all her items of clothing leaving Han-na forced to adopt a goon's clothing, but alas, the show hasn't sunk to that level of crude humour, which is actually to Good Boy's credit.
The main story has a compelling structure to it though, with the good guys up against insurmountable odds and fighting back no matter what, making for a simple but highly enjoyable watch.
However, it's also clear that these guys are not to be trifled with and right now, Ju-young looks like an unstoppable force. We'll have to wait and see where this one goes next though but tomorrow's episode is shaping up to be a must-watch!
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