Bloodhounds: Episode 1 (First Impressions)
by SugarSnow
As two talented boxers bond and form a strong friendship after a match, our main hero gets caught in a powerful loan shark’s web when trying to defend his mother. Can he fight his way out?
Editor’s note: This is an Episode 1 review only. For a place to chat about the entire drama, visit the Drama Hangout!
EPISODE 1
We’re quickly introduced to our main character, KIM GUN-WOO (Woo Do-hwan) as we see him training his boxing skills late at night. Making his way back home, we get to see what kind of person he is. Waiting for the bus, a drunk man harasses and threatens the bus driver – as he doesn’t have a mask and needs one to ride the bus – so Gun-woo takes it upon himself to remove the man from the bus and deal with the situation peacefully despite the unruly man’s attempts to fight. After sending the man on his way, Gun-woo makes his way back on the bus and humbly bows as he receives a round of applause.
After he arrives home, we see that he lives with his mom, YOON SO-YEON (Yoon Yoo-sun), who is working hard to pay off the debt that she has accrued. Since Gun-woo knows she is struggling, he is doing everything he can to help her. He signs up in a boxing tournament with hopes to win the money to help his mom pay off her debt.
As the competition starts and progresses, two boxers on opposite sides of the tournament bracket are making waves due to how skilled they are. One is Gun-woo, and the other is an arrogant, overzealous, and a bit unhinged competitor: HONG WOO-JIN (Lee Sang-yi.) Woo-jin is a quick and explosive fighter who loves to talk the talk, while Gun-woo is more quiet, calm, and calculated in the ring, but he’s got an iron fist that does all the talking for him. The two punch their way to the top of the ladder until they eventually have to fight each other for the championship.
After what looks like it’ll be the best fight in the bracket, Woo-jin lets his confidence get the best of him so he willingly opens himself up to one of Gun-woo’s massive punches, thinking he can counter it. Gun-woo, confused, remains on guard for a bit, but then decides to rush at him. Unable to follow Gun-woo’s shifty movements, Woo-jin takes a massive hit to the ribs which takes him down to the ground – resulting in him losing the championship.
The two see each other as they’re leaving the arena and Gun-woo asks Woo-jin if he wants to go grab food. Although hesitant at first, he ends up tagging along. On a side note, Gun-woo is so wholesome for someone who can literally punch a whole through someone!
The two bond a lot over dinner as they feel each other out and discover similarities – one of them being their prior service in the marines. Woo-jin also learns of Gun-woo’s motivation to earn money to pay for his mom’s debt.
Working in the background is our main antagonist KIM MYUNG-GIL (otherwise known as one of the best villain actors in dramaland, Park Sung-woong) who is an extremely powerful and notorious loan shark who has a lot of sway due to his wealth. Early on in the episode, he loans money to a business man so a hotel can be made, seemingly with a trick up his sleeve – I have a feeling we’ll see the implications of this down the road. Later on, we see Myung-gil start an initiative that supposedly pays off people’s debts for less interest than the bank. However, there is fine print that states the people they are “helping” need to pay an extension fee in exchange for lowered interest within 24 hours. They are setting up a scheme that sets desperate people up for failure – oh yeah, that’s pretty evil if you ask me.
Gun-woo’s mom takes the deal, not realizing that she’s getting herself into trouble. The next night, Myung-gil’s men show up at her café and wreck the place, throwing chairs through the windows and destroying the seating area. Gun-woo sprints to the café after hearing his distressed mom over a phone call. Once he gets there, he’s surrounded by about ten of Myung-gil’s goons. Next thing you know — after a fantastic action sequence — Gun-woo is making his way up the steps to rescue his mother from KIM JUN-MIN (Jo Wan-ki), who works under Myung-gil.
Gun-woo rips Jun-min away from his mom and slams him up against the wall, asking him why they’re doing all of this. Myung-gil walks into the room after them all gangster-like, of course. After making all the other henchmen look like a cake-walk, Gun-woo is matched up against the massive and intimidating KANG IN-BUM (Tae Won-seok.) Gun-woo lands some punches but none of them affect In-bum. In-bum throws a couple punches back at Gun-woo and they overwhelm him, sending him flying. In-bum takes the full advantage and continues to pound Gun-woo’s face in until Myung-gil stops him. To end this fast-paced episode, Myung-gil kneels over Gun-woo’s pummeled body and runs his knife along his face leaving his signature mark: the same one he has on his face.
What a first episode! Bloodhounds did not hold its punches by any means – pun intended. Now we wait until Woo-jin catches wind of this scheme and the dynamic duo form up to fight back against Myung-gil.
Gun-woo is such a bright character and you can see he really cares about the people around him, so I’m curious to see if these events will change him and take away the cheery smile he always has on. I also wonder how it will be possible for two kids from the street to be able to take down a kingpin like Myung-gil. This drama is not lighthearted by any means, but I’m all here for it.
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Tags: Bloodhounds, first episodes, First Impressions, Heo Jun-ho, Lee Sang-yi, Park Sung-woong, Woo Do-hwan, Yoon Yoo-sun
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1 Kafiyah Bello
June 12, 2023 at 1:08 PM
Why didn't he just kick the big guys in the gonads? Sigh. That being said the relationship between our two boxers is so adorable and sweet. Such a nice bromance.
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Britney
June 12, 2023 at 2:31 PM
I wondered that alot haha
Maybe some kind of (internalized) fighter's code?
I read a webtoon where there's a guy character who always hits his opponents in their no nos and all the other characters look at him as if he broke some sacred rule.
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Kafiyah Bello
June 12, 2023 at 5:03 PM
It drove me crazy, lol. I understand it isn't sexy, but it is the most effective method. It must be an internalized fighter's code, ha.
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2 hacja
June 12, 2023 at 2:19 PM
I already wrote my impressions, for what they are worth, in the "hangout." I still haven't watched more episodes, seeing if the mood hits me with a shot to the kidneys, I guess. But I do want to give the show credit, especially in this first episode, for being set at the height of the pandemic, and showing some of the financial and social stresses this caused.
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DancingEmma
June 13, 2023 at 2:51 AM
I am only on episode 2 and it is the only drama so far that has depicted mask wearing in a reasonably appropriate way as a hallmark of the pandemic and has evoked a sense of dread arising from seeing the deserted back allies and businesses.
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3 Bunny S.
June 12, 2023 at 9:28 PM
This doesn't look like something I can handle so I wish the best for fellow beanies who choose to stay till the end.
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4 bong-soo
June 13, 2023 at 9:03 AM
I just commenced my watch of BLOODHOUNDS last night with episode one. It was everything I was hoping for. A true ‘guys’ drama. Set in 2020 it is the only drama that I have watched to really show the terrible impact the pandemic had/has on South Korean society.
The casting of Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi together is perfect.
The first big fight scene where Geon-woo (WDH) takes out loan shark Kim Myeong-gil’s (Park Sung-woong) minions (maybe 8-10 guys) outside his mother’s trashed restaurant was equal to one of Jang Dong-yoon great fights in OASIS (Viki US).
Like Geon-woo in years past in the boxing world I was a big fan of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao who is undoubtedly one of the greatest boxers of all time. A real banger. If Manny is Geon-woo’s model his opponents better watch out.
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bong-soo
June 15, 2023 at 5:28 PM
Episode 4 SP0ILER.
I will be watching episodes 5 and 6 tonight. I just want to comment on the great fight in episode 4 in the basement between Geon-woo (WDH) and Woo-jin (LSY) and strong as an ox thug In-beom.
It took both of them to finish In-beom off. It really highlighted GW’s and WJ’s different boxing styles. All boxers don’t box the same. In boxing terminology GW’s boxing style is ‘orthodox’ which means he leads with his left hand and punches with his right. WJ’s style is ‘southpaw’ which means he leads with his right hand and punches with his left. That is why both of them were able to stand side by side and pummel In-beom to smithereens.
Both Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi have consistently maintained the same boxing style throughout the drama. Look at all the promo pics of those 2 guys and their stance is always WDH-orthodox, LSY-southpaw. I wonder if that is their natural boxing stance or if they had to change for the drama.
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5 too_much_tv
June 14, 2023 at 9:14 AM
I wouldn't be able to watch this if it weren't on Netflix. I just can't watch the really violent scary stuff at normal speed. I'm on the third episode and I love the interactions between the main characters.
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6 Relisher
June 14, 2023 at 7:02 PM
Bloodhounds was a surprsingly charming watch despite the incredibly excessive amounts of fist fights and bloodshed. This was not a script with the tighetest logic or reason, but the character work was excellent, both on the written and acted ends and I was invested throughout in the futures of Gun Woo and Woo Jin and Hyeon Ju (before the rl reasons for the abrupt script change), and I enjoyed almost all the secondary characters too. I also thought it did a convincing enough job with how basically two people with very few resources and very little power in that universe might be able to take on that many and come out victorious.
I mainly started watching for Dohwan and thought he did an amazing job of playing a solid gold hearted genuinely good sweetheart of a person who just happens to be built like a brick wall with fists to match XD
I feel like the last two episodes would have been a bit more integrated without the rl reason for Hyeon Ju disappearing, but plot based quibbles aside, I'm glad that my anticipation for the show wasn't a waste.
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7 Qingdao: likes scented candles
June 19, 2023 at 5:32 AM
I only watched this drama for the male leads: Lee Sang-Yi and Woo Do-Hwan. It was tough for me, but I did finish this drama. Like "My Name," it seemed like the entire show was one long, violent fight scene.
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