Han River Police Episode 1 Review/Recap: Goofy Police At Your Service
This Korean comedy-action series (한강) is written and directed by Kim Sang-cheol and stars Kwon Sang-woo, Kim Hee-won, Lee Sang-yi, Bae Da-bin, Shin Hyun-seung and Sung Dong-il in lead roles. The series has 6 episodes, and Han River Police episode 1 has a runtime of 53 minutes.
Sang-woo was last seen as Bae Dong-je in Curtain Call; Hee-won was last seen as Won Jong-muk in Behind Your Touch and Choi Il-hwan in Moving; Sang-yi was in Bloodhounds as Hong Woo-jin; Da-bin was Hyun Mi-rae in It’s Beautiful Now; Hyun-seung was Go Eun-gyul in Behind Every Star and Lee Dong-rim in Adamas and Dong-il was Jung Sang-chul in Curtain Call.
Han River Police Plot
The series of the buddy cop genre explores the life and works of officers on patrol Seoul’s Han River who face different difficult situations together, ranging from terrorism to everyday accidents, which all require their expert and timely assistance. The series explores their tough job, the dynamics among the members and what it takes to be emergency responders.
– Han River Police Episode 1 Review Contains Major Spoilers –
Han River Police Episode 1 Recap
Han River Police episode 1 starts on a cruise ship on the Han River, wherein everyone seems to be having a lot of fun. Suddenly, a terrorist situation takes place wherein a bunch of armed men start to terrorise the guests and get them all together from different points of the ship. All of a sudden, a bunch of SWAT members come down from the helicopter and start shooting down the armed gunmen one by one. Off the water, a bunch of high-ranking officials are relieved at the outcome of the situation but are taken aback when they spot a boat coming towards them.
On the boat, it becomes clear that this was a drill to see how well their emergency preparedness is and Du-jin, egged on by his competitors, starts to fight the police officers. As an all-out brawl breaks out, protestors ask for the cruise ship business to be stopped in front of the dignitaries on the shore. As the protestors are taken away, a tear bomb goes off in the ship, leaving a mess of epic proportions.
Later on, Du-jin gets chewed out by his supervisors for causing a mess during the drill and embarrassing the police force. Du-jin refuses to give in, instead saying that his supervisor should’ve taken the Han River Police’s side and mentioned that the people tasked to protect the river shouldn’t have to play the terrorists. His supervisor gets annoyed at his words, though, and Cheon-seok has to get him out of the mess. The three of them later have to clean up the river banks as punishment for the colossal mess.
In the midst of this, they spot a wayward yacht going at full speed down the river and chase it down. However, the yacht refuses to slow down but has no choice but to stop when it gets caught on a fishing net. As Ji-soo cuts the net off the boat, Du-jin goes inside to talk to the owner, Gi-seok, who is partying with a bunch of women and looks very drunk. Gi-seok refuses to give him his license, and the police fine them, and then Du-jin goes off with the key, leaving the boat stranded in the middle of the river.
Later on, Gi-seok meets Hwang Man-dae and the other businessmen, who all praise him for his business efforts on the river. Gi-seok delivers a package to them and is directed to leave, and the two businessmen are flattered to get two golden toads as gifts. It is clear that the relationship between Gi-seok and Man-dae is tense and that the former detests his uncle for the way he speaks to him.
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At the police station, the men get told that they have to go through training thanks to their misdemeanours. As they gather at the pool for their training, Ji-soo and the others are left stunned at the arrival of Na-hee, and Captain Do proposes that they hold a match, and the winner gets an exemption from the next training session, riling everyone up. As the session begins, Du-jin’s team turn out to be more talkers than doers and skimps out before even trying. Du-jin turns out to be someone who can hold his breath for an ungodly amount of time, leaving everyone feeling a bit confused!
Either way, Na-hee’s competitive spirit makes her pass out under the water, but in the end, her team wins. That night, Du-jin learns from the fisherman that the cruise ship company are trying to buy off lands on Palmi Islands, and then the group gets accosted by Na-hee, who is more drunk than she should be. After a rather awkward situation between the two, Cheon-seok and the bar owner discuss about Baek-cheol, and it is evident that there is some bad blood there.
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We then see Baek-cheol working for the cruise ship company, digging up the riverbed. He and his team feel distraught about all the money not coming in and wonder what they should do next since they have no other work lined up. Elsewhere, Man-dae opens another cruise ship for the public, and the three police officers wonder why they are adding bigger ships if the operating costs are making them lose money. Meanwhile, Na-hee and Hyo-sun talk about the former’s crush on Du-jin as Gi-seok loads up the ship and abuses his workers.
Han River Police Episode 1 Ending
He later instructs the captain to sail towards a formerly unknown direction of the river, and even though the captain dissuades him from doing so, he pressurises him to do as he is told. As a result, the ship scrapes the bottom further and tips on one side, with disastrous results. The police are alerted, and Du-jin and his crew rush to the ship’s aide.
Han River Police Episode 1 Review
The first episode gives us a rundown of all the major characters in the show as well as gives us the antagonistic situations that will arise for our heroes in the upcoming episodes. As it seems, we will get one major story thread to follow for 6 episodes, and there might be smaller issues that the team faces in every episode. All in all, the first episode is funny and entertaining and also has some thrilling aspects. But from this vantage point, it seems like it will be a light watch and won’t be too heavy on anyone.
Han River Police is streaming on Disney+.
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