“Rugal” (루갈)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
August 2, 2021

☆☆☆☆
Kang Gi-Beom (played by Choi Jin-Hyuk)
Hwang Deuk-Gu (played by Park Sung-Woong)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“Rugal” has a promising concept but, more often than not, it fails to deliver. On the plus side, there is no second lead syndrome nonsense, so that’s something.

On his first wedding anniversary, detective Gi-Beom comes home to find his wife has been murdered. He is attacked and almost dies, before Rugal — a covert operation embedded in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) — rescues him. They implant bionic eyes in him and train him to weed out criminals who can’t be taken down by official legal means.

Their primary nemesis is Deuk-Gu, played by the scene stealing Park Sung-Woong (“The Smile Has Left Your Eyes,” “Man to Man“). He is cool and calm as he kills his detractors. He appears to be the man behind the brutal stabbing of Gi-Beom and his wife. Actually, he is likely the man controlling most of the chaos in Seoul. In one-on-one fighting, he seems to be indestructible.

The Rugal team had multiple chances to kill Deuk-Gu, which would’ve made not only their lives easier but, more importantly, saved multiple innocent lives. Each time they let him go, I was wondering whhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!

As with Choi Jin-Hyuk’s previous police procedural, “Tunnel,” there are some convoluted plot issues that drag down this series. Choi is handsome and charismatic, but he can only do so much with so-so dialogue.

There are a few nice plot twists about good guys who really aren’t. And some of the fight scenes are excitingly choreographed. But that’s about it. For me, this was a good series to have on in the background, but not something that truly held my interest throughout.

Airdates: Sixteen hour-long episodes aired on OCN from March 28 to May 17, 2020.

Spoiler Alert: Gi-Beom’s wife was stabbed, but not killed. When she is eventually rescued by her husband, she is fearful that Deuk-Gu (who had made her work in pornography) will reveal her secret and that the revelation of her life after she was stabbed will destroy Gi-Beom and his future. So, she throws herself into oncoming traffic, is hit by a car and dies. But … there was no funeral, which made me wonder if she hadn’t actually survived. I kept waiting for her to show up with bionic parts, but no such luck.

Deuk-Gu is no ordinary man. He was Rugal’s first attempt as creating a bionic super creature, which is why he is such an indestructible fighter.

It turns out that Rugal’s seemingly kindly leader, Geon-Cheol — played by Kim Min-sang, who had also co-starred with Choi in “Tunnel” — was actually manipulative with people’s lives and the cause of much of Gi-Beom’s misery. Geon-Cheol meets his death. Deserved.

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