By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
March 30, 2024
☆☆☆☆
Jin I-soo (played by Ahn Bo-hyun)
Lee Gang-hyun (played by Park Ji-hyun)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
“Flex X Cop” takes the chaebol trope, mixes it up with a cops-and-robbers theme, and adds a dash of comedic elements to keep things interesting.
I-soo (Ahn Bo-hyun) is a wealthy heir with a lot of time on his hands and a wild imagination. He’s smart, good looking and fit, but there are no expectations of him. Why? Because he is his father’s illegitimate younger son. Thankfully, his older step-brother treats him well and sticks up for him..
A fan of solving crimes — and with the wealth to create game simulation-style fake-kidnappings where he can test his mettle — he manages to get a job at the local police force. Gang-hyun (Park Ji-hyun), the leader of his team, is beyond annoyed at having to babysit a pampered rich boy. But what she learns is that despite his privileged upbringing, I-soo has a knack for thinking out of the box… and the money to fund whatever is needed that the police department can’t handle.
Meta moment: In Episode 2, Gang-hyun’s mother tries to set her up with the local pharmacy owner’s son who, she says, looks just like actor Song Joong-ki. Song and Park were co-stars in the superb series “Reborn Rich.” Also, if you’re the type who skips the credits and heads directly to the next episode, don’t. You’ll miss out on the clever short bonus clips that end each episode.
Airdates: Sixteen hour-long episodes aired on SBS from January 26 through March 23, 2024. (I watched this on Hulu.)
Spoiler alert: I-soo’s father had a long-term extra-marital relationship. He was planning on divorcing his wife and starting a new family with I-soo and the boy’s mother. But when his wife learned that her husband was going to leave her, she planned on killing herself rather than deal with the humiliation of divorce. Her son (who is I-soo’s half brother), Seung-ju (Kwak Si-yang), poisoned I-soo’s mom to keep his family together. Later, he killed his father, too. When I-soo figured out the chain of events, he got a confession from his brother.
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