With an outstanding cast and well-crafted side stories, Flex X Cop took the simple premise of a begrudging partnership between a chaebol heir and a righteous detective!
It gifted viewers with an exciting and heart-moving tale that has readily secured its place as a worthwhile hidden gem.
- Main Leads: Ahn Bo-hyun | Park Ji-hyun | Kang Sang-jun | Kim Shin-bi | Kwak Si-yang
- Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
- K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: Police University | Café Minamdang | Bad and Crazy | Behind Your Touch
INTERVIEW: Ahn Bo Hyun Is Grateful For The Success Of “Flex X Cop”
Flex X Cop Series Quick Recap
Jin I-soo, a Chaebol second-generation son, gets roped into joining the violent crimes unit as an honorary detective. The catch: he isn’t welcomed with open arms, especially by rule-abiding team leader Lee Gang-hyun, who wants him out of the team. I-soo’s unusual ways of catching criminals soon get him on Gang-hyun’s bad side. But they grow on each other and partner up to put criminals behind bars.
Flex X Cop Series Highlights
A breath-taking performance by Ahn Bo Hyun
After lamenting over the waste of talent in See You In My 19th Life, where Ahn Bo-hyun spent most of his screen time brooding in the swimming pool, this talented actor gifted us with a fascinating comeback and nailed his role as Jin I-soo, a troublemaking chaebol on the outside and a lonely man-child on the inside.
From the first time I-soo was introduced on the screen, it was obvious he wasn’t a typical arrogant chaebol flashing his money around. Instead, I-soo’s compassion for others was palpable in how he attended the funeral of a young woman who had no relatives and opened a posthumous exhibition for an art student who died unfairly after having her work stolen.
I-soo’s methods might be morally gray and reckless at times. Yet his sense of justice was apparent all the while. Throughout his life, I-soo craved a sense of belonging and he found his spot at the detective’s work. Not everyone would readily trade a chairman’s seat to catch criminals. But I-soo chose the path that makes him happy.
Flex X Cop Series Musings
Normally, investigative dramas either follow a case-of-the-week format with an over-arching mystery or one central case till the end. Here, it was more like the former. Yet, the drama made itself remarkable by breaking the tradition of having only one case per week. The cases were often solved midweek, and new ones were opened in their place. Also, the cases were solved pretty quickly without dragging things on.
Going back and forth to I-soo’s mother’s death might have been a bit annoying. Her death was ruled as a normal suicide with I-soo accepting the reality and settling to remember only their happy memories, only to get haunted by it again in the finale. Worse, I-soo’s father became our last case. Hence, I-soo couldn’t get any closure with his parents.
More than his parents’ death, I-soo was more hurt by the culprit’s identity. It was none other than his so-called brother, Seong-ju, the one I-soo trusted the most in his life. They might not have been related by blood. But this didn’t change anything for I-soo. Till the last moment, I-soo hoped he was wrong, but everything pointed to Seong-ju as the perpetrator.
All in all, it was a refreshing show with compelling side characters and a cute low-key side romance between the forensics doctor and the detective. The bromance between I-soo and the junior team member is also one of the show’s highlights.
We might not have had much romance between our leads. Yet, it is understandable, since romance wasn’t the drama’s main focus. Still, I enjoyed how their relationship developed from always bickering to comforting each other and having each other’s backs.
All episodes of Flex X Cop are now streaming on Disney+!
Photos and Videos: SBS Drama
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