‘Live’ is a 2018 K-Drama. It was made by Studio Dragon and originally aired on TvN and has an 18 episode run-time all of a little over an hour.
The Korean police drama ‘Live’ tells the story of people struggling to make a living, and eventually they decide to become police officers. It’s not as easy as it sounds. There’s a lot of studying involved, a lot of struggling as well.
Jung-Oh played excellently by Jung Yu-Mi is a female trainee and we follow her from the beginning where she deals with sexism in the job fairs. She was raised by a single mother with a panic disorder so you can see that she’s always had to not only take care of herself but also of her mother. She also dealt with a traumatic event in her teenage years, but I like the fact that it didn’t break her. It made her connect more easily with other victims she comes across in her role as police officer.
The Actors
Sang-Soo is a fellow cadet and is in the rookie academy at the same time as Jung-Oh. He is played by Lee Kwang-Soo. He’s like a friendly giant. It’s amazing. He also didn’t have the easiest childhood and is particularly kind to little kids that get in trouble.
As the title ‘Live’ might suggest, this K-drama is a real-life depiction of life. All of it, including the nitty gritty. Police officers don’t have an easy job. They’re on the forefront of all of the horrible things that happen to people. And sometimes they want to do anything to help but if the victim refuses help, there’s nothing they’re allowed to do.
Internal Affairs is involved a lot at the Hongil patrol division. Usually there’s one bad guy, aka the villain but I almost feel like this time it wasn’t just one individual. It was Internal Affairs.
Hits home harder than a sucker-punch
I absolutely loved this K-drama. It wasn’t always easy to watch but that was just because I felt so sad for the characters and their struggles. The writing and directing was amazing. Together with the excellent acting, this might just be one of my favorite dramas I’ve seen so far.
There’s one scene I want to highlight that doesn’t give any of the plot away. The rookies are called to stop a student protest at a college. They way they edited this scene was brilliant and hit harder than a sucker-punch in the gut.
The editors were smart enough to sometimes only play the OST and at random intervals they switched it back to the screams and shouts of the students. Honestly, that scene deserves a 10/10. Absolutely brilliant. (I was crying so much) Also the OST is gorgeous.
I also want to share one quote with you that the mother of Sang-Soo says at one point. ‘No one may care about what you do, but the world needs you.’
Please go watch it. It’s available on Netflix.
Here’s the trailer.
If you enjoyed this drama, you might like ‘Stranger‘.
