Story

“Bad Papa” stars by posing the dilemma of good dad or bad dad? Yoo Ji Cheol is a former boxer who was suspended for life for supposedly fixing the century’s fight he had against Lee Min Woo. After his career went down the drain he became a disastrous policeman who has a sea of economic problems and his married life is closer to the end than to sticking together.

When he accepted a bribe from a vandalic group he is suspended at the police station and due to the need to pay the mortgage on his family’s house he decides to become a test subject of a possible nutritional supplement developed by a pharmaceutical company in order to get some money. Yoo Ji Cheol is rejected as a test subject however Choi Yong Woo who also went to the test gives Ji Cheol a vial of the supplement that he had stolen from the laboratory.

This is one of the most important and transcendental moments of the drama as this supplement turns out to be a drug that causes Yoo Ji Cheol to have super strength for a few minutes. Upon realizing this he begins to use it disproportionately for his benefit. He gets involved in illegal fights where after using the drug he wins the fight and is observed by an important manager of MMA fighters.

Joo Kook Sung, a millionaire manager of mixed martial arts, offers Yoo Ji Cheol a juicy contract that will kick all his economic problems and will return him the opportunity to redeem himself as a boxer and sportsman in general.

Although at first, Ji Cheol rejects the offer, after seeing the situation in which his family finds itself, his wife Choi Seon Joo asks for a divorce and his daughter Yoo Young Sun is very rebellious and has problems in high school, he decides to put aside the negative criticism of people and embark on a series of battles that will completely change his whole life.

In the course of this his daughter Yoo Young Sun will seek to realize her dream of being a renowned dancer, his wife Choi Seon Joo will try to retake her dream of writer and write the biography of Lee Min Woo his best childhood friend and archrival Ji Cheol, in addition, Detective Cha Ji Woo will try to solve a murder case that seems impossible to solve.

Review

When I started to see “Bad Papa”, I expected the family crises, all the emotion generated by good mixed martial arts combats and all the network of crimes behind the neuromuscular drug project, but I didn’t expect such a sad end in my opinion and marked by blood with violent deaths. But first, let’s talk about the performances.

“Bad Papa” had a large cast of experienced actors and a few young faces. In both cases, they complemented each other very well during the whole development of the drama, as is always the case with some that were more outstanding than others.

Among the most outstanding we have the protagonist Jang Hyuk. This incredible actor who despite the difficulty of developing quality fights accepted the challenge and complied. He showed us the noblest part of father and husband, sacrificing himself to keep his family together and give them all the things a father wants to give, economic stability, love and interest to his wife and daughter.

Although their chemistry with Son Yeo Eun isn’t something breathtaking, this wasn’t a drama that focused on it, they looked just as good together, with very emotional family scenes that made us see all that family love they had.

Son Yeo Eun and her character of Choi Seon Joo did not seem incredible to me, although in my opinion, as the drama progresses, her role took on a secondary plane, which in the end became more relevant she always kept the thread of her performance and in general terms her interpretation of mother and wife was good.

Shin Eun Soo as Yoo Young Sun is one of my favorite characters, this sixteen-year-old girl captivated the screen either with her dances or helping to keep her parents’ marriage. I really liked her role as a strong girl but at the same time sensitive and worried and the scenes when she was sick in the hospital touched my nerve.

On the other hand Ha Joon as Lee Min Woo in his role of antagonist. At first, I thought he would be the greatest villain in history but it was not, his desire to take Ji Cheol’s wife and recover his first love was waning, and then to make a fuss with his alleged relationship. He ended up being just a sportsman that wanted to prove his worth as the champion and not he not only cared about himself but, he sought to help others. His final fight with Yoo Ji Cheol was touching and awesome, especially the way it was developed, the detail of him appearing first to honor his former master was touching.

Now let’s talk about one of the villains in this story, Jung Man Shik as Joo Kook Sung who I think was the greatest villain of all. I must admit that this character frightened and disturbed me a bit, I thought he was just a guy with money who wanted to make more money, but he turned out to be quite a bully, ruthless without a drop of compassion and respect for anyone but himself. He is the one to blame for Yoo Ji Cheol being ruined as a boxer and the one to blame for him losing all his money and not complying with that, he forced him to continue taking drugs in the games. Joo Kook Sung sent to kill without contemplation to anyone who crossed his path to make money. Jung Man Shik did his job and his character’s end seemed very appropriate for a person like him.

Closing with the performances I will mention Kim Jae Kyung as Cha Ji Woo and Park Ji Bin as Jung Chan Joong. Detective Cha Ji Woo sparked a lot of sympathy for her character, she was burdened with the dilemma that her father was one of the culprits behind many deaths because of his obsession with completing the drug that would help millions of people. She was also burdened with the fact that her former partner was also involved and to top it off her new partner was murdered. In spite of this, she did not allow herself to be clouded by her emotions and mixed feelings, but rather she fulfilled her duty and exercised justice.

Park Ji Bin is a young man with very good qualities as an actor even though he is still young, Jung Chan Joong was a kind of diabolical child, how can you fit so much evil into such a small body is a wonder, the fact that in the end they could not prove that he was the ringleader behind the deaths because of the drug that was developing his company, got me frustrated but it happens in real life so it can happen in a drama.

“Bad Papa” was a very interesting and original story, which had a good development and culminated in the death of its protagonist Yoo Ji Cheol, I really do not know what the writer wanted to do, whether to touch our hearts with a father who dies by donating his liver to save his daughter or simply to close with his death and avoid us to see this father facing the consequences of his decisions. Because even though everything he did was for the love of his family, we can’t hide the sun with one finger and say that it was okay to commit so many illegal acts.

The ending did seem a little frustrating to me, certainly not as frustrating as if Yoo Young Sun had died, that would have been a kick in the liver, but it doesn’t counteract the fact that he died giving his life for his daughter. The scene where Yoo Young Sun wakes up and doesn’t see her father tore me apart it was very sad but memorable.

The soundtrack “Bad Papa” OST, is a good alternative to download it has a warm track like Shin Jae – Wait and another very cool to ambient the story was Oh Hyuk – Golden Goat, every time this theme sounded the atmosphere changed.

“Bad Papa” was a very good drama from the MDC network that I would recommend without any doubt, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.