🎬 Subtitles and Bad Decisions Presents:
🫰 Because I have feelings, subtitles, and no self-control.
🎬 Bloodhounds (2023)
Format: Standard Series
Country: South Korea
Episodes: 8
Aired: June 9, 2023
Watched on: Netflix
🍿 Okay, So What’s Going On Here?
Kim Geon U is a rookie boxer with a sweet personality, a strong sense of loyalty, and absolutely no idea what kind of trouble he's about to walk into.
During a boxing match, he goes up against Hong U Jin, a loudmouthed southpaw boxer who is basically Geon U's complete opposite.
Geon U narrowly wins.
And instead of becoming rivals, the two former Marines become fast friends.
Because apparently punching each other in the face is an excellent foundation for friendship.
Things get serious when Geon U's mother falls into financial trouble after taking out a large loan to save her café.
Unfortunately, the loan comes from Smile Capital, a ruthless loan shark operation that is very much not interested in letting people simply pay their debts and move on with their lives.
Geon U and U Jin quickly find themselves caught in something much bigger than a simple loan.
They eventually team up with people who have their own history with the man behind Smile Capital, and together they set out to take the entire operation down.
Which means, naturally...
There will be punching.
Lots and lots of punching.
📺 Where Did I Find This One?
I watched this one on Netflix.
And honestly?
Bloodhounds has been sitting on my watch list for a long time.
I just hadn't been in the mood for it.
But after watching Weak Hero and getting sucked into the High&Low rabbit hole, I was very much in an action-packed mood.
So I finally decided it was time.
And I'm really glad I did.
Because this one was exactly what I was looking for.
🎭 Okay, But Who Are These People?
Kim Geon U – Woo Do Hwan
Our sweet boy boxer.
Geon U is reserved, polite, hardworking, and genuinely kind.
He's also an incredibly talented boxer, which becomes very useful once his life starts going completely off the rails.
He's the type of character who doesn't go looking for trouble.
Unfortunately, trouble seems to have his address.
And once his mother gets pulled into Smile Capital's mess, Geon U has absolutely no intention of standing by and watching her get destroyed.
Which is where that sweet personality starts getting paired with some very serious fists.
Hong U Jin – Lee Sang Yi
The complete opposite of Geon U.
Loud.
Talkative.
Confident.
And apparently incapable of entering a room without having something to say.
But underneath all of that, U Jin is fiercely loyal.
The friendship between him and Geon U is honestly one of my favorite parts of the entire show.
They meet by beating the hell out of each other in a boxing ring and somehow come out of it as best friends.
And I absolutely loved watching that friendship develop.
Choi Tae Ho – Huh Joon Ho
A former legendary moneylender who has a very personal history with the loan shark world.
Tae Ho becomes an important mentor figure for Geon U and U Jin, and he's one of those characters who immediately gives off the impression that he has seen some things.
And probably punched some people about those things.
Kim Myeong Gil – Park Sung Woong
The main villain and head of Smile Capital.
And this man is just...
NOPE.
Absolutely not.
Myeong Gil is ruthless, manipulative, greedy, and more than willing to destroy anyone who gets in his way.
He's the kind of villain where you spend the entire show waiting for someone to finally put him in his place.
Kim Hyeon Ju – Kim Sae Ron
And then there's Hyeon Ju.
This woman.
Listen.
When she first enters the story, I'm sitting here thinking:
Okay...
She's badass.
She's working with these two attractive young boxers.
Surely they're going to eventually throw some romance into this.
Right?
NOPE.
And thank God.
Hyeon Ju spends the entire show being badass, dangerous, determined, and completely uninterested in becoming somebody's romantic subplot.
And honestly?
I loved that for her.
Hwang Yang Jeong – Lee Hae Young
Tae Ho's right-hand man and one of the people helping Geon U and U Jin navigate this mess.
Lee Du Yeong – Ryu Soo Young
Tae Ho's left-hand man and another important part of the team working against Myeong Gil.
And then we have the various members of Smile Capital, including Kang In Beom, Im Jang Do, Kim Jun Min, and Mr. Jung, who collectively make me want to scream:
Can we please just have one normal financial transaction?!
Apparently not.
⭐ The Damage Report
Story: ⭐ 10/10
Acting/Cast: ⭐ 10/10
Music: ⭐ 8.5/10
Rewatch Value: ⭐ 10/10
Overall: ⭐ 9.5/10
📝 So... How Did I Feel About This One?
(⚠️ WARNING: Potential Spoilers — I’m Not Saving You from Emotional Damage)
I loved this.
Like...
I really, really loved this.
I went into Bloodhounds expecting a good action drama.
What I got was a surprisingly emotional story about friendship, loyalty, family, and two absolutely determined idiots who decide they're going to take down a loan shark empire.
And I'm here for it.
The Geon U and U Jin friendship was probably one of my favorite things about this entire show.
You've got Sweet Boy Next Door Boxer meeting Mr. I've-Seen-And-Done-Things Boxer, and somehow they immediately click.
They're completely different personalities, but they work so well together.
And once Geon U's mother's café becomes caught up in Smile Capital's scam, U Jin doesn't hesitate.
He's there.
That's what I loved about their relationship.
It wasn't some complicated friendship where everybody spends eight episodes wondering whether they can trust each other.
They just...
Do.
They trust each other.
They show up for each other.
They fight for each other.
And when things get ugly, neither one of them is walking away.
The story itself was also surprisingly coherent.
The plot made sense.
The motivations made sense.
The villain's operation felt big enough to actually justify the amount of chaos happening around it.
And even though there are definitely moments where you're watching people get punched so hard that their ancestors probably felt it, the overall story still felt grounded enough to work.
That's a difficult balance to pull off.
And Bloodhounds managed it really well.
The action also kept me watching.
There was enough happening that I never found myself thinking, Okay, can we get to the point already?
Nope.
We're moving.
Someone is fighting.
Someone is getting chased.
Someone is planning something.
Someone is about to get punched.
And then someone gets punched.
The pacing worked really well for me.
And then there's Hyeon Ju.
I genuinely expected this show to eventually try to shove her into a romance with one of the guys.
But they didn't.
They let her just be a badass woman with her own motivations and her own story.
And then she basically disappears toward the end.
Which...
Okay.
Girl.
Where did you go?!
💕 Things I Loved
THE FRIENDSHIP.
Seriously.
Geon U and U Jin are fantastic together.
I loved watching their friendship grow from a boxing match into this incredibly loyal partnership.
They don't need some giant emotional speech every five minutes to prove they're friends.
They just show up for each other.
And I love that.
I also loved Geon U himself.
He's such a genuinely good character that watching him get dragged deeper and deeper into this mess actually made me care about what happened to him.
He's not some invincible badass from the beginning.
He's a boxer.
He's talented.
He's strong.
But he's still learning.
And watching him become more capable as everything escalates was really satisfying.
U Jin was also great because he brings a completely different energy to the story.
Where Geon U is quiet and reserved, U Jin is basically running his mouth while everything is on fire.
Perfect.
No notes.
And then we have the action.
THE ACTION.
This show absolutely understood the assignment.
There are some genuinely brutal fights in this.
And because these two are boxers, the physicality of the fights felt especially good.
The punches have weight.
The choreography works.
And there was enough variety that it didn't feel like I was watching the same fight repeated eight times.
I also really enjoyed the older characters, particularly Tae Ho and the people working with him.
The mentor/student dynamic worked really well, and I liked the idea of Geon U and U Jin learning from people who had already spent years navigating this world.
And finally...
NO ROMANCE.
Hyeon Ju gets to be badass.
The boys get to be badass.
Everybody gets to be badass.
Nobody needs to kiss anybody.
Bless.
😭 Things That Hurt My Feelings
The biggest thing that bothered me was Hyeon Ju disappearing.
Because...
WHERE DID SHE GO?!
We spend all this time establishing this badass woman, watching her fight, watching her work toward taking down Myeong Gil, and then she basically disappears.
And I'm sitting there like:
Excuse me?
We are not finished with her.
I wanted more.
I also wouldn't have minded a little more development for some of the supporting characters.
There are a lot of people involved in the story, and some of them obviously get more attention than others.
But honestly, that is a pretty minor complaint.
Because the main story was strong enough that I didn't spend much time thinking about what was missing.
🔥 And Then There Was THIS...
The fact that Geon U and U Jin basically go from:
“Hey, nice fight.”
to
“Let's take down an entire loan shark empire.”
Sir.
How did we get here?
😂
I also loved the way the show slowly expanded the problem.
At first, it's about Geon U's mother and her café.
Then it's about the loan.
Then Smile Capital.
Then Myeong Gil.
Then the people connected to Tae Ho.
And suddenly we're dealing with this much bigger operation.
It never felt like the writers randomly decided:
“You know what this story needs? A bigger villain.”
The escalation actually worked.
And by the time Geon U and U Jin are fully committed to taking Myeong Gil down, you're right there with them.
Because at that point...
Fuck this guy.
Take him down.
🫠 Final Mood
I genuinely loved Bloodhounds.
It came at exactly the right time for me because I was still riding the action-drama high from Weak Hero and High&Low, and this gave me another eight episodes of people solving problems with their fists.
But what surprised me was how much I enjoyed the relationships.
The friendship between Geon U and U Jin was easily one of the strongest parts of the show for me.
It was uncomplicated.
Loyal.
Funny.
And believable.
The story itself was also strong. The plot was coherent, the villain was suitably awful, the action kept things moving, and the characters had enough motivation behind them that the whole thing worked.
The music wasn't quite on the level of some of my other action favorites, but it didn't hurt the show.
And the rewatch value?
Absolutely.
This is one of those shows where now that I know where everything goes, I could easily go back and watch it again.
My only real complaint is that I wanted more Hyeon Ju.
Because she was badass.
And then she disappeared.
Girl.
Started: Finally giving that Bloodhounds show I've been putting off a chance.
Finished: Completely invested in two boxer besties beating the absolute hell out of a loan shark empire and wondering where the hell Hyeon Ju disappeared to.
🏷️ The Hashtag Damage
#Bloodhounds
#BloodhoundsKDrama
#WooDoHwan
#LeeSangYi
#GeonU
#UJin
#KimHyeonJu
#KoreanDrama
#ActionKDrama
#BoxingDrama
#FriendshipGoals
#emotionaldamageapproved
#subtitlesandbaddecisions
