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Disney+ K-drama The Worst of Evil: Ji Chang-wook, Wi Ha-joon rule with their fists in brutal and immersive gangster saga
- Ji plays a cop undercover in a crime gang and Wi the gang boss in this K-drama. Im Se-mi, wife of the first and old flame of the second, is the love interest
- The series is well produced and the opening few episodes are terrific, even if we’ve seen this kind of story many times before. But can it keep on delivering?
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Lead cast: Ji Chang-wook, Wi Ha-joon, Im Se-mi
Hot on the heels of global sensation Moving, Disney+ has launched another richly cinematic Korean drama, the pugilistic crime saga The Worst of Evil, starring Ji Chang-wook (If You Wish Upon Me) and Wi Ha-joon (Squid Game).
Set in the mid-1990s, this is an age-old story of a cop going undercover to infiltrate a crime organisation, then rising up its ranks as he tries to take it down from the inside. But the higher up he goes, the closer he gets to its charismatic boss, and thus a macho bromance is born which threatens to split his loyalties.
The most famous Korean example of this often-told tale is the gangster film New World, and it should come as no surprise that The Worst of Evil so clearly takes after it, since both were made by powerhouse production company Sanai Pictures.
Whereas Netflix’s recent undercover-cop action crime drama My Name tried to update the genre – making it more overtly stylised and turning the traditionally male detective protagonist into an a**-kicking woman, in the form of Han So-hee – The Worst of Evil is a classic entry in the canon that knows exactly how to push the buttons of gangster pulp fans.
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