Review of D.P. / 디피 (Season One)

For those of you loyal readers out there who have been following my blog for a bit, you’ve probably been aware that I’m on a Korean drama kick lately.

Part of it was sparked by my friend telling me about how much she loves Rowoon, which has led me to renew my monthly Viki subscription and kickstart my bad habits when it comes to late night Korean dramas.

But the other reason is simply that it’s summer and I am in need of many things to do before I finally go insane. Granted, between my internships and jobs there’s plenty of work to go around, but I need free time, you know?

I had never heard of D.P. until I was watching the Jeon Do-yeon movie on Netflix called Kill Bok-soon. I ended up finding out about D.P. through that film because I was obsessed with the performance that actor Koo Kyo-hwan gave in Kill Bok-soon.

He was one of the best parts of the movie in my humble opinion, and his Wikipedia page says he became well known because of his role in this show. So, naturally, I had to watch it! It was a major plus that the show is only six episodes—the shorter the series sometimes the better for me because I find American television shows and their drawn out seasons to be exhausting.

Onwards with the review!

Two men in the military are assigned to bring back those who deserted from the army.

Across six episodes, we largely have a different deserter in each episode. The first episode serves largely as a framework that will establish the themes that the series dwells upon in the later episodes.

Our main character/protagonist is Ahn Joon-ho, a private who witnesses a lot of bullying and antagonistic behavior in his own unit.

The Korean military is not very glamorous, nor does it seem to be from the outside, but seniority and bullying are a huge problem in the army.

One of the bigger forces in this series is played by Shin Seung-ho (I honest to god started laughing when I saw him. I just finished watching At Eighteen and he plays jerks so well, and then in Alchemy of Souls he plays a prince who just likes his little turtle), who uses his longer time in the military to straight up haze the new recruits.

But Shin’s character’s bullying is going to create some major problems in episodes five and six, as those two episodes focus on someone who is a victim of his bullying.

After Shin’s character is discharged, gets his own place and works at a convenience store, one of his former victims deserts the military and goes on a bloodthirsty rampage to go after him.

The biggest con of the entire series for me is that we don’t really learn about who Joon-ho is as a person. We get small glimpses here and there of his past and the people in his life, but overall him—and his future partner in crime, Han Ho-yeol—just exist as a vehicle to keep the plot and the themes moving forward.

Joon-ho is assigned with Ho-yeol, an older man working in the military, to go out and catch the deserters of the military. Many of the people have a big reason to desert the military, as seen throughout the episodes.

While the final deserter is out for blood and revenge, others just become straight up depressed by the conditions they face in the army.

Another quits to find the money to take care of his sick mother, while another man ends up leaving because he wants to go for his girlfriend and back to his cushy life where he spends a lot of money. Many of them resist arrest, leading to the more action-based elements in the series.

There’s also a lot of humor, mainly through Ho-yeol’s character, that’s inserted throughout to lighten up the mood. I think those pockets of humor are much needed in such a heavy show.

It might not seem like it at first, but the subjects D.P. brings up are very big problems in contemporary Korean society.

I think we’re used to thinking about the army as a noble deed in the Korean context that all men need to do, and we shame others for not serving in active duty, but this takes such a toll on one’s mental health.

We really can’t blame any of the deserters throughout the series for deciding on what they do—except when they take it to extremism, but even then we can kind of understand why this happens.

Overall Thoughts

The six-episode format for the first season works really well for the series; I don’t think I would’ve stayed interested if it had gone on any longer than that.

We needed more from the main characters; it was too plot driven for me to become fully invested in the storyline itself.

I found myself grappling with the whys and impacts of these jobs for the two main leads, and we finally get the emotional impact on Joon-ho when the guy he knew and was friendly with shoots himself right in front of them in the last episode.

That was the impact right in the face (literally), and we kind of needed more of that a bit earlier I think. I also wanted to know about Ho-yeol’s past more, and why he’s here exactly. Perhaps we’ll see that in season two.

You can follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more content.