Busted 2 (2019)

First of all I have to say, I am an absolute fan of those "Escape Room"-esque Shows, be that pure Escaping or, like in this case, paired with a Detective Story. After saying that I have to say, as much as it hurts me, I am disappointed with how Busted 2 turned out. Everything within this review is MY opinion, so please keep that in mind - I am not looking for a fight.

After giving the first season a high rating (9.0), I was hoping that I could give Busted 2 a similar rating but no. And here's why:
(I'll try to keep this as unspoiler-y as possible)

* The Stories/Cases: The Cases were nice for the most part but a bit repetitive like how they used the same premise twice for different cases. There also was SO MUCH DRIVING. I don't mind if you send them different places but all that effort and then they only solve 1-2 puzzles at each place? What a waste. Also, they had a whole season culminating in a honestly thrilling finale only to basically never mention it again after Episode 1. Yes, some people get "recycled" or have some kind of impact on the story but still.

* The Cast: (Here's where they lost the most points)
I already knew that Kwang Soo wouldn't be part of it, so I am not subtracting points for that. My Main Problems are two in particular - while I know that everyone has a role to fill, static roles get boring REALLY fast. Sadly I have seen very little change in their respective roles. Jong Min is the Stupid One, Sehun is the Competitive One and Jae Wook is the One that should but doesn't (if you know what I mean) - and that's exactly what leads to problem number 2. Min Young is intelligent, she's clever, everything fine and dandy. But her being seemingly the only clever one does a serious disservice to the rest of the team. At nearly every puzzle she is either the one to solve it or the one that gets called when someone gets stuck. It gets boring and annoying really REALLY fast and doesn't put her in the best light. Another thing that kind of irked me was the fact that, although doing very little himself, Jae Suk was nagging the others whenever he got the chance - about Jong Min saying something dumb, about Sehun being competitive, about his own perceived intelligence, he always found something to nag the others about. Also, Busted 2 is an especially LOUD show this time around - every time something unexpected happens, the ladies (and some of the gentlemen) screech or shout into your ears, giving you tinnitus.

* The Ending: Oh My God! Please, let's not talk about the ending. Apart from it being pretty obvious how it all is gonna end, it was just unsatisfying. I was hoping for some twists and turns and while there were twists, they couldn't soften the bad decisions that were made regarding that ending. The Ending could have been stellar, sadly it was more like a soft fart in a tornado just to keep the door open for a potential season 3.

All in All it is a fine show but I simply expected more after season 1...

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Excellent follow up to the first season, I loved it very much and did not disappoint me. The production is just mind-blowing, some of the sets and the scale of the cases is unbelievable, as well as the guests in this season.

I appreciate that they expanded the world building in this season in a way, that created a unique show, but at the same time, if you did not see the first season, you could watch this one anyway. They created a new overarching mystery using some of the guests who showed up in multiple episodes which made the interaction with the hosts just a whole different kind of entertaining. They also kept a nice balance of individual/stand alone cases and inter connected ones.

The addition of Lee Seung Gi was very nice. He has a good sense of what the audience likes and he brought in a nice dynamic. I also read that because of Ahn Jae Wook's scandal they re-edited some of the episodes and it is true that he just appears in the bare minimum, but you notice it only when you focus on it. I am glad that they kept him on and didn't make any weird zooms on the others or edit him out completely.

The second season is still very, very funny, but the funny moments are not abundant like they were in the first season. I was trying to get into it with an open mind, but I just have to comment on the fact, that it was missing Lee Kwang Soo a bit. Other than that, this is still one of the best variety out there and time just passes by when you get into it.

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