Hounds (2023)

Bloody brilliant!

A little late to the party, but I'm still glad I watched this drama. For starters, I love action series with a pinch of drama. It was refreshing to see Woo Do Hwan in the role of a boxer who fights for his family and the people he loves. The first series I watched with him was the drama "tempted" or "the great seducer", it depends on how accurate the English translation is. I didn't write a review for that drama because I'm still in doubt whether I liked it or not, but I have to say that I remembered him and his way of acting. In "Bloodhounds" I was really captivated by his innocent look and sensitivity that I had to keep watching. Plus seeing him as a boxer holding his heart in his hands was really emotional and wonderful.

The bromance is real! He and Lee Sang Yi were a pairing that I never expected to love so much and I really hope that I will have the chance to see them together again. If not, I can rewatch the drama all over again haha.

As for the story, it’s a typical story of revenge for one's family, which was wronged by a criminal. I'm not saying it's bad, I love such stories and watch them no matter how many times it’s repeated, but here's what really bothered me. I had the impression that the writers helped the criminals more than the good guys. I know that sometimes there is karma and sometimes something happens that you didn't expect, but it really seemed to me that the criminals had everything delivered on their plate, while the good guys struggled until the end.

But all in all, it was an amazing drama that I watched in one day and I'm saddened that it's so short. I would like more!

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Satisfying Action

8,9/10. Baruuu banget ini kelar cui 👫🏻👫🏻👫🏻 bagus bagus bagus bgt! Demi dha gw suka bget action yg begini, satisfying poll 🤌🏻 gw demen bgt sama bromancenya, bikin pgen ada sodara laki2 yg begitu juga WMWKWKW. Actingnya KREN sih, ini woo dohwan cakep bget njrit actingnya kaya different gt from the character he used to do. Gw kira si dohwan bakal jd anak yg bandel + congkak, taunyeee goodboy bget rill apa gk jtuh cinta gwe 🫂👩‍🦯👩‍🦯👩‍🦯 cuma ni drama yg menurut gw gantungnya tuh NAGIH cuk beneran dah tiap akhir eps dibuat deg2 serr ama lanjutannya. Gw sampe KERINGET DINGIN anjing tiap nonton ini karena takut sm the next eps & endingnya jelek + ga sesuai ekspektasi, tp taunya yaa ok aja. Yg kureng dari drama ini adalah endingnya yg dikemas terlalu padet, jadi tau2 udh ending aja gitu kaya banyak yg dilewati T＿T padahal overall udh bagus bgt. Belum lg si hyeonju ancrit tiba2 ngilang gegara irl the actress kena skandal, duh 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ yaa intinya mah bagus deh sebenernya ini tuh di awal, yg kurang endingnya aja di eps 7-8 itu udh mulai kurang sreg gw tp tetep trabas sampe abis. Ibunya si gunwoo juga aduh lovely bget,, drama ini ngajarin gw tuk tetep berbuat baik rill dah. Tersentuh gw ama keluarganya si gunwoo, sifatnya woojin + choi taeho juga bkin luluh vjir 🫂

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um bromance com ação

peguei logo que vi na netflix e aquela tipica serie de poucos episódios que você consegue maratona em 2 dias e foi isso que eu fiz ótimas cenas de ação e o bromance está ali bem explicito apesar deu ter certeza que ambos são um casal por que tem insinuação que dá entender isso e bem velado mais está ali nas entre linhas.

não foi nem comenta como eles são gostosos né?! colírio para os olhos total pra quem quer ver só por isso.

ação e luta super em destaque, gosto delas e acho que são o ponto alto de continuar vendo, pontos negativos: algumas coisas acontece e são resolvidas bem simples isso me incomodou.

mas em um geral super vale a pena, LUTA e AÇÃO satisfatória.

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Goofy & Cute Male leads, Bromance and Beating tons of gangsters at the same time Still like it!

I like it! If you watch it for entertainment then it is perfect BUT it also has lots of plotholes and You can find faults in the story...

Like some things are really funny and not practical at all... no one is that clumsy or thoughtless the way they show both of the main characters...

BUT overall if you put practical & logical mind aside, it is one of the good action series.

The casting is good, Both of the main leads, Kim Geon Woo & Hong Woo Jin, Mr. Choi's character, and all the supporting characters did a good job with their acting...

The action scenes were not natural or practical... No matter how good Boxer you are you just can't beat tons of fighters who only kill or beat... It's just not practical... some fight scenes remind me of "My Name" BUT not too much.

One more thing the elders teach the kids how to fight with knives in a day... IN A DAY! LOL... they are boxers, not a robot... come on🙄

When you know who you fighting, you only defeat two of his man and NOT kill them... and then you just Chill & celebrate instead of planning your next move... WTF You know he is a loan shark, who has people in his pocket and you are just a boxer... ohh come on!🙄

AND when you are a professional Bloodhound before Lee Doo Young you leave your family photo in that place while your wife is pregnant and Hwang Yang Jung goes to his cafe like a regular Friday.... what do you expect?

I like the main leads friendship the most... They became friends very naturally... The duo has a perfect balance b/w a goofy and cute personality one talks non-stop and the other one listens.

I really really love Woo Do Hwan's character 😍 His innocent & cute character reminds me of his The King: Eternal Monarch Character Jo Eun-seob.

About Kim Hyeon Joo's character... She was like I will fight for people and all then she just RUN AWAY.. that too when his one and only family get murdered?

In starting they show her as a cold personality who wants what she wants but after Mr. Choi's death. She was like I can't handle it... I'm just a lit girl... I want peace... instead of revenge? That doesn't go with the personality she had before.

Overall it is worth watching once, I like it even tho some things were not practical. it's a fictional story so you can also put that aside.

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intense & unrelenting

battered and bloody is the heart in Bloodhounds, a truly shocking and grisly crime thriller that never lets up. throats and Achilles tendons are slashed, backs are broken, skin is pierced by knives and arrows, literal salt rubbed into wounds, just an unrelenting display of blood splattered cruelty and violence.

but there is still a heart buried underneath so much carnage. this couldn't possibly be a success if not. it would just be male aggression, a bleak tale of predation and power with no hope in sight. but luckily it has two goobers who are also highly skilled boxers just trying to do good.

I would not watch this again!

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Can’t hardly go higher than 8 but it deserves all acknowledgment

I guess for most part of the series, everything is on point. The plot, the cast, the performances, the music (which people disagreed on). And then at some point it is like we are watching a different season. Not a different series but different season.

It was disturbing because we needed that development of characters and all to come to this turning point, even tho I can understand why people and the director would find it unnecessary because… we can imagine it.

But it doesn’t help us to get engaged in the story of our characters anymore. I am not sure if another ending would have been better or if netflix said « well we can’t have a longer season » and they cut it out or if a second whole season woud have been needed.

As well… the ending itself (last 2 mns) are lacking « background storyline »… Fortunately we are only talking about 1 last episode tho which is why we are not giving less than 8 for the plot.

Also what is refreshing is that it is finally a series about brotherhood and only brotherhood. Also, we appreciate a lot the humor which is more subtle than what we usually see on kdramas.

What makes it hardly rewatchable is that we know the end. There is no surprise anymore.

But thanks to the incredible performances and the first plot we enjoyed it a lot.

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I watched it for the plot...

While watching you can tell this was made by a film director. The cinematography is great, the fight scenes were awesome, the close up shots on Heo Joon Ho and the cop turned loan shark were fantastic. Now that I've used up all my adjectives, the weakness of this show is the plot. It seems to have a flow for 6 episodes then turns into a new show, almost a season 2 in episode 7 and 8. Understandably it is because they needed to edit around the lead actress, but if you don't know what happened you find a choppy plot.

The brotherhood between Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi was the best part of this series. I found myself wondering why directors haven't used that cute side of Do Hwan up to now. He's this big muscly man who can kill you with such gentleness in his eyes. The first introduction of his character sets the tone for how he acts and thinks towards the whole series. Sang Yi is a bit underused, he's comic relief and a screen partner that brings out Do Hwan's cuteness but we end up knowing nothing about him other than he is really loyal.

Heo Joon Ho and Park Sung Woong bring their A game as always. The former has always scared me since Come and Hug Me and in his one fight scene I thought he would win. Here the director understands that his strength is in his eyes and enhances that with every person he has a scene with. If I was watching PSW for the first time I would have hated him but I've seen him in roles where he's nice so that softened him for me. His ending was a bit anti climatic though but man, I have to hand it to him, he's doing those stunts at 50.

Finally, they really could have done without that chaebol subplot and given more to the boys. The most interesting bit for Gun Woo's development was when he asks if he's really become a bloodhound. The chaebol did nothing but whine and whinge the whole time he was on screen. He didn't deserve a bit of Gun Woo's kindness, and that while charity bit at the end was laughable.

TL;DR This show had potential but it drops the ball in the last stretch

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The Story Pulls You In But...

The story of a boxer who's mom gets scammed by a big company and is left with a permeant scare ya know at first i was iffy but after the first or second episode i immediately got dragged in and absolute loved it if you are a fan of boxing or mma or even hand to hand combat this is definitely your show full of amazing story build and character development and anticipation that keeps you from leaving this show is really amazing!

Now let me get to one thing i didn't like about this show, The fact that all the killing happened on the good guys side i mean hell man they lost Tae Ho and Yang Jung who were definitely sad deaths for sure but with the death of Doo Young I Felt Utter Sadness and Disappointment the reason for my disappointment lies in the fact that Geon Woo and Yoo Jin dont kill anyone for example when they had in beom down in the bookstore they should have finished him off i know it was about keeping the boxers heart but by them leaving him alive gave to many opportunity for him to come back and there is no such thing is boxers heart when someone hurts your momma so ultimately the deaths were caused by the main charcters own self pride and sustainability but caused a father to die in front of his wife to me its just not logical to have had In Beom Get beaten than left then beaten then left then beaten again i mean really just not logical.

Other Than That It Was Defintly A Good Watch Not Gonna Rewatch But a Good Inital Watch!

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Friendship Goals

I love fighting and car chases in shows and this drama is no exception, the scenes were so exciting especially the training montage in episode 5.
I love the bromance between Gun Woo and Woo Jin, they always have eachothers back and would die for eachother, god I want this friendship.

Episode 6 had no chill I wasn't able to grief anyone's death. Doo Young and Yang Jung could have overthrown them but they were caught off guard, I expected Mr Choi to die since he is old but damn not that brutal. I knew something bad was going to happen when Doo Young announced he was going to be a father and the wholesome drinking montage.

I understand the actress career is basically dead after the DUI but I really liked her character in the show sure she was annoying at the start but the more she was around the more likeable she was.

I feel like after episode 6 it was a bit of a drag, a new grandfather and granddaughter duo that no offence wasn't really necessary it was alright but they could have introduced the granddaughter earlier, I kind of shipped Woo Jin with Mr Oh's granddaughter but then again they could be more like siblings.
I feel like it should have more of a build up for the downfall of Myeong Gil it was very rushed. I wanted Myeong Gil to suffer.

I was so confused during one of the scenes in episode 8 when the guy got poisoned, the stabbing and the girl that got hit with a truck (which was an utterly jumpscare XD).

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One of the best action and revenge drama of the year.

I'm more than familiar with Woo Do Hwan as an actor, he's the one who made me check out this series and I don't regret it.

I would like to say that a lot of k-dramas tends to fall too much into the cheesy cliché when it comes to good people supporting each other to accomplish a goal/revenge (example Mad Dog, Taxi Driver S2), the interactions just become superficial and predictable, good storyline is replaced by humour.

Here, the series had the perfect balance between emotion, action and intensity with humor and the relationships between the characters.

Woo Do Hwan here is showing how much he is one of the most promising young actors in South Korea, his acting of a good kid wanting to protect his loved ones was embodied perfectly, we really feel for him. But I have to say, it wouldn't have been the same without Lee Sang Yi completing him. The two have shown us a very strong friendship, which goes beyond social expectations and is based entirely on the instant friendship and familiar feeling they got toward each other since they've met. Their moments of support have been truly admirable. Woo Do Hwan making us feel like he needed Lee Sang Yi, his hyung. They supported each other until the end.

Park Sung Woong was a perfect antagonist, just the right amount of annoyance, complexity and substance. A real psychopath.

As for Kim Sae Ron, I was surprised when she abruptly left the show after Lee Sang Yi's life was in the balance, without really saying goodbye, but I guess it make sense for her to fulfill her grandfather's wish by going in Italy, I would have hoped for it to be written better.

Speaking of writing, the script is just awesome, it's simple but intense, the fighting choreographies are very realistic, I felt really engaged in the story. And for once the police are quite effective and the nepo kid is likeable. So what more could you ask for ?

I just hope to see Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi on the same screen one day, they have great chemistry.

I recommend this series without hesitation.

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