There have been some South Korean crime drama I've enjoyed. Some of them were rather intense like Kill It, IRIS, Stranger, Voice, and Justice. Others were on the simpler side like Pride and Prejudice and You're All Surrounded. Live is a police-themed K-Drama that focuses on the daily lives of policemen. The whole series tries to show how young cops try to struggle to stay on the force, a police couple's midlife crisis that temporarily ends in a divorce, and some situations that call beyond the manual to determine something.
How does Live get into the daily lives? You've got a love triangle and some love stories involved. You have main character Han Jung Oh (Jung Yu Mi) whose heart is torn between two colleagues. However, the love triangle is hardly focused on. There's also unfortunate butt monkey cop Yeom Sang Soo (Lee Kwang Soo) who has feelings for Jung Oh and would be willing to let her go if it makes her happy. Oh Yang Cheon (Bae Sung Woo) a police captain who's hard as steel but later gets a temporary demotion due to an unfortunate incident. Ahn Jang Mi (Bae Jong-Ok) plays as the wife of the police captain. Both Yang Cheon and his wife Jang Mi have a strained marriage along with two problematic children.
How does this police drama differentiate from the intense ones? It explores some good (and bad) reasons to join the force. You can have ambitions to catch dangerous criminals but be careful about what you wish for. You have the trend of learning from your mistakes or your first mistake will be your last. You have the situation where you shouldn't have second thoughts but to fire a gun and risk losing your job if somebody's life is at stake. There's not much of the brutality shown in Voice or Kill It since this isn't an OCN production but by tvN. It was entertaining to watch something toned down since there are times Voice gets me squeamish with the mutilation plots. Here, it focuses mostly on lesser felonies than what Voice or Kill It had to offer.
Pretty much, I think this would be a good take to watch another type of Korean police series. Sure, I find You're All Surrounded a little more entertaining. This one tries to humanize police officers as much as possible by showing their daily lives. It can be refreshing for some who don't want to see too much flashy taekwondo that would actually defy fight science. I mean, there are some scenes in other Korean police drama that are too crazy to be real. This one seems to focus on realism for a change.
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