Rugal ~ Enhanced Human Beings Are Still Emotional

x“Rugal” is a 2020 drama series, with 16 episodes, and can be categorized as Action, Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), Thriller and Suspense, and Crime. It is based on a webtoon comic of the same name.

SUMMARY: The wife of a member of an elite police unit is murdered and the policeman is badly injured. But the National Intelligence Service (NIS) believes he could be a useful member of their special task force. They have a special hospital that fixes broken people by using biotechnology. After operating, they became enhanced, almost like super humans. The former police officer serves with a team of bionic humans who are on a mission to dismantle, Argos, a criminal organization. However, he wants revenge for his wife’s murder and often disobeys the Team Leader’s orders to go off on his own personal mission. Meanwhile, the head of Argos has kidnapped doctors and is trying to build his own team of super humans. Obviously, his goal is to rule the underworld. Bad guys are so predictable.

♦ They Enhanced My Body But My Emotions Did Not Change

In “Rugal”, Kang Ki-Beom is a dedicated cop working hard to take a criminal organization known as Argos. On his first wedding anniversary, his wife was murdered and the last sight he saw before the murderers blinded him was his dead wife’s bloody body. Why didn’t they kill him too? They thought they did kill him. At any rate, even if he lived he would stumble around blindly. No way he would be able to work anymore on undercover operations. Or will he?

The answer is: “Yes, he will.” The NIS (National Intelligence Service) takes him to a special hospital where they fix broken people who have skills they can put to use. In Kang Ki-Beom’s case, they gave him a new set of eyes and added some additional features, like being able to throw really hard punches, etc. Kang Ki-Beom was an elite police officer. Now he’s a member of an elite special task force known as “Rugal”. They trained him, sent him on missions, and then realized they had a problem with his behavior.

Unlike his teammates, Kang Ki-Beom disobeys orders if he sees an opportunity to get back at the people who murdered his wife. He may have been equipped with biotechnology that gives him superhuman abilities. But nobody turned off the emotional revenge button in his brain. That part of him is still very human. Kang Ki-Beom is after the thugs who served as underlings for Argos and were ordered to murder his wife. He also wants to take down Hwang Deuk-Gu, the head of Argos. That’s his personal mission which he plans to carry out with or without orders from NIS.

The NIS Mission is Not Personal

The NIS also wants to take down Argos and everyone associated with that criminal organization, especially the head. But they have a detailed plan that does not include them acting impulsively as soon as he is in their sight. On one mission, Kang Ki-Beom left his team members behind because he caught sight of one of the men who murdered his wife. They were on location waiting for him to show up but he ran off chasing after the murderer. On another mission, he caught sight of Hwang Deuk-Gu, the head of Argos, and went after him. The NIS Team Leader “shut him down”. He was right in the middle of combat, fighting Hwang Deuk-Gu, but had not yet subdued him.

Going after Hwang Deuk-Gu on his own, without orders and the team, was very foolish of Kang Ki-Beom. This time the Team Leader was fed up with him disobeying orders. They could see and hear him from a distance. Using a remote control in the NIS headquarters, he was shut down. The biotech equipment implanted by the doctors gave the scientists the ability to hit a button and shut him down.  But they would not have to do that if he would just behave!

Had Kang Ki-Beom not been shut down, he likely would have overpowered Hwang Deuk-Gu and might have killed him. But the NIS didn’t just want him killed. They wanted him brought to justice to stand trial; and his criminal organization dismantled. Kang Ki-Beom’s tunnel vision, only wanting personal revenge, was disrupting, if not ruining, a plan that had been working on for a long time.

Why Not Enhance Bad Guys and Make It a Fair Fight?

Unfortunately, the one-on-one fight between Hwang Deuk-Gu and Kang Ki-Beom was sort of like a “demonstration”. Hwang Deuk-Gu had heard about what these enhanced humans could do. Now he has seen it for himself. He had already kidnapped doctors and had them experiment on humans. Their operations so far, had not been successful. But now Hwang Deuk-Gu is even more determined for the kidnapped doctors to succeed. When Hwang Deuk-Gu saw what a person enhanced with biotechnology could do, he wanted that for himself too!

Great! Just what the world needs. Bad guys who are enhanced with biotechnology that turns them into superhumans.

Main Characters:

• Kang Ki-Beom (played by Choi Jin-Hyuk, “Miss Night and Day”, “Numbers”, “Zombie Detective”, “Gu Family Book”)
• Hwang Deuk-Gu (played by Park Sung-Woong, “The Dude In Me”, “Love, Lies”, “The Killing Vote”, “Bloodhounds”, “Unlock My Boss”, “Remember: War of Son”)
• Han Tae-Woong (played by Jo Dong-Hyuk)
• Song Mi-Na (played by Jung Hye-In)
• Choi Geun-Cheol (played by Kim Min-Sang)
• Lee Gwang-Cheol (played by Park Sun-Ho)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 6.2 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 7.5 out of 10 stars
• Google users shared a public rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is 9 out of 10 stars.

Admit it. If we had an opportunity to be “enhanced”, we’d probably go for it. Even if you were a perfectly healthy Olympian athlete with a brain like Albert Einstein or Marie Curie. LOL. The thing is … it’s not good if a bad guy gets his hands on this kind of technology. Me personally? I wouldn’t allow it on my body. Not if I were perfectly healthy and of a sound mind. Suppose a foreign power kidnaps me for the technology. It could happen. Being enhanced is not the same as being INVINCIBLE!! I don’t even like the fact that some US institutions are developing bionic technology for military use. But that’s another discussion.

This Korean drama series has one of South Korea’s most talented actors, Choi Jin-Hyuk. This guy can play any part, from an accountant to a zombie. Literally from A to Z. Seeing that he was the male lead, my expectations were high, and he lived up to my expectations. Everybody else in the cast were also very good. Some people have compared his character to Daredevil or Robocop. I immediately connected him with the Six Million Dollar Man. “We can build him better. We’ve got the tools and we’ve got the talent.” LOL.

Also, Park Sung-Woong played the lead bad guy. He can play good guys or bad guys, intense drama or comedic roles. In “Rugal” he was a very convincing bad guy. He killed people and had divers who would put their bodies in steel drums underwater. There was a mass grave with metal barrels for coffins. So sinister!

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Netflix’s Rugal will fill the Daredevil-shaped hole in your heart | Digital Spy

Rugal (Korean series): It’s Robocop but VERY long | PeakD

Opinion | Netflix Korean drama Rugal, fast-moving and shot in the shadows, will appeal to psycho killers everywhere | South China Morning Post

OCN’s ‘Rugal’ dabbles in biotech action | The Korea Herald

10 Best Revenge K-Dramas, Ranked | ScreenRant (“Rugal” is No. 10 on this list.)

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

Netflix K-Content. “Rugal | Official Trailer | Netflix [ENG SUB].” YouTube Video. YouTube, March 13, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZtgPv3LjrI.

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