When it comes to comfort television, the comfortable predictability that a police procedural lends itself to is unparalleled. Episode after episode, featuring a familiar group of investigators as they take on cases that come their way, the dynamics they share, and friendship, love, and self-discovery along the way thrown in.
The recently concluded Flex X Cop starts off seemingly outlandish and sets the stage for a largely fun procedural. After a run-in with the law enforcement authorities, Spoilt and rich heir Jin I-Soo (Ahn Bo-Hyun) finds himself having to join the violent crimes unit at Gangha station as a detective. The stakes are high. His father, whom he has a troubled relationship with, is in the midst of amping up his campaign to become the city’s mayor, and there is immense public scrutiny. The team he joins is led by the no-nonsense Lee Gang-hyun (Park Ji-hyun), a prickly and smart detective. There is also the young, starry-eyed Choi Kyung-jin (Kim Shin-bi), who is in awe of I-soo’s lavish life and social media persona, and in contrast, Park Jun-young (Kang Sang-jun), who remains largely unimpressed by I-soo’s swagger.
The team is suitably annoyed with I-soo’s entry, and his privilege, and resents having to babysit him through work. He, on the other hand, having always been a fan of chasing thrills, is intrigued about his new job and is thrilled at having been given a chance to delve into some real-time police work (the show starts with him navigating through an elaborate game involving a hostage situation). I-soo, being a silver spoon, is both a boon and a bane for the team– as easy as it is for him to get an audience with the elite during an investigation or channel his many social media followers to aid in a manhunt, he is equally reckless and hasty. In one of the best laugh-out-loud moments from the show, I-soo does not hesitate to rather clumsily leap out of a window from a multi-storeyed building while in hot pursuit of a suspect as a horrified Gang-hyun watches on. The first few episodes largely focus on I-soo trying his best to fit in, how he can use his chaebol status to aid with investigation work, and how he plays a role in lending some perspective to cases involving the elite.
