"Mad Dog" Episode 9 recap

While our "Mad Dog" team are busy sulking over unsurprising betrayal and having romantic encounters, our villains finally get a bit of focus and something to do. The group is not as disorganized as they seem, but the black box they may be in possession of is the current major goal for our heroes. With Hyeon-gi's father now announced as dead, another formidable opponent will hopefully rise to the challenge that is keeping this plot afloat.
I did not expect Hyeon-gi (Choi Won-young) to become in any way impressive after his deflating introduction, but I am having some rare moments of enjoyment with "Mad Dog" whenever he does something smart. From realizing that his house would have been broken into to actually checking for wiretapping, the man is not as dim as he originally looked. He also knows how to manipulate well and it shows with Hong-joo (Hong Soo-hyun).

Hyeon-gi pushes the very buttons her reaction to the plane crash foreshadowed and that is the fear of losing control and losing her current power over Kang-woo (Yoo Ji-tae). It seems that she already feels like a vulture to still be interested in him despite societal ethics saying that he is still a widower devoted to his previous family. The fear of her involvement being found out and chances ruined seems to be stronger than her feelings, revealing them as infatuation, rather than true caring.
The episode focuses on the emotional aspect a lot. Aside from Hong-joo's fixation and her turn toward underhanded tactics, we have a little development for Ha-ri (Ryu Hwa-young) with her leader and her younger beau alike. The sort-of-romance is frankly too juvenile, forced and tiring, but the changes in her relationship with someone she considers a figure of justice and heroism are interesting. I hope they will not lead to her loyalty faltering, however, because it is a very simplistic reaction to go for.

As for the main story of the plane crash, focusing on the central antagonists has been a long time coming and I wonder why it took nearly half a series to get to them. Perhaps saying "I wonder" is not the correct way to put it. I know why this happens; the story is very simple and short, but the production's duration demands that the time be filled with something and keeping villains at bay achieves this.
I just wish the series had begun this approach earlier, as the identity of our villains and their actions have been known since the beginning. "Mad Dog" could have spent its time developing its characters, their relationships and loyalties and building the path of its mystery, even if the end game has been obvious. This is a case of a series doing a little bit of everything without committing to anything.
"Mad Dog" is directed by Hwang Ee-kyeong, written by Kim Soo-jin-V and features Yoo Ji-tae, Woo Do-hwan, Ryu Hwa-young, Kim Hye-seong and Jo Jae-yoon.
Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'