"Mad Dog" Episode 7 recap

The pilot of the tragic flight throws our leads quite the curve ball and the implications of his words come cascading down on them and the people they work with. The "Mad Dog" team has no time to lose and no intention of stopping, but neither does Min-joon. The young man attempts to go solo once more, but the game is now much bigger than his own regrets and his brother's life.
"Mad Dog" has unfortunately engaged in one of my mystery pet peeves and that is lying in order to avoid being outsmarted by audiences. A good mystery plays with its revelations, whetting the viewers' appetite for that "Aha!" moment of satisfaction. The drama's writer does not appear as confident, regrettably so. The plane crash scenes could have easily been built to maintain the desired illusion and still support a different interpretation later on.

What the series lacks in suspense over its mysteries it delivers in terms of its supporting characters lately, however. I will not overpraise its twist of Moo-sin (Jang Hyuk-jin) being a good guy for now, since I find his development so far too lacking for said twist to have had the impact it should have, but I am excited to see more allies undercover and on the good side. Ideally, Moo-sin will continue to develop past his previous use as antagonist bait.
That being said, the "more" part when I mention more allies is debatable, because while Moo-sin's turn was surprising, Han-woo's (Lee Jun-hyeok) upcoming and very much teased betrayal is less so. While I have been wishing that the series would not go there, his trajectory began the minute he mentioned a sick loved one; Dramaland's go-to plot device for betrayal and forced redemption. Moo-sin mentioning his years of beautiful friendship with Kang-woo (Yoo Ji-tae) just hammers it it before that suspicious phone call.

Hong-joo (Hong Soo-hyun) continues to develop nicely; she clearly has not been kept in the loop regarding her company's terrors, but her thirst for power over her father keeps her delightfully unpredictable. She is mainly the reason why I find Kang-woo's choice to go undercover an appealing one. Not that spy hero shenanigans are not a fun prospect, I simply prefer a meatier frienemy than the caricature Director Cha (Jung Bo-suk).
At this point I do not expect the issues of "Mad Dog" to be fixed and I can no longer muster up the excitement to speculate over the truths behind the crash. The creators do not seem interested in us engaging with their story this way, but I can enjoy sitting back and being passive if what the series delivers from now on is a tad more exciting than its first half.
"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'

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