‘ Police Academy’ is a fairly lighthearted approach to the “detective and crime” genre- sweet and surprisingly heartfelt in parts, comical in other scenes and undeniably with more irritating flaws also . So this leaves the ultimate question; is ‘ Police Academy’ worth watching?

The acting front is solid enough here. There are a few slip-ups when long dialogue pauses or line deliverances felt a little mismatched against foregrounded scenes, but Jung Jin Young certainly exceeded expectations as main lead Sun Ho. The idol actor added a level of angsty-sweetness to his onscreen persona .

Sun Ho was a subverted example of the “ main lead with a tragic past”. He didn’t follow the stereotypical routes taken in fiction of being jaded, arrogant or the “ apathetic prodigy” but a fairly normal and confused teen. There were some surprisingly touching scenes ( never to be explored or seen again ) with surrogate father figure Yoon Taek II ( Oh Man Seok) as well as his fraternal-style relationship with best friend Yoon Seung Bum( Choi Woo Sung) helped to foreground some functionality within Sun Ho’s everyday life. However for our main character to befriend fairly positive influences such as Seung Beum and deal with a pretty austere paternal figure such as Yoon Taek this ultimately begs the question; “Why and how did Sun Ho learn to hack and get involved with the authorities ? “ There’s the argument by some viewers that " it is a take your brain out comedy" and “ Sun Ho did so because he was bored”", however, the show never really tied this major point concisely. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad if the drama hadn’t carried this over more as an important role in later episodes with sporadic and partially-inaccurate terminology and tech setups , only adding to the confusion as to Sun Ho’s involvement in this world .

This then leads us to talking about his “reasons” for training to become a police officer . A character doesn’t always necessarily have to go down the “ vengeance backstory” route, but it was an odd move that the drama didn’t interlink or at least explore more about Sun Ho’s backstory, his parents as well as some sense of relief and poetic justice for Sun Ho’s goal to become an officer . Aside from the prosaic reasoning in the show that “ the girl I like is pretty and can fight , I want to have a goal and follow her too.”

On this subject there’s evidently also the problem revolving around Kang Hee. Idol actress Krystal isn’t too bad here. This is admittedly not one of her most captivating performances, but not unwatchable either. Our female lead Kang Hee is a bit of a mixed-bag. Despite being Sun Ho’s "dream girl", Kang Hee does have a more evident character drive than Sun Ho in parts. Her mother is far from being a good citizen and Kang Hee has often put academic pressure on herself to succeed in order stray away from being labelled as her “mother’s daughter”. ( A relationship which was given a patchwork happy redemption arc later on without a lot of explanation)However here’s where we hit a major rut with Kang Hee; she isn’t a likeable character.

Of course we are supposed to like her in theory . She’s intelligent, a talented fighter and witty. However the problem with the female lead is that whilst she does have a ‘’complicated ‘’ past which helps to explain some of her motives, she never seems to learn to grow, accept or develop. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too bad if the show pointed this out or made Kang Hee mature by accepting her own mistakes or begrudgingly understanding the errors of her ways, but sadly Kang Hee rarely escaped her one-dimensional character depth throughout the drama.

Then there’s the potential ‘’ onscreen relationship’’ between Kang Hee and Sun Ho. The setup itself is simple enough; Kang Hee is Sun Ho’s crush and his raison d’être. The female lead has rarely noticed Sun Ho up until the storyline of the series, but this soon changes when events begin to unfold. It’s a straightforward enough concept and whilst Krystal and Jin Young’s onscreen chemistry was decent enough, the relationship often hit a rut due to a lack of definitive development as well as hitting an anticlimactic conclusion.

Meanwhile away from the problematic romance factor of the drama there’s then the topic to discuss about Yoo Dong Man ( Cha Tae Hyun) also. Aside from serious questions being raised about how Dong Man wasn’t picked up by any of his colleagues for his initial attitude to Sun Ho, Dong Man is your typical seemingly “ gruff and arrogant cop with a heart of gold”. It was evident that the drama would go down the route of exploring Dong Man’s gradual buddy friendship with the male lead and it was undeniably sweet. On the other hand there was lot left in the air about exploring more complicated depth with Dong Man’s character; his past, rivalry, rookie days and his own complicated feelings when the antagonist is revealed in their midst was often left as unexplored territory.

The antagonist(s) and “climatic tension” of the drama were fairly predictable- not bad per say, but simply existing for the sake of “ plot drive” rather than being given depth or more prominence. As a consequence the ending was quite anticlimactic. Sweet and on a happier note than possibly viewers were anticipating but nonetheless cliche and slightly disappointing.

Whilst ‘ Police Academy’ did offer some enjoyment through its impressive cast lineup and style, the drama’s ability to tackle character writing, depth and plot tension and climatic build seemed sporadically thrown together and lacklustre often resulting in anti climatic solutions or endings . Overall ‘ Police Academy’ was mediocrity at its best- okay if you’re watching just out of boredom and not bothered about writing during a binge-watching session but those looking for a drama with an enjoyable police buddy element and depth may want to look elsewhere.