Good Boy: Episodes 7-8 » Dramabeans Korean drama recaps

KDramaHQ AdminJune 24, 2025

Good Boy: Episodes 7-8

by Unit

We’ve reached the halfway point, and our main villain has stopped denying his villainy in front of the good boys. In fact, he has dared them to do their worst, and it’s left to see how much damage our good boys can inflict on a nemesis who has just about everyone in power in his pockets.

EPISODES 7-8

The good news is, Gyeong-il’s mom survives the shooting. Phew! She’s still unconscious, but at least she’s alive. The bad news is, Dong-joo plays into Joo-young’s hand by beating him to a pulp. Joo-young secretly films the showdown, and uses it to threaten the police commissioner to fire Dong-joo and disband the Special Criminal Investigation Team, otherwise the video goes public. *Facepalm* This is what happens when you’re such a creature of habit that your opponent can use your predictability against you.

Man-shik is forced to humor the commissioner in order to save Dong-joo’s career as well as keep the team together, but all this does is buy them a few days before the official decision. Dong-joo feels sorry for putting Man-shik and the team in this position, and he offers to quit. But his teammates refuse to allow him shoulder that responsibility.

Dong-joo falls for Joo-young’s provocation again — when the latter drops by the ICU to see Gyeong-il’s mom. If I got a dollar every time these two have a “I’ll lock you up,” and “I’d like to see you try” confrontation, it’d cover a part of my rent. Tsk. The one highlight of this otherwise stale scene is Joo-young asking Hanna to teach him proper shooting techniques for his next target, and getting a fruit basket thrown at his face in reply. Hehe.

Our good boys can’t openly investigate Joo-young, but thanks to one of Man-shik’s criminal informants — who I’m going to call Hair Transplant because that’s his shtick — they’re able to put together the five key members of Team Evil. Joo-young is #1 on the list, and Coach Oh needs no introduction. There’s our drug queenpin, Yeon-ha, and Leo, from the Russian mafia. The last member of the squad is BAEK (Ahn Se-ho) — who is the leader of a Northeastern gang that killed Golden Bunny’s brother, and took over the Bunny turf.

In the hierarchy, Joo-young is at the center of operations. Yeon-ha, Leo, and Baek are on slightly equal footing as Joo-young’s business partners, but Coach Oh is the unfortunate underling. The partners are not happy that the police are sniffing into Joo-young’s business — and their business by extension — and Mr. Cult Leader quotes a Bible passage to assure them of all the money they’ll make if they trust and follow him.

Speaking of trust (even though there’s really no trust among thieves), Joo-young suspects Yeon-ha has a soft spot for Dong-joo. He’s right, because not only did she steal Dong-joo’s poetry book from the safe house, she also secretly administered first aid to Gyeong-il’s mom after Joo-young shot her — which is why Ms. Mom survived. Maybe this is Yeon-ha’s way of repaying Dong-joo from saving her from the explosion at the knockoff lab.

It’s finally time to address Dong-joo’s actions and decide on the SCIT’s fate, but Dong-joo walks out of his disciplinary hearing. He goes off-grid for two days and resurfaces with a face full of bruises — and at this point, the team has had it with him. When will Dong-joo learn that getting into fights with the bad guys accomplishes nothing? Except for, you know, getting him into more trouble and worsening his already deteriorating health. His wrist injury from smashing into Joo-young’s car in week two still hasn’t healed, and at his last checkup, he was told that the repeated impacts sustained during his athletic career might have caused brain damage! Aigoo, Dong-joo, will you only rest after you die?

But as it turns out, Dong-joo’s bruises are the byproduct of his martyr offer to Joo-young. He offered to take as many hits from Joo-young — or rather, from Coach Oh, since Joo-young couldn’t be bothered to dirty his hands — as long as the SCIT is left alone. Dong-joo’s sacrifice pays off and the police commissioner puts the SCIT’s dissolution on hold. The team feels bad for jumping into conclusions, but with Dong-joo’s track record, how would they have known about his martyr deal when he didn’t tell them about it? And more importantly, where on earth did he go to hide himself after Hanna scolded him?

Dong-joo shows up in Hanna’s neighborhood after most of his bruises are cleared. He explains that as a boxer, he knows how to take hits, and he couldn’t think of any other way to protect the team. If you say so, Dong-joo. If you say so. Hanna relents, and asks if this means he is giving up on going after Joo-young. “No way,” he replies. “It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. As long as you get back up, the fight isn’t over,” Dong-joo monologues, before crossing over for a proper kiss with Hanna. Must be nice to finally be in a relationship with your long-time crush.

Dong-joo is suspended for a month, and the SCIT is assigned to more mascot duties. But low-key, they continue investigating Joo-young. Apparently, apart from the raw materials seized from Knockoff last week, more Candy precursors were shipped in through Insung Port — and they’re still there. But our good boys don’t have the authorization to search the port, and Customs won’t cooperate with them without evidence that there’s illegal stuff in the port. At the same time, Yeon-ha is on Joo-young’s neck to get the precursors out before low budget drug dealers get a hold of them and litter the market with knock-off Candies. Which side will find the Candy precursors first between team good and evil?

Our good boys get a head start thanks to Man-shik getting bitten by an ant during last week’s inspection of Knockoff’s shipment. The team calls in a tip about a fire ant infestation, and Pest Control locks down the port — making it impossible for Joo-young’s people to move the Candy precursors out. Hehe. Man-shik calls in a favor from a buddy at Pest Control, and next thing you know, Dong-joo, Hanna and Jong-hyeon are dressed in hazmat suits and smuggled into the port. Lool. The trio are shocked to stumble on Yeon-ha and an accomplice — who are also in hazmat suits — but the bad guys manage to get away. The good news is, our good boys find the precursors. The bad news is, an ant bites Jong-hyeon in the process and he gets an allergic reaction.

Jong-hyeon trembles in front of the epinephrine syringe, and Dong-joo has to knock him out so the doctor can administer the shot. Heh. Jong-hyeon invites Dong-joo to stay at his place as a “thank you for saving my life” gesture. But it’s really because he doesn’t want the currently-homeless Dong-joo to crash at Hanna’s place. Thanks to Dong-joo’s snooping around, we learn that Jong-hyeon retired from fencing after sustaining an injury close to his left eye. At Jong-hyeon’s last match, the tip of his opponent’s saber pierced his fencing mask, leading to the injury. No wonder his PTSD acts up whenever he sights a pointy object.

The camp of evil holds an emergency meeting following the SCIT’s seizure of the Candy precursors, and they decide to steal the seized container during its transit to the police evidence storage. Joo-young realizes that Hair Transplant — who was shot and kidnapped by Leo — overheard their conversation, so he stabs the poor guy right in the bullet wound. Ouch! By the way, Leo is an unintentionally funny character, and Hair Transplant is always fun. Their warehouse kidnap scene together was hilarious — except for the part where Leo recited The Lord’s Prayer before shooting Hair Transplant. That did not sit right with me at all.

Joo-young sends Hair Transplant — who I’m surprised is still alive — to tell Man-shik about the plan to intercept the seized container, and Man-shik informs the rest of his team. There’s a tunnel on the way to the evidence storage, and that’s where all the action goes down. Cue: car accidents, a mini explosion, and the SCIT fighting over a dozen goons. Seriously, the goons kept multiplying like zombies! Our good boys try their best to come out on top, but we’re left with a cliffhanger indicating that things are not looking good for them in this particular fight. Oh boy!

Halfway in, and I’m beginning to think it wasn’t a good idea to reveal Joo-young’s villainous side so early. The show might have been better off dropping hints with each case the SCIT investigates, and using that to build up the suspense until the Big Bad reveal. We could even have further explored Dong-joo and Gyeong-il’s friendship, and that would have made Gyeong-il’s death more impactful. Instead, we’re stuck in this cat and mouse game where the SCIT thinks they’ve cornered Joo-young, and he slips out and delivers a counterpunch. Rinse and repeat. I enjoy the action, but I’m getting bored with the repetitiveness.

I’m rooting for Team Joo-young to win the tunnel fight. Maybe a resounding defeat will force our good boys to take several steps back and come up with a more solid plan to topple the camp of evil. In the meantime, when Show is not making the SCIT chase their tails in the name of chasing Joo-young, maybe it’ll remember it has other familial stories — like Jong-hyeon and Seok-hyeon’s brotherhood, and Hanna and her dad’s case — to build on. And maybe, just maybe, find something tangible for Jae-hong to do in the plot.