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Insurance investigation is the new CSI

Just so you know, if a crime happens in Korea, you’d better hope someone somewhere has filed an insurance claim.  These insurance investigators are no joke.  Solving crimes and uncovering truths while the police just stand around picking their noses.

Gong Chul Soo is the newbie, Joo Kang Yi is uptight, and Park Chan Ho is gross.

(Image via Dramafever)

Life Special Investigation Team is a workplace dramedy with romantic overtones and I really enjoyed it.  It’s episodic, character-driven, sometimes silly, and sometimes quite poignant.  Unlike a lot of other shows, I watched it slowly, enjoying a few episodes here and there, and was pretty much content with the whole thing.  There may not have been high emotional peaks of romantic excess, but there also weren’t the inexplicable lows of melodrama either (for example: no one slipped into a coma or got cancer). 

Basically, it’s about a bunch of people doing their jobs and getting along with each other.  Each episode brings a new case to solve, so the investigators travel around gathering clues and deciding who gets insurance payouts and who doesn’t.  It’s kind of a strange premise for a show, but it works.  

The heart of the show is the play between two characters: Park Chan Ho, the rascal who hides his incredible brain, and Shin Eum Jin, the cold and brilliant investigator who hides a truly amazing depth of emotion.  What is great about this show is that the episodic structure allows these two characters to just play against each other, to fight and struggle while obviously harbor tender feelings,  and say/do unforgiveable things when they get too drunk or too stressed, and yet to show up for work the next day and do it all again.  Gong Chul Soo, as the newbie to the team, is the perfect foil for these two to play against.  

It’s 12 episodes.  It’s funny.  Just watch it already.