Netflix ‘Bloodhounds’ Season 2 Review - A Savage Ballet of Violence and Humor

As an action series, the second season of Bloodhounds (Sanyanggaedeul) puts to shame most modern shows and movies from North to South and West to East. Even its own first season looks timid in comparison to these new episodes. After a successful first run, you would expect creator Jason Kim to go bigger this time. Season 2 is ambitious, all right, but only in the sense that it now aims to become a franchise—it even concludes with two post-credit scenes. In a more general sense, however, the plot of Season 2 is quite simple, and the fight sequences remain grounded in reality. The punches in Bloodhounds land painfully. Characters groan and wince when hit. Kim Gun-woo (Woo Do-hwan) can jump from the first floor to save somebody, but he also wobbles in pain and struggles to stand straight for a while. Hong Woo-jin (Lee Sang-yi) engages in physical combat even with a hand injury, yet the stitches come out, and his hand bleeds alarmingly.

The action genre often prioritizes heroic antics, resulting in wounds and bruises healing almost entirely by the next scene—or the one after. Take Dhurandhar: The Revenge, for instance. There, Hamza's face is cut and squeezed with a thick chain, and he is brutally tortured by the Pakistani army. Yet when he later meets Ajay Sanyal, his face appears mostly clean. In most action films, especially in Bollywood productions, bandages are often applied as cosmetic accessories. They merely make the hero look "cool" and "stylish." I am not familiar with Jeong Chan's webtoon on which this Netflix series is based; nonetheless, while watching Bloodhounds, one senses a show born from the mind of an action junkie who is also tired of the clichés that plague most action-thriller stories. This is why, in the first season, nameless henchmen are shown connected to IV drips after losing fights badly. In Season 2, characters describe their injuries, pinpoint specific muscles that have been affected, and listen to doctors' advice. Many scenes are set in hospitals, showing our heroes resting and recovering.

Bloodhounds, you could say, presents physically and emotionally vulnerable humans (they experience nightmares and PTSD), which is why the confrontations feel tense, palpable, and frightening. You know these people can get hurt, so the stakes always feel high. On top of this, the villains in Season 2 are genuinely menacing and intimidating. From the beginning, the season makes it clear that Gun-woo and Woo-jin are not up against an ordinary goon with a single formidable bodyguard. Most of Im Baek-jeong's (Rain) men—yes, including him—are physically and psychologically more formidable than Gun-woo, Woo-jin, and their team. The hacker, played by Lee Myeong-ro, plants a virus in Kang Tae-yeong's (Park Ye-ni) laptop when she attempts to help the brothers gather information about the Iron Knuckle Fighting Championship (IKFC). Kang In-beom (Tae Won-seok), the man Baek-jeong helps break out of prison, has a shark-like face and nearly chokes Woo-jin to death. Even Baek-jeong knocks down Gun-woo during their first encounter. It should also be noted that Baek-jeong's men inflict serious damage on the brothers.

What makes Woo-jin, Gun-woo, and their team heroic is that even after falling multiple times, they still stand up to fight. They have little choice, given that Baek-jeong is hell-bent on recruiting Gun-woo for an IKFC match. They are also intelligent, as is evident in the scene—one of the highlights—in which Moon Kwang-moo (Park Hoon) asks Woo-jin to drive around a couple of blocks so they can determine whether they are being followed by their enemies. Tae-yeong, too, gets her revenge through a cleverly deployed QR code that gives her access to the hacker's device.

Above all, what makes Bloodhounds so appealing is that it sustains the rip-roaring exuberance of its violent set pieces. There is never a dull moment or a dull fight. The characters frequently discuss strategies and train their bodies before confronting the antagonists. The show stands apart precisely because of these practical details. It also refrains from using violence exploitatively or sensationally. You cheer only when Gun-woo's side wins; the brutalities inflicted by the villains make you flinch. This is a rare show that colors gore with shades of morality. It is also a rare show in which fight sequences feel rejuvenating. Season 2 of Bloodhounds is a wild, ferocious symphony. The blood, however, does not conceal the streaks of comedy. You may be surprised by how amusing the series remains much of the time. Jason Kim understands that fists alone are not enough to make something engaging. He has perhaps taken notes while watching dour, self-serious films like John Wick and then infused this story with balanced doses of grimness and comic energy. It is hardly surprising, then, that Bloodhounds pulses with laughter and life. It dances with chaos and vibrancy.

Final Score- [9/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times