[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Military Prosecutor Doberman" Episode 1

Doh Bae-man (played by Ahn Bo-hyun) has a funny name that kind of sounds like Doberman. The only child of a military family, young Bae-man was the sole survivor of the accident that killed his parents. He's subsequently raised by Aunt Soo-kyeong (played by Kang Mal-geum), a cop who's sympathetic to Doh Bae-man's desire to evade mandatory military service but irritated at how he pulled it off. You're probably wondering how, as the title implies, Doh Bae-man became a military prosecutor when his initial motivation was to evade any military service at all.

Advertisement

The answer is a convoluted plan by Attorney Yong (played by Kim Young-min), who offers Bae-man a job to start running errands for him inside the military's legal structure. And so Bae-man becomes Prosecutor Doh, a buff, muscle-bound lawyer counting the days until he can get a good civilian job at Attorney Yong's firm. Prosecutor Doh is a difficult character to read. On one end he's explicitly corrupt. But on the other end he's menacing and charismatic.

Much like the dog that bears his name, Prosecutor Doh is a mean guy even when he's being nice. Yet Prosecutor Doh's more sinister personality traits are tempered by a feeling for justice that's inspired by the knowledge that he's helping bad guys pick fights with other bad guys. The tone in "Military Prosecutor Doberman" is all over the place like that. The story opens up with a ludicrous flash-forward to Prosecutor Doh being held upside down, yet the actual plot is premised on institutional corruption.

The ambient confusion is only intensified with the introduction of Prosecutor Cha (played by Jo Bo-ah), a rookie who's not quite what she claims to be. On paper, Prosecutor Cha has surprisingly little experience in both the military and the legal system. Yet in practice, Prosecutor Doh observes her being fearless in a crisis situation, or even just when kowtowing to her new boss. The contrast between Prosecutor Doh's more cynical deceptions is noteworthy.

"Military Prosecutor Doberman" holds most of its promise in the first episode by just being highly enigmatic. Despite having the trappings of either being a drama about the military or a drama about the legal system, "Military Prosecutor Doberman" actually feels more like a corporate espionage thriller, with framing devices similar to that of a soap opera. But even if that's what the story looks like on paper, in practice it's way more slick than that.

Review by William Schwartz

___________

"Military Prosecutor Doberman" is directed by Jin Chang-gyoo, written by Yoon Hyeon-ho, and features Ahn Bo-hyun, Jo Bo-ah, Oh Yeon-soo, Kim Young-min, Kim Woo-seok, Kang Mal-geum. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/02/28~Now airing, Mon, Tue 22:30 on tvN.