Special Affairs Team TEN (2011)

Hmmm........

This is a super thrilling detective drama, with episodes leaving you thirsty for more action.

It's filled with twisted plots and the cinematography is just wonderful. Each episode has a different and unique plot, and the characters were wonderfully developed, each character development has a different background colour.

The music is the type that just keeps on replaying at the back of your mind, even after it has finished playing. I did really like to post the title of the track and all, but that would be a huge spoiler so.........

TEN is really a wonderful K-drama. Plus, it only has 10 episodes hehehe.

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Finally. Korea has finally come out with a top notch police/procedural drama. It's also from a cable broadcaster,which says a lot. Cable in Korea is really stepping it up recently.

The plot follows a special team of detectives that work together to solve cases that only have a "10%" chance of being cracked. The cases are dark and twisted and wonderfully portrayed.

Each member of the team has an interesting backstory and is played to perfection. Joo Sang Wook was amazing as the "less than noble" team leader with the soulful eyes. My favorite character overall, was Kim Sang Ho's lazy bum-detective character who is actually quite clever.

TEN has amazing cinematography and visual effects ... it seems a lot more artistic than the usual cop drama. The music is also lovely. BREATHE by Mad Soul Child is a hauntingly amazing song.

Overall, a slick and exciting mystery series that features great acting. Can't wait for the movie that will conclude the cliffhanger at the end of episode 10.

;)

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It's great to see Korean dramas tackle new genres and do them justice. Ten is a successful combination of good directing, pitch-perfect, haunting cinematography, and great acting.

I love watching psychological crime shows like Criminal Minds, so I loved the psychological study here. There is no white or black in the world of Ten, and each member of the team has a dark spot in his or her past. They're a bunch of misfits in a league far ahead of the others and who else would be better at solving those cases ordinary detectives wouldn't be able to?

The cases themselves are incredibly smart and terrifying (the kind that leave you in awe and fear of the things that people are capable of), and really hard to see through. Sometimes the killer turns out to be the guy the camera focused on for only a few seconds--sometimes it's the person who's been there all along. You can never really guess, and I enjoyed that.

There's a bit of social criticism hidden deep between the dialogue, not directly stated but makes your heart heavy with realization. Any writer who could achieve this kind of subtlety wins brownie points with me.

Overall, it's a great show and I can't wait to find out what happens in the second season after the huge cliffhanger they left us with.

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When "Ten" started airing on OCN, it became a surprise hit. Despite it's late-night air time, the ratings were pretty high, considering it was on a cable channel. Even so, I wasn't all that excited to watch this drama. I used to have a *really* strong obsession with CSI, but at some point crime shows just got boring to me. It seemed like the same thing over and over again- team sees the murder scene, team solves the case, murderer is put behind bars. End of story. I was a little disappointed that "Ten" didn't really deviate from that plot, but it did provide a brilliant set-up for season 2.
Story: To be completely honest, "Ten" just seemed like it was exposition for something else. In fact, it was barely that. The story placed some focus on the team members, but paid more attention to it's case of the week. The team dynamic was interesting, but again not much emphasis was placed on it. The characters, however, were very interesting and layered, so I'm hoping the second season can focus more on them. There was an over-arching plot, but it was only hinted at this season.
Acting: The acting was really good, as far as I could tell. The characters were layered and complex, and the main cast pulled them off wonderfully.
Music: The music was gorgeous- especially Mad Soul Child's "Breath". The OST itself had a very dark vibe to it, which made it perfect for this drama.
Rewatch Value: Most of this drama's time was spent on solving the cases, and once you know who the murderer is, it's not much fun.
Overall: "Ten" was dark and gripping, but at the same time it felt like it was just paving the way for something bigger. I have high expectations for season 2, though.

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