"Grandpas Over Flowers Investigation Team" Episode 5

The tone takes an odd shift here- opening sequence notwithstanding, the first third of the episode doesn't actually deal with a criminal investigation at all, but rather the team's attempts to figure out who the spy is. As usual, they all quickly get so caught up in their imaginations that...I can't think of a way to finish that sentence, and neither can the drama. For all the goofiness these zany antics inspire there's not really any obvious consequences.

Except, of course, for the scripting to get caught up in more comedic setpieces centered around the new secret undercover jobs the elderly men of the team have taken to try and suss out more information. Their disguises aren't particularly effective- mostly because of their short attention spans, but also the fact that none of them (save for Joon-hyeok) has any idea how to pretend to be someone aside from themselves. The man really is a babysitter, even though everyone in the group is supposed to be the same age.

Then the murder happens, and the scenario is a pretty classic one. Locked room, no one could see what was going on, the guy has lots of enemies (although none of them appear to have actually been in the elevator). Technically speaking there's actually not even any obvious reason to assume this was a murder aside from how much the guy was hated. For once this does a fair amount to bolster the skills of the group. This was a well-planned crime and it requires a decently intelligent analutical mind to unravel it.

This episode succeeds mainly because the tone, while quite different than what we've seen in previous episodes, is a noticeable improvement. It finds good balance between creating a situation with clear dramatic stakes and the silliness that makes up the humor, because everything about the (two) mysteries to just unreal enough that the proceedings don't feel particularly gruesome.

It's a very important distinction to make, given how much of the humor in the drama revolves around sheer silliness. I'm still undecided as to whether "Grandpas Over Flowers Investigation Team" merits much consideration on a scale of pure comedy. The jokes are extremely simple, and appear to be designed deliberately in order to make the actors behave in an outlandish way. Which I suppose is decent enough considering the kind of project this is. At the same time, there's not really any truly amazing comedic spark.

Review by William Schwartz

"Grandpas Over Flowers Investigation Team"is directed byKim Jin-yeong, written byMoon Seon-heeand featuresLee Soon-jae,Byeon Hee-bong,Jang Gwang,Kim Hee-cheol,Lee Cho-hee,Kim Eung-soo.