“D.P.” is a South Korean military drama that turns the grim business of desertion into something close to a thriller. It follows a young private named An Jun-ho, played by Jung Hae-in, whose assignment is to capture army deserters. The show is based on a Lezhin webtoon, adapted for Netflix by creators Kim Bo-tong and Han Jun-hee, who also directed the series.
Trailer, via Netflix K-Content.
The Assignment That Unravels Reality
An Jun-ho is assigned to track down soldiers who have fled their compulsory service. The task is simple on paper: find the deserter, bring him back. In practice, it becomes a slow-motion investigation into why anyone would leave. Each deserter’s story reveals something about the system that produced him.
The show is built around a tension between duty and humanity. An Jun-ho starts as a loyal soldier, but the people he pursues force him to question the rules he once accepted without thought. The deserters are not villains in the conventional sense. They are often broken, desperate, or simply unwilling to accept the cruelty of their own situation. The show makes a deliberate choice to humanize the men it is supposed to catch.
Jung Hae-in and the Cast That Anchors It
Jung Hae-in leads the cast as An Jun-ho, a performance that carries the weight of the character’s growing disillusionment. He brings a quiet intensity to the role, and his arc from dutiful soldier to someone who sees the system for what it is is the emotional core of the series.
Koo Kyo-hwan plays Han Ho-yeol, a character who does not exist in the original webtoon. Koo found the role “hard but exciting to portray,” and he prepared for it with help from his road manager, who had served in the D.P. unit himself. That preparation shows in the performance, which grounds the fictional character in lived experience.
Kim Sung-kyun rounds out the main trio as Park Beom-gu. His casting was part of the package announced on September 3, 2020, alongside Jung, Koo, and Son Suk-ku. The four leads form the backbone of the series, and their chemistry holds even across the two seasons.
Son Suk-ku plays Lim Ji-seop, another central figure in the deserters’ stories. Together, the quartet creates a world where the official mission of capturing deserters becomes a personal journey through grief, anger, and the limits of obedience.
The Webtoon Roots and What Changed
The series is adapted from Kim Bo-tong’s webtoon “D.P Dog’s Day.” The show adds new characters like Han Ho-yeol, which is a deliberate choice to expand the narrative beyond the source material. Kim Bo-tong, who wrote both the webtoon and the series, said the cast “fit so perfectly into their roles that it seems like the roles were written for them.” That assessment captures the ensemble’s cohesion.
The adaptation also changes the format. The TV series is presented as a single continuous story, while the webtoon is episodic. The pacing allows for more character development and more complex storytelling than the original format could support.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The show excels at atmosphere. The military base is rendered with a cold, oppressive precision, and the contrast between the harshness of duty and the warmth of personal bonds is constantly present. The action sequences are well choreographed, and Jung Hae-in’s own boxing training shows in the physicality of his scenes.
The show’s weaknesses are structural. Some episodes feel padded, and the second season leans harder on repetition than the first. The pacing slows in the middle stretch, and a few threads are dropped without resolution. These are minor complaints against a show that is otherwise confident and well-executed.
“They fit so perfectly into their roles that it seems like the roles were written for them.”
A Score of 8 Out of 10
“D.P.” is a strong entry in the genre of military dramas, and it earns its reputation as a standout for Netflix. The cast is superb, the direction is assured, and the writing respects its characters enough to let them become fully realized people rather than mere symbols of resistance.
The show’s best moments come when it stops being a chase and becomes a portrait of a man trying to understand why others abandoned the life he was born into. That shift is the difference between a competent thriller and a truly affecting piece of drama.
Here is how the key elements break down:
- Jung Hae-in’s performance anchors the series with a quiet intensity.
- The ensemble cast, especially Koo Kyo-hwan and Kim Sung-kyun, deliver consistent chemistry.
- The adaptation adds new characters while respecting the webtoon’s spirit.
- The atmosphere and action sequences are well executed.
- The pacing drags in the second season, and some threads are dropped without closure.
“D.P.” is a gripping, often moving look at a corner of Korean society that rarely gets this kind of attention. It is not perfect, but it is consistently good, and it earns its place among the best shows Netflix has produced.
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