# Squad 38 (2016)

> A special police unit fights rich tax cheats by turning the criminals' own scams and deceit against them.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/58556

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, comedy
- Created by: Kim Jung Min
- Network: OCN
- Cast: Don Lee, Seo In-guk, Sooyoung Choi, Song Ok-suk, Ko Kyu-pil, Lee Sun-bin, Ahn Nae-sang, Lee Hak-ju
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5536856/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: playful, brisk, sharp, comedic, tense

## Synopsis

Squad 38 (2016) is a South Korean crime comedy series created by Kim Jung Min for OCN, produced by Studio Dragon and SM Culture & Contents. Its story follows a special police unit named after Article 38 of the tax code, whose members borrow the scams, disguises and deceit of the criminals they pursue to expose wealthy tax cheats. Don Lee plays Baek Sung-il and Seo In-guk plays Yang Jung-do, with Sooyoung Choi as Chun Sung-hee, Song Ok-suk as No Bang-sil, and Ko Kyu-pil as Jung Ja-wang rounding out the team. The engine of each episode is a clever sting: the squad builds an elaborate fake operation, lures a rich target into a trap, and gathers the evidence needed to strike. The show runs as a single sixteen-episode season of hour-long stories, mostly self-contained cases with light arcs about the team's personal lives. Its tone is brisk, playful and sharp, with a caper-like energy and comic timing. Set in contemporary Seoul, it sits in the tradition of Korean crime comedies. Fans of Leverage, Hustle and other con-driven procedurals will find resonance here.

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