‘Busted!’ returns for second season

Crime-solving variety show “Busted!” is back on Netflix for another round of mystery for the six detectives to solve. All ten episodes were released on Friday evening.

The show’s five original detectives - Yoo Jae-suk, Kim Jong-min, Park Min-young, Sehun of the boy group Exo and Sejeong of the girl group Gugudan - will be joined by a new member, Lee Seung-gi.

In this season, detective Yoo, who disappeared at the end of last season, will come back due to unprecedented circumstances and call on his old associates to solve another crime.

“About 45 celebrity guests will be appearing over the course of ten episodes,” said producer Cho Hyo-jin at a press conference on Friday. “The most noticeable change in this season are these guests. They will play key roles to offer various hints or become obstacles for the members to overcome. Either way, some of them will be reappearing throughout the show to help the members on the case.”

Besides guests playing a bigger role in the show, the running time of each episode was reduced from 80 minutes to 60 minutes, as the producers were quick to catch on to the feedback that they received from last season.

“Although some of the viewers liked the show’s length because it felt like watching a movie, others said that the episodes were too long,” said producer Kim Dong-jin. “Since we released all of the ten episodes in one day, we decided to reduce the length of the episodes, but still offer a gripping and suspenseful tale.”

The popular entertainer Yoo has appeared in many variety shows recently, such as “You Quiz on the Block” and “Laborhood on Hire” on tvN, which are very different from his best-known variety show role on “Infinity Challenge,” which ended last year. When asked if the change of direction was intentional, Yoo replied “No.”

“It wasn’t deliberate, but I’m always thinking about what changes I should make to satisfy the viewers,” Yoo said. “[I’m always] on the lookout for what can bring the most joy and laughter, and while I was contemplating on that, ‘Busted!’ came to me.”

“Busted!” is a Netflix-produced variety show that combines drama and entertainment. The cast plays detectives who are given clues to solve their case together. The first season was released in May 2018.

By Lee Jae-lim