The source of the comedy is the oddball team of misfit cops who make up the GG Precinct. At its head is the newly promoted Chief Chang (Ma Nien-hsien), whose awkward demeanour and lack of confidence has slowed his rise through the department’s ranks.
His promotion opens a vacancy for Lin Tzu-ching (Wang) to become the new squad captain, much to the chagrin of her arrogant teammate Wu Ming-han (Hsu). He was convinced the position was his for the taking, and resents Lin for leaving him and his teammates high and dry during a recent bust.
Other members of the squad include Shao-nien (Ng Ki-pin of the band EggPlantEgg), a former undercover narcotics officer now covered in tattoos and with a comically unhinged disposition attributed to a ketamine addiction.
Flower Chen Yen-tso plays the overweight yet fiercely loyal Chubby, while Lulu Huang Lu Zi-yin rounds out the team as criminal profiler Shu-fen, who is obsessed with determining everyone’s personality type according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
Much of the show’s humour is derived from the personality clashes between this mismatched group of unlikely law enforcement officers, not least when they are tasked with solving a series of truly shocking murders.
The first victim is found stripped and covered in feathers at the underground car park where he worked as a security guard. The second victim was tied into a kowtowing position in front of a statue of Confucius, with all his teeth forcibly extracted.
The team quickly deduce that the scenes resemble Chinese idioms, rather like the crime scenes that dramatised the seven deadly sins in David Fincher’s serial killer hit Seven. That film is evoked again later in the show, when a key suspect walks willingly into their office and surrenders.
These gruesome scenes hark back to the crimes of The Chinese Idiom Killer (played in flashbacks by Yo Yang Yo-ning), a language teacher who, 20 years earlier, murdered a number of his students as punishment for their sloppy misuse of Chinese.
Lin and Wan visit the killer (now played by Tai Chih-yuan) in prison, where he is wheeled out on a gurney Hannibal Lecter-style; much like in that film, a strange rapport develops between the killer and Lin’s female investigator.
There are some fun running jokes, not least the idea that an educator could be driven to murder by falling Chinese language standards.
Also amusing is how the perennially gung-ho Wu injures himself every time he springs into action, meaning that by the end of the show’s six-episode run he is all but completely incapacitated.
A running commentary about the aggressive demands of overworked, overstressed food delivery couriers similarly never fails to raise a smile.
That being said, not all of the comedy works. The endless bickering between characters, especially in the earlier episodes, struggles to strike a genuinely humorous tone.
Similarly, the mismatches within the team are never fully resolved. At first, team members have nothing in common, but by the climax of the show they have found harmony and become a highly functioning task force.
What is missing is an explanation for how his occurred. The relationships don’t evolve, nor is there a reconciliatory arc between team members. They appear to just click suddenly overnight, which feels like a wasted opportunity.
Directors Wen and Yin keep the pace fast and the action fresh, as we have come to expect of such a frivolous and frenetic show, and the script is packed with visual and thematic nods to raft of Hollywood movies, and pop culture references, beyond those already name-checked.
GG Precinct is decidedly lightweight when compared to some of Netflix’s other recent Taiwanese offerings. Should there be a second season – something hinted at heavily in the show’s denouement – all involved will need to kick it up a notch and be all they can be.
GG Precinct is streaming on Netflix.