What kind of drama it is
A prosecutor who struggles to feel emotion because of brain surgery he had as a child and a police officer who works on the ground team up to chase the truth after a single case. It has the frame of a whodunit, but what it really digs into is the prosecution and the police as institutions, and the choices people make inside them. Who is hiding what matters as much as who did it. This is a show that reveals far more when you give it your full attention rather than leaving it on in the background.
The makers and the cast
It was writer Lee Soo-yeon's first drama. Her style is marked by lean dialogue that steadily builds up information and by inner monologues that show what a character is thinking. Director Ahn Gil-ho keeps the tension going with cool, restrained images. The leads are Cho Seung-woo as the prosecutor and Bae Doona as the detective, and the actors playing many figures on both the prosecution and police sides fill out the story densely. A second season with the same leads aired in 2020.
- Aired: tvN, 2017, 16 episodes
- Writer: Lee Soo-yeon
- Director: Ahn Gil-ho
- Cast: Cho Seung-woo, Bae Doona (season 2 in 2020)
A lead who does not show emotion
The lead barely changes expression and speaks flatly, so at first he can be hard to warm to. To make up for it, the show often lets you hear his thoughts in monologue. He may look as if he is not reacting at all, but only the viewer knows that he is sorting the clues one by one in his head. Following the gap between his monologue and his face shows that he is less cold than intent on seeing things more accurately than anyone. Do not miss the rare, brief moments when feeling slips through.
Keeping track of a big cast
Prosecutors, investigators, police officers, business people and journalists all appear, and titles and affiliations come up constantly. Lose track of the relationships in the first two or three episodes and the rest can feel hard going. Jotting down who belongs to which organisation and who is close to whom helps a great deal. People are often called by their title rather than their name, so it pays to remember titles too. If you get confused, simply rewatching the end of the previous episode is usually enough to find your footing again. When looking up a character chart, first make sure it does not come with notes that give away later developments.
Things to watch for
Much of the fun comes from watching with suspicion. Keeping the points below in mind brings new scenes into view on a rewatch.
- Moments when the lead's monologue and actions do not match
- The difference between what is said in meeting rooms and in corridors
- How characters act in front of superiors versus colleagues
- What short scenes that seem unrelated to the case really mean
Knowing the Korean prosecution and police helps
In Korea, prosecutors investigate crimes and decide whether to bring cases to trial, while the police handle investigation on the ground. The relationship between the two and where their powers end is a major thread, and season 2 takes on the question of how investigative authority is divided between them. The system in the show reflects the time it aired, so parts of it differ from how things work today. If you want to know the real system, check official sources rather than the drama. Understanding hierarchy and factions within the organisations makes the characters' hesitations easier to read.
Worth knowing before you start
As it deals with murder, there are scenes with bodies and violence, and the mood stays dark and heavy throughout. Because it is built around chasing a culprit and the truth, looking things up online can easily spoil major twists. If it is your first time, hold off on reading reviews or explainers until you have finished. The dialogue is packed with clues, so having it on while looking at your phone makes it easy to lose the thread.
Who it suits
It suits viewers who enjoy carefully constructed investigations and tension inside institutions. If you liked Signal, which follows cases while showing the darker side of society, you will likely enjoy this too. There is almost no romance, and the two leads' relationship is drawn as trust between colleagues, so it is especially recommended for anyone after a clean, focused genre piece. Clues from earlier episodes pay off later, so try not to leave long gaps between episodes. Watching two people from different institutions come to look in the same direction is one of the reasons this show stays with people.
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