Defendant

Defendant

7.5/10

Defendant

Genre:                                   Episodes: 18                         Year: 2017

Mystery

Thriller 

Synopsis:

Park Jung Woo is a prosecutor who won’t let go of a case until he is sure the criminal has been brought to justice. One day, he wakes in a prison cell with no memory of the last four months. Jung Woo has been arrested for the murder of his wife and child, and must work to discover if he truly is the criminal, or if he is being framed.

Cast:

Ji Sung (Park Jung Woo)

Uhm Ki Joon (Cha Min Ho/Cha Sun Ho)

Yuri (Seo Eun Hye)

Oh Chang Suk (Kang Joon Hyuk)

Uhm Hyun Kyung (Na Yeon Hee)

Shin Rin Ah (Park Ha Yeon)

Kim Min Suk (Lee Sung Kyu)

Jo Jae Yun (Shin Chul Shik)

General Thoughts:

It’s not hard to see why this drama was such a ratings success in Korea. While procedural dramas aren’t exactly my favourite thing (they tend to feel a bit same-same), ‘Defendant’ was able to give the brand a new feeling. The show never took the steps that were expected of it, and told a whole new story rather than just having the usual set-up and giving it new characters.

Where am I? Who am I?

The cast, directing and writing were all pretty slick and gave the show a real professional feeling. While all K-Dramas are professional, this drama seemed to go out of its way to make itself grab your interest with its narrative consistency and finishing touches. The soundtrack definitely added to the feelings of danger and tension, but I did find that it could be a touch overbearing at times.

Getting' ready to play dirty

The characters all made nice, logical sense (except for maybe one- I’m giving you some serious side-eye Joon Hyuk), and acted in ways that were consistent with the way they had been constructed. It was evident fairly early on that our main villain Min Ho had a huge weakness where Yeon Hee and his son were concerned, so it made sense that this would be what our hero uses to target him. I adored that our hero wasn’t above doing some things that were a smidge against the law as long as it got a favourable result. It can be a bit of a kicker when the hero is too darn righteous to do things that would capture the villain- but here I was convinced that Jung Woo was doing everything in his power to reveal Min Ho’s crimes. Jung Woo never did anything morally dubious, but rather he was ready to bend the rules a little to get what he needed. He was happy to send Chul Shik to Min Ho’s home under the guise of murdering them (totally not legal), but made sure Chul Shik was aware that the woman and child weren’t actually to be harmed or even scared (morals stay intact). It meant that Jung Woo was able to remain a hero as he never did anything awful, but he also didn’t end up frustrating viewers with his blatant unwillingness to play ball. But it seemed our hero used up all the awesome the leads were given.

The boys were definitely the main course...leaving Eun Hye as just a side dish

Eun Hye was barely present at all considering she was the main female lead. I’m pretty sure there were whole episodes were she was delegated screen time of 5 minutes or less. As a character she was pretty unimportant once she convinced Jung Woo to figure out the truth instead of moping around (which we’re all thankful for).

Awesome acting aside- this silent staring got old pretty fast

I was expecting Eun Hye to be doing a lot of work on the outside to help Jung Woo locate his daughter and find evidence, but she did very little and was only really called upon when a car was needed. As far as the plot went, it was just okay until just before the halfway point when it really hit its stride. Once the plot got into the bulk of the story, it was hard to turn away. Watching Jung Woo try and remember things he’d once known but had forgotten tended to be a bit annoying, but once it got to Jung Woo trying to outwit Min Ho and how best to use the evidence against him it became a lot more interesting. While most of the plot was pretty airtight, there were some aspects that I wish had been explained more. Such as Jung Woo’s amnesia. Okay, yes, it’s the drama’s whole catch, but the way it was explained didn’t really fit with Jung Woo’s personality. He’s a determined, intelligent lawyer who loves his wife and daughter, and doesn’t care about status or power- if you’re a bad guy he’ll bring you to justice. But then you want me to believe that he’s lost the memories of himself figuring out who the bad guy is (and who he suspects has his daughter) and all the evidence he hid away to catch him, and it’s all because of a self-defence mechanism that takes him to his happiest memory? Yeeaaaahhh, not really buying it, but I can let it slide because it was the initial setup (amnesic prosecutor doesn’t know if he’s guilty or not).

Maybe instead of wasting time living in a memory you could, I dunno, do something?

Perhaps it wouldn’t have been so annoying if it was possible that Jung Woo was the murderer, but no one thought that at all. Then there’s absolutely no explanation of who the hell Seok is. A young man is doing the clean-up for all Min Ho’s murders and even driving the truck-of-doom into more victims, yet he’s given no more depth beyond being labelled ‘henchman’- which is pretty sucky considering that Min Ho relied on this kid heavily to clean up his messes and keep him out of trouble. And while it was made very clear that Min Ho’s weakness was his love for Yeon Hee, I do wish it had been more obvious what Yeon Hee’s feelings were for him.

This woman is ambiguous as faaaaaark

I wasn’t sure if she hated him, loved him, or loved the memory of him but was hurt by what he had become. She was an enigma until the last episode during Min Ho’s trial when she had her (awesome) confession to him that ended up being his undoing. But on the bright side, these were all very minor details that were easy to overlook.

What Was Great:

Finale Build-Up:

The thing I personally find irritating about legal mystery/thrillers is that they can tend to be pretty heavy on the angst. Usually the heroes go through so much pain and suffering (about 14 episodes worth) and then everything gets tied up in the last few episodes.

Seeing the bad guy lose his cool is soooo satisfying

But with ‘Defendant’ there was a nice push-and-pull feeling. While the beginning was pretty heavily skewed in favour of the villain (because we need a story), from the middle onwards it was a pretty even playing field. There were enough small victories for our heroes that it doesn’t become an unbearable angst-fest, and there were enough times when Min Ho lost his cool that he felt like an opponent that could be beaten. Not to mention I really, really, really hate it when no matter what the hero does the villain just smiles in this really unconcerned way. I hate it. But Min Ho was outsmarted enough that he knew Jung Woo was someone to be cautious of- I mean, why else go to all that trouble to frame him if he can just buy his way out? I totally wasn’t expecting Ha Yeon to be brought back to her father before the ultimate showdown, so I actually loved that he stole her back before the last bunch of episodes. It was a great morale boost for our heroes and gave the feeling that it was a slow, gradual battle to overcome Min Ho- everything didn’t just happen at once. There were many smaller victories that added up to the final battle being won, and that’s part of what made the series so addictive.

I must say, this show makes prison look like a pretty fun time

The show gets two thumbs up for not being draggy for the last few episodes, as episode extensions have a way of slowing momentum right down. I actually felt the start was more dragged out than the ending, and the plot ran smoothly despite adding on two extra episodes. 

Acting:

All the acting was pretty fabulous. Ji Sung was absolutely amazing. The last drama I saw him in did nothing with his talent, so I’m overjoyed that this was a drama where Ji Sung could show what an accomplished actor he really is.

I like him best in serious roles

While he can be good in comedy, it really is angsty-determination that he excels in. His desperation, anger, and complete heartbreak were all so clear, and it wasn’t hard to tune into his emotions. Our female lead, Yuri, was nothing amazing, but she also wasn’t outright bad. While her acting did feel green next to the much more experienced cast members, her role wasn’t difficult so she was able to blend in easily enough. Uhm Ki Joon was dynamic as the villain and was able to flip between his character's two faces seamlessly. It was really necessary to have an excellent actor in the villain role as our hero was so well acted, so it was fabulous that the two main actors were on the same level. Shin Rin Ah is just pocket-sized dynamite. She’s explosive in whatever role she plays, and adds a tremendous amount of heart to her characters. Once again, I fell in love with her character quickly, and Shin Rin Ah had amazing chemistry with Ji Sung and Kim Min Suk, the two actors she interacted with most. While a lot of child actors can feel a bit like they’re just reciting the lines and actions given to them, Shin Rin Ah always makes her scenes and characters feel believable- as an adult actor does. I really think she’s a cut above other child actors, and I always feel confident that she’ll do an incredible job- which she did.

I love her in everything she's ever been in

The side characters were absolutely perfect. While the prison inmates were used mostly for comedic relief, they still felt like real people rather than just ridiculous characters (*cough*StrongWomanDoBongSoon*cough*). They added the lightness that the drama needed, but never overplayed the humour. And I have a bit of a Kim Min Suk bias I’ll admit (when will he get his own leading role? Wheeeeeen?), but he really was perfect in this role. He always tends to take on adorable puppy-like characters, so it was the perfect way to set up his involvement in Ha Yeon’s kidnapping. It’s a sweet young character being played by Kim Min Suk- I did NOT expect him to be a kidnapper (and nearly kid-murderer).

Why show, whhhyyyyyyy?

But of course he returned to his sweet puppy nature and gave us a wonderfully conflicted character to love. My only gripe is that his character’s death felt a bit unnecessary (Min Ho was so f*cked whether Sung Kyu lived or not). I fear he might have been collateral in the episode extension.

What Wasn’t:

Slow Start:

Oh my goodness, at the start of this drama I really couldn’t understand what all the fuss what about because it was so darn slow moving. Like, yeah, Ji Sung’s an amazing actor and he can move me with his awesome crying skills- but after a while I got tired of him being so mopey.

Why not put some effort into finding out how your wife died?

He had no desire to find out the truth, didn’t interact with anyone around him to find out what was going on (like he could’ve saved soooo much trouble if he confided what was up to his cell buddies), and the biggest issue was that he had no belief in himself. We were being told that there was all this evidence that pointed to Jung Woo being the murderer, and that it was enough to get him to doubt himself, but we didn’t actually see this evidence until much later on. Like, if I woke up in jail and was told I’d killed my family but had no memory of it, I’d be like ‘nope, no way’ (especially if my job involved getting on the bad side of criminals). But Jung Woo just kind of accepted that he killed the love of his life and his precious little girl. What up with that. Seeing Jung Woo stare at walls and try to figure things out by himself wasn’t all that entertaining, particularly when he seemed to have no desire to find out the truth of what happened. Maybe this slower start would have worked if the audience hadn’t seen who was so obviously behind the crime (hello crazy murderer on the loose with a vendetta against Jung Woo), and might have believed that Jung Woo actually could have been a psycho capable of murdering his own family. Once Jung Woo opened up, started getting help from those around him and made a real effort to discover the truth, the show got a lot more interesting. But up until that point…meh.

The prisoners were excellent and I wish Jung Woo had started interacting with them earlier

Lame Redemption:

I hate forced redemptions. I had a feeling that this one was going to happen as Joon Hyuk didn’t really do any crimes that went beyond covering up someone else’s, but he was still a huge jack*ss.

You, sir, are an a-hole.

He either believed his best friend killed his family or knowingly helped frame him- and both of those are pretty sucky. His character projection was understandable enough- he’s a slimy bloke who wants to get ahead in his career, but the things he did were enough to get him axed off any friend list. 1. Did not attempt to find the real murderer. 2. Knowingly destroyed evidence that could have been useful (CCTV footage). 3. Once he knew Ha Yeon was alive he made no effort to get her back, and actually told the crazy murderous criminal to go find her. Yeah, after all that if you hear about him hanging around your kid’s school you should probably tell him to f*ck right off, NOT try and mend the relationship. That’s just stupid. Redemption arcs can be rewarding when done well, but Joon Hyuk didn’t seem nearly sorry enough, and didn’t grovel and cry nearly as much as he needed to in order to earn forgiveness. Get that mofo out ma face and into jail.

Recommend?

100% yes. This is the best drama to come out of the first half of this year. Ji Sung and Uhm Ki Joon (and the rest of the cast) deliver spectacular performances in every single episode.

Prison break