“Defendant or Innocent Defendant”

Number of Episodes: 18

Network: SBS

Aired Dates: Jan. 23-March 21 2017

Where to watch: Viki or Kocowa (links below)

https://www.viki.com/tv/32810c-defendant?locale=en https://www.kocowa.com/en_us/channel/532403/Defendant

Korean Drama, Legal Drama, Thriller, Crime, & Suspense

Park Jung woo is a prosecutor who is the head of the violent crime investigative division. He has not lost a case and goes after justice. One day after waking up in prison the day after his daughter’s birthday, he learns he was convicted of killing his wife and daughter. Jung woo has no memory of killing his family and keeps having a memory lapse. Jung woo is put on a path to find out what happened to see if he is a killer or who framed him as a killer. Starring Ji Sung.

Cast:

Ji Sung as Park Jung-woo

Park Jung-woo is a prosecutor who is the head of the violent crime investigative division. He has not lost a case yet. One day on his daughter’s birthday, his wife and daughter were killed. He wakes up the next day or thinks it is the next day in prison. He finds out from his cell mates it has been a month and he was convicted of killing his family. However, he does not remember killing them. He is currently on death row and suffering from temporary amnesia. He is determined to figure out what happens to his wife and daughter even if the truth results in him being a murder.

Um Ki-joon as Cha Sun-ho & Cha Min-ho

Min-ho is a twin who is the black sheep; to a certain point, he keeps getting in trouble. During his last bout with the police, Min-ho decides to kill his twin brother, Sun-ho, after getting indicted for assault against a female. Sun-ho tells Min-ho to turn himself in, but Min-ho wanted to live so he kills his brother and takes on his brother’s identity.

Kwon Yu-ri (From Girls Generation) as Seo Eun-hye

Seo Eun-hye is a public defender who is passionate but tends to lose each of her cases. She decides to take on Jung-woo’s appeal case to help him figure out what really happen to his daughter and wife.
Oh Change-seok as Kang Jun-hyuk

Kang Jun-hyuk is Jung-woo’s best friend. However, he betrays Jung-woo in favor of keeping himself aligned with certain powerful people.

Review and Synopsis (Contains Spoilers)
Jung-woo is an excellent prosecutor who puts away people who break the law; especially violent crimes. He has a wife and a young daughter who he loves. He is a doting father and husband even with his demanding job. Overall he is a good man who even takes care of his team. During one of his cases, he meets Min-ho. Min-ho is a person who has deep issues to where he causes problems everywhere he goes. Min-ho is violent and takes what he wants. Jung-woo knows that Min-ho is guilty of assaulting a female who was only interested in Min-ho’s money. Min-ho tries to bribe Jung- woo because he does not want to spend any time in jail. But it does not work.

Due to Min-ho’s constant dealings with the law and violent acts, his father just wants to be done with him; no more saving Min-ho. Sun-ho (Min-ho’s twin brother; the good son) goes to Min-ho to convince Min-ho to turn himself in. Well, Min-ho had other plans. He ends up killing Sun-ho and takes Sun-ho’s identity. But Jung-woo being the clever prosecutor quickly realize Sun-ho is Min-ho. Jung-woo vows to put Min-ho behind bars.

On the day after Jung-woo’s daughter’s birthday, the same day Jung-woo is supposed to hold a press conference about Min-ho he wakes up in prison. He has no memory of what happened. Jung-woo was informed by his cellmates that his wife was killed and he was the one who killed her. Jung-woo asked about his daughter and was told he was supposedly killed her too, but the police have yet to recover his daughter’s body.

Jung-woo doesn’t believe it and vows to figure out what happened even if the truth turns out he was the killer. Now we have the setup; this drama puts everyone who watches it on a roll a coster.

Overall, this drama was done right. It not only provided a suspense vibe, but it also kept true to the Kdrama roots; revenge and the rich kid with issues because he wasn’t loved enough. This drama picked an old recipe for Kdrama flavor; a rich kid with daddy issues; a rich man who believes money can buy him anything; and the main character who vows justice/revenge but uses the law to do so.

This drama is full of the villain being one step ahead of Jung-woo. This particular theme was needed in order for the drama to pull out 18 total episodes. If not, the drama could of concluded in less than 10.
Ji Sung is beyond excellent. He plays crazy well or lost memory wanting justice, unlike other Kdramas that had an amnesia plot. The amnesia plot made sense in this drama. The amnesia idea was more realistic than most dramas in my opinion. Plus, the writers made sure Jung-woo did not regain all his memory at once. He gained it piece by piece till one day all the pieces added up. This gradual gain of memories helped the viewers feel just as frustrated as Jung-woo was. A great way to help the viewers to feel how he was feeling. This was more realistic and gave you that suspends feeling.

The other attribute was how well Ji Sung played his role of grieving widow who felt wronged. We the viewers lived or felt like we were living his pain. To see him frustrated each time he would forget what he remembered was a pain in my heart. I at times had to go back and try to remember what Jung-woo had forgotten in order to keep up with all the pieces. It was like the viewers were his memory keepers. We kept tabs on each piece hoping and waiting for Jung-woo to remember. And Min-ho’s character was EXCELLENT. His character was the typical rich boy from a rich family who could do no right in his father’s eyes no matter how hard he tried. Min-ho wanted to please his father so much that he even sacrificed his goals. Min-ho just wanted to be wanted, love, and appreciated like his brother. He even let his brother, Sun-ho, marry his first love. Towards the end of the drama I was feeling bad for Min-ho and wanted more for him. Min-ho did have two people who truly loved him; however, did not or were not able to show it. Min-ho was the product of his upbringing.

Now here is the downside of this drama; Yuri. Sorry, not sorry. She was just ok. Now I am not 100% sure if it was due to Yuri’s acting or the script or how her character was placed in the drama. But Yuri’s character was just average. Her role seemed to be an important factor when she was introduced, but then it seem like her part became less important. The sad thing is any actress could have played her part. It seems Yuri’s character and the role were not given enough substance to where the viewers became attached. Plus her story was left unsaid in the end. I mean, you get a small glimpse of why she became a lawyer, but then it just stops. She was just a filler. Like a stand in to give extra support to Jung-woo character when everyone he trusted was no longer on his side…well except two. I do agree without Yuri’s character the drama would have had a hole, but that hole could have been filled by another character from Jung-woo support/team.

My final thoughts: This drama gives us a natural flow. There are no holes nor parts that just was a filler episode. Each episode gave us important information about each character and the plot (except for Yuri’s character). The drama had it funny moments and threw in plot twisted that you did not see coming. A few of the twist was predictable but well placed. There were times that it flowed so well you were not sure where the next plot twist will come. The best part was some of the twist was easy to figure out without going back to re-watch certain episodes. Even though there are typical Kdrama cliche plots or themes, this drama stands out and on its own two feet. It took an old drama recipe and added it’s own fusion to keep up with the new trend of suspense-filled dramas that have been flooding the Kdrama world.