Stranger: Award-Winning Crime and Legal Korean Drama Series

Stranger is an award-winning crime and legal Korean drama series. There are two seasons ~ Season 1, released in 2017; and Season 2, released in 2020 ~ both seasons currently streaming on Netflix.

The English title is “Stranger”; the literal title is “Secret Forest”. Both titles are sort of confusing to me. Not sure why the series wasn’t named “Unconquerable Prosecutor”. Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok is unbeatable!

♦ What Are His True Intentions?

Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok had brain surgery as a child and as a result of the surgery, he can not feel empathy. His colleagues and superiors find him hard to read and figure out his true intentions because his face is usually expressionless. One might think he was ambitious and out to make a name for himself. But ambition has nothing to do with it. When he is assigned a case, he objectively investigates, gathers evidence, methodically solves the crime, and brings the criminals to justice. Isn’t that what a prosecutor is supposed to do?

Perhaps his colleagues didn’t notice that Hwang Si-mok never volunteers for high-profile cases. His superiors assign the cases to him because they are extremely difficult to solve. They figure if anyone could solve the case, he could. But if he could not solve the crime, he gets to take the blame for not being able to carry out justice.

No matter what his co-workers or superiors think of him, Hwang Si-mok thinks his job is to solve the case, so that’s what he does. When he is successful, do they reward his efforts? Of course not! They get him assigned to an office in an area where he is not likely to get any more high-profile cases or publicity. Their true intentions are to hide him from everyone’s view. Does he complain and say that they’re just trying to thwart his career goals? Absolutely not! He figures out what cases need to be investigated in the office where he is assigned and gets to work on them. But it’s almost as if high-profile or hard-to-solve cases end up on his desk, no matter where he is working.

♦ RECAP of Season 1 (Released 2017)

In Season 1, a man is found murdered in his home. The murder victim is a sleazy character, the kind of person that nobody really mourns. Nobody except his mother and his son. Even his son didn’t really like his father but to find out that he was brutally murdered is not the way he wanted their relationship to end. A murder suspect has already been arrested. It’s the cable guy.

Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok knows that the murder victim has connections with South Korea’s political and business elites. Just before the man was found dead, he told Hwang Si-mok that if he had to pay for his crimes, he wasn’t going to pay for them alone. In other words, he had a lot of “dirt” on a lot of people in high places and would expose them if they did not help him out of the mess he was in. Knowing this much about the murder victim, Hwang Si-mok did not readily accept that the cable guy was the murderer. He starts working with Detective Han Yeo-Jin to solve the crime; and the more he digs, the deeper the hole gets.

That murder is not the only murder that occurs. Hwang Si-mok’s investigation leads him into the dark underworld of corrupt businessmen and politicians. No surprise that several of his co-workers in the prosecution office can not be trusted, including his own boss. Detective Han Yeo-Jin finds that she can not trust her co-workers, including her own boss. They know they must tread carefully and unraveling the mystery is dangerous. Nevertheless, they both intend to bring the real criminals to justice. The prosecutor and detective make a great team!

♦ RECAP of Season 2 (Released 2020)

In Season 2, Detective Han Yeo-Jin has been rewarded for her hard work. She is assigned to work on a special team to iron out a divisive problem between the Prosecutors’ Office and the National Police Agency regarding proper procedures. The police believe they should have investigative authority over cases that are independent of the prosecutors. The prosecution currently has and wants to keep discretionary power over investigations. They argue that it’s in the constitution.

In between having internal meetings where both sides are trying to get proper investigative authority and procedures hammered out, real crime carries on. In this season, one of the prosecutors goes missing. Was he kidnapped? Was he murdered? If he is alive, where is he, who abducted him and why? Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok and Detective Han Yeo-Jin don’t argue with each other over who has authority and what the proper procedures are when solving a crime. They just work together using the current system in place, and their efforts are successful. Too bad other prosecutors and detectives don’t follow their example.

Main Characters:

• Prosecutor Hwang Si-mok (played by Cho Seung-woo)
• Policewoman/Detective Han Yeo-Jin (played by Bae Doo-Na)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

This is an award-winning series. During the 54th Baeksang Arts Awards (held in 2018), they won for Best Screenplay; Best Actor; and the Baeksang Arts Award Grand Prize (the highest honor in the Television division of the awards ceremony).

• As of Aug 29, 2023, 600+ viewers shared public reviews and the Audience Rating Summary was 4.9 out of 5 stars.
• IMDb Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.8 out of 10 stars

My rating for “Stranger”, Seasons 1 and 2, is 9.5 out of 10 stars.

• Season 1 was brilliant! Season 2 was excellent but not as good as Season 1.
• Even so, it would be awesome if there was a Season 3.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• Stranger (Secret Forest) Is A Law Thriller Masterpiece You Need To Watch – hallyureviews
• K-Drama Review: “Stranger” Stuns With Brilliant Cast & Nifty Screenplay – kdramadiary
• Watch 5 Crime K-Dramas Free on Tubi TV – popgeeks.com

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

BOX, K-DRAMA. “Secret Forest Season 1 / Trailer with Review ( ENG) / Best Korean Drama in History.” YouTube, 23 Dec. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTP3ZONzGtE.

Netflix K-Content. “Stranger Season 2 | Official Teaser | Netflix [ENG SUB].” YouTube, 10 Aug. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrcTulaRzJM.‌