# Defendant (2017)

> A framed Seoul prosecutor with amnesia must fight a death sentence and prove his innocence.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/60417

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 18
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, thriller
- Network: SBS
- Cast: Ji Sung, Uhm Ki-joon, Kwon Yu-ri, Oh Chang-seok, Uhm Hyun-kyung, Son Yeo-eun, Shin Rin-a, Seong Byeong-suk
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6256692/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, paranoid, suspenseful, emotionally heavy, gripping

## What critics say

Reviews broadly regard the series as a gripping legal and suspense thriller with a strong lead performance, though aggregate critical reception is limited.

## Synopsis

Defendant (2017) is a South Korean legal thriller created for SBS, a single-season run of eighteen one-hour episodes. Ji Sung plays prosecutor Park Jung-Woo, who wakes in a police cell with temporary amnesia, unable to remember how he got there, and is sentenced to death for a crime he is accused of committing. Uhm Ki-joon plays Cha Sun-Ho and Cha Min-Ho, a figure whose double identity drives much of the intrigue, while Kwon Yu-ri, Oh Chang-seok, and Uhm Hyun-kyung round out a cast of colleagues and rivals inside the prosecution office. The engine of the series is a man who must reconstruct his own recent past while every piece of evidence and every trusted ally seems arranged against him. Each episode tightens the vise through interrogations, courtroom maneuvering, and buried files, while a larger power struggle inside Seoul's legal establishment slowly surfaces. Told as one continuous serialized story rather than standalone cases, it builds a suspense that rewards close attention. Set in contemporary Seoul, its tone is tense, paranoid, and emotionally heavy, with moments of bromance and loyalty cutting through the dread. Fans of The Fugitive, The Night Of, and Suits will find resonance in its wrongfully accused hero and institutional betrayal.

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