Shaky beginnings and insidious coverups in Witch’s Court

by tineybeanie

A new teaser and more posters have been released for upcoming KBS drama Witch’s Court, showing the shaky beginnings of the partnership between Jung Ryeo-won (Bubblegum) and Yoon Hyun-min (Tunnel). They respectively star as a career-driven ace prosecutor and a rookie doctor-turned-prosecutor, who work together to investigate female pedophilia rape cases.

In the poster above, Yoon Hyun-min leans in toward a victim telling her gently, “Hiding doesn’t solve anything, I’ll persuade them.” Whereas, Jung Ryeo-won’s attitude is completely different—she says, “Must a prosecutor consider every victim’s personal life?”

According to the plot synopsis, everything began twenty years ago, and in the teaser, someone calls in to make a report. We come to the present, where decorated officer-turned-politician Jeon Gwang-ryul (You’re Too Much) asks whether they found the girl, and in the elevator, Jung Ryeo-won’s mother Lee Il-hwa’s (Man Who Sets the Table) eyes grow wide. A girl puts up posters, while promising herself that if her mother really ran away, she’d become a success so that her mother would have to return.

The scene changes to seven-year senior prosecutor Jung Ryeo-won as she presents case details in front of a group of reporters. She meets Yoon Hyun-min for the first time in an elevator, where she mutters under her breath that he’s a pervert. Their next meetings are similarly not so pleasant: He accuses her of witnessing a sexual assault, which she denies, and he claims to have the evidence.

In another ill-fated coincidence, they meet at a local real estate office. Yoon Hyun-min already seems to have an in with the realtor, while Jung Ryeo-won rolls her eyes until she hears the exorbitant price of housing. (Oooh, I hope we see some cohabitation hijinks!) She slams him into a wall, and by the end of the teaser, he tries to start over on good footing with her, but she leaves him, hand left unshaken, telling him that she hopes she never sees him again.

The background of the second poster does suggest that they could be sharing a flat. The copy describes him as: “A prosecutor fighting for his victims, even at the cost of success.” In contrast, she’s surrounded by a mess, with the description: “A selfish rude prosecutor fighting for her own promotion.”

Well, the posters look much bubblier in tone compared to the tone of the teaser, which gave us a small look into the corruption to be explored in the drama. Jeon Gwang-ryul’s character seems to be pure evil—he’s supposed to be a reputable man who was originally an investigator in national security and became the acting director of a law firm, but his past contains many dirty secrets. They’ve all been buried by Kim Min-seo’s (I’m Sorry Kang Nam-goo) character, who is the brain of the law firm and helps Jeon Gwang-ryul preserve his pristine political image. Meanwhile, Kim Yeo-jin (Man to Man) plays the head of the female pedophilia investigations department, an icon of justice and morality.

Especially because South Korea is one of the worst countries in terms of gender inequality, I’m glad that Witch’s Court will shed light on the topic of rape with a focus on the victims. I just hope that the producers will treat it sensitively so that the drama sparks much-needed public discussion.

KBS’s new legal mystery drama Witch’s Court will air on Mondays and Tuesdays, starting next week on October 9.

Via DongA Sports

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